My second trip to friend and PH, Ticky Drummond's Bubiana camp in Zim's low veldt. This time I was accompanied by friend and client Mark Thornell. Both of us would be hunting Leopard, fowl, varmints and Plains Game. I brought my model 700 VS in .223 Remington, .280 Weatherby Mark V & a 870 Remington Shotgun. Mark brought his pump shotgun and Browning 7mm Rem. I'll post Mark's pics as soon as he sends them (he doesn't post on the Net). I'd like to report we had absolutely no problems or trouble of any kind, any where. We were graciously greeted at the Bulawayo Air-hut by friendly and kind employees. Our host and my PH, Ticky Drummond met us as soon as we left the Customs/Visa area, loaded us up and off to Bulawayo for some great shopping. Two stops and we were loaded with all the goods we desired. 3+ hours later we were in camp. The new lawn was lush and well groomed by daily visits of Warthogs, Yellow Hornbills, Glossy Starlings, Grey Louries and the like. Waterbuck and Bush Buck were grazing along the river when we entered the long, circular drive up to the lodge. After selecting our individual rooms, unpacking and stowing our gear, the drum began to beat indicating dinner was served. Skorky plays a mean African drum! I won't go into how great the accommodations, food, company and hunting was, I'll leave most of that in the photo's. Mark had George Brown guiding him. I will say Mark took a toad of a Leopard within the first hour of darkness, the FIRST evening he sat in his blind. We had hung 12 baits in the first two days, and had hits on every one of them within 24 hours. Most were Toms, but a few were hit by females and or, Hyena. It took me 6 evenings to get my Tom. Here's my pics, I'll post Marks ASAP.
First we shot Impala baits. Mark only shot 4 baits plus one for trophy. 90% of the "baits" we shot were 18-20 inch rams. No females were shot.

I took several trophy class rams over 20 inches




After passing up numbers of good Klipspringers every day, I finally took a nice heavy ram with my .223 Remington V.S. 700. He wasn't the largest we saw, but there are a great number of them over 4 inches and most of the time they're running when you spot them


After the baits were hung, Mark took his big Tom on the first evening, only one hour in the blind. He used his 7mm Mag. Great cat Mark, congrats! 17 inch skull, 7' 5" long, 167 actual pounds!

I shot this big male Baboon off a bluff with the .223 while the large troop barked and squealed:



We also did some varmint hunt with my .223 and shotguns. Here's my Genet. Mark took one and an African Wild Cat.


Next was a White-necked Raven that I caught eating a Dove. These are big birds and the field workers were very excited over me shooting him. They said they are too smart to get shot...oh well.


We did some upland hunting and took a number of Guinea and Francolin: Male Crested Francolin:


Male Natal with double spurs


Guinea fowl


One morning we went to the corn fields and shot Eyptian Geese, Knob-billed ducks and Spur-wing Geese. Outstanding waterfowling over dry corn. We ran out of shells!

Mature Knob-billed Duck I shot



Time to hunt Leopard. Get on target


After hunting 3 different Toms, success came on evening #6



The largest female Warthog I had seen before. Skin was like hard cardboard, very old sow. Check out how much tusk is worn off...



Later, I would see two younger sows with longer, sharper tusks, but this one was a real trophy. Next I took this boar. Both were taken with the .280 pushing Nosler 160 gr Accubonds.


About 130 Black Rhino's live in the area. All have had their horns cut off to deter poachers.


It was an outstanding safari. Lots of game, and Mark took advantage of it. We had a lot of encounters with Elephants, but nothing serious. Hyena's were all around but I didn't dedicate the time to get one. I will next trip. I would recommend this hunt to anyone wanting an honest chance at taking a good Leopard (large tom's live in this area year around) or multiple plains game species. Prices are reasonable too. Give me a call to book your hunt or answer questions. You can take your family to this camp, it's that nice. Hunting is very good here and so is the outstanding fishing. Last I knew, a Largemouth bass over 13 pounds had been caught...and eaten. Some beautiful mountains. We saw several Kudu over 52-55 inches but the big bulls were up in the hills. The rut was over.
Cheers,
David

That looks like a fun hunt, congrats on the cats, Great pics as well. Thanks for the report

Very nice LD.

Great hunt

Very nice cats and Warthog! Well done.

quote:

Meanwhile, to all you nay-sayers that balked and squawked about how the area was void of game and controled by Mugabe's Vet's, you were not only WRONG, BUT DAMN WRONG! You should stick to facts and not hearsay and conjecture. You serve no purpose than to add fire to an already "blown out of control" news media that claims doom and gloom behind every page of their garbage. And your poor judgement does nothing to give the facts to those considering a hunt in a country that has ligitimate concerns for foreign travelers.

Amen…

Congratulations on a great hunt and thanks for posting you report….

Reports from hunters like you are a far more valid source of information to those of us traveling to Zim than the media or the naysayer crowd…

Thanks again

Matt V.

LD,

Great report and pics...cats are super...See you in Dallas..

Mike

Great report. Looks like I missed out. Hopefully, next year.

yup - thats the loveld - one of my favorite places. I don't think that there's anyplace that gets leopards the size of those in the loveld

Beautiful cats, thanks for the report.

LDK, great cats congratulations. It is always nice to shoot all those Impalas for bait, well done.

Congrats on a successful mixed bag safari!

Can you tell me what that blk rubber ring is on your barrel?

Cheers

Gabriel

David,

Nice trophies and really great pics.

Mark

Congrats LDK and Mark. Great pics. Some I hadn't seen yet.

David

david
congratulation on the cat. well done! also that was some nice bait impala you shot

Thanks to all, I appreciate you taking time to look at all the pics. As soon as I get Mark's CITES application (in a few days), I'll post his pics. He really did very well taking some excellent trophies. Hope to see all of you at Dallas!
Good hunting,
David
PS: we're in Memphis this weekend if anyone attends this show, stop by and say hello.

Great report, great hunt and congrats on great trophies!

Congratulations David on a great hunt! That is one nice leopard. Hope your Moz trip is just as productive. Please keep me posted on that.

F2R

congrats, looks like you had a ball and a great hunt

Thanx Gents, it was a great hunt, but I didn't mention the Sable I saw. A fully mature mac daddy with a sweeping set of horns. I didn't make a stalk on him as I want something to go back for. Mark on the other hand kept his eyes open but they never saw him. We saw him again the day before we left. Beautiful antelope's they are.
LDK

David, sounds like the place I just left. Were you hunting on Lemco?

Congratulations David. I enjoyed your report and photographs very much.

Aziz

Congratulations on a great hunt. Nice pictures and report; what a fun time on the bird shoots.

Great report LD!!

I LOVE the 2 pics of the francolin.. I'm headed over the pond next Mon for 14 days and I'm bringing the Beretta O/U this go round to put a dent in the ocal Francolin population myself!

Great klipie and kitty as well!!

David, very nice indeed. Thanks for sharing and makes the next ten months even longer as I prepare for Zim in June.

Thanx guys, I appreciate the compliments. The bird hunting could be phenomenal if one wanted to put some time into it. Our Chef, Kenny, took the Francolin breasts and wrapped them around chucks of pineapple, covered them with mozzarella cheese and baked them. They were outstanding! sevenmagltd; yes, we are next door to Lemco. Wonderful hunting country.
Cheers,
David

Well that is great to hear right at lunch time. Guess I will need to take some jalapeno/serrano peppers with me.

Here's some of Mark Thornell's pics.
Baboon and Baboon skull:



Bushbuck


Mark with his Tom. 17" skull, 7' 8" long and officially weighed 167 pounds. Stomach was empty.


Genet


Bush, Grey or Common Duiker


Impala baits



Klipspringer; check out the bases!


Trophy Impala


Warthog; we saw many like this one


African Wildcat (he almost took a Caracal and Civet) but let those slip away. The Lynx was sitting in a ditch right beside the truck. I do believe I could have killed it with a sling shot.


His 17" Leopard skull


Mark's trophies

Mark said he had a fantastic safari and can't wait to return. Today (2017) Ticky Drummond no longer lives on the family ranch. He's raising a family in Bulawayo. However, I still have a great PH and can get you hunting in no time. Give me a ring and let's sort it out. Cheers, LDK

David,

When shooting animals as 'bait' animals, can you keep the horns, skull or the hide as a rug, mount, etc.? Or, does the animal need to be designated a 'trophy' animal to ship the horns and cape back to the U.S.?

Thanks,

Awesome hunt and report.

Thanks for sharing

graybird, you can keep the horns, I'd just add a few bucks to my skinners tip for hacking off a foul smelling skull. Afer a few days hanging in a tree it might be ripe. As for capes, that would need to be skinned out before the carcass is hung. You'd pay about $50 above the bait price for this service. I only kept one cape as it was a real nice ram. Same for Mark. However, I did ask for a few of the horns as they were in the 20" range.
Thanks Gerhard. Hope your recovery is coming along well.
Good hunting,
David

Thanks David!

I was asking because I would think you might be able to get a few nice euro mounts out of them and maybe an extra rug or two, if wanted.

Looks like a great hunt! Congrats on your trophies! Were you hunting Lemco?

I love the lowveld of Zimbabwe!! Great pics and great trophies, LD and Mark. Congratulations again.

graybird, Yes, you could save the horns and skins for an extra $50 over the bait cost, but if your shelling out Leopard hunting money, forget that. Time is important. Shoot whatever trophy Impala you want later. After you get your Leopard you can collect any horns you want.

Taz, no, Lemco is next door. We border them.

Thanks UEG. I love it too. Planning on going back next year.

Congrats on a fine hunt!Just curious,what bullet did you use in the .223?

Thanx RiflemanZ. I use Federal Premium cartridges pushing the Nosler 60 grain Partition. For me, its limit is Impala sized game, but it is outstanding on pygmy antelope and Springbok size game.
Good hunting,
David

Two great leopard. Congrats!

Love those hogs, too.

Great cats. I love Mark's last picture with all his trophies. I'm going to make sure I get a shot like that on my next safari ( RSA - next June !!!)

Thank you both. It was a great hunt start to finish.
LDK