Over the years I have had requests to try and take hippo on land. The reason being is to spice up the hunt a little. Most of those requests fell by the wayside as we were hunting cats and getting a big bait on the ground or up a tree was the priority.

I know there are good areas in Tanzania where this sort of in your face hunting is available but at a hefty safari price.

For a giggle I have approached lone bulls in the Luangwa river (where the water is fairly shallow) and challenged them, but only had one charge which turned out to be not so funny. I also tried this with a herd but you risk a charge from a female and/or being eaten by a croc.

I have hidden up in the early morning trying to eek out a bull coming back down to the river which also has not been very productive and probably requires use of a flash light and a big can of elephant deterrent.

Stalking hippo midday whilst they are resting up is another option.

Note I enjoy the hunting and taking out a good trophy bull in the water, and it calls for precise and often difficult shooting. Mixing it with hippo in their environment is always fun, but I would be interested in those who have dry land hippo experience (outside of Tanzania) and any tricks that a PH may have had up his sleeve.

Have tried that at Manna Pools with Ian Gibson. We run about the same speed.

Had a query from a bow hunter who wanted to have a stab at a hippo and my fellow PH suggested we build a raft with a long rope attached to it and float it into the pod. After the shot the team would then hurriedly pull in the contraption.

I informed the bow hunter that we had sold out on hippo.

Andrew,

Talk to Martin Pieters who posts on here. He hunts the Omay on Lake Kiriba of Zimbabwe. I'm under the impression they have opportunities for dry land hippo.

Brett

On my last safari to Chete and Sijarira, I was primarily hunting leopard and tuskless, but also had a hippo license.

I had made a decision that if I was going to get off my wallet for a hippo, it would be on dry land. Lou Hallamore agreed to respect my wishes.

I'd already taken a tuskless and had plenty of leopard bait from a cow buffalo I'd taken earlier and female leopards were the only hungry ones, it seemed... so I had lot's of time to hunt a hippo. Since we were fishing we saw plenty in the lake and even some on the shore.

We'd tried stalking several bulls we saw on the beach. A bull on dry land is a wary, wary animal, for sure. We'd spooked every one. Shore birds were "warning" the hippos and the pods just crashed into the water before we got close enough for a comfortable shot. I guess I could have shot several in the lungs at the 100 yards or so (before the birds started skreeching), but that just wasn't what I wanted to do.

We decided to try to get close to the next decent bull we saw, even if he was in the water (or spooked back therein), and just wait until he came back out, regardless of the wait. Wind, cover, size of the pool or river or lake, of course, are variables in choosing which pod to await... assuming it has a good bull in it.

In what we thought was a narrow arm of Lake Kariba (the "peninsula" turned out to be a skinny island), we found a pod of hippo with a decent bull in it. After a couple of tries when shore birds spooked the whole bunch, as expected, we eventually snuck up on a bank undetected about 25 yards from the submerged animals.

We determined which was the bull (at that point, a hunter would usually try a brain shot) but we just hunkered down, trying to keep track of him, realizing that we may have to stay the rest of the day (it took over 4 hours)l Finally, members of the pod began to leave the water to feed on some green stuff on the beach.

After the cows and little ones got feet dry, the bull began to come out of the water opposite us. When he got in a foot of water, I shot him in the back of his head when he yawned. We certainly didn't have to wait for him to float.

My knees were bloody, I was sunburned to a crisp and dehydrated from not being able to drink (or move) from so darn long.

It was a great hunt and the trophy means a good bit more to me than if I'd popped the hippo in the water hours earlier.

I have shot hippos on land and in the water.

In the water is much more challenging.

I took one up in the Caprivi with Karl Stumpfe last May. Hippo is a very exciting animal to hunt on land.

JudgeG, great story, loved reading it. What a great hunt. I've always wanted to do something similar with a hippo.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
I took one up in the Caprivi with Karl Stumpfe last May. Hippo is a very exciting animal to hunt on land.

Did you take yours on land? What was the story.

quote:

Originally posted by ptaylor:
JudgeG, great story, loved reading it. What a great hunt. I've always wanted to do something similar with a hippo.

Agreed. Good hunting by the Judge.

So another option is to build a reedy blind next to the pod and wait for them to come to you.

Unlike Lou I think I would build in some cover, maybe a well stocked bar and a comfortable couch. The client can kneel on the floor if he likes.

i shot one on the luangwa in much the manner as the judge. there was one big bull in the pod and he was going in and out of the water. we waited across the river for a couple hours until he walked out on the other shore and put a 470 in the back of his head

I took my hippo under similar circumstances as Judge. Was hunting with Fred Biz at Salambala and we located a group of hippo sun bathing on the banks of the river. As we snuck close they sensed that something was up and the whole troup crashed back into the river.

We continuued our approach, belly-crawling to as close as cover would allow us, which was sixty to seventy yards. We remained there laying in the saw grass for about an hour when one by one the hippos began to come back out of the water. First cows and calves, then after a while a bull joined them. As we were deciding whether he was the biggest bull or if there was another bigger bull still in the water, the whole herd rushed back into the water in a panic.

We held our ground and thirty minutes later the hippos again started making their way back onto the beach. One bull finally came out and lumbered into the middle of the pack and layed down before I could get a clear shot. With him bedded in the middle of the pod I could not see him anymore.

A few minutes passed and the hippos again began a bum rush back into the river. The bull paused for just a second at the waters edge and Fred said ,"That's him!". I brained him, paid the insurance, and he was mine.

Turned out to be a big old cow.

eyedoc,

Common mistake and sometimes difficult to separate the gender especially if the female is over sized.

I would like to do a hippo hunt on land with Mark Sullivan at some point. That seems much more exciting to me than sniping one in the water. Although the one we shot last year in Moz in the water was pretty darn up close and personal.

Fairgame-We intended to shoot a bull, but in all honesty it did not diminish the enjoyment of my hunt experience in the least.I only mentioned it in my post so as to keep it accurate and honest.

quote:

Did you take yours on land? What was the story.

There's a section of the Caprivi that is riverine...all sedge clumps, reeds, and small islands, intersected by wandering waterways. We boated through the maze and surprised an old bull who was fresh from a fight, judging by the open wounds in his hide. He took to the land on the run, and I placed a side brain shot from a 416 Rigby that dropped him to a skidding stop. One of my prouder moments!

I took mine by stalking a pod that had come out of the water for a nap. We were limited to dry land or very shallow still water by the lack of a boat, so the common "in the water hunt" was not an option.

Without going into too much detail, I made a not so perfect side brain shot which knocked my bull down and out, but the pandemonium of the rest of the pod running to the Zambezi woke him up and he took off for the water. Some body shots from the PH turned him back around, right for us. This allowed me to make a correct frontal brain shot and he dropped for good.

This made for a rather emotional day. First seeing $3000 of trophy fee gone bad heading for the water, then seeing a few tons of gray fury heading your way, and yet not feeling the adrenaline until it's all done because time slows down in those few seconds that feel like a lifetime.

I know exactly where that piece of the Caprivi is that is riverine...we went on a 4x4 (ie boating/swamping!) holiday through the Caprivi in December 2008, and whilst drifting through the swamps encountered a great many lone hippo bulls on the islands close enough that my wife left finger marks in her Canon camera.

Having said that, I was fortunate enough to take my one and only bull hippo at rock throwing distance at midnight in a sugar cane field in south-eastern Zim not too long ago. We pitched up at the field at last light not really sure at what time the sweet-tooth hippo would pitch up so had no choice but to wait him out. As it turned out, I had about two seconds to shoot straight or, well, it would have been Plan B in one great hurry! Luckily the .375 dropped the beastie in his tracks, and even though PH Barry was there to help clean up things, one of Mr McDonald's finest solids in 300-grain ended any potential hostilities indefinitely.

We celebrated for most of what was left of the evening afterwards (besides spending half an hour calming down my nearly hysterical wife when we reached camp, who had convinced herself on her lonesome self that the hippo had eaten all of us) and went buffalo hunting with monumental hangovers the next day.

It was one of the best evenings of my life, in spite of the heat, mosquitoes and adrenalin. I've never shot a hippo in the water and I'm certainly not taking anything away from the experience, but for my money very little beats a two-ton mountain of angry flesh at fifteen yards at midnight in the sugar cane.

Guess I was lucky!

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Had a query from a bow hunter who wanted to have a stab at a hippo and my fellow PH suggested we build a raft with a long rope attached to it and float it into the pod. After the shot the team would then hurriedly pull in the contraption.

I informed the bow hunter that we had sold out on hippo.

While I've yet to hunt Africa, I don't need to have to be able to see that this idea had 'shitshow' written all over it!

Well, you have ruled me out. I have stalked and killed two hippo bulls on land, both in the Selous.

I would not hunt them any other way.

Me too!

Andrew, it would seem to me that fisherman would be a good source of intel, as if there is an angry hippo in a pool of water they probably know about it. Of course, as with elephants, could get sent on a lot of wild hippo chases.

Besides the hippo that charged me, which had come from a pool of water, we bumped a bull snoozing during the day in the thick jesse. And another browsing along the air strip. This was early season, and I suspect that they felt more comfortable moving around during the daylight. This being said, I had done 11 wild hunts before, including most around water, and had only encountered hippo on land a few times prior (one of which was in the Selous).

Andrew you certainly have infinitely more experience than I, but having hunted the Luangwa I do recall that the hippo were pretty content in their shrinking river hide-outs. And they always seem to make it back before daybreak. What about as the season progresses and they need to forage farther and farther from the river, or do they still head home before dawn? I guess that as you were saying, this is where you would need the flashlight…

I think there are different ways to “shoot hippo on dry land” too. One is stalking and whacking a browsing bull while he is feeding along the water, trying to put him down before he gets to the water. Another is to get between the water and the hippo, which sort of simulates a charge. In some ways this is the equivalent of jumping a resting hippo in the riverine or jesse, as his primary intention would likely be to get to the water. But this could be good fun, if one was willing to dedicate time to the hunt and go in the early season. Sometimes just a matter of opportunity, we ran into a hippo God knows how many miles from the Faro River in Cameroon while following Lord Derby tracks, what he was doing there I have no idea, perhaps on a walkabout relocating from one area to the next.

Another is to entice a bull holding up in a pool or small amount of water to charge, which may entail throwing rocks/sticks to tick him off enough to come. I know this will come across odd, but after my hippo charge - which I must admit were the most exciting 1.5 seconds of my life - I have found myself craving the rush. I can see how guys like MS can get “addicted” to it. But I realize that this was a once-off, and enticing a charge from a hippo would now sort of seem like “cheating”, somehow not as “pure”. Weird, I know, but possibly there are a few others reading this who know what I mean. I feel the same way about elephant too, willfully provoking a charge just to get my jollies does not seem correct.

But, I absolutely do not want to persuade anybody else from hunting them the way that they desire, and shooting a bull hippo Sullivan-style would be good fun and may be one of the highlights of a sport hunter’s career. That is of course, unless something goes wrong!

Forgive me for re-posting this one, which was taken moments after my hippo charge. Some have said that they are a pretty easy target, which is true given time to setup the shot. If I were targeting one Sullivan-style, I’d feel best with a rifle (double) that I knew real well, and I'd keep my head on a swivel.



Link to Report: http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/7871021431

you guys make it way to complicated, here is a pic of mine just before I shot it...

505 Gibbs You are in violation of the game laws baiting is not allowed!


Mike

quote:

you guys make it way to complicated, here is a pic of mine just before I shot it...

Which one is you? :-)

Mike that was hysterical.

I shot a problem hippo on land once. We could see it laying down but could not get a good look at it's head. This hippo was a real problem and had to go. It was decided that I would stand up and walk straight down hill toward the hippo . My thoughts were that it would either go in the water or run at me which was uphill. The hippo stood up and faced my way, as soon he did, I send 400 grains right through his brain. Very exciting stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have shot hippos on land and in the water.

In the water is much more challenging.

Stalking one in a boat full of Africans is a hoot I must say...

Jeff

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
I took one up in the Caprivi with Karl Stumpfe last May. Hippo is a very exciting animal to hunt on land.

Did you take yours on land? What was the story.

He used the .416 Rigby I now own.

When you get caught

quote:

He used the .416 Rigby I now own. Big Grin

Yes, I took an Elephant and a Hippo on that trip. That rifle has a good "Resume" !

Allen,

That's too funny!

Brett

quote:

Originally posted by Palmer:
When you get caught

That's not good, but waking up next to one is worse!



Chuck

Brett,

I know that guy aka Magessa, skinner, and party animal.
Allen, I thought of doing that, and I wondered what if he has one more twitch??? I passed.

Here he is at my leopard kaboobi

I love the looks on the other guy's faces. It's like they're thinking: "Oh crap he's doing it again!"

Brett

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bill C:
Me too!


'Another is to entice a bull holding up in a pool or small amount of water to charge, which may entail throwing rocks/sticks to tick him off enough to come. I know this will come across odd, but after my hippo charge - which I must admit were the most exciting 1.5 seconds of my life - I have found myself craving the rush. I can see how guys like MS can get “addicted” to it. But I realize that this was a once-off, and enticing a charge from a hippo would now sort of seem like “cheating”, somehow not as “pure”. Weird, I know, but possibly there are a few others reading this who know what I mean. I feel the same way about elephant too, willfully provoking a charge just to get my jollies does not seem correct.'


Bill C,

The only success I have had was to entice a lone wounded (hippo bite) bull out of the water and this is one option that I have not fully explored. I have noted that most lone hippo are pissed off for one reason or another.

I do not mind this method as you are targeting one animal who is either old or sick.

I have now been charged three times by hippo and all were the most unpleasant of experiences. I am a great believer in letting the client do all the shooting but the last charge scenario outlined below here was the exception to the rule.

On the first day of my arrival in camp my fellow PH Thor Kirchner informed me that there was a hippo bull residing around the corner of the Luangwa in a quiet back water. Before we fully unpacked I got one of my staff to paddle me and my client Leon Gunther up stream to have a quick look and also this would be a great introduction to wild Africa. Less haste and more speed you say? Exactly and we disturbed the huge beast who took off into the center of the river.

As you know the Luangwa is silty and choked with tree stumps and other debris. I got my chap to drop us off in the middle of the river and we crouched in the roots of one of these stumps hoping the hippo would show up nearby. I then sent the canoe out of sight and back to camp. En route and some 150 yards from where we holed up the hippo came up and charged the canoe. Getting off the stump we waded back into the shallows towards the canoe when the hippo charged us. It came as a wall of water, a ferocious wave over the edge of a hidden sandbank. Leon's first shot hit it in the side of the head which dazed it but just for a moment. The second shot was hurried and then the damn thing went berserk in front of us. As it cartwheeled towards me I took a shot in self defense and Leon another.

For me what was disturbing was that we were both shooting blind into the thrashing froth in front of us and the results were proving to be very poor. If a PH cannot control the situation then it becomes dangerous. I remember holding off and saving my last cartridge and quite clearly thinking that I would probably have to ram the barrel of my rifle down its throat.

The beast did eventually succumb to lead poisoning.

Note Leon could not afford a DG hunt and for him a hippo was the next best thing. He got his moneys worth that morning.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Note Leon could not afford a DG hunt and for him a hippo was the next best thing. He got his moneys worth that morning.

So if that isn't dangerous game hunting......what is your idea of dangerous game hunting?

Brett

quote:

Originally posted by Brett Adam Barringer:

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Note Leon could not afford a DG hunt and for him a hippo was the next best thing. He got his moneys worth that morning.

So if that isn't dangerous game hunting......what is your idea of dangerous game hunting?

Brett

To be honest I am now very wary of hippo and have developed a loathing for deep dirty water, shallow dirty water, deep clear water and clear shallow water.

Ever been bitten by a buffalo? Yeah sure it hurts but it hardly compares to a hippo bite.

This was my first close encounter with Kiboko. I wanted to shoot a hippo out of water and we were checking all korongos for hippo tracks and water pools. This went on for days and no luck, kiboko had left sign but also left the vicinity. So, Pierre said lets go down to the river early and get a bull coming back to the river. So next morning up at 430am and drive up river about 2K from camp. There is a slight mound with this brush on it and I am on the exposed end, Pierre is next to me our battery is my double 450#2 and a 500Jeffery. Continuing down the line are 2 trackers and the game scout. It is getting light and the tracker says kiboko and motions with his hand to chest it is a female. Now she starts coming down the trail now 25yds away and Pierre leans over to me and says Mike get your gun up. You are the first line of defense. I slowly raised "Boomer" and tracking the hippo will pass close by if she stays on the trail. 15 yards and closing and I want a bull, but self preservation has meaning also. 30 feet and closing, my mind is spinning what will or can happen. How close do I let her come. She has to be face on and coming for us for self defense. 20 feet in front and she sort of side steps and heads slightly away and she stops 10 feet to my left and I am kneeling up straight and looking down the barrel of the double and I am on the ear when she turns her head looking at me. Safety off and I am in the zone & focused, time is standing still a second or two seems like forever. I had made the decision one step this way towards me and I am going to give her just under 3 tons in the forehead. I watch her raise her leg and then look back towards the river and she continues on her way to the river.

Shot a bull 30 minutes later sort of anti climatic after the first close encounter.

Mike

Thanks Mike and that is what hunting is all about. If you would have had to shoot the female it would not have been a lesser experience.

Whereabouts were you in Tanzania?

The Ruaha river the Selous with PVT, R2. The experience is everlasting. Around a week later we were out checking lion baits and around 15K from the river and guess who is trotting parallel to us kiboko. Heading to a seapage which we were checking out.

Mike