Keep the great pics and report coming Saeed!

what fantastic photography and that eland - WOW what a trophy of a lifetime

LOL. Fun day today.

This AM we decided to go to a spot we've been hitting pretty hard for buffalo, hoping that we'll finally find the buff in there again (its the same spot we located a lone duggaboy, had the race to find the buffalo that disappeared, and did the marathon walk yesterday looking for tracks that we did not find).

We got up on a ridge in order to survey two drainages below, and shortly after arriving, we could hear buffalo noises below. We hustled to a good vantage point and saw 150+ buffalo coming out of the bush in one of them and headed toward the river. They were in one main group, a small group lagging behind, and it sounded like more still in the bush. We decided to act FAST, grabbed rifles and dove off of the hill to try to get ahead of them.

The wind was dicey...always changing...but managed to hold. After making a big circle, we got in front of them and got hunkered down and watched them come in our general direction, but crossing in front of us. It was perfect. Unfortunately, some of them got the idea to leave to group a little and spread out in our direction and got pretty darn close. It was very cool. Saeed said he'd post a still picture that our camerasman (he has 5 on him at all times) took of us with a couple young bulls approaching.

They did not get our wind but we eventually had to spook them a little so they didn't walk over us. They went back to the herd and bunch up, not really knowing what scared them. We got a pretty good look at them and could not find a fully hard bossed bull in the bunch.

So we left them and went looking on the flats behind them for the second group that we had seen following them. After a big loop around the flats and not finding them, we decided to go back to where we left the buffalo and approach from the opposite side to take another look and see if the second group had joined up with the first.

We got in on a small "splinter" group in the thick stuff and could see that one of them had potential. Unfortunately a smaller bull had us pinned down and the better bull was bedded and had his back to us.

The wind was swirling and we were getting concerned they might get our scent when the got up and started to mill around. We got a better look at the best bull, but Dean could not be sure through the branches and I did not have a good shot anyway. Then they took off toward the main herd a short distance away.

We hustled around them in a loop and were ready when they busted out of the cover. We saw about a hundred head come out about 70 yards in front of us and stop. Then we heard more coming and were ready on the sticks, hoping that the bull we had our eyes on was among them. About 50 more came out and we could hear a few more coming. We were getting pumped up, cuz this was going to be the moment! The bull should come out any second and if Dean was satisfied, it should be a done deal.........then...... BOOOOM..WHAP! I thought it sounded a lot like a 375/404 should, although we were not expecting Saeed to be anywhere nearby. Dean thought it might be poachers.

The herd took off, but rather than run away from us, they wanted to come towards us, and ended up squeezing between us and where the shot came from. We hustled about 50 meters up the hill to where they should pass by so we could get another look, not knowing for sure which one, if any, had been killed. We didn't see any mature bulls in the herd, so we turned and started back to where we heared the shot. That's when we saw Saeed and the Vincents. It was a priceless moment to see Saeed's reaction to seeing us, and hearing him laugh from 100 yds away!

Our crew helped out with the skinning while Saeed's crew figured out how to get a truck in to recover the bull. We had some drinks and snacks and Saeed kept me entertained with some jokes.

Once the bull was loaded, Saeed and the Vincents headed out again with wishes of continued good luck, lol, while we hiked back up the steep hill in the heat (the hike of shame, lol).

We then moved our truck up the ridge to some shade and had lunch, to regroup and lick our wounds, lol.

Then Alan radiod and told us about some buff headed our way. We immediately went to look for them, but could not find them. Following the tracks back, we think they may have been a small group from the same here we had surveyed so thoroughly in the AM, so thought we would not follow the tracks in the thick stuff and heat.

We checked out some other likely areas for duggaboys, but with no luck, then made our long trek back to camp. Just before dark we spotted a herd of buffalo and saw one amongst them with potential, so we may be back there tomorrow morning.

Breakfast was pancakes and supper was Eland Filet steaks cooked by Rene. Despite the long hikes and blistering sun, I am not losing weight here...the food is fantastic as usual.

Cheers!
Chris

On September 29 of 2012 The Hunting Started
*******************************************
Week 1, Day 7: 10-5-2012
*******************************************

A-Team:
Cape buffalo
Kongoni


B-Team:


F-Team:


Chris is to be commended for not going ugly-early, he has the luxury of being selective, as Saeed needs no help in camp meat production and bait collecting.

Love that picture of the "No BS .375/404 Cartridge" on the ground next to some S that is not BS.
Outstanding photography, just keeps getting better and better.

Hard to tell if this is the back of Chris's head or Saeed's, what with the Hessa Hat and all.
Is that a handlebar mustache sticking out from his left cheek, or a cape buffalo horn?



End of Week 1:

A-Team:
3 buffalo
1 wildebeest
2 impala
2 hartebeest/kongoni
1 zebra
1 klipspringer
1 warthog
1 eland

B-Team:
1 hartebeest/kongoni
1 wildebeest
1 impala

F-Team:
Resting up for second half of the safari.

A week has gone by already.
How time flies when you're having fun!

http://tanganyikagame.com/index.htm

Congrats, Saeed on a fine eland! Thanks for the rolling report and all the excellent pics.

Saeed,

Save that big Eland at the drinking hole for me next year

Another big day in the Selous! The eland are all over the place. B-Team spotted three herds and a couple of young bulls roaming around....the rut is in full swing. Wait till you see Saeed's report if you think his first eland was a dandy (and it was!).

B-Team went back to look for the herd of buffalo that we looked at in the gloaming of last evening. Oddly enough, they had not gone far at all. So we did a big loop of a stalk and checked the herd out very thoroughly. Most of the bulls were not quite hard, but the one with potential...one with nice curls and good drop...after some consideration and critical review by Dean, was judged to be hard and fit for me to take. By this time, the buffalo were a considerable distance (180 yds) over open ground (no chance to get closer), and the bull was quarting hard to us, but after 7 days of hard hunting and no success, we were motivated to try.

I shot for the on-side shoulder and pulled it just a few inches left, striking just behind the shoulder...not great for this angle. Dean saw the bullet entry point as the bull joined with the rest of the herd to run off a couple hundred yards, through a line of trees and into another little opening. They just milled around there and eventually bedded down. Knowing the shot was a little far back, we decided to give it an hour before re-stalking the herd.

After an hour we snuck in on them and got a pretty good look at the majority of the herd, but could not find the bull. Eventually a couple cows spotted us inching around for angles and got up. The rest of the herd that we could see got up as well, and after a few minutes moved off a little ways. We could see a couple of the bulls did not want to leave and kept looking back...presumably for the bull that we were looking for.

We decided to circle around to get a view at the area they were looking, and sure enough our bull was laying down, and now looking at us. We were caught out in the open at about 125 yds, with no shooting sticks. When the bull got up, I tried an off-hand shot...which at that distance is not my strong-suit, I admit. It sounded like a hit but the bull took off. I tried 2 more shots while he was running through the bush and Dean tried one with his 500 NE. We weren't sure about any additional hits.

We heard the bull grunt as he went out of sight and the other buffalo circled and joined him again. We circled quickly around and as the buffalo moved off again, we saw the bull again, this time broadside at about 125 yds again. This time I had the sticks and made a good shot, reloaded and quickly made another. The bull staggered off into the long grass and bellowed a few times. When we approached, we found him in the bottom of a little korongo, and I put one more in the spine to finish it. Relief! It always sucks when things don't go according to the perfect plan, and things were a little tense for a couple minutes, but it ended well enough.

I also managed to do something that I am sure Saeed had NEVER done! Recover 5 bullets from one animal. lol

We went back to camp for lunch and a rest. We went back out this afternoon, but had no luck, other that bearing witness to a beautiful afternoon in the Selous and seeing eland everywhere we looked!

Dinner was Eland roast, with mashed potatoes, acorn squash and salad.

Cheers!
Chris

Left camp early as usual. The plan is to drive to the other end and shoot a hippo - just as we had planned yesterday, and got sidetracked.

Halfway there we decided to check some korongos we were told might have a dugga boy or two.

Sure enough, we found one, and despite being 20 yards from him, we were unable to take a shot.

After chasing him for about 6 kilometers, we decided to leave him for another day. As he seems to see us long before we could see him.

Drove to our intended destination, and as it was lunch time, we stopped to have lunch.

About 3 we started getting ready to move, and Alan looks around the corner down the river bed, and sees a herd of eland, with a massive bull.

We took off towards them, and shot this monster you see. He is even bigger than the one we shot a couple of days ago.

We gutted him and cut him into two pieces and loaded him up.

While driving back to camp, we saw some zebra, and shot one stallion.

Got back o camp and had a great dinner of eland roast waiting for us.

At the dinner table thee coversation turned towards eland, and what constitutes a good trophy.

The vote seems that an eland bull must have that black long hair on his forehead.

Those sometimes we see shot in South Africa which look more like cows have been christened "sucking eland" rather than a trophy eland.

Saeed, absolutely many do shoot immature eland.

Mike

quote:

Hope you run into a GREAT ol' dugga boy with big bosses that are worn stooth as a babys butt.

[QUOTE]

Looks like you got him.

Keith

WOW! Just WOW! It was a great day indeed!
Good work you "okes on the ground."
Thanks for the excellent pics and excellent reporting. Please keep up the good work.

WEEK 2: DAY 8, 10-06-2012

A-Team:
Lord Whopper Eland
Zebra

B-Team:
Cape Buffalo, hard won, a trophy to remember, and another to go yet ...

F-Team:


http://tanganyikagame.com/index.htm

That' one hell of a trophy Saeed, good going

Great reports and especially the photo's!!

What about Simba, what about Tembu..it is the Selous isn't it?

Proper Eland!

I thought our moose were homely looking until I saw that eland, nice trophy.

B-Team report: We went looking for a dugga-boy in the same area that we have been looking many times, and know that that there are at least three in there, but have not figured out yet. Its an area with few roads, so we have been walking to look for tracks, which is not the best way to cover lots of ground, but the only way to cover this ground! Getting pretty familiar with it now, but those crafty duggaboys keep eluding us.


After a very brief interlude trying to get a warthog that we spotted from the road (but with no luck) we walked about 5 kms in the morning, glassing both sides of a long ridge into the two valleys on either side. We did not see anything however.

We had lunch at a nice spring, then walked a big loop around from there...probably 7 kms or so..inlcluding a long stretch along the river, looking for tracks of duggaboys coming to water. Again we saw absolutely nothing of the bovine variety. We did see a couple big hippos, some small crocs and lots of waterbuck and wildebeeste.

We went back out of the area the way we came in, but Dean really wanted to see another part of the valley that we did not see in the AM and so we bushwacked our way over to the ridgeline and took a look. Sure enough, a lone duggaboy was making his way to water, far below, and crossing through a grassy area. We decided "no guts no glory" and went for it. We bailed off the hill and made it over there in record time, and despite covering a tonne of country down there, sadly, we never saw him. We made it back to the truck just as it was too dark to see.

Got home a little late, but were treated to Ox-tail soup with rice and cabbage.

Cheers
Chris

Plan for today was tto go fin a hippo in a pool that has a big croc in it.

We found a suitable pool, with over a 100 hippos in it, and some promising crocs.

We spent a couple of hours by that pool trying to select a bull to shoot.

Another requirement was that he should be on land rather than in the water.

Eventually a big bull walked up to a small island, and a 300 grain Walterhog bullet dropped him where he stood.

We did not want to disturb the rest of the pod, and left.

A few miles down the road, we saw fresh buffalo tracks, and followed them.

We caught up with a herd in very thick bush. We can see their shapes, but even from about 20 yards one cannot make a shot because we could not see which is a bull and which is a cow.

They kept running away each time we got very close.

This cat and mouse game continued for sometime.

We decided to leave the, and go have our lunch, and come back later.

After we had our lunch, we went back to the buffalo.

Again, we could not see which is which in the thick bush. But they ran into an open area, with us very close behind.

The bull we were after was always behind another one.

We decided on anotrher form of action.

We went and waited in that open area, and sent our trackers to see if they can scare them towards us.

THus worked like a charm, and the herd came running. They sawus and stopped in a clearing. The bull we had in mind came to the front, which made life so muh easier for me. I fired a shot at him and he dropped.

I will post photos tomorrow.

Great strategy! It's too, worked for me years ago on an old Roan bull!

Confucius say: Cunning alone does not work unless the proper bullet is properly placed.
Jolly good show!



WEEK 2: DAY 9, 10-07-2012

A-Team:
Hippo
Buffalo

B-Team:


F-Team:


http://tanganyikagame.com/index.htm

Ron,

Roy says you should name Walter's team Z-Team.

For ZERO!

Today is Chris's last hunting day, and Walter starts hunting tomorrow.

Saeed - have you used the Sigma lens with the 7D yet?

Walter starts hunting tomorrow....keep your eye on him Saeed, we don't want any incidents

Hey Chris,
Great buffalo! Congrats! Talk to you when you get home.

Bill

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Ron,

Roy says you should name Walter's team Z-Team.

For ZERO!

"Z-Team" it shall be.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

Today is Chris's last hunting day, and Walter starts hunting tomorrow.

Go get'em B-Team!

Saeed,

Just in case nobody said it yet, Beautiful pictures.

Saeed,
Your camera captures perfectly all the little details that are Africa and the reason I keep going back and back and.........
Jim

Saeed,

How do you find time to hunt when you take so many beautiful pictures?

Just a short report from B-Team today. Drove to the nether reaches of the concession today. Found a herd of buffalo and only got a look at about 1/3 of them. Tracked them and bumped them a couple times. The herd split up...we followed one and eventually got a look at all of them. All cows unfortunately. Went back to sort out where they split up, got confused and turned around a little, but eventually sorted them out. Wind was bad...shifting constantly. Buff got our wind and took off. Kept running a loong ways, with the wind at their back. We finally called it off after a few hours, and decided to go look for duggaboys.

On the way back toward camp we finally saw some zebra, but, alas, they saw us first and were in top gear before we could get the truck stopped. We tried following them on foot, but they went into the thickest stuff around and didn't give us a chance.

Day 10 ended shortly thereafter.

Happy Thanksgiving to all you Canucks out there and to all those that want to give thanks with us!!

Cheers,
Chris

Canuck,
Give thanks that you have survived this long in the same camp with Walter.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Day, and Columbus Day in the USA.

Reports pending for day 10, hopefully a good sign that A-Team has been very busy.


WEEK 2: DAY 10, 10-08-2012

A-Team:
Possibles: sable, zebra, buffalo, impala, another hippo or previous day's pics?

B-Team:
Concludes 10-day hunt. Congratulations.

Z-Team:
Begins 10-day hunt tomorrow.
Walter never ceases to amaze ...


http://tanganyikagame.com/index.htm

Thanks Ron,and I am!! We are smack in the middle of a rest day here, so this is exactly the half-way point in the trip. I am sure the entertainment factor will reach a new level starting tomorrow.

Also, thanks to everyone else for you comments and well wishes. We are only online long enough to post a quick report, so I apologize for the lack of personal replies to posts and PMs. I'll catch up with all of you when I am back.

Cheers
Chris

Great report and pics Canuck.

Can you tell me what the day-time/night-time temperature is?

Maximus,
We measured 35.5 deg C at 2:30 pm today in camp. I know it got hotter than that. And the sun is packing some serious BTUs at this latitude. I've never felt anything like it myself. The humidity is very high too. Everyone was complaining about the heat, except Saeed.

I have yet to even pull a sheet over me at night, so I am thinking it stays close to 20 deg C.

Cheers,
Chris