Dates: January 18-Febuary 2, 2016
Place: Northern Cameroon (Dijibao (Controlled Hunting area 23) and Mayo N'Duel (Controlled Hunting area 20) )
Outfitter: Mayo Oldiri Safaris
Booking: Adam Clements (Adam Clements Safari Trackers)
Professional Hunters: Mike Fell and Herve in Dijibao, Jean-Francois Picheyre in Mayo N'Duel
Rifles: .375 H&H Dakota 76 and .330 Dakota in a Dakota 76.

West African Giraffe



This hunt was booked a couple years ago at Safari Club in Vegas. Adam had introduced me to Mike Fell when suggesting that a Bongo hunt would be something to try. In speaking with Mike, he suggested that of the two major animals in Western Africa, the more "sensitive" one was the Giant Eland. While there are plenty right now, with the constant rate of incursion of people, he had recommended getting one sooner rather than later. I thus was talked into booking both hunts, the Eland had an opportunity in their premier camp first, so that was the one I booked first.

As to the rather unusual arrangements with PH's, Mike was scheduled to be my PH for this hunt, however, some items came up. I was able to hunt with him for the first half of the hunt, but the second half required his presence elsewhere. Mayo Oldiri has a crew of good PH's, but most are French, and as such there have been some issues with communication. Adam prefers to have his clients hunt with a natively english speaking PH to avoid communication issues, in this case, it meant that I had Mike running my hunt with Herve, a very experienced French PH who has been hunting Cameroon and the CAR for decades. The second half of the hunt was guided by Jean-Francois Picheyre, who is also French, but a bit younger than Herve.

I arrived in Douala, which is Cameroon's major airport later in the afternoon. We then had Mayo Oldiri's staff work with me to try and get the gun permit stuff taken care of. We ended up spending several hours in the airport and having to pay several of the police and customs folks to get things done. I finally got to the hotel well after 10 PM and promptly crashed. The next morning, while the plane did not leave until after 11, they wanted plenty of time to deal with the usual issues at the airport, and thus we were there at 8 AM. I ended up being overweight on the flight and was charged $20 for the weight. Strangely enough, on the way back, after leaving about 20# of medical supplies I was again overweight, but this time it was $60 for the internal flight... C'est Afrique.

I was picked up by Herve at Garoua International Airport. There was a rather sizable US military presence at Garoua including some Predator drones; this is apparently related to supporting the fight against Boko Haram. I then had a 9 hour drive to get to Dijibao, arriving well after dark.

The following morning, I went and sighted in the rifles, and everything was dead on.

The first couple of sightings were Hartebeest and Kob, with a Bushbuck seen by Herve and Mike that I did not see at all. The terrain was reminiscent of what one sees in southern africa as well. Everything was pretty dry at this point, but a fair amount of burning had been done and things were open enough that if you had your eyes about you, game was all over. I had a bit of issue seeing game at the start. However, about an hour or so in, we found a good hartebeest. He also was obligingly standing relatively still. I shot once, and while I hit him a bit forward of where I wanted to, he piled up pretty quickly and we had the first animal in the salt.

Hartebeest



The hartebeest had a bit of damage due to a snare. He was missing one foot and it was slowly healing, with some bleeding still. He was in pretty rough condition, so we may have made his end a bit easier.

We then spent the rest of the day looking for Eland and did a bit of eland tracking. The ground tended to be very rough with all kinds of anthills that were formed when it rained and then they were baked into adobe. They looked like small turds everywhere, so they got called mud turds. Usually with some kind of expletive. They gave me some really impressive blisters.

Ant Mounds



The next day was a reprisal of the first, with more looking for Eland and tracking them.

The third day, we had a bit of eland tracking, but after a bit, we ended up finding a nice Waterbuck. I ended up not doing a very good job on this, and as another hunter mentioned, I think that the winter lack of shooting really affected me. I had a rather strange flinch develop- I could shoot from the bench fine, and the guns were on, but I was jerking the trigger big time on the game animals. In any case, I hit the back leg of the waterbuck, missed with a follow up shot and then put a third round in the back hip area. We then had a rather prolonged tracking session, that included jumping a good bull eland at 35 yards that I missed because I had the magnification turned up too high and mistook what I was seeing- but at least it was a clean miss. 6 hours later, at almost sunset, we finally caught up with the waterbuck and I finally put him down.

Waterbuck





The next day involved again looking for eland, although we really did not find anything worth following, but we did run into a good older Roan. This was one good shot and then he was down.

Roan



The following day was a rather low point of the hunt. We were following Eland tracks most of the day, and then got in close. One of the trackers noticed them and we were able to get in position and have them walk right up to us. I had a perfect broadside shot at a great bull at 80 yards and flinched it right off of him. I tried a make up shot on a second bull, and everyone thought I hit him. I tried a running shot at about 400 yards but that was a miss. We then took off running after the bull. I was able to make it several hundred yards before I was not able to keep up. The PH's continued running after him and left me trying to catch up as best I could with one of the trackers. The consensus at the time was that I must have hit the second bull. The rest of the day was trying to track this bull until sunset. That evening, I was told that while everyone was sure I hit the bull, no one had seen any blood whatsoever. The determination was to try and track him down the next morning.

My last day at Dijibao was spent looking for that bull. We tracked him up to the river and around for several miles, but could not find him or any blood. I did have a crack at a buffalo bull while we were doing this, but my head was too into Eland, and I did not register what was up until too late in the proceedings, so I lost a chance at a nice red coated Savanna Buffalo. That evening I also had a crack at a nice Bush Duiker that I hesitated on and thus lost out as well.

That evening, then next client at Dijibao, a nice cattleman from Montana arrived, and Mike and I were ready to head to N'Duel. Mike was going from there to Garoua along with another PH (Guav Johnson) to head back to the states. I was introduced to Jean-Francois and the next morning had a 4 hour drive to Mayo N'Duel.

The morning we went out looking for Kob, and found one, but again, I jerked the shot and missed. In the afternoon we again went looking for Eland and saw some in the distance. After a masterful job of stalking we got on a good herd and I was on the sticks. I was waiting for the eland to clear a tree branch covering his shoulder and adjusted the rifle on the sticks- and because I had my finger on the trigger (yep, I know...) I had the gun go off and there went that chance. I don't really know what was worse, the AD or the fact that the trackers thought I had missed the shot on a 70 yard eland...

On our way back to the truck, we surprised a very good Buffon (Western) Kob. I took a shot and hit him poorly, and then as he ran off, fired again, and hit him well. Unfortunately, it was quite dark and he was still moving a bit, and we could not find him quickly. Jean-Francois recommended that we get out of there then and come back in the morning, when either he would be calm or dead.

The next morning we went out and were going to start tracking when we heard hyena. We decided to go see what was going on. Perhaps he was on the Kob, but I had been told there were no hyena around here... Well, we could hear them, so off we went. On the track, we found a really good Reedbuck. This was a new species for me ( Nigerian Bohor Reedbuck) so we decided to shoot him. I shot him and then made two quick follow up shots, and he was down. As soon as that happened, one of the trackers said "La Bas! Shoot!" and I saw a hyena peeking around a bush at the reedbuck. I quickly lined up and hit the bush, of course. The hyena then leisurely walked out, and I had a perfect shot and... click. 4 rounds in the rifle, dummy. By the time I had the ammo in the gun, he decided to get out of Dodge. We followed them in the bush for a bit, but no luck.



We then took up the trail for the Kob. The trackers had found him watching his back trail laying under a bush. We made a big circle, and I was able to finally put him down also.



Kob and Reedbuck



By this time, I had finally figured out, either the rifle was way off or I was. I then asked to check zero and we were able to figure out it was in my head. Unfortunately, bad shooting had rattled everyone's confidence.

The next day we went out looking for Eland without luck. We did see some duiker and also made a stalk on buffalo, but no bull was seen.

The following day, we started out following a buffalo herd. After playing hide and seek with them for a couple hours, we busted them once too often and we could not catch up with them. In the afternoon, we went out to see if there were any Korrigum (Giant Topi) around, and while we saw some, no shot opportunity ensued. That evening, at dusk as we drove back, I was asked if I thought I could hit a guinea fowl in the tree...well I was sure I could, and I was told to shoot one to get some confidence back in the trackers. I got him, and everyone was happy... probably the turn around point of the hunt.

The next morning we were going out to look for tracks, and we saw a small pack of hyena in the road. I was told to shoot one immediately. I then promptly rolled one at about 200 yards. We did need to put a finisher in him, but it was another good big hyena. The crew was all ecstatic about getting him. It turns out this is second hyena taken at N'duel in 15 years, with the last being over 7 years ago. To give an idea how protein starved these guys are, they saved the stomach and insides of the hyena to eat. While I have seen that no protein ordinarily gets wasted in Africa, generally apes and Hyenas are not eaten... In Cameroon, they were begging me to shoot baboon so they could eat them and they did not waste even offal on the hyena. Another interesting bit was how the trackers took certain parts to make charms for good luck and safety for themselves. We had all kinds of people stopping and looking at the commotion, and everyone seemed to have to shake my hand for getting one of the hyena.

Hyena



After dropping off the hyena, we again went out looking for Eland. We found some tracks and relatively shortly thereafter, one of the trackers saw them. They looked like they were laying up fort the day and we decided to try and get around them, climb the small mountain that they were resting on and get above and behind them. This was a bit of a trek, but we finally got where we wanted to be, but there was no eland! they had decided to move on. We found the tracks and started following them. We managed to sight them twice but had them move off quickly both times. I had thought that they had given us the slip when the trackers started squatting and motioning me down. The third time, we managed to get in a bit of cover as they decided to move across an opening. I saw a bull and went on him, but Jean-Francois told me that the bigger one was to the left. I found him and then took a shot, and he started running, I swung on him and hit him again. He promptly holed up in some brush and I lost sight of him. They really can conceal themselves well. I was directed to a bit forward position and I saw his black neck. I then shot him again and he went down for good. I had managed to get a Lord Derby Eland, despite all my screw ups and bad shooting!

Eland



Eland with the crew



We then spent several hours getting photos and cutting up the eland. We even had some fresh Eland tenderloin on site.

The next two days were spent looking for Buffalo and Duiker, but while we saw some, there were no good males seen so no shooting. We did do some burning however.

Burning Grass


The third day after the eland, we found the Giant Topi (also called a Korrigum). They were hanging out in some shade near a clearing and we spotted them before they saw us. It took some time to decide which one was a bull, but fortunately, he was the one that I saw most clearly. I shot and dropped him, and them put a finishing shot in him. This is a rather rare animal for a hunter to take. I was told that there are maybe 15 or so taken a year in all of Cameroon. While not much bigger in body, their horns are much bigger than the regular Topi of Eastern Africa.

Korrigum



That evening, we met up with Herve and the other client. He was looking for a roan, which we were seeing some of, and a Bush Duiker and maybe a Civet Cat, having got his Eland and Bushbuck along with some other animals in Dijibao. Herve needed to get back to Garoua, so he would drive me back and Jean-Francois would take over for the hunter at Mayo N'Duel. We left camp at 3:15 in the morning, and that was the start of 2 days of travel until I arrived back home in Minnesota. I am looking forward to seeing what the Rain Forest is like next year, when I get to try for Bongo Antelope.

What a great safari,you have been really lucky in your last hunts! and a fantastic bag of trophies, the pictures are also very nice, thanks for sharing!

Way to go outstanding report great animals

Holy Cow what a hunt!!! Huge congrats...

Fantastic hunt. Your kob is incredible!!

Amazing hunt and trophies; CONGRATULATIONS!

Mr Butler you do get around.

That is a proper Lord Derby and the mass is superb. Fantastic Kob and Korrigum not to mention the Roan and others.

Very serious safari indeed. Well done albeit some shoddy shooting on your behalf.

Cameroon looks positively busy.

Those are some awesome trophies!

Extremely well done CR!!!

Congrats to you on your safari and all your trophies!

Well done Dr. Butler!

Congratulations on a wonderful safari.
Thanks for posting.

Great animals. Congratulations and thank you for telling the "whole" story. We have all had trouble behind the rifle and I appreciate your honesty.
Ski+3

Charles,

Another great safari and super write up. Sounds like Mayo Oldiri has some great areas. Don't sweat the shooting as it happens to all of us. The point is you worked out of it.

Congrats!

Mark

Quite the safari!

Excellent Trophies!!!

Wow great hunt

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Charles, Your hunts / trips just seem to get better every time ! Awesome bag! Well done you plus a great honest report and good pictures. Congratulations!

Charlie

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Well Done. Some great trophies. Particularly the old eland.

Great Report.
Many Fine Trophys and a Awesome Eland. Congrats

Looks like you got'm all! Very nice.

First class!

Congratulations all fine trophies.It must have been a very busy safari with a lot of hard work involved.That hyena would make a nice full size mount.

Great hunt and one never speaks about not getting the animals your afte while in Cameroon, its game rich by the sounds of it!

Great, honest report and while your agonised over your shooting, you got your animals