Canuck- That is the best I've seen. While not exactly PC, could you share the score and where that sits in the book, if you entered it? I have never been one to enter animals, but then again, there isn't anything like that on my wall!!!

Last month when Shumba and I hunted the Zambezi Valley, I took an afternoon to hunt a bull hippo. As some of you may know, the Zambezi is just swarming with the things, and we put a few stalks on some groups that either caught us sneaking up, did not present a good shot, or upon closer examination did not contain a big bull.



I honestly think the hippo is one of the hardest animals to stalk in that area. By late August they have been hunted hard and are really nervous.



Anyway, we finally found a good sized group sunning on the beach. There were probably 15-20 animals all the way up in the sand, but my guy, a really big bull was laying half in the water and half out.



We moored the boat about a mile down river and clawed our way up the steep bank, and walked along the roots and rocks, working our way to a position where we would be above the hippos, and about 40-50 yards away.



My PH crawled and scooted to the best position he could find, and signalled for me to crawl over. I had a small window where I could see his head and shoulder.



I felt the shot would be an easy one, but I had missed a zebra with my .375 earlier that morning and was wishing I had my .458 instead. I just didn't have a lot of confidence in my shooting that morning. We agreed that if i blew the shot, or if the animal made a run for the water, he'd back me up, as I didn't have a clear path for a follow up shot if his head moved from my field of view..



On the count of three, I stuck a 300g softpoint in his earhole, and he arched his head back with his mouth wide open. Mike hit him with his .404 Jeffery and his head plopped down into the mud.



At this point all hell broke loose and the whole bunch of them jumped up and ran for the river amid loud snorting and blowing and splashing sounds. We quickly jumped up, and the last thing I remember seeing was my hippo being knocked into the river by the paniced herd, and two feet for just a second sticking up out of the water.



We slid, crawled and scrambled back to the boat and began our search for my hippo.



For the next four hours we cruised up and down the river, looking for anything sticking up. We chased down any birds that looked like they saw something interesting. We burned up two tanks of gas going nearly down to the Mozambique, Zambia border and back up. We told everybody we saw, that a hippo would be popping up any time and to keep any eye out.



Later, we even tied a rock onto a rope and trying dragging the bottom, but the current was just too swift. The next morning we left the hyena blind at dawn and went back out looking again, but had no luck. The fishing village on the other side was quiet, with all their dug out canoes lined up on the beach, and much smoke coming from their fires.



We could only assume they were having hippo burgers for breakfast, as they normally fish dawn to dusk every day.



Here it is a month later. I look on my office walls at the pictures of my buffalo, zebra etc, but I just can't stop thinking about that darn hippo.



I already e-mailed my PH and told him I'm coming back in July 06, and I'm hunting buffalo...but not until I have a hippo in the bag. I know that's backwards thinking, but I am just OBSESSED with getting a big bull hippo now.



I was told 1 out of 5 croc's are lost. Surely the feeling must be the same!



Do any of you guys have an animal you are obsessing over?

Great story. I wish you much success in 06!

As for me, S&S have been on my mind lately.

SHEEP...and...SABLE....No, SABLE...and...SHEEP....I really can't decide

I should have my Hippo back pretty soon. It is being made into a coffee table. Can't wait!

Great story. For those who have hunted hippo, how hard is it to catch them on land for body shots?

Bummer...a real shame.

My animal is sheep of the bighorn variety. I've put in about 10 days now with scouting and hunting, although my wife says I've already put in 20 (must be my selective memory ;-), and have yet to see the first legal ram on legal grounds...obsessed? You betcha!!

I'm not allowing myself to think of anything else...though deer season has opened and I hope to get a nice mulie...but not until I get a ram.

Frans

I am by no means an expert on the subject, but I think they are mostly nocturnal when it comes to their little jaunts onto land. By little, I am being sarcastic. I was AMAZED to see fresh hippo tracks three or four miles from the river, out in some of the driest areas. They will travel a long, long ways to get to grass if they smell a pan somewhere.



I personally saw very few that were more than just a few feet from the water, and they were usually cows or calfs.



While every animal I shot with my .458, including my buff dropped like they were hit with an axe handle, I'm not sure I'd go for a body shot if MOVING water was anywhere nearby.



The heart and lungs are pretty big, but if you let the air out of them, they are that much more likely to sink and wash away. Again, I am drawing all my experience from the swift flowing Zambezi.



Standing, shallow, or slow moving water would be a totally different story.

I think the only time I came close to collapsing was when chasing an eland - and I normally can go on all bloody day without batting an eye lid.

We saw the tracks of a herd of them in Chete, Zimbabwe, and decided to follow them. This was late in the morning, but eland were very hard to find then.

It wasn't long before we saw them feeding down in a valley, with us above them. There was only one bull with them but he was enormous.

As usual, we could have shot any of the cows, but he was always behind some bush, and the distance was about 300 yards.

Somehow they sensed something was wrong, so they took off running. I could not help it, as the bull came into the open, I fired at him. He seems to jump to the side at the shot, but showed no sign of being hit.

We thought I have shot over him, as we could see the dust fly just ahead of him.

Anyway, my PH was saying if I had not shot, we might have been able to catch up with them, but now that they have heard the shot, they are not very likely to stop for miles and miles.

We went to have a look, as we usually do after every shot. Just in case the animal is wounded.

Sure enough, we found a few drops of blood, but we could not tell if it was a serious wound or not. Ray, my PH, thought they might just continue running down that valley, so we had to run up a hill, and try to get ahead of them.

We took off at full speed, and after a while, my feet were moving on auto pilot. I was getting so short of breath, I thought to myself "I will either make it, or drop dead on the run trying".

As we got across the hill and onto the other side, Roy saw the eland, not more than 50 yards away.

Just walking in very thick bush. I aimed at a clearing through which they will pass, and waited for Roy to tell me when the bull is about to come into it.

As soon as he stepped into that very narrow clearing, I fired at him. He ran about 10 yards and stopped, facing away from us. We ran after him, and I put another bullet at the base of his tail, dropping him in his tracks.

We found that my first bullet, hit him in the neck, but more to one side, and coming out low down in the neck. The distance between the entrance and exit holes was about 10 inches. It was just a muscle wound, and would not have bothered him much.

Very nice Eland Saeed! I hunted Eland for eight days this past May. We walked and walked and walked. Tracked them for miles and according to the tracker, the closest we ever got to them was an hour away. They just seemed to know that we were following them. Very elusive they are! Oh well, gives me a reason to go back. Actually losing an animal like N'gagi's hippo would be extremely disappointing. What a bummer!

Frans,
Don't mean to rub it in, but Bighorn was my obsession. Take a look at: http://www.accuratereloading.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=767121&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=21&fpart=1

Canuck,
You did use up all your luck on a Stone. I still vividly remember the picture of that huge ram!

Canuck, would you have a photo to share of your Stone Sheep?

It will fuel my inner fire until next season

No prob C-Lefty,

5 years and 1 month have passed, and I still giggle like a school girl....



Canuck

Smallfry,
To answer your question, we see a lot of Hippo on dry land in Tanzania, if fact they ocassionally cause us great concern....

Mr. C,
That is one heck of a stone sheep, one of the best I have ever seen...congratulations in spades....

sure this is a stone? , looks like an Arghalian to me.
how do you beat that or go on living?

Ray or anyone... is it choice to hunt them intentionaly on land? As in... can you gear your hunt around finding one on land?

Canuck, your incredible trophy ram will not only fuel my fire until next year, but will inspire me for a lifetime!That has to be one of the best Stone Sheep I have ever seen.



WOW, and a huge congratulations to you! You are very fortunate. In fact, I would like to have your permission to use the photo as my screensaver this month?! My girlfriend will kill me for replacing the photo of her, but it will be worth it

OK, Canuck, that's it. I'm not talking to you anymore! ;-)

What a ram!! You must still be thrilled everytime you lay eyes on the trophy...

Frans

Nice ram, SBT. Interesting landscape, those steep ravines with flat tops. Much of the peaks around here (SW of Calgary) are much more jagged and rough. I guess we're spoiled here with ram tags available over the counter. Success rate as I understand it, and as many examples on this forum show, is pretty low though. This is my first year of serious sheep hunting, last year didn't really count, so to be fair I still have to wait another 5-10 years to actually shoot one...:-(

Frans