Thanks for the early report today, you "okes on the ground."
I won't humiliate Team-Z, but will post A-Team bag for the first two weeks.
Best I can tell so far:


On September 29 of 2012 The Hunting Started
*******************************************
Week 2, Day 14: 10-12-2012
*******************************************

A-Team:
5 buffalo
2 crocodiles
1 wildebeest
4 impala
2 kongoni
3 zebra
1 klipspringer
2 warthogs
2 eland
1 hippo
1 sable
1 waterbuck

Z-Team: Zee hunting continues, third day.


http://tanganyikagame.com/index.htm

Z-Team (zed team to us Canucks) report for Day 15:

A-Team headed out early to hunt leopard, so breakfast was early this am. It was nice to get an early start.

Quick side-bar on the temperatures. Last night at dinner, approx. 8 pm local time, it was still 31 deg C. When we had breakfast at 5:30 am, it was 27 deg C. By 8:30 am it was back to 31 deg C. By noon it was in the vicinity of 40. In the sun, Walter's thermometer read 54 deg at one point!

Started out by checking along the Luwegu River for buffalo tracks, and hoping for another chance at walterable buff coming off the river early.

We went back to the dead lioness in order to recover paws and head. It was almost untouched by hyenas, and relatively covered with Siafu ants...which made the exercise of removing parts a little tricky for Ali (the tracker).

We then went looking for a walterable hog. Spent quite a bit of time checking a couple known areas. Water is getting low in a few areas with the hot dry weather though. We sat in on area for a few hours but had no luck.

Had a nice lunch of curried gound buffalo and rice.

In the afternoon we drove to a ridge that Dean discovered yesterday and cut in a new road that will take us to some as-yet-so-far unroaded and unhunted country.

Once the construction was done we headed back to the area with the warthog activity and Dean found a nice old hog. We caught up with Walter and made a good, albeit fairly short, stalk. Walter wasted no time with this one. When Dean said the one on the left is the male, Walter let him have it. One-Shot-Walter made a great shot, and the pig only ran about 60 to 70 yards before piling up. It was a great thing to be present for...I mean, seriously, how many people get to be there when Walter shoots a walterhog? The old warthogs here are not particularly long in the tooth, but this one was undeniably old. Check out the bottom warts, and the molars on this guy were worn almost flat with the gums (I am talking about the warthog, by the way).



The wide grins were partly because of the moment, but mostly because Walter took his glasses off for it and when Gary (taking the photograph) said smile for the camera, Walter said he couldn't see it. So Gary said "follow my voice and smile" and Walter said "Huh?". LMAO!

Saeed and Roy had a great day too. He will update you on the details shortly I'm sure, and I see that the photos are up, above.

Supper tonite was Eland roast, with mixed vegetables and ketchumballi (sp?). Mmmmm!

Cheers for today,
Chris

We got the Darwin Award Leopard today

We got to the leopard blind at 5:30, and could see him standing on the branch. He just looked as the trackers disappeared, layed down and seems to have gone to sleep.

It was too dark to shoot.

A few minutes later he got up and climbed higher, anddd started eating the old warthog meat. Totally ignoring the fresh impala we had put up for him yesterday.

He spent quite some time feeding, then started on his way down, and stopped almost out of my sight behind a branch. I had to make a quick move to the left side of the blind, and managed to put a shot into him.

He dropped down, ran a couple of yards up the river bank and then rolled down dead.

We covered him with leaves, and had a bit of fun with our vtrackers when they arrived. We told them he was hit, but we could not find him, and would they take up the trail.

There was some hesitancy on who should go first!

Went back to camp and had breakfast. Then headed out looking for whatever we could find.

We had a few false chases after wildebeast, but they always managed to give us the slip.

About lunch time we saw a lone wildebeast feeding on the river. Apparently this bull has been named "Walter's practice wildebeast". As he had managed to miss him both last year and this year.

We decided to have lunch, then go after him.

Roy shot him, and then we saw some waterbuck, and I managed to shoot a bull too.

Walter has shot a warthog.

Tomorrow we are planning to go down a large gorge they have here.

Kabubi KUHBOOBEE!

The bag of the day:

On September 29 of 2012 The Hunting Started
*******************************************
Week 3, Day 15: 10-13-2012
*******************************************

A-Team:
Leopard
Wildebeest
Waterbuck

Z-Team: Zee hunting continues, fourth day.
Warthog


http://tanganyikagame.com/index.htm

Beat the heat:

I hear that recoil is very tolerable with 85 grains of H4350 and a 300-grain Walterhog bullet.
Even Walter shoots it well:



More recovered bullets. Most are pass-throughs and not recovered, but there is a bunch of shooting going on in Tanzania right now:



Even though there is some skidding on the lands, Saeed does OK at 100 yards with his Walterhog design,
this accuracy was with the 2005 version of his bullet:

Did Walter put that target up?

Just a short report from Z-Team today.

Looked for buffalo all day, and found some, but they were all either inaccessable (un-walterable) or the bush was too thick, the bulls were too young, etc. We got into three different herds, but each time it just didn't work out. Roy and Saeed had similar experiences all day.

Walter sure put some miles on today. Probably close to 2 km in total, in sweltering heat. Possibly the hottest day so far.

It was clear over night so it got down to 21 deg C in the AM. I almost needed to pull a sheet over me for the first time this trip!! But since it was clear, it heated up fast. The sun is practically directly overhead at noon and I don't think I've felt anything like it. Jua kali kabisa!! We are at -9 deg S lat, and by my quick calculations the sun should be darn close...maybe -5 deg S or so. Anyhoo, its really hot!

Lunch was spaghetti, with ketchumballi (sp?) and grilled cheese and pickle sanny's. Blueberry muffin for desert.

Supper was ox tail soup to start, Selous Fried Chicken, ketchumballi (sp?), cabbage and carrot, and french fried chips for the mains. Dessert was "Post Toasties Tart". Mmmm.

Cheers
Chris

ps: Happy Birthday Nelson!!!

The no-bag of the day?

On September 29 of 2012 The Hunting Started
*******************************************
Week 3, Day 16: 10-14-2012
*******************************************

A-Team:
Hard to believe nothing was bagged. Holding out on us?

Z-Team: Zee hunting continues, fifth day.
Walter is still alive.


http://tanganyikagame.com/index.htm

Beat the heat:

I am afraid the buffalo won yesterday, and we did not manage to shoot any.

They really gave us the run around, and on some occasions we were less than 10 yards from them. But, we could not see a shootable bull.

This morning we thought we will try our luck again.

Sadly, with the same result.

So we went looking for a hippo.

And at one of the pools, we found a lone bull which looked like a likely candidate.

Apparently he got scared of us, and got out of the water.

We saw that he was in very poor shape, as he had a snare stuck to his left front foot.

We decided to shoot him as he tried running to the other side of the river. His head was bobbing up and down, which made it difficult for a brain shot. So I shot him in the neck. He dropped in his tracks.

We went back to camp to orgenize the recovery.

There we found Walter and his party, with wide grins as Walter shot a buffalo!

We had lunch and went to recover our hippo. Finished teh recovery about 3, so decided to take it easy for the rest of the day.

Reporting for Z-Team:
As Saeed mentioned, lots of grins on Z-Team. Walter got a nice duggaboy. We had to extract the buffalo from the bottom of a long steep hill that we couldn't get to with a car, so we enlisted the help of some camp staff and brought in out in pieces as you can see from the photos Saeed posted. Never ceases to amaze how tough the boys are...one hoisted a full hind quarter, balanced it on his head and took off straight up the hill with it and never stopped for a breather!

We didn't get back to camp until about 2:30, and found out about Saeed's hippo. We all decided to have a nice relaxing afternoon at camp.

Lunch was eland filet sandwiches (for 11'ses) and buffalo burgers (for 1'ses).

Just getting ready for dinner now.

Cheers,
Chris

Congratulations!
Z-Team has accomplished the nearly impossible feat of Waltering a cape buffalo!
Do we want to know the details of the hunt?

On September 29 of 2012 The Hunting Started
*******************************************
Week 3, Day 17: 10-15-2012
*******************************************

A-Team:
Hippo, "animalitarian-humanitarian" cull for "Cosmic Circle Award" of highest honor.
Above and beyond the call of "Outer Circle" duty.

Z-Team: Zee hunting of sixth day was good.
Cape buffalo.


http://tanganyikagame.com/index.htm

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

Saeed,

That is an act of mercy,an act of kindness to the beast.Thanks for doing that.

Best-
Locksley,R

We've had quite a few mercy killings this year by AR hunters!

Nice job on the hippo Saeed!!!

Congrats to Walter on a successful stalk and shot to add another buff to the salt!!!

Seeing that snare on that hippo's leg makes me sick. I can't imagine the suffering it must have caused. Bravo, Saeed, for putting him down quickly and cleanly.

Congrats to Walter on his buff! Canuck and Walter have both scored nyati. Terrific!

Short report again from Z-Team:
Only have another buffalo and zebra to hunt, so got up early and went to look for them. Found where some buffalo had crossed a road and surmised they were headed back "up river", and thought we'd circle around to see if they had crosed other roads in that direction. They did not, so we had a pretty good idea approximately where they'd be and sure enough we spotted them close by. They had spooked (mildly) but we thought we'd employ the trackers to try tt push them to a more Walterable location where we would be laying in wait. Unfortunately it did not work out...probably due to the swirling winds.

Spent the rest of the morning cruising around for more sign and did not find any.

It was 18.8 deg C in the AM...coolest morning yet. But it got over 40 deb C again by noon. Way too hot!

We had a relaxing afternoon in camp, taking it easy and helping Gary (our camerasman) build a prototype of an iFLOAT, for drifing a video camera down the river (GoPro and/or Contour). It worked great!

Dinner was minestrone spoup, eland stew, buffalo tongue, peas, rice and ketchumballi. Overate again!!

Cheers
Chris

Mid-day report from Z-Team on Day 19:

Went looking for buffalo again. Saw a big male lion track. Collected a couple guinea fowl for the pot. Saw a lioness lying in a sandy river bed, in the shade. Had fun with the Game Scout, using Saeed's 375/404 cartridge with organic salt. Then, as we were nearly back to camp we spied some buffalo across the river, looking like they might be wanting to come over to our side. We sat on them, watching, for an hour or so, but they eventually decided to go bed down in the shade on their side.

Dean and I (Chris) are going to set up a lion bait near the tracks we saw this AM.

At about 3:30 pm we will all go back and see if the buffalo decide to come over in the afternoon.

Saeed, Roy and Alan had a BIG hike yesterday afternoon and got in late. They were out again early this morning to hike some more ridges in search of duggaboys.

Lunch today was teriyaki buffalo filet stir-fry, on rice. Mmmmm! Rene keeps us VERY well fed. I will be up a full belt notch by the time the second half of the hunt is over. I think we lost a few pounds the first ten days though.

Cheers
Chris

As Chris mentioned, we went looking for dugga boys yesterday. And despite finding a couple of their tracks, they managed to evade us.

Had lunch near the gorge, and at 3 in the afternoon decided to go down and look.

Trouble was we were not sure how easy it would be to get back up - and the drive back to camp will take us a long time.

So we sent the truck to wait for us at a place we had shot a kongoni a few days ago. It was 7.5 Kms by GPS.

Down we went. It took us 1.2 Kms walk down to get to the bottom of the gorge. We then found ourselves in a very narrow gorge with very heavy vegetation, and no clear path out. Except one path that goes up on the other side.

We had to make a decisuon which way to head, as we could not go back up, as the truck had already gone.

Once we were through the bottom of the gorge, it became easier to navigate.

We found a lot of tracks of elephants, buffalo, bushpigs, kudu and saw some wild hunting dogs.

We were on a sort of madmen's march, as we did not want to be caught in the dark down in the forest.

Eventually we got up on the hills, but our meeting place was still way to go, and there is no direct route.

Finally we made it to the truck, after having walked - or rather climbed and descended numerous hills and rivers - about 12.5 Kms.

This morning we went looking for dugga boys again, and to retreive our tusks from the first hippo we shot.

Again, the buffalo beat us, and we recovered our tusks, and saw a number fo hippos with either one or both ears bitten off.

On the way back to camp we shot a kongoni for Walter to BBQ.

Descriptions please of the Walter pics!

Walter is helping opening a road.

Second pictures he is so shocked that he had actually hit the buffalo!

Thanks for the vicarious thrills through words and photos.
Reminds me of that one ultra-marathon wilderness mountain run I did long ago.

On September 29 of 2012 The Hunting Started
*******************************************
Week 3, Day 18: 10-16-2012
*******************************************

A-Team:
Madman's March

Z-Team:
Zee hunting of seventh day was successful, Walter is still kicking.


*******************************************
Week 3, Day 19: 10-17-2012
*******************************************

A-Team:
Kongoni for BBQ

Z-Team: Zee hunting of eighth day was good.
2 guinea fowl


http://tanganyikagame.com/index.htm

End of day report - Day 19:
We put up three lion baits during the mid-day break (heat!). Saw a cranker kudu bull.
Dean started to feel under-the-weather in a big way, and Gary (Camerasman) was struggling a little too. Both likely are coming down with malaria. Both quickly got onto treatment. We are all hoping that they are feeling better soon.

Saeed, Roy and Alan got back to camp shortly after we got back from hanging the baits. Had a nice time catching up on all the events of the day.

At about 4:30pm Z-Team headed out to see if the buffalo would cross the river. No luck. Stayed til dusk but did not see anything.

Had a nice sundowner by a very nice fire with an awesome group of people. Always one of my favorite parts of hunting here.

Dinner was Guinea fowl, with rice, kachambari and cabbage.

Cheers,
Chris

Those must be some high quality cameras that ya'll are using.
I'd be afraid to take a picture of Walter with mine.
I broke a friend of mines camera a few years ago when he was taking a photo of me with a whitetail buck & I'm a whole lot better looking than Walter. If you don't believe me, just ask me.

Saeed, beautiful photos. What are the chances of a copy of the two of the wattled plover, please.

Chris, what is, kachambari ???

Thanks,

Keith

fficial&client=firefox-a" target="_blank">https://www.google.co.nz/searc...ial&client=firefox-a

Check this out!

It is also common in India. Very simple and very refreshing - particularly in summer! It is quite amazing - with a squeeze of lime .... my stomach is rumbling now and it is just 11+ am !

quote:

Originally posted by Hog Killer:
Chris, what is, kachambari ???

Thanks,

Keith

Anyone who wishes to have full resolution copies of photos posted here are welcome to have them.

Let me know which ones you wish to have in a PM please, and I will make them available when I get back.

Today is our last full hunting day.

Tomorrow we hunt morning only, and have the shooting contest in the afternoon and get ready bto leave Saturday morning.

Saeed,

Thanks for the offer, I will take copies of all once you are back in DXB.

P.s Enjoy

Regards

Is that a watch, TV, or GPS on Walter's wrist?

quote:

Originally posted by Nakihunter:
fficial&client=firefox-a" target="_blank">https://www.google.co.nz/searc...ial&client=firefox-a

Check this out!

It is also common in India. Very simple and very refreshing - particularly in summer! It is quite amazing - with a squeeze of lime .... my stomach is rumbling now and it is just 11+ am !

quote:

Originally posted by Hog Killer:
Chris, what is, kachambari ???

Thanks,

Keith

Africam Pico de Gallo, got it!

Keith

Shock and awe in the Selous:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Walter is helping opening a road.

Second pictures he is so shocked that he had actually hit the buffalo!

quote:

Originally posted by Johan Moolman:
Saeed,

Thanks for the offer, I will take copies of all once you are back in DXB.

P.s Enjoy

Regards

Walter likes his gadgets.

That thing even has a weather station. Trouble is, it is never right!

Walter has so far broken his sat phone, as well as his solar battery charger.

His cameras's battery is always flat - or he cannot find where his camera is.

His ipad refuses to connect to the Internet, he has finished all his store of Swiss chcocalte, so he is ready to head back home!

Went looking for buffalo all morning. At about 11 we saw a herd feeding, with some promising bulls.

We decided to lreave them, head back to camp for lunch.

We are going to go after them at 3.

RIP:

"Shock and Awe in the Selous"

You ought to propose this as a title for MS's next thrilling video to "Express Yourself"

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by Johan Moolman:
Saeed,

Thanks for the offer, I will take copies of all once you are back in DXB.

P.s Enjoy

Regards

Walter likes his gadgets.

That thing even has a weather station. Trouble is, it is never right!

Walter has so far broken his sat phone, as well as his solar battery charger.

His cameras's battery is always flat - or he cannot find where his camera is.

His ipad refuses to connect to the Internet, he has finished all his store of Swiss chcocalte, so he is ready to head back home!

Went looking for buffalo all morning. At about 11 we saw a herd feeding, with some promising bulls.

We decided to lreave them, head back to camp for lunch.

We are going to go after them at 3.

Hello everybody!
I´ve noticed that you are close to the end of this hunting trip and as usual it was fantastic though the temperature seemed to be quite high according to Chriss reports, probably for Saeed this was great not sure about the others. In my opinion this year´s hunting trip had:
- outstanding pictures some possibly award-winning,
- the out of series eland (I´ve never seen some silimar to this, even though my experience in Africa has been short,
- Walter´s hunting has been outstanding, it seems like this year his accuracy is lot better along with walterhog-bullets.

Saeed and Chriss reports have been very good and this time Chriss was reporting at the minute. I appreciate the reports and greeting that you have sent, made me possible to enjoy the hunting trip as I would have been there. A kiss to Rene and hug to everyone else. A very special greet to Dean (my wife still regrets that you saved my life).
Nelson

Bateleur: The Walter Eagle, aka "Walterhawk."



Nelson,
Agree on the "award winning" quality of photography.
This is my pick for another entry into the competition.

Saeed,
What power/magnification/lens did it take to get this close-up of the Bateleur?
This is Walter's totem.
I remember him looking up at the distinctive short-tailed, broad-winged silohuette of this raptor soaring overhead, pointing at it and smiling.
Many times.
He claimed it was his good luck, the Bateleur.

From my Audubon field guide:
************************************************************************************************************************************************

Bateleur
Terathopicus ecaudatus

Description:
The world's most attractive raptor.
Enormous head; extremely long, pointed wings that hang down well below extremely short, chestnut tail when bird is perched. Adult jet black, with yellow bill and brilliant bare red face and base of bill; large gray or brown shoulders; chestnut back. Short, bright red legs. Flight reveals white underwing, male with broader black trailing edge.
Immature brown, with very short tail.
L 24" (60 cm); W 6' (1.8 m)

Voice: Usually silent, but gives raucous screams when excited ...
(Like whenever Walter kills a cape buffalo!)

... Performs spectacular aerial displays in courtship. Builds or reuses a large stick nest hidden in the canopy of a tall tree. Raises 1 young.

... Its canting, side-to-side motion in flight gave this bird its name, which is the French term for a tightrope walker who uses a balancing pole. The Bateleur may fly for most of the day, covering up to 250 miles (400 km). It feeds on hares, dik-diks, guineafowl, bustards, doves, rollers, monitor lizards, and insects, as well as carrion. It perches in trees and on the ground, and is often seen at water holes drinking and preening.