The bottom skull of a young bull shows two frontal bullet holes from short distance - no doubt a charge and the two guns must have fired simultaneously.

About Brain Shots On Cape Buffalo

Look at the photo below of the past season's buffalo hunts in Mozambique. The two bottom skulls (evidently shot shortly before the photo was taken) show frontal brain shots from very close; my guess is 15 yards judged by the size of the bullet holes (most big bores with 1:14" still have their heavy bullets slightly wobbling closer than 20 yards, therefore the size of the hole).

The two bottom skulls show frontal brain shots - lower one centre forehead and the one on top of it into the right nostril. Look how the eyes popped out on the second buffalo - a perfect brain shot through the nostril.

I was not present with any of these but both mean only one thing - the outfitter killed them in a charge after the initial shot had missed the heart.

This is par for the course - out of ten buffalo about four hunters new to this game will miss the heart. A lung shot on Cape buffalo is totally useless no matter whether it is a .460 Weatherby or a 9,3x62.

Sure, and indeed culling is not hunting at all - it is a specialist job that property owners contract out after the hunting season and an excess of animals for the natural food supply is still on the land.

As an example: Twelve individual properties of varying sizes from 3,000 to 20,000 acres may have set up a sectional title agreement to form one big 120,000 acre conservancy. Old farm boundary cattle fences are removed and the outside perimeter is fenced. Earlier the analysis of the collective food supply had been done and the numbers of males and females by specie for balanced utilisation of the food was determined so that the vegetation is neither overgrazed or allowed to become impenetrable. The yearly growth in numbers by births above the natural sustainable balance is what determines the numbers to be hunted.

Typically one kudu one zebra, one wildebeest, one gemsbok, three impala three bushbuck and two warthog can share the same 200 acres of dense savannah as there are that variety of plant material for each to graze or browse. These named animals do not compete for the same food source.

After an ititial airborne game count each property owner is allocated numbers and gender of each specie to be hunted on his section.

The excess numbers of old females and young males typically are the ones hunted by local meat hunters, and the representative big males by visiting trophy hunters.

After the season, should the count of total game hunted not meet the required figure, a professional culler is contracted. He either has his own meat processing facility or sells to one. Only brain shots are acceptable.

A day's springbok culling:

OK. there are some US mil spec sniper scopes and rifles that would make it quite possible. They can actually compute the shot and move the cross hairs, indicating when "on target". That is not hunting in my opinion though, more like assassination.

"Wow. I don't think I could see the head at 500 yards."

Neither can I but the PH who led the giraffe cull did it with a blesbok - but he was a successful sniper for some friendly forces. Darn scope on his rifle costs $5,000. I do not do brain shots beyond 220 yards or so

Wow. I don't think I could see the head at 500 yards. My longest shot has been 240 yards with a straight away running neck shot on an eight point with a 308 Browning A-Bolt II. 3x9 Leopold scope was maxed out at that, and I had a solid rifle rest. You don't get very long shots in my area.

I remember one buck where I had a rifle rest and my 3030 long rifle. The deer was grazing and I had all the time needed to shoot him through the shoulder and heart with a 170g nosler partition. The deer took off into the thickets and carried on for about 100 yards. What a pain, but I tracked him. The bullet acted like a hard ball. Finger in, finger out. Heart with a hole clean through it. So I changed to a soft point and got much better results with that same rifle. Similar occurrence with a 3006 and a Winchester Supreme Failsafe. Through and through heart shot doe carried on for 100 yards. Had some end to end through shots with those , drop deads. Anyway I quit shooting them, and Winchester was soon told to stop making them and the Black Talons. Still have some actually. Have had some of the quickest kills with the Sierra Game Kings that you detest, and the Remington soft points, or the Hornady FTX 3030 freehand. Who cares if the jacket separates? It's how we roll over here, with the thin skinned critters.

Brian,

We are mostly meat hunters and therefor brain shots are often done - but not so much in the densely vegetated areas. An imperfect off-hand shot will get the bullet through the sinuses and then you have a problem. In bush country off-hand shooting is regularly the only way to get kudu, wildebeest, etc. as they offer you a 4 second window after having seen you.

It is common to do brain shots on plains game out to 220 yards or so and for culling operations it is the only way. In case of an imprecise shot it can be stalked again to 250 yards or so and be identified by its nose bleed. But we take care to do it properly. The professional cullers do brain shots on blesbok out to 500 yards.

Brian wrote:

Again, no need to answer until you are ready. I write now, because I wish to remember the question ;0).

We do not use brain shot unless absolutely necessary (and only on dangerous game) because it destroys trophys. Bear hunters need the skull for measuring and placement in B&C record books. Antlers game skulls hold antlers in place. Lung shots here are POSITIVE, and I am a very good tracker. Also, if game NEVER sees us, ( my job) they run very seldom, and rarely very far.

I do my utmost to get clients CLOSE, especially after watching them "sight-in". I see now (after seeing your "shot placement" article, why African game is seen to be tougher. Most North Americans would miss vitals. Probably there is more, but my ignorance on the subject is responsible. Good luck tomorrow.....well, you're probably finished by now ;0

Brian you have an equally challenging job with some over the border hunters ;) Like when I am guiding in Colorado...

Draw imaginary lines between left eye and right ear hole, and right eye and left ear hole - where these cross inside the head is the centre of the brain. In the photo above put the bullet between the dimple on his nose and the nostril on the right to go where those lines cross inside his skull.

The shot on the buffalo is to hit the centre of the brain which is situated halfway between the eyes and the ears - but yes, rather a little low than high as the skull angle is an issue, deflecting a bullet. With that head attitude often the shot has to go right into a nostril as they like to measure you with one eye, the head turned slightly sideways and the nose up.

We NEVER see leopard unless at a bait. BUT there many more than generally accepted. Where I built a new camp in far northern Mozambique I had at least four just along the river bank a kilometre either side of my camp. I tracked one once and was so close I could smell her but their camouflage is just too good. They will never attack an adult human and avert confrontation unless wounded -then they are quite a challenge. Being soft skinned killing them is relatively easy too - 180gr bullet in .308W / 30-06 / .303. or 160gr bullet in 7x57. In Mozambique we simply use the .416 Rigby with 400gr monolithic copper for everything from camp meat to buffalo.

Africa game is not any tougher than their same weight counterparts in North America. We kill the 10 elk size animals all the time with a single shot from 7x57 / .308W / 30-06, etc. An easy shot into the heart as I show in the shot placement photos is all that is needed. My folk are simply too lazy to track a lung shot wildebeest for miles so we rather kill it outright with a bullet through the heart.

Put it into the lungs with the bigger animals like wildebeest, oryx, eland, etc. and you need good tracking ability. That is why our hunting education programmes cum hunting rifle shooting competitions concentrate on heart and brain shots. Kudu and wildebeest and eland have very little lung low behind the shoulder, and only the uninformed will shoot high behind the shoulder. Because they live at much lower elevation they do not need supercharger lungs for oxygen supply. You damage that supercharger compressor of an elk or mule deer and it very quickly becomes hypoxic.