Hunt Dates: March 15 – 26, 2012
Areas: Malapati SA, Malapati Communal, Sengwe II Communal
Travel Agent: Steve Turner
Operator: SSG Safaris
PH: Nixon Dzingai
Trackers: Dixon and Robert
Rifle: Win. Model 70 Super Express, H-S Precision Stock, .458 WM
Scope & Mts.: Leupold 1.25 x 4 VX-R, firedot-4 reticle (illuminated), Warne QD rings on Weaver Grand Slam bases
Ammo: Hornady DGS, 500 grain solids
Game taken: Elephant and Cape Buffalo

Everybody has read many reports about Nixon and his operation, so this will be more of a summary rather than a day by day report.

Travel:

I traveled from Louisiana to Malapati beginning on March 12 using the usual Delta Connection from ATL to JNB to HRE. I overnighted in HRE at the Meikles and then by road transfer to Malapati on March 14 (My 64th birthday). Comment: I decided, based on the recommendation of Steve Turner, to try the same day connecting flight from JNB to HRE. It worked like a charm, no SAPS and no overnight in JNB, arrived at 9:20 PM in HRE, my luggage and gun box was there, the airport was almost empty and I was out pretty quick.

General Hunting:

This was an early season Elephant Hunt. The countryside was very green, crops were ripe, and it was very warm, mid 80s to low 90s. It was also very humid. Not much of a problem for a guy from South Louisiana but a warning to those folks not accustomed to such hunting conditions. You will perspire a lot. The O2cool fan was a life saver at night.
Each day began very early, usually 4:00 to 4:30, because we were driving the park boundary every morning at daylight and it is a 1.5 hr drive to almost anywhere. Every day we drove the fence boundaries or the river boundary looking for spoor. We would also drive to the villages in Sengwe II and Malapati Communal and visit them to get crop raiding elephant reports. Several times each day we would find fresh spoor on the boundary and follow the spoor to see if we could get a shot and each time the track would make a semi circle and back to the boundary line before we could catch up with them. There were numerous reports of crop raiding elephants with sightings of very large bulls. I am not that keen on night hunting but began to see that my chances of success would be 50/50 without the night hunts. Because there is so much country to cover between Sengwe and Malapati, more often than not, we would eat sandwiches and cold drinks in the field and not return to camp until dark. The days were long, beginning well before daylight and ending well after daylight. On seven of the nights I was there we stayed in the villages all night listening for elephants and on several nights we would leave a tracker at one village 1.5 hours away and we would stay at another village waiting for the crop raiders, this was after a full day in the field and checking all the boundaries. Several nights we sat in the truck next to a field, would leave at midnight, and go to another field where we had left a tracker and stay there until 3:30, then leave and go drive the boundaries at first light. Many of these days were 20 or more hours long, with no supper or breakfast other than whatever leftover sandwiches and drinks we still had in the cooler. As for the night hunting, we were always a day late or in the wrong field.

DAY 4: MARCH 18: REVENGE BUFFALO

We had already been to the Malapati communal area and was now riding the park boundary with Sengwe II heading towards the Mozambique border at 9:30 AM when we stopped to check a set of fresh tracks. Nixon looked at me and said, “Are you ready to shoot a big buffalo”. I said yes that I needed to ride that horse again but only wanted to kill something as big as I had taken last year. He said “no problem” that the tracks were huge, very fresh, and were 2 old dugga boys. 55 minutes later we caught up with them. They were feeding and pointed in our direction with their heads down. I was less than 30 yards from them, up went the sticks, the biggest one was closest, feeding, head down, I found the shoulder crease, came over a few inches and sent the 500 grain solid into his body cavity. He instantly started running in our direction, not knowing where we were, and was on a course that would take him about 15 to 20 yards to our left. I tried to get a second shot but the other bull ran up and joined him and they were running together and I held my fire not wanting to kill the wrong buffalo or worse kill both of them. At any rate, just before he got perpendicular to me, the smaller bull peeled off to the right. I was now trying to turn to my left to get a shot when the bull saw me or Nixon and instantly dropped his horns to his left side (our side) and started to change the direction of his retreat to come for us. I immediately said to myself “shit, here we go again”. He made a semi circle in our direction and Nixon gave him one broadside and changed his angle of attack slightly. It was going to be close, so Nixon and I both made a mad dash for several yards to our right, and the bull crashed through some Mopani scrub only 5 yards to our left. I turned to give him a going away present, but Nixon was in my line of fire, so I ran to the left slightly to get a clear shot, at that instant Nixon shot him going away and he fell down, but he instantly tried to get up, so I emptied my .458 into his brisket/chest area until he quit moving. With my experience of last year, I now shoot till I’m empty and reload and get ready to shoot some more. I really don’t want to track a wounded Buffalo into the thick stuff even if he is going to die from the initial shot. Anyway, all this happened inside of a 50-60 yard circle and he ended up dead directly behind us and from where it started. This old guy was huge, bigger than either of my Buffalo of last year. Taped at 43.5”

43.5" Buffalo




DAY 11: MARCH 25: MIRACLE BULL ELEPHANT

This day actually began the day before. We had spent the night in 2 different fields with no luck and headed back at 3:30AM. Nixon decided not to go back to camp but to drive down to the Mwenezi River and check a Pan that had a lot of elephant sign. I was familiar with the pan as we had checked it several times before and had seen elephants on the other side and in the park staging and waiting until dark to come over. There was always a lot of fresh sign at this pan. We arrived at 5:00 AM, still dark. We walked in silence and in the dark for 40 minutes to the pan and by the time we got there it was now first light. We checked the spoor and called the truck on the radio to come get us. I heard the radio crackle and everybody started running and heading up the road to meet the truck. Steven, who was driving the truck, had just seen a very big elephant bull cross the road in front of him. The bull had left the park, crossed the river and was headed into the Malapati Safari Area. He had radioed this to Nixon and excitement was everywhere. We got into the truck and headed back to the spoor. We left the truck at 6:00 AM at a quick pace following the spoor. We followed for 2 hours and finally caught up with him. He had joined a herd of cows. We closed in on the herd to try and find him and several times the Game Scout grabbed me (at Nixon’s direction) by the shirt and spirited me out of there thinking the cows might come. There was no sign of him with a herd of six cows, so we left them to look for him; we knew he wasn’t far away. We went maybe 200 yards and saw a big cow, small cow, and a calf ahead of us and everybody got real excited and started looking in every direction for him. Then, off to the right, we saw some movement, we closed the distance to maybe 28 yards and there he was broadside. Up went the sticks, but just as I placed my rifle in the sticks, he saw us and turned to face us. Nixon and Dixon were very excited and tapping me to shoot NOW, I hate frontal brain shots, but that is all I had. The Bull was slightly uphill and had his head raised a bit, so I went down to the second wrinkle in the trunk and planted the 500 grain solid in his head. He did not fall, a missed brain shot, but his knees buckled and he stumbled, close but no cigar. He turned slightly to his right and I shot him in the side of the head and was firing my third shot into the side of his head near the ear hole when Nixon and Dixon both shot. Now he was falling down. He hadn’t gone but 1 step. I began to run uphill to pump some more shots into him when I had the crap scared out of me. At that instant the bush behind the fallen bull exploded with another bull elephant, previously unseen, running full throttle. I was completely surprised and damn near jumped out of my skin. He was coming fast but, when my mind cleared, it was apparent he was going to be on the other side of the fallen bull and appeared to be in full flight rather than full charge. I could see that Nixon and Dixon both had their rifles trained on this runaway bull, so I ran up and pumped 2 more into his chest. He wasn’t moving much when I got there but he wasn’t moving at all now. The celebration started. This bull was everything I wanted, a daylight bull, nice stalk, appears to be 65 lbs and the second to last day. I call him the Miracle bull because we had already checked the trail he crossed and would not have back tracked and had Steven not seen him at that exact moment he crossed the river we would have never had an opportunity to take him. BTW, romance got him killed; he was definitely romancing the ladies. He was also headed back to the park when we caught up with him.

65 x 60 lbs





I can’t say enough good things about Nixon. Nixon is 58 and hunts as hard as any 40 year old. He is determined to get you your game. There is also an advantage that he has. He is treated like a King by the villagers. He speaks their language, treats them with respect, keeps them in meat, and kills the hated crop raiders. We were greeted in every village with watermelons, peanuts, sugar cane, and boiled corn on the cob. They love him.

Thank you for the report. Just re-lived my whole safari of March 2011. The long hours, coyote-ing out at night, friendly villagers, Nixon's determination, everything. Thanks, Butch!

Wow congrats on two incredible trophies!

BEGNO,

Great safari and beautiful trophies.

Big congrats!

Mark

Butch, I'm disappointed...you just shot them like anyone else could have. I was hoping for some more Sumo combat! :-)

Outstanding Butch! Congratulations!

Butch,

Wow, what a superb story. When you described that buff coming toward you, it was like lighting striking twice in the same place. Maybe you pissed off animistic diety recently?

Your story captured the essence of our hunt exactly. But you were in the right place at the right time... It only takes one.

Thanks for the report.

Nice!

Butch
Great animals.
Just not the same without some blood on you in the photos.

Congrats on the awesome ele!

You didn't even have to donate blood on this trip, what a bargain.

Love the buffalo as well, that's a smoker bull.

Nice job Butch - congrats!!!

Two excellent trophies! Well done and thanks for your hunt report!

great Butch! congrats again!

Butch,

Congrats on a great trip and fantasic trophies.

My wife (we sat across from you at the DSC AR Dinner) said WOW what a beautiful set of tusks and it was a good thing that one of those did not poke you in the Ass.....

Both those bulls are super. It's great when you and your PH work that hard and are rewarded in the end.

Congratulations on two fine trophies, Butch!

Great trophies and nice report. Congratulations Butch! Thanks for sending me the pics from Joburg.

Proper elephant. Very nice.

And, you may have a better story to go with last year's buff, but this one bests last years by a country mile. A buffalo like that is what we all dream about.

Great report Butch and beautiful bulls. At least you didn't get whacked around this time.

Great stuff. Congratulations & thanks for sharing.

WOW! 2 great bulls, Butch.

Thanks for sharing.

great hunt!

Butch, it was great chatting with you and thanks for the superb report. I can't wait for 2013!

Congratulations on another great hunt.

Welcome back

Hartley

Butch Congratulations on the Ele and the Buffalo.
Your Buffalo always seem to come with some excitement.. ...Good shooting

I LOVE the buff, great! Nice ele, too.

Well done Butch
Exceptional buffalo and elephant, glad you didn't loose any blood this time round.
All the best
Faisal

Nice buff, great elephant.

Congratulations on well earned trophies! My husband and I checked with many villages for eles in Tanzania in 2006 and that surely makes for a long, long day/night!

Well done. D. Nelson

Way to go Butch. Only thing that would have made that story any better would have been if it had been told over a beer. Congrats!

Butch:

Both bulls are very nice. I am curious. Were you nervous with the buff after last year ? Glad you have pictures with none of your blood this year.

Well done Butch. Congratulations on another fine safari.

Thanks everybody, I appreciate the compliments.

Hi Larryshores,

I thought about it a lot before I got to Zim. I even questioned whether I should shoot any more Buffalo since I had two good ones already. My family was nervous for me. I decided I needed to hunt Buffalo again just to answer the questions and I really like hunting Buffalo, best bang for the buck, IMHO. Once I got to Malapati, I just went into hunting mode and never thought about it again. After I shot this Buff, I told Nixon that I guess I needed to start looking for a tree to climb everytime I shoot a Buffalo. He laughed and said "No, you have already passed the test". I laughed and appreciated the comment. Actually, I'm much more afraid of Elephants.

I can imagine it was nerve racking.

I agree with you. I am much more afraid of elephants.

Very nice hunt!

One question: Why did you choose a solid for your first shot on the buff versus the DGX?

Nixon sounds like an interesting fellow, sounds like having him as PH added to an already great trip.

Congrats!

Butch, I'm always more afraid of elephants. That's why I hunt them vs. buff!

Baxter,

Nixon only shoots solids and always recommends them over softs. He says they are better at breaking bones, but the primary reason I
shoot solids when hunting with Nixon is that we are always prepared for Elephant which can appear at any time in his concessions. I just do as he recommends. I have shot four Buffalo now and all with solids.


Don,

You are just an adrenaline junkie. However, I would probably hunt Elephants more often if my finances would allow.

Congradulations on a superb hunt.
Ill be there in august cant wait.

BEGNO,

You've been on some really great hunting...GREAT job and enjoyed the pics and report!

Late-Bloomer,

Thanks, I owe these succesful trips to AR. I've only been going to Africa since 2008 and have used the knowledge I gained here to eliminate a lot of wasted time and wasted money. I am 64 yrs old and working on my bucket list. I don't have the time and finances for "milk runs". I wish this resource had been available when I was chasing game all over North America.