I returned yesterday from my Zim elephant hunt.

I was originally scheduled to hunt late September into mid October but an hour after arriving in camp I was informed that my father had passed away and I returned home as quickly as possible.

My hunt was rescheduled for October 25th throught November 9th, the biggest block of time I could muster.

On quota were two tuskless cows and one trophy bull in Chewore South and two tuskless cows and a trophy bull in Makuti plus a leopard in Makuti. Because of time constraints, after success on the bull and one tuskless, we moved from Chewore South to Makuti. We killed two tuskless and an injured tusked cow and the bull in Makuti, but struck out on the leopard. We left him feeding, but we needed a couple more days for the moon rise and set to shift. We sat for him five times but he was coming at moon set which was middle of the night when we first set that bait but moving toward the morning. I also shot a kudu bull for bait and a very nice 2" horned grysbok, which is a real trophy.

PH was Rich Tabor for the whole trip. We stayed at Chifuti Safari's Angwe camp in Chewore South, which has been re-done since Chifuti took over the concession. Chifuti runs a first class operation and the camp was very nice. We stayed at Charlton McCallum Safari's camp in Makuti and it was a nice camp. We had the Angwe camp to ourselves and shared the Makuti camp with a hunter winding up his safari with Myles McCallum and another hunter hunting with Alan Shearing. Good company to share a camp with.

Temps ran from hot but pleasant to intensly hot, but never intolerably hot. We had no thermometer, but I'd guess temps peaked at maybe 115* on the hottest days, humidity was low, making it bearable so long as you kept drinking water and watching you salt and other electrolyte intake. I used one shot Gatoraide packages and kept the cramping at bay.

I'll post photos when I get them squared away.

JPK

My condolances...

I'm still mad at you since you did not make the Vintager's... However since you were hunting ele I forgive you...

Welcome home..

Mike

Welcome back. I look forward to your pictures.

quote:

Originally posted by retreever:
My condolances...

I'm still mad at you since you did not make the Vintager's... However since you were hunting ele I forgive you...

Welcome home..

Mike

Mike,

I actually made a half a day at the Vintagers. Spoke with the Farmars folks who mentioned a fellow with a big set of tusks and one of their rifles in 450 No2... Hmm, wonder who that might have been?

I have one of their sidelocks in 375H&H, btw.

Charles,

Photos will be a couple of days. I'll change the topic name to indicate photos added.

JPK

JPK, I'm glad to hear that you were able to get back to Zim this year and have such a successful safari. I look forward to your full report.

Welcome back,we are going to need some photos

Did you shoot anything? What was Alan and Myles hunting?

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
Did you shoot anything? What was Alan and Myles hunting?

if you read the first post, the answer to your question can easily be found.

JPK,
Sorry to hear about your dad. My dad has been gone a long time now but I think about him often. Your post are what convinced me that I need to go to Africa. I wish you well and look forward to more great hunting reports from you. I wish you well during this time.

Looking fwd to your pict's and stories from the bush!

+

Congrats on what sounds like a very successful hunt. I also await your full report and pics!!!!

465H&H

JPK,

Hope you had a great time.

Dave

Mt appologies for not posting some photos, but I'm having huge computer problems at my home computer, where those photos I've got stored so far reside.

Hopefully I'll get some resolution early this week, if not I'll try Plan B and try my office computer.

JPK

Photos from my hunt:

Tuskless taken at 7:00am Day One, in Chewore South. Notice the rafters? I was able to wear them on the flat sections of Chewore South and they are very comfortable, quiet and much cooler than boots in the heat. Couldn't wear them in the rolling hills or anywhere in Makuti though, I need boots for ankle support in the rougher terrain.



My Chewore Bull. Guess the weight of the tusks on this bull and the Makuti bull. I'll provide actual weights in a couple of days.



Another photo of the same bull taken just after I killed him. Notice how far his head sagged by the next morning when we went to do recovery, and when the previous photo was taken?



A grysbok, with 2" horns, which apparently are a truly excellent set of trophy horns.



A kudu bull, taken for leopard bait. 48" horns, nothing special, but nice looking horns for my eight year old son's room.



Fist Makuti tuskless. We spotted her up on the ridge in the background, well to the right of the photo's border. I brought a Ziess 20x60x85mm spotting scope and it proved an excellent tool, saving both time and shoe leather as well as my ankles, knees and butt in the rough terrain. It was knick-named "The Limb Saver" after a day or two of use. Rich Tabor could judge ivory, or the lack of it, from many miles. There were two tuskless in this herd, a half grown and this one, and we knew that before walking for them. The walk took almost an hour.



A Makuti tusked cow. I brained her with a frontal because she was injured. There's a story to how she was injured I hear. Killed the same day as the first Makuti tuskless shown in the previous photo, but late in the evening. This photo was taken the next morning when we went to recover. We killed three elephants that day. Long, long day! But the next day spent recovering was even longer. One recovery a year is fun, but after that they begin to get tediuos. We had so many elephants to recover that ALL of us pitched in with Chris and I handing much of the skinning on this cow.



My second Makuti tuskless, also taken on the same day as the first tuskless and the injured tusked cow. Shown in the photo are trackers Oria (sitting) and Tiengwa and stalwart camera man and videographer Chris Estephoizen, a Bulawayo native.



The Makuti Bull. In the photo is PH Rich Tabor, still wearing rafters despite the terrain! Guess this fellow's ivory as well.



The Limb Saver in action, well worth the trouble of bringing it! Here Rich is watching the first tuskless we took in Makuti to make sure it has no hard to see small tusk to frustrate us after the walk. I'm doing the same in the second photo. Depending on the terrain, one of the trackers would carry the spotting scope with either the whole tripod or the mono pod the tripod came with. It proved well worth the trouble.




I have a bunch more photo to load. I'll post more if warranted. BTW, some or all of my hunt should show up on Steve Scott's show on Versus TV in six months or a year. When I hear dates, Ill pass them along.

JPK

Yes, more are warranted. Keep posting more pics!

JPK,

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Please post when you know the date your hunt will be on Safari Hunter's Journal.

Nice stuff....I'm sure it was an awesome hunt.
And I concur.....more pics!

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

48lbs and 38lbs??
We drove across the flat land that can be seen on the photo of Rich Glassing with the spotting scope.
I was wondering if you might be up in those hills.

What a hunt! Did you ever get on a leopard?

46 and 34 lbs. Great hunt!!I loved Chewore South 3 years ago.

Good photos and an interesting report, thank you!

Great pictures from a great hunt!!

Thanks for sharing here JPK...Nice rifles too..

Congratulations on a fantastic safari!

I´m a bit curious about your bolt action rifle, is it custom made?

Best Regards/Karl

Awesome

Beautiful pictures!

+1 on the rifle question, is your sidelock the Famars 375 you mention further up? What about the bolt rifle, and the PH's double?

My double rifle in the photos is a Marcel Thys in 458wm, shooting either 500gr Woodleigh solids at 2145fps or 450gr North Fork solids at 2220fps.

My bolt rifle is a circa 1998 Dakota in 375H&H, stocked to my specs and with some unique custom features.

My 375 A&S Farmars is stil being converted to lefty and awating some custom scope mounts.

Rich Tabor's, the PH's, rifle is a Kreighoff 470, shooting 500gr Woodleighs at 2200fps or so. He loads his elephant rounds hotter than traditional 470 ballistics.

JPK

It look like a very nice safari !

http://www.africahunting.com

What were the actual weights?

nice elephant and pictures.last year in zim. we come across a set of tracks that realy got my ph going.he said they were much larger than an average big boy.my next go round will definitly include elephant. tusks 48 lbs.

The tusks were 39lbs and 37lbs with the elephant which had the bigger looking tusks - to me the first one in the photos - having the lighter pair.

I will tell you that judging ivory is an aquired skill and after 18 elephants I haven't acquired it yet! I'll also tell you that a whole lot of internet 50lbers are 35lbers.

I passed on a bull that went 44lbs because we'd seen one that went maybe 50 or 55 on this trip. The local warden had restricted us to one for each of two hunters in camp in a certain area. This is where we saw both the 44lber and the 50. We saw the 50lber before the warden allowed us to kill any elephants in the reserved area (about an hour before - when we arrived in camp the evening after seeing the 50lber we found out about the relaxation of the restriction.) The 50lber was never seen again. I know the other went 44lbs, because another hunter in camp killed him.

JPK

Enjoyed the report and pics. Congrats, and thanks for sharing!

KG

P.S. Most sorry to hear of your father's passing, BTW.

quote:

Originally posted by Kamo Gari:
Enjoyed the report and pics. Congrats, and thanks for sharing!

KG

P.S. Most sorry to hear of your father's passing, BTW.

Thanks, and you're welcome.

Regarding my Dad, he lived 82 1/2 great years and 1/2 not so great. Hope we all do as well and leave the legacy of love and respect that he did. I miss him terribly.

Here is something that I found very touching and which I think spoke volumes about my Dad: My Dad was a mechanical contractor, and a very excellent and successful one at that. He founded his comapny in 1960 and grew it to be one of the larger light mechanical companies (office buildings, hospitals, apartment buildings, sewage treatment plants, small powerplants but no damns, nuclear plants, refineries, etc) in the US. Even though he retired as CEO of his company in 1985 and so was retired 23 years at his passing, hundreds of his former emplyees and all of his former partners turned out. One competing company sent a flower arrangement the size of a small SUV, and other former competitors weren't too far behind. For a fellow so far removed from his business life, I found that touching and gracious testimony to him.

JPK

Those gestures say it all.

Reddy,

Thanks,

JPK

JPK,

Congratulations on a wonderful hunt. I am also sorry to hear of your fathers passing.