Hunting Portal Namibia: Cape Buffalo

Cape Buffalo

Characteristics:
Tall bulls can reach a shoulder height of 170 cm, a head-torso length of 340 cm and a weight of 1,000 kg. Normal body weight is 700 - 820 kg.

Colouring:
While calves are still densely hairy, the coat becomes sparser with age, and old animals are almost naked. The color of the ceiling is most often black; but can also have different shades of brown.

Habitat:
Grass savannahs with bush and tree populations and year-round water supply.

Occurrence (in Namibia):
In the wild only in the far northeast of Namibia (Caprivi) The Mamili area, west of the Kwando River, or the Mahango Game Reserve offer good hunting opportunities. Some licenses are also available for the Ojozondjupa region (Waterberg Plateau Park and Bushmanland).

Main food:
Mainly grass and young shoots of bushes and trees with a year-round supply of water for scooping and wallowing.

Rutting season:
September - December

Gestation period:
After 11.5 months of gestation, a calf is set.

Life expectancy:
20 years

Horns:
Both sexes have protruding horns. The ears are set under the horns. In the bull, both horns are connected by a bone shield (helmet) that sits on the head. The swing of the horns is called "curl"; starting from the helmet downwards and in an arc back up and back.
Horn length in bulls up to 160 cm (delivery).

Habits:
The Cape buffalo is probably the most coveted of all African hunting trophies. Buffaloes usually live in large herds of mixed ages and sexes. Although some really old bulls spend their entire lives with the herds, they usually lead a solitary existence away from the hustle and bustle of the herd or join together in bachelor groups of 2 to 10 bulls. These bulls are called "dugga-boys" and are the demanding, ill-tempered trophy animals that are so desirable to the trophy hunter.
The classic way of buffalo hunting is to track down a loner or a group of "dugga bulls" and then select the oldest piece of the group, a bull with a fully cured helmet.An accurate shot from not too great a distance is of utmost importance, because buffaloes are extremely tough animals and can become very dangerous if they are welded on.The shot should be fired at the cardiopulmonary area. Carrier shots should be avoided, because the probability of missing the spine is very high.
Buffalo should be hunted with at least a cal .375 (9.5 mm). Either very hard partial jacket projectiles (deformation projectiles with a high residual weight) or full-jacket projectiles should be used.