Arriving at the 9,000 acre ranch, the buffalo looked like little black dots at almost half a mile away. I grabbed Buster and a few slugs then grabbed the. 270. After picking out a nice sized cow, Jeff coached the first hunter on making his shot. My rangefinder confirmed the range to be 189 yds. The hunter assumed a prone position and in placed the crosshairs of his scope on the buffalo as I recorded the action through my video camera. He fired as I watched the bullet strike the 700-900 lb. buffalo right behind the shoulder. I was amazed at how the buffalo just flinched and kept walking as if nothing had happened. I asked what caliber was his rifle and he told me it was a .30-06. 15 minutes and 2 shots later, the cow was finally down for good. I was in total disbelief as I saw a bull take two or three shots from a 7 mm before finally going down. I remember taking one of the shotgun slugs out of my pocket and looking at the "little" 3"magnum and wondering if I was indeed crazy. Maybe I would have to use the .270 and 150 grain Nosler Partition bullets. I walked over to Valarie who was watching the action from afar and told her that these buffalo were indeed tough to bring down. They were like tanks! One of the guys who had laughed at me earlier offered to let me use his .338 magnum. He said that he didn't mean to offend what I was shooting (my shotgun). I politely declined the use of his .338 and told him that I came to take a buffalo with a shotgun and that's exactly what I was going to do. No offense taken. Seeing a large bull take four shots before going down then lie there as if dead, then magically rise and take two more shots before dropping then rise one more time, lower his head and paw the ground in preparation to charge Jeff who had come to put him out of his misery made me wonder even more if a slug could get it done. A final shot to the neck from Jeff’s rifle put the big bull down for good. By this point I was like the Little Engine that Could, "I think I can.", "I think I can." I told myself as I started to question my own theory. Throughout all the shooting that taken place so far I was able to notice something. At ranges of 100 to 150 yards many of the bullets from the high powered rifles were indeed punching holes through the buffalo and were ricocheting off the ground on the other side. Well, at least this part my theory was true. This meant that the bullets weren’t dumping all of their energy inside the buffalo. Hopefully I would have better success with my bigger, slower -moving slugs.

As several of us hopped into the back of the pickup to pursue the herd that had started running across the prairie, I was even more shocked to learn that the cow leading the herd had been shot at least once! A final shot dropped her, and as the herd settled down Jeff was able to spot a big fat cow for me that stood hump above the rest of the herd. I told Jeff that I was in no hurry and that I would wait all day in order to get within shotgun range. He asked me if we were close enough. I lased the heard -the range? 123 yards. This was still within Buster’s range but the problem was that I'd never shot at this distance and didn't know how the last 23 yards would affect the slugs trajectory. I opted to try to get a little closer. Jeff and I slowly walked towards the herd while eight onlookers watched from the pickup truck waiting to witness the slugs’ performance. Finding a bald spot on the ground some 85 to 90 yards away from the herd, I used my camera bag for a rest as I laid down on the ground, hoping that the herd wouldn’t charge. The moment of truth was here. As I chambered a slug, Jeff made sure that I was seeing the same buffalo that he was seeing then told me to shoot when ready. Concentrating like my life depended on it, I placed the crosshairs behind the big cow’s shoulder and squeezed the trigger. Boom! I knew that I hit her but she didn’t even move. I don’t even think that she flinched. "Good shot!" Jeff hollered as he looked through his binoculars. Looking through my scope I saw that I could not have made a better shot. Right behind the shoulder was a large, almost quarter size hole. Knowing that this was a lethal shot, and hoping to be the first one of the day to drop a buffalo with a one shot, I elected not to shoot her again. Five minutes later she was showing no signs of dying. Taking aim, I fired another shot which landed 6 inches to the right of my first shot. Although I like to be able to say that she dropped on the second shot, the truth is that she did lie down, but as the herd started to move she stumbled to her feet, ready to move with the herd. I told Jeff that I couldn't believe that she was still standing after being hit in the vials with two 600grain slugs. Jeff said that he didn’t think that I was getting good penetration with the slugs and suggested that I aim 6 inches up from my last shot. Moving up to about 70 yards and placing the crosshairs a little higher, I squeezed the trigger again and this time there was a reaction. On impact, the buffalo jumped as blood shot from her nose and mouth. Although I did not see it at the time, the third slug penetrated through the buffalo and buried itself into the ground on the other side. Blood pumped from the entrance holes as the buffalo made a short 30 yard trot, fell over, coughed two times, and died. At last I had my buffalo and above all- I did it with a shotgun and slugs.

To my knowledge, and anyone else's that I’ve talked to, I am the first person to have ever killed a buffalo with a shotgun slug. People don't usually think of a shotgun as a big game weapon but I believe that there's nothing on the planet that cannot be killed with a shotgun slug. Slugs may not move fast or be as popular as the super duper magnums on the market but they definitely get the job done- within their range. Oddly enough, when I contacted the Colorado Department of Fish and Wildlife to ask about using shotgun slugs for elk hunting, I was told that I wasn't allowed to do so. Perhaps they didn't think that it could be done because I later learned that there was nothing in the regulations that said that I couldn’t use a shotgun for hunting elk. At the meat processor I had the guys keep an eye out for two slugs that were believed to still be inside the animal.

They indeed found two slugs and said that they were buried side by side just under the hide on the far side. So much for me not getting good penetration. Although I was not able to weigh the slugs, they deformed very little (as seen in the photo) and appear to have retained 100% of their weight. With 376 lbs. of boneless buffalo meat, I will enjoy buffalo steaks for months to come. This hunt is just one example of how powerful a shotgun slug truly is.

I have retired my rifles and will hunt the rest of this season and all of next years’ season with ‘ol Buster. I’ve already set my sights on the next big game animal that I intend to take with a shotgun slug and will bring you a good article on that hunt too. While I could have bought a brand new, fully rifled barrel shotgun, and used sabots, I wanted to show that it doesn't take a fancy, high dollar, hard kicking rifle to bring home the buffalo. It just take a few well placed shots. After all, the Native Americans did the same thing with homemade bows and arrows.