Buffalo and the .308

[Ds J]

Any news on this?

[Treeman]

Any news on this?

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The litie himself has not done anything testing, but his Uncle and a mate shot 2 of the animals, 300 Win Mag

[Ds J]

Any news on this?

***************************************
The litie himself has not done anything testing, but his Uncle and a mate shot 2 of the animals, 300 Win Mag

Thanks! I really hope he doesn't try something stupid.

[Treeman]

He did ! I suppose the temptation was just too much. Seems the boys went for a drive into evening and came across the Buff among the cattle and decided against 300 years of buff experience to try take one. The lighty ( I have been told "don't call me little lightie")  took a shot on the buff and it dropped on the spot.
 His exact words on shot placement are "shoulder closer to the neck middle of body". Distance of shot 140 m - Norma Oryx 180 gr bullet released at 2650 fps. Howa .308 Win standard form with silencer.

Well educated well brought up boy, but really a stupid thing to do. As much as I like this kid, (suppose love him by now), this was stupid. This would have been stupid in the wide open plains, but to try this in a limited space environment with staff and houses and a few million in diary cattle walking around, naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

The shot worked, the warnings were in vain and no one got hurt, but think about it, if that buff had not fallen, the damage it would have done in those cattle herds, what if it wondered into the workers home areas ? I am told, have read, seen videos of wounded buff a few days later - mad angry in pain just plowing through people. They attack the cattle and even cars when they are hurt.
This boy took a chance and got lucky - lucky is all it is.
If he reads this he may be angry with me, but in years to come he will understand how dangerous this was for those around him on the farm.
buff 2 by Cody  Allen, on Flickr
buff by Cody  Allen, on Flickr
I have blurred faces, just to protect the lads, they are good lads, really they are.
Fkn lucky that it was a good bullet at a low velocity at a medium distance, bullet was able to work properly.

[oafpatroll]

Glad no harm came to anyone or any of the livestock. It's the kind of thing one can easily imagine having turned out very badly indeed. 

[Tripodmvr]

Decent bull!!!!!!

[Ds J]

Bottom pic shows a wound to the head. Finishing shot?

[Treeman]

I see blood, but can not tell, did not ask. I also saw that and thought it had run from shoulder down ?
Makes sense though to have done a safety shot, in this day and age with having 6-7 weeks of the buff being on farm,that the lightie Googled the shit outa shooting buff before venturing out to do so.

[oafpatroll]

Unless the photos are inverted, which seems more likely, the buff also rolled over after being shot.

[Treeman]

I have very little info, other than it was shot at night from the Land Cruiser, it was likely rolled over by the staff for day time photo.
 I received some wors from this animal and found it to be very much like any other Kudu wors ?

[Ds J]

Please check the second photo, behind the eye and before the buffalo's right ear. There is a hole which look like an exit wound. He stated "shoulder closer to the neck, middle of body". I doubt that there is any logical explanation for a 308 bullet to travel from the neck to exit through the skull - especially after the shot went into lower neck area. Hence I deduce it just have been a finishing shot.

Secondly, please have a look at the colour and texture of the blood. It does not look like blood which had run after a while, but rather like fresh blood from an open wound.

[SouljaMan]

What, you mean you can take out buffalo with a 308....  and just as I sold my rifle!!

[Treeman]

I just phoned the kid at school now and asked. No head shot because they were caping it. The animal fell facing uphill then tried to get up and fell backwards ending up legs in the air.
It bled lung blood out the nose and mouth which it lay in. The animal was then rolled and moved a few times for photo's.
So that is lung blood that it lay in. Head downwards on a slight hill.

[Ds J]

I just phoned the kid at school now and asked. No head shot because they were caping it. The animal fell facing uphill then tried to get up and fell backwards ending up legs in the air.
It bled lung blood out the nose and mouth which it lay in. The animal was then rolled and moved a few times for photo's.
So that is lung blood that it lay in. Head downwards on a slight hill.

Thanks a lot! Lung blood makes sense.

[BBCT]

I find myself impressed and appalled at the same time. This could have worked out really badly but I'm pleased it worked out well. How often do we all say: "It's all about bullet placement"?

I think Norma Oryx is an under-estimated or maybe under-appreciated bullet but it did the job with obviously a fair amount of knowledge, skill and maybe experience on the part of the triggerman (Treeman's protégé). Having said that, the margin for error must have been quite slim............