Top End Buffalo Down Under

[lil 2 sleepy]

As a little boy one of the first movie heroes that made an impression on me was the original crocodile hunter …Michael J. (Crocodile) Dundee. Whether it was foiling poachers with a dead Kangaroo, introducing us to what a real knife was, or sweeping the girl off her feet, everything of the late 80s had an Australian Vibe. It’s has always been a place in the back of my mind I knew I wanted to go.

After finishing my trip to Scotland last year, it made me aware that I was only 2 continents away from having hunted on all the continents. It meant the Australia was an essential need to check off the bucket list. I got back and began digging into my research on Australia and quickly formulated a plan to make it a reality.
I spend a good bit of time at night lying in bed, doing research on the places and hunts I want to do that are still on my bucket list. I try to plan out my options for upcoming years, and what they might cost. I dragged my feet on another hunt and didn’t book it in time for 2024, so I was looking for a spot filler for the year/vacation.
I booked a 6-day safari for my wife and myself with Harry Stenton of True Wild Safaris. As luck would have it, a friend and his wife decided they wanted to go as well, so we put the proverbial pen to paper, and we’re booked.

The one thing they don’t highlight to you in your excitement is how fucking far away Australia really is. We booked a 6 day Safari, 2 of those were travel days once we got there.. I didn’t really think about it 12 months ago and thought no big deal when booking the flights. I wasn’t thing that to get there is 39 hours of travel time over 4 calendar days once you factor in time zones and the international date line. What looked like a 10-day trip took on more of a 16-day trip just due to travel. Business class seats for a couple of legs made it a little better, but 2 or 3 overnight red eyes each way are tough going. Anyway, on to Darwin Australia for some fun.
Darwin is the northern tip of Australia and pretty much the only large city in the Northern Territory. It had enough to keep you interested for a few days. The beaches were nice, the water was beautiful, and the southern hemisphere skies are amazing as always. Darwin’s claim to fame was that in 1942 it was bombed harder by the Japanese than Pearl Harbor. It didn’t completely get knocked out of the war, but they spent a great deal of time working to get back into the game. We got a great deal of history lessons in between Darwin and Honolulu.

The Northern Territory or the Top End is our destination for Buffalo and the area we are hunting is Central Arnhem Land, it is an indigenous area with no permanent facilities. We all were born too late to explore the earth and too early to explore space, so a tent camp in 1.2 million acres of almost undisturbed wilderness…..Perfect.

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[lil 2 sleepy]

The day starts out with checking the rifle zeroes. With the iron sights my 416 Remington is good to go, but the scope needs a couple of cranks left to get her back right. The morning is a bit slow. Despite seeing 100s of buffalo, we just haven’t seen that true Trophy quite. Trophy Bulls and cows are what is on the menu, and by trophy, I mean old Dagga Boys that are big, heavy, rounded tip old boys that are on the downside. As you see more and more bulls, the anticipation builds to a fervor, but each one just isn’t quite right. A little too small for day 1, or a little too young to take out of the heard yet.

At lunch Harry suggested that it was time to put the boots really to the ground and walk a few kilometers into a creek valley. These areas immediately have some proper looking buffalo country filled with water and wallows. No sooner than we got out of sight of the truck, than we started to see some bulls moving around. These guys had obviously been kicking the crap out of each other for a bit based. As difficult as it had been to get on a big bull this morning, now we’re looking at two?

The bigger of the two made a move to push off the younger bull and that gave us just the opportunity to move into place. I really wanted my first to be taken with iron sights up very close and personal. Well, I mostly got my wish. It was iron sights, but 70 yards or so. The 1st 400 grain Barnes hit right where it was intended and spun him a circle. One in the spine as he tried to go away, and the ole boy was done for. Proper proper old dagga boy with the scars to prove it.

On the way out of the wilderness, my buddy’s wife rounded out day 1 with a trophy cow. It took a bit to get her in place for a shot, but she made a perfect shot. It made for a nice cap for a first day.

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[Saltydog235]

That's great. Congrats on the buffalo and adventure.

[lil 2 sleepy]

Day #2
My buddy is still looking for his trophy bull and I’ve got a cow or maybe bull with the bow on my mind.
As the waves of favor rock back and forth, occasionally good fortune shines on you. I was presented with the opportunity to make a stalk on a very nice trophy cow that was lying in a dry creek bed. She was in a herd of about 20-25 cows and calves, and that meant that the odds of getting close with the bow were not zero, but as might as well have been.
We made a plan to swing downwind and try to hopefully come up one of the creek fingers to get a shot. Harry, my wife and I were able to do a pretty good job of getting into what we thought was a good position. We could see buffalo at 40 yds but couldn’t make out my old girl. We knew that she was very close but with all the eyes and the fact that they are buffalo, you just can’t stroll into town.

We were patiently waiting for something to go in our favor to make a move. As luck would have it, this came in the form of two cows and calves that unknowingly got behind us and dropped down right in the creek bottom with us. They were withing 5 yards, and once they caught our wind, they decided that this particular creek was not for them and made plans to visit Melbourne or Sydney with post haste. Typically, I don’t like to get busted on a stalk like this, but since we were amongst the buffalo, this forced our girl to show herself. Another 400 grain Barnes in the heart was the beginning, and two in the hips as she ran off were the end. All in all, almost a perfect stalk. 30 yards from Buffalo on foot with my wife able to film it. Couldn’t ask for much more.

Just to top it off, my friend was also able to get his buffalo after a long stalk and a much longer shot than average. Great old bull, and a really cool stalk for him.

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[JABIII]

Great trip! I want to get down there to shoot some pelagics, and chase some black Marlin while I can. Long way down there for sure. Congrats!

[lil 2 sleepy]

I put a pretty good deal of effort into getting a bow setup together that I thought would be suitable for taking down such a large animal. I had 80# limbs put on my bow and loaded up 880 grain arrows and hand sharpened broadheads and carried a bow case all the way around the world. You better be darn sure I really wanted to use it.

It is 100% bow day for me today.

In the idyllic world, I envisioned taking a nice buffalo with the rifle and then having to spend the rest of the time making multiple stalks on bulls until I was able to get one in the right spot to get the job done.

The first half of the plan had come together quite nicely, the second half came together much much smoother than I anticipated. Within 15 minutes of leaving camp, we ran into a fantastic old bull that was just sort of hanging out in a small oasis between two hills. It was honestly too good an opportunity to pass up. The wind was in our favor, we were able to get the truck and team easily hidden and were only 300 yards away when we began our stalk.

We pinpointed the bull’s last location and we’re pretty sure he would stay right where he was feeding. Well, we were wrong, in the amount of time it took us to cover 200 yards, the old boy had swung around behind us and was cresting a hill headed towards where we had left the truck. After a little backtracking on our route, we were able to regain a good wind and began putting a stalk on the bull. He had his head down just feeding slowly and that allowed us to close the last little bit of distance.
The problems at this point become more than you can count: #1 he’s a 1500# buffalo and I have a bow, #2 the aborigines burn off large portions of ground to make the green grow back quicker, well it also makes a god awful crunch when you walk... therefore making #1 important again, #3 I practiced out to about 55 with this setup, but truly only felt like 35 and in was killable. The weight of the arrows just drained the speed out of it beyond 35 and penetration may be questionable, so we have to get close. There are many more to ponder, but you get the gist.


We were somehow able to slowly work ourselves to 22 yards and slide in right behind a small pine tree. I nocked an arrow and eased out from my hiding spot and began to draw back. The bull must have seen some motion out of the side of his eye and he picked his head up and swung around to look straight at me. I had to pinch the draw off short and hold the bow for what felt like 45 mins. He and I played the I see you, I don’t see you, I see you game, for a good long while. It’s the same game we play with every deer that comes to a corn pile.

After what felt like an eternity he finally relented and went back to feeding. This time I swung the bow behind the tree and drew. Once I swung back on the bull, I had him at 23 and dead broadside. I let the arrow fly and hit him exactly where I wanted at the top of the triangle. At the shot, he wheeled and ran straight towards us. Luckily, he hadn’t seen us and was looking for whatever had irritated him. I was able to reload another arrow and hit him again right at 10 yds. The arrow hit basically the same spot. He turned and ran up over the hill to where the truck was with my wife and friends watching. The bull piled up 40yds from us and I had my bull.

Absolute tank of a buffalo. I couldn’t have been happier with the stalk, performance of the gear, or the animal. It felt a little too easy, but I’ve bow hunted long enough to know that you take it when you get it. Maybe I’ll have to try it on a Cape Buffalo next to find out 😊.

When the bull ran at us, I never considered it a charge at the time, but in hindsight if he had seen us behind the tree, it would have turned into one for sure. I don’t typically get nervous while making a shot and never felt threatened in the moment, but after some reflection, I surely feel it was a lot closer to a dangerous spot than I realized. If he had seen us things may have been vastly different than they turned out. In the future I probably need to take the risks a little more seriously or I might take a flight I didn’t pay a ticket for.

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[Rubberhead*]

Envious - you should have shot some camels while you were there, too.

[huntinghagen#12]

This is on my list, and the wife wants to go to Australia (not to hunt) ... I might pick your brain on this one down the road.

Looks like a great time.

[buckpro]

Awesome trip!

[lil 2 sleepy]

We got a little later start on Day 4. I had already accomplished more than I could have asked for and the celebration the night before made for slow feet and sore heads. I was spending my day looking for Scrub Bulls and Boar. We rode around and did some exploring and looked at what the outback had to offer. We got into a number of pigs and saw some cattle during the afternoon but were never able to get a big Boar or a big Bull. It would have been a nice way to finish up the week, but I was not disappointed in any way. I couldn’t have asked for more.
My buddy did kill a gigantic cow buff that is probably a 1% kind of girl. Made for a really nice cherry on the top for him as well.


We spent one day driving back out of Arnhem Land and got stop in and see a few of the local celebrities from Crocodile Dundee. Ole’ Charlie the buffalo was hanging out in the .303 Bar. This is named after the .303 British caliber that all of the convicts that settled Australia carried.
The crocodile from the movie was hanging out in Darwin at the Croc Cove. I’ve killed a nearly 14’ alligator and I thought that he was huge. A 16’ croc is a whole other level of big. An equal length Croc is 2 times as thick as a gator. They really are impressive creatures to check out. Maybe next year in Namibia I might ground check one for verification.

A few observations:
We used Hawaii as a jumping on and off point. I can’t say enough good about that as a concept for such a long trip, except Hawaii in itself is a long way from the lowcountry. Hotels are 5 Star expensive in Waikiki, but it was cool to check off the wife’s bucket list. Obviously, a lot of military history at Pearl Harbor and it is something everyone should do once. The rest of Oahu and Honolulu I can say, I’m good with seeing just 1 time. 1 million people stashed in that island makes for some crazy stop and go traffic. Why did the chicken cross the road in Hawaii? Because there wasn’t room for him on this side. Chickens running everywhere you look.

The Northern Territory has the wildest tourism slogan you could possibly think of…CU in the NT is the motto, and you see it everywhere. Absolute hoot of a scheme.
CU in the NT! - Official Shirts, Singlets, Stickers & more... – NT Unofficial
https://ntunofficial.com/


Australians are wild mothers. These guys give absolutely zero fucks. If I had taken my youngest son with me, we may have had to move to Australia. Lucky for me he can only hear the stories and see the pics.

Our itinerary was as good as we could make it, and it still was tough. If you ever go, fly through Hawai’i and break it up overnight like we did. If we hadn’t, I don’t think I could have done it. If you can swing business, it’s probably worth it on 12–17-hour flights.

I’ve now been to 5 continents to hunt, and the story is the same. For the most part, hunters in every place are cut from the same cloth and have the same goals, morals, and wants out of life. With that said, every story is the same, we are outnumbered and are fighting for the life of what we love to do. People with no idea of what it means to harvest any animal, more less a wonderful animal in an exotic location, still have the voting power to end it for others. Remember this whenever you make decisions on whether to take that trip or not. It will most assuredly not be there to do for my grandkids and that is sad. The world is changing, go get that elk or moose or African trophy, or for me its Asia.

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[Carolina Counsel]

Fantastic write up. I follow a PH who guides in Australia on Bowsite and love reading his summaries of the hunts. Yours is better.

[Sasha and Abby]

great story...

[chocolate lab84]

Great as always. Really enjoy reading about your adventures each time.

[lil 2 sleepy]

Great as always. Really enjoy reading about your adventures each time.

Thanks. I enjoy doing the writeups so that I can look back at them 4-5 years later and relive some of the things I have forgotten about the people and places.

[lil 2 sleepy]

Envious - you should have shot some camels while you were there, too.

No Camels in this area. Just Buffalo, Scrub Bulls, pigs, and Donkeys.

We saw all of those, just no real big males.

[prcn]

I enjoyed reading all of that. Awesome trip!

[WoodieSC]

Incredible. Great story, and glad it all worked out, along with your wife joining you for the trip.

[gooseaholic]

Most excellent synopsis

[PharmHunter]

Awesome trip and write up as always. Thanks for sharing! Australia has always been at the top of my list to visit since I was a kid. I believe you just showed me the trip I want to do one day.

[4THEGIRLS]

Very nice, man!