I just got back from Zim on a 14 day Elephant hunt with Buzz Charlton...WHAT A HUNT!!!! We walked about 10 miles a day and saw some incredible sights. An 8' Black Momba,Lioness,Hyena and an assortment of plains game. Most of these were seen at distances of 10-20'..Sure makes a difference hunting on foot. I also managed to look over about 30 bull elephant and I saw over 200+ cows. On day two I saw two 40lb bulls and passed on them because it was too early in the hunt,turns out of course they were the two biggest bulls I saw,but it did not mattter I was not ready for the hunt to be over..On day 11 on my way to a watering hole I saw a nice Gryesbuk,I hit it with a front on chest shot at 40 meters with my trusty .470 double using 500 grain solids...USE ENOUGH GUN!!!!!....On day 14 I saw two thirty pound bulls and a nice 40 with one tusk only..I shot one of the 30's and my hunt was over..You really feel small when you go face to face with an Elephant at 15 meters,even the .470 double seemed small.
The trackers Buzz uses were excellent and the camp was fantastic.. Buzz is the 5th PH I have had the pleasure to hunt with an with no exaggeration he is the most dedicated tireless PH I have been with...He shares my commitment to the hunt. If you want to earn you Ele. hunt with Buzz he is the best!!!
I did not realize that the area I would be hunting was the location were Boddington on Buffalo was filmed,I saw some real trophy Buff.with great bossess, I also got to meet Andrew Dawson who was super nice and great to talk to about ballistics. On my second to the last day in flew in Craig Boddington himself to finish filming Boddington on Leopard. We had dinner together and he was really friendly and great to talk to.
All in all this was a great hunt and I whole heartedly reccomend Buzz Charlton to all you other AR members..
Dangerous Dave

Dave,

Congratulations on a great hunt! Perhaps some questions...

1. What brand is your double, and what brand bullet did you use?

2. Where did you place your shot on the ele, and how much penetration did you get?

3. Was 10 mi. per day enough walking to see all the ele you wanted, or would you suggest that folks be prepared to walk more than 10 mi. per day?

Thanks!

Dave,

Congratulations on your hunt! Please share additional stories and pics if you have them, so that some of us can live vicariously!

Glad to hear that you had a good trip Dave, and enjoyed hunting w/Buzz. I would like to think I too would have passed on the ele's early in the hunt...you made the right decision. I want to chat about Sapi once you get settled in.

Cheers!

PS: Pictures, we need pictures man!

Dave

Congratulations on your hunt. Did you take anything else in addition to the elephant and grysbok? Grysbok with a .470!

What kind of mean hearted person would ever shoot a poor little Grysbuck




By the way, was Tim Danklef jealous of your grysbuck? I think he has been trying to get one for years now, and has had no luck with them.

Congratulations on a great hunt.

Tim

As to the Boddington comments I wholeheartedly agree. One of the nicest guys you will meet and not pompous or condescending. I spent some hours in the Jo'berg airport on my last trip talking with him and daughter Brittany and her girlfriend. Then rode the plane back to the states with them. We looked at one another's photos, talked hunting. Why he even autographed some books and magazine articles. If you get the chance to visit with Craig don't pass it up!

Dave,
Welcome back and glad to hear you had a great hunt with Buzz, I knew you would! Funny, I passed a 35 pounder my first day and a 30 pounder on day eight. It looked like I might run out of time, but on the last day I took an old mature bull in the thick jess, 38 lbs. on one side and 24 on the other. It makes the bull you take after all the tracking and miles covered just that much more a trophy!

Look forward to the story and pictures. Congratulations again on an excellent hunt.