The minimum calibre by law is the .375 H&H. This is for a good reason as this is one tough animal to bring down. This thick skinned animal requires a hard and heavy bullet designed for deep penetration. The two most likely positions will be a broad sided shot, slightly off centred or a full frontal shot.

BROADSIDE SHOT
A heart shot is recommended where the bullet needs to be placed just below the centre horizontal line of the body, just behind the front leg. The .375 has enough penetration to reach the heart and will also do enough damage to the lungs for the Cape Buffalo to go down within 100 to 150 yards.

FULL FRONTAL SHOT
There is more risk to this type of shot as the target area is smaller. The projectile must be designed for very deep penetration as the path towards the vitals need to pass through thick skin, then a thick layer of chest muscle and bones before reaching the vital organs. A shot left or right from centre may take the projectile in-between the shoulder and lung cavity, this will do little damage and will only wound the animal. This is when it becomes Africa’s Black Death. A wounded Cape buffalo is Africa's most dangerous animal to track. Back-up rifles should be bigger than a .375H&H as a charging buffalo will only go down with a brain or spinal shot. The advantage of shooting a heavy calibre, loaded with solid brass ammunition is that if the hunter misses the brain, the bullet may then penetrate the head, drives through the neck bones and muscle and hopefully hit the spinal chord on it's way to the back end of the animal.

WOUNDED CAPE BUFFALO
A wounded Cape Buffalo will seldom charge immediately after the first shot. It normally runs off, head for cover of thicker bush, and then ambushes the hunter and trackers. Extreme caution must be taken when tracking a wounded Cape Buffalo.