Water Buffalo
The Asiatic water buffalo Bubalus Bubalis was introduced in the 1840’s to Northern Australia as a means of meat supply for the early settlers in their colonies. By the 1940’s these colonies had been abandoned and despite the buffalo being targeted for their meat, hides and trophy hunting they quickly multiplied and spread across the vast floodplains of the Northern Territory. The BTEC program of the 1980’s known as the Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign would see numbers decimated from the estimated 350 000 head population of this time. It is estimated today that some 150 000 head still roam the north of the top end today.
The mature male buffalo bull ranges in size from 600-800 kilograms with bulls of 1000 kilograms not uncommon. During the dry season most trophy bulls will be found solitary in dry open plains with surrounding vegetation, rocky hills, gullies and sandy creek lines providing ideal cover. With the size, aggressiveness and the inch thick hide of the buffalo a min calibre of .338 is recommended, but the 375 H&H, 416 or 458 is ideally suited. Hunting will be done at close quarters with most close in stalks ranging from 15 to 50 metres and longer shots taken at 60-100 metres when stalking on open plains. Buffalo will be spotted and then stalked in many cases but most commonly the most impressive bulls will come from walking particular springs, swamps creek line and open plains. The buffalo’s strong sense of smell makes it all too aware of its sensory environment and surroundings making it such a desirable game animal both in size and the effort required to take one of these trophy animals. This amazing sense of smell only seems to get better and better with a bulls size and maturity. The water buffalos impressive wide sweeping horns make for an impressive trophy either as a skull mount or a beautiful shoulder mount and are bound to be a conversation starter on any keen hunter’s wall.
