Hi all,
I just got back last night from a wonderful hunt with Rory Muil of Russ Broom Safaris out of the Binga area of the Zambezi Escarpment of Zimbabwe.

It was primarily to be an elephant hunt for one of my friends and I was primarily to be the observer. At the last minute my friend couldn't make it and I became the shooter.

We hunted out of the Chizirira Lodge and Songo Camp. Chizirira Lodge used to be a photographic camp but Russ Broom leased it for this season as a hunt camp.

Elephant hunting was as interesting as I'd heard and read. Rory's trackers were magnificent. We got a look at every bull we tracked. The day we got my bull we followed his tracks with another bulls' in and out of other bull tracks and tracks from cow herds. After about 7 hours of solid hiking we took the bull and didn't make it back to the truck until after dark. It was an incredible day.



I used a model 70 in .416 Rem. and Barnes solids. The first shot was at about 60 yards and then I hit him again at about 100 before he went down.


The tusks pulled out just in time for a photo before I left. Rory says they have a small nerve and should go between 50 and 60 pounds.



We also got time to look for a couple antelope at Russ's Songo camp closer to Lake Kariba. The second day in that camp I took a bushbuck. I have absolutely no idea what it measures and don't care. They are a beautiful little antelope and I'd never even seen a male on other hunts. I was especially glad to get a crack at him because I was told the vegetation this time of year was probably too thick to stand a chance at bushbuck.



On the last morning in Songo camp we took one last long walk where two PH's had seen a waterbuck bull. It was our third hike through that area but our luck was better than the waterbuck's that morning.



The important guys in the photo are in the left four-fifths of the photo (l. to r.):
Tedious, Samuel, Tino, Tumara and the Loser they were stuck with for a whole safari. The three on the left have been with Rory for many years and were our trackers on a buffalo hunt two years ago. Tedious has some of the best "game eye's" I've ever had the pleasure to hunt with. Samuel has been tossed twice by buffalo. The first time while diving in front of a client to divert the charge and the second time just last year with an "almost" dead buffalo. Tino has a wonderful disposition and as well as being a great tracker and killing a leopard actively giving Rory some scratches some years ago (while the client was running away), he seems to be able to fix anything we can break in the field. Tumara is a relative of Tedious and is also very, very good.

Rory is a great PH as Terry Carr can attest (my bull was taken about 7 miles northeast of Terry's). Rory is as professional as I have met.

The antelope were taken with a Sako in .375 H&H with 300 gr. Swifts. Mark Young may recognize that barrel if he looks really hard as it is a fully tricked out Dakota barrel bought from him off the AR classifieds. It's turned out to be a wonderful rifle. Believe it or not, after doing a lot of shopping around, buying used parts, trading hunting for a little rebarrel gunsmithing.... I have less than $1,000 in it as it is with a 2.5x8 Leupold, quarter rib, one standing/one folding, barrel band and Conetrol mounts. (The action and stock also came from the AR classifieds, but I'm afraid the scope was from ebay).

We had a few leopard baits out too, but I really didn't have enough time to do it right. I'm sure they hit the bait the night I left.

Great safari, I can't recommend the Broom outfit highly enough.

Great hunting with great hunters,
Kyler

Kyler,



Congratulations. What a great hunt. I'm very jealous of your bushbuck, I've been on four safaris with bushbuck on the menu every time and I'm still without my bushbuck.



Rory is indeed the ultimate professional. He surrounds himself with very loyal and capable trackers.



Again, congratulations.



Post some more pics now that you have the hang of it.



Regards,



Terry



P.S.

I found a website for the Chizarira Lodge. I wish they had that lodge when I hunted with them.

Congratulations on your elephant! Your pictures are great.

Kyler,
Congrats on a excellent elephant and a great adventure! A 50 x 60 lb. elephant is a dandy!
Russell

Congtratulations Kyler! The trophies are beautiful! Thanks for the story and pictures.

Kyler,

Congrats on a great hunt! You certainly took some nice animals, and I am sure that you will long remember the stalks.

Incidentally your elephant rifle/cartridge/bullet combo was the same that I used on my elephant. The Barnes solids in the 416 make a very efficient combination don't they.

Jim

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy!! No doubt you shot well and are too modest to tell us about it. Certainly worked hard and told a great tale. Thanks!

Kyler,

I can't wait to see all of the photos and hear all of the stories when I see you at the QU shoot in the next few weeks. Looks like everything turned out great.

Mark and I tried calling your satellite phone but we were never able to get through. Looks like you were hiking after elephant the entire time.

By the way, what is your left hand covering in the first photo???? A bird cage????

Tim

Kyler



Congratulations to a great hunt and welcome back, great photos also!



Thanks for a great hunting day up in King City BTW.

Wow, really nice trophies, Kyler. Sure has a lot of us dreaming!

Terry,
That's the lodge, but I've stayed in four of Russ's camps and they all are quite nice. I doubt many safari camps have a view like that one though.

Tim,
Sorry the phone wasn't on much, we were pretty busy. I'll bring a few more photos to the QU shoot and yes, my hand will be over the muzzle of that .416 in all of them .

Thanks everybody else, it was a dream come true to get to go on that trip much less to be the shooter.

I was actually quite shocked how similar that exact hunting in that area, that time of year was to the wild pig hunting we do here, this time of year. The main difference was simply one of scale. Both species are extremely nocturnal and travel as far as is necessary to get the best of the crop fields at night and the best cover protection during the day.

Maybe with a set of trackers like that I could follow the pigs as well, but our soil is a little harder and my patience are a little thinner. Seriously, one day the trackers and Rory were in a big discussion (in Tonga or Shona or a combination of the two) and the trackers kept looking at the pig embroidered on my hat. The only word in the conversation I knew was the Shona word for warthog. After a thorough discourse, Rory said in that great Zim. accent, "They can't believe you are your own tracker, skinner, driver, etc. They think they would like to come track for you." He continued, "I can't seem to explain how cold it gets there (I guess an occasional frost is disastrous when you spend most of your life in Zim.) and they don't believe me that there are no elephants there". I simply replied that I would be honored to have them.

Kyler

Kyler, congratulations on a wonderful hunt. It sounds absolutely fantastic! Great trophies, great photos, great story!

You did it right!

AD

Kyler,

Great elephant, and a nice bushbuck and waterbuck. Rory and crew are great hunters and fun to be with. I hope I get to see hime in a couple of months as I will be back for another elephant. Hope to take one as nice as yours.

BigB

Great Hunt, great pics, you did well. Also did very fine job of posting your hunt, the kind of post that we all enjoy.

Congratulations and Well Done!

Someday I hope to step up to the big leagues and book an elephant hunt.

Thanks for sharing!

Kyler,

Very nice trophies! I don't believe that very many larger elephants come from that area. Very good show!

I knew that barrel was destined for greatness. I'm very happy that it helped you complete a nice project.

I assume there was no rude dinner conversation centered around your shoe size this time.

Good Hunting,

Mark

Good work Kyler. Very impressive safari. For a last minute trip you must be living right.

Mark,
Actually Rory has taken 3 elephants (counting mine) out of Brooms areas this season and mine was actually on the small end! He took one around 70 pounds per side and another about the size of mine before I got there. Right were T. Carr took his last year we saw another similar to mine, but although we only saw it briefly, we thought we could only see a right tusk and not a left so we quite pursuing it.

But there are still some good ones out there.

As to the dinner conversation, Rory's professionalism has no bounds, it's a different world from the other experience you allude to.

Thanks again for the barrel,
Kyler

Great hunt Kyler. We will be hunting with Rory in August and am happy to hear he has your approval.

Kyler,

Congrats on a great hunt! Out of curiousity, what were you feeding the 416 and were you happy with it? I am in the process of customising one and look forward to the finished product.

However I keep on reading stories about 416 Rem Mag with pressure/extraction problems....guys like yourself who have used it in the field are the best to ask about their experiences.

Mamba,
You'll really enjoy Rory. What are you hunting? Do you know which camp you are using?

MLG,
I had no pressure or extraction problems with the .416 Rem. I didn't try to set any pressure records either... just by the books.
I ended up working up loads with the 400gr. XLC as a soft (not for elephant, but a first on buffalo or for other game) and the 400gr. Barnes solid. My loading data isn't with me now but I believe my rifle liked IMR 3031 (or 4064, sorry, I'm afraid my head's cluttered with too many calibers/loads). I've heard such good things about RL 15 for that cartridge I worked with it a lot and the pressure and accuracy were fine. Although the velocity was highest with the RL 15 the soft/solid POI was the most similar with the IMR powder in my rifle (almost factory CRF m-70).

Kyler