Just curious...how realistic is it to go on a hippo hunt with the intention of shooting one only on dry land? The idea of hippo hunting is very appealing to me, but only if he's on dry ground. I just can't get cranked up about sniping one in the water.

Is it unrealistic to plan a "dry-land-only" type of hunt?

Where my husband and I hunted in Selous, it was very realistic. In fact my husband took his on dry land (he lords that over me since I took my in the water). We encountered several hippos on dry land. The other countries that I've hunted, even Botswana, we rarely saw hippos far from the edge of water.

Best regards, D. Nelson

In the Selous they come out of the rivers and go inland and it is definatley very possible to get one that way. While checking lion baits we found one a bull at least 10K from the river.


Send me pm.

mIKE

The Selous is the place for it and it's definitely realistic.

jwm

The Selous as others have said is a place you can plan on getting a hippo on land but it takes a 21 day license there so it makes for a pricey hippo hunt.

We do have an operator in Zim that says with patience you can get a hippo on land around lake Kariba. I have not hunted them there but I do remember seeing them quite far from the lake in the 90's.

Mark

All hippo feed on land and mostly at night. They also (relatively) often leave the water on cloudy days so anywhere they occur you stand a chance of taking one on land.

Some companies (my own included) offer them on 14 or 16 day hunts in Tanzania but some of the least expensive places to take them would be Mozambique, Uganda or Zim.

During the course of our just-completed 10-days hunting along Kariba in Omay North (Zimbabwe), we came across three bull hippos on land. We were not hunting them. The lake is very high now with no floodplain, the water literally goes up to the edge of the jesse, the bush is very thick due to the late rains (parts of the area got rain while we were there), and there are deep pools of water in the stream beds and pans and mud wallows throughout the area.

While following elephant, we came upon one bull in a thick patch of jesse mid-afternoon. If we were hunting them, this would have been the perfect setup, as we saw him before he saw us. Another was feeding along the grass air strip late afternoon spotted while driving, and would have permitted a spot/stalk. Both would have likely resulted in a charge if pressed, but with enough time for several guns to be at the ready (or sniped from a distance, but this is not what I suspect most guys are looking for). A third was in a pool of water some 3-miles from the main Ume River and ultimately ambush charged without deliberate provocation.

In the mornings there are tracks along most every dirt track, as they are walking long distances looking for grass.

One would need to plan/schedule carefully and dedicate hunting days, and/or perhaps book a tuskless elephant & hippo hunt and spend time in the jesse and surrounding scrub. But a word of caution here, it can get dicey real quick when your field of vision is measured in feet.

Or, later in the year, they can be found feeding on the floodplains, especially early mornings when you get between them and the water. Towards the end of the season, sometimes one can be added as a target of opportunity while hunting buffalo or elephant, if the operator has available quota.

I don’t think any reputable operator will “guarantee” dry land hippo, at least none that I have ever spoken to.

When I was hunting Kariba, we ran across hippo trails leading from the lake going inland to feed during the night, so they do come ashore and travel miles to feed. Still, the one that I did see on dry land was back in the water before I could complete a stalk. No doubt dry land hippo is the way to go if you can pull it off.

Another way is to try to catch them napping on the banks. That's how I got mine.

I want one!

I think shooting hippo on land has been hyped up a bit.

I have shot some in the water, and some on the land. And frankly, if you can place your bullet reasonably accurate, there is not much difference.

I have come across several hippos out of the water while hunting other animals, and the last thing on their minds, it seemed, was to give us any trouble.

One time we were following a herd of buffalo, and came across a big bull. We stopped, as we were not sure what he might do. He turned to look at us, and someone with us started whispering "come on hippo, come on"
I kept saying "go away. I really have no wish to shoot you. I would rather keep going after the buffalo"

He turned around and walked off.

Afterwards we talked about what might have happened had he charged us.

I said "it would have been like shooting a fish in a barrel. No sport in it at all. i am glad he decided to leave us alone".

In our Zambezi Valley concessions, many, no most ,of the bulls found in distant pans are younger bulls that have been driven out of the Zambezi by herd bulls. Everyone wants a Sullivan type situation, but they also want the biggest bull on the planet. In our area, you often have to choose. And beside provoking a dry ground charge, a hippo on land is no more exciting than a water bound bull. The river shooting does call for a better display of marksmanship in nearly every case. A hippo on land on a non head on bull is like shooting your Suburban in the front door. Not too hard.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed: I have shot some in the water, and some on the land. And frankly, if you can place your bullet reasonably accurate, there is not much difference.

I think this all depends Saeed whether or not you are in the water with them at the time!

quote:

Originally posted by Bill C:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed: I have shot some in the water, and some on the land. And frankly, if you can place your bullet reasonably accurate, there is not much difference.

I think this all depends Saeed whether or not you are in the water with them at the time!

Bill,

You have hunted enough to know that despite all the efforts one goes through in the bush, sometimes things just don't go the way they are supposed to be.

I have shot a hippo or two while standing in the water with them.

The closest we have come to some sort of excitement was in the Selous.

There was quite a large number of thm in the river, and the deeper end was on the other side of the river. Our side was the shallow part. So to get close to them, we had to get into the water.

We picked a suitable bull to shoot - he was in a bit of an amorous engagement with a cow.

Eventually he stuck his head up, and I brained him. All the others ran off about 100 yards.

We waded closer to the deep chanel where he died, and managed to drag him onto the shallows.

The deep channel was about 10 feet from where we were.

We all assumed that his girl friend was amongst all her friends.

Apparently not.

Suddenly, she stuck her head out of the water almost at touching distance.

I am not sure who got the bigger fright!

May be her, as she went under water as soon as she realized where she was.

I don't think we would have stood any chance of killing her before she caused some real damage amongst us!

there is no danger involved, usually, on a water-shot. On a land-shot, a charge is a definite possibiliry.

Generally they will avoid humans, the same as any other animal.

But the ones you're stalking, and that know they're being stalked - and also the ones you just bump into - can be difficult to deal with, to say the least.

And it doesn't help that they always look and sound as though they're pissed off at the world and everything in it!

Asking your PH for a dry land hippo is a bit like dry land fishing - the results are often poor.