As in previous years, my hunt officially "starts"with my first African beer on the plane to Jo'Berg. I guess the flight attendant felt I needed more than one this year, and I gladly took it. So, on 29 April, my 7th hunt with Save Safaris and Mike Payne officially began.




I got to Mike's house on the evening of 30 April, and after Mike, Mel and I finished off a bottle and a half of fine single malt Scotch, it was off to bed. The next day was spent packing for our trip and doing some shopping in Harare, and on 2 May, Mike and I left for Nyanga in the Eastern Highlands to do some fly fishing for rainbow trout. On the way to Nyanga, we stopped for lunch at the Pine Tree Inn where we had a superb meal and a few pints in this proper British style pub.



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We fished all the next day in a private lake catching 8 nice rainbows using "Hamil's Killers" and sinking lines - very different from the type of fly fishing I do in Virginia.
We kept a few fish for dinner that evening, and Mike did a great job of preparing them. More single malt Scotch followed, which made for a great evening.
On 4 May we were off to Matendere Ranch in the Save Conservancy. It was a very scenic drive along the Mozambique border. We stopped near the Save river Bridge to do some shopping for local carved items. Prices were much better here than in Harare as one may imagine.








After getting to the ranch and sighting in rifles, we were off to hunt in the afternoon. The bush was incredibly thick, so spotting game was not easy. We did come across a Grysbuck, but it turned out to be a female. Near dusk, we encountered a group of eland. Mike let me shoot a young bull for rations,and it turned into a couple of superb dinners and lunches later in the week.



As I mentioned earlier, the bush was very thick, and buffalo seemed to be everywhere. Getting close for a shot with a double rifle was another matter. This proved to be very challenging as there were tracks upon tracks almost every time we stopped to go after buffalo. On the night of 7 May, it rained very hard - unusual for May in Zimbabwe. We thought this was the break we needed, so we headed out on 8 May anticipating a good hunt. We found a set of Dagga Boy tracks at a pan mid morning that were not messed up by the rain, so we knew they were fresh. That was the good news. The bad news was that there was blood mixed in with the spoor, and the tracks headed into the thickest jess possible. When we started tracking, Mike had his 470 double at "port arms", so I knew this was not your average hunt. We tracked at dead slow anticipating a charge from every bush. After about 30 minutes of tracking, Mike spotted the Dagga Boy at about 15 yards lying under a tree in the thick stuff. We took one more step, and the bull stood and started towards us. I fired my Jeffery .475 No.2 Jeffery NE double (Owain Lewis's rifle) twice while Mike put in an insurance shot, and the bull went down. it was as good a buffalo hunt as I have ever had. My Dagga Boy had a 36" spread and 14" bosses - a real old guy and a real trophy.





The next day was spent hunting around kopjes for klipspringers and bushpigs. We found lots of sign, but that was where our luck ended. On 10 May, we encountered a group of young sable bulls near a kopje. We froze in our tracks, and after a few minutes, cow sable with several calves walked by. We hoped an old bull was following these guys, and our patience payed off. Ten minutes later I had a 40"+ mature bull cross 75 yards in front of us. Picking a small window in the thick brush, I fired my CZ 9.3x62. The bull went about 150 yards before piling up - he was a great trophy with 10 ½" bases.

The rest of the hunt was spent looking for klippies - we never found a shooter. I did manage to take a nice impala the last day of the hunt. Overall, it was a great safari, and I can't wait to return next year.

Congrats Admiral on yet another great safari in Save. I didn't know Save was such a good sable area. Did you see plenty of evidence of the Big Four on this trip?

Lots of big leopard tracks on the roads from multiple cats, lions roaring outside camp every night (never saw them but they were there!), tremendous number of buffalo, and a decent amount of elephants, including one bull in the 50-60 pound range the last day...but he was the only real shooter we encountered. The bush was VERY thick, so if we saw animals, it was up close and personal.

Great hunt Admiral.

Sucks I was not able to tag along.

Next year.

Mike

Well done. I love seeing Owain's rifle back in the field doing what it was made to do. An excellent way to honor his memory.

Thanks for the report... I will echo what Mike said and repeat it was great to see Owain's rifle in the field. And a very nice and proper buffalo hammered with it!

On a different note, I had no idea there was trout fishing in the Zim highlands. Kudos for mixing a little cast with your blast!

Excellent horns on that young eland.

No complaints? Gripes? Dang, you always seem to have a good time!!!
Congratulations on a fine old dagga boy and a great "young" eland.

Gorgeous sable!

Nice report, thx!

Well done Admiral! Great old Dugga boy and a fine sable.

Rich Tabor told me all about those highlands and the great fishing, I am keen to go.

Congrats man - looks like an awesome hunt!

Great hunt, Admiral. Incredible animals all around. I like your taste in rifles, by the way.

Terrific buff and well done.

Congratulations Admiral, great trophies there.

Nice photos and trophies - congrats and thanks for sharing.

Nice old dagga boy!!!!

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Nice old dagga boy!!!!

And the Buff is pretty nice as well. Well done Dave!

Great hunt! Thanks so much for sharing. Your buff looks outstanding (lots of character)!!!