I believe it was legal as it was on a private farm in South Africa. I believe that was investigated by the client after leaving the hunt due to concerns.

More on the story.

It was a female hunter who is an online friend of mine. She was hunting plains game but was offered a cape buffalo hunt as well. She is an honest person and I believe was led into it, not realising it.

For whatever reason she was taken to shoot the bull at night, with the aid of a light. The bull came regularly to eat at an alfalfa pellet feed trough and that was where it was planned to shoot the bull.

I believe a shot was taken at the bull from the front which is a more difficult shot to make for a kill shot. The bull was wounded and escaped. The PH and the hunter tried to find it the next day but were unsuccessful. She was then told they couldn't follow it anymore even though she wanted to and there were several more hunting days available. In the end she was told a story that the bull had been taken to another property. She paid the trophy fee in total in good faith as an honest person.

Obviously a lot more to this story. It appears that one PH was licenced for dangerous game while a second was not. When the first DG licenced PH was no longer available they stopped looking for the bull.

The lady hunter is an honest hunter and had concerns about the whole affair.

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My question here was if anyone had ever heard of a cape buffalo being "hunted" at night like this? Because it seem extraordinary to me, and not sporting in the least. Add to that a bull which is fed by alfalfa pellets so the outfitter knows where it will be and when. Maybe it only came to the feed at night, thereby the outfitter thinking shooting it at night was the "way to go"? To me the supplementary feeding like that again is evidence of a non fair chase sporting hunt. Really confirms to me my negativity on 95% of cape buffalo "hunting" in South Africa. Other clients may think differently where taking a trophy is the main objective. I suppose that is up to them.

The story was on a multi-page thread on another forum, where there are a lot of outfitters. Most of who are "in the trade".

My feelings are most experienced DG hunters would not have considered a cape buffalo hunt of this nature. Experience and knowledge before hand being the key points. The client here ended up paying honestly for a trophy fee for nothing in my opinion.

She is keen to hunt cape buffalo again, so has not been soured by the experience. I think a hunt on truly wild herds would be a far more enjoyable experience. I have messaged her about this thread so hopefully stay friends afterwards!