My birthdays just keep getting better.

Pictures speak louder than words (plus it makes it easier for those of you who are less educated), so here goes ...

We drove 9 hours to the hunting grounds

We sighted the rifle.

We woke up at 3:00 am

We drove to the river to find buffalo (these are not buffalo by the way)

We got all ready to do our 3 day walk for Buffalo

We started walking at 7:00 am.

We walked more.

We waded the Lugenda river and crossed into the Nissa Reserve.

We used elephant poo for gun rests while we put our socks and shoes back on.

We found fresh Buffalo tracks at 8:00 am.

We found the Buffalo at 8:50 and put a stalk on it.....

I pulled the trigger at 8:55.

That's done. Now what?

We covered it up so nobody could see it.

We left.

I shot it there.

Now it's Bekki's turn for her safari.

Nice neck shot with a .22 pellet gun.

Then there was the sable hunt...

Time for celebration.

223lbs of meat from one sable. Tasty!!

Actually, here is the real story...

Bekki organized a buffalo hunt for my birthday. Yes, she is the most awesome wife ever. This particular hunt was a community hunt--meaning that everything except the trophy went to the community. In Northern Mozambique, there is the Niassa Reserve. It is surrounded by hunting concessions. The reserve has villages within it, and each year, they give a quota of certain animals to each village for food. This is the first year that the quotas have been for sale to trophy hunters. All fees paid for these hunts go to the reserve for further management of the park. Everything except the cape and skull went to the local community. Previously, the hunting concessions would send their PHs to take the animals for the communities. I was the first trophy hunter to hunt leagally in this particular section of the park, and I am very excited about that.

The night before the hunt, the PH told me that he had not been on the other side of the river this year, so we were just going to have to walk until we found tracks. Most 10 day buffalo hunts are done by driving until you find the tracks, so I was not really excited about the idea of just walking around and not getting to cover much ground.

The morning of the hunt, my excitement had come back, and I was itching to get out and excercise a bit. From this point, the pictures tell the story. To say that I pulled the trigger at 8:55 is correct, but I also pulled it at 8:55:05. Again at 8:55:07. Again at 8:55:10. And again at 8:55:15. Buffalo can soak up some energy. I was shooting a .416 Rigby. My first shot (hollow point) went right into the boiler room and disintegrated. the next two shots (monolithic solids) went into the south end of the north bound buffalo. We were trying to get it down before it went into thick cover. Finally the buffalo started to turn around. This presented a nice broadside, so I put another solid into the shoulder. He stood there for a few seconds then laid down. I put the 4th solid into him. The PH said to shoot again, but now I was nervous because the other buffalo that was running with this one was getting a little brave. I told the guide I had only one shot left, and I would prefer to have some self defense if the second buffalo charged. He thought it was also a good idea. Finally, we convinced the other buffalo that he didn't need to be there, and he ran off. About that time, we heard the death bellow that everybody talks about when buffalo hunting. It is a very real thing. For reasons I cannot express, it made tears well up in my eyes. Buffalo are magnificently strong animals, and to take the life of one makes you feel entirely different than just blasting bunnies in West Texas. My buffalo hunt lasted 1 hour and 55 minutes. Most people take at least 5 days. My buffalo was one of the biggest shot in this concession this year (40 1/4 inches).

This is what a monolithic solid looks like after passing through the entire length of a buffalo...

The sable hunt was a little more challenging. Not physically, but because we could not find a decent trophy. The one we shot turned up about 10 minutes before we got back to camp on the morning hunt of the day we had to leave. We jumped out of the truck, put a short stalk on it, and ran a 30/06 into its shoulder. The Sable took off like a scalded cat without so much as a flinch. we went and picked upt he tracks, and the trackers went to work. After about 50 yards, they found the tiniest spot of blood. Now I was upset, because I had just wounded an animal and would have to pay the trophy fee without getting anything. That was the only blood we found. After a little more tracking, we found the Sable in a heap on the ground. the '06 bullet mushroomed nicely and destroyed both lungs prior to lodging under the skin on the opposite shoulder. His long horn was 39 1/2 inches and was the larges shot in the concession this year.

The reason for the lack of blood is the exceptionally thick skin (about 1" at the shoulder)

Here is the '06 and .416 side by side.

I am trying to plan another hunting trip next year when my dad is here. If anyone wants in, please let me know.