Hunting the African cape buffalo is not a challenge to be taken lightly. Afterall, some seasoned hunters of Mbogo, the name of the cape buffalo in native African tongue, claim that this Sherman tank-on-hooves is the most likely of the African Big 5 game animals to send a hunter into the great unknown.
Pursuit of cape buffalo was the second leg of an already wonderful safari. The adventure started in the Eastern Cape for plains game with John X Safaris. My time there was shared with my daughter who also hunted and took numerous head of plains game herself.
Meeting the animals known a “black death” on their own turf is perhaps not the safest or sanest choice of what to do as a pastime. Even my PH (professional hunter) in the Eastern Cape of South Africa advised me to pay heed and listen to my new PH in the Northern Cape as I headed out on this excursion.
The African Cape Buffalo, also known as Mbogo
It did not help much that all the PHs sat around the camp fire the evening before my upcoming hunt, sharing tales of PHs and hunters they had known who’d had their debts settled by wounded cape buffalo. After I’d listened to enough of this heartwarming pep talk, I finally spoke up and commented that they were not doing a very good job of marketing hunts. But I get it, shoot straight and keep shooting…oh and keep the PH between me and the buffalo when all else fails. Check.
After arriving in the Northern Cape, I met back up with good friend Stephen Bann, owner of SB Hunting Safaris based out of Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa. I first hunted with Stephen in the southern Kalahari region the previous year for plains game.
My intent was to try out the Mossberg Patriot in .375 Ruger along with the Lucid L7 rifle scope that has a true 1x power setting for those up close and personal encounters for which buffalo are notorious.
Mossberg Patriot in .375 Ruger with Lucid Optics Scope
While the Mossberg Patriot might not jump to mind as the first choice for a cape buffalo, it is a viable, well built, and affordable rifle in today’s world of high-priced sporting arms. I already had experience with the Patriot in .375 Ruger having taken Gemsbok (Oryx) with the rifle in New Mexico. As you may or may not know, Oryx are also notoriously tough critters.
About the Mossberg Patriot in .375 Ruger
Don’t expect fancy because the Patriot isn’t such a rifle, but simple and straight forward gets the job done as they say.
Looking at the features of the Mossberg, the barrel attachment on the rifle provides a barrel nut that is not unlike the cost-efficient barrel nut on a Savage Model 110 rifle. The standard synthetic stock is the only option available on the .375 Ruger caliber and is well proportioned coming with standard sling attachments. The recoil pad is well designed and appreciated considering the .375 cartridge.
The rifle features a standard plunger-type ejector and heavy locking lugs on the bolt. In addition, the bolt is attractively spiral fluted with the bolt handle easily manipulated. The safety is a standard two-position type while the 22-inch Cerakote Stainless barrel offers a recessed match barrel crown and express style adjustable sights.
The adjustable trigger (2 -7 pounds) is a nice offering on this modestly priced rifle. The trigger came set at around 3 to 3.5 pounds. For hunting use, this is an ideal pull weight. The rifle is light coming in at 6.5 pounds out of the box. No worries I never felt recoil when dealing with the cape buffalo discussed herein.
The Lucid L7 Scope fit nicely on the Mossberg and proved effective even with the large .375 Ruger cartridge.
The removable box style magazine holds three of those big .375 cartridges and I carried a spare magazine while hunting buffalo.
Bottom line, I have used this rifle now on some very tough Africa game. It performs well and is very reasonably priced.
Hornady .375 Ruger 250gr CX Outfitter Ammo
Many would say that the 250gr Hornady CX ammo is not heavy enough for cape buffalo. But with its copper alloy bullet and controlled expansion design, both myself and Stephen were anxious to see how the bullet would perform on a critter with half-inch thick hide.
Having taken Gemsbok with the Hornady Outfitter ammo in New Mexico, I knew it was deadly. But Oryx are not Cape Buffalo. An interesting side note, as we were pursuing buffalo through the thorn brush, one of the trackers quietly expressed concerned to Stephen over the “small bullet” appearance of the Hornady CX Outfitter ammo on the butt cuff of my Mossberg rifle. He was used to a client having ammo with a bullet almost the size of a thumb.
Hornady Outfitter Ammo 250 Grain CX
I will admit I carried a spare magazine with Hornady Dangerous Game 300gr solids while on our hunt, but as you will soon learn, they were not needed. Not only that, the 250gr CX bullet proved to be more accurate (about a 1.5 inch, 3 shot group at 100 yards) with less felt recoil.
Utilizing the Lucid L7, 1x – 6x scope allowed for better accuracy while also offering a true 1x power setting in the event we ended up in the thick stuff.
On the Hunt
Our hunt began on a several thousand-acre ranch in the Kimberley, South Africa region. Stephen had in mind a bull that had been seen on occasion in the area. Reports indicated the bull normally stayed by himself and had a concerning pattern of behavior that one might describe as being on the aggressive side. What a comforting scenario Stephen, gee thanks.
This was not my first buffalo hunt, I took a few of the near car-sized animals in Zambia almost 40 years ago, at which time I did get the full experience of a buffalo charge. In 2024, I preferred to pass on round two of that, thank you. I must admit as we started out in the early morning my stomach felt like a twisted pretzel and my mouth as dry as the Kalahari. I appreciated the fact that Stephen was carrying his 450 Rigby as a backup, that does in fact have near thumb-sized bullets.
We started looking for buffalo early in the morning along a set of hills that rose up seemingly from nowhere. Along the base and the sides of these hills was thick thorn bush that could easily conceal a rhino much less buffalo. Our tactic was simple: gain elevation by getting to the top via a two-track road and then start glassing. We could only get so far in the Landcruiser, and then it was on foot to glass all sides of the small mountain.
Before long Stephen spotted buffalo below us off the south side of ridgeline we were moving along. Glassing, we could see two excellent bulls out of a herd of about 25 animals. One looked to be the bull we were looking for and who was now with the herd and not alone. The herd was off the base of the hill towards the plains; too far for a good shot. We elected to go back to the Landcruiser and make our way back down the mountain and then west along a two track the buffalo were adjacent to.
Barely creeping along in the truck, we soon spotted a few of the buff. The hope that we could exit the vehicle, find one of the bulls, and get a shot soon proved to be futile. The entire herd rapidly departed around the far western point of the mountain and disappeared into a brushy valley on the north side of the mountain. By all appearance this herd knew exactly where the thickest and nastiest thorn bush was, and they intended on using it.
The road did take us into the narrow valley, but we soon saw the herd now going over a saddle at the far east end of the valley between two hills. Anyone thinking buff are not cagey has another thing coming. At this point it was buffalo-2, hunters-0.
The buffalo was scarred up from throrn brush and fighting
Stephen now suggested we gain some elevation again. We drove back around the mountain and drove up to where we had seen the animals to start with. Stephen and I got out on foot while he sent the trackers back down in the Landcruiser to see if they could get ahead of the now east-bound buffalo and hopefully turn them back our way.
In the mean time we headed east on foot along the ridgeline until we came to the eastern end of the hills and then took a sitting position with a good vantage point. What we soon observed was really quite fascinating. We could see the main herd of animals strung out and moving east. But we could also now see the two bulls drop behind and circle back towards the road, facing the wind. They went into the thick stuff and waited, listening, and winding the now approaching truck. It seemed apparent that they were waiting for the truck to pass. When it did so, Stephen radioed the trackers, they were never able to see the bulls in the thick thorn bush only 50 yards off the two-track road.
I can now see how a wounded buff can be so dangerous in the thick brush. They lie in wait for hunters, let them pass, then charge. A very deadly scenario. Because we could still see the two bulls and their basic location, we dropped off the hills and into the thorn. Now we were in their world. We proceeded cautiously. A few minutes later we got only a glimpse of them busting through the brush and headed back west to eventually rejoin the main herd. Buffalo-3, hunters-0.
We called the truck back to our location and again drove back up the mountain to our vantage point. Out on foot again in almost the exact location where we first saw the buff early that morning, we could see no movement or even a dust trail for miles. I commented that it looked as if they were gone for good. Stephen however was not convinced. He whistled loudly and almost directly below us the brush and acacia trees began swaying as if a bull elephant was busting through the cover. Instead, however it was the entire herd of 25 buff that had been standing motionless. I would have never believed the whole herd could be so completely concealed by the thorn and acacia. It just proved how thick and concealing the brush really was.
We repeated our tactics for another hour or two until we finally lost the buffalo in the same narrow valley to the north. Not lost per se, but they now seemed to be so dug into the thick stuff that we would never get a good shot, at least not that day. It looked as if the final score would be buffalo-5, great white hunters-0.
Finally turning and heading back along the two-track road towards the ranch headquarters, one of the trackers in the back shouted out…BUFFALO! There to our left was the herd moving through the hillside thorn brush again and going the same direction we were. Somehow, they had doubled back and would have given us the complete slip had we not turned back ourselves.
Stephen gunned the Landcruiser and got in front of the herd and then turned up the hill we had been on so many times that day. We got near the top, just where a saddle opened up towards direction the buff were coming…. essentially straight towards us. We jumped out of the truck and ran to a flat spot, looking towards the saddle. Stephen threw the sticks up and yelled for me to be ready.
No sooner than I had the Mossberg Patriot in the V of the sticks than the first of the buffalo appeared coming through the saddle, moving from right to left at maybe 30 to 40 yards in front of us. Stephen screamed the bulls would be bringing up the rear. Then a bull appeared, Stephen yelled for me to shoot, the Lucid scope was only on 1.5 but the bull took up the entire field of view. The crosshairs found his shoulder, I pressed the trigger and never felt or heard the shot as I saw the bull reacted to the hit.
Lifting the .375 off the sticks I quickly worked the bolt and took another offhand shot as the bull was still running. It was another solid hit. The bull went about another 10 yards and piled up, dead as a hammer. This final effort of our hunt ended in less than a minute, so quick that I never had time to think about it.
The Mossberg Patriot fit just inside the bulls horns
My two shots were about four to five inches apart on the bulls left front shoulder. One of the two shots we learned later had penetrated the heart and lodged in the off-side shoulder. The Hornady Outfitter, 250gr CX bullet had performed wonderfully with perfect penetration and mushroom. Both trackers commented they did not believe my ammo would perform so well and that they had never seen a buffalo bull go down so hard.
This 250gr CX Hornady bullet was recovered from the buffalo
The bull was the bigger and uglier of the two we had been chasing and not the intended target, but an example of how things can happen so fast. The bull’s face and ears were scarred and torn with the tip of his left horn broken and broomed down a bit. The bosses were massive and the horn spread measured a whopping 48 inches. The bull was truly an old warrior and hard-earned. I couldn’t ask for more.
Good luck perhaps, or maybe near perfect bullet placement? Either way we evened the score and besides that I don’t mind a bit of luck when it comes to Mbogo!
About the Author:
TERRY NELSON – is a 30-year veteran of law enforcement with police and sheriff agencies, including SWAT and sniper roles, and has served as a state game warden. Nelson also served seven years with New Mexico State Guard. A lifelong hunter, guide, tracker and firearms enthusiast, Terry is sought for training in multiple disciplines by both civilian and police-serving agencies and companies. Nelson also holds a Basic Tac Med instructor certification from Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.
