The reports are great. It's nice to be able to be at the office and be there also. Keep them coming with more pictures.

Outstanding Sable!

A grand old bull!

Speaking of grand bull, what is Walter up to? Is he hunting anything other than nap time?

sounds like lots of good shooting!!!!congrats!!!

We had a great BBQ last night. Walter and Nelson did a great job. In fact, Walter was shocked at the compliments he was getting from everyone.
We woke in the morning to find that the hyaenas have run away with Walter's BBQ stick. Alan had it made especially for him last year. We left with instructions to the ladies to go look for it.
Our intention was to drive to the swamp, and find a way to one of the islands where the waterbuck like to live.
About 4 ks from the camp we potted an eland bull half a mile away. We jumped out and went after him. He apparently spotted us, and took off. We stayed behind him, seeing only glimpses if him disappearing in the distance.
He then went into an open grassy area, but never stopped. We stayed on his tracks. About 3 hours later, he turned into the tree line again, and we found him standing under the shade of a tree several hundred yards away. The grass was tall, and we sneaked to as close as we could in the long grass. That still left us about 700 yzrds away from him.
The wind was marginal, anfd there was no more long grass we could hide behind. There was very short grass, and the only way was to slither on our backsides slowly towards him. We got to a an area where he could planely see us. Alan put the sticks us, saying "you have to aim very high". I never realized how far that eland was until I looked through the 8 power scope. He was standing in the shade of a tree, almost broadside, looking at us. I thought the distance was between 450-500 yards, and aimed slightly above his shoulders. He took a jump, bringing his head down as he ran off. We ran to where he was standing, and found some blood. As we followed it for a few yards, I saw him walking. I put another bullet into him, and he dropped. We got closer, and he was still alive, I finished him off.
We found the first bullet him in the middle of the shoulder, angling backwards. Loosing a piece that tore through the skin about 8 inches from where it went in. The rest continued to the other side, just infront of the back leg.
We gutted him and cut him in half, and took him to the camp to have our lunch. Walter insisting that we have another BBQ, this time from the eland.

In the afternoon we went to find a way onto the islands on the swamp, as most of the waterbuck like it there. Walter came along, saying "I love going to islands".
We found a crossing through the swamp, and drove to one of the islands. We saw plenty of waterbuck, but none was shootable.
Walter was very disappointed, saying he thought an island would have palm fronted beaches with pretty girls in bikinis!

On another island, we saw 4 poachers. We made a call to the anti-poaching unit, and gave them the GPS co-ordinates.
We got back to camp by 8.
The girls prepared a beautiful birthday cake for Nelson, as he just turned 62.
Our plan is to go look for a waterbuck tomorrow, and move to another hunting camp the day after.

This morning we went looking for a waterbuck. We saw none at all.
But, in the process we saw a very good bush buck, and I shot him at about 30 yards.
We continued looking for waterbuck, without success.
We went back to camp to take the bushbuck to be skinned, and have lunch.
Two of our leoprad baits have been hit, and we decided to sit at one of them this evening. yards from us.

We went and sat in the leopard blind, but spots decided not to come.
Again, in the morning we went and sat at the bait. After day break we found that most of the bait got eaten at night.

Went back to camp to have breakfast and head out to our new camp.
We were at Murungu camp, and now moving onto Fish eagle camp.

On the way we saw a good size bohor reedbuck, and shot him.
We put 3 lion baits on the way, and arrived at our new camp at 4 in the afternoon.
We left early in the morning looking for buffalo. We found the tracks of a large herd and followed it for hours, until we found them resting under some trees.
We left them and went to the fly camp to have lunch. After lunch we went to the buffalo herd, and waited. About 5 o'clock they started feeding. Some passed no more than 25 from us.
One mature bull was in a perfect position for a shot as he fed towards us. He had his head down, and I could have put a bullet in his neck. Alan shock his head, apparently hoping for a better trophy.
After they all passed, without us seeing anything better, we ran and got infront of them again. This process got repeated several times, eventually they saw us and ran off. It was getting late, so we just ran amongst them. Just before sun down, the same bull I had in my sites turned around alooked us from about 80 yards. I put a bullet into the center of his chest, dropping him in his tracks. In fact, he was sat perfectly for a photo. We cut the head off, and left him where he was as lion bait. Because we saw the tracks of lions close by.
We got back to camp at 10. This was not our intention, as Walter was doing one of his special BBQs. Something everyone usually looks forward too.
But, a shock was waiting for us. Details are a bit scarce, but it seems Walter mistook a leopard bait for his freshly killed reedbuck, and marinated that instead. We were told there was a rather unpleasant smell was noticed while the BBQ was in progress, and after further inspection it was decided to throw that meat away!

Left early to go see our lion bait. We found that some lions visited it, and have eaten parts of it. We covered it up, and went looking for roan.
We saw no roan, but saw a large topi bull, which gave us a bit of a run, as as soon as I got on the sticks he moved behind an ant heap. Eventualy I fired at him as he was walking, He ran a few yards and dropped.
We headed back to camp. Saw an enormous heard of topi, mixed with may be 80 zebra. We wanted to shoot a couple of zebra, and where not sure how to go about it with so many eyes looking at us. Alan thought if we jumped out of the truck as it was moving, and hid behind an ant hill, we might get a shot.
This worked like a charm. He pointed a stallion out for me. I fired at him and he dropped.
They ran off a few yards and stopped to look back. Alan pointed another stallion, I fired at him, and he dropped.
We loaded both into our truck, and drove back to camp to have lunch, and a short break for the rest of the afternoon.

Left at 6 as usual. We saw a large herd of buffalo about 5 ks from the camp. We followed them for a while, then gave up. As they were in the open plain, and there was no cover to use to get close to them. A small calf, which was wounded trailed behind the herd, and its mother always stayed close by it. We did not think the calf would make it through the day, as lion tracks were close by.
Left the herd and went to see what had fed on our lion bait. The same young male, we suspect, had fed on it. We cut the rest up, and took it to the river to use as croc bait.
We put croc bait in two places, then found a shady tree and had lunch.
The weather looked rather threatning, and storms seem to be brewing all around us, so we decided to head for home.
About the same place we left the herd of buffalo in the morning, we saw a topi bull by himself, and Walter decided to shoot it.
We jumped out of the truck, and the truck continued. There were plenty of ant heaps around, and we managed to get to about 120 yards from the topi. He was looking straight at us, and Walter made a perfect shot by placing the bullet in his neck.
We loaded him up and headed for camp before the rains started.
Paul, Dwight, Nelson and Wayne arrived about an hour after us. They had a rain storm, and got stuck in the mud. They had to call for the tractor to get them out.

This morning we found four bulls about 2 ks from the camp. They were right in the open, with some topi close by.

We left Walter in the truck - to watch the proceedings - and made a long detur to get close to them. After about walking 2 ks, we managed to sneak to an ant hill. They were a bit uncomfortable, and were ready to head for the woods. The distance was about 220 yards. We picked the largest one, and as he was standing facing us at an angle, I put a 300 grain bullet into his chest.
They all took off, and I was about to give our bull another shot, but saw that he was falling behind the others, then drop.

Walter apparently watched everything from the comfort of his truck.

We loaded our bull and went back to camp. Had some tea, and went out into trhe swamp to look for waterbuck.

We saw one good bull standing away from a herd of cows and young ones. He was very far.

Again, we left everyone in the truck, and went looking for a way to get close to them.

Eventually we got to about 400 yards from him. I laid on a wet ant heap, and fired a shot at him. He jumped up and took off with the others, running faster than any of them. As he got ahead of the herd, he stopped again. I fired another shot at him. He ran a few yards and dropped.

We found the first bullet hit him in teh leg just below the shoulder - just a flesh wound.
The second shot went into his chest.

We had a bit of a job finding a way to get the truck to him in that swamp.

Went back to camp and had lunch.

We decided to take it easy, as several storms seem to be brewing around us.

Is it my imagination or are you shooting more different species than normal ??? Sounds like a hell of a lot of fun and good hunting. Hope you get a cat soon.

Huh - nice eland - well earned

eland BBQ - food fit for a king, but will anyone ever let walter live it down BBQing leopard bait??

It seems that by all accounts and photographs that Walter is a Master Chef when it comes to B-B-Q. Here in Texas we have many B-B-Q contest with great fanfare and entertainment. He would do well here on the circuit of competition. Tell him to visit us someday. Congratulate him on his perfect shot, also.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

My mouth is watering!

Nice pics.What camera did you use?

Saeed, is it true that Walter even tasted that delicious bait BBQ and it did not meet his standards...

Good shooting and love that mature eland...

Mike

Send some more pics of the topis and buffs that you shot.

Thanks for the pictures and update.

I too would have to pass on barbequed leopard bait...

quote:

Originally posted by .366torque:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

My mouth is watering!

Mine too! Deeelish!


Thanks for the great reports Saeed! Glad to see everyone is having such a great time.

Congrats to Walter on his fine shooting!

Cheers,
Chris

Saeed: You're torturing us with the BBQ photos! I've tried twice now to reach into my computer for a piece! By the way, did you find the BBQ stick?

Thanks for the great reports and photos.

Looks like a terrific safari.

Kyler

quote:

But, a shock was waiting for us. Details are a bit scarce, but it seems Walter mistook a leopard bait for his freshly killed reedbuck, and marinated that instead. We were told there was a rather unpleasant smell was noticed while the BBQ was in progress, and after further inspection it was decided to throw that meat away!

Do leopards like BBQ?

quote:

Originally posted by David Culpepper:

quote:

But, a shock was waiting for us. Details are a bit scarce, but it seems Walter mistook a leopard bait for his freshly killed reedbuck, and marinated that instead. We were told there was a rather unpleasant smell was noticed while the BBQ was in progress, and after further inspection it was decided to throw that meat away!

Do leopards like BBQ?

Surely Walter is not so stupid.
It was a dirty trick, and Walter was found out!

Saeed,
Don't get mad, get even.
You simply must see what kind of excrement or foreign object you can surreptitiously get Walter to eat, drink, smoke, snort, inject, apply topically, or insert rectally (BBQ stick?).
One dirty trick deserves another.
One dirty stick deserves another.

quote:

or insert rectally (BBQ stick?).
One dirty trick deserves another.

RIP: Is this what you're talking about? I believe that this would do.

UEG,
Thanks for emphasizing my "point."
I better "butt out" now.

Went looking for a buffalo for Walter to shoot Alan knew of a few dugga boys that live quite far from camp, so we headed that way.
It was very cold this morning - about 20 degrees celcius.

We got to the area that was frequented by the bulls we were after, and found fresh tracks. Roy and me stayed with Walter at the truck, while Alan and our trackers went after them. They found the buffalo lying in the bush, and came to fetch us.
I loaded the rifle for Walter, and handed it to him.
We were about 300 yards from the buffalo, and Alan led the way to get close to them. As we got going, I realized this was going to be a buffalo hunt like no other!
Walter cannot hear very well, and he did not bother bringing his hearing aid. Alan was busy explaing things to him when we were 100 yards from the buffalo, and Walter kept making that universal gesture of not understranding what was being said. And Walter being Walter, he put the rifler down, put his hand into his pocket, and got a pen out. He handed Alan the pen. Alan took the pen and looked at Walter with amazement. Roy and me were finding it very hard not to laugh. Walter then presented his palm to Alan to write onto! Alan wrote "100"! Walter eyes almost popped out of his head! He mouthed ONE HUNDRED BUFFALO?
Alan was trying to get Walter to understand that he meant the buffalo was 100 yards away. Walter picked the shooting stick and pointed to a tree about 30 degrees away from the buffalo. Alan took the shooting stick and pointed it to the sleeping bull. From where we were, there was no clear shot. So Alan mentioned for all of us to remain where we were, and he tried sneaking around to find an opening.
Walter thought it was time to have a nap! He lay down, and looked at us as if he is in suffering!

Alan mentioned for us to get to where he was, and we crawled, and crawled, and crawled - behind Walter - at a very slow snales pace.
Eventually we got to Alan, and we could see the bull about 50 yards away. Alan put the shooting sticks up just as the bull jumped up and faced us. Walter was very quick, as he got onto the shooting sticks, and fired at the buffalo. The buffalo took off, Walter turned to me handed me teh rifle, saying "now you follow him"
I did as he asked, but a few yards further we saw the bull falling down. I gave Walter the rifle, and he duly put another bullet into his buffalo. As he mentioned later, we were just trying to spoil his average, as the bull was dying anyway!

Walter was over the moon, and so were all of us.

We went to some mango trees not to far from where Walter shot his buffalo to have an early lunch, and try to find more buffalo.
Left Walter at the mango trees, and the driver took the buffalo back to camp.
Alan, Roy, myself and the trackers went out on foot. We found the tracks of some bulls, and followed them. Two hours later we caught up with them. We could see 3, and tried to get close for a shot. About 150 yards from them, we startled others that were not visible to us, and these ran off towards the others. One bull stood up, and presented a perfect broadside shot. I put a 300 grain bullet into hisd shoulder. He took off a few yards, staggered and fell, then stood up on shaky legs. I put another bullet into his neck, and that was the end.

We finished skinning and cutting him up by 5.30. We thought we might try to get into one of our machans, and may be get a shot at a sitatunga. We drove to our fly camp, where the boat was that would take us to the machan.
Juat before we got to the fly camp, we saw a roan bull. We jumped out of the truck, and ran after him. He was in a herd, and after a few hundred yards, we managed to see him looking straight at us from about 200 yards. I aimed for his chest, and fired. We heard the bullet connect, and ran after him. He was dead a few yards from where he was shot.

So another wonderfull day ends.

Very good hunting I love what you did with Walter and his buffalo photo.

Great pics.I love seeing all these animals.Iam not quiet sure who Walter is.Someone can point him out for me.Saeed it sounds like been with Walter on safari is half the fun

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

Great Scot! Walter's head has shrunk!!!!!!

Great pictures.

Sounds like walter did a good job on the buffalo, and you did not let it go to his head.

You're KILLING me. But keep it coming. I can almost smell the sandalwood. What a hunt!

Thanks.

They're all beautiful trophies, but I love the Roan. Yes, Walter's features have indeed changed. He has the hands of the Incredible Hulk!

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
They're all beautiful trophies, but I love the Roan. Yes, Walter's features have indeed changed. He has the hands of the Incredible Hulk!

I believe he had the longest reach on the entire Chilean Amateur Boxing Team!!

Great photos Saeed, and Congrats to all the lucky hunters! That roan is awesome...unreal to me to get such a nice sable and roan on the same trip.

Best regards
Chris

Agreed. By the way Saeed, you have beautiful hands. They just don't quite fit Walter, however.

Finally an image of Walter that has not been doctored by photoshop!
Now we know his problem:

Microcephalic Macrodactylism: Walter Syndrome

Tiny head and fat fingers, explains his mental deficiency and clumsiness with his hands.

Watchmaking and neurosurgery would not be good hobbies for Walter.
How in the world does he get by as a gunsmith?

Walter's arms are REALLY long!

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Finally an image of Walter that has not been doctored by photoshop!
Now we know his problem:

Microcephalic Macrodactylism: Walter Syndrome

Tiny head and fat fingers, explains his mental deficiency and clumsiness with his hands.

Watchmaking and neurosurgery would not be good hobbies for Walter.
How in the world does he get by as a gunsmith?

I think all of this speculation is entirely wrong. Given Walter's hectic schedule and his grueling work load, Saeed had Walter cloned, resulting in Walter's very own "Mini Me".

Walter and 'lil Wally. Talk about things that give you nightmares!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

About the same place we left the herd of buffalo in the morning, we saw a topi bull by himself, and Walter decided to shoot it.
We jumped out of the truck, and the truck continued. There were plenty of ant heaps around, and we managed to get to about 120 yards from the topi. He was looking straight at us, and Walter made a perfect shot by placing the bullet in his neck.

Where was he aiming?

Wonderful reports and GREAT pics!

Am very happy for Walter. A lovely trophy and a great memory

Walter the genius graces the African Big Game Hunting forum!!!
Congratulations to Walter!!

We went to find a zebra for Walter to shoot. Alan said he knows that the zebra like to come to the open plain to feed. So there we headed.

This plain is so vast, one cannot see the end of it. It was here that I shot the waterbuck the other day.
We saw an enormous herd of topi - may over 1000, and some zebra amongst them. They were quite a long way from us.
We left the truck, and sneaked to one of the many ant hills dotted there. We told Walter to make himself comfortable, and wait for the zebra to get close, as both them and the topi were feeding towards us.
Some of the topi were just over 100 yards from us, and at one stage we were worried they will get to us before the zebra are in range.
Eventually the zebra got to about 300 yards from us, which we thought might be the closest they would get before some of the many eyes would spot us.

Roy "Get yourself into a good shooting position"
Me "And listen VERY carefully to where you should aim. We don't want a repeat of the warthog last year"

We watched the stallion feed as he disappeared behind an ant hill.

Alan "Walter, keep watching for the stallion behind the ant hill. When he comes clear you can shoot him"
Walter "This is really something. You wake me up in the middle of the night, you drag me out of bed and you drive me on this horrible road. I did not complain. You then drag me off the truck, make me walk for miles and tell me to ly down on wet ant hill. I did not complain. Now you are asking me to shoot a zebra hiding behind an ant hill! You have been with Saeed and Roy for too long"

The zebra started to appear.

Me "Aim in the middle of the zebra's shoulder but don't shoot"
Walter "Oh, this is going to be shooting by remore control ha?"
Me "You want me to help you or not? I can tell you where to aim, and if you don't screw things up you will have your zebra, so you decide"
Walter "My wife asked me for a zebra rug. And you are better than me at this thing. So, where do I aim?"

By this time the zebra was broadside.

Me "Aim in the middle of his shoulder, and when you are, tell me."
Alan "Don't shoot now. There is a topi in the way"
Roy "It is a cow too. We don't want you missing the zebra and killing a cow topi for which we have no license"

Walter "I am NOT going to miss. My friend is going to help me. OK Saeed, I have the scope smack in the middle of his shoulder, and I am dead steady. Do I shoot?"
Me "No, now, you see the half above your aim? Aim in the middle of that. This way you will be aiming a quarter way down from the top.

Walter "OK, I am a little bit below his back. Do I shoot now?"
Roy "If you are not going to miss, you can shoot"

Walter fired, and we could hear the bullet connect. The zebra ran a few yards and piled up dead!
Walter "Saeed, I am beginning to like your gun. Next time I don't need your help any more. You guys should be so proud of me. I think I will change my name to ONE SHOT WALTER!
He killed a topi with one shot. He killed a buffalo with one shot, and now he killed a zebra with one.
He is beginning to be insufferable!

In the afternoon we went and sat in a machan, and waited for a sitatunga. None came.
Just before sun down, we were surrounded by storms. Full of thunder and lightning. We managed to get to our car before the rains started. And had a slipping and sliding ride back to camp.

The camp was dry, no rain fell there.

THis morning we are changing camps. The drive was very excitiung, as the road was very slick with horrible mud. Both our trucks got stuck in the mud, and it took us quite a while to get out.
Walter, being the helpful soul he is, got a large roll of rope, and was carrying it to the stuck truck, and managed to fall flat on his face. I have a video of this, which I will be happy to post once we are back home.
We got to our new camp, which is on the other side of the malagasy River. We took a boat across.

Had a great lunch, and are planning to go look for a hippo later this afternoon.

We found some hippos, amongst them an old bull with one eye, so he became the subject of our attention. trouble is, he did not want to co-operate by sticking his head out of the water. Only his nose. Eventually he moved and we could not see him any more.
Gave up on him, and went and sat in a machan looking for sitatunga. None came. Our machan was christened "the leaning tower of pizza", as it was tilting to one side, and Roy was scared Alan and me would end on top of him as the machan fell. He was at the lower end.

Went back to camp, with plans to leave at 5 in the morning, to go look for a sitatunga again.

Left at 5 as planned. We sat in the machan, and before long we could see the horns of a sitatunga bull about 200 yards from is. None of his body was visibe, only his horns as he lifts them up. He was feeding, and so,etime he disappeared for 2-4 minutes, then he would appear. Again, all we could see were his horns. We decided to try a guessing shot. I aimed for where his body should be and fired. At teh shot he lifted his head, and looked towards us. Untouched.
He then disappeared into the papyrus.

We did not think he will appear agen, so left to go look for a hippo.

We put some baits for crocs, then found several pods of hippo, none had any shootable bulls amongst them.

Then we saw one bull on his own, which seemed to be making his way down the river. We followed him, thinking that we might be able to get a shot at him.
Somewhere ahead of us, we could hear a big hippo fight, so we rushed to see what was going one.

It seems our bull wanted to join another lot, and the resident bull did not take kindly to that idea.
We crawled close to the hippos. We found our one eyed bull, and got into position for a shot.

They were no ore than 40 yards away. I got into a bush to break my silhouette, and got attacked by thousands of ants!
I made a quick retreat.
Then I crawled to a small a nt hill, covered in thorns, and laid on it.

Our one eyed bulls kept sticking his nose out, then diving.
I just laid on that ant hill, and waited for him to surface for a shot.
We think they might have smelled us, as some commotion started amongst them, and our bull stuck his head out of the water, but a large cow was in the way. She moved, and I put a bullet into his face.
He died instantly.

We left him in the water, and went back to camp to have lunch.
After lunch we took the boat, Walter, Nelson, Rene, Leoni, came a,onmg with us in the boat.
Paul, wayne and Dwight drove to the hippo.

We got the hippo out of the water, which was quite a task.
Took some pictures, and left Paul and his crew to cut him up.
We took the truck and left them the boat, and went to look at our croc bait.
We found two on it, neither of which was shootable.
We went to another machan, and hoped our luck might be better than the morning.
Just as the sun was going down, a large sitatunga bull appeared. Again all I could see was his horns, but he was much closer than the one in the morning. This might be about 60 yards. Then all his head appeared, and I fired at it. He dropped where he stood. Both Alan and myself were very happy with this outcome.
Our boat driver appeared, and we had quite a job getting the sitatunga out of the floating grass.

Took him back to camp, where pictures were taken.
Had a great dinner of pepper steak from a kongoni.

The plan tomorrow is to go look for a croc.

Saeed

Thank you for your updates and pictures. I enjoy them immensely.
Have a great time and be safe.

James