Hi Everyone: My wife and I just returned from hunting the Kwa-Zulu-Natal area with AR's Brad Rolston. In spite of three full days of rain and cold, we still took trophy rhino, hippo, crocodile, nyala, red duiker, suni, common reedbuck and black backed jackal. I am posting a picture of each, with the exception of the black backed jackal (we didn't take a picture in spite of him being as big as a good sized dog). I will try and post the full stories later if time and my schedule permits. Suffice it to say, crocs are hard to kill!! This 13.5 footer was still "alive" 18 hours later in the skinning shed and gave the skinners a real fright. Enjoy the pictures. Here is the croc: Now, for the rhino:
Next is the nyala: Here is the red duiker: Another hard animal to take is the suni. Here is an old guy: This is a pic of the hard earned hippo: Finally, the old common reedbuck warrior:

Great Looking Trophies!! Congratulations. Waiting on the croc, rhino, hippo, and nyala stories.

Nice trophies. That looks like a really big nyala.

great trophies!

That nyala is 28 or 30 inches which one???Glad you made the trip and had a good time also..
Had 10 days of rain in Tanzannia...

Mike

Hi Mike: Welcome back as well and thanks for the inquiry. This nyala was 28" and is perfect in every way. However, I had been hunting a much bigger one that had alluded us for a number of days. Early on the evening of the very last day, and after I had shot this one, he appeared. The two PH's went crazy as he was 75 yards away in the heavy bush and standing broadside. Both agreed that he was over 30" and closer to 31". I put the cross-hairs on his shoulder and they waited for the shot . . . When I didn't shoot they asked me why I hadn't. After seeing him in the scope and having him dead to right, I decided that I already had a great one in the salt and that the one that I had already taken was very representative of a great nyala, although not the biggest. Believe me when I say that it took a lot of nerve and will power not to shoot the bigger one. Will I second guess my decision? Will many say I was crazy? Maybe, maybe not. But that was for me to ultimately decide and I am glad to have had the choice. Like you and your wife, throughout our Safari we had wonderful experiences and made lasting memories based on great surroundings, food, people, scenery and outstanding trophy animals.

UEG,

Great trophies, and after reading the micro story on the nyala, I encourage you to describe the rest of the hunt...thanks...jim

Ok, all right. Here's the story on the croc. We had been hunting croc for a number of days and had spotted some smaller ones. He then got a call from a local who had spotted a big croc in a large pool of water below a dam on the Mzinene River. We then met him at the dam and snuck along the embankment, spotting the croc 60 yards below us, partly in and out of the pool. I nervously took a prone position with the .375 and fired. A great gush of a geyser appeared behind the croc in the water and he quickly slipped into the pool. Now we had to wait to see if he would appear again or swim off. Fortunately, he brought up his head and part of his back again and this time I had a dead rest on the embankment and placed a .375 trophy bonded sledgehammer directly in his spine behind his head. A pool of blood appeared and we thought he was dead. We went back up to the dam, crossed over and went down the other side. As we got closer we could see he was still alive and I shot him again through the lungs. We then proceeded cautiously down the embankment. Upon our approach he turned at Brad and I off-handedly shot him close to the smile. He then appeared to be dead for good and we returned to fetch the trackers and skinners to get him out of the pool. After making a call and getting another PH and his trackers and skinners to help us, we pulled him out of the river and took photos. During that time I swore to Brad that I had seen him open and close his eyes. He said, not to worry, it was just an involuntary reaction at best or my imagination. Later on back at the skinning shed that evening my wife and Brad's wife checked him out and said the very same thing. We then had another hunter from Germany, his wife and PH look at him, and the German couple swore he looked at them too. The very next day at mid-morning we all went back up to look at him one last time before the skinners skinned him out for a full body mount. As we were approaching the skinning shed there were screams and shouts as the skinners ran out of the skinning shed shouting that the croc was alive! We then ran in and he was on his back ready for skinning. However, all four of his legs were moving back and forth and his chest was heaving. I told the skinners to open him up and take out his heart. Reluctantly they followed the orders and that was the end of that. But not until 18 hours later. I had heard stories, and had my doubts about "living" dead crocs, but I now believe most of them for sure.

As for the hippo, we called him the second chance hippo. On this same area of the river, which has expanded into a very large reservoir, we found and hunted a large pod of hippo. They were very wary, but would end up on an island in the middle of the river/reservoir during late afternoon. We spent the greater part of a whole day getting into a position to shoot the herd bull who had been breeding all of the cows while we watched. Once he had gotten into a good position for a shot at about 125 yards, I took the shot with the .375 using the trophy bonded sledgehammer solid. We thought that we heard the whack, and then waited for him to float to the surface. Hours later he had not. We spent the rest of the day and all of the next day dragging the river and lake with a drag line to bring him up since we figured he had got caught on a log or large branch on the river bottom. Finally, after bringing in a boat and poling the river and reservoir, we concluded that I had cleanly missed and went back to hunting the pod's bulls on the third day. Spotting another big bull we spent two hours positioning ourselves from shore for a good shot. As this big bull appeared, he had some familiar characteristics but did not appear to be the same one. I spotted a white mark above his right eye that appeared to be unusual and one at the top of his head in the back. The PHs' weren't sure what to make of it, but I finally got a good head on shot into and at the bottom of the "V" in the front of his head. His head was just out of the water enough at about 100 yards to finally get a shot. We heard the bullet whack him and waited for him to appear, after the rest of the pod moved further down the river/reservoir. After two hours of waiting he finally floated to the surface and we went out in the boat and retrieved him to shore, wenching him in with the truck's front wench. Upon inspection, he was the very same bull. The first shot had gone just barely under the hide and exited the hide only, at the top of his head, giving him a slight headache but nothing else. The second shot, two full days later (the third day) had brained him.

And here's the story on the rhino. After having the trackers attempt to find and follow him and another bull for almost three days we finally got the chance to hunt him. Stalking him for three hours through waist high grass and heavy bush and having him attempt to charge us repeatedly, (We later learned that he had an infection in his neck from fighting with another bull), I finally got into a postion with the .375 to get a shot through the thick bush at about 75 yards. The first shot was spot on the shoulder and he bucked and busted through the bush for about 100 yards finally going down. As we approached him from about 80 yards, he tried to get back up a number of times and finally did so. I then shot him just behind the right shoulder and he dropped. Upon inspecting him we found the infected area in his neck where he had been in a fight with another rhino. He was a very old bull and his feet and toe nails were very worn down. His front horn measured 27". The two PHs' and the taxidermist took all of the measurements and scored him at SCI 97. Now, I don't know anything about that score, but I do know that it was not a stroll in a pasture or anything as simple as I have heard it described by others. Another hunter hunting rhino in the same area did not get his rhino after many days of hunting. Maybe each area is different, but this was a hunt, not a shoot.

By the way, the nyala, and common reedbuck are thick in this area and that makes hunting them very good. I hear that the pineapple fields and sugar cane fields also contain good numbers of bush pig and I will be trying to collect a good one next year if all goes as planned. The red duiker and suni are hard to hunt and are animals of opportunity. I shot both of mine with the .375, using Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer solids in order to prevent undue damage. The .375 using Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer solids accounted for 5 of the 8 animals. The German hunter was making his fourth trip for suni and finally collected one after extending his ten day Safari for two extra days, taking the suni on the morning he was leaving for the airport. He also took a red duiker two days before that. Another hunter from Houston, Texas hunted a whole safari while I was there for suni and did not get one. Thanks for all of the interst and for listening to my ramblings. UEG

Looks like a successful hunt! I like the croc story - pretty amazing.

Congratulations! A great safari!

Thanks, we made more wonderful memories and created additional lasting friendships with the new South Africans that we met on this Safari.

UEG,
Nice trophies! Looks like you had an excellent hunt with old Bradley. Hope he is doing well!