Has anyone here hunted Elephants in Zimbabwe early in the year? I have a hunt booked several years out (please hold on Zimbabwe ) The dates are still flexible and as of now I am booked end of April first of May for 19 days. I Have hunted with this company before and was successful on a 53 lb bull in October, which is supposed to be prime time, but late season dates are not available. The hunt will be along the Hwange park boundry. They say the crops give the bulls a reason to come out of the park. Have any of you guys had any experience with this situation or this time of year??

I did an April hunt one year and saw lots of bulls . We saw a 45 pound bull in the first hour and tried to do better but never saw a good one. Biggest pain in the butt is the roads are rough as hell with elephant track potholes from the rainy season. If I was after a big bull in Zim that's where and when I would go.

silwane , given a choice i do all my elephant hunts in zim early in the year , the bigger bulls are moving and its correct that those areas bordering parks will have better movement when the crops are green ..

this year i start on the 3rd march !!

you will have a great time , rather work a little harder and have rougher roads and get a bigger bull !!

I took my bull in early/mid April in the Zim. escarpement. There were two bulls in the 70 lb. range taken BEFORE I got there and an 80+ right after I left. We didn't see tons of elephants but the quality was there.

The cotton, corn, etc. is maturing enough to get interesting to the elephants and they're coming into the crops every night. You check the fields in the mornings and track them out.

We got stuck a couple times and we got wet a couple times. Overall no big deal at all, I'd recommend the same time without reservation.



Kyler

I prefer the early season. I went last year in late May and would have gone even earlier...maybe next time. I like that time of year in Zim but the grass is really high. We saw quite a few bulls even though the cover was thick. That was in Makuti though which is a lot different than Hwange Park.

Last year we went to Doma with Gordon Duncan April-May-saw lots of tracks and killed my bull on the 8th day. This year going middle Mar-April-same agenda-only bad point is the grass is still very tall.

It all depends on where in Zim you are hunting. Early season (end of wet season) can be good in some locations where bulls are raiding crops or wander out of the parks due to better forage on the outside. In other areas bulls are more likely to come out of the parks during the dry season when water is scarce in the parks such as Tsholtsho along Hwange's south border(sp?). Ask your safari firm when the biggest bulls are normally killed in your chosen area.

465H&H