I posted this previously in the wrong place and am moving it where it belongs. Thanks- Lee Grigson

This from Kambako Safari's December 2009 newsletter.
In next to hunt was Lee Grigson from Texas. What can we say, Stu and Lee got to hunt together and had an absolute ball. Lee bought the donated buffalo/ sable hunt at the SCI convention and upgraded to lion after being on the ground at Kambako and seeing the numerous lion tracks there. Please take the time to look at the recently updated website www.kambakosafaris.com . Lee is featured in the fabulous footage of the lion charge and under the Testimonial Section. The short video clip showing the lion charge is the last couple seconds of what turned out to be quite the lion hunt. Last afternoon after turning down 17 other male lions, Lee shoots this particular male lion and after much congratulations and high fives with the lion lying dead in front of them, the lion comes back to life!!!!!! Oooooops this was not meant to happen. Everybody had to re-gather their wits and follow up the once dead lion. Stu opted to follow up the wounded lion by using the vehicle. This is the footage you get to see.



LEE GRIGSON: The lucky dog’s hunt-
Kambako Safaris (hunting and eco/photo tourism), northeastern Mozambique, in both Niassa and Cabo del Gado Provinces, 50 miles south of the Tanzanian border, 140 miles inland from Pemba, MZ. John "Jumbo" Moore, outfitter, moved his entire Zimbabwean staff, including Stuart Taylor, PH, (other outstanding PHs available- Johnny Johnston and Stuart are great staff PHs) Hunt took place 21st July to 8th August, 2009. I am 53 years old, 6'1", 190 pounds, physically fit but now prone to sprained ankles after a lifetime of hard, mid-level tennis. This was a second trip to Africa, 1st in 2007 was also MZ on the Zambezi River just in from Zimbabwe and Zambia with Simon Roger's Safaris de Mozambique, Blake Muil, PH and Ian Godfrey, PH (buffalo, tuskless elephant, kudu, 2 nephews each took 15'croc, tuskless ele, 1 took a buff, 1 took nice kudu) I shoot a 416 Rigby and 375 H&H both in CZ 550 American Safari, Meopta illuminated 1-4x22 on the 416, a Leupold 1.5-5x20 on the 375, both with Talley quick detachable rings. The boys' family and I have nine CZ 550s ranging from 30-06 to 458 Lott- because can swap any scope and immediately have 2" patterns at 100 yards. We really like the CZ/Talley combination. We all use shotguns frequently and like to shoot open iron sights. This allows great flexibility- it is just more fun! And yes, the scope has allowed longer shots at good game. Gotta have that scope for the 150 yard (or more) shot! We didn't take any shot over 125 yards at Kambako. I like the illuminated reticle on dark bodied animals, I tape spare batteries together- 2 in my pocket (they don't rattle when taped) and I keep more in my ammo box back at the truck. I like Cabela's plastic ammo box- lockable- I take out their foam so it holds more; it is great for little items that might get lost. I use a pelican 1750, no foam; I use my soft gun cases for padding- and that leaves me room to pack spears on return. The pelican is my money safe at camp, using either tumbler or keyed locks. I use Russell Moccasin Joe's Special PH boot with the Vibram airbob sole- quietest sole ever made. I use Jeff Wemmer's SpecOps belts and use Dick Murray's C2 Rifle shell holders (leather and elastic).



This is the twice dead, final answer, lion. The first shot didn’t stun him, it was a good frontal lung shot that missed his heart. He was dead, just didn’t know it when he charged us.



I like this photo- the lion’s paw is bigger than my outstretched hand. The solid black nose identifies him as an old lion . Jumbo, Stuart and Johnny (the men who know about these things) figured him to be around 10-12, probably his last year in this tough world.


I learned later that if you touch a lion’s mouth you really really must wash up carefully to prevent infection. The photo at the truck has the apprentice PH Lawrence "Pepe" or "Appy" Joostore, Davy Mapolisa- tracker supreme, Lee Grigson the lucky, and PH Stuart Taylor. As we were returning to camp well after dark, we encountered a small herd of elephant milling about on both sides of the road in a mopane hardwood forest. We couldn't go around, Stuart sat several minutes hoping they would move off, but they were going to budge. He told everybody in back to keep their heads down and hold on- we were going to run the gauntlet. We raced the fifty yards with trees and elephant both close enough to touch as we passed through at 25 miles an hour- now that's a way to finish a hunt!


Welcome to Kambako! Roger delivers a g&t that was most welcome.



Day 18, THE REAL LION HUNT-
The lion looked distractedly through us as though he was more concerned with what he was going to do AFTER he killed us. I was fixed in shooting position on the sticks looking through the scope for what felt like an hour but couldn’t have been more than 5 minutes.

This day had begun as a lion hunt. We drove south past the runway to check bait on the Lumbeze River, the southwesternmost point of the concession. We had seen tracks of two very large males in a pride of nine lion several days here. Early on the trip and very near here we were driving one morning, went through a dip, coming up the other side to a turn we looked up and not 15’ away were two lionesses lying on a huge rock just watching the road and us- not being the antelope they were hoping for they picked up and casually sulked away. Such a sight! Back to last day, we parked a half mile away and climbed over a granite hill to see if anything was at the bait. No joy. A leopard had been in but that wasn’t of interest. We circled west into the big hills to check another bait, again no joy. We had a good lunch at the mountain camp and I called it a finished hunt. I didn’t want to try to hunt late, then settle up and fly at first light in the morning. I wanted to just relax this afternoon. I told Stuart it would be great if we found a nice baboon for Joseph, but otherwise I was just pleased as punch- not everyone gets to hunt lion- I had hunted them ten days, seen lots of lion and didn’t have to pay for one. Pretty fine the way I was looking at it. We were a two hour drive away from camp and halfway home when Davy and Pepe and I spotted a big male baboon on my side of the truck, just a ways off the road. We hopped out, loaded up to follow a ways. The critters took off into some knee high grass, the grass near us was tall enough to block Stuart’s view. I could just make out the big male about 50 yards away and cockily walking off, thinking he was invisible. I had Pepe set up the sticks and shot into the grass with the 375 H&H magnum. I didn’t see anything but thought it a good shot- it was, just behind the shoulder and out the chest- almost too much so. Karl Brosig will have his work closing the chest on this fellow. He is a tall fine baboon. I couldn’t carry him alone. Anyhow, baboon in hand I was really a happy camper- I do hate to disappoint Joseph (or his brothers for that matter). I didn’t bother reloading the rifle, it wasn’t going to do any further work.. I took off my belt and put it in the floor of the truck, not going to need that again! (or so I thought). Back at camp we dropped off the baboon for skinning, then went to see about some lunch. This was about 2:30 and very late for lunch. After a bite Stuart thought we might go shoot some birds, so we invited the pilot, Simon Venter to come along and have a beer with us. So Stuart, me, Davy, Pepe and Simon piled onto the truck and headed north to work the river. The sky was high overcast, not too hot on this late afternoon, we stopped a couple of times to shoot at the guinea fowl (I never did hit one), then driving a little further spotted several elephant coming cross country to water at the river in the dimmed afternoon light. It was around 4:30 pm, so most of us sat at the truck watching this monster elephant just trundling along for, gosh, half an hour in sight. He wasn’t worried about us, we weren’t worried about him. Pepe grabbed the fancy camera and made an approach to get some good close footage. It was great watching the elephant watch Pepe as the two vectored closer, ending up not 50 yards apart. The sun was at our backs, this made for quite a magnificent afternoon. Just magic. After the elephant passed into the riverine (thicket) we decided it was time to load up. Stuart mentioned that since we were so close to the #2 bait that it would save him time if we dumped the bait and pick up the chain. He had a client coming in the next afternoon so this worked well. Not five minutes after seeing the elephant we rounded a corner to the bait when Davy, in his quiet way, hollered STOP! STOP! GET OUT! HERE’S THE LION WE’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR!!!!! (he didn’t really yell, it was just above a whisper but his decisiveness was clear. We jumped, Pepe tossed me the 375 and we all crouch trotted forward to the side of the truck.


Stuart told me to shoot him when he stood up. The lion didn’t so much as twitch, head up just watching us watching him. A lioness was behind him sitting upright, just off to the left. I was in a partial squat, knees slightly bent and not wanting to adjust the sticks for fear of not being present when the lion moved off. AFter a few minutes vertigo set in. This was something really weird happening at an equally once in a lifetime event. This felt like it was unfolding on the television… I kept my shooting hand loose, safety had been off since I laid the rifle on the sticks, my trigger finger was relaxed and just touching the trigger shoe. Stuart decided the cat wasn’t going anywhere soon, so picked the sticks up and moved me fifteen feet to the right, rifle in position all while. This afforded a straight on shot through the chest that would run the length of his body, more chances to really hurt him. I told Stu I wasn’t pulling the trigger without his “shoot” call (after the eland foulup). Stu confirmed, telling me to shoot just under the right side of his chin which was turned ever so slightly to his right, still contemptibly relaxed. Pepe had been filming all the while, head tucked into his viewfinder just like me with the scope. I heard Pepe whisper that his knees were shaking, Stu chimed in- none of us so much as moving a whisker stubble while talking. I was mildly having trouble with that vertigo thing… How many thoughts go through your head at a time like this? None. Have you ever watched a tornado up close, but passed just by? How about a front row seat to a car wreck you can see coming and cannot get away from? Yep, time ceased to exist. Every second felt like an eternity. This was as much an out of body experience as you are going to get. My legs were burning from being bent, screamed for just a simple relieving stretch. Stu calmly said that the lion wasn’t moving, so pick my spot and shoot- done- that was simple. All the 5-stand target shooting made it easy to pick a target and shoot. I had been picking my spot for seven or eight minutes by this time. The lion jumped at the shot, backed up giving me a broadside, two more quick shots as quickly as I could, I thought both hit home. He moved ten feet to my left and paused, Stu told me to shoot again- empty!, okay I dropped the rifle, said aloud it was at the moment useful only as a paperweight as my belt with ammunition was 75 yards behind us. I asked Stu for his rifle, he said I didn’t need it as just then the lion stumbled to his left and just fell flat over. Hoorays and back slaps- I quickly sat as my legs were so fatigued from the partial crouch. Stuart shortly said it was time to follow up. I dusted myself off, picked up the rifle and ran to the truck for ammo- the others followed to the truck. Davy drove- the pilot Simon had the shotgun seat. Stuart and I were standing behind the cab with Pepe between us filming. Davy drove slowly towards the grass the lion collapsed in. As we approached he jumped up-Stuart said shoot, I shot where his head had been and instead hit his front left paw- hurt and biting at his injured foot, he looked up and spotted us- never took his eyes off us until he died- charged without hesitation, I took two useless shots at the bounding animal, then Stuart and I shot simultaneously, the cat pitched headlong like a baseball player sliding to a bag. The lion was laid out, chest facing us- I raised and shot him again. No high fives this time. We stopped 30 feet away, or rather the lion stopped 30 feet away. Stuart, Davy and I took turns getting off/out of the truck, a rifle ready all the while. We circled around behind the lion, Stu closest, I was six inches beside him. When Stuart’s rifle was a foot from the back of the lion’s head, mine half again that to the front of the head, Davy touched the lion’s ribs with the shooting sticks- tap tap, tap tap, no lights, no twitters, no twitches. Stuart confirmed with the eyes. We still took a minute to settle down. With the sun setting over the river and behind the clouds, we could hear ourselves breathe again.

My hunt with Kambako (so named for the resident elephant, kambako is a local name for the one who plows the earth- which the elephant do to find water in the dry riverbeds) Safaris had begun over a year previously. Blake Muil, a Zimbabwean professional hunter my two oldest nephews Zack Ready and Isaac Ready had hunted with two years prior, had just moved with his family to Great Britain. A failed experiment this, as this warm Zimbabwean family just didn’t fit in with the cool climate and cold attitudes in England. Blake moved back within a year. However, while out, Blake recommended that we would enjoy a hunt with Jumbo (John) Moore in northeastern Mozambique. Kambako’s 1,200 square mile coutada (the Mozambican term for hunting area or lease), lies 200 miles south of the fabled Selous Game Management Area in Tanzania. Kambako is on the east side of the Niassa National Preserve, a 30,000 square mile oasis. There are scattered villages in the Niassa, so animal conflict is ongoing. Part of Kambako’s hunting area lies within a buffer around the Niassa Reserve that serves to both protect the Reserve from outside poaching, while also allowing highly restricted hunting. All animals shot on this part are inspected by Reserve officials and documented as part of a greater game management plan. Everyone wins except poachers. This concept protects three sides of the Niassa while the Tanzanian government is considering opening a wildlife corridor between the Niassa and their Selous. The government would relocate existing villages to allow game to live unhindered in their historic grounds. It turns out that elephant are not the only animals who appreciate a farmer's fields- warthog and bushpig do considerable damage- much like we Texans are in the middle of a feral hog reign of destruction. Efforts to limit pig damage occasionally snare elephant and lion looking for fresh meat. Farmers and their families are killed by lion each year in this area. These problems are dealt with in very simple ways- poison. No one wins that way. John Jackson at Conservation Force needs our continued support to keep lion importable and get Mozambique elephant approved for import to the United States. The rest of the world is able to abide by the CITES regs- The United States Fish & Wildlife continue to impose standards of their own- much to the detriment of Moz elephant. Hunting at Kambako in the meantime funds documentation projects in the Niassa Reserve that will aid clients hoping eventually to hunt their big tuskers...


In a multi pronged approach, five years ago the stable and democratic Mozambican government began offering long term (50 year) leases to foreign nationals willing to bring investment and hunting back to Mozambique. These long term relationships also provide training to local villages to provide jobs in the hunting and recreation industry that haven’t existed since civil war began in the 1960’s. This area was never subjected to the many land mines that crippled many humans and animals in the far southern parts of the country. A gutsy group of four from Alabama teamed up with Jumbo in 2004, having hunted with him many years on his concession in Zimbabwe, forming Kambako Safaris and put this great area together for hunters and for non-consumptive recreation as well. They should be applauded by all sportsmen.

Susan Grigson, my wife of 26 years, and I went to the SCI Convention in Reno in January 2009, just wanting to meet Jumbo. I was hoping to set up a future trip to hunt sable and buffalo. We found Jumbo Moore and his wife, Sarah, and professional hunters Johnny Johnston and Stuart Taylor, taking to them immediately. We had plans that evening to attend one of the auction dinners with Jack Hood and his son, Nick, finished at the University of Alabama and waiting to attend law school. Sitting eating our salads we noticed one of the hunts to be auctioned that evening was, of all things a sable and cape buffalo hunt sponsored by Kambako Safaris. Well, how could any self-respecting enthusiast not bid on such a thing? Susan encouraged me to bid, I swear on my live mother’s famous banana nut bread that I didn’t set this up. Finding one of the auction assistants to let him know I would be bidding on the next item, he asked my top bid- he suggested I start the bidding pretty high just to scare off the “low ballers” who might then stick around to drive the price beyond retail—after all, this event does raise revenue for SCI’s many hunting related projects, so high bids are valued beyond the item itself. As we’ve all seen, when it’s right, it’s right- we bought the hunt at a slight discount. The next morning I couldn’t wait to tell Jumbo we were hunting that calendar year. So they wouldn’t be completely out the cost of the donated hunt I added five hunting days to a twelve day hunt. I really wanted a nice sable! We scheduled the hunt for late July, opting not to spend several nights in Pemba at their property on their isolated white sand beach on the blue blue Indian Ocean- in hindsight quite an error on my part as this is a beautiful place managed by Cheryl ____ with a wonderful staff. I will be sure to spend time there next trip.



First day hunting, Thursday


My first day hunting- cape buffalo- no sense dallying, let’s get right to it. After a warm three and a half hour hike following tracks of a set of three buffalo that put us within 50 feet of seven different elephant bulls, we cut a single large buffalo track that was headed back in the general direction whence we came. Another 2.5 hours had us in a dry riverbed where 2 klipspringer gave us away (klipspringer are the national animal of Mozambique and thus are off limit). When the second spooked downstream our attention was quickly diverted to see a set of buffalo hooves disappear up the opposite bank. Hooves were all that was visible under the great evergreen (similar to a live oak) shade tree the buffalo had bedded down in. The klipspringer provided security for the buffalo while he protected them from leopard and lion. Interesting relationship… Stuart and Davy didn’t think the buffalo had knew we were there, just that “something” not to stick around for. We exited the way we entered; Stuart said we would give the buffalo several hours to settle down without pushing him- if we backed off he would likely settle down immediately as opposed to getting irritated and then might move for miles. So we walked 45 minutes back to a road we had crossed, still some 5 miles to the truck- Davy saved my bacon by going after the vehicle. We ate lunch about 3, napped till 4, when Stu calmly (all his suggestions are made calmly) thought we might go back and see if the buffalo stayed put rather than moving about in the 95 degree midday heat. .. So, an easy walk this time put us back at the riverbed, where Davy proceeded ever….so….slow…..ly…. into this jesse (African term for thicket) where we couldn’t see 30 feet in any direction but could hear elephant browsing very close from the sounds of branches snapping and tearing- we don’t want to follow that way, or that way, we didn’t- the tracks didn’t go far before Stu and Davy dropped to the ground, which wasn’t much of a drop because we were crab walking in this stuff. I was still 5 or 6’ behind and right of them- Stu looked over/back to me and motioned a deep curl, he had spotted either a fine old buffalo or some shapely woman was very lost! I couldn’t see squat. We were in thick, dead and crunchy leaves so couldn’t move from our positions. I was kneeling a listening for all I was worth. Stu looked back and mouthed “can you see anything?”, pointing at his eyes and then forward and right of his position. He then shrugged his eyes- imploring me to see what wasn’t there, seconds ticked by. I couldn’t move, couldn’t see what must have appeared like the broad side of a barn to Stu, incredulous that this monster was invisible to me. All I could do was wait & watch- Stu turned again- REALLY BIG EYES! Yureka! I saw a flash of the top half of his horns, about 25 feet away, nothing more as the rest of his horns and his body were hidden by brush. I flashed recognition to Stu- he and Davy put their fingers in their ears as they were just to the side of the path of my shot- it was going to be real noisy up there! About a second and a half after seeing his boss I was able to lean over and shoot- there’s his boss again, nothing else visible, moving closer and to my left so drop my sight to about where I imagine his heart would line up, so I am aiming into brush into an unseen chest- I didn’t hear the shot- the buffalo disappeared back the way he came- that is a much better direction, if I hadn’t seen him Stuart was going to have to shoot him just in defense- there wasn’t anywhere to go… My hearing came back pretty quickly, the 416 Rigby only rings a bit; I could hear crashing a short ways in front, and yes I already had the next shell chambered (you have to practice to make this automatic)- but Stu was grinning with his big infectious happy grin! He had stepped forward to where I had jumped into what turned out to be a one foot wide lane at ground level- they had watched the buffalo easily where I was completely blocked- no wonder his eyes were so big! Davy’s eyes never wavered looking in the direction of the crashing through the jesse. Stu whispered “we’ll just wait a cigarette, within 30 seconds we heard a first raspy bellow- more like a stifled grunt, then another, another, then it sounded like the air just ran out- my Dad had died like that five years previously- lung cancer. Fluid had built up with pneumonia until there was room for any more breaths- it reall was as simple as that- a last exhale and no draw. OVER- it was just as tense with the buffalo- it did mean life or death, although it took a matter of half a cigarette for the buffalo rather than several years. Hearing the cape buffalo expire with his death bellow was magic, bitter sweet but with the joy knowing there would be no tracking a “who knows how wounded” buffalo today! Sweat still dripping we followed Davy through the brush- we hadn’t gone 100’ till we found him- tail facing us, belly left/head right, so we approached cautiously- Stu and Davy were alert but very clearly not overly so- approaching from his back Stu tapped the buffalo’s eyes with this rifle barrel. Stuart had me put a round through his spine and through the heart- when we butchered the next morning the top half of the heart was pulp and there was a split top to bottom as well- two heart shots- a mark of good shooting, lucky start!
It was 5p.m. thirty minutes to dark- Stu marked the spot on his GPS unit and said we had best exit the area with light as the elephant weren’t partial to nocturnal trespassers. So we took a couple of quick photos and lit a shuck out of there. This was a nice, very old buffalo- 37” wide, very gray between the eyes and edge of his boss, his horns sagged far below his drooping and battle shredded ears- I sure like hunting cape buffalo! The next morning we couldn’t get a truck within half a mile, so the camp staff butchered the buffalo in place.

Everything was carried except the grass in his stomach- some of these strong men were carrying portions as big as they were- what a sight to see! The cape and horns were lashed to a pole and two men carried it out. Okay, a day and a half and we have a buffalo back in camp- Great!
This was originally what I had written for the buffalo photo.
Old and scarred up- same for the cape buffalo. I couldn’t see anything but the top of his head. We had followed this buffalo 6 hours earlier in the day, over hill, dale and through a herd of elephant in palm trees. Midday ended when we spooked two (not springbok, but close) animals who were laid up in a dry wash under a big evergreen- he didn’t know it was us but ran off anyway. Stuart had us back off, let him settle down for several hours while we ate some lunch. Davy walked the 5 miles back to bring the truck, we took a nap, then went back in about 3:30, easy (Texas hill country look-alike) 45 minute walk. Just across the dry riverbed we were in very thick jess (cover, briars, brambles, shrubs, trees galore, visibility poor). We could hear elephant all around, couldn’t see anything. He was walking down a meandering trail towards Stuart and Davy- they were watching him for several minutes before he came into my view- I was frozen 6 feet away crawling through a thicket- ended up shooting from a kneeling position, leaning over about 45 degrees to one side. Awkward, but I had mentally practiced so many times I hit him square middle chest and took the top of his heart. I’ll take lucky. He ran 100’, fell and shortly exhaled the famed “death bellow”, when the weight of his sides forces air out of his lungs across his vocal cords. Unforgettable and very desirable outcome. We took several quick pictures then got out of there while we had daylight (the elephant don’t like surprises walking in the night). Next morning we had to butcher this buffalo in place and carry him out due to its remote location. It was a sight to see men carry their equal weight in animal parts. Nothing wasted but the digesting grass. It took two men to shoulder carry the head and cape, wrapped on a pole.



Pepe getting sheared after two weeks in the bush. I fell prey to the same shears.



Scenes above and below camp







This baobab was north of camp.


Waterbuck, 28+ inches, fine animal. This weighs around 400 pounds and hangs out near the river. We saw lots of waterbuck, this was the finest. This was another case of needing lion bait on short notice. We were in a real hurry and this male showed up at just the right time. We saw tracks of three separate lions each of whose width was better than 9". Nice tracks. We never saw those cats. Anybody want one? Call Jumbo411.



This is my Roosevelt Sable ( Hippotragus niger rooseveltii) found only in southeastern Tanzania and Northeastern Mozambique. They weigh the same as the typical Sable (niger niger, about 550 pounds) but have shorter horns at maturity (up to 45” these days) as opposed to Hnn’s 50+ inches. This proud beast is about 11 years old- notice the rings at the base of the head. These are thicker than the rings further up and are called secondary growth- it only starts after the sixth year. Counting secondary rings after starting at six gets you to 11-12. Backing up a little, we had walked, oh, maybe 40 hours over the previous 5-6 days looking for sable. We would drive along, Stu or Davy would say “this area looks good” and we would start a 2-4 hour stroll. We had seen many, just not the right one. We had walked through numerous herds of elephant scattered about browsing, some in tall “anxiety grass” where the anxiety was all ours. Great fun- I kep reminding myself that this really really wasn’t west Texas! Anyhow, one mid-morning we were down working north along the Lugenda River several dry river crossings from camp when Pepe (apprentice Professional Hunter, often nicknamed “appy”) and OZhunter Adam Cristo (Aussie here building a swimming pool and hunting buffalo) called in hushed voice advising they had our sable bedded down just a ways off a road. They were over an hour away- Stuart said the chance was slim, but since these two guys were excited we ought to go look. We beat ourselves senseless cutting cross country through a big meadow that elephant had left deep tracks in when the rains stopped. The clay was like Dallas black clay- cement hard when it dries. Twenty minutes of this stuff saved an additional hour plus of round about driving. The guys had tied a piece of toilet paper opposite where the sable had bedded. Naturally the sable was on my side, today the assistant tracker handed me my rifle- I quickly chambered a round and was ready to shoot the sleeping sable- except Stuart was whispering most determinedly for me to get my carcass around the vehicle. This shot was clean- the sable fell over dead. No lengthy follow up.


LION HUNTING-
I was six days into a 17 day hunt and had shot my heart’s desires- a fine old buffalo and an eleven year old sable. I was thinking about booking an early flight home but was interrupted when Stuart looked over and asked if I was interested in hunting lion. “Of course, but I can’t afford it" I replied, "let me back that up, no one in my family ever dreamed we would hunt lion!” Well- let’s just say that as it worked out I will be making monthly payments until I’m gray- er, I mean grayer. “Okay, Stuart, but understand I really, really can’t afford to shoot a lion just to shoot one- unless we see one that makes you drool I am simply not interested- I can’t be…” Leave it to Stuart…
We had been tending three baits Stuart had working- it was kind of his pet project just to keep baits working for different cats, recently my zebra had fed two with each hindquarter and the hyena coupled with the zebra ribs/forelegs fed the third which was located north of camp where the dry Nicondocho River fed into the Lugenda (lu jen da) River. This was Lion Bait #2, big tracks had been seen early, but since we had begun hunting lion the only thing tending it was a leopard (we had great trail camera shots of this leopard). When lion hunting it is easy to tell what is feeding on your bait. You hang bait high enough so that only a big one can feed. Smaller lion might get a bite or three, but get irritated and move on. A leopard feeds from above, so they will climb into the tree and lean/hand/dangle and eat from the top. If vultures see it they will make it disappear completely, so Pepe, Davy and Jum cut branches/shrubs to cover. These are not just laid over the bait, the branches are cut below forks so that these artists can weave a dense cover that isn’t casually tossed off. After hanging the bait, animal entrails pulled from a 42 gallon drum are tied to a wire and dragged as much as half a mile in several directions to attract critters. The lions think they can steal a leopard’s kill. In areas where we worried about vultures, toilet paper was torn in short one foot lengths and tied in the area- the vultures don’t understand these and won’t go anywhere near it. Who would have thought all that adolescent training with tossing toilet paper in neighborhood girl’s trees would pay off? By the way, if there are any leopard hunters out there, Kambako has lots of nice leopard.




This 77 (corrected) pound tusk was the larger of two ele shot by two Russians several weeks before I got to camp. The dark lines about halfway up the tusk show how much is mounted in the jaw (2-2 ½ feet). The other pair were low 70 pounders. These are not currently importable to the United States, our Fish & Wildlife Service impose standards beyond those of the world organization (CITES, pronounced “site ease”Convention for International Trade of Endangered Species, I think) established for that purpose. So the rest of the world gets to hunt Mozambique elephant- we get to watch.
Four biggies

Pepe and Stuart on camp bluff

Stuart Taylor

Lourens Joostore "Pepe"




This is the first kudu. He stepped left just as I shot, I didn’t intentionally shoot his hindquarters. The bullet passed forward into his chest and really hurt him. The other animals went one way, he turned around and went a different direction, not 100 yards into some thick stuff. It took several more shots, none of which were comfortably visible- all I saw were parts of him in the brush. It did end without event. Nice male, good big body- almost killed the five of us loading him onto the truck. There weren’t any big trees close by to use the truck to pick him up and load him.


A view across the Lugenda River, looking southwest of camp. We would see elephant, kudu, waterbuck, crocs, hippos crossing these flats at any time of day. Just incredible.



Lourens Jooste, “Pepe” or “appy” (PH apprentice), just recovering from a bout with malaria, he will make a representative PH, which is high praise. Fine young man. All of the video (we still hope to get) was shot by Pepe.





Below—the horn wraps around an invisible cylinder, allowing the kudu to see through the horn when he has his head down to fight lion. Much like the sable these guys put their heads down between their front legs when seriously fighting, they can spear a lion so are usually not bothered.

This second Kudu male (a very nice 55 inch) was shot for lion bait. We had tracked/followed this male twice the previous week but hadn’t gotten a shot (for me, anyhow). This day we had come across another really big lion pug mark and needed bait very quickly. Stuart had advised that Jumbo had volunteered we could take either another kudu ($1200 and about 600#) or another waterbuck ($2600 and 400#). No brainer. We lucked on this male, jumped out of the truck, tracked him not a quarter mile when he presented a shot. I hit him higher than I wanted- worked out great, a spine shot that dropped him on the spot. As spine shots appear the same whether the animal is actually dead or just stunned, we ran up and took a spine/heart shot from the back. An aside about spine/brain shots that stun- in the opening scene of “Mogambo”1937 I think, there is a huge bull elephant apparently killed by the professional hunter in a side/front brain shot. After the animal fell, the cast and movie crew came in and took still photos posing with the great elephant. Shortly it was time to go off and have lunch. When everyone came back the elephant was nowhere to be seen, he was never found… amazing, just stunned. So was the elephant. So, with any animal that hits the ground immediately, the routine is to always always always immediately approach from the back and shoot through the spine to the heart. Professional Hunter Harry Selby told Robert Ruark in the early 1950’s that dead buffalo killed people (logic is that if you know he is still alive you keep shooting). I know most of you know all this, but it is worth the retelling.



shooter?




A very nice bushbuck. This critter hangs out in the riverine (thickets around the riverbeds), so is very much a target of short opportunity. We were driving through this pretty forested area when Davy (the most excellent tracker) tapped the roof. He and Stuart have a system- Davy sits/stands in the truck behind Stuart and taps twice on the cab lightly if he sees something that requires stopping and inspection. Three or more light taps means STOP THE TRUCK AND GRAB/LOAD COME QUICK. He doesn’t say left or right with his taps, so that is learned by glancing at Davy’s eyes- which tells the rest of what we need to know. Naturally this critter was on their side, so Pepe handed me the rifle, I chamber a round before I get both hands on it, then step around to find out what and why. Thirty feet and about to duck away, this fine animal was pretty well hidden (not as well as he thought) so I quickly collected him. Stuart said to quick let’s get in a sunny area and get cameras- the hair along the spine falls in just minutes- A photo that has the white hair standing is really fresh. You can see in the photo with me sitting that the hair is very erect, compared to minutes later the photo with Stuart. I’m very proud of this bushbuck.



Heckuva story here. We pulled up to one of the lion baits and found a hyena standing about 50’ away just looking at us. The hyenas had been eating this bait that was about 6’ off the ground, pretty good jump for a critter other than lion. The lion tend not to come around where the hyena are, so Stuart wanted to shoot one. I jumped out of the truck, the junior professional hunter Pepe handed me my rifle, I threw it up and “clicked” on an empty chamber- I overlooked putting a round in the chamber. The hyena just sneered and started trotting down the road, looking left, right and not paying us the least bit of attention. I chambered a round and stepped in front of the truck. The hyena was about 80 yards away- I put the crosshairs just behind his head and shot- perfect spine shot- he fell forward in mid stride, all four feet were “pads up” behind him in a neat row. I couldn’t have posed him any better. This hyena weighs about 130 pounds- nothing like a dog- his shoulders and back legs are like a lions- THICK and solid. This shot made a great video- the fancy camera takes a while to wake up, so Pepe didn’t have any footage of the “great no-shot”, but had excellent footage of the hyena trotting down the road, collapsing and then panning back to me. The only thing I missed was blowing smoke off the barrel and saying “that’ll teach him to steal my lunch”…(I did better when we shot the lion)


Above and below- the normal views of walking single file. It is rare to run ahead to get a photo.



One of Lee's nap views.



an interesting little critter.

as are these Niassa Wildebeest. The chevron on their nose is only matched by the dramatic striping on their shoulders and ribs.



Great eating, this eland yearling was unseen by me, standing bottom towards me just in front of a nice eland bull. The 4’ grass covered this baby. The rest of the herd was moving across, it would have been a great heart shot (on the bull) had this kid’s ass not been in my way. I hadn’t planned on collecting eland, this herd had a real monster, completely black from where he had shed all his hair, better than 4’ horns, a good 2,000 pound monster. I told Stuart that I wasn’t supposed to get the big guy, and indeed, several weeks later Stuart found the monster for another hunter who really wanted a good one.



Good bunch up river from camp having a sunsetter.





This was my bungalow, cement floor, short walls that keep the hippo out, mosquito cloth walls, mosquito netting to sleep under. I never saw a mosquito during my hunt, the rainy season was months away, however, everyone continued taking malarone daily or weekly. The bathroom was great with a big shower left and huge closet with shelves to right. The camp staff is comprised of such well mannered people that women would thoroughly enjoy a stay at Kambako. My wife Susan will be with me next trip here. Elephant, hippo and leopard wandered through camp nightly- if I was awake enough to care. Several times I turned my flashlight to confirm, the animals just kept grazing/moving on. The hippo liked the St. Augustine grass in camp. Jumbo had nightly elephant raids on his two vegetable gardens. We had fresh green salads, green beans; life was good! One night an ele slipped past while Jumbo was sleeping and carefully smashed each nearly ripe cabbage. Jerk. Next night Jumbo scared the heck out of him- warned us beforehand he was going to shoot his 416 twice in the air. The garden was left undisturbed the next four nights...

This is the view off the front porch of my bungalow.


The view downriver from the front of the swimming/dipping pool, 1 mile wide, shallow, lots of game all day long.



Jumbo carving a bushbuck roast. Yes, it was delicious! My only improvement would be with Edson's buffalo ribs. I'll take some Adolf's meat tenderizer next trip to Africa just for the ribs.

Dining was first rate. Gonzol and Roger folded napkins into different shapes every night, neatly tucked into wine glasses. The camp hot sauce was great.







The shot above was lightly burned to clear brush. You can see how difficult it would be to hunt in the rainy season if this was all green.
Below a herd of juvenile waterbuck with a mature female. The young male on right is just a kid.







Stuart Taylor, below with Pepe, we had a moment to kill at one of the lion baits.

These were the youngsters who stayed near the above bait. We frequently saw them, Stuart couldn't believe a big lion hadn't arrived and kicked these off the bait.



The fangs on this baboon would hurt. This was the last day after lunch. No lion at the time, I had declared the hunt successful and over, although I really wanted a good baboon for my nephew Joseph if we saw one driving in to camp. This guy was hiding in brush- Stuart couldn’t see him; your 6 footer here saw just enough to launch a shot. I made the mistake of not topping off the magazine of the rifle as events later pan out. The zebra below was taken early in the trip. Mighty pretty pattern.







This was about thirty miles away from the river, open country in the granite mountains. Near here we got into tetse flies while driving through. It was a nightmare, little monsters just take a piece of flesh with every bite. You don’t swat them, you have to grind them on your skin or they just walk away. I kept hoping Stuart would have a w

Well done sir! Nice report, great trophies in a part of Africa I want to see! Congratulations.

Super report well told. Just makes me wish I was with you on the hunt

Tasteless and disrespectful. Yes that about sums up the lion photos for me.

I am sure I am the only one that thinks so.

No Sg Olds you are not alone in your opinion. I agree. Guy looks like an idiot. How about some respect for the animals taken.

Great story and some very nice trophies!

Congratulations on a great hunt in a wonderful area. Some very nice trophies, welldone.

quote:

Originally posted by SG Olds:
Tasteless and disrespectful. Yes that about sums up the lion photos for me.

I am sure I am the only one that thinks so.

You have got to be kidding me!!! Now we have ethics police dictating how one posts the pictures of ones memorable hunt?

who are we kidding with this "respect to the animal" crap? I agree that it is hunter's responsibility to make sure that our aim is true and the animal dies a quick death but at the end of the day the hunter takes a life and all the respect in the world is not going to matter afterward.

Deeber,
Thank you for posting the report. It seems like a great wilderness area to hunt.

Awesome report and pictures! Thanks for sharing.

Looks like you had a great hunt. Congrats. I think you can pose an animal any damn way you want. I was surprised i didn't see you up against the hyena...HA. Seriously though, you can tell through the pictures that he was having the time of his life. I see nothing wrong with any of the pictures.

Congratulations on a fantastic hunt!


dale

quote:

Originally posted by kingd:
No Sg Olds you are not alone in your opinion. I agree. Guy looks like an idiot. How about some respect for the animals taken.

You guys have no clue.. .
What hypocrites. Greenys would probably say the same thing about your trophy photo's.
Just because a hunter feels this is the best way to photograph a dead animal and not your typical propped up scene doesn't mean disrespect for the animal.
Actually Lion are quite hard to get a good photo indicating its actual size.
Anyway,

Great report, Mate.

Ohh, and yes, welcome to the AR Tribe.

ozhunter +1

First thoughts were the pictures were different (I like them) and the hunter had one helluva good time.

Congratulations on an outstanding hunt! I really enjoyed your pictures! Nice report, too.

It`s sad that so many good posts are dragged into the mud by some jelous hunting popes. The only disrespect I can see is to make such statements and call somebody else an idiot!?!! Every client can take the pictures of her/his adventures and trophies as she/he wishes. Nothing against critical opinions...But if you don`t like it: Don`t watch it.

deeber, thanks for posting!

Nice report and pics! Your money, your hunt, do as you see fit! Congratulations!

As far as you "arm chair" critics are concerned...

"better to be silent and thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Geez...get a grip.

Mad Dog

More- this didn't load up the first time.
About the tetse flies- I kept looking around the vehicle for wooden stakes to kill them. Not much else worked.


The peanut gallery- nobody died. I still like the two old grouches on the muppets.

As other hunters started their hunts we were able to increase lion baits to six. Or normal day started at either 4 or 4:30 with Roger or Gonzol bringing hot tea around. I'd grab my kit and head up for three eggs, ham and biscuits, then we would find somewhere to stalk just after sunrise (6am). We would either cut tracks to follow or just do a sweep, then move on to another bait. Baits were located up to 40 miles apart E/W and 25 miles N/S, so it took all day to get our work done. One of the other PHs would usually check baits as they passed, otherwise our days would have been worse. I would usually run out of breakfast about 9:30- an orange soda or snacks proved the solution. If we were driving at that time I would nod off no matter how pretty or prospective the scenery. Food helped (keep that in mind on your trip). We usually got in a 2-3 hour walk at sunrise, then relocate and take another 2-3 hour walk before arriving back at the truck for lunch around 1:30pm. Lunch was on a fold up table with chairs and consisted of several small sandwiches on home made bread, followed with meat left over from the previous night' supper. A Carlsberg beer helped wash lunch down. We always had a beautiful garden salad (again thanks to Jumbo keeping guard over the garden) and either a potato salad or pea/baen salad. The camp cook, Edson, took great pride in keeping us fed. Ozhunter Adam will back that up. We would nap from 2-3, then have a cup of hot coffee before gathering up for another 2-3 hour walk into sundown. This mid-day lunch/nap kept us in shade during the hottest part of the day. We saw cumulus clouds only one day, saw light showers in the distance, but that was it for weather. Temps were fine for my trip, nights in the upper 50s and days might hit low 90s. Camp elevation is 700', about like Dallas. We were at 12 degrees South latitude, 38+ degrees East, 140 miles inland from Pemba, which is just about even with the top of Madagascar. Their temps get really hot in late October, hitting the 120s every day and cooling only near 100 at night. Stuart advises that other than the stress on humans, this is a good time for elephant hunting- nothing moves far from water- no living thing wants to walk very much. The routine for sleeping is to shower, lay a soaked towel on the bed and lie atop it until it dries- then repeat. It sounds like sleeping on a jet- you don't really sleep, time just passes while your eyes are closed and your body heals up. The countryside from Pemba to camp appeared pretty flat, with tall deciduous hardwoods completely covering the ground. About halfway inland appeared large granite mountains called inselbergs, up to a mile long, half that wide and up to 3,000' tall. Just spectacular! There aren't any freezes in winter to break these down, rains just erode dirt away from the bases. It made for a stunning view flying at 5,000'. On the ground I could have closed my eyes and been in the Texas hill country, gently rolling hills of granite with dry washes everywhere, vegetation dependent upon proximity to water. The scattered palm trees and wildlife reinforced that we weren't close to Fredericksburg.

If you want an area off the beaten track- this is one of them. If someone wanted a big elephant and didn't mind the effort of getting John Jackson to try to open the gates back to the U.S.A., this is the place. As for the rest of the world- you lucky folks! I'd get my rear end over to Kambako in a heartbeat. You will love the country, you will love Kambako Safaris and their people. Thanks Jumbo and Stuart for a wonderful trip. Crawford, Jeff, Ted and Sam, thanks for your intestinal fortitude and confidence in Mozambique's future!

Lee
Uncle of three Eagle Scouts
NRA Life
SCI Life
DSC Life

Congratulations on a great hunt, you obviously had the time of your life.

deeber, congratulations, looks like a Great Hunt!!
And I enjoyed all your pix.
Welcome to the forum.

Looks like a damn fine hunt.. Love that sable bull..
I see you had a fellow AR member in a couple of those pics.

I for one enjoyed the pics.. I didn't see anything that would render them as tasteless nor disrespectful. When you go kill you a lion, you too can prop the damned thing up in any fashion you like.

Great report
Congratulations on a wonderful trip.

Thanks for the comments- I did have the time of my life. Fellow AR member Ozhunter is great company. We had a lot of fun.

The following didn't pick up when moved some of this.-

Postscript: Reno, January 20, 2010. Jumbo (John) Moore, Managing Partner of Kambako Safaris had picked up his just finished promotional dvds to take to the SCI Convention. One of the many neat things shown was the first shot at the lion, then the charge. Not plainly visible until pointed out is that I pulled my first shot, not hitting the lion squarely in the chest, instead skipping off the dirt just in front and in line with (heart/lung and near (right) shoulder). The shot had buggered him up but wasn’t the shot we thought I had made. Congratulations to Pepe for his great camera work. Congrats to Stuart Taylor for letting me have a safe first lion hunt. Like bicycle riding, soloing in an aircraft or having sex, the first time isn’t always pretty, but boy-oh-boy do we remember…

Lee Grigson

Congratulations!!!

Brett

thanks for a great report. i loved the pictures. congratulations.

quote:

Originally posted by Harris:

You have got to be kidding me!!! Now we have ethics police dictating how one posts the pictures of ones memorable hunt?

who are we kidding with this "respect to the animal" crap? I agree that it is hunter's responsibility to make sure that our aim is true and the animal dies a quick death but at the end of the day the hunter takes a life and all the respect in the world is not going to matter afterward.
...

Count me as one who does respect taken animals. I believe what you do afterward does matter.

Goofy photos make me cringe. And if you want to accuse me of being PC, well then obviously you don't know whom you are addressing.

That aside, congratulations to deeber on a successful hunt.

looks like one of the greatest hunts I'ever seen. But disagree on how the photographs were taken. Dead animals should not be humiliated!

Looks like an outstanding hunt, congratulations.

Great report and pics! Ozhunter was wondering about the pool??

ozhunter before you start throwing around insults insinuating that I am a F'ing tree hunger, what do you know about me? The only tree I have hugged are the ones I chopped down with my chain saw for firewood or cooking! I don't object to his being happy with his hunt or bag. He should be proud,not many people get to go on a successful lion hunt these days. My uncle hunted Africa in the late 50's. His name was Abe Bagdely. He bagged the big five and alot more.He also got the grand slam on North American bear. When growing up I saw hundreds of trophy pictures of his. None looked like these. Also he was one of the few I ever heard of being able to hunt and take a Polar bear. The other being his hunting buddy, the late Jimmy Walker of Baytown, Texas owner of the Trophy barbershop. So far from being a F' ing tree huger, hunting is in my blood.

Watch the video very close, especially the end.

I looked at the video. Appears to be clearly video of shooting the lion from the truck. I assumed it was the followup of a wounded lion but deeber admits it was not in one of his posts.

So besides my dislike for the photos I have to add another of my nit picky bullshit PC views:

I dislike the shooting of lion from the truck.

Hell I don't have anything in common with hunters anymore.

Maybe shooting Roos or dingos out of the back of a pickup down under would change my uptight attitude.

Any recommendations on decent road hunting outfitters down your way Ozhunter?

Whoa! Please read the trip report. The video starts five (5) minutes after the lion had been shot- mortally it was believed as it stumbled and fell over and stayed put- without moving. Exercising an abundance of caution, as the vehicle was available- we did so. We were 100% certain this was a dead animal on our approach. Right up until the highly edited video shows the lion getting up and charging.
Two concepts here- prior to our approach the lion was DEAD AS FAR AS WE COULD TELL without taking a pulse, we were going to need the vehicle for recovery- and we were very lucky we did approach in this manner.

If the terrain permits, I don't think there is a sane person that would not take advantage of a safe approach to a lion thought dead.

Movies get edited, too. The fault here is that the editor didn't have 15 minutes to show the entire show, nor the many days tracking lion on foot in the riverine.

Ozhunter and I are the first two to agree shooting from a vehicle is unsportsmanlike and reprehensible. Safety is another matter entirely.
Lee Grigson- didn't stalk by truck.

Deeber,

I don't see anything wrong with approaching a wounded lion in a vehicle. Extra caution is better than a coffin.

Hunting and shooting unwounded animals from a vehicle is a disgusting practice.

Congrats again on a memorable trip in a beautiful area. I am rating it a 5 to dilute any low ratings that your report has gotten.

deeber,

As I said I had assumed it was followup in the truck. But you then posted 30/1/2010 00:50 "One of the many neat things shown was the first shot at the lion, then the charge. Not plainly visible until pointed out is that I pulled my first shot, not hitting the lion squarely in the chest, instead skipping off the dirt just in front..."

That caused my confusion since it described the clip to a "T".

"Assumption" = the mother of all f%#k ups.
Me shooting from a truck? You obviously don't know me. Oh, but then again, there were those Guinea fowl..

Kingd,
Sorry that you thought I was insinuating you were anything like a tree huger (your comment wasn't that bad ).
But I did call you a hypocrite as what you said would have been similar to some of the comments your uncle would have received from some people for just posing with a dead animal in the classical pose, today or back sixty years ago.

Respectful enough pose?

Waidmannsheil! Thank you for sharing your story with us. It seems you had a great time.

Looks like a meandering dry wash that would have raised the pucker factor. That is a marvelous lion!

We've sure struck a nerve, haven't we? Pose differently- bad! Post one hell of a video- instead of asking for the background, some just blast away. I don't think I would ever enjoy either an iced tea or a cold beer with those people.

For the rest of us, thanks for the comments, you folks are welcome in my camp anytime, anywhere.
Lee Grigson
Midland TX
Lee

Deeber,
You look like a really fun guy to hunt with, I loved your creative photos, having fun is what it is all about, and before I got to the bottom of the posting, I had a feeling you were from Texas, we are brothers by country! Congrats on your lion!

Wonderful report! Well done and so complete. Thanks for taking the time to work up such a detailed report.

H Kittle

JEEEZ!! Sorry to hear about the Eland mishap. I would have been sick to my stomach. I love Eland and it sounds like that bull was a true monster. Congratulations on what looks to be a fine safari!!