Buffalo Hunting - lots of questions

US Bison buffalo?

Lotsa Internet commentary that .30-'06 or equivalent works just fine. I don't personally know. Me, I'd likely use a premium 180-grain or a Rem 220-grain CoreLokt. But that's just sorta hearsay stuff.

30.06 should be fine. You'll be on some game ranch and have all the time you want to make a good heart/lung shot.

If you're talking Cape Buffalo in Africa .375H&H is the legal minimum in a lot countries there for dangerous game. I think I'd heard that some were upping that to .4x calibers. If you're going to the Dark Continant I'd highly recommend a Mauser style bolt action (Controlled Round Feed) rather than a Push Feed like the Remington 700's.

Lots of guys like the CZ/Brno rifles. I recall that H&Hunter recommended a shop that would work over a CZ to make it sufficiently reliable for a DG hunt. Can't remember the website right now, but I recall that for what they do to the gun the prices seemed reasonable to me.

If American Buffalo is the intended target, they're big critters but anything that would work for moose should work for them too. They're not as thick skinned, or has heavy boned as the African buffalo. Just a SWAG based on experience with elk and extrapolating, but if I were buying a gun for a hunt like that I'd probably start at .338 Win Mag, and look hard at .35 Whelen, 9.3x62mm (what I already have), and .375H&H or anything within that power spectrum. .45/70 has also killed a lot of buffalo. IMHO. YMMV.

take a look at the 375 ruger - finally a ruger creation that should stick around a long time, offers real improvement over what is already out there, and is priced in the affordable category.

don't know nothin' about hunting any kind of buffalo, though.

What scope and mounts can hold up to a 375? I have a trijicon 1-4 - would it hold up and not blacken my eye?

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If you're going to Africa, many more knowledgable than I have recommended not using glass, and having quality iron sights instead. If glass is a "must have" for you, again, for Africa, low power scopes are the recommended variety. Shots on DG are, from all I've ever heard, close range affairs.

American buffalo, I can't say if scopes are needed due to range. But I'd imagine that you could get by just fine with irons, if you know how to shoot with them. For scopes, probably any decent 2-7x or 3-9x would be plenty, as with most North American big game.

However, just about any high-quality scope should be able to stand up to the recoil of a .375H&H. Some may have good luck with the low cost scopes like Simmons, BSA, etc but wouldn't want to count on them holding up. Lowest I'd go would be Burris FF-II, Leupold VX-1, Nikon Monarch and similar. And given the guide fees, and travel expenses if you can't afford $250-400 for a decent if entry level scope you probably can't afford the trip.

forgot to touch on these 2 questions:

What scope and mounts can hold up to a 375? I have a trijicon 1-4 - would it hold up and not blacken my eye?

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i am running a leupold 2.5-8 on my 375 ruger. no issues so far, but i have noticed when i start getting fatigued and my form gets sloppy the scope will give me a light nudge - that's how i know its time to quit. the leupold has tons of eye relief, so if it is bumping you it is a pretty sure bet the problem is the shooter, and not the scope.

Do I have to work up loads in a 375 and get used to it? (I reload) Or will factory loads be ok for just loading the gun and getting used to targets/anatomy?

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the recoil of my 375 ruger, which outclasses the old standard 375 h&h (and comes in under 378 wby and 375 rum) performance-wise does not produce as much recoil as you would think. it won't kick your ears off your head, you aren't sent home from the range for crying after touching it off... the recoil is substantial, to be sure, but it is tolerable.

i started by getting a box of factory loads, and got on paper at 25 yards (2 shots), made adjustments and shot at 50 (1 shot), got on paper at 100 (1 shot), made adjustments, fired again to see if i was close (1 shot), and 1 last shot to be sure i was close.

next range session i started load development, and restricted myself to 10 shots per range session until development was done. then i loaded 100 rounds, and each range session after that (i shoot 3-4 days per week, sometimes more - just depends) i would add 1 shot to my 'allowance'. i worked up to 25 shots per session (my max comfort level - no need to go more, anyway) and never allow myself to be tempted by the bench - field position shooting only and if i need to get steadier i'll sling up and go prone. but i don't put that rifle anywhere near a bench now that development is done.

as far as your ability to get used to it, i would say it depends on too many individual factors to really say. like i said, i don't find the recoil to be too much - but i shoot quite often. a shooter who only shoots a few shots before deer season out of a 243 will probably not be a satisfied user of any 375 cal or larger rifle. a shooter who practices on a consistent monthly basis w/ a 30-06 will probably tolerate a 375 ruger ok if he is persistent enough to want to learn to use the rifle and does not permit it to gather dust in the back corner of a gunsafe.

after owning and shooting the 375 ruger, i would say most shooters who are persistent enough to want to learn to shoot the bigger rifles will probably do just fine w/ most chamberings until you get into the 458's - those guns churn up some pretty healthy recoil numbers, and i don't think anybody but the most serious and persistent of shooters can ever learn to deal w/ those.

i'll be picking a 416 ruger up in the near future, and i'll probably use my 375 for whitetails this fall, and if i draw my elk tag it will pull duty there as well (results should be out tuesday!).

anyway, lots more than you had asked for, but i am trying to qualify my adoration for the 375 ruger and discourage brand new, never shot anything more than a 223 4 years ago shooters from going out and buying one.

good luck in your decision, and hope your hunt works out.

99.9 percent of "buffaler huntin'" is game ranches and they're like shooting cows. I never thought I'd care much about doing that. If I did, I'd us my .50 caliber Hawken. Might as well get some atmosphere out of it, the smell of sulfur in the air, all that sort of thing. I think a .50 caliber 385 grain minie at 1300 fps would do the job.

You can hunt wild buffalo in Alaska, but it's hard to draw a tag.

Shooting a North American Bison with a .30-06 is robbing yourself of most of the value in the experience.

Might as well get some atmosphere out of it

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Absolutely. That's most of the point.

If you want to shoot something with a modern spitzer round on the plains, go hunt pronghorns. You will be disappointed if you go plug a bison with your modern deer rifle.

My experience of accompanying a friend on a Bison hunt in WY was the least true-hunting-experience I've had on a hunt.....we essentially walked up to 30yds from the Buffalo, and he plugged it with a 45-70....two steps and it fell over. I've had more challenge eliminating the squirrel that was running around on the roof over my bed every morning....it's hard to get a clean angle that won't hole your gutter or shingles.

They are delicious though. If you haven't covered this base: your first investment should be a big chest freezer for the garage.

My experience of accompanying a friend on a Bison hunt in WY was the least true-hunting-experience I've had on a hunt.....we essentially walked up to 30yds from the Buffalo, and he plugged it with a 45-70..

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That depends on the situation. It's not always like that. This is in SW Montana. You can't see the hunter in the picture; he's about to take a shot with an original .50-90 Sharps rifle loaded with his handloaded black powder/cast bullet round, off the sticks. The guy in the green jacket is his Dad, and the guy with the binos is the guy who organized the hunt. (Please pardon the off-kilter horizon; I wasn't drunk, I was running up the back of the hill and snapped a picture when I saw that they were about to shoot.)



Sometimes, though, you might just get a walk-up 30 yard shot. If you do, you'll be happy that you went "vintage" and maximized the experience. And if you get a harder shot (it took a few days to get set up for shots like the above, in that situation), you still will get more out of it if you learn how to shoot the vintage rifle. "I don't know a .45-70 trajectory" does not mean "I can't know". It means "I'll have to learn."

Again, don't cheat yourself.

Get yourself a Sharps rifle in 45-70, learn the trajectory, go old school and have a blast!

Ah, I'd still rather take my Hawken than one of them new fangled Sharps rifles in one of them new cartridge long range calibers. Call me a Luddite, don't care.

We have a herd of buffalo just down the road from me. They're free range animals and quite "wild" but, as you can see from this close range photo they're not a tough animal to hunt.

It's easier when you back them up against an obstacle like that. If the herd can run off, they typically will, at least if they associate humans with danger. But they're not exactly pronghorns.

They're not backed up against the sea (it's much further away than it looks), just grazing and ignoring me except for the one in front. These animals are privately owned, but it's all free range grazing land. There are no fences, only a mountain range to contain them. Ted Nugent has taken several buffalo from this herd and they're open to both rifle and bow for a fee. Not much of a challenge.

There are a couple of wild buffalo herds in the interior of Alaska, but the challenge there is to draw a tag and then find them when the season opens. They've got a partially wooded million acre roadless tract to roam around in.

They are currently reintroducing the wood bison which got wiped out in the early years in Alaska. I doubt anyone will be hunting them for many years.

There used to be some on a ranch near my place. Ranchers raise 'em for market and mostly, I think, just to have 'em around. They're on ranches here and there around the area. There's far more bison on private ranches than there are free ranging wild ones. There's some in South Dakota you can drive by and check out, tourist attraction type of thing, national grassland. Rode through there on a motorcycle and I was ready to hit the throttle the whole time... They can be a little moody, I hear.

30-06 will work just fine. I used it last november to shoot a 1200 lbs bison at 185 yards.

it only took me one shot and it died very quickly, i was told by my guide that it would normaly take 2 shots with 30-06 and I just got lucky. I would like to say im just that good.

anyway if you are in or around Texas and want to book a hunt look at these guys. I used them and had the best hunting experince of my life.

www.texashuntlodge.com/buffalo_hunt_package.asp

I used Federal Premium 180 grain Vital-Shok

For that size animal and a 30-06, I'd use a 220 grain Freight Train from any of the big makers. It's hard to stop a train, and on a big animal, it will punch way on down into the innards. On the other hand, I have a couple of 45-70s that shoot Transcontinental Container Trains - 500 grain whomper-stompers at somthing over 1400 fps that will bowl over just about anything it hits, excepting, or course, large toothed/clawed critters. It has bison in its job description...

45-70 or 30-06

I had a friend who acually did draw one of the rare Alaskan Buff rtags. Used a 45-70 with (no pun intended) Buffalo Bore load 8B, a 400gr Jacketed Flat Nose at 2000fps.

His guide said that's enough in case he "had" to ake a head shot or bust through the shoulders. But that its actually pretty easy to kill a buffalo, a TRUE buffalo, because a buffalo has no separation between their lungs (like a humans mediastinum). So a single hole results in both lungs collapsing, which is fatal.

Wether or not that is sporting, well, I'm thinking a deliberate lung-but-not-heart shot (while being impossible to judge unless you are a bovine anatomist) might be a rough way to die.

And a 30-06 with the right bullet will penetrate buffalo shoulder well, but with most factory loads you might be limited to broadside and broadside-quartering-away shots (to get through the ribs up to the heart).

All hearsay on my part, but reasonable enough to pass on.

C-

I have a friend,who went buff huntin,and used his elk gun a .300 win.mag(full length not a wsm)Was using 165 grnr's.Muffed his first shot missed the vertebrae in the neck and next shot hit him in the butt of the ear,and dropped it like a ton of brick's.It's all shot placement.He was at about a 100yd's when he hit'm.I like a .270 but I think a buff. would be asking a lot,.06 would be ok ur talking about I think.A .300 or 338 is plenty of gun I think you don't need a .375 and 300 grn. bullet.And the Bull my friend shot wasn't a little 1000lb'r either he was a full grown bull a ezy 2000lb'r,He was good eating to...Good Hunting good shooting.