HUNT LOCATION: Makuti - Zimbabwe

PROFESSIONAL HUNTER: Alan Shearing

CAMERA MAN: Justin Drainer

HUNT DATES: June 17 - 30 2009

SPECIES HUNTED: Tuskless Elephant, Buffalo, Hyena

RIFLES: Searcy 450/400 Double and CZ 550 - .375 H&H

BULLETS: 400 gr Woodleigh Solids and 350 gr. Woodleigh Softs

FLIGHT: SAA from IAD to Joberg and SAA to Harare

Where to begin………..

My flights from Washington to Harare were uneventful for the most part. The plane from IAD to Joberg was relatively full, with only a few open seats. The flight to Harare was packed full. Upon arrival in Harare, I noticed something was askew. No power….

The individuals at customs and the firearms personnel were operating by flashlight and candle. No one was interested in having me open my gun case, just hand over the forms. Alan Shearing (PH) picked me up at the airport and off we went to Harrison House. We arrived quite late, so I settled into my room and got some much needed sleep. As you can see, the room was quite nice and met my needs for the night.







Buzz and Al met me the next morning for breakfast, and we went over to the office to collect the trackers (Martin & Bongi) and camera man (Justin Drainer).

Myles, Charmane and Kirsty were all at the office, so some nice introductions were made as well. I also had to pleasure of seeing Rob Jolly's ivory from his recent hunt. That was some beautiful ivory. My only regret was that I didn't take a picture of it…

We were off….. We stopped in Karoi to pick up Al's tracker, Nyati, and were off again.



Al accommodated a lengthy question and answer session as we made out way to Makuti.



Upon arrival, I was quickly shown to my tent and around the more than sufficient camp. I was the only hunter in camp, in the concession for that matter. The camp was quite nice and was being run by a relatively new camp manager, Ryan Atkins. They certain met all of my needs and wants throughout my hunt. The food was excellent as well as the drink. I do want to provide you with a bit of caution. For those of you unfamiliar with the orange flavored drink, "Oros", make sure you dilute the concentrate before you drink the first two bottles straight. I was on a sugar high for the first couple of days…







Ryan had already obtained our game scout, so we went and checked the rifles. The bolt .375 was close enough and my first shot from the double was in the black. So far so good…

DAY 1: A 5:30 wake up, light breakfast and we off in search of elephant. Our fist stop was atop Chemakunguwa lookout/booster near the tower. For any of you who have hunted out of this camp, you know this location well..





Bongi, who has eyes unlike anyone I have ever seen, soon spotted a herd of elephant about 2 miles away. We were off……. After a quick stalk and a climb up Mt. Everest (who knew it moved?), we were atop a plateau with the herd just below us. After a quick look and some maneuvering, it was determined there weren't any tuskless in the group. Oh well, it was my first elephant encounter of the hunt and I liked it.

That afternoon we did some driving and scouting looking for elephant. We saw several groups, but no apparent tuskless. Despite the high/green grass we managed to spot some Kudu, including a really nice bull. Late that afternoon we took a stroll looking for elephant, finding only a nicely tusked cow and her youngsters. What a day…..

DAY 2: Today was the day of the Ruyesa (sp?). This is a very remote area of the concession around the Ruyesa River. We initially tracked/spotted a group of elephant, but quickly found some very fresh buffalo spoor. The chase was on….. We quickly tracked up on the herd and only managed to see a portion of the herd before the settled in for a nap in some thick stuff. A few prospects were seen, but none that got our blood pumping. One old dugga boy decided to came have a look at us and got quite close before meandering back into the thick stuff. The wind soon betrayed us and the herd was off over the nearest hill. Based on what we saw, we opted not to follow.

DAY 3: We opted to moved to the other end of the concession near Lake Kariba where Al knew of a large tuskless several others had sought before. Soon after arriving, Nyati spotted a group of buffalo feeding in the distance. We made a quick approach and soon determined only one mature bull was in the herd. He was only slightly younger than dirt… While he had lots of character and was likely once a great bull, we opted to pass on him. Since we were filming, Al decide to walk toward to herd to see how they would react. We stood and proceeded toward the herd. They let us approach to within about 40 yds before heading for the hills. That was fun!!!!

We decided to drive up the mountains to gain a good vantage point. The only problem was the Volkswagen size rock blocking the road. The trackers used a 2 lb hammer to break off enough of the rock to allow the truck to pass. While I fully trusted Al's driving ability, I quickly took all my valuables from the truck as he attempted to traverse the road. I didn't want to fetch by double from the valley several hundred feet below. Al squeaked by and all was well.



We walked to a great vantage point and began to look for elephant. Sure enough, Al spotted a group of elephant several miles away, but they were getting closer to the boundary as they moved along. A plan was made and we were off to track the elephants. Once again, we had to pass the rock. This time I left my rifle, but I sure as heck wasn't staying in the truck.

After a short stop for lunch, we continued on to find the elephants. Surprisingly, we were able to locate a road which got us down to the Ruia River. Nyati quickly picked up the tracks and we were off. After about a 45 minute tracking job up the mountain, Bongi noticed a tree back down in the river bottom that was shaking a bit too much for the wind. I should note again, Bongi's eyes are not human. This was getting good….

Al took the lead and we went down the mountain. We quickly saw a cow along the edge of the river that looked to be a tuskless. She was busy feeding so we were able to make a direct approach to within about 40 yds. At this point, she heard something. It was either my heart beating or my knees knocking. As she continued feeding in a large clump of bushed we continued our approach. We anticipated she would emerge from the opposite side of the bush, so we made our move. She emerged at about 15 yds, but was angling away too severely for a side brain shot. We pressed forward and she swung around to face us at 16 yds. My attempt at a side brain shot was only partially successful, as she dropped at the shot. But….. she didn't stay there too long. I managed to get off 4 more shots before she was up and gone, including a good shoulder shot. We quickly got on her blood trail and soon saw her not 100 yds from where the scene of the crime had occurred. She was only showing her posterior, but she was clearly getting weak as she stood there wobbling. Al and I moved forward hoping she would turn to face us. She was not interested and proceeded to slowly walk away from us. We managed to stop her with some hip/spine shots. I quickly approached and put in a brain shot. One more insurance shot and it was over. As far as we could tell the Woodleigh solids performed perfectly.





While this was not the "one shot kill" so many hope for, I had my elephant and the whole ordeal didn't last more than 5 minutes. We later determined my first shot passed just behind the brain, actually going through the large round bones at the base of the skull (occipital bone?). I was damn close, but we all know the rest of that saying.








DAY 4: Recovery day. This was an interesting process and I was glad to be a part of it.








DAY 5: We proceeded to the Gota Gota area of the concession where Al knew of some nice buffalo bulls. We jumped a small pride of lions near a pool of water and spent a little time watching them as they angrily sulked in the grass. Upon leaving the lions, we quickly spotted some buffalo spoor. Included in the spoor was some blood. Clearly one of the buffalo had been injured by the lions. We proceeded to track these buffalo until the rested in some thick jess. We waited on them a while, but they were not interested in going anywhere. We camped out on them for a while, but decided to let the rest up as we headed off to have lunch and a nap. Around 4:00 we proceeded back down to the buffalo to wait them out. They got a bit restless and finally caught our wind. About 70 buffalo were soon running out of the jess straight at us. My first instinct was flight, but Al was more interested in a fight, so he quickly maneuvered me to a tree hoping for a shot opportunity as the filed past at 20 yds. There were only young bulls, so off they went. We soon realized a fair number of bulls including the older bulls were still in the jess. We waited the out for another 30-45 minutes only catching glimpses of bulls before they headed off in the other direction. It was a good day….

DAY 6: Back to the Gota Gota area, give or take. For those of you familiar with the area, were near the "old airstrip" East of Dirk's Nyakasanga camp. One of the tracker spotted a herd of buffalo not more than 500 yds ahead of us. We quickly got ahead of them as they were feeding steadily ahead. The grass just happened to be quite tall in this area, so we were well concealed as they began to file past us at 20-25 yds. We soon saw a bull directly ahead of us with good bosses, decent drop and was clearly quite old. He was feeding to us at about 20 yds when Al decided this was a good bull to take, and I agreed. As the stick were set-up, all I could see was grass. I guess 6 ft tall grass is not that good when you are only 5' 6". All the while, the bull was continuing to feed toward us. We scrapped the sticks, as it soon became apparent that something was going to happen quickly. I took 3-4 steps to the side to try and find a shooting lane through the shorter grass. I raised the rifle and all I saw was buffalo. I quickly found the shoulder and let it rip. He staggered at the shot. I worked the bolt, fired again, worked the bolt and fired again. He was now about 50 yds and staggering. Before the next shot he was down.








As you can see, he is an old dugga boy with well worn bosses and tips. He is not the widest buffalo, but I have killed wider. He may not have the biggest bosses, but I have killed buffalo with better bosses. BUT… I have never shot one before at 6 yds. That was the stepped off distance for the first shot. When we looked at the video, you can actually see the muzzle blast hit him through the grass. I am quite pleased with this bull and the hunt. He was a tank.




DAY 7-14: I'll keep this portion brief(er). I had already accomplished all I needed to on this hunt, but we decided to try and bait a hyena. They were very active around camp and we thought we might find a dumb one. After 3-4 days of baiting we found one. The only problem was I stuffed up the shot and missed him early one morning. I am not sure how I did it, but I did. He apparently educated the rest of the pack and they were long gone before day light each morning. I did kill an injured warthog for rations later in the hunt. We had a little shooting contest with all the trackers, apprentice ph, game scout and even the camera man. All I can say is, don't mess with those trackers or the camera man. They can shoot. Everyone wanted to shoot the "two pipe" double rifle. I am quite impressed.

We did some fishing in the Makuti Dam and traveled to Mana Pools for the day. We later traveled over to see Lake Kariba. Lastly, we went back to Harare for a night on the town. Buzz graciously allowed me to stay at his home and the girls of CMS along with Al, Justin and Ryan treated me to dinner and drinks at DV8. We had a great time and enjoyed a great meal with friends.












The trip home was uneventful except for the delay in Senegal, thereby causing me to miss my connection in DC. After a few extra hours in DC, I managed to catch a flight to a nearby city, allowing me to get home. My baggage arrived a few hours later and all was said and done. I am anxiously awaiting a copy of the video footage. I think we captured some great footage, especially the buffalo and some interesting outtakes.

Thanks for tagging along as I get to relive this fantastic hunt. I can't say enough about the CMS staff and team. They are true professionals and made this a trip of a lifetime for me.

Alan Shearing was a phenomenal PH and friend throughout the hunt. I would love to hunt with him again, and plan to if he will tolerate me. ;-) His stories of hunting the family farm in Kwe Kwe and his pet baboon Binga are priceless.



Thanks to Nyati, Bongi and Martin for their expertise and skill. This hunt wouldn't have been possible without them.





Thanks to Justin Drainer for some excellent video work. Guys, if you need a camera man you can't go wrong with Justin. Many times I forgot he was there and he was there every time. He is also good at catching things in the bush...



Thanks to Ryan Atkins for taking good care of me while in camp. I never wanted or needed for anything whilst in camp.

Congratulations on a good hunt and thanks for the excellent report and great pictures!

If you ever need someone to hold the flashlight while sorting out an errant elephant at midnight, I can highly recommend Bongi.

Congrats on a great trip. Your report simply serves to remind me that I am still three long months from leaving to hunt the same camp. Nice report.

Great report, thanks and congrats. what were the temps like? I am going to Makuti next year in mid-late July...

A really nice buff.Your photos make me want to go back tommorrow.

Great report and congratulations on the hunt. Pictures are great. This hunt and the company are on my short list for an Ele/Buff hunt. Thank you.


Greg

Great report and great trip! That picture of the buffalo really puts things into perspective!

Brett

Welcome Home! Congratulations on a successful hunt and fine trophies. I hunted Makuti in 2007...you really brought back the memories! Loved your photos.

Best regards, D. Nelson

Outstanding! Congratulations on a successful safari!

Thank God Justin has finally gotten a decent hat. I was really starting to worry about that boy.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Thank God Justin has finally gotten a decent hat. I was really starting to worry about that boy.

Oh, you should still be worried. We tried to use his ugly hat for hyena bait, but they preferred the 5 day old elephant guts.

great trip.
sounds like you had a great time

Wonderful hunt!! I really like that wore down "tank" of a bull..And at 6 yards!!

Excelent report! Great pics, made my mouth water!

Congrats!

Mad Dog

Thank you for sharing your story with us!

Thanks for the great report and pics, very nice old buff. My son and I enjoyed that camp a year ago in June. The grass surrounding the fire pit is a nice addition, it's so manicured looks like astroturf.

quote:

Originally posted by dirklawyer:
Thanks for the great report and pics, very nice old buff. My son and I enjoyed that camp a year ago in June. The grass surrounding the fire pit is a nice addition, it's so manicured looks like astroturf.

Ryan (camp manager) needs something to do in camp, so I think the yard is his pet project. I know he has been pouring the water to it over the past few months. The camp is really nice, clean and meets all of your needs. I was quite pleased.

Congratulations, I enjoyed your report and photos very much.

Regards
Aziz

Excellent report...

Excellent pics...

Thanks so much for posting...

It really got me fired up!

I'll be heading over in about 5 weeks to hunt Makuti with Alan...

2 Buffalo are on the menu...

Thanks again...

Matt V.

Great report..thanks,and congratulations!

Congrats! And thanks for the great report!

JPK

Great hunt and enjoyable report/pictures!

We saw that same ele w/the hole in the ear in Mana. Unlike the others, he gave us the same sort of look, and I wondered if the hole was from a bullet after he got a bit too cheeky.

I agree w/Dirk that the turf is a nice addition to an already homey-feeling camp.

Again, congrat's on a fine hunt!

Thanks for the pictures and memories.My wife and I both shot elephant bulls in Makuti october 2008 with Dirk Duplooy

montanacb;

Glad to see you posting here! Tell Steph HI!

D. Nelson

STGS
Well done, I'm glad that everything worked out for you and that you had the opportunity to hunt with Al and the team. Now you know why some of us gave such positive feed back to your enquiry posting back in April. Those of us luck enough to have hunted with Alan in Makuti are just plain jealous. The only thing that you got wrong was in not taking pictures of those tusks of mine at the office. I haven't seen them yet and probably wont do for a few months.
Did Justin teach you his favourite trick of blowing up tsetse flies ?
Regards
Robert

quote:

Originally posted by R.Jolly:
STGS
Well done, I'm glad that everything worked out for you and that you had the opportunity to hunt with Al and the team. Now you know why some of us gave such positive feed back to your enquiry posting back in April. Those of us luck enough to have hunted with Alan in Makuti are just plain jealous. The only thing that you got wrong was in not taking pictures of those tusks of mine at the office. I haven't seen them yet and probably wont do for a few months.
Did Justin teach you his favourite trick of blowing up tsetse flies ?
Regards
Robert

Rob,

I was quite impressed with your ivory. I am already looking forward to another trip. You were spot on about Alan and his crew. Top notch bunch of guys. Justin did show us his trick. I took great pride in killing every tsetse fly I could.

What a great hunt! Thanks for the report. The more I read about CM Safaris the more I think they will be my next hunt.

I really enjoyed your report. Great job.

Terrific old bull buffalo, too.

Congrats!

Nice, STGS! I'm glad the ammo worked for you. Great write up and awesome pictures.

Love the scene with the rock and the hammer!!!

Can you imagine your boss handing you the hammer and then pointing at that boulder?!! ---No problem sir!
Only in Africa

Great report and love the old bull. Congrats!

Regards,
Scott

Well done! Two of the Big 5 on one hunt... congratz!

Great Report and a nice Dagga Boy

Seloushunter