Hunting The Moyowosi - Part 1


Hunting The Moyowosi - Part 2

Hunting The Moyowosi - Part 3

Hunting The Moyowosi - Part 4

Hunting The Moyowosi - Part 5

Hunting The Moyowosi - Part 6


Below are a few viceo clips. I will add more.
Please right click on the link, and click safe to your hard disk. That way you can watch them whenever you wish, without logging onto AR.

Topi and bullet recovery

Sable

Zebra

Kongoni

Buffalo

Buffalo

Buffalo

Buffalo

Walter shooting a topi

Topi

Waterbuck

Walter's buffalo

Walter's zebra

Warthog

Topi

Sitatunga

Oribi

Hippo

Crocodile

Walter shooting a topi

Buffalo

Buffalo

Walter And The game Scout In A farting Contest!



We made it to camp, without any hassle at all. Our flight was delayed in Dubai for about 40 minutes, but the pilot made it up and we arrived about 18 minutes later than scheduled. Our camp is quite far from Dar, so the original idea was to fly to Arusha, spend the night, then fly out to camp the next morning.

I wasn't too keen on that, so asked Alan if he could see that we get to camp the same day we arrive.
And as usual, he came up with a solution. He arranged for a Pilatus to pick us up from Dar, and then fly us to the camp.
Donald got us out of the airport I would imagine in less than 20 minutes after landing. Our charter captain said we had just about time to make it to camp before dar. We got into our plane, and discovered that we could not taxi to the run way!

Another plane blocked our path.

The captain triad to squeeze through, but one wing tip would have clipped the shade over the door of the charter office. He shut his engine, and tried to see how he could get out.

Walter had a ready solution.

He wanted to disassemble the wing tip, move the plane, then attache it again.!

The ground crew had another idea. They moved the other plane, and we were airborne.

Our flight took us 2 hours. Walter had his GPS, and clocked us at 550 kilometers per hour.

We landed after the sun went down. Our friends were waiting for us with cool drinks, and 15 minutes later we were in our camp.

Roast buffalo was our dinner, and after that we all headed to our tents hoping for a good night's sleep.

I don't know about the others yet - we were told we would be woken up at 5.30. It is 4.30 right now, as I just could not sleep any more. Had my shave and shower, and writing this report. The hyaenas were making a racket most of the night.

We had breakfast and went out. Dwight went with Paul, and Roy, Alan, Walter and me went together.

We saw many topi, warthogs and reedbucks. We also saw a number of giraffe. We did not see any sign of buffalo.

Just before lunch, we saw a few topi bulls, and decided to shoot one.

The bull we wanted was standing on an ant hill, almost broadside. Perfect for a shot. He was about 120 yards. Just as I was ready to shoot he decided to walk towards us down the ant hill. I aimed for the point of his right shoulder, and fired. He took off running, and a few yards stopped and then lay down and died.

When we got to him we found that the bullet had hit him right at the point of the shoulder, penetrated the whole length of his body, got out at the junction of his stomach and left leg, just breaking the skin on the leg.
Alan thought we should go look for our bullet. And sure enough, we found it lying half burried on the ant hill where the topi was walking as he got shot.

We went back to camp and had lunch. We found that Dwight shot a topi too. Now we have some baits to put up.

Thanks for the update, wish you all the best for the rest of hunt.

Looks like ya'll are doing good. Got there safe and already got meat on the ground.

Keep us posted.

Saeed,

Starting a hunt by finding a pass-thru bullet, on purpose, has got to be a seriously good omen.

Enjoy!

A good hunter plans his shots, so he can recover his bullets...
Looking forward to the rest of the hunt...

Mike

An excellent start. Are you going to be able to post pictures remotely this year or is the data connection not fast enough?

quote:

Originally posted by retreever:
A good hunter plans his shots, so he can recover his bullets...
Looking forward to the rest of the hunt...

Mike

Mike,

Well, it was "half buried", so I guess the calculations were about half a Walter off...

Can smell the wood smoke from here Nice to get the updates. Helps ease the PSD.

Excellent! But I thought Walter was going to be this years bait?? I mean after he prepares a BBQ, of course.

Saaed,

I know Topi is very common for you to shoot over there but will the connection over there be able to upload photos easily if possible. It would be nice to see pictures of animals shot along the way.

Good Hunting !

Thank you for the fun read. I am happy to hear you are already collecting this years supply of used bullets for review.
I look forward to the next report.
Frank

Saeed
Looks like you are off to a great hunt and experience with Walter again. Looking forward to reading about it along the way.
Best of Luck!

Everything still ok?

We want to see some pics!

Ah, that Pilatus is a dream machine!! Thought you were going to say the charter pilot just took off on the taxiway!! HA!!
Who is the Outfitter/Company and who are your PH's?? Maybe I missed it earlier??
Have an outstanding hunt...I will be off on the coast at Zanzibar shortly....cruising this trip

Have a great hunt Saeed and crew and thanks for the updates.
Take good care,
Dave

How are the tsetse flies this year? After having hunted in Moyowosi a few years ago, by comparison, I decided last month the Selous almost doesn't have any.
I think Moyowosi is their favorite convention destination.

Sorry I missed reporting the past few days.
We have been having rainstorms every day in the evening when we get back to camp, or we get back very late, and can just about have dinner and hit the sack.

Our programme is we have breakfast at 5.30, then head out.

Day 2. Dwight went out with Paul and Nelson, while Roy, Alan, Walter and myself went together.

We drove to another camp, and picked a tracker who knew the area well. He took us to the swamp, and found a large herd of buffalo as soon as we got there. The herd was quite large, and was about a mile way.
Trouble was the herd was on the other side of the channel, and a truck cannot got to them, should we shoot one, to recover the meat.

We left them, as they were feeding towards us. We decided to drive around, may be see something else.

A few minutes later, we saw two buffalo feeding in the long grass. The wind was good, and we thought they might be the tail end of another herd.
We loaded our rifles and went after them. As we got to about 200 yards from them, we discovered that they were only 3. All bulls,

We got closer, and as they fed into a clear area, we could see that there was only one mature bull amongst them. I fired a shot at him, and they all ran a few yards, and stopped. Our bull had his head down, and beginning to sway from side to side. I put another bullet into him. This seemed to have rejuvinated him, as he seems to have woken up, and joined his mates as if nothing was wrong with him. They were at the edge of very long grass, so I thought I better put an end to him before he gets into that grass. As he was facing away, a bullet in his rear end dropped him.

We went and had lunch at the camp from which we picked the new tracker.

In the afternoon we went to put up a lion bait, and check anotyher 2 baits put up earlier.

One was completely eaten, and the other was untouched.

We replinished the eaten bait, and head back home.

We saw a very large herd of topi, may about 1000.

There is a very large grassy area here, and extremely hard to drive on.

We had no choice, though, and it must have taken us 2 hours to cover 5 kilometers.

We head back to camp, arriving just after 10.

Dwight has also shot a buffalo.

Day 3. This morning we left camp at 6. We went to the swamp, As the buffalo seem to hang by there.
Just as we got there, we saw a lone bull looking at us from about 150 yards. We got out of the truck and tried to get a shot at him. We managed to get to about 10 yards, but the grass was too high where he was, and he took of never to be seen again.
We drove around and saw a herd about a mile away. They were feeding towards the swamp.
The wind was not perfect. We thought of trying to get ahead of them.

We had to walk on the soggy grass not to be seen by the buffalo. This grass is bloody awful, and if your feet sing in you loose your shoes!
We made it through, and had to crawl to get behind an ant hill. They smelled us and took of. We tried running after them, and were not too successful.

We left them and went to the second camp to have an early lunch. At 1.30 we went out looking for buffalo. At about 4 we saw some tracks, and a little later we found the herd. After a short stalk, as the herd was feeding towards us, and a bull made himself visible, I fired at him. He was about 20 yards away. He ran about 10 yards and dropped dead. We spent the rest of the afternoon, skinning him, and goit ourselves wet by the rain.
We wenbt back to camp. We found that Walter - who decided to take a rest and say at camp. Apparently he got up at 11, had breakfast, and was so happy it was time for lunch.

Day 4. Left camp at 6 and drove about 40 ks to a waterhole that is frequented by some buffalo bulls.
We did not see any fresh tracks. Left and went to another water hole. Here we found that a herd had drunk there last night, and decided to follow it. We found them just before lunch. They were all bedde down for their mid day siesta. We left them and went about 500 meters away and stopped to have our lunch, and wait until the afternoon to go see the herd again.

At 3.30 we went to our sleeping herd. They were spread over a large area, and the wind was not steady. However, we managed to get close to them, but were unable to pick a shootable mature bull.
Something scared them, and off they went. Luckily they did not go very far. We got close to them again, and off they went again. This got repeated several times. We just were not able to pick a shootable bull, or when we see one it wasn't possible to shoot - as others are behind him.

We then decided to get ahead of them as they feeding. Just as we were getting to the front of the herd, we spooked 3 giraffes. This did not seem to bother the buffalo too much, as they stopped a bit, then carried on feeding. We saw a shootable bull about 200 yards away, but too uch brush was on the way.

We waited. Then a young bull started feeding towards us, followed by a few others. Then another young bull was going to come through a clearing, with a mature bull behind him. I was on the shooting sticks and ready. The young bull in front looked up and saw us. The one we wanted was right behind him, but the only shot offered was at his neck. I thought I better not waste any more time, as that staring bull is going to take off any second. I fired at the bull and he dropped. We walked up to him and put another bullet into bim. We found that the first bullet had broken his neck, but, with buffalo one is never sure, so an insurance shot is always adviceable.

We were very happy that our day has been productive, and headed back to camp. It was a long drive, and we got here just before 10.

Day 5. Walter has withdrawal symptoms. He wants to have a BBQ and so far we have not been paying much attention to the little guys that he likes to cook. So today we thought we would go out and get something to make him happy. And as usual happens on safari, we saw some eland about a mile away, and thought we might have a go at them. Eventually they turned downwind, and took off.

Next we saw some zebra, and gave them a ago to. They were in an enormous area that was covered by whistling thorns. We never managed to see them.

We went on. We came across the tracks aof a sable bull, and followed him. He got into an area that was very difficult to see any tracks. We gave up and went looking for something else.

We saw two kongoni bulls, and decided to shoot one for Walter. I fired at him at about 200 yards, he ran about 10 yards and dropped.

Walter was extatic! He wanted us to drive back to cam straight away!
On the way we saw two warthogs, one was of respectable size. I jumped out of the truck and broke his neck.

We headed back to camp to have our lunch, and try to get this report to you.

Sounds like some good hunting has happened so far even if it is tough sometimes.

Congrats

Thanks, Saeed, I'll continue to "live vicariously" through your reports from my office computer jorge

PS: Let me know if you should ever need a "Bush Pilot" after 1 Dec

With two buff under your belt already and baits getting hit, I'm looking forward to the next installment already!!

Be safe & keep them coming!!
Rgds,
Kiri

Wow! Fantastic stuff, I can't wait for the video!

With the weather conditions, would you prefer to hunt in August-September again?

The hunting sounds fantastic. I am envious and can't wait to get back to Africa. Thanks for sharing the experience.

As requested, here are two of our four buffalo shot so far.

After we came here lunch time, the weather started playing up, so we decided to remmain in camp and take it easy.

Dwight, Nelson and Paul are still out. In fact, we have heard a shot about half an hour ago. We hope they have gotten whatever they were after.

Enjoy enjoy enjoy you are making us all jelous

Thanks for the pictures and report. Very nice.

Is that a village of ticks on the one old bull?

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

Hi Saeed congratulations!
In the pic, about 16cms. below where the flutes end on your barrel, is that the entance hole? If so, your Walterhogs cut a nice hole.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
On the way we saw two warthogs, one was of respectable size. I jumped out of the truck and broke his neck.

how barbaric...

quote:

Originally posted by mouse93:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
On the way we saw two warthogs, one was of respectable size. I jumped out of the truck and broke his neck.

how barbaric...

Is Karl S with you guys ?

We left camp at 6 as usual. Today we decided to try and see if we can get a sable. About 5 kilometers from camp, we saw the usual lot of zebra feeding in the whistling thorn. They were about 3/4 of a mile away. We got off after them, and after quite an exercise in trying to play hide and seek, we managed to get to about 220 yards away. We have a plane on our concession doing a game count. It passed by us twice, which helped us get closer to the zebra because it distracted them.
The stallion was standing broadside, but there was some brush in between us. I got on the shooting sticks, and got ready, hoping he would move. He started walking away from us at an angle, a thought I would put a bullet into his stomach, going for the shoulder at the other side. He ran off after the shot, a few yards later he dropped.

We took him back to camp, had some tea with the ladies and Walter - who is preparing a BBQ today.
We then left on our original course of trying to find a sable.
We drove all over the place, and so no signs whatsoever. About 1.30 we saw a kongoni bull by himself, jumped out of the truck and shot him.
We ate sandwiches on the go, so we don't have to stop for lunch.
We continued our drive. About 4 we saw a sable bull. Again, I jumped out of the truck and tried to get a shot. But, each time he stopped, there was brush between us. Eventually there was a clear path, and fired a shot at him. He took off running, and us behind him. We saw him lying down, I fired a shot at his neck and killed him.

He is an old bull, and we are very happy to get him.

We drove back to camp, to find Walter setting up his BBQ.
We are glad we did not have lunch, as Walter's BBQs are something to look forward to.

Looks like a very nice sable.

Thanks for the update and pictures.

Looks like another excellent hunt! Have fun!

Great sable! IMHO they are truly the glamour antelope of Africa, along with Roan.

And a grand old time was had by all!

Is the warthog missing an ear, or just posed that way to fake an Outer Circle Award trophy?

Howdy,

I've been "lurking" at this web site for years, I must say, this is the most enjoyable "story" I've seen.

Please keep up the excellent work - this is grand.

If possible, please mention the rifles, calibers, bullets, etc.

Thanks and adios.

Sport

Sport,
Saeed's "rifles, calibers, bullets, etc." are easy, I can fill you in on that. His companions sometimes use his rifles.

.375/404 Jeffery or .375/404 United Arab Express:
Saeed takes two rifles chambered in .375/404 UAE. One with 26" barrel, and the other with 23" barrel, IIRC, and I suspect the shorter barreled one used to have a muzzle brake, since discarded.

Dakota action, Lilja barrel, and MPI stock is the primary motif.

This cartridge, .375/404 UAE, started off as a necking down of the .416 Dakota to .375.

It is basically a .404 Jeffery necked down to .375 with sharper shoulder.

A favored load is H4831SC 88.0 grains with a 300-grain Walterhog monometal copper bullet which Saeed makes himself.

That will give roughly 2740 fps and 5000 ft-lbs .

He is deadly with it.

Walter will have to speak to Walter's loads.
Walter flinches too badly to shoot Saeed's rifles in hunting.
I think a 7x57 Blaser is the maximum that Walter can handle.

Saeed, way to go... Super looking sable.. Good luck with the rest of the hunt..

Mike