July 2015 Nuanetsi Leopard/Buffalo/Plains Game Father-Son Safari

Hunters: Paul Smith (the “Not Normal Client”) and Will Smith (age 15)
Hunting dates: July 16 – July 30, 2015
Area: Mbizi Camp-Mwenezi River-Nuanetsi Zimbabwe
Agents: Safari Classics (Dave Fulson, Tim Danklef, Jamie Cowan)
Outfitter: Chifuti Safaris
Professional Hunter: pretty much a last minute replacement, some guy named Mark Vallaro
Trackers: Douglas, Tinos, Dulie, and Christian
Airline: Emirates (Houston-Dubai-Lusaka-Harare)
Travel agent: Steve Turner, Travel With Guns (highly recommended)
Ammunition: John LaSala (Safari Arms) .450 No. 2; Federal 180 grain Trophy Bonded Tip .300 WM and .30-'06; Cor-Bon .416 Rigby
Cigars: Montecristo No. 2 Habana and assorted Montecristo, Cohiba, Upmann
Bourbon: Knob Creek Small Batch 100 Proof (I learned the hard way there is no bourbon in Zimbabwe)
Boots: Russell Thula Thula (highly recommended), Courteney Selous, Russell Birdshooter, Danner Melee
Camera: Leica D-Lux 3
Rifles used:
1. W.J. Jeffery .450 No. 2 NE double rifle made in 1906
2. AHR/CZ .416 Rigby with Swarovski Z6i 1-6x24
3. AHR/CZ .30-’06 with Leica ERi 2.5-10x42
4. Merkel Helix .300 Win Mag with Leupold VX3L 3.5-10x56

Animals hunted and taken:

Paul (leopard, Cape buffalo, eland, wart hog, bushpig, honey badger)

Will (kudu, nyala, bushbuck, waterbuck, impala, blue wildebeest, zebra, warthog, bushpig, civet, baboons)

Other game seen: elephant, giraffe, wild dogs, grysbok, steenbok, duiker, brown hyena, cheetah, crocodile, jackal, mongoose, dwarf mongoose, otter, bush-baby

This hunt was a long time coming. My previous African hunts were 2006 (Matetsi for buffalo and plains game) and 2008 (Dande for buffalo and tuskless). I worked for what seems like years with Dave Fulson and Tim Danklef to get this hunt arranged. I originally had a Chewore elephant bull/buffalo hunt scheduled for 2014 but changed to this leopard/buffalo hunt in Nuanetsi, primarily so Will would have more opportunity for a good plains game hunt.

I had decided to sell the crown jewels of my rifle collection, most of my tools, and damned near everything else I could to go on this adventure with Will before I got too old. With the help of Biebs, Mike Jines, George Caswell, and Mike Schwandt I sold enough rifles to pay for the daily rates. Will had done really well on a Canadian black bear hunt in 2012 (set up by Wade Derby) so I figured he was ready for the Dark Continent. He had much more hunting experience than I did before my first safari; Matetsi in 2006 was my very first hunt of any kind, unless that frog I shot with a BB gun counts.

Finally, after hanging around the Safari Classics’ booths every SCI and DSC show until just before Dave and Tim called security, we got this 2015 hunt squared away. Then it was just a matter of waiting for July to come. That was not easy.
I was determined to use my double rifle on the buffalo even though my vision is approaching the Mr. Magoo level. I was however, sensible enough to take along a Wayne Jacobson/AHR .416 Rigby rifle as a scoped backup, and I took another one of Wayne’s rifles (a .30-’06) for the leopard.

Will has an interest in German and Austrian rifles so we took his Merkel Helix. It is a very accurate and fast handling rifle, although like any German rifle made since the Mauser Model 1898 (or its descendants), it is ugly and an acquired taste. The Steyr/Merkel gunsmith, Herbert Wohlmuth, tuned the trigger to 3 pounds the week before we left. It turned out to be a great rifle.

For this trip I followed the advice of Hunter Jines and flew Emirates from Houston to Dubai, then on to Harare by way of Lusaka. I drove my H2 from The ‘Ham to Houston which took about ten hours. I found this route to be far preferable to the Atlanta/Jo’burg/Harare route on Delta or South African. Although we were in Dubai for less than 15 hours, I must say it was a very interesting stop-over, and now we can say we have been to Asia. In Dubai we stayed at the Calthorpe (?) hotel near the airport (Emirates picked up the tab) and in Harare overnighted at the Woodlands Guest House (highly recommended). We finally arrived in Nuanetsi by Cessna 206 on the afternoon of July 15. Mark was still on the last day of a hunt so we sighted in the rifles next morning.

I cannot recommend the Safari Classics and Chifuti teams highly enough, or thank them enough. Dave Fulson and Tim Danklef bent over backwards to work with me. Mark Vallaro was the perfect Professional Hunter and well deserves his reputation as a leopard expert; he puts the 'professional' in professional hunter. Mark's team of trackers was first rate. We also really appreciated the hospitality and professionalism of Nuanetsi's manager Brent Leesmay and our camp manager Sandy Schultz (PH Rich Schultz's mother).

Cheers.





The camp's adopted nyala Josh.



Mark with Bella and Rosie.



The cow elephant who charged and chased us. First elephant Will had ever seen.



Lion track.



View from our tent.



One of 12 impala taken by Will for bait.



Will's waterbuck taken on day 3.



One of Will's baboons.



One of three zebras Will shot for bait.



Will's warty.



Will's bushbuck.



Will's kudu.



Will's bushpig.



Will's wildebeest.



Will's nyala.





Will's civet.



My leopard taken on day 10; 7 foot 8 inches, 152 pounds.









Bait tree from elevated blind.



Blind.



Buffalo taken with AHR .416 Rigby and my Jeffery .450 No. 2.





Honey badger that ate my leopard bait.



Bushpig taken by moonlight with Leica scope.



Eland taken on last day, one of the best hunts of my life.

Great hunt report.

All those bush pig pictures make me jealous.

Mike

Congrats Paul on a great safari with your son!

Could you comment on the quantity of the major species you saw in Nuanetsi (Buffalo, kudu, nyala, eland, impala, waterbuck and maybe even elephant)?

Thanks

huge congrats. Great trip...

Great hunt!

And a heckuva leopard!

Nuanetsi grows them big for sure.

Thanks guys.

Safari2: Nuanetsi has vast quantities of game.

On a daily basis we saw impala, eland, waterbuck, zebra, wildebeest, kudu cows, wart hog, giraffe. Lots and lots of impala, steenbok, and duiker.

Probably on an every-other-day basis saw bushbuck, kudu bulls, and nyala. Saw something like six really nice nyala bulls.

We saw buffalo say, four times over the 15 days, but we did not track any buff so likely would have seen more had we looked for them.

Only saw the elephants the one time, although we saw lots of elephant tree damage, tracks, and droppings. We heard two elephants eating one evening in camp and one of those bulls knocked out the water supply for a day.

We heard leopard and hyena every night while in camp, but never saw a spotted hyena, only the brown. Bush pigs we saw maybe four times over the 15 days. Saw a completely black pig one day. Will shot his bush pig early morning, mine was at night.

Congratulations to you and your son. Well done!

Congratulations on a fine hunt. Great report and some fine animals taken.

Paul, it would be tough to top that with an encore!

congratulations great hunt. Hunted Leopard In Nuanetsi in 2012 while. I did not get one the only one out of 6 hunters I had a great time shot a lot of impala stayed in the cabin in one of your photos.

Great hunt and fabulous trophies - that is one huge bvungo!

What a great bag. Congratulations to you both.

that kid is gonna have the same smile on his face 50 years from now.thats how you make memories

Congrats, that's a great hunt!

That young man of yours FACE, in all those pictures, tells me everything I really need to know about that Safari!
Even tho I read your report it's Great thank you and Congratulations ! I really didn't need to after seeing that SMILE in every picture !

Congratulations on a wonderful hunt. Thats a lot of shooting in 14 dAYS!!!
I hope that one day i too can share a similar experience with my son.

cheers

Nick

Congratulations to the two of you on a great experience and a fine report.
Thanks for posting.

Nuanetsi is a very special place, congrats on a good hunt. Thanks for sharing.

Congratulations Paul on a great Safari with your son, very nice Tom indeed, welldone.

I think we saw you and your son on Harare airport as we were also returning from our hunt on 31st.

Hey Paul,
Glad you and Will got back home OK. Was a pleasure sharing camp with you guys and I'm sorry we didn't get to "play" on the range with the doubles!
Congrats again to you and Will on your superb trophies!
Cheers
Brent

P.S Please remind me who designed that double rifle reloading pouch? Such a clever idea.

Congratulations to Paul & Will... looks like you guys did very well & Will got to shoot a lot of stuff!

Congratulations to you both!
Well done!!

Brent, the cartridge holder is the Keith Double Duty, designed and sold by Bill Keith; he is at the DSC and SCI shows.

http://www.traderkeith.com/

Thanks again for the great time in Nuanetsi!

Forgot my wart hog (ha ha, it's bigger than Will's):

Such a pleasure for our Safari Classics and Chifuti family to help make dreams come true. SOOOOO glad you got the cat we've been talking about for so long.And my apologies for sticking you with Mark. But I did send him a copy of a book I found at Half Price Books " 101 Ways To Harness Leopards" Looked like he read it!

Congratulations for your safari and for the great trophies you have got. I hunted a lot in Nuanesti about 12 years and game like buffalo was almost absent.

Well done, great cat and pigs!!!

Great report and wonderful trophies. Always great to see young folks on safari. Next time it should be Will taking the DG and Dad collecting the bait ....

Well done Paul. I know how much you were looking forward to this trip and the pictures would certainly indicate that it lived up to your expectations. Congrats!

Paul, congratulations on a great hunt and some wonderful trophies!

Paul,
Well done... I truly respect a man who gives up something of value to be able to bring joy to others. By selling part of your gun collection you created memories with your son the two of you will fondly remember for the rest of your lives. My hats off to you.

And a hell of a good leopard too!

Thank you Gents,

Here are the .450 No. 2 Woodleighs recovered from the buffalo; I am so pleased I got to use the old Jeffery.

Great hunt and what a treat to go with your son. Just awesome. MMP

Paul,

You guys had one great safari on one of Zimbabwe's premier areas.

Huge congrats!

Mark

Congratulations on a successful hunt.I can see why you would be feeling down leaving Harare.

Wonderful Trophies!!!

Congratulations and fantastic trophies all round. The leopard is exceptional and what a fantastic buffalo.

I just learned yesterday that Paul died last year. He was 59. I had dinner with he and Will in Houston when they were leaving for this trip. Gone too soon. I hope he is sitting around a mopane campfire in Heaven, enjoying a cigar and a glass of bourbon and waiting for the rest of us so we can all share stories. He was a good guy.

Very sad news. Rest in peace Paul.

I really hate to hear that. Paul was a good guy. He and son, Will made a trip to visit me and deliver some 338 ammo I purchased on ARbay. I showed them my trophies, took them on the dime tour of my town, and fed them some good BBQ before they left and returned home. 59 is far too young. Rest in peace, Paul.