Look what I did.

I harvested a water buffalo. It wasn’t in the plans, but here we are. Read on.

Since I got my 6.8 SPC upper, I’ve wanted to break it in. The desire was to go feral hog hunting. The problem is both spots where I could go hunting are presently not huntable. So I figured what the heck, let’s see if DB Hunting Ranch is available. Sure enough they could accommodate me in my desire to harvest a few meat hogs.

Daughter wanted to go with me. Awesome. Yes that’s her in the picture, face blacked out because I’m not ready to put my kids online. Remember, getting the 6.8 was partially motivated by the kids hunting.

So we get to the ranch and get ready to go.

The Deer, and the 6.8

Originally we wanted to do a stalk hunt, actually walking around, looking for the hogs. Trouble was, the day was unseasonably warm and the pigs just wouldn’t be moving at that hour. So instead Daughter and I sat in a stand and waited to see what would come our way. The guide knew I was after meat, so he also mentioned I could take a Red Deer doe or Fallow Deer doe for a reasonable price if I wanted one.

Not 10-15 minutes after getting into the stand, 3 red does walked out and started eating. Daughter and I watched them for a while, and after discussing it we opted to take one. The largest doe finally presented itself, I lined up the shot and pressed the trigger. The doe appeared to be hit but it was hard to tell… it was walking funny and wandered off to the east. We waited — if it’s dead it’s dead, if it’s not it’s not. Let’s see if anything else rolls in. Sure enough, not too long after and 4 fallow does wandered in. We waited and waited, watching them. I wasn’t going to take one, figuring I was really here for hogs and the red doe was just a cherry on top. Eventually the fallow does left. Daughter was getting antsy, really wanted to see if we got the doe. So while I really wanted to wait for some hogs to roll in, I said why not… we left the stand.

When I got to where the doe was when I shot, I saw no blood. That bothered me. Granted, these Barnes TSX’s don’t leave huge exit holes, but a little bit of blood should have been there. Did I miss it? How could I miss it at 60 yards?? We looked around a little bit, but saw nothing. I sent a text to the guide explaining things. He opted to come have a look. Took him a little while to get there, and meantime we waited hoping for hogs. Nothing. We actually did see one little hog with the 3 red does but it wasn’t worth taking. Eventually the guide came back and we went looking. Drove around for a while, searched, nothing.

On a whim, the guide asked me to shoot my rifle at a target. He was curious. So we set up about 25 yards and I shot. I couldn’t believe the results. I shot again and replicated the results. I was shooting about 3″ low. Wow. What gets me, I had just zeroed this rifle. What happened? Why was it shooting so low?? Unreal. But that, seems to explain things. I know where I was aiming, and whizzed right under the deer. That it was walking funny? Who knows. Maybe I nicked it, or maybe when bullet hit ground some rocks or other splatter flew up and smacked it. I can only guess, but chances are I missed because the gun failed me. I will be investigating why it shot so low.

Good thing I brought my .308 bolt action, because I knew this was a debugging/testing run for the 6.8.

The Buffalo

So we piled back in the truck and headed back to my car to switch rifles. There was still at least an hour of daylight, certainly enough time to keep trying. While we were driving back, the guide mentioned the water buffalos. They had 3 on the property, reasonable price too. They were young, probably 2 or 3 years old, maybe 700 lbs.. I wasn’t sure about it. It’s never crossed my mind to eat a water buffalo. I really wanted to get some hogs. But I called Wife to ask her.

She said “Do it!”

I was surprised.

I have no idea what water buffalo tastes like. I’ve had American buffalo/bison before, and that’s pretty tasty. So Wife was frantically Googling on water buffalo and seems like it’ll be a win. The meat is good, very lean, very low cholesterol, especially compared to beef. So hey… why not? We wanted meat, right? And honestly, the price wasn’t horrible, when you factor in cleaning/quartering and then processing at the butcher vs. buying beef at the store and then the quality of what you’re getting. So OK… no more deer, no more hogs, I’m going to harvest a water buffalo.

I never set out to do this. I never thought about doing it. It wasn’t in the plans. But the opportunity knocked, and Wife had me answer the door. She’s actually more excited about it than I am.

Before we went back, I wanted to fire one shot through my .308 bolt action to ensure it was on target. A little unsettled by the issues with the 6.8 plus the fact the bolt action has been in storage since the end of the last deer hunting season (thus the barrel was well oiled, a fouling shot to clean out the oil and such wouldn’t be bad). Shot it, nailed it. Man… I knew I loved .308 for some reason. 🙂

We went back out. The guide and I went walking but we left Daughter in the truck. While I would have preferred to have her with me, the buffalo are just too uncertain. They’re big animals, and we just didn’t know what might happen when the shot went off — the other 2 buffalo, would they freak out and run who knows where? I didn’t want to put Daughter at risk. Unfortunately the truck had to also be parked in a place where she couldn’t see anything. 😦

Anyway, the guide and I set up at a tree that provided an excellent rest for me. We were probably 30-40 yards away. Took a while to get a clean shot, but as soon as it was presented I took it. Broadside, right in the ear. The bullet hit, the buffalo froze up, fell back as if sitting down on it’s rump, then just fell over. DRT.

To our surprise, the other 2 buffalo didn’t do anything at all. But we waited, ready just in case. I was pretty sure the buffalo was not getting up given 168 grains of .30 caliber Barnes TSX to the brain/spine is pretty definitive. But you just don’t know. After a time we actually did see a lot of movement, but it was all the nervous system. No question the bull was dead. Daughter came out and came up to see. We took the picture and waited for the tractor to arrive to haul the animal to the cleaning station.

The buffalo was cleaned and quartered. I was just amazed at how large an animal it was. The hide was thick and tough, maybe half-an-inch thick. The ribs? You know the closing credits of The Flintstones? those big ribs? Yeah, like that. One big animal.

No, I didn’t keep the horns. I thought about it, but there was no trophy here. It’d be 100 lbs of head that I just don’t need to deal with, so I just left it.

Daughter

She was a trooper. I know things were not quite to her expectation. The biggest thing that she didn’t like? The waiting. 🙂  I can understand that. I did explain to just relax, just enjoy it. Watch the deer. A rabbit was eating for a while, just watch it. Watch the birds. Just enjoy what the world has to offer. We’re getting away from the hustle and bustle for a while, so just enjoy that. But I know all too well that that’s fine for an adult, but for a kid? No… it’s far harder. Still, she was a trooper about it. I do think she would have enjoyed a stalk hunt more.

I’m not 100% sure how she felt about everything. We’ve never made any bones about where food comes from, about “the circle of life”, or any such things. Our kids know. But this was certainly the closest Daughter has ever come to actually experiencing it all. I think what may have been a little well… weird (if that’s the right word), would be the size of the animal taken. She was kinda cool with the thought of the deer, but I think seeing the big buffalo on the ground may have been different to her. I’m not sure. As I write this, she’s fast asleep. I didn’t get a chance to talk about it on the drive home (she slept). She was kinda quiet, but I think she was just taking it all in. I certainly will speak more with her about it in the future.

One thing that was cool? While we watched the fallow does I asked Daughter if she wanted to try. She declined. She said she wasn’t sure if she could cleanly take one. I thought that was pretty cool of her to decline, to know her limits and that she wasn’t quite ready. I personally think she could do it, but given the 6.8 rifle wasn’t behaving well… it’s all good in the end that we passed.

The only problem Wife has with all of this? Daughter normally wears very bright clothing and pretty smells. To see Daughter in camo and not smelling all flowery… just not her little girl. 😉

My Feelings

First, let me make this very clear.

This was not a hunt.

This was a meat harvest. This was putting meat in the freezer and ultimately into the belly’s of my family.

I know what hunting is. This is not hunting. It started out just as a way to put some pork in the freezer and test out the new rifle. It turned into a pure putting of meat in the freezer. Oh, and reaffirming my faith in .308 Winchester.

I see nothing wrong with what I did. Just as long as I keep it in perspective.

I’m disappointed with the 6.8. But as of now, it’s not 6.8 itself but rather what happened with the rifle? Why did the point of impact shift so drastically? Did something get bumped or jostled? It was a new box of ammo (Silvery State Armory, 85 grain Barnes TSX, tactical load) but apparently from the same lot as the box I zeroed with. I need to investigate.

Or… I need to just dump the 6.8 and stick with my trusty .308. Maybe that means I should buy an AR-10 instead. 😉

I’m happy Daughter went with me. It was good Father-Daughter time together. I’m going to certainly speak with her more in the coming days about the experience.

Sometimes life presents you things you don’t expect. You just have to remember what you’re truly after and work accordingly. I never thought I would have harvested a water buffalo, but it happened, and I’m sure hoping it’s going to be tasty. 🙂

Updated: Waking up this morning and recounting the events to Oldest, Youngest, and a friend, it allowed me to think a little more on the events of yesterday.

I realized that I just don’t have that “satisfied” feeling. It didn’t feel like any sort of “good hunt”. I don’t have that “post-hunt euphoria” or anything of the sort. It just feels like I went to the grocery store… albeit a little closer to the source of the food than the cellophane-wrapped styrofoam tray with a carefully weighed out portion in the display case I’d get a the store.

I am happy to have meat; for that I am thankful. And being as this meat is leaner, less cholesterol, and overall better for you than beef well… that means chances are better Wife will cook it regularly and can have red meat for supper. 🙂

I am happy to have had time with Daughter. That’s probably the best part of the event.

I doubt I’ll regale stories of the event because there’s really not much drama, other than the 6.8 rifle problem. But it was what it was. I don’t regret it. It was good learning, a good experience to have gone through. I’ll see in time how it fully sits with me.