Free-Range Wanderings

The Northern Territory of Australia is huge, over 1,349,129 square kilometres and

the area I was hunting in was a 50,000 square kilometre chunk of that landscape.

Owned by the Jawoyn Aboriginal tribe and administered by the Jawoyn Association

Aboriginal Corporation this hunting region is a magical part of Australia. Aborigine

Ranger Coordinator Ian McConnell was showing New Zealand based Hunting outfit-

ter Glenn Martin, Glenn’s son Ben and me around the hunting concession block in

preparation for Glenn undertaking hunting safaris there later in 2012.

Written By Greg Morton

Free-Range Wanderings

Check out the SCI site -

www.scirecordbook.org/water-buffalo-south-pacific/

Glenn and big

crescent bull.

PART 2

Having travelled a fair distance from New Zealand to get here our scouting trip would also double as a trophy hunting trip after boar,

water buffalo, and scrub bull. Our scout, Ian McConnell, lives and breathes hunting and fishing. Previous to this position he had been a

fishing guide in the Cape York area and, as he pointed out, working in two top hunting and fishing locations was no occupation accident.

His current passion was pig hunting with Catahoula pig dogs, and the hunting of top water buffalo bulls.

His credentials in both areas are outstanding,

as he is the go to man for a lot of local farmers

when they have pig problems, and the buff horns

hanging at his house are testimony to his skill in

this area. To spice up his hunting he now hunts

buffalo with the bow, successfully I might add.

What constitutes a top water

buffalo trophy?

There are two main ways of looking at this vexed

question. Shape and size. Water buffalo horns

tend to come in two main shapes: the sweeper

and the crescent, with variations of these shapes

also occurring. Each client can choose which

shape spins his or her wheels. The sweeper goes

straight out from the head and gives the appear-

ance of great width, while the crescent goes out

then sweeps back, hence the crescent shape.

The sweeper head always catches the eye because

of the width illusion, but usually the crescent

head scores better because each individual horn

is longer than their sweeper counterpart. Sweeper

heads are often broomed off. Big heads are al-

ways older animals, and management heads are

those that fail to develop fully. Hunters seeking

trophies are always encouraged to shoot some

cull animals as well.

Scoring is usually done under the SCI

system (Safari Club International) where each

horn is measured for length and girth at the base,



total. The SCI record book website states that









score over 100 on the SCI system. To give you

an idea of how good Ian’s best bull is it scored

SCI 119, which makes it a true monster.

The accompanying photo shows Ian holding

this mega-sized head.

The SCI website also provides some useful back-

ground information about the water buffalo spe-

cies. It states “

DESCRIPTION:

(male) Shoulder height 48-60 inches (122-152

cm). Weight about 1,200 pounds (545 kg), some-

times considerably more. Females are smaller.

A large, heavily built buffalo with stout legs and

large, splayed hoofs. General colour is black,

but older animals tend to be gray or pinkish.

Lower legs are a dirty white, and there is often a

narrow white “V” on the throat. The horns (both

sexes) are heavy at the base, triangular in cross

      

and grow out from the sides of the head without

forming a boss. Horns in Australia will vary from

the typical type that curve back from the head in

a semicircle, to “sweepers” that stretch straight

out from the head with only the tips turning back.

The latter can attain tip-to-tip spreads of as much

as nine feet (2.74 m). Female horns often have

wider spreads than those of males, but are light

and thin, almost never equalling male horns in

total score.

BEHAVIOUR:

Gregarious. Lives in small herds of 10-20, which

often consist of an old cow with as many as three

generations of calves. Mature bulls are usually

solitary except during the mating season, but are

sometimes found in the company of one or two

other males. Most activity is early and late in the

day. Feeds mainly on grasses and aquatic plants.

Water is required, both for drinking and bathing.

Sense of smell is excellent, hearing good, eyesight

fair. Despite its size, a water buffalo is quick and

agile.

REMARKS:

The endangered wild water buffalo has disap-

peared from most of its original range in south-

eastern Asia, and now numbers about 1,000

animals in India, plus a few scattered herds from

India to Indo-China that may have descended

from original stock.

Domestic water buffaloes were introduced in the

-



Australia in 1824 with the Captain James Bremer

expedition. Sixteen more were brought from the

island of Timor in 1826 and liberated on Melville

and Bathurst islands.

When the Melville settlement was abandoned

a year later, some of the free-ranging buffaloes

     

the Cobourg Peninsula, from where they have

expanded their range to what exists today. Proof

that these animals adapted well can be found

in records of 390,000 water buffalo hides being

shipped from Australia between 1886 and1956.

Col Allison, an Australian trophy hunter, says

water buffaloes are “renowned for ferocity, the

ability to remain hidden in little cover, uncanny

stealth and kill-or-die charges.” Large calibres

and heavy bullets are recommended.”

      

program to eradicate populations believed to be

infected with tuberculosis and brucellosis re-

duced numbers considerably, so regions, such as

the one I was in, with stable, controlled popula-



My visit was in late October, right near the end

of the Dry Season, and every evening a brief

thunderstorm warned us how close the Wet Sea-



in the Northern Territory are transient, in that the

guides only hunt there during the Dry Season

from runs from June through to November. The

middle months of June to September are a par-

ticularly pleasant time to hunt. Clients need light

clothing, a wide brimmed hat, sunglasses, light

boots, a thin sleeping bag, good optics, and good

-

plied and we were using a Sako .375, Tikka .308

and Tikka 9.3 x 64. Big guns for big animals.

Glenn’s Australian hunting arm is

called Hunt Down Under.

Contact details are:

glenn@huntdownunder.com:

phone NZ (+64) -7 895 9066:

Mobile: NZ (+64) 21 996 954

website www.huntdownunder.com.

On the drive in to our

hunting camp we passed

several small herds of

water buffalo cows and

calves, and a couple of

wild donkeys. Sign lit-

tered the road and Ian was

   

hunting would reward us

with trophies. Equipped

with truck, Polaris and

-

lometres off-road in the

next three days, mainly

targeting water-courses

and swampy regions

where the buffalo would

be hanging out.

The drying up of many

water areas meant the buf-

falo are more condensed

at this time of the year.

We saw a lot of animals,

but then we did cover a lot of territory. The in-

formation on the SCI website was spot on as the

majority of animals seen were herds of cows and

calves without bulls. These herd animals were

spooky and tended to run as one. In one area we

struck a lot of young bachelor bulls hanging out

together, and they lacked any fear, gawking at

us as we travelled by. Near here we also saw a

white buffalo cow. Medium sized bulls were also

regularly encountered and showed little fear.

The big bulls were solitary and over our trip

we encountered about a dozen trophy animals

sprinkled through the bush. Ian reckoned many

would never have seen a man as they were well

away from tracked areas. Of the dozen big boys,

 

never looked back, while the other seven either

showed intense curiosity, disdain, or territorial

interest.

What is un-nerving when you are new to

buffalo hunting is the bull’s habit of approach-

ing what he can’t identify. His nose goes up, his

horns go back, and he advances in a slow and

arrogant way testing the air for scent. What goes

through your mind at such times is that there is

nowhere to hide, the trees are very skinny, and

the vehicle some way off.

Like all bovines buffalo are very curious and

territorial, so will approach

boldly, while attempt-

ing to cut the wind of the

threat approaching them.

     

so they can get very close before snorting and

charging off. They can move very fast and we

saw one solid bull charge another then chase him

at speed for a couple of hundred metres.

This same animal was the only one that ap-

proached us with ‘aggressive intent’. He charged

out of the bush and rushed the quad. He did so

in a territorial menacing way and was not easily



       

us retreat. We nicknamed him Chucky as he had

trouble on his mind, but lacking a decent head

we had to try and avoid him rather than shoot

him. He snorted and pawed the ground, and fol-

lowed us through the bush for some distance. In

the same area we came across another bull with

a broken back leg, almost certainly Chucky’s

work. The accompanying photo of Chucky was

taken at just a few metres, and yes I was sitting

on the red quad at the time. It is slightly blurred

because he never stopped advancing.

        

sweep their opponent’s legs with their horns, re-

sulting in serious fractures and dislocations. We

saw at least two other bulls limping badly. To be

fair, water buffalo are not in the killer league of



are big enough and fast enough to cause human

damage if that is their intention.

Ben Martin has

guided after them

for a couple of

years, respects

them rather than

fears them, and

had one good

piece of advice

for the budding

buffalo hunter.

  

shot a good one.

Everything after

that is the result

of that shot.

We carried out a

stalk on one big

bull on day two

that was limping

badly and in the

company of two

others. Even in-

jured he escaped

us but imagine our surprise when returning to the

vehicle we sprung him out of some scrub, right

beside where we had walked. He had obviously

hidden there as we followed his mates’ tracks,



walked on to his hiding place as we returned.

The situation had potential for a charge, both

when we walked past him and on our return, but



and escaping.

 -

cident’ with buffalo a year, and always have a



man was killed near his home on the outskirts of

Nhulunbuy. He was checking the water level at a

pump station when a buffalo charged and gored

him.

         

bulls had been shot. Two were sweeper bulls

in the silver medal size range while Glenn was

successful in taking a huge crescent horned bull.

The big crescent bull scored SCI 104, making

       



shots to kill.

One problem with shooting water buffalo is

that they are often facing you rather than broad-

side on, and the frontal shot can be hard to get

the angle just right. The ideal is the broadside,

double-lung shot. Buffalo are big units and tough

to bring down.

The hunt is the exciting part of the safari

while the processing of the trophy is real time-

consuming, hard work, and this is where guides

earn their money. The skull and horns have to

be removed from each bull, boiled out, horns

popped off, the skull dried and tidied up, while

head skins, if required, have to be removed,



ready to go through customs. For instance it takes

about half an hour per horn to boil it enough so it

can be popped off the core.

The beagle dog went ballistic when our pack-



had never seen a reaction like it before, but then

the beagle had never experienced water buffalo

in a bag either.

 

doorstep, then the closest comparison available

is hunting the water buffalo bull. It’s a lot cheap-



Next issue: Hunting The Top End:

Part Three: Red Bulls

Second big sweeper bull.

Here comes ... Chucky!!!

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It’s not too late...

...To get your bow serviced before the roar!







...To get your head in the game!

 ‘Shoot to Kill’ coaching

session 



Book in today, call 09 6388409....







RIOT

MR6

Become a Better Hunter!

Shop online : www.advancedarchery.co.nz

1 Peary Road, Mt Eden, Auckland



Wind-Check









and unscented.

Camo FX

Stay undetected





















BlueStar











Gutwrench









& Goose

HECS Suit



































Eclipse 3D

Mesh











pants and jackets let





Call today for a FREE Bowhunting Info Pack!

Ask about our staff

picks for a You-

Beaut Accessory

Package we know

you’ll love – we

know because it’s

what we hunt with!

Shoot to Kill!

Opening Hours

 

 

 

Get you and your Bow

ready to



















MR6...Compromise

nothing.