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A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making #8815639 03/10/23 05:13 AM
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In August of 2019 I had just returned from a trip to South Africa, and fresh off the heels of that hunt, was looking for more adventure. I had a list of possible hunts I wanted to go on and started calling around to different outfitters seeing what they had to offer. I booked a fall hunt with a Canadian outfitter but having enjoyed the "off" season hunting experience, started looking for something that would complement the fall season.

A friend of mine had hunted a few years prior near Cordoba, Argentina and took a beautiful red stag so I inquired about the outfit he went with. That initial conversation led me down a rabbit hole of research, looking at different areas of the country (as well as into Chile in the foothills of the Andes) and what they had to offer in the way of Big Game hunting. I learned that while Red Deer (the most popular game animal in Argentina) is widespread across the country, arguably the most productive region of the Country is the La Pampa Province. The native wildlife in Argentina was almost entirely wiped out due to unregulated market hunting, and in 1906 the first Red Deer arrived in La Pampa, followed by subsequent releases to other areas of the country in the 1920's. I narrowed it down to a few outfitters I felt comfortable with and ended up deciding on one pending a visit with him at the DSC Convention in January.

At the beginning of January, I took the trip up to Dallas and met with the outfitter just as the show was closing. Very nice fellow, excellent hunting ranch and great accommodations. Still, I had a few reservations about the trip and decided to visit with a few other outfits before committing. The next morning, I went to the booth of another outfitter and talked with him for a few minutes. I immediately felt comfortable with him, got my hunting partner on the phone and put down my deposit on a hunt for the middle of March. Plans were made, schedules were coordinated, and we looked forward to the trip that would take place just a few months later.....or so we thought. I prefer to forget about the Covid-era, but needless to say we were not going anywhere. A hunter actually made it down to the ranch right after the shelter in place order took effect in Argentina and he ended up staying for 50+ days at the ranch with no way to get home. Any hunting trips we had planned were put on hold for the foreseeable future as we went thru the whole ordeal of quarantines, vaccinations, masks, etc.

2021 rolls around and hunting in Argentina is still shut down. I talk to the outfitter, and he assures us that our deposits are secure, and we will have our spots in 2022. This was a tough time for any hunting outfitter as they depend on the income to continue their operations and with no hunters, they were taking a big hit financially. Fast forward another year, and 2022 is upon us. While the quarantine mandate had been lifted, they were still requiring vaccines as well as a negative test to enter/exit the country, and I felt that it wasn't the best time to leave the U.S to travel abroad. Thoughts of getting stuck in a foreign country for weeks with my Wife and Kids back at home just didn't sit well with me, so after talking to the outfitter he agreed to push the hunt again to 2023.

Truthfully, after 2 1/2 years the excitement of the hunt had kind of faded and it went on the mental backburner. Then, in mid-April of 2022, they lifted the Vaccine and Quarantine mandates, and the hunt was back on!

We were given the option of hunting on opening week (which would be a bow hunting only week) and we elected to take it. I had planned on bowhunting anyway due to the hassle of importing firearms into the country, and the others in our party planned to do the same, so this was a chance to hunt unpressured animals and we gladly jumped on it.







continued below.......


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8815642 03/10/23 05:28 AM
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So, plans were made, flights were purchased and all that was left to do was wait. I started shooting my bow almost daily and incorporating more cardio into my workout routines. The months passed quickly and before you know it we were ready to depart.


I was to meet my Associate at IAH in Houston and take a flight to Buenos Aires, where we would meet the other two members of our party, hop another flight to a small regional airport and from there get transported to the ranch via a shuttle van. The day of departure arrives, I leave San Antonio, catch a 40 min flight to Houston were we eat and regroup before boarding the plane to begin our 10 hour flight to Buenos Aires Argentina. We board the plane, and as soon as my butt hits the seat, I lean my chair back slightly and I'm out. I slept thru the entire flight and awoke getting ready to land in a foreign country

[Linked Image]




to be continued in the morning.....


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8815670 03/10/23 11:54 AM
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Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8815673 03/10/23 12:07 PM
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Very interesting so far up


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Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8815761 03/10/23 03:09 PM
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So we land a EZE in Buenos Aires. Argentina has roughly 30 million people in country and about half of them live in BA. To say the city is huge would be a gross understatement. We get off the plane, make our way (very easily I might add) thru customs and collect our baggage where we go thru another customs checkpoint and out the door. Our Outfitter has arranged for a driver to pick us up, go eat and take us to another airport to catch a flight into a town called Santa Rosa, where he will be waiting for us. We got to see a good chunk of the city, the central business district and 7 of us enjoyed a delicious meal at a high end restaurant. They are much more laid back than we are in regard to time and schedules...we arrived shortly after 12pm to an almost dead restaurant. I assumed due to the nature of the place it was mainly a dinner spot, but by the time we left at 2pm the place was completely full with not a seat in the house. The U.S dollar is very strong there and the total bill.....we were eating steaks, several bottles of wine were purchased, appetizers, the whole 9....was only $118. After lunch, we went to the second airport, caught a flight there to Santa Rosa, landed an hour later and were whisked away via a sprinter van to the property where we had another delicious meal and headed to bed.
[Linked Image]

The next morning around 7am we started checking our gear, made sure our bows were shooting and all our terminal equipment had survived the trip. With everything appearing to be in order, we loaded up in trucks and took a tour around the property. The area is very diverse, but the majority of it looks like South Texas around Falfurrias or Kingsville.....sandy loam soil, gently rolling terrain and thick brush.
[Linked Image]

There was an area of pretty substantial sand dunes as well, where we had found this guy:

[Linked Image]


Asian Water Buffalo is another big game animal that Argentina has become known for. Originally brought in to be an alternate livestock option to cattle, they were found to be unsuitable and were turned loose and now inhabit the country in large numbers. Slightly bigger than a Cape Buffalo, they share a similar temperament and attitude.


We continue on the tour and after a few hours, we return to camp to eat and take part in another Argentinian tradition...the Siesta. Everyone takes a nap after lunch for around 2 hours, normally from 1pm-3pm. After 3pm, we grab our bows and head out into the bush.


Argentina is much like Texas in regards to game and how they got there....besides the Red Deer and Buffalo, there are Blackbuck, Fallow, Axis, Sheep and Russian Boar. Fallow and Blackbuck are by far the most common animal, and I cannot begin to describe the numbers in which they are present. Its much like being on Safari in South Africa rather than a hunt here stateside. As we are driving to take the first hunter to his spot, we see a giant stag cross the road in front of us, followed by 2 more of very respectable size. We drop hunter 1 off and make our way to our spot about a mile and a half away to our area. When we arrive, I was told there was a watering hole nearby, we walk over to it and discover a nice elevated bow blind set up over the water hole. Its unseasonably hot for this time of year and animals are hitting the water hole like clockwork. We decided to work a block of brush that's around 200 acres and to see if we could intercept and animal. It's interesting to note that we are hunting a huge ranch, over 60k acres, and we are staying in a 200 acre block of brush with a few roads and firebreaks cut thru it. I'll come back to cover more on this strategy later. Anyway, we walk the block, come back around to the truck and sit for around 15 min. My PH is a huge Argentinian, probably close to 6'5 who has been a PH in Argentina and Mozambique. He is able to glide silently thru the brush at a steady pace, only to stop to pick berries from time to time. We have a berry in South Texas called Grajeno, which is a small citrus with a pit that is usually bright orange. These are very similar but come in bright orange, darker red and dark purple, like a dew berry. We both preferred the darker berries and didn't pass up a opportunity to eat some when we came across a bushfull of them.

[Linked Image]


Continued below......



For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8815775 03/10/23 03:25 PM
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we make our way back thru the same block of brush, and we see several fallow, a blackbuck or two and then I catch a glimpse of some real antler off to my right. Taking a look, we see a HUGE stag bedded down about 120 yards away. We try and formulate a plan to get close, while we are looking at options a fallow doe crosses our path, spooks and runs off, causing him to get up and start walking. Totally unaware of our presence, we are paralleling him at a rapid pace. We get to within 80 yards of him before we lose him in the brush.

We decided to pull out of the area and come back in the morning, as we make our way along the field edge we see this stag looking at us about 150 yards out:

[Linked Image]





To be continued


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8815779 03/10/23 03:33 PM
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Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8815821 03/10/23 04:46 PM
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High fence, low fence, no fence, it really doesn't matter as long as you're hunting!
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8815915 03/10/23 07:53 PM
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So, as the sun was setting, we made our way back to the truck to head back in to camp, planning to return again in the morning. We had a delicious meal and I got to partake in one of the local customs, which is to drink a tea called Mate' ( pronounced "mah-tey") that pretty much everyone in Argentina Drinks. Basically, its dried tea leaves crushed up, put inside a cup, then hot water is poured over it, which is drank thru a metal straw with a strainer at the bottom to eliminate big chunks of tea from coming up the pipe. It's high powered and I became addicted to it in short order, drinking both it and its commercial bagged version, Mate' Cocidia, multiple times a day.

[Linked Image]


The next morning, we head out at sunrise back to our little block of brush to continue to walk slowly down trails and fire breaks and to pick berries. This morning was slower with animal activity being down, but we did have a nice stag come feeding into the fire break at 60 yards. He was not the monster from the day before but he would certainly do and we attempted a stalk, but the stag spooked a bedded fallow deer and they both ran off out of range and out of site. As the morning sun got higher, we battled with rising temps and changing winds. The Roar had not quite begun yet, although we did hear some stags talking, most were still in bachelor groups not chasing hinds. We made it to the edge of the field where we were the day before and I saw the big Stag from the previous evening, along with a slightly smaller stag with huge brow tines and 4 hinds. We watched them at just over 300 yards for about 15 min when they eventually walked into the woods. We drove around to another side of the ranch and spotted a group of 20 stags, we made a stalk on them but an Axis deer knocked us off and spooked the herd, running off and out of sight. I had the option to sit at the water hole blind that evening, but I declined as I really wanted to take a stag by spot and stalk rather than sitting. We get back into camp and compare notes with the other hunters, some were just covered up with game, others only seeing a few animals on the morning hunt. After a big lunch and a nap, we decided to go out around 4:30 pm as it was brutally hot, close to 100*....this time of year it gets dark around 8:30 so we had plenty of time. Going back to our little brush patch, we parked the truck and began walking. To those wondering why we were hunting the same little piece of land when we had a massive ranch to roam around on, it became quickly apparent that the majority of the game was concentrated in a valley that ran thru the middle of the ranch. During the roar, both the stags and the hinds would more evenly disperse, but at the time being, all the Red Deer, Fallow and Antelope seemed to be stacked up on the edge of the valley, so we were in a prime spot. Travels to the far corners of the ranch revealed that most of the game was close to water and in the valley, not far from the camp.

We park the truck and begin our usual slow mosey thru the brush, eating berries and staying in the shade as much as possible. We had just come across a group of 3 fallow bucks, with two shooters in the group, at 40 yards, but I declined to take the shot as I wanted a stag first. just minutes later, we heard a groan of a stag off to our left, so we changed directions and went to investigate the noise. We found a stag rubbing his antlers on a tree.... a quick inspection revealed that there were about 5 stags in the group, with 2 definite shooters. We park it for a bit to watch the stags, they are about 80 yards out and just milling about. After about 10 min, more stags start to come in from the right, and the original stags start to move on. We watch about 7 stags walk by when we see one trailing at the end, we get up and make a flank move to get into position to get a possible shot. Charly ( my PH ) confirms its a shooter and the plan is to stop the stag when he gets into a opening between two trees, which would offer me about a 60 yard shot. We get in front of the opening and here comes the stag (At this point I've only seen him walking thru the brush, have no idea what he looks like other than he looks like a decent animal). I knock an arrow and draw back.....the stag walks into the opening, Charly grunts to stop him and he stops in the shade of the two trees. I center my 60 yard pin behind the shoulder and make the shot, watching the arrow sail exactly where i wanted and hear the impact of the arrow. The stag whirls and runs back the way he came, and I'm puzzled because there is alot of arrow sticking out of him as he runs off. Still, we both agreed it looked like a good hit. Charly quickly makes his way over to where the animal was standing, looks around and motions for me to come quick. I make it to the spot to find Charly about 30 yards further looking with his binoculars. I go over to him and he tells me to look....i grab the glass and am horrified to see my stag walking across the field about 600 yards away bleeding from his shoulder. I'm hoping he is going to slow to a crawl and eventually drop, but he ends up walking over a hill and out of sight.

Charly does not seem worried about the shot at all, we find the arrow, which had broke off, but reveled to have about 12" of penetration, so I'm hoping the broadhead had cut enough for him to bleed out. We make it to the spot where he went out of sight, and find one drop of blood on a leaf. At this point I'm beyond frustrated, worried we won't find the animal and he will go into the thickest, nastiest stuff to die. Charly is not worried at all, which is both frustrating and puzzling. He keeps telling me "were ok, we get him". We are slowly driving down a road slowly, as we are now in an area that is occupied by another hunter, when we see a band of stags to our right. we pull out the binoculars and I'm surprised to see my stag among the group, doing better than I'd like him to be. My plan was to creep by them in the truck, get to the end of the road, turn around and get him with a Wyoming Drive by, which is a technique we use to hunt antelope, basically I bail out at a slow creep, the truck continues to drive off while i take a shot when the animal is focused on the truck. So we make the turn and are heading back to the animal, communication was crossed and when i bailed out he stopped the truck, which ended up being ok. I move to the front of the truck, draw back as Charly tells me 60 yards. I look thru the peep, the animal is in the shadows, sun is in my eyes so I can't see anything detailed on him, just a dark form. Again I center the pin behind what i think is the shoulder and just as I hit the release, he starts walking and I watch as the arrow sails and I hear the impact, but I see nothing, although its obvious the arrow did not hit where I intended it too. He runs off and I am just at a loss....I thought I may have hit him just forward of the hip although there is no way to tell. Charly tells me the shot was far back, but again isn't showing much concern. I am thinking, "well, at least I got another arrow in him". We get to where the arrow hit, finding it made a full pass thru. There is a decent amount of blood on it, and surprisingly no gut matter, although it has a bit of a smell to it. We track to a spot where he crossed the road and find a pretty decent spot of blood. At this point, the other hunter sees us in the road and he comes over, we tell him what's going on and tell him we are going to circle this block of brush until dark while he continues to hunt. We start driving and about 10 min later we come up to a herd of Stag under a tree at the edge of the road. We look and find its the same herd, but my stag does not appear to be with them. We continue driving, make a loop and stop on the edge of the field. Just after sunset, we see a herd of stag moving out of the brush into the field, obviously having been spooked. We see every stag with the exception of mine, which is a positive sign. We drive back to where we last saw the stags, find a trail and start walking.....after a couple hundred yards, we make it to a clearing and see my stag piled up in the middle. To say I am elated is an understatement. This is the first time i'm acually able to get a good look at him, he is just about perfect in every way, extremely symmetrical with excellent dark- honey colored antlers.

We are about to take a picture when the other hunter and his guide come out of the woods ( it was them who spooked the herd when we last saw it ) and we got the stag propped up to take some pictures:


[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8815916 03/10/23 08:01 PM
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We gut the stag and make our way back to the camp while the skinners come and retrieve the animal out of the field.

I'm on cloud 9, having recovered the stag despite two less than ideal shots ( a very good reminder that when it comes to hunting, nothing is to be expected or predicted ).


I still have 3 days left in the trip, and make plans to go after a sheep the next morning, so after a dinner and desert, head off the bed.........






* I'll continue part two tomorrow, as there is still lots of the story to tell, thanks for following along this far*


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8815923 03/10/23 08:23 PM
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Awesome story and pics. Congrats on a great stag!

Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816073 03/11/23 12:39 AM
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What an adventure. Can’t wait to see the rest of the story.

Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816201 03/11/23 04:44 AM
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Exciting story! Congratulations on your stag!

Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816207 03/11/23 05:16 AM
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Thanks for taking us along and dang good stag.


lf the saying "Liar, Liar your pants on fire" were true
Mainstream news might be fun to watch
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816275 03/11/23 01:37 PM
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I had initially planned to take a fallow after my stag, which is an animal both me and my wife have wanted to take for several years now. The ultimate timing of this trip was less than ideal, and my wife did not make any bones about letting me know that she was less than thrilled about me being gone for 9 days. So, not wanting to rub any more salt in the wound by showing up back home with a big fallow, I elected not to try and take one. The ranch has a good population of axis deer as well as blackbuck, but living in Texas I’m not all that pumped up about either one of those. I decided I would go and shoot a sheep just to keep hunting, although I’m not excited about shooting a sheep either. We go to another part of the ranch the next morning to try and find a sheep.

We park the truck and begin our walk, this area is more sandy with scattered huisache looking trees, not near as brushy as where I took my stag. We came across a Russian boar with big cutters that I tried to stalk on, but the wind swirled and he bumped us off. We walk a little ways further and stop to rest under a tree. Not 5 min later a herd of rams come walking down the trail right towards us. They start to feed about 35 yards away, and I even draw back on one of them, but I really didn’t want to take the shot. He never presented just a slams dunk shot so I let down as they eventually fed off out of range. The PH sensed i wasn’t fired up about the ram and said, f*** the sheep, let’s go kill a Buffalo with your bow. Now up until this moment I hadn’t thought about killing a Buffalo. We had only seen one on the initial tour of the ranch. Fresh off an American Buffalo hunt in New Mexico, I think about it for second and agree, let’s do it! I had a pack of Kudu broadheads I had thrown in my pack at the very last minute before I left, and now I was glad I brought them. These are wicked little points with s medieval design that passed right thru the buffalo I had shot earlier in September.

I get back to camp, switch my broadheads over, take my nap, and wake up around 3:30 to head out. I won’t lie, I was a bit apprehensive about going to stalk up on and shoot a 2000 lb animal with surly disposition with a bow. Charly assures me that everything will be fine. He had talked to a neighbor about a Buffalo bull that has taken to hanging out at a water trough near his ranch house and is scaring all the Gauchos, and would like it gone if possible. In Argentina a landowner cannot just deal with a problem animal himself, it requires licenses and permits, so it would be best to be dealt with by a hunter. The ranch house is many miles away so we load up and head out.

We arrive near the water trough and see a small herd to cattle milling about. We park the truck and get out, walking over to the trough. Then, about 100 yards ahead, we see the big bull. He is giant! It’s hard to describe what an animal this size looks like, but the musculature of these beasts are amazing. At one point he was standing next to a full grown Hereford bull and he just dwarfed it. Anyway. He starts pacing back and forth somewhere between curious and agitated. We attempted to get within bow range, but he decided to choose life, hopped the fence and take off. We tracked him for close to an hour but could only catch brief sightings of him before we gave up the chase. It was still early in the afternoon so we decided to drive around to see if we could find another bull, when they get older they are more solitary by nature. They like to come out in the evenings and sit next to the roads so we continued on our search. We drove by a true giant, but passed on him as he was a trophy class bull, I was looking for something mature but didn’t need to have record book headgear. So we continue on our search.…





For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816300 03/11/23 02:21 PM
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Continues below


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816301 03/11/23 02:21 PM
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So we are driving down a ranch road when we see one of the field hands operating a maintainer. He flags us down and asks us for a ride back to his truck. He jumps in and we continue on our trip. About halfway to his ride, we see a lone bull sitting in the shade on the other side of the cattle fence. We mark his location, drop the guy off at his truck then turn around to get a better look at this bull. We park the truck about 1/2 a mile from we’re we saw him, get out and start walking.

Using the cattle fence as a type of cover, we see the bull and keep moving forward. Around 80 yards or so, the bull jumps up. I knock an arrow and we keep moving forward. At 50 yards, we stop, he is looking at us, not knowing if he wants to charge or leave the scene. I draw back and wait for my shot. After what seems like forever, the big bull turns broadside. I put my 50 yard pin in the pocket low behind his shoulder, touch the release, and watch the arrow…. Sail right in to the side of bull. Like hits him in the middle of the body. Now I have no earthy idea how the shot ended up where it did, 2 1/2 feet to thr left of where I was aiming. I was nervous but not excited and was able to maintain my composure. Felt great about the shot all the way thru the execution. The only thing I can figure, is the arrow was not in the valley of the Hamskea rest when I shot, causing it to veer of course. That is the only logical explanation I have for this situation. To add insult to injury (no pun intended to the buff) the arrow only got about 4” of penetration. So when the arrow hits, Ferdinand jumps. Stands there for a second and trots off.

Now I’m really thinking “WTF!?!” I can’t believe that just happened. All Charly said was “you hit him far back”. We go to where he was standing, and see him pacing back and forth in the brush about 40 yard away, but cannot get a clear shot. We walk down the fence a little further, when another bull comes out to our left about 30 yards away. We surprise each other and there is a little bit of a tense stand-off when we slowly back up and slowly climb the cattle fence and go into the other pasture. We walk down the road into a small clearing where we think the bull might come out. We wait for about 10 min but see nothing but two black angus heifers. We start walking back towards the truck when we pass by where the bull was shot and we hear him crashing off thru the trees. I ask Charly “ what do we do now”, thinking we are going to have to go into the bush to find a pissed off water Buffalo. I’m talking out loud, saying I don’t know what happened, have no idea how I hit that far back etc. I mean in all honesty the bull is the size of the Hilux we were driving around in. All Charly says is “ don’t worry, we find him”. I stop waking and say “ seriously, you think we are gonna find that bull, really “. “ Oh yes , no problem I know right where he is going “, like they are peers who frequent the same locales. We get in the truck, turn around and start heading for a gate to get into that pasture. We go thru the gate and continue on, the whole time I’m questioning that we will ever see the bull again. Charly just keeps telling me, “ don’t worry, everything is good, 100% we will find him. We are going to go thru this meadow and he will be waiting for us there”. Now I’ve head some optimistic theories in my day but there is no way in hell we are finding this bull after the shot I made. We loop thru the pasture, come out of the meadow, cross a water hole and on the edge of the clearing, standing there big as shyte, is that damn buffalo…..


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816367 03/11/23 03:48 PM
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Waiting for the next update. Good stuff so far

Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816498 03/11/23 07:26 PM
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So there we are, standing at this buffalo. I yell out “holy sh**, there he is!” Charly just kinds of chuckles.

He asks me if I want to go after him with my bow, I decline and grab the .375. We stop the truck and I take a bead on his shoulder, slide the safety forward and squeeze the trigger. The bullet makes impact and…..nothing. Amazed, I rack another shell, put thr crosshairs on his shoulder and squeeze another one off. A puff of dust flies off his shoulder signaling the impact. But, the Titan remains on his feet. He starts to wobble just a bit and I rack another shell to give him a finisher. Boom! Only tho isn’t a finisher, and he calmly walks in to some light brush.


“ let’s go, I know where he is going” Charley states. Now knowing not to question him, we drove around the clearing and watch at the buffalo emerges from the brush. Yet again, I center the crosshairs on his shoulder and let the H&H rip, again with no effect. I shoot him 4 more times, each shot about 30 seconds to a minute apart from each other. On the 8th shot, he finally starts to wobble and after another minute goes down to his knees. We give him 5 and then go over to have a look. When I’m about 20 feet away, I pick up a piece of dried buffalo dung and toss it at him. It hits him, there is no movement. I put the gun over my shoulder when Charly says “ no, no…get the gun ready, touch his eye with it”. I get about 10 feet away and the buffalo grunts and raises his head. Step back and put a finisher in his heart. The Beast is dead.

Emotions range from elation to getting him on the ground, to a deep reverence of an animal that was so tough it took 9 shots in the vitals with a .375 to kill him. I had never wanted to kill a Buffalo before today, but in this moment I was glad I did

[Linked Image]


[Linked Image]



For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816500 03/11/23 07:30 PM
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We snap some pics and head back to camp to call the skinners to come get the Buffalo with a tractor and flatbed with a winch.

I was so juiced on adrenaline that I could hardly eat that night, and excused myself early to go to the skinning shed, where I found the skinners already had the hide off and were dismantling the huge carcass.

[Linked Image]



To be continued…..


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816504 03/11/23 07:40 PM
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9 shots, what a beast!



Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816606 03/12/23 01:14 AM
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Wow. Congrats. I'll probably never decide to pull the trigger on a cape buff but I may on one of these if the price is decent.


No matter how high a duck flies a hammer still breaks a window.
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816638 03/12/23 02:14 AM
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Wowza! congrats !

Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816821 03/12/23 03:48 PM
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Awesome trip and write up…thanks for taking the time, look forward to the rest of it and hearing how your hunting buddies did.


Originally Posted by Phil Robertson
Don't let your ears hear what your eyes didn't see, and don't let your mouth say what your heart doesn't feel
Re: A way, way South of the Border hunt, 3 years in the making [Re: txtrophy85] #8816850 03/12/23 04:22 PM
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Wow.. great trip. Bucket list for me. up


To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

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