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Hi Mpofu,

Answers to your questions are as follows.

1. The biggest Buffalo bulls generally come from Masailand, but there are far fewer of them and despite what some people may say the entire area is a lot more rain dependant than the Selous. Which means if the rains fail then you might battle to find the Buffalo. If it's a first Buff hunt then I would recommend the Selous every time......The area I hunt there has some real nice bulls and the biggest I saw last year must have gone at least 46 inches. (but that was an exceptional animal). Sadly we didn't get the chance of a shot as the client was trying to get his earplugs in rather than getting the shot together. We tracked the Bull for a loooong way, but eventually lost him in he thick stuff.... they don't get that big by being stupid!!! If you hunt the Selous in early/lare season you could expect to be seeing and hunting into herds of anything up to 80-100 head. In the peak of the season (August-October) the herds can number over 1000 head.

2. There's a few different theories about herd bulls and dagga boys, but current thinking (and the one I go along with) is that the breeding bulls take turns to visit the herds and breed.....two or three (ish) at a time will leave the bachelor herd and go to the females and spend a few days breeding with as many females as they can find in oestrous and then when they get tired or dare I say, shagged out

will then go back to the bachelor herd to roll in the mud and regain their energy. Then it's time for a new two or three to go and join the girls for a bit of 'feminine company' and the whole thing starts over. We tend to drive until we see Buff and then get out and start the stalk...... if it's a small group of dagga boys, we get as close as possible, glass them over and look to see if there's anything shootable. If it's a herd of cows, calves and bulls we do much the same thing.....but with these, we often have to hunt right into the herd to check them out thoroughly. This can sometimes mean you're no more than 10 or 15 yards from Buff and they're ALL around you.

If we see something shootable in either type of herd, we take the shot if it's safe to do so......of course, occasionally you get a client who is not confident enough to hunt this way and I/we tailor the hunt to suit the client.

3. You are allowed to take 2 Buff on either a 7 or 14 day licence and 3 Buff on a 21 day licence. Each licence also allows the hunter to take a selection of other plains game and in the case of 14 & 21 day licences other dangerous game game as well......details and prices of all this are on my website. If 2 hunters booked a 7 day 2x1 Buff package they could expect to fill their licences completely. This would mean (per hunter) 2 Buff, 2 Wildebeest, 1 Impala, 1 Zebra, 1 warthog & 1 Lichensteins Hartebeest. Costs for this at the peak of the season are US$10000 per hunter which includes all licences, rifle import for 1 rifle per hunter, all charters, dip, pack & trophy delivery to a shipping agent in Dar es Salaam, trophy fee on the 1st Buff per hunter. The only additional costs are bar bills, tips and additional trophy fees of 2nd Buff $1200, Wilderbeest $450 (each) Zebra $800 Impala $350, Warthog $450 & L. Hatrebeest $500.

I think the idea of discussing and planning a hunt on the forum is a great one..... let's do it.

--------------------
Steve "Shakari" Robinson
Kuduland Safaris (Africa) Ltd
info@kuduland.com
www.kuduland.com

Edited by shakari (25/03/04 07:26 AM)

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