Dates: June 19-28, 2012
Areas: Malapati Safari Area, Sengwe II Communal Area
Travel Agent: None/Me
Hunt Agent: Aaron Neilson
Operator: SSG Safaris
PH: Phillip “Phillis” Smythe
Trackers: Leonard, Socks, Gift
Driver: Graymore
Game Scouts: John and Muchetewe
Rifle: Winchester Model 70 404 Jeffery (all work done by Dennis Olson, Plains Montana)
Optics: 3x9 Trijicon Accupoint; Leica Ultravid Binocs
Ammo: CEB Non-Cons and Solids
Primary Game Hunted: Leopard and Cape Buffalo
Game Taken: Cape Buffalo, Nyala, Zebra, Jackal, Egyptian Goose(I’m an avid waterfowler), Bait Impala.
Game Wounded and Lost: Sable

There are quite a few reports on SSG already on AR, so I’ll try not to be redundant of the operation and hunt locations. If you have any specific questions on any of this, just shoot me a PM or post a question, etc. In addition, I've been jammed at work since my return, so this report is a bit rushed, so please forgive improper formatting, spelling, and the like. I'll try to keep editing for improvement.

Travel: Tried the ATL straight through Joburg to Harare, and it worked flawlessly (no problems with connections or luggage). Spent the night at Sally’s Sunbird Lodge in Harare, and it was just fine. I rode down to Malapati with Phil Smythe and his crew (Leonard, Graymore, and Socks) on June 18, and it took just under 8 hours.

General Descriptions of Facilities and Food: The facilities are nothing fancy but perfectly adequate. The camp is located on a nice spot overlooking the river. My small building consisted of a bedroom and a separate bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower. The food was better than I expected, and there was plenty of it.

My buffalo (Day 2): Thanks to a tip from our lion hunting crew, we were on the buffalo tracks by 4 PM. Enjoying favorable conditions, we caught up with the herd in half an hour or so. With plenty of light but still well to the rear of the greater mass of our quarry, Phil and I maneuvered in classic JEB Stuart style out in front of the herd. We scooted into a position that Phil believed would lead them right past us at fifty yards or so. Fortune wasn't smiling quite that brightly, and the buffalo decided to graze right into and then nearly on top of us. Unfortunately, only one smallish hard bossed bull (not what we were looking for) was in the vanguard, and we lay frozen in golden grass and grasping thorns hoping to remain unnoticed by the ebony bovines.

Suddenly, after nearly stepping on us, a couple of the younger cows briskly retreated 30 yards or so and stared in our direction. This made the entire front portion of the herd a bit nervous, and they too eased away, although with less certainty and no apparent recognition of our locale. Minutes later, the center group of buffalo pressed their way through their reluctant brethren to see what had retarded the herd’s progress. Amongst these beasts, pushed an older, bigger bull. Others parted, and he eased his way to the front center of the loose semi-circle, which the buffalo had now formed around us - some feeding, some nervously glancing about.

The bull stood behind some mopane and made it difficult for evaluation. After long moments, Phil slowly nodded; we pressed low to the ground and whispered. On the wind, I caught, "Take this bull." Of course, the bull still managed to keep his vitals well situated behind obstructions. Then, he stepped free, and I eased to the top of the grass with the 404 leveled. The slight movement caught his eye, and his heavy head swung around to face me. But he was broadside at no more than 20-25 yards, and aided by a lean against Phil, the shot was true. The beast shuddered at the impact and ran to my left - I found myself running parallel looking to anchor him. Although his spirit remained intact, his heart was no more, and in mere yards the race concluded. The bull piled up, and out of respect, I paid the insurance in the slowly fading light of a perfect day. Here he is:



One more


When not chasing leopard, we spent some more time hunting buffalo. As with the reports of others, there was no shortage of buffalo. Over the course of the next few days, I passed on a couple of other 40/41” buff looking for a true monster – one of the other guys in camp (Danish) shot a brute just prior to my arrival, and I’m sure he’ll share the story with everyone. Without any doubt, I’d be more than happy to hunt buffalo here again.


Leopard:
No suspense here – we never were even close to getting a big male tom. We had two small male cats hit baits once, never two return, and also had a female feed on a couple of occasions. We saw one, maybe two nice male tracks over the course of the entire hunt. Don’t know what to say other than it’s cat hunting, and they weren’t around. It was prime time, and there was no lack of trying – our group had 18-19 baits ornamenting the local trees. Phil worked his tail off trying to get spots on bait – he’s a cat guy with a history of prior success, so the work and talent were there. We requested some pre-baiting to even out the odds of what we knew was a short leopard hunt (10 days), but there apparently was a little miscommunication and only three baits were set on the day of our arrival. SBT (of AR) recently got his leopard with SSG after only a couple of days (see his recent report), but honestly, I think he’s one lucky guy. I’d try for a leopard here again under the right circumstances, but I’d keep reasonable expectations and would combo it with another primary animal such as buffalo (as I did). That way, in the event the cats aren’t hanging around, you still have plenty of excitement. On another note, there were plenty of lions about - Aaron Neilson was there hunting lion, so I’ll leave all of that to him to discuss.

Plains Game:
I took plenty of impala both for rations or bait – they were everywhere. On Day 1, I also took a zebra for bait. On Day 9 of the hunt, we came across our first group of Nyala bulls, and I took the largest of the bunch. He’s certainly no monster, but time was getting short. I passed on a couple lower 50s kudu, and one really nice bull escaped us right at dark on Day 8 of the hunt. The low point of the safari (much worse than even watching time tick away with no big leopards on bait) came on the morning of Day 10, when after stalking the only sable we had seen to close range, my shot apparently deflected off what looked to be light brush, resulting in a wounded animal. I immediately suspected that something was wrong as the sable failed to react to the shot at all, which was not my experience with the CEB non-cons on the rest of the hunt. All I can say is I knew the brush was there but instead of just passing on the shot and the sable (he had grown wise to us), I went against my better judgment and pulled the trigger. I was about to follow-up with a solid as the sable ran, but he chose the general direction of where we'd last left our guys, and I made the only right decision that day –to avoid making a bad situation potentially worse. A few minutes later as we got on its spoor, Phil missed the sable a couple of times on the run. We tracked the sable for the rest of the day (approx 6.5 hours) with a few drops of blood here or there, but never really caught up with it except to hear it running off full gallop a couple of times. Our best assessment was that the bullet was deflected and caught the sable lightly on/forward of its right front leg.

Nyala:


Zebra:


Jackal:



I had a hell of a good time hunting with Phil – I can’t recommend him highly enough. He’s a young guy with plenty of energy and a ton of knowledge about the game and environment, which he is excited to share. Although I didn’t hunt with Nixon, I did get to spend some enjoyable time with him over the course of my hunt, and Nixon seems like an truly nice guy and a hard hunter. Also, Aaron Neilson set this hunt up, and I spent plenty of time with him in camp. I'd use Aaron as an agent again without any concern.

Ty,

Very nice buffalo. Looks like a fantastic hunt.

Sorry to hear about the sable. Was he in Malapati safari area, or did you travel a bit to find him?

Those toms are known to be elusive. Next time...

Thanks for the report.

Jack:

Sable was in Malapati Safari Area. Buff hunting was everything I expected plus a lot more.

Well done on a nice buffalo! Sorry about the bad luck with the sable bull. Even the most experienced rifle shot encounters things beyond his control at times. And as for the leopard, well now I can't think of a better reason to begin planning the next hunt! Cats are just tough sometime!

Congrats Charles, that is a fine buffalo and a nice Nyala as well. Sorry about the Leopard hunting and the Sable. Thanks for sharing.

You know I love hunting Nixon's Buffalo, glad you got a good taste of it.

Nice trophies!

Sorry about the sable.
Otherwise sounds like you had a great time.
Now plan another cat hunt.

Super buffalo. COngrats on a great safari...

Aaron found you this hunt? What's that saying about a blind squirrel and an acorn? :-)

GREAT Buff!

Beautiful old buff, congrats! Would love to see some more pics of the 404,
it sounds like a great rifle.
Hang in there with the leopard, I didn't get mine until my 4th try.
Congrats on the nice trophies!
Jim

Congratulations on the the critters, especially the buffalo and nyala. It is amazing how things change. We saw lots of leopard sign and had a few on bait, but nary a sable.

Great old Buff! That sable's got to hurt though.

Charles - Congrats man, and it was a pleasure to spend 10 days in camp with you too. Maybe they will eventually find the Sable, we will keep checking with them.

Thanks again,

Thanks, guys.

Jim: I'll look to see if I have any pics with the rifle in it, but it's nothing fancy. I bought a 300 RUM from a guy in AR and had it converted and rebarrelled to 404 Jeffery. Haven't had a chance to restock it yet, but I'll get that done as soon as I find a nice piece of wood.

Scott: It was the only sable we saw - the lion crew had seen it a day or so before in the same vicinity. We were looking for dugga boys when Phil spotted it up on a hill.

Frank: Yep. But I would be upset with myself whether is was a sable or an impala.

C

Thanks for posting. Having hunted twice with SSG, I always look forward to hunt reports from others who have hunted with him.

I am curious as to how Phillip came to be your PH.

Beautiful buffalo.

Thanks for posting.

Hartley Kittle

Congratulations on the Buffalo.

Congrats on your Safari. Thanks for the post.

Very nice nyala and buf.

Mike

Congratulations on some beautiful trophies! You'll be back for the leopard and sable!!!!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Congratulations Tyger, great trophies!

Nice drops on the buff, i love it.
I cant wait to get there, 29 days and counting.

Congratulations on great trophies. Thanks for the great, concise report.

'Been there with wounded game.

Be proud of that nyala. (He's bigger 'n mine. )

Charles you flatter me - although whats with the Phillis name huh!?

Thanks brother, had a great hunt with you - we will get the illusive cat next time!

Congrats on a great hunt!

Beautiful Buffalo and Nyala....congratulations

Cogratulations on a great hunt,thanks for sharing

tygersman

Congratulations on a wonderful hunt, great animals, and a great adventure.

As for the sable, yes, these things happen, yes we beat ourselves up over it, but my friend you are not alone on this count! I have done this very same thing all over the world! And more than once! Brush is not our friend, regardless of bullet used! There are no bullets made that one can rely upon to bust brush and accomplish our mission, not 100% of the time!

If I may ask, I would like to hear more about the bullet performance, and your thoughts on the CEB Bullets, NonCons and Solids?

Michael

Michael:

All animals (except the sable as noted) immediately reacted to the CEB non-cons. Most (zebra and impalas) dropped in their tracks. The buff ran maybe 15 yards (no death bellow - just plain dead) and the nyala and one impala maybe 10 yards. If I recall correctly, I had pass throughs on all but one of the impalas. No exits on the zebra, buff, or nyala. The skinner retrieved the non-con from the buff for me, and it was essentially a shorter, jagged edged solid (the leaves had broken off as designed).

As expected, I had pass throughs on all of the solids (buff insurance; and one impala - running low on non-cons). I know this is very unscientific, but I'm no ballistics expert or engineer. If you have any specific questions, let me know.

C

Charles

Thank you. I just returned from Australia where we put the BBW#13s in several calibers and cartridges and of course experienced much the same as you have. Excellent trauma inflicted, definite and final reactions of the animals taking the shot, and penetration that can't be matched.

And your opinions and experiences of what you witnessed is more than enough science for me. No need to be a ballistics engineer for what we experience in the field, neither am I.

Thanks, again congrats, and great hunt report.

Michael

C-

Thanks for sharing!!!....SUPERB hunt, exciting on all accounts...Good on you brother

2014 go gettem

Roland

lapierre.roland@yahoo.com