I've been researching places to go on a reasonably priced Sable and mixed plains game hunt.

Anyone use this outfitter? Is the ranch fenced or is it fair chase?

Thx.

I did stalk a nice one there whilst PH and Mate were tracking a wounded Wildebeest.
ARs Martin Pieters books hunts there and it is behind wire.

Then where does that leave me for a reasonably priced sable hunt that is not fenced? SAVE? Moz? Zambia?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I'm just tire kicking at the moment. Might not be until 2013 or 2014.

Reasonably priced and sable do not mix or mingle any longer! I feel your pain. I am planning on the same thing for either '12 or '13.

Best bet for a good bull not behind wire will be in Moz. Zambia (and TZ, of course) are getting into the stratosphere on sable price.

Matetsi Zim, Dande Zim, Niassa Moz, Makore Safaris Nyacainga area in Moz and Zambezi Delta Moz would be my pick.

While in Matetsi 3 last month ( www.hhksafaris.com ) I saw sable every day and perhaps 4 or 5 exceptional shooters during the week.

Matendere,Savuli and hammond all have good sable in the Save conservancy

Makuti with CM Safaris, Matetsi with HHK. Both these areas you are better off hunting later in the season. i.e Sept/Oct

Hunter54,

Sable will demand a higher daily rate and by '13 I think you could expect to pay $750 a day for 10 days.

Two wild unfenced area that would be good for sable in Mozambique are Mokore Safaris's Coutada 9 south of the Zambezi river and Zambeze Delta's Coutada 11 on the delta.

Mokore's area will offer you a tracking hunt in the forest and Zambeze will be more spot and stalk as you find the sable often in the open there.

I've hunted these areas so if you have questions don't hesitate to ask.

Mark

I saw the largest sable I have ever seen in the wild in 2010 in Coutada 11 with Zambeze Delta Safaris. Unfortunately, sable was not on my wish list (I had already taken a couple on prior safaris). My PH told me I would regret my decision and he was right. I did video of the sable and every time I watch the video I wonder what I was thinking!

Regards, D. Nelson

The areas I have hunted in the Save do not have a lot of sable. The quota is low. I have seen an absolute brute there. Sadly, there was no quota.

Isn't the Save fenced?


.

Ron Oliver (Zimbabwe Wildlife safaris) sell hunts in the Cawston ranch. I'm never been there but I'm pretty sure that is a fenced ranch with a lot of game inside.

quote:

Isn't the Save fenced?

not anymore

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
Isn't the Save fenced?


.

When it was fully enclosed, it was still roughly 880,000 acres!

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
Isn't the Save fenced?


.

When it was fully enclosed, it was still roughly 880,000 acres!

Amazingly enough, my mother's family owned all that land until 1990..Except for Humani which has belonged to the Whittalls since 1930. What is now the Save conservancy used to be Devuli ranch which came into being in 1918, when my great great uncle Esteban Lucas Bridges, against the advice of everyone, settled on the banks of the Msaize River at Devuli HQ, now Chishakwe. Lucas and his family were the first white people to settle permanently in Zim's lowveld. Fate played its hand and Lucas did not live for long at Devuli, my great grandfather Despard taking over the reins in 1920. Though Lucas founded it, Despard is credited with building Devuli into what it once was. At its peak it was over a million acres and the largest privately owned ranch in the world, or so it was said. Lucas and Despard came from Argentina, where their father Thomas set up a mission station amongst the Yaghan Indians in the mid 1800s. I have many relatives there whom I have never met. They seem to have fared better than their African cousins by all accounts, insofar as keeping their land is concerned anyway...I am still in shock about the giving aw...er sorry I mean selling of all that land...Defies belief really. From a million to zero acres in the blink of an eye, and I can't even blame the warvets! No, not bitter, simply astounded...

Lucas Bridges wrote a fantastic book about the Bridges family in Argentina. 'The Uttermost Part of the Earth', published by Hodder and Stoughton originally, for anyone who might be interested. I think it was reprinted a while back, my mother has an original. Ah, ja, sorry, I got sidetracked, back to the Save conservancy then....

I have hunted Cawston just this past April for tseessebe and sable. Yes it is high-fenced, around 40,000 acres but it is hunting, not driving around and selecting a trophy to shoot. In the end, I hunted three days and shot a nice tsessebe the last morning before I had to leave, they were wild as the proverbial march-hare. Never did get a sable though I looked at a couple of nice ones... just not larger than I have. Peter Johnstone has a wonderful piece of hunting ground in Cawston and he is the consumate gentleman and sportsman. I would not hesitate to hunt with him again. As others have pointed out, contact Martin Pieters who posts here often for more details.

Link to hunt report: http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/1791023551

Thanks for the answers.

Dave, you are a better man than I. I would be bitter.

I am booked at the Cawston, early August 2012 with archery equipment.

I killed a beautiful 40 inch sable with a bow last year. Cawston is a great place for sable!

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
Isn't the Save fenced?


.

When it was fully enclosed, it was still roughly 880,000 acres!

Pffffft. Fenced is fenced. It's why you'll never catch me hunting in China. You know - that great wall and all...

quote:

Originally posted by lde:

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
Isn't the Save fenced?


.

When it was fully enclosed, it was still roughly 880,000 acres!

Pffffft. Fenced is fenced. It's why you'll never catch me hunting in China. You know - that great wall and all...

Cawston belongs to Peter Johnstone, who is a great guy.

I hunted at Peter's Rosslyn Safaris in the early 80's, and still keep in touch with him.

I have only heard good reports about hunting at Cawstone.

A few years ago I hunted with Rosslyn Safaris and spent 4 days at Cawston. It is a lovely facility and Peter Johnstone makes sure things are done correctly. It seemed to be set up for bow hunting but I was able to rifle hunt. There were lots of sable and plains game available. Save your pennies and look for a Tsessebe when you are there. The property has some beauties and I was too stupid to shoot one.
I understand it is a good place to hunt leopard but have no first hand knowledge on that score.

just one example of the huge number of sable i saw on the Zambezi floodplain with Bahati Adventures(Coutada 10). this was 1 of 3 large herds we regularly saw plus a lot of other smaller herds and bachelor groups

In '09 we saw essentially what jdollar posted. I'm pretty sure I could have killed a mature sable bull every day. The Zambezi delta has to be an ideal enviroment for sable as they are there in hordes and not spooky at all.

Mark

This sable was taken on Cawston this year.

I really like Sable and watch for them at every opportunity. Took a nice one many years ago in the Doma area. The absolute largest I have ever seen was my last safari in the Matetsi near the Fuler forrest boundary. He had to go 47/48" but I didn't have the bucks as I was after a trophy Elephant (which I got) and was carrying a 416 Rigby and we never could get close to him. If we could have gotten close enough to try with the 416 I was going to stretch a point on the funds. He was that big. As to fences in that area,I have never seen anything higher than waist high except the fence around Hwange Park and it was mostly down when I was last there.

Niassa, MOZ. with Kambako at $550/day. Close to 800,000 acres with no fences. We are putting together a group or two to go in 2013.