Wonderful meals, evening campfires, and thoughts of Cape Buffalo, I slept well.
Driving around in the high seats, viewing game running everywhere, is something every hunter needs to experience. No good Buffs all morning, so after lunch, we drove out over an hour to glass a couple watering holes, to attempt an intercept. We could see a small group of a dozen or so Buffalo, working thru the brush, and set up my small daypack on the sticks, to nestle my gun into. I was using a Sierra 300gn bullets, behind a full case of 2400, a very accurate load in my FA. The group was pretty bunched up, but one big old boy, hustled yo the front, and got to the water first. He was magnificent, and 20% larger than any of the others. At about 55 yards, I looked him over for what seemed like forever, waiting for the one behind him to clear. My breathing perfect, I eased the shot, the huge puff of the impact, he bucked up hard, then landed, with his R/F shoulder clearly blown, he almost went down, but instantly got obscured buy others in the group. My PH Christo, quickly said "don't Shoot there bunched up." They trotted into some very thick thorn, with his leg dragging.
Now the Scene is started. It was maybe 1/2 hour till dark, and as this area has a high population of leopard, unless the herd left him, and he was clearly dead. So, we left him where he was, to return early AM with a drone and a jack Russell, to find him from the back side, as they watch and wait, on their back trail. Back in camp, we had video footage of the shot, clearly showing the blown shoulder. I still had a restless night.
Back in the truck early, an hour and a half around the back side of the watering hole. He was a couple hundred yards from the shot, but fortunately laying full on his side, and the herds was on where in sight. With the drone hovering over the heavy brush, we circled the area twice, trying to get thru the thorn, to no avail.
As quietly as possible, picking thru the thorn, getting tore up, at 20 yards, still no shot thru the thorn, we couldn't get closer. Back out slowly, and picked thru another spot to where I was able to get two more shots in his other shoulder and right behind. With both sides of his front end blown, and unable to move, Christi said " step over here and get a couple more in him" a few feet over, I put the three in the revolver in the heart lung area, and watched sticks and twigs fall in between us in that 15 yards, it was so thick. He never got up, or made a charge at us, ( I'm thankful for that) but as my two PH's said, " I got the full Cape Buffalo Experience" there's always a back up PH on the big 5 hunts.
Even with my "Delayed" start, I was making up for lost time. Tomorrow starts searching for Nile Crocodile.