From April 26th through May 4th of 2016 I hunted with Ian Blakeway of Venture South Outfitting on a free range concession in the Kwa Zulu Natal region of South Africa for Nyala and Bushbuck. I used my left handed Winchester Model 70 chambered in 375 H&H magnum, loaded with the 235 grain Cutting Edge Bullets, Raptor Extended Range bullets at 3,000 fps. Forgive me for the quality of some of the photos. It was drizzling rain that day and all the photos in the brush were taken with the flash on automatic so it looks a lot lighter in there than it actually was.

A Bushbuck to Die For

On the northern half of the 30,000 + acre concession, we drove up the dirt road along the eastern side of a canyon and spotted a kudu bull holed up in the thick brush at the bottom of the brush filled ravine. We continued to the top of the mountain and spent two hours glassing the empty hillsides in the light rain. We started back down the dirt road and about half way down we saw a couple of bushbuck ewes browsing near the ravine where the kudu bull was laid up. We watched those ewes for about an hour waiting for their buck to show up. The ewes disappeared into the brush and just as we were going to give up, Tombo the camp tracker, excitedly hissed “Nkonka” (Bushbuck) and pointed down and across the valley.

There browsing on the edge of the brush near a bright green tree was a bushbuck. Ian said that he’s big and old but he only has one horn. At first I didn’t want another one horned buck (I shot a one horned buck on the East Cape in 2013) but looking at him with my binoculars I could see that he was a spectacular old buck with great mass in his horn and broken stub.

I retrieved my rifle from the back of the truck and loaded it with three, 235 grain CEB Raptors while Ian grabbed the shooting sticks. When I looked up again, the buck had disappeared! We waited for about 5 minutes and I decided to walk down our side of the canyon for a different view. About 20 meters down the road I could see the buck browsing behind the bright green tree. I hissed for Ian and Tombo and they rushed over with the shooting sticks. I got seated behind the sticks and Ian said “230 yards”. I slid the crosshairs down the top line of the buck’s shoulder and when they settled on the shoulder joint, I touched the trigger.

At the shot, I saw the buck rear up on his back legs before losing him in the recoil. The buck lunged forward and disappeared into the brush. The brush shook once and then stopped. Ian said “Perfect heart shot! He did a back flip and then fell into the brush. He’s dead.”

We got in the truck and went back up the mountain to the other side of the valley, to find the buck. Ian said that he’s a beautiful buck and if I hadn’t shot he would have liked to take him himself. He suggested that I immediately go out and buy a lottery ticket when I get home as the odds of taking two, one-horned old bucks was phenomenal. He added that he had only seen three one-horned bushbucks in his life and I had managed to kill two of them on successive hunts.
We got across the canyon, I loaded my rifle and we started down the hillside. Ian decided not to take his rifle but had his Glock 23 loaded with .40 caliber, Winchester Black Talon ammo on him. We walked down the hill and started looking for the dead buck. Ian found the first blood and we slowly worked out his trail. We followed the blood trail down into the deep brush, stooping under the overhangs and crawling when necessary.

The worn game path split into two separate trails but we couldn’t find any more blood. I went back out and around some brush to look on the higher path while Ian and Tombo searched for any more sign on the lower path. On the other side of the brush, I found fresh blood and tissue and called Ian and Tombo over. We slowly crawled back into the brush and Ian said, “I can hear him breathing, it sounds like a lung shot.” I could hear a low gurgling sound ahead of us in the brush and we continued looking for him.

Ian suddenly stiffened and said, “There he is”. He was looking through a foot wide hole in the brush but I couldn’t see the buck from beside and behind him. I handed my rifle to Ian and told him to shoot. Ian shot and said “He’s down”. I take my rifle back, cycled the action and safed it. Ian crawled into the 6 foot by 6 foot clearing where the buck was lying down on his left side. I could see into the hole and took a picture with my cellphone when the buck suddenly drew a breath.

There wasn’t enough room in the clearing for me to enter so Ian drew his Glock and shot the buck in the chest. The buck then rolled upright, Ian hesitated and then shot the buck again with the pistol. The buck exploded off the ground facing me and I swung my rifle toward it but couldn’t shoot so close to Ian. The buck spun left and launched itself right at Ian. Ian straight armed the buck with his left hand, hitting it in the horn stub. He pushed it aside as it lunged for him, while shooting straight down into the buck’s back. The buck traveled past him about ten feet and fell so I shot it again in the chest with my rifle. He was finally dead!

Ian and I looked at each other, safed our guns and started jabbering questions at each other trying to figure out what had happened.

We examined the buck and he looked like hell, full of bullet holes on his back and left side. He’s a very old buck, completely blind in his left eye and with large cataracts in his right eye. His front teeth are worn almost completely to the gum line and he probably wouldn’t have made it through the next dry season.

As near as we could figure out, my first shot across the canyon hit him right on the point of the shoulder, destroying it. The bullet then deflected straight down, sliding outside the chest cavity until it broke the breast bone.

Ian’s shot with my rifle, hit the buck in the horn stunning it. Then Ian’s first shots with his handgun woke the buck up and it charged him.

We found four petals from the first CEB Raptor bullet in the destroyed left shoulder and there was nothing left of the buck’s shoulder joint.

There were bone fragments in the chest cavity and the left lung was completely shredded. At the bottom of the buck’s chest was an eight inch long gash that may have come from my finishing shot.

Two pistol shots entered the left side of his chest and exited low on the right side belly. Two more pistol bullets went straight down through his back and we found one long vertical graze behind his left shoulder. There was a half inch long slit in the buck’s heart and inside it we found the jacket of one of the Black Talon bullets but no core.

My PH Ian, came out of it with a bruise and a sore spot on the palm of his left hand and it’s a hunt that we’ll both definitely remember for the rest of our lives.

Ian Blakeway with my buck, back in camp: