KMS - Buffs Hitting The Salt
Contributors to this thread:International
From: Ken Moody Safaris
25-May-22
42” Plus
42” Plus
We’ve been busy with cape buffalo the last two weeks…Six bulls shot, five in the salt.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
25-May-22
39” Plus
39” Plus
From: Ken Moody Safaris
25-May-22
42”
42”
From: Ken Moody Safaris
25-May-22
40”
40”
From: Ken Moody Safaris
25-May-22
44 5/8”
44 5/8”
From: Ken Moody Safaris
25-May-22
The late rains and ultra green, thick foliage is making it tough but we’re getting it done. All of the buff taken from day 5 on. If you’re looking for walk and stalk adventure and close range encounters, contact me to make that happen. Will keep posting as the buffalo hit the salt.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
25-May-22
That last buffalo is huge, carrying his mass deep down the horn.
From: Bou'bound
25-May-22
they all look massive to me!
From: Altitude Sickness
25-May-22
They all look great. But that 44” is special
From: Ken Moody Safaris
25-May-22
Better photo of that was 39” bull. Didn’t like the first one I posted.
From: MA-PAdeerslayer
25-May-22
That 44 is a tank. Damnnn
From: Ken Moody Safaris
25-May-22
He definitely has the hooks. The mass throughout the horns is superb. Really heavy.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
25-May-22
He has a massive body as well. Thick neck, huge girth. Great buffalo.
From: Altitude Sickness
25-May-22
He’s Like this brute I saw in Kruger a few weeks ago
From: Altitude Sickness
25-May-22
From: Ken Moody Safaris
26-May-22
57” Kudu bull hit the salt. Free range, Botswana border.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
26-May-22
57” Kudu bull hit the salt. Free range, Botswana border.
From: lamb
26-May-22
save a buffalo for me!
From: Ken Moody Safaris
26-May-22
No worries Dave. Just keep your broadheads sharp :)
From: wkochevar
26-May-22
Do you have blinds set up on the salt or stalk in?
From: huntinelk
26-May-22
Don't kill them all before I get there...
From: Altitude Sickness
26-May-22
Wkochevar, I think when Ken says “In the salt” or “ hit the salt” he means the skull and hide being put in the salt shed. They store the skulls and hides in salt until the taxidermist picks them up.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
27-May-22
From: Ken Moody Safaris
28-May-22
48” Sable bull, last morning on departure day! Tremendous bull.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
28-May-22
From: Altitude Sickness
28-May-22
Wow! What a bull
From: Ken Moody Safaris
28-May-22
A 48” Sable bull is tremendous. It certainly didn’t look that big when we saw it. I thought 45” initially but once back at the skinning shed, the tape corrected my assumption. I’m so happy for our returning clients from Texas. They both shot buffalo last season and this year, a buff and this sable.
From: Bou'bound
29-May-22
Would a 30-06 180grain nosler partition take care of a Buffalo
From: hunt forever
29-May-22
Ken, Do you feel it will dry up by the end of June and and leaves fall?
From: Ken Moody Safaris
30-May-22
The Nosler Partition was a great bullet in its day and still does very well but IMO the Swift A Frame is superior. A 30/06 can kill a buffalo eventually :) but the .375 H&H Mag is the smallest legal caliber to hunt them in most places. The best all around caliber for buffalo is any of the .416s…yes, it is still very wet here and has rained off and on throughout May. Everything is still very green and thick but it dries out quickly and I think by the end of June it will come right. The wet veldt makes it tough to pattern buffalo tho. Their drinking patterns are erratic.
From: wildwilderness
31-May-22
Wow, a 48” sable is amazing!
Ken, what’s your recommended bullet and velocity range for a 375 Ruger for buff?
From: Ken Moody Safaris
31-May-22
If you hand load use Swift A Frames or Barnes TSX with 300 grain bullets pushing 2000fps or better.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
31-May-22
If you don’t hand load, the standard ammo offered in Hornady DGX will work. The new Hornady offerings are much better than their old stuff. The standard factory ammo pushes the 300 grain Hornady at 2600+.
From: RonP
31-May-22
ken, thanks for sharing.
those that are rifle kills, what is a typical shot distance?
From: Ken Moody Safaris
31-May-22
Around 50 - 60 yards.
From: wildwilderness
31-May-22
When are solid/ non expanding bullets recommended?
From: RK
31-May-22
Some really great animals across the board. Good Buffalo!!
From: Ken Moody Safaris
01-Jun-22
Clients should really only use softs. Solids are for backing up as penetration is key to stopping a charging buffalo which must be hit in the brain or spine to stop. You might turn a charge with a well placed shot but to stop it ultimately, you need to hit the brain or spine. Softs expend more energy into the buffalo and cause more internal damage. Clients really shouldn’t bother with solids unless hunting elephant or rhino. A solid can also pass thru one buffalo and hit another. Just stick with quality softs like the A frame.
From: hunt forever
20-Jun-22
Ken what size were the bases on those Buffalo?
From: Ken Moody Safaris
21-Jun-22
Cannot say. Didn’t measure anything but the spread. Here’s an old warrior we dropped yesterday. Client was using a Chapuis double rifle in 450/400. Two shots close range.
From: groundhunter50
21-Jun-22
Those side by side rifles are so "classy", they just speak Africa............ Wow what a big animal,,,,,,
From: Ken Moody Safaris
21-Jun-22
It’s a sweet rifle. Much lighter than my Merkel .470. Did a number on the buffalo as well. The 450/400 3” and 3 1/4” are two of my favorite calibers in a double.
From: MA-PAdeerslayer
21-Jun-22
Just reading those calibers makes my shoulder sore….
From: drycreek
21-Jun-22
Good Lord Ken, those are some old warriors for sure. Thanks for this thread.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
23-Jun-22
30” Nyala bull hit the salt today.
From: RK
23-Jun-22
Wow. Very impressive. Don’t see a lot of true 30s. Congrats to the Hunter and good job to the PH
From: Ken Moody Safaris
29-Jun-22
Grounded another today. Client from Quebec. First shot was good but the buffalo wasn’t impressed. Brought in the dogs and they were on him in about 300 yards. Buffalo bayed a bit then ran, bayed and ran, and finally broke out of the thickets where we could hit with one from my .470 Nitro, two from a .500 Nitro, and two from the client’s .375. Buff made it about another 100 yards and fell. He was in some of the thickets stuff you can find. Good dogs for wounded buffalo are life savers.
From: Bou'bound
29-Jun-22
And people bowhunt these things?
From: Ken Moody Safaris
29-Jun-22
First shot on this buffalo ruptured the aorta. The blood trail was significant but he still ran 300 or so yards, and circled back to our flank, as they usually do, waiting on us. The dogs jumped him and ran him out of the thorns and thickets where it took another five good shots to ultimately drop him. Cape Buffalo are different.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
29-Jun-22
From: Altitude Sickness
29-Jun-22
Bou’ That is why you bow hunt them. The unpredictability :>)))
From: Bou'bound
29-Jun-22
That's why when people bowhunt them a lot die due to lead poisoning. The guys who truly kill one with a bow have done something amazing.
From: BullBuster
29-Jun-22
The first picture of this thread is of me. The top 4 hunters were my group of buddies. The 4th pic looks like a success by Moody, but its misleading. They were stalking my friend's wounded buff and saw that one and shot it. Wrong buff. Here is the description of the hunt that the 4 of us booked: " This is a newly acquired reserve on the boundary of the Kruger, others similar to this you may have heard of are the Balule, Kalserie, Mthimkulu, Timbavati, etc. The fence between the 5 million acre park and this reserve will be permanently removed in July 2018 - thus hunting will commence in 2019. This will allow the grossly over grown population (in the park) of buffalo, elephant and other game to have more area to roam - and I assure you they will." What we got was a caged hunt. None of us would have booked this hunt had we known. Lots of other bad things. We are all really pissed. Unethical outfitter.
From: Highlife
29-Jun-22
Got the popcorn ??
From: RK
29-Jun-22
I think he should proceed with any legitimate complaints Just like any other hunt report
From: Ken Moody Safaris
30-Jun-22
Love to wake up in Africa to a bit of nonsense. I’ve always believed that social media retaliatory posts fall within the realm of bitter teenage girls and men with no sack. I don’t like participating in such childishness, but when silly accusations are made, my hand is forced… Point 1… The venue change occurred due to the closure of the area. As you can see, official hunting there was due to commence in 2019 on a limited basis and fully implemented in 2020, but as I recall, a certain worldwide event occurred in late 2019 and carried over into 2020 when no international travel was allowed. Many hunting/touring operations closed their doors as no income forced them to. The APNR area near Kruger Park discussed was one of those. Infrastructure was in place but in light of absolutely no business, this new area was abandoned. Management cut their losses and pulled out. My company had deposited $23,000 there and that was not recovered. A hard knock but we carried on and never went to our clients with this information. We simply honored their deposits. It was the ethical thing to do. Venues in Africa change from time to time due to many factors, but Covid’s impact on the industry here cannot be overstated…Above is the contract signed by this particular individual, clearly showing the hunting area was to be Limpopo North, not the area originally discussed. Limpopo North is exactly where he hunted.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
30-Jun-22
Point 2…The buffalo pictured that he claims I’m trying to pass off as something it is not was, in fact, shot by me and my team. We had tracked the client Roger’s wounded buffalo for a over five hours and when we got our dogs on the scene, continued with the track which led to the river. As we stopped for a quick rest, a bull jumped from upon the track and charged up the hill towards one of my PHs. It ran past him and I told him to shoot it after which I shot it as well. When we inspected it, we discovered it was not the wounded bull but one that was lying in a thicket directly upon the track of the wounded one. I would have shot this bull 100 out of 100 times as everything indicated it was the wounded bull and leaving an injured buffalo to hurt or kill someone else is something you do your utmost to prevent. I’ve attached a photo of a post I made about it on another thread clearly stating that it was me who shot this bull. No one is trying to hide anything. I paid in full for the buffalo and we carried on.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
30-Jun-22
Point 3…The cage referenced is over 5,700 hectares (14,000 plus acres). The other cages we hunt are similar in size. These areas of Limpopo North are huge, thick, and challenging.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
30-Jun-22
Point 4…Unethical? “We are all really pissed.” Interesting…The other members of the group don’t see it that way. In fact, on 20 June, a rifle hunter killed the buffalo that was previously wounded by Roger. The broadhead was found during skinning and recovered. As ‘unethical’ as I am, I didn’t keep it quiet and pocket his trophy fee (only three of us knew what happened). No, I sent him an email with a photo of the broadhead and told him what had happened and that his wounded bull had been recovered and that he was owed a buffalo from me.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
30-Jun-22
Here is Roger’s reply.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
30-Jun-22
One of the other “really pissed” hunters in the group contacted me about a return to hunt our Zululand area which is free range.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
30-Jun-22
The other member of the group also approached me and asked about a return with his wife next year. We discussed at length and he too, left very happy. In fact, the perpetrator of this bullshit also inquired about a return if I would just let him extort me for a break on his hunt as claimed he had ‘issues’ with his PH. I did offer one as an appeasement but why, if I’m so ‘unethical’ would he and his ‘really pissed off’ friends all want to return?
From: Ken Moody Safaris
30-Jun-22
In business, especially the hunting business, you’ll get a client from time to time that cannot be satisfied for whatever reason. Many times the client’s inability to shoot well results in the blaming of others for the misfortunes of wounding game. Now, I’ve got another buffalo to hunt this afternoon. I hope everyone has a very good day!
From: BullBuster
30-Jun-22
Here we go. Moody is like CNN vs Trump. Everything out of context. Except for Roger (who is pissed out fences), we made these comments because we thought Moody may possibly make up for the injustices that he did too us. These are my best buddies. I can’t speak for Roger because I haven’t talked to him recently, but other than him I guarantee that none of us will return. And yes we signed on to Limpopo North because we thought it was the free range venue along Kruger. He will continue to try to discredit me in every way he can. It’s interesting how many PMs I’m getting from guys that agree to his past deceit. Check out the Outfitter Review I wrote.
From: g5smoke21
30-Jun-22
You look pretty happy in your kill photo.....
From: Ken Moody Safaris
30-Jun-22
If you are continuing to have “issues,” pick up the phone and call me like a man might do. You know what time it is in Africa.
From: Bou'bound
30-Jun-22
The guys has decades of support and positive references on this site and elsewhere for his current and prior operations. I'd hunt with him any day if Africa was of interest. Any day.
From: Matt
30-Jun-22
The smiles in the trophy pics above just cry "injustice".
From: APauls
30-Jun-22
So BullBuster just for context it looks like Ken explained why the area was changed to Limpopo North and that you signed a contract to hunt Limpopo north. Your team continued to hunt and shot buffalo. However, it is obvious your expectations were not met. What were your expectations?
From: BullBuster
30-Jun-22
Ken just sent us a contract. He never said there was a change. We had no idea that Limpopo North was not the hunt that was sold to us along Kruger. We only booked the hunt because it was described as free range. When we arrived in Johannesburg, the day before going to camp, we learned that the camp was not near Kruger. So I emailed Ken and said what’s the deal? That was the first time that he told us that he had lost that concession but we were hunting self propagating Buffalo and we would be happy. Again never mention fences. What were you gonna gonna do, turn around and go home? When we got there it was a caged hunt for sure. Never an apology. No compensation. There is no arguing this point. He even sold the meat to a butcher for additional profit. His website had said meat was donated to local communities. This is just tip of the iceberg.
From: Ken Moody Safaris
30-Jun-22
This safari, originating in 2018 (four years ago) was booked thru a booking agent who provided the narrative and description of venue. He booked about a dozen buffalo hunts for us that year at various locations based on where our quota was available. As you can see from the email sent to this individual in 2019, I stated “depending on venue” when describing how far we were from Johannesburg. He never questioned the venue then. We plan the hunts based on where we have available quota. The venue mentioned by the agent, failed to open as previously stated. We simply planned around that, and contracted the hunt for Limpopo North. Contracts were signed without any questions regarding venue location. Yes, meat shot in Limpopo is mine and I sell it outright. It’s then sold thru local butcheries to the local populace. Meat shot in the North West is donated to the local village as they control the hunting on the property. Meat shot in Zululand, the same. It’s kept there. Caged hunt is the most misleading, dumbest thing I’ve ever read.
From: Altitude Sickness
30-Jun-22
From: BullBuster
01-Jul-22
4-7 hours travel depending on venue? Excuse my naivety. I thought venue might have referred to property where we’re going to stay. 1.5 hours north of Kruger vs 1.5 hours south is a 3 hour difference. I had complete trust so I never questioned anything.
From: Bou'bound
01-Jul-22
You got a great bull. Nice job.
From: Missouribreaks
01-Jul-22
Interesting read.
From: Bou'bound
01-Jul-22
You got a great bull. Nice job.
From: fuzzy
02-Jul-22
I try to avoid your threads Ken to avoid "the Africa itch". Keep telling myself I'm too old for that shit. Lol
From: fuzzy
03-Jul-22
Bullbuster, I'm not sure what you mean by a "caged hunt ". Was Mr Moodys description of the situation inaccurate? I've never hunted Africa, probably never will. I have hunted Stateside with Ken and never known him to mis-state, understate, overstate, prevaricate, sugar-coat or otherwise do more or less than state the situation bluntly as he sees it.
From: drycreek
03-Jul-22
I can’t get over 14,000 acres being a cage. I hunted a 16,000 acre cage once with RK, never saw the fence except entering and leaving. Fouteen thousand acres aint the King Ranch, but it is still a big chunk of real eastate.
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but if I was gonna hunt buff, Ken is the guy I’d go with.
From: JSW
03-Jul-22
Ken, It's great to see continued success, especially with the bow hunts. Cape Bufallo are not easy to get with a bow and you have provided solid opportunities for many a bowhunter.
I keep telling you maybe next year but I've just about talked myself into it. I'll be in touch when you get back to the states. Goiod luck on the rest of the season.
From: BullBuster
04-Jul-22
During the first 3 days of my hunt I was told 15k ac but that’s a joke. The total property may be that but it’s divided into fenced square sections that are cut up by parallel sandy roads forming blocks . These sections connect to each other by gates that are left open so game can theoretically cross. We were driving and turning along fences constantly and trying to isolate the herd within the blocks. Some of the ranches after that were larger but not all. The 5th afternoon we were driving by a waterhole and the bull I eventually shot stepped out in front of us on the road. We backed out then started a slow stalk. My bull cut to the right (no wind) and other tracks to the left. Trackers wanted to go right but my PH said no and we went to to left looking for other bull tracks. Then he called it off as usual after only 200 yds. I said let’s go after the big bull but PH said no I don’t want to push him. We can try to drive around and see if he comes out. WTF! Next mid day they put me on that same water hole with an African tracker. The PH was so addicted to cigarettes he couldn’t sit at a water hole with me. He asked me if I’d shoot a buff from water blind and I said I guess I would on day 6 because things weren’t going well but that was not my preference. At 13:00 I shot my bull. Turns out the PH was watching me on live video from the lodge. I later found out he knew that bull was coming into that water hole every day so that’s why he wouldn’t pursue it the day before. That my friends is a caged hunt.
