i am sending this from the Air France departure in Joburg, awaiting my Delta flight home in a few hours. details to follow but the short version is i shot a 39" sable, 14 ft. croc{the main target}, bushpig, suni, and red duiker, plus a bushpig sow and reedbuck for camp meat and croc bait. tried to get a baboon that the PH wanted for it's skull but they were too clever! hunt was with Bahati Adventures{ the outfitter, Johan Strasheim posts here} and was absolutely superb. PH, camp staff, accomodation, food were first rate and Coutada 10 is as wild as Africa gets. there is something about elephants waking you up at 2 AM trumpeting just behind camp that stirs the soul. right now i think i am the most depressed person in Africa as this adventure ends but reality beckons. more details in a few days

Look forward to the story and pix. Crocs are fun.

jdollar

I'm very much looking forward to your report and pics. My goal next yearwillbe the little guys and croc as my main targets. Did you see any blue duiker?

Mark

Ahhh....the dreaded African withdrawals.....I had it BAD....matter of fact, not sure I'm over it yet. At least that's what my wife says.
Look forward to the full report.

Safe home.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

Gary,
The quickest way out of AWS is a quick e-mail that side, a calendar and a checkbook!!!

And remember.............A buff a day keeps AWS away.

Bahati is an awesome outfit. I was lucky enough to hunt with them last year and still think about it every day! Congrats on your hunt. You summed up the area quite well. Looking forward to your complete report!

Monte

That feeling of dread when the plane you are in lifts off from Africa and is headed home is terrible. I eased mine a bit by setting a date for a return. Looking forward to doing it again is sooooooooo much better than thinking about it ending.
Frank

Can`t wait for the report! Wanna go there myself.. I`ve heard Coutada 10 is packed with suni and red duiker..

Jerry,

Good shoooting and welcome home...Want to see those pics... Looks like the camp gun worked well...

Mike

i am a slow typist, so this report will be somewhat brief and to the point.
dates 1-10 Oct. 2008
area: Coutada 10, Moz.
outfitter: Bahati Adventures-guide: Marius Verster{Mara}
rifle:30.06 Rem. 700 with Leupold scope{camp gun}
game taken: red duiker, suni, bushpig, sable, crocodile
Day 1: decided to start small and work up, so began with red duiker. saw several in the morning but no shooters. after a mid day siesta, back out and 1 hour later got lucky. quick shot at 50 yards
and first trophy in the salt off to a good start
Day 2: left camp early for a 2 hour drive to adjacent Coutada to chase suni- a very interesting affair done with a shotgun and #5 shot. a Russian client in camp and his PH accompanied us. basically you drive through VERY thick forest VERY slowly with the PH and client sitting on the tailgate, myself and 2 spotters/trackers in the back, and my PH driving. when a suni is spotted, hunter and PH slip off tailgate as the truck continues forward. PH evaluates trophy, client makes(or misses the shot- did i mention how THICK the jungle is?) 2 shots later and Sergey had his suni. my turn now. 10 minutes and 1 shot later, trophy #2 is DRT.
Day 3 chase the wily bushpig. while driving on the flood plain, a large pig breaks cover and runs from 1 palm island to another. PH, who is driving only gets a quick glimpse but is assured by the 3 trackers that it is a very large pig. trackers go around the island and we wait on the opposite side for the pig to come out when they push in. trackers go in , pig comes HAULING ASS OUT 20 yards away and already in high gear. first shot at 40 yards( hard to find the bastard in the scope), clean miss. guick reload, second shot( lead the SOB more!), I think miss, tracker thinks hind leg hit. go over to area, find 1 small drop of blood. Uh-OH. BIG PROBLEMA. follow tracks in and out of 2 palm islands( basically no blood trail). third palm island- tracks go in, don't come out. instant replay of round one. trackers go in, pig comes blasting out. first shot behind( why can't i figure out the lead ?) second shot- hit enough to at least slow it down. third shot and finally got the lead right. down and dead. walk over- second problema. my running boar turns into a very large dry( but running) sow!! Oh well, meat for camp staff. interestingly, bushpig boars don't seem to have large scrotums protruding out the back like our pigs here.
Day 4 once again bushpig time. while crossing a dry river with steep banks, landcruiser gets stuck. everyone gets off and proceeds to connect the winch. i am filming the recovery effort from the bank when i look over my shoulder and see to bushpigs walking toward me maybe 30 yards away. run to truck and exchange rifle for camera, grab PH and back up the bank we go. pigs are still there but in thick brush. take a shot , bullet deflects- clean miss. pigs run, we run.pigs stop, we stop. second shot-DRT.
Day 5. we have been looking for nyala every day but bushfires have chased them away from their usual pans and into thick forest. Johan( outfitter/owner) has graciously consented to let me shot a sable in place of a nyala( even though i am on a 10 day hunt and sable usually requires a 14 day hunt). sable are everywhere so today i get my chance. spot a large herd (30-40) on the floodplain near the forest edge. while driving slowly closer for a better look, we jump a nice bull that was asleep on a palm island by himself. off the truck, start following the bugger from 1 palm island to the next sable thinks he is hidden in 1 island when we sneak up into the adjoining one. only shot available is a modified Texas heart shot( he is quartering VEY slightly away) aim at back hip, hoping to rake his opposite shoulder. miss the hip but stagger him good. he starts to lope way. next shot puts paid to the bill
To be continued.......

Great report so far and I love that sable. Keep it comming and glad you recovered from the rattler in time.

Jerry,

Good shooting with a strange gun... Like those little guys...

Mike

great report, keep it comming.
sounds like a really neat hunt.

Jerry,

Great sable! Congratulations. Looking forward to more.

Hugh

Nice... look forward to the installment!

Day 5 continued-Early that,evening while walking around base camp wearing flip-flops, I caught my foot on a tent peg and ripped a deep gash in the webspace between my third and fourth toes extending up on to the top of my foot. The cut was deep enough to expose the tendons. Luckily I had brought some Dermabond( medical grade sterile super glue) with me to give the PH for his first aid kit. I cleaned the wound out with Betadine( somewhat painful process), washed it out with bottled water, sealed the cut with the glue, and taped the third and fourth toes together to take pressure off the skin edges. Had it not been for the Dermabond, i would have been in big trouble as we were headed to fly camp the next morning in the river system( can you spell mud and muck?) and the cut definitely needed a dozen stitches. Anyway, on with the hunt!!
DAY 6-9. Hunted hard for 3 days in flycamp but the weather had turned cool( a mixed blessing) and the crocs were staying in the river and off the mud banks. Saw a number of 7-9 footers but no real shooters. Oh, well- back to base camp and Plan B
Day 10, last day and last chance. Headed out early to a different river system. HOT weather again and the crocs should be out getting a tan. One and a half hours by Land Cruiser to camp where the Argos stayed, then 2 plus hours by Argo across the flood plain to the river where the mokoro resided. Into the mokoro and head downriver.Quickly spot several nice crocs out on the mud. Beach mokoro, hike(climb?) in through to mangroves and head out onto the floodplain to get away from the river and head downstream and downwind to sunning crocs. Walked about a quarter mile inland and 3/4 mile downstream, then another quarter mile back to river edge. the old fisherman acting as guide knew exactly where to head to river's edge to put us on the crocs( how the hell do they do that?) Sneak to water's edge, croc across river, no shot through the mangroves, wind shifts, croc disappears. Head back up river to place where another, slightly smaller croc is sunning. getting into position, wind shifts, croc gone. look back downriver, first croc back out, head downstream. get into position. croc laying on mudflat and with no elevation(we are at water's edge and can't get any higher while still having a opening to shoot through). PH says aim as high up his back as you can( can't see his neck or head at that angle) and give it a go. realize this will probably be my only opportunity, so i take the shot. miss the spine by one and a half inches( later confirmed on post mortem exam), bullet travels up into lungs near his back. croc wheels around and PH throws a snapshot at his body with his .416,later found to be a broadside chest/lung shot also. croc disappears and we stand on bank looking for bubbles. Suddenly croc explodes out of water about 12-15 feet away, swinging his head, looking for trouble and searching for air after the lung hits. quick snapshot but beast is so close that he is completely out of focus through the scope- can't see shit but at least i scare him back into the river. wait again- 5 minutes later croc again climbs onto mud bank across the river but this time he comes far enough up that i can see his head and neck. brain shot- head rears back and flops forward- DRT-FINALLY. boatman hikes back to mokoro and real work begins.question- how do 3 people( boatman must keep boat steady) get 800 plus pounds of croc into into a canoe? answer- with a lot of sweating and swearing. back to fishing village. we had brought a skinner with us( positive thinking) and next 2 hours spent at that task. Then load Argo with 4 people, croc hide and back across floodplain we go. croc shot at 11:30, home about 5:30. what a way to end the hunt!!

Final thoughts. hard to express how much fun and at times how difficult this hunt was. Coutada 10 is a magical wild place such as exists in very few places in the world today. It is bush Africa in its purest form and it will always hold a special place in my heart.Special Thanks are due to Johan, Mara(PH), Shorty( lead tracker) and the entire staff for giving me wonderful memories to sustain me until I return

Jerry,

Great report! Chris and I were just talking about you yesterday and wondering how your hunt went. Looks like your snakebitten leg didn't give you any trouble. Glad that healed up well for you.

Those are some fine looking trophies! The sable is a magnificent addition to your collection.

Talk to you soon.
Kind regards,
Mary

Thanks Mary. I will be calling you in the next few days to discuss taxidermy for the critters.

Dollar
Very nice report! I am glad you had a succesful hunt. Congrats on the Sable and the tiny weenies!

Very nice pics. All of your trophies are great, but the Livingstone's Suni and the Red Duiker are very nice indeed! I KNOW HOW THICK the Jungle is! That's why getting those two trophies is a real accomplishment in my book. Congratulations Jerry.

Great report! Thanks for sharing!

Love that Suni

until the day i shot the red duiker and suni, i had ever seen the little guys before. the PH said both of them were quite good- i just took his word for it, as i had no idea what a good one looked like.

Well done Sir! Was Coert in camp? We call him Coera!

Infinito, yes, Coera was in camp. the first 4 days I was there he was a guiding a Russian( a former diplomat with the Soviet Union and later the Russian Federation) and the next 6 days guiding a German client and his wife. Coera is one helluva nice guy and quite a good PH in spite of his youth( hell, I have shoes that are older than him)!! I really enjoyed meeting him and spending time around the campfire bullshitting. I think the overall quality of a hunting operation rests on the quality of the PH/staff and my satisfaction with my hunt speaks for itself.

Jerry and Mara just returned via a section of burnt floodplain. It is obvious they are having a torrid time. I just like this picture.

J,

Congrats on a great hunt. That sable is very nice, and the small guy... off the chart. Well done.

Great report and trip, congrats!

Congratulations you got some very nice animals. Thank you for an excellent report.

Aziz

Great pics and reoprt, you got a very nice Sable, congratulations.

Did you see quite a few Buffalo? I am scheduled for a Buffalo hunt in Coutada 10 in June. Looks like you had a great adventure. I can hardly wait until June and this didn't help!

love that sable.
congrats

Archer

I hunted in Coutada 10 soon after JDollar. We saw many buffalo, both in the forest and the swamp. If you had a chance to watch Tracks across Africa this pas week, that was filmed in Coutada 10 in the same camp we were in. Saaiman and Bahati are close in proximity to one another.

Very Nice.