Patience and an Ideal Arrow Setup

"My Cape Buffalo hunt with Limcroma Safaris is proof that hunting the Black Death is a mental game. We knew getting a buff with a bow with no follow-up shot would be a challenge. 6 days of waiting in a blind, hoping, and of course, there was that one great opportunity unfortunately right after shooting light. We weren’t rolling up to the campfire every night with fantastic animals from the day but we knew what was coming. 

I knew this would be the most patience-demanding hunt I’ve done but we stayed productive and ready every day. While we waited, the work continued. In the mornings before we would go sit in the blind, my PH Pieter and I worked hard in to adjust my bow to where it felt best. We experimented with different arrows and weights that we both felt confident in. We knew there were bachelor groups of buff in the area and we changed blinds a few times.  

There was peace in the patience. While we’re sitting in the blind, we saw plenty of animals drinking and meandering from the unique perspective of the bottom of a ground blind. A few days into the hunt, I got a beautiful eland with some fantastic spiral.

The camaraderie at camp is one of the best things about all hunts and this one was no different. All of my campmates cheered me on when we had breakfast, encouraged me at the campfire before dinner, and wondered if I had a buff down yet while they themselves were out hunting. 

Then, finally the movie moment came one afternoon and I finally got my buff. He was standing broadside at about 20 yards. You didn’t have to tell me twice to draw. The bow was set at no more than 58 pounds and the Iron Will broadhead was very small, especially for a Cape Buffalo. He went down in one clean bow shot with no follow-up rifle shot. It measured 40 2/8”. 

It’s a defining moment for a hunter to be especially proud of the preparation and execution of hunting a specific animal and that’s how my Cape Buffalo is for me. After it was winched into the truck, taken to the skinning shed, that night, we had buffalo for dinner at camp and toasted the day. 

It’s not just the buffalo I’ll remember. It’s the patience I practiced in the blind, the people I shared camp with, and the days of waiting for the perfect moment I had worked for."

— Vanessa B