The Cromeens Lechwe

24 May 2011, 11:46

fairgame

The Cromeens Lechwe

It is now some 15 years plus that I and Richard Bell Cross of Prohunt Zambia have safari hunted the Flats. Collectively we have spent many months here and have viewed many many thousands of the majestic Kafue Lechwe. I would say that we have taken somewhere in the region of a hundred of these animals with our safari clients.

The Lechwe that 505 Gibbs took was a once in a lifetime trophy and we have only recorded one that would match this animal in those 15 years. This is without doubt one of the best trophy Lechwe I have ever come across.

24 May 2011, 11:48

fairgame

Brad, the Cromeens Lechwe and I

24 May 2011, 12:30

Scriptus

Well there's gratitude for you. Fairgame lines 505Gibbs up with a superb lechwe, no, an out of this world lechwe, a double and he is lumped with the devil. Go figure?

24 May 2011, 12:42

umshiniwam

Wow!!! Well done!!!

24 May 2011, 13:36

Bwanamich

Unbelieavable! If that trophy does not win an award this year then I give up.......

24 May 2011, 17:23

505 gibbs

24 May 2011, 17:34

Aaron Neilson

Brad & Andrew - Awesome!! That's all I can say.

24 May 2011, 17:52

ledvm

Fellows...well done!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
J. Lane Easter, DVM

A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.– Billy Clayton, Speaker of the Texas House

No state commands such fierce pride and loyalty. Lesser mortals are pitied for their misfortune in not being born in Texas.— Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Texas in May, 1991.

24 May 2011, 17:55

lechwe

One of my favorite animals obviously. Simply outstanding!!

24 May 2011, 18:05

adamhunter

Awesome...Congrats to you both!

25 May 2011, 00:48

MARK H. YOUNG

Brad,

You suck!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark

25 May 2011, 03:13

Alan Bunn

A true Rowland Ward grade trophy.

Cheers,

~ Alan

Life Member NRA
Life Member SCI

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25 May 2011, 06:03

jeff h

A STUD!

congrats

25 May 2011, 06:07

SGraves155

Awesome critter.

25 May 2011, 06:41

Brian Clark

holy cow, that's a once in a life time trophy for sure. Congrats!

25 May 2011, 06:52

505 gibbs

quote:
A STUD!

and not a bad lechwe either.

25 May 2011, 08:35

jdollar

hey Brad, you told me in Moz. that you never smile when taking "hero" pictures- YOU LIED!!!. of course that bruiser would put a smile on Scrooge's face. OUTSTANDING!

25 May 2011, 15:30

timbakile

Congrats, one could hang a hammock between those horns!

26 May 2011, 11:29

Kwan

Andrew

Great Job putting him up for a shot on that

Brad, congratulations on a fantastic trophy,

Gad, how are we going to get him to stop smiling again,

26 May 2011, 18:09

Mike Smith

Everytime I wanted to say something about this I found I couldnt. I just kept looking at the features of this animal and found myself getting lost in it. The best I could do was to mutter wow.
Well done everyone!

26 May 2011, 19:53

fairgame

quote:
Originally posted by Scriptus:
Well there's gratitude for you. Fairgame lines 505Gibbs up with a superb lechwe, no, an out of this world lechwe, a double and he is lumped with the devil. Go figure?

Made the mistake of letting Brad carry my double. Thing is he never let go of it and now it is on its way to Texas.

Should have charged him the Lechwe by the bloody inch.

26 May 2011, 20:38

Scriptus

quote:
Originally posted by fairgame:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scriptus:
Well there's gratitude for you. Fairgame lines 505Gibbs up with a superb lechwe, no, an out of this world lechwe, a double and he is lumped with the devil. Go figure?

Made the mistake of letting Brad carry my double. Thing is he never let go of it and now it is on its way to Texas.

Should have charged him the Lechwe by the bloody inch.

Put the word out and catch the bastard next time.

26 May 2011, 20:44

fairgame

quote:
Originally posted by Scriptus:
quote:
Originally posted by fairgame:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scriptus:
Well there's gratitude for you. Fairgame lines 505Gibbs up with a superb lechwe, no, an out of this world lechwe, a double and he is lumped with the devil. Go figure?

Made the mistake of letting Brad carry my double. Thing is he never let go of it and now it is on its way to Texas.

Should have charged him the Lechwe by the bloody inch.

Put the word out and catch the bastard next time.

Wait till next year when I show him a real swamp. A place where no one can hear you scream.

Maybe he will let me carry his double for old time's sake?

26 May 2011, 20:51

Dave Fulson

What a beauty ! Turning green as I write .

26 May 2011, 21:15

fairgame

quote:
Originally posted by Dave Fulson:
What a beauty ! Turning green as I write .

Boddington on Lechwe?

26 May 2011, 21:15

Scriptus

quote:
Originally posted by fairgame:
quote:
Originally posted by Scriptus:
quote:
Originally posted by fairgame:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scriptus:
Well there's gratitude for you. Fairgame lines 505Gibbs up with a superb lechwe, no, an out of this world lechwe, a double and he is lumped with the devil. Go figure?

Made the mistake of letting Brad carry my double. Thing is he never let go of it and now it is on its way to Texas.

Should have charged him the Lechwe by the bloody inch.

Put the word out and catch the bastard next time.

Wait till next year when I show him a real swamp. A place where no one can hear you scream.

Maybe he will let me carry his double for old time's sake?

Did the bastard whine and beg for the gun?

26 May 2011, 21:20

fairgame

quote:
Originally posted by Scriptus:
quote:
Originally posted by fairgame:
quote:
Originally posted by Scriptus:
quote:
Originally posted by fairgame:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scriptus:
Well there's gratitude for you. Fairgame lines 505Gibbs up with a superb lechwe, no, an out of this world lechwe, a double and he is lumped with the devil. Go figure?

Made the mistake of letting Brad carry my double. Thing is he never let go of it and now it is on its way to Texas.

Should have charged him the Lechwe by the bloody inch.

Put the word out and catch the bastard next time.

Wait till next year when I show him a real swamp. A place where no one can hear you scream.

Maybe he will let me carry his double for old time's sake?

Did the bastard whine and beg for the gun?

Whine he scared every Hyena out of the district.

26 May 2011, 21:41

retreever

WOW!!! OUTSTANDING

Mike

28 May 2011, 23:06

fairgame

Will be doing this again in September if anyone is interested?

29 May 2011, 02:28

mauser93

Good heavens! What a magnificent animal!

Where does that one fit in Rowland-Ward? I am not a trophy hunter,much, but that animal is something else again.

Congrats and good hunting to you both.

29 May 2011, 03:14

mho

quote:
Originally posted by mauser93:
Where does that one fit in Rowland-Ward?

Brad's Lechwe makes Rowland Ward (30" longest horn for Kafue Lechwe) easily, and then some.

- mike

29 May 2011, 03:37

LionHunter

Well done to you both.

Andrew, how long after you spotted him did it take you to get into shooting position? A good candidate for the Zambia PH award.

30 May 2011, 22:21

fairgame

quote:
Originally posted by LionHunter:
Well done to you both.

Andrew, how long after you spotted him did it take you to get into shooting position? A good candidate for the Zambia PH award.

Mike,

It was Brad who spotted him some days before and this shape is very difficult to judge so I convinced Brad to look at some more and then we came on him again and Brad called the shot.

Andrew

30 May 2011, 22:23

fairgame

quote:
Originally posted by mho:
quote:
Originally posted by mauser93:
Where does that one fit in Rowland-Ward?

Brad's Lechwe makes Rowland Ward (30" longest horn for Kafue Lechwe) easily, and then some.

- mike

A rough field measurement on the front face of the horn went a fraction over 34 inches but the horn ridge did a bit of a spiral so will get him measured again.

30 May 2011, 23:42

505 gibbs

quote:
quote:
Originally posted by LionHunter:
Well done to you both.

Andrew, how long after you spotted him did it take you to get into shooting position? A good candidate for the Zambia PH award.

Mike,

It was Brad who spotted him some days before and this shape is very difficult to judge so I convinced Brad to look at some more and then we came on him again and Brad called the shot.

Andrew

This was truly a joint effort. Chris actually spotted him in a small group while the rest of us were were glassing through a larger group. Andrew and I set out on foot after them. Andrew tried several different tactics from crouching and crawling from anthill to anthill, that didn't work as they seemed to move away from us at the same speed we approached them. He tried sticking the sticks up in the air to immitate the look of the fishermen they saw poling around them daily, that didn't work. He tried taking his shirt off and stretching it over the shooting sticks and approaching them as we hid behind it, that didn't seem to work. He finally made contact when he decided that he should move on alone up in front of them (acting as a diversion) as I snuck up behind or along side them, this actually seemed to work. Andrew also knew the area well enough that he knew if we kept pushing them we would eventually push them against some deeper water and they would be squeezed. The first couple of times I shot was a result of Andrews "diversion" tactic allowing me to get close enough to get a shot. The last time I shot was a result of the lechwe being pushed up against the deeper water, not being able to run forward because Andrew was already in front of them, consequently they had to turn around and run back by me behind them. It was truly a great hunt with Zambias #1 PH (my ninja skills helped as well). Is that an accurate assesment Andrew?

31 May 2011, 00:06

LionHunter

Brad-
Fine description of a difficult stalk and inspired work on Andrew's part to get you a shot on a wonderful Kafue Lechwe. From the pics it appears there was an abundance of water on the flats, which never helps in tracking them up. Even though you can see them plainly, the water can make your movement difficult and physically exhausting. Congrats to you both.

Now you must go up to the Bangwelu swamps for the Black Lechwe and Zambezi Sitatunga.

31 May 2011, 00:14

fairgame

quote:
Originally posted by LionHunter:
Brad-
Fine description of a difficult stalk and inspired work on Andrew's part to get you a shot on a wonderful Kafue Lechwe. From the pics it appears there was an abundance of water on the flats, which never helps in tracking them up. Even though you can see them plainly, the water can make your movement difficult and physically exhausting. Congrats to you both.

Are you keen Mike it will be a cracker of a safari.

Now you must go up to the Bangwelu swamps for the Black Lechwe and Zambezi Sitatunga.

31 May 2011, 00:18

fairgame

quote:
Originally posted by 505 gibbs:
quote:
quote:
Originally posted by LionHunter:
Well done to you both.

Andrew, how long after you spotted him did it take you to get into shooting position? A good candidate for the Zambia PH award.

Mike,

It was Brad who spotted him some days before and this shape is very difficult to judge so I convinced Brad to look at some more and then we came on him again and Brad called the shot.

Andrew

This was truly a joint effort. Chris actually spotted him in a small group while the rest of us were were glassing through a larger group. Andrew and I set out on foot after them. Andrew tried several different tactics from crouching and crawling from anthill to anthill, that didn't work as they seemed to move away from us at the same speed we approached them. He tried sticking the sticks up in the air to immitate the look of the fishermen they saw poling around them daily, that didn't work. He tried taking his shirt off and stretching it over the shooting sticks and approaching them as we hid behind it, that didn't seem to work. He finally made contact when he decided that he should move on alone up in front of them (acting as a diversion) as I snuck up behind or along side them, this actually seemed to work. Andrew also knew the area well enough that he knew if we kept pushing them we would eventually push them against some deeper water and they would be squeezed. The first couple of times I shot was a result of Andrews "diversion" tactic allowing me to get close enough to get a shot. The last time I shot was a result of the lechwe being pushed up against the deeper water, not being able to run forward because Andrew was already in front of them, consequently they had to turn around and run back by me behind them. It was truly a great hunt with Zambias #1 PH (my ninja skills helped as well). Is that an accurate assesment Andrew?

I have never hunted with a ninja before and I think the Lechwe did sense this. I would say they drawn like a magnet to you. Having seen you kick the poor thing to death what can I say?

What happened to what goes on tour stays on tour?

31 May 2011, 01:54

Mike Smith

Andrew, "Real Swamp"? Now you really have my attention. I love hunting the swamps here albeit nothing by comparison in size. I am also usually by myself so it dosnt matter how long and how fast or slow I progress. The different swamps all have their own unique rythm and sounds. Special places where most men dont enter and in their own right some of the most peaceful yet still dangerous places around. How about a litle information on what you are planning?

31 May 2011, 02:40

fairgame

Mike,

I believe Bangweulu to be one of the world's greatest swamps and for the most unexplored. No one goes in there and no one ever has, not even local fishermen. We hunt the edges of this great morass. Try search Google and you will draw a blank.

I cannot pretend to take you in but only to hunt the remoter boundaries.

I got a pilot to fly me over it once and it was daunting. Kafue Flats has a swamp which no one has breached and I have not been there either.

What we need is an investor who can supply the equipment to get us in. An Argo is not going to work and we need a chopper with floats or something like that.

Food for thought.