Howdy All:

I have a 14-day Zimbabwe hunt scheduled for September 2008 with Chifuti Safaris in either Chewore or Dande. Cape buffalo is the primary animal but I'm trying to decide on another big-ticket animal and would be interested in y'all's advice. This will be my second safari (buffalo, eland, kudu, waterbuck, etc. last time) and the first hunt for a friend of mine.

The trophy fees are all similar for these animals. What would be best in your opinion, in terms of the overall hunting experience, excitement, trophy scarcity, etc.?

1) Tuskless elephant
2) Hippo
3) Crocodile
4) Sable

Thanks!

I'd prefer the sable. Makes a beautiful mount. And you live in FL. Don't you have plenty of crocs?

Tuskless elephant... Chewore North is lousy with them and they are an adrenaline charged hunt! See my African Hunt report on my May safari with Chifuti for details.
https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6321043/m/402107486

gotta get the hippo...do a full mount doing a pirouette in a tutu...

nah...but still i would love to have a hippo. thems mean bastards and the tusks make great knife handles

Sable would be my first choice of the 4 you listed very beautiful animals. Depending on the area if you can get him for what a croc trophy fee is you'd better take him.

There you go Psmith. A clear consensus!
Peter.

What a simple question. My answers are in order of preference...1,4,2,3...or put another way...power, beauty, fatty, ugly.

hippo or sable im going to add hippo to my buff hunt next month in omay cant wait . I allready have a sable.

Anything but Sable. I'm hunting them in 2008 and would appreciate it if you would leave them alone.

Tuskless elephant cows provide a very exciting hunt. There are overpopulated and provide lots of meat. The best thing is that they are not exportable so you don't have to worry about any stinkin' taxidermy costs and shipping. Just take some photos and have the tail hairs turned into bracelets to be taken home with you.


You can borrow money, but you can't borrow time. Go now.

Tuskless elephant and/or sable.

Tuskless elephant.

There is NO hunting like elephant hunting.

Nothing else even comes close.

Get within 10 yards and brain it.

go for the elly! nothing more exciting

hippo, or maybe sable, or perhaps ele, then again a croc would be nice

Tuskless

Tuskless all the way.

I have filmed several Tuskless hunts it gets the heart pumping. Its even worse when your not holding a rifle.

Its an exciting hunt following and getting up close to Cow heards.

Mike

Thanks All. A clear consensus that I need to get all four! I'll just need to book another hunt.

So far the tuskless gets the most votes. As a matter of fact, that's the hunt I booked last January at the SCI convention.

bwanamrm: I have read your hunt report more than once; great writing and photos! As a matter of fact after reading your report, the guy I am going to Zim with ordered two rifles from Sterling Davenport, a .416 Rigby and a .338 WM.

Kensco: It's funny, last year when I hunted in Matetsi Unit 2, I saw shootable sable bulls every single day. It was without question the most common large trophy animal we saw. Of course, I had no sable on license. We only saw six buffalo with one shootable, two eland bulls, two waterbuck, and maybe four or five decent kudu. But the dang sable were everywhere! We even saw a really nice sable bull standing next to the main road with a broken leg.

the most deadly of game...the hippo!

http://clashradio.com/DVD/sullivan-video/

The irony about Sullivan is that he contacted Buzz to guide him for tuskless and then backed out. I do not know why but found that interesting. Mark has very little ele experience compared to Buzz or any of the guys at Charlton McCallum.

Another vote for the ele.

PSmith,

This is a very easy one. Just tell Chifuti you'd like to have one of each and see how it all shakes out. You are not obligated to hunt anything once you are on the ground but if you don't ask for the animals you MIGHT want they won't have them on quota for your safari. You might not find the huge sable that you asked for but you could see a 15 foot croc that you had not asked for.

Personally I always ask for one of everything available to me and just let the safari unfold as it will.

Have a great safari!

Mark

That's good advice if the finances allow.

quote:

the guy I am going to Zim with ordered two rifles from Sterling Davenport, a .416 Rigby and a .338 WM.

I hope he enjoys them half as much as I have! Sterling builds a great rifle!

While I would dearly love to hunt an elephant, a tuskless just doesn't turn my crank, I'd go for the sable.

My choice in order of preference: 1 (by far and away), 4, 2, 3. Good luck!!!

P.S. Chwore North has some good sable in natural habitat. Something that is not all that common.

Thanks guys, this is great advice.

MARK: That's pretty much what I did last safari; when I got there the PH was surprised there were still eland and waterbuck available so I was able to take a great eland (40") and a nice waterbuck (30") that I hadn't counted on. I just let the safari lead the way.

I have no interest in tuskless elephant - I like the teeth too much - so I would opt for the sable, which is, along with the kudu, one of the two most magnificent African antelope.

Coming in a close second would be the hippo, but only if I could stalk and kill him on land. Hippo in water are barely sport.

Croc would be a distant third.