Hello people ,
A couple of people have sent me pms asking me to post a few season highlights …so here they are ..

let me start by saying a huge thanks to all those friends who have spent countless hours out there with me , without you it wouldnt be posible

Have to start with this eland with tamara trail in august , what a great animal , we sayw him cross a road way ahead of us , those of you who have hunted eland will know just how wily these guys are , so we were on him for about 4 hours , he was with five other bulls and we could never seem to get close enough to him , zebras spooked him once and impalas another time , then after about 300 yards of crawling and scrambling through the bush , we manages to get to within about 50 yards and she put in a great shot …and here he is , in all his glory …
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Then there was this 6th day buffalo ,also in august the photo makes him look larger than he actually was , he went 41 inches wide , but had a 15 and a half inch boss , just a great old guy …we had been tracking flat out for about three hours and we started to see the herd in some thick bush with long grass between all the bushes so the result was these black shapes , the odd horn tip and tail flicking , with wind swirling and threatening us at every move , we managed to “loop†around them and then of course we got trapped too close to some cows to move , hoping that they would keep walking we stayed completely still , we had to be standing to see through the thick grass , one cow had us pinned andw was just staring as the rest of the herd slowly grazed past …then there he was , but just could see his head , his body obscured by a wider but very soft boss bull …well he stopped to feed , the young bull moved on and the cow began to feed …we were just 40 yards away and so , offhand Justin made his shot and spined him , he didn’t even take one step …whew , that was the longest 5 minutes you could imagine , just standing there ready but “too closeâ€
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In june I was lucky with jim hall and in chewore north we took this great hippo , we had looked at many many bulls by boat and on ffot , by traveling down the river looking for accessible pods and then getting oiut and stalking to look for a good bull …this guy was right in the gorge on a sandbar , the cover was very sparse and so jim had to make quite a long shot , we shuffled to a rock , got very steady in the prone position and he put in a brain shot …with his 416 at about 140 yards …you never are quite sure how big there tusks are going to be till you get up to them but we were lucky in this case ..
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Jim had great luck , he also shot this kudu on the last day , as you all know with kudu its really just luck , they are hard to “hunt†you have to just walk the right places and drive the right areas to come across them , there aren’t that many in the valley and this was out last afternoon of hunting …he went 57, like a lot of kudu with big bodies his horns looked smaller and I thought he was going to be about 52…till we walked up to him …
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Bob holston hunted two buff with me and was very fortunate , his first a very crusty old dagga boy , went 39, one of there and at the end of four days of loooong walks , this guy was crossing a rocky outcrop in dande north with his two buddies , we had cut their tracks at first light and had been on them for only about two miles , the trackers suddenly sat down …man I love that moment!!! And there they were …its amazing how hard you can work and then suddenly it all can just seem to come together …that’s what happened , the buff were just standing , completely unaware …bob made a great first shot , he ran about ten yards , spun around and looked for where the shot had come from , thinking bob had missed , I hissed at bob to reload and shoot again , when at that moment he snorted a jet of blood out his nose , bob did shoot again and he didn’t go far after that ….
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his second buffalo was in a huge herd , also dande north , after a short track , just 45 minutes we started hearing the grunts and odd calf bleat ,

it was still early and the wind was steady , we got in a gully and they all started crossing in front of us , then the wind swirled and they thundered towards us !! we were lying on the top of a termite mound and they all started mulling around just 30 yards ahead of us ...then they ran back and again milled around ...then this guy stuck his head up and walked towards us in that arrogant manner as they do ...it was all we needed ....
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As well as these trophies we had many many great great moments …here are just a few of them … I love the photographic side of the bush and its quite a challenge , but I must say when one goes from a hard hunt to an area swarming with these kind of trophies its not always good for the sanity!!!
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the old bush warrior !
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thunderstorm approaching!
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zambezi at its best ...
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look at the cow in the background , what a double pedastel would that make ...okavango delta !!

I hope you enjoy these …if I can get them uploaded!!

Great Stuff, thanks for sharing. DrC

Ivan: Very nice. Thanks for sharing the success of the season with us.

Ivan,
Congrats, and thanks for sharing. Love "the old bush warrior"
Jeff

Great pictures -- thanks!

Really great trophies and pics. I bet the old cow in the background and the buff with the broomed tips would have some stories to tell.

Congrats,

Ivan always seems to find quality (MATURE) animals for his clients and I know that takes a lot of work and walking. I love the bosses on that first buff...hippo is huge...kudu and eland also. I would shoot that last bull that is kind of a junior scrum cap.

Good work my friend and enjoy your time off with your family. Also, congrats on joining the 21st century with your first photo post!

Great post Ivan. Can you tell us a little more about that elephant?

Ivan is away on family holiday so he may not answer right away.

You did see his 80# one tusker he just got a couple of weeks ago?



Also, this nice 44" sable...


and 42" buff with 16" boss...

Where was the sable taken???
A Fantastic Trophy.
Nice Buffalo & Tremendous Elephant!

Ivan took the 80# bull, the old buff, big sable and 2 tuskless on a 3 week hunt with one client in Matetsi right as the rains started. That's a great way to end the year.

Ivan - Lovely trophies and great photos, thanks for sharing.

sbt ,
that elephant is in mana pools , i have been very close to him and i think he about 80 pounds..that picture was taken in earlyapril and he has since broken his right tusk at the lip , wish i could find that piece !!

typical zambezi valley bull , very old , interesting though , i have measured his track and his track is not all that big ...just shows its not the size of the track but the age of the elephant thats more important .

clift , that sable was from matetsi unit three , he was 44 inches and was taken in november .