I had a couple of inquiries about what the Selous is producing this year and what our safaris have been like. The below pics are of a 21 day family safari. They shoot what they wanted in 12 days and went home. To me the bag was very impressive. They also shot a scruffy lion and rather than fire up the debate on what lion should be shot or not I chose to leave out the lion pic. Heck of great safari for these folks.



http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y230/Markttc/?action=v...t=Selousbuff08-1.jpg

Mark,

Darn nice trophies; especially the leopard and buffalo. Do you have any updates on Lobo / Lolkisale?

Hugh

Very nice, the wife and I are leaving in 39 days for LU5. I hope our trip is as good as this one.

Is the PH Zane Van Dermerwe (spelling?) from Dangerous Game on the Versus network?

That second Leopard is gorgeous! And I love the swept back tips on that Buff.

SERIOUS BUFF.

I still can't imagine cuting a safari short, even if all the quota has been taken.

They went home is 12 days? #@%&*^$? Sigh At this time I can only wish.

great bag...but I have a tough time wrapping my head around why you would race home as soon as the list is ticked off.
I can understand cost but to me the hunt is about the place, the environment and whole feel. It seems to be able spend a few extra days unwinding in the bush would be great (unless of course they did that elsewhere).

Dang, that Elephant is nice.

Could be wrong but it appears to me that they were just there to "collect" trophies and not enjoy the whole African hunting/safari experience. There may have been compelling reasons to return early, so maybe one should not jump to conclusions. Having said that I certainly wouldn't have gone home 9 days early, regardless of what I had shot.

Damn, that second leopard looks like a monster. Not sure why they would leave after 12 days but whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Cheers,
Andy

quote:

Originally posted by CARLOSTHEJACKAL:
Is the PH Zane Van Dermerwe (spelling?) from Dangerous Game on the Versus network?

yes. i hunted with him in the Selous 5 years ago before he moved back to Zambezi Hunters in Zim. for a few years. he went back to Adam Clements last year. helluva good PH and also an extremely fun person to spend time with.

Darn nice critters!

That is Zane and we're very happy to have him on board. He is very good at his job. As for leaving after 12 days cr even earlier it really happens pretty often. Unfortunately some people have such a pressing schedule they just can't spend a few days with no specific agenda. For me when I have a few extras days its the time for long leisurely breakfasts, an afternoon off, some fishing and looking for that exceptional trophy of something you've already shot. I just love being in the bush. Period!

Mark

Very nice trophies Mark, thanks for sharing.

Hugh,

Cats, elephant and plains game have been very good but buffalo have been difficult. At this point everybody has had opportunities at mature bulls but they had to work very hard for them. The majority of the buffalo appear to still be mostly to the East. When they head back for Tarangire we will start to see some incredible hunting once again. As we start to pick up some really big bulls I'll post pics.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by pichon1:
Could be wrong but it appears to me that they were just there to "collect" trophies and not enjoy the whole African hunting/safari experience. There may have been compelling reasons to return early, so maybe one should not jump to conclusions. Having said that I certainly wouldn't have gone home 9 days early, regardless of what I had shot.

It would appear you and others have jumped to conclusions inspite of your admonition posted above. Mark wrote a total of six sentences about the photos provided and now we get the, " Yeah, well I wouldn't leave no matter what!" routine.

Perhaps the reason the family can afford a full bag safari in the Selous is because they are willing to leave a vacation early to return to business at home?

I honestly don't have exact measurements on any of the above trophies but surprising as it may seem I think the hippo could be the highest scoring. I've shot 3 myself all being pretty good bulls but this guys has to be 2"-3" longer in the tusk than anything I've seen.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by pichon1:
Could be wrong but it appears to me that they were just there to "collect" trophies and not enjoy the whole African hunting/safari experience. There may have been compelling reasons to return early, so maybe one should not jump to conclusions. Having said that I certainly wouldn't have gone home 9 days early, regardless of what I had shot.

It would appear you and others have jumped to conclusions inspite of your admonition posted above. Mark wrote a total of six sentences about the photos provided and now we get the, " Yeah, well I wouldn't leave no matter what!" routine.

Perhaps the reason the family can afford a full bag safari in the Selous is because they are willing to leave a vacation early to return to business at home?

then they can afford a 28 day safari and leave after 14 days. i hunted this area 5 years ago and shot my buff 3 hours into the first day of a 7 day hunt. after that, Zane, my nephew and I just knocked around taking pictures, fishing and getting my nephew his first African trophy- a really nice impala that he killed at 175 meters with my 375- a rifle he had never fired. the other 2 PH's in camp had no clients at the time and we all just kind of screwed around and enjoyed ourselves. why anyone would pay for a hunt and leave half way through it is beyond me- barring medical/family emergencies.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:

quote:

Originally posted by pichon1:
Could be wrong but it appears to me that they were just there to "collect" trophies and not enjoy the whole African hunting/safari experience. There may have been compelling reasons to return early, so maybe one should not jump to conclusions. Having said that I certainly wouldn't have gone home 9 days early, regardless of what I had shot.

It would appear you and others have jumped to conclusions inspite of your admonition posted above. Mark wrote a total of six sentences about the photos provided and now we get the, " Yeah, well I wouldn't leave no matter what!" routine.

Perhaps the reason the family can afford a full bag safari in the Selous is because they are willing to leave a vacation early to return to business at home?

If the business can't run without them for more than 12 days then why book for 21 fucking days in the first place?

Many people have family and/or business responsibilities that make a 21-day hunt + travel time highly difficult. Since Tanzania requires the 21-day license in order to hunt the cool stuff, enjoying the hunt for the allowable portion of 21 days isn't at all unreasonable as long as you're comfortable with the cost of what you're doing.
I've got a 21-day hunt coming up next month--and my business responsibilities make me wish it was shorter--but leaving a lot on the table just doesn't sit well with me.

quote:

Originally posted by Spring:
Many people have family and/or business responsibilities that make a 21-day hunt + travel time highly difficult. Since Tanzania requires the 21-day license in order to hunt the cool stuff, enjoying the hunt for the allowable portion of 21 days isn't at all unreasonable as long as you're comfortable with the cost of what you're doing.
I've got a 21-day hunt coming up next month--and my business responsibilities makes me wish it was shorter--but leaving a lot on the table just doesn't sit well with me.

Spoken like someone that knows what they're talking about.

Hugh,

This is PH Mike Fell with a fresh kill from Lobo. 45"!

Mark

quote:

I think the hippo could be the highest scoring.

I agree. Of the bunch I was most taken by that bull.

I agree with Wendell, that is a nice Ele.


Dutch

Dutch,

LU5 is one area where you would have an excellent chance in 21 days to take elephant, cats, buffalo, hippo and croc plus plains game. The safari I just posted pics of is not an anomalie at all.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:

This is PH Mike Fell with a fresh kill from Lobo. 45"!

Great Buff

How one chooses to spend their hard earned money is their business. You, or I, don't have to like it, but it is there choice.

Many people would question why someone would even want to spend $40k on an Ele hunt...or $20k (total expeneses) on a PG hunt. Heck, my friends wonder why I prefer to fly to Texas to hunt deer instead of trying to get on in the SoCal deserts...

It's choices. They came, they saw, they shot. It's not the way I'd spend my vacation. But who am I to say that their leaving early wasn't because of some pressing matter?

Anyway, nice trophies!