Hunt Dates: August 22-31, 2013
Travel Agent Steve Turner/Travel With Guns
Country Zimbabwe
Outfitter Bulembi Safaris (Martin Pieters)
PH: Chap Esterhuizen
Area: Chifudze camp
Guns: Ruger 375's


Started out with an very uneasy ride in this 205. 4 guys, 150# of gear and 5 rifles made the take off very interesting, but 1.5hrs later and we were at camp sighting in rifles and tossing back a few Castle Lagers.



Day one was dad's 65th birthday so we were up early and on tracks of a large heard of buff, but just couldn't connect. We bumped them all morning until the sweat stopped running out of all of us so it was break time and some lunch. The afternoon brought more heat so we drove around and looked for PG without any luck.

Day two started off with eggs and bacon and driving some roads for tracks. We cut a lone set of dugga boy tracks early and by 9:30 had him in the bag. Dad was able to sneak a Barnes 300gn solid through a small opening of brush no more than 40 yards away. It entered his front left shoulder and exited the opposite shoulder, breaking it on it's exit.




video

Day three was my big day. Shooting a good bull just like you would a bull elk. We tracked them from daylight and caught them feeding down an open ridge. I was able to get a solid rest on my fanny pack and a large rock. One shot from the R375 and a 300gn Barnes TSX and he was down. Truely a very exciting morning.



Chap and I


Some Omay "bling". A snare from some time ago.


Barnes TSX



Now that our Buffalo are down it was time to move onto the more elusive PG. Impala, Bushbuck, and waterbuck were on our list.

Day four brought a very long drive to an old camp overlooking the Ume riverbed. After a short glassing session a decent Bushbuck was spotted. The appy PH with us today took me along the river bank for a good 100 yard broad side shot.




By the time we got back to the lookout it was time for lunch and maybe a quick nap. I was determined to spot another Bushbuck for dad to try and after a couple hours I spotted one feeding underneath a sausage tree not 100 yards from where mine was. After a long stock and actually sitting down and waiting this old brute out, dad made an off hand shot at about 25 yards.





The next few days we spent chasing around waterbuck and impala with no success. We decided to beat the heat with a little fishing on lake Kariba for a couple days.



Chap with his 15kg Catfish



Day eight we were able to stock up on a heard of Impala. I was able to take a clean shot with my dad's 270. After the Impala was down all hell broke loose. Little did we know two bull elephants were only yards away. Chap had my 375 and we ran out onto a mud flat as the bulls rushed by.


Video


And what's a trip to Zim without a Baboon? Just couldn't help myself.

Look at those teeth!





A big thank you to Chap for a trip of a life time.

Congrats on a great trip!

Congratulations on a super safari. Love the classic drop of your buff. The gnarly, old bushbuck will make quite a trophy. Kudos to you and your dad!

Thanks for taking the time to file this great report with such nice photos. The Ruger 375 rocks!

Gotta love Omay South! Some nice trophies and always good to see a father/son hunt. Well done!

Wonderful hunt with Dad and great photos. That bushbuck with the broken horn would have been a slammer if not broken but still a super trophy.

Mike

Congratulations...looks like you all had a great time


Roland

Love those buff. Thanks for sharing.

Great baboon. Wow!

isn't Chap the guy who got chewed by a leopard a few years ago and quit hunting for a bit? i seem to recall the name from Martin's video...

Nice report, great trophies! Congrats to you and your dad.

Great hunt! I wish I get an old bushbuck like your dad's!

Great. That old warrior of a bushbuck is a serious trophy.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
isn't Chap the guy who got chewed by a leopard a few years ago and quit hunting for a bit? i seem to recall the name from Martin's video...

Yes, he got buggered pretty bad in 2008.

Great report!

Some good stuff there.

Congrats!

Thanks for the report

quote:

Originally posted by 64rcs:

What a fine trophy! Congratulations to you and your Dad and everyone else involved.

What a great lifetime of memories. I must say you made that sound easy,send me some of that good fortune my hunt next month.

Wow, what a great hunt with Dad!! Just curious, how big are the two buff??

I really like that Bushbuck, I would have whacked him too!!...I was snakebit on Bushbuck to my 11th safari....then took a gold medal...the PH almost had to rope me down when I was ready to take the first one we saw!! Never had a chance previously...finally in Mozi on a Hippo and Croc hunt!!

Glad your hunt was successful...friend of mine hunted South Omay in July, only saw one Buff about 37 and ??soft in 7 days, no plainsgame...young PH and they drove 21/2 hours to and from hunting area daily!!

I agree with you, that ride in the 205 would have had a high PUCKER FACTOR on takeoff...load plus High and Hot!! YIKES!!

Hell of a old bushbuck
Hell of a hunt gents.
The grins speak for themselves.
Congratulations.

Great report and some very nice trophies. Making memories with friends and family is what it is all about!

quote:

Originally posted by 470EDDY:
Wow, what a great hunt with Dad!! Just curious, how big are the two buff??

I really like that Bushbuck, I would have whacked him too!!...I was snakebit on Bushbuck to my 11th safari....then took a gold medal...the PH almost had to rope me down when I was ready to take the first one we saw!! Never had a chance previously...finally in Mozi on a Hippo and Croc hunt!!

Glad your hunt was successful...friend of mine hunted South Omay in July, only saw one Buff about 37 and ??soft in 7 days, no plainsgame...young PH and they drove 21/2 hours to and from hunting area daily!!

I agree with you, that ride in the 205 would have had a high PUCKER FACTOR on takeoff...load plus High and Hot!! YIKES!!

We never put a tape on the buff but the PH estimated at around the 36-37" mark. Not huge, but made great hunts and memories for dad and I.

FANTASTIC....well done!! Thanks for the great post and Pix!!
Cheers,

quote:

Originally posted by 64rcs:

quote:

Originally posted by 470EDDY:
Wow, what a great hunt with Dad!! Just curious, how big are the two buff??

I really like that Bushbuck, I would have whacked him too!!...I was snakebit on Bushbuck to my 11th safari....then took a gold medal...the PH almost had to rope me down when I was ready to take the first one we saw!! Never had a chance previously...finally in Mozi on a Hippo and Croc hunt!!

Glad your hunt was successful...friend of mine hunted South Omay in July, only saw one Buff about 37 and ??soft in 7 days, no plainsgame...young PH and they drove 21/2 hours to and from hunting area daily!!

I agree with you, that ride in the 205 would have had a high PUCKER FACTOR on takeoff...load plus High and Hot!! YIKES!!

We never put a tape on the buff but the PH estimated at around the 36-37" mark. Not huge, but made great hunts and memories for dad and I.

Great attitude. In my book the trophy is the hunt.

The only reason I was asking is that a friend of mine hunted South Omay in July and said he had one chance at a +-37" buff in 7 days and that's all he saw.....I was curious because I would have clearly taken either of these too...!!
Cheers,

Congrats to you and your dad on a great hunt! Beautiful trophies and with the memories, I'm sure you two had a priceless experience.

Congrats on the hunt!

I wish I could get my dad to go with over there, but health and all gets in the way. You are lucky to be able to experience it together!

I really like his old bushbuck also.

Great safari! Congrats to you and your dad!

Congratulations, sounds like it was a fantastic trip for all of you.

Does the video work?

Thanks

-Todd

Well done!

I love that old bushbuck!

I recognize some of the camp photos, they bring back fond memories.

Beautiful old Bushbuck. Congrats on a nice safari.

Congratulations ,great safari .