Just back from 14 day's in Zimbabwe's Chewore safari area with PH Ian Gibson, had success on "tracking lion", hippo, klipspringer, kudu, hyena and a old dagga boy with 470 on last hour of last day.
Met many new ph's including Buzz Charlton.
All in all a top hot trip, will give more detailes later on hunting report.

Congratulations and welcome back. Get some sleep and post some pictures!

Sounds like a well spent 14 days! Were you hunting C North or South? I spent some time in camp with Ian, super nice guy, his kids, particularly his daughters were a lot of fun.

Hope you have some photos to share.

quote:

tracking lion

Please post some photos.

Well done ozhunter. Congratulations.

Lion, Old Buff bull, hippo, and co.

Congratulations. Gibby is a top PH.

Did you hunt out of the Big Five camp?

Yes Gibbo is a great PH , had lots of fun with him. Im sorry for any one who wants to shoot a soft boss bull with him. Also one must carry a good supply of sweets such as'SPARKELS' or your in trouble.
He is the man for Zambezi Lion, Buff and Graysbock in particular.
We did hunt from main camp in Chewore North as the fly camp was down already due to hot temperatures. I was the last hunter for season and rain started to fall as we loaded our gear into Giles's 206 for the flight to Harare.
Just seen photos and will have them up soon.
Cheers, Adam.

Congrat's ozhunter on the hunt, and the lion! I was on a 14-day tracking hunt elsewhere a few years ago, and only got to follow them once for a day - but what a great experience it was. Can't wait to hear about the details of yours. Glad to see you shot your obligatory hyena - do you know who won the "Big 5 Hyena Tourney" for the year, Ian or Andy?

Was this the end of season deal that Buzz had emailed about? If so, it's great that somebody on AR could take advantage of it. Like with the non-trophy ele hunts Ganyana offered, if one can go on short notice, there are some nice end of year opportunities here on AR.

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tp.../876101443#876101443

Again, congratulations to you and Ian on the lion.

It's always a pleasure to hear of hunts that went well. Tracking lion must be great fun!

Yes, tracking Lion was awsome, once we had a afternoon sleep at a beautifull spring while tracking only to find out later that the two Lions we were tracking the past two days were doing the same not more than three hundred meters up stream, "awsome".
Yes buzz was also trying to sell this lion hunt.
Buzz is considered amongst fellow Zim PH's to be one of the best Ele hunters around and I found him a positive guy and think it would be almost impossible not to enjoy a hunt with him.
Don't know who won on the Hyena tourney but Ian was chuffed to nail this Hyena, as was I, been trying for a while now.
Sounds like Buzz enjoyed his hunt with 500gr as did Shaun.

Congrats on a great hunt!

We tried tracking a pair of lions twice but it didn't work out. On the bait we saw one but he needed another year. Saw another eight or nine inChewore South when we were looking for them but the big guy hadn't been around for a while.

Tracking lions, even unsucesfully, was a huge thrill. I can't imagine the satisfaction which must come with sucsess.

JPK

Ozhunter,

Sorry to hear that you were forced to hunt with Ian Gibson, there must have been a PH shortage during your stay

As for me, I have drawn the short straw a couple of times and have had to hunt with Ian twice now.

Let's see your photos, it sounds like a great hunt. I love hunting in Chewore North, even if you do have to "rough it" in the main Big 5 camp along the river.

I would love to see your hyena photo. I really wanted a hyena, but I did not have any luck with them because they picked my bait (buffalo ribcage) clean before first light. My bad luck with hyenas does not come close to N'gagi's though. He put out a bait each evening and got up early each morning just to see his bait picked clean each day.

My first trip to Big 5 was also in late October where I was the last client. It is great hunting, but damn HOT!!!! Can't wait to get back there in 2006 (and hunt with Ian again).

Looking forward to more stories and pictures of your hunt.

Tim

P.S. - you may be able to guess where I got my screen name "Shumba" from.

ozhunter

Can you bring hyanea "bits" back home as a trophy?

I've never asked and never tried so far, just wondering.

Nitrox,

Yes. I am bringing back the skull for my 5ys old son and also having a rug made of the skin for him.

JPK

Yes, Shumba i there must have been a shortage of good PH's, and i did have good luck on the Hyena.
N'gag' that is a great looking Buff you have.
NITROX, I'm hoping i have no prob's bringing into Australia the Hyena skin and scull.
A report and some photos are on the "African Reports" site of AR now.
Cheers, Adam C.

ozhunter,

I saw your photos on the Hunting Report thread. Very cool! Nice kudu as well. Did you shoot your lion with a 9.3x62? What bullet did you use?

Also, is that a Merkel 470NE that you are carrying?


Here is what we found of my hyena bait in the morning



Here are the "soft boss" buffalo Ian Gibson made me shoot





Here is where my AR screen name comes from



Can't wait to get back there in 2006!

Congratulations again on a great hunt!

Tim

quote:

Originally posted by Shumba:

Here is where my AR screen name comes from

Shumba means lion in either Sindebele or Shona doesn't it?

NitroX,

Yes, at least in Shona I believe it means Lion.

"Shumba" was the radio call sign of our Landcruiser and during my safari I would always hear "Shumba, Shumba, come in Shumba" over the radio. As a result, "Shumba" reminds me of my first safari so I thought it would be an appropriate screen name for AR.

Tim