My Dad, The Great White Hunter

As promised, here is a guest post from my very own father, Allen, about his buffalo hunting trip that my brother, Ricky, won and gave to Dad.


My son, Rick, bought a hunting magazine and of course there was a contest to enter. He won a buffalo hunting trip for two. He asked if I wanted to shoot it. Being the great white hunter I keep thinking I am, of course I said yes. Now, being able to shoot anything from rabbits to deer, a buffalo should be a piece of cake!!!

Not owning a high powered rifle I decided to use my muzzle loader. Just as well do it the old way. Well, after using many different amounts and kinds of powder and different weights of bullets, I found the right combination. I found out not to shoot too close to garage if you have vinyl siding. With a full load of powder and an over sized bullet and it being cold outside, the blast will put a nice hole in the siding!!! Well, I have summer to repair that.

In spite of hole in siding and a sore shoulder the date is coming up fast. Of course it always helps to look at a book to find the right combination of powder and bullet. Next is the right sights. A red dot scope is perfect. When you look through a scope it really makes a rabbit look big!!!!

Rick's 11 year old son, Damien, went with us. He has been deer hunting with us for a while. The guides had never had a 3 generation hunt before so they were excited to have one to put in their web site. When we got there, of course we sat around talking with them. Being the great white hunter that I am, I mentioned that it should only take one shot anyway. Not being real up to date on buffalo hunting, I find out they like to charge you after you shoot them, and it doesn't involve money either!!! I was told I better know how to load a muzzle loader real fast. No wonder nobody else wanted to shoot it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To top it off they wanted me to shoot a cow that has been fighting with the rest of the herd and had left. Well I thought it would be better to be trampled by just one buffalo than a whole herd.
We found it out in the sticks some place. I had no idea where we were. Some place in a 5 mile by 7 mile area. We seen her way off and she was coming our way so we got set up. Shannon, one of the guides, said she would come up on the back side of some trees. So I got set up ready to shoot and she came up on our side of the trees. Well with her standing 10 yards from us Shannon kept whispering not to shoot. I think it had something to do with a one second charging time and my thirty second loading time. Huh, there was that charging thing again!!!! Well, it took off running and we couldn't see her now.
While we were figuring out what the next move was she came back and stood about 80 yards from us through some trees. I didn't like the looks of the shot so held off. She stood there for a while looking the other way but did turn and come our way. Don't know why because she knew we were down there.
She came down the tree line and I sighted in on her, now if you think a rabbit looks big in a scope you haven't seen anything yet!!! When a buffalo gets with in thirty yards of you, all you can see is brown. I moved the sight in front of her and brought it back to her chest and shot. Now through all this talking we had done with the guides, we expected this thing was going to run 100 to 150 yards if I hit it right the first shot, which they said never happens. All the hunter sees is brown and they shoot and a wounded animal is on their hands. Huh, how I can relate to that!!!!!!

It was at 25 yards when I shot and it just stood there lifting one front leg. Lets see 25 yards 2 seconds, not enough time!! Ever wanted to hide behind a tree and the only one is behind you and only a sapling!! I didn't move and noticed nobody else did either. It finally walked about 5 yards stood there and fell over. Shannon said "Did you put a hurt on her!!!!!"

Allen and dead bully buffalo.

















Things learned:
1. Hole in siding, too much powder.
2. Sore shoulder, too much powder and too heavy a projectile.
3. Leave scope at home, buffalo get too big when seen at 30 yards.
4. Do not have head mounted and hang in bed room. (Will be sleeping alone.)
5. Do it again? HEAVENS, YES!



Allen, Rick and Damien with dead bully buffalo.