http://www.africanhuntinggazette.com 31taken are just nice, mature bulls. Perhaps
thisis trueeverywherebut,slowlyovertime,
I thinkquality isimproving.Everyyear we
see—and pass—awesome youngsters that
needanotheryearortwo.And,everyyear,a
fewmoregreatbullsaretaken.I don’tthink
theareawillseea timewhenthe“average”
buffalois a hard-bossedbullexceedingforty
inches—ifsuchanareaexists—butsuchbulls
are there. In October 2016, hunting with
severalfriends,wehada magicalweekforbig
bulls.OnthesamedayJohnStuckerandTim
Lessertook“cookiecutter”bullsinthelow
fortieswithbigbosses;laterinthehuntPaul
Cestonitookanotherbigbull,Donnagother
bestswampbuffalo,andI gota veryfinebull
outofthesameherd.Ouraverageforthat
weekwasspectacular!
Cometothinkofit,inOctober 2018 my
daughter Brittany’s fiancé, Brad Jannenga,
shota beautiful forty-two-inchbull...and a
coupledayslaterI tooka finebull rightat
forty.So,I supposeouraverageonthathunt
wouldhavebeenprettyawesomeas well...but
I wouldn’tcountonit everytime!Inthosebig
herdsweprobablydon’talways(oroften!)see
allthebulls.Also,gettinga glimpseofa big
bullisn’tthesameas gettinga shot.Theykeep
mixingandshifting...andsortingthemoutis
a largepartofthefun.
Often, this is also the difficult part.
Hundreds ofblackbuffaloesin harshlight,
nolandmarks,a bullseenforaninstant,then
lostagaininthepress.It doesn’tworktosay,
“Can you see the hundredth buffalo from
theright?”Eventhoughdistancesareshort,
opticsareimportant.“Canyouseethatcow
inthemiddlewiththeegretonherback?Go
twotoherleft,seethesmallcalf...there’sa
bigbulljustbehindit.”Thiscangoonand
on,andis oftenfrustratingbutthat’s partof
thedeal.Sometimesthere’snoshot—orthere
isn’ta suitablebull.Youcrawlsome more...or
yougolookforanotherherd!
BRINGONTHELIONS!
Byolderaccounts, intheSixtiestherewere
a lotoflions.Afterthecivilwartherewere
almost none and, although the occasional
lion passesthrough,unlikeallotherspecies
thelionshavenotincreased.Absenceoflions
probablyhassomethingtodowithhowwell
the buffaloes have prospered...and almost
certainly has much to do with how calm
thesebuffaloesare!Evenso,wildAfricaneeds
lionsandthishasbeena glaringgapinwhat
is otherwise a magnificent slice of African
wilderness.
Thisgapisnowclosed.FundedbyMary
Cabela,hersonDanCabela,andtheCabela
Family Foundation, in 2018 two dozen wild
lionsfromvariousSouthAfricanParkswere
flown into Coutada 11, habituated, and
released. This was the largest international
transfer of lions in history...and a huge
effort by hunters, purely for conservation.
WhenI wasthereinlateOctoberthelions
hadbeenroamingthefloodplainunrestricted
forseveralweeks.Theyhadsplitintoseveral
small prides, and were making natural
kills—mostly reedbuck and warthog, and
the odd hartebeest. Even more promising,videographerBillOwenswaspresentwhena
wildMozambicanmale—oneofthefewlocal
lionsthatcomeand go—joinedoneofthe
prides.
Lionsdon’tliketogettheirfeetwet,soit
maybea whilebeforetheswampbuffaloes
havetore-learnhowtodealwithlions.For
sure,theyhavealreadychangedthewaywe
blithely stroll along the floodplain! And at
night,theMarromeucomplexwillonceagain
be part of wild Africa...where lions roar. -Mozambique: 2018
John Stucker, who shot a brilliant swamp buffalo.Craig Boddington and Paul Cestoni with Cestoni’s fine bull.