Yup ! Buffalo hunt with a .308.
One of the lighties I taught to hunt, first shooting to first animal has a farm which has numerous game farms around and against their land, sometimes interesting animals just show up on their farm. Some of these animals like the waterbuck and Impala have taken up residence and now walk in herds on their land.
With careful management and only two hunters on 3 farms the pickings can be good.
Recently a young buffalo bull came onto the farm and took offence to the dairy cattle which resulted in land owner reaching behind seat and putting a 30 06 bullet into its head - and another and then a few more.
I gather it eventually got so heavy that it could not walk and the farmer drove up to it and finally killed it.
Last Wednesday a small heard of buffalo were spotted on the farm and despite looking into it, no game farm seems to be asking around about missing buffalo. The animals go into some real dense Cape Coastal Forest area which sees no use on the farm and also into some Government Reserve land and just disappear for a while and then reappear later. The diary and beef farms have no time nor place for the buffalo which seem to cause a lot of shit, they also cause the workers to not want to work the lands.
The farmers son to whom I refer to is now 17 and full of dreams and plans, one of them appears to accidently "have" to shoot a buffalo because it charged him - "HERO" status acquired. The lightie has not said this, but the messages inquiring into "solid" bullets and "all metal" got me alerted. The other night I was asked about buffalo and "do you think a .308 will drop a buff? head shot Uncle Dave" as if the head shot would be better.
I explained that any .308 bullet would be hard pressed to head shot a buffalo, not to mention stopping one that has put its head down.
I have no doubt that I would kill a buff with a .308, using everything I know and a shot behind the shoulders with a heavy premium bullet - I am sure the animal will die like any other lung shot animal. Some minutes + that is. Would I fetch the .308 if going on a buff hunt? No! I have better suited calibers.
All the above being said, I knew (he may still be alive) an old English farmer who had shot with a .270 Win many buff, " oh Dave many of them, we did not count back those days, it was just a job that needed doing sometimes". When I asked about the bullets he answered that he used the ones they used to sell at Wolwe Fontein Gun shop. The shop closed in the 60 ties :o. Evidently buffalo roamed from Addo and some other area into the farming areas of DaggaFontein - Kommadagga regularly back then, elephant were still being hunted - destroyed in the area as well.
I have no reason to not believe the old man, he was not showing off, he just said when he saw my .270 that the .270 had always been his rifle, and that he had shot a few buffalo in his younger days with the .270 Win, even showed me where the buff would always end up going to on the one hillside, every time they came to area they would gravitate to one part of the land.
What do you guys think about a .308 Win for buffalo ?