Started to write about my 10 day safari to the Kwe-Kwe area in Zim, but I'm too lazy...

Herewith summary!

Outfitter: Ingwe Safaris, Harare
PH: Shaun Catton
Agent: Bruce Grant
Rifles used:
1) Winchester m/70 Featherweight .30-06
2) Winchester Super Express .416 Remington Magnum
Ammo used:
1) Speer Nitrex Grand Slam 180grs
2) Brand unknown, Swift A-Frame 400grs
Game taken

Eland - taken the first morning @ 176m (199 yds) although the shots were supposed to be "close".



Which, BTW, takes 3 hours to load on a Land Rover if you don't have a winch... Good help is the Leatherman which was used to cut this 35" eland in two...



Zebra



And the same with the happy tracker Ben



Impala w/ PH Shaun



One tough hunt - fine reward of two days' hard work: Blue Wildebeest



Another toughie, kudu. On this we spent a couple of mornings and about 1/2" of our shoe soles...



This is what the .416 was for:



The giraffe was measured @ 5m 40cm, i.e. 17' 8". The meat w/ bones weighted 1060kg (2335 lbs) which puts him @ approx. 2 tons (4400 lbs).
This was not on my list as it was "expensive" - I initially swapped the giraffe in favor of the eland. However, upon seeing these magnificent animals I sure more than ever wished to shoot one. As the nearby Black Rhino Conservancy has recently lost its major funder, they are forced to sell some animals. The full proceeds of the $1700 trophy fee plus that of the meat sold to a nearby lion park (add $450) went directly for the benefit of the conservancy, I decided to grab the opportunity.
The Conservator Mr. Dave Strydom sure seemed happy when he arrived at the kill.



Unlike us when we saw the remains of one of the poached black rhinos... Bastards.



The fellow in the photo, incidentally, took an elephant with a bow in the Dande South area just a couple of days before!

And finally the last (cold!) day's reward, on which we also spent a lot of time & frustration, Mr. Reedbuck.



In addition, leopard and elephant spoor was spotted.





A lot of money was spent, but as anyone who has been there knows: It's worth every cent!

- Lars

Nice report.

And, you're quite correct -- money spent on African hunting is money very well spent.

Great trophies!

lOOKS LIKE YOU HAD A GREAT HUNT.

On the Giraffe, I have hunted them and killed two of them, my wife hunted and killed one as well.

They are great sport [and in many areas need to be thinned out]. The meat on anything but an old Black Bull is excellent.

They are very big and with body shots can take a lot of killing. They are good sport.

And as you stated the money spent is good for the locals, as well as the meat they get, minus the BIG chunks I eat.

They are also one of my favorite animals to watch. That is one reason I like to hunt in the SAVE is because they have a bunch of them... And a bunch of most other game for that matter.

from me and the fellow who shot the Elephant

It appears that you used the .30-06 for the Zebra and eland. It looks like you hammered the zebra with a RPG. How far did the zebra and eland run after the shot?


great pictures. Congrats on your hunt!


dale

Nice pics and report. Congratulations.

quote:

Originally posted by daleW:
It appears that you used the .30-06 for the Zebra and eland.

Yup.

quote:

It looks like you hammered the zebra with a RPG. How far did the zebra and eland run after the shot?

That's the exit hole of a high lung shot and it did, indeed, bleed quite a lot. The other animals looked pretty much the same on the exit side.
The zebra ran maybe 50 metres or so; the eland even less. The eland didn't really know where to run and after a brief "spin" collapsed in a heap of dust very quickly after having been shot.

Thank you all for the compliments!
The hunt was good, indeed, and we had a great time.

It's funny how when on safari you really get into the atmosphere. I think we were into the third day when I lost count of days and especially which day of the week it was!

Standing alone on the plain with the dead zebra waiting for the PH and tracker to fetch the car I really got into the safari mood.
You see, I have always pictured a trophy room with a zebra rug and now I could see the zebra at my feet. It was visible and tangible, yet unreal and almost unbelievable. The heat of the sun, the emptiness and silence of the savana, and the mopane shrub did it for me. At that moment, I was really, really, in Africa and on safari. And not yet "done it", but still being there!

Initially, I didn't have the wildebeest on the list of species to be hunted but as soon as I saw them in the wild, I knew I wanted to take one. Don't ask me why, it just hit me.
So here's a tip to you: Make sure you've booked animals for each day in case you're successful in hunting, otherwise you may run out of animals to be hunted; but also check which animals may still be on quota. You may be able to swap one animal against another, or alternatively get the chance to shoot something you initially didn't intend to but that you find you will want to shoot anyway. To me, this was the case both with the wildebeest and giraffe. Or maybe you're unlucky with some animal, but you get lucky with something else instead.
Truthfully, though, even those days that went by without shooting anything at all were equally - well, almost equally good to those when we were successful in the hunt. Each day we saw animals and approached them but failed for some reason or another. Sometimes it was the wind, sometimes my inexperience in spotting the animals, sometimes it was some other animal that was too skittish. But this is what makes the hunt a hunt. I did not travel across half the globe to shoot fish in a tank. Rather, I went for the experience and for the thrill of the hunt. I got to put myself to the test, and sometimes the animals won. Makes you kinda humble. As anyone who has been ridiculed by the zebra knows.... Then, again, sometimes we were the ones to catch the zebra with their pants down!

- Lars

quote:

Standing alone on the plain with the dead zebra waiting for the PH and tracker to fetch the car I really got into the safari mood.
You see, I have always pictured a trophy room with a zebra rug and now I could see the zebra at my feet. It was visible and tangible, yet unreal and almost unbelievable. The heat of the sun, the emptiness and silence of the savana,
and the mopane shrub did it for me. At that moment, I was really, really, in Africa and on safari. And not yet "done it", but still being there!

Well spoken, and oh so true.