“The Land of Thirst,” better known as the Karoo, sits in the southern region of South Africa. It’s amazing how so much of this country near Cradock reminds me of my home in far West Texas. Steep desert mountains, rock-littered ground, red soil, and thorny vegetation. If the acacia trees were replaced with mesquites, you’d hardly notice the difference.

As a gun writer with the opportunity to test and try different rifles, I’ve used a number of different rifle models and cartridges for buffalo in many different countries. Some have been good, some have been great, and others are near and dear to my heart—I made them permanent residents at my home. Let’s take a look at some of the buffalo rifles I’ve loved over the years.

But there is more to this story. Ray knew how much I was yearning to hunt some African game. However, I was unable to bring firearms on my trip as I was not on a “scheduled safari hunt” for that purpose. Ray did have in his keep three long guns for use on official business.

Hunt long enough, and you’re eventually going to mess up. If you’ve never lost an animal, count your blessings and you might want to go out and buy a lottery ticket because you are extremely fortunate and very lucky. You are also probably one day closer to having an agonizing day in the field! As I approach 40 years of hunting I must admit I’ve experienced some mishaps along the way. What follows are a few that stand out. By sharing these episodes, I hope to accomplish two th

We hunters and gun toters like to present questions to one another in efforts to get a very finite answer from our brethren. “If you could have one gun to hunt with, what would it be? You can have one carry gun, what is it and why? Pick one handgun cartridge to do everything with.”

A few years ago I had the pleasure of making two trips to Australia to participate in a buffalo management project. I was hunting with...