Zimbabwe Hunt Report July 27-August 10, 2010 (Tim Herald)

Outfitter: CM Safaris – PH: Buzz Charlton
Trackers: Criton, Nyati, Driver: Eddie, Game Scout: Innocent

Dande Safari Area- Zambezi Valley- Zimbabwe

Guns, Ammo, Optics: TC ICON .458 Win Nosler 500 Gr Solids; Nosler 500 gr Partitions w/ Nikon Monarch Gold 1.5x6 -TC ICON 300 Win. Nosler Custom180 gr Accubonds w/Nikon Monarch 4x16x50 – Nikon EDG 10x42 Bino -Nikon Rifleman Rangefinder

Clothing and Misc Gear: Under Armour Guide shirts, pants, shorts, Cabela’s Active Trail hiking boots, Irridium 9555 Satellite Phone, Texas Hunt CO PH Ammo belt and gaiters, BogPod shooting sticks

Travel: Delta Biz Class Lexington- Atlanta- Joburg; SAA to Harare arranged by Kathi Klimes at Wild Travel

Animals Hunted: Tuskless elephant, Cape Buffalo, Leopard, Sable

Animals Taken: Tuskless, Cape Buff bull and cow, Hyena, Baboon, leopard

Animals Seen: elephant, buff, lion, kudu, bushbuck, civet, impala, zebra, duiker, baboon, grysbok, klipspringer, honey badger, hyena, leopard, sable

Videographer- Jon Aaseng- for Nosler’s Magnum TV- Outdoor Channel

PreHunt: I booked this hunt about a year ago, and it started as a tuskless/sable hunt in Makuti, but as our group grew to 4 hunters (Lee Britt, Skip Nantz and Tom Jensen), Buzz and Myles both recommended that we move to Dande. I loved the idea except that I knew the chances for sable for Skip and I would go down moving away from Makuti, but as time went on, I added a buff to my hunt, so all was good. Got to spend some time with Buzz and Myles at DSC and SCI conventions in January, and I began to get excited.

My last buff hunt, I killed 2 in Charisa with a single shot, but I wanted more shells in my gun this time, especially with elephant on the menu. I got in touch with the guys at the TC custom shop, and they built me a custom .458 Win on the ICON bolt action platform. It is a real shooter and shot ½” groups at 100 yards off the bench, and the 500 grain Nosler Solids and Partitions hit in the exact same place. I have a matching ICON .300 Win. that shoots 180 grain Nosler Accubond Trophy Grade lights out. I practiced almost weekly with .458 for 2 months before the trip and put about 100 rounds through the big gun. As I said, the gun will do the job, but I never claimed to be the best shot in the world, especially off sticks. I went into the trip confident though.

About 6 weeks prior to the trip, I found out there was a leopard that had opened up in Dande, and I asked Buzz if I could hunt it. He told me if it was available when I got there, I could do a leopard add on. I can’t tell you how many times I prayed that Spots would still be on quota upon my arrival. Exactly two weeks before the trip, Buzz sent me an e-mail telling me that I could hunt the leopard. He said they had a really big male that was a regular feeder, and he thought we should go for it. I told him I was all in and asked him to prebait for 5 days prior to my arrival. I knew that only 10 days was really short for what I had on the plate, but that also meant there would be no getting bored!


Physical Preparation: This was a tough one. I knew this could be a physical hunt, and after all the days spent in a treestands last fall and eating through the winter, I was as heavy as I have ever been weighing in at 216 lbs. I decided to do something about it, and starting the last week of May, I got serious. My first 49 days into preparation, I went to the gym 48 days, and out of a total of 65 days, I worked out 61. I started out running hills on an elliptical machine about 3 miles 4 days a week and 2 miles 3 days a week. On the 2 mile days, I also did about 30-40 minutes of weight training, and every day I did some sort of ab work. I lost 31 pounds the first 7 weeks, and was up to 6.5 miles 4 days a week, and 4.25 miles the 3 days I did weights for a total of about 38 miles. The entire time I was on a pretty strict diet and I have to admit, I hadn’t felt so good in a long time. I did miss the summertime Margaritas though! I would have liked to have lost another 10 lbs, but I was down 4 waist sizes and had to have all my pants taken in for the trip. Myles told me to be in shape and ready to do sprints in the sand as he was sure Buzz would get me into “something” during our hunt.


The Trip: My good friend Steve Love was the captain of the Delta flight from Atlanta to Joburg, and it was great to catch up. Steve and I have hunted around the US a bit together, and went to NZ once, but we don’t get to see each other nearly enough, and he is a top notch guy. I always feel good when I know he is in command of the big 777.

As stated before, my long time friends, Lee Britt and Skip Nantz were going along. Tom Jensen had to cancel out only 5 days prior to leaving. I hated that for him. This was to be Lee and Skip’s first DG hunts, and they were hunting buffalo and general PG, and Skip also had a sable add on. I knew this would be a great group to share camp with.

I got to meet Carl (sevenmagltd) and his group of about ten folks before we boarded, and they were a great bunch of people. I know they were going to have a fun trip. They were shooting whatever they really liked, and no pressure. What a fun way to hunt for 10 days.

Captain Steve put me up in the cockpit to snap a photo before we taxied out to send to my wife. I am sure that made her feel all warm and fuzzy to see me behind the stick when I e-mailed it to her. The Delta flight from ATL to Joburg was fine; good food, very good service, not rough and pretty well on time. I got some sleep, Lee got a LOT of sleep, and we were ready to transfer to Zim.

Got to Harare, and none of the 3 of us got our guns. Myles picked us up at the airport, but we had the bad news for him. He did tell me that a good male leopard was feeding on my pre-baits, so I knew I wouldn’t sleep much that night. We were overnighting in Harare and went to the airport the next day and hoped that we would get our guns then, but NO. What to do?…We chartered on into Dande on a very nice Navajo around noon with no guns. Isn’t that great, you spend 2-3 months working with your guns and loads, and then that is all taken away due to airline incompetence. Isn’t traveling to hunt grand? What do you do? You shoot the camp guns and go on. No one could tell us where our bags/guns actually were despite numerous calls from the sat phone…very frustrating.

Skip and Lee were lucky. The 2 guns they were bringing matched the 2 guns they could use in camp. I was not so lucky, but Buzz did have guns for me. I told him that the first day, I would like to take it easy and hope our guns showed, so we decided to check leopard baits, maybe shoot more bait, and look around a little for buff. I told my two partners in camp to shoot me some bait on their first day as well. Writing this in real time, so we will see how it goes.

Day 1 of the actual hunt:
Well, since I am trying to write this as much as possible on the fly, “real time”, I guess there will be mood swings. When I went to bed last night, I was mad at the world. No one on either continent could give me any answers on my guns’ whereabouts, so I started off the day with that hanging over my head.

We decided, since no guns, we would concentrate on hanging baits, checking what was out, and if something came along, I would shoot with a camp gun. 10 minutes out of camp, we saw where a huge herd of buff had crossed the road, so we radioed Rich and Skip, told them about it, and continued on our way. So we checked some baits, had two hits by females, and we did a bit of switching around.

About 10:00AM, we saw a lot of vultures circling, and Buzz decided we should check it out. He guessed a lion kill, but you never know. As we made our way across a deep drainage, we found where a female leopard had her lair in some rocks. We continued on, and as we closed in on the target area, Buzz threw up the sticks, and told me there was a hyena below. It was mixed grass and woodlands, and I found the hyena at around 60 yards almost broadside. As I adjusted my grip on the rifle/sticks, it turned and looked at me, so I knew it would bolt any time. I centered the crosshair and touched the trigger, and all I saw were paws in the air.

On the shot, 3 other hyenas and a female leopard took off. When we walked down to find the hyena, there was a cow kudu half eaten, but no hyena. I was somewhat shocked, but then massive amounts of blood were there, and the hyena was 15 yards away dead with a nice shoulder shot. It wasn’t a huge hyena, but any hyena at 10:30 AM is a good one, and I was quite pleased.

We found out Skip had killed a nice buff out of the group we put them on, and we headed back to camp for lunch and to pick up more bait. I won’t spoil Skip’s story, but he killed a very nice 40” buff with very good drops. It is a beauty.

We spent the afternoon hanging new baits and the 3 trail cams I brought along, and leopard tracks were everywhere. At 4:30 we got a radio transmit from camp to announce the guns had been flown in my Myles’ father-in-law, and I felt the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders.

We ended in a beautiful river bottom with our last bait hung, and a cold Castle on the way back to camp.

We mildly celebrated Skip’s first buff that night before dinner, and we all made game plans for the next day. We are going to hunt buff in an open area that Buzz thought might give us a chance at some good video, if we could find buff there tomorrow. This was a very productive and enjoyable first day. I now have 8 leopard baits up and 2 guns in my chalet! Life is grand.

Day 2: Started the day at the range checking guns. Both were on, so we set off for the valley on the far side of the concession that Buzz felt we should try for buff as it is the most open place in Dande, and it would be good for video footage. As we got into the general area, we spotted a herd of elephant from the road, so we went over to do an approach and check for tuskless. We walked up to about 30 yards of the 6, but all had teeth, so we departed.

It was 10:30 when we began our walk through the valleys, and the terrain was quite hilly and rugged. It was an area where Buzz had had to shoot an ele in self-defense a few weeks back, and he felt like we would run into something.


After about 2 hours, Criton (Buzz’s tracker) spotted a single ele from a high vantage we had climbed, and it was in the direction we were going anyway, so we figured we would eventually give it a look. We caught up with its track about 30 minutes later, and Buzz said it was a small bull. Ten minutes later, we were looking at the bull at 40 yards, and it was a dandy (with small feet). Buzz and Criton both guessed it at 60-65 lbs on the right and about 55 on the left. We watched him for a long time, and it was a special thing to be that close to an animal that was so magnificent.

We decided to move around a bit to his front to get a better look, as our side view wasn’t the best for video. His long tusks went into the grass as he stood relaxed, and when he began throwing dust over his back, we made a move.

We got on top of a huge rock in front of him, undetected, and I turned on my point and shoot camera after asking Buzz if it was OK. There was a tone when it came on, and the bull’s ears immediately flared, and he began a charge. Buzz yelled at him a few times, and when he was at 15 yards and coming like a locomotive, Buzz loosed a warning shot. That turned him, and he crashed off to our right. What a rush! Not only did we get to see a spectacular bull up close, but we had the fairly well indescribable experience of a bull ele charge. Wow, my day was certainly complete.

We continued to walk the hills, and we continued to see elephant. We ended up looking over 7 different groups, but only saw one tuskless, and it was subadult.

About 5:00pm, Buzz told me he would like to make one last push to a river pool to check for buff, and it was about a 30-minute walk if I was up for it. I said, “let’s roll”, so off we went. When we got close to the pool, we found fresh buff sign, then fresh lion tracks. The lions have really been hammering the buff in Dande this year and making things difficult. Within a minute or two of seeing the tracks, we spotted a big male lion with a very nice ginger main on the far bank. He watched us for about a minute or so, and then he just walked away.

We figured he was following the buff, and since he went the other way, we decided to make an attempt to catch the buff before dark. We hustled along the river, up the far bank and into some high grass. The herd seemed to be moving toward the hills, and we really moved quickly.

After 15-20 minutes, Criton halted us just as we crested a hill, and as we glassed, we could see buff everywhere. We scanned many, and then spotted abuot 10 bulls all together around 100 yards below us. We slipped in to about 70 yards and saw one VERY wide bull, but he was soft. I told Buzz I would like to be closer, so with the wind right, we used small bushes to shield us, and we slowly made our way to about 40 yards. Most of the bulls had their heads in the grass feeding and we couldn’t see their horns enough to judge them. I had told Buzz, I just wanted a completely hard- bossed bull, and I didn’t care about spread, etc. I am not going to mount another buff, so the experience is what it is all about.

Little by little, we could see a few of the bulls’ horns, and finally we both saw one toward the left of the group that was feeding facing us, and it was obvious he was completely hard. Buzz told me to take him, and I was about the shoot him through the neck that was down and straight on, when he looked up and turned to his right. I centered my crosshairs where the neck met the shoulder, and sent a 500 grain Nosler solid his way. The bull absolutely crumbled, and I must say, I was surprised that he went nowhere. The vast majority of buff run no matter where they are hit, and this bull didn’t take so much as a step. The bullet entered on his left, just at the junction of neck and shoulder, and went through to the opposite shoulder.

He was just what we thought, a good completely hard-bossed bull that was basically fused in the middle. He wasn’t overly wide and didn’t have a huge boss, but he was a great bull to us at the end of one of the most rewarding days of hunting of my life. He was also in an open setting for the video camera. We had walked for 7 straight hours, up and down countless rugged hills in an incredibly beautiful part of Africa, seen over 50 elephants, had an encounter and charge from a 60 pound plus bull, and killed a good quality Cape buff. Does hunting get much better than that? If it does, I haven’t experienced much of it.




We made our way back to camp tonight to find that Skip had shot a nice zebra and followed a huge sable in the morning, and Lee had played cat and mouse with 2 herds of buff in the jesse. We are all having a splendid time, and now with the buff in the salt, Buzz and I can concentrate on tuskless and Mr. Spots. 8 days left…

Day 3: Good day, but nothing in the salt. We looked at 40-50 more elephant, and a couple up close approaches, but no tuskless. We ended the day following a young bull down a dry river, going to a spring we wanted to check, and we finished the day watching him.
Mid day we hung a zebra leg in another spot Buzz has been wanting to try for a while. Lee killed a heck of a nice buff today, so we have all 3 taken our buffalo on the first 3 days of the hunt.

Day 4: Followed up a group if ele early and got in to 20ish yards on 9 of them, but no tuskless again. The trackers saw a female leopard in the road afterwards, and we got word Jappie, our camp manager, that we had a female leopard that hit a bait and another leopard hit another, but he wasn’t sure if it was a male or female. We have a trail camera there, so we plan to go freshen the bait and check the camera sometime tomorrow.

We did a 4½ hour walk this afternoon, and got close to two eles, but the wind was wrong and they took off. We followed for 2 hours and finally called it a day. Our slowest day so far, but still a good hunting day. Lee left after lunch for Dande East to try his luck at elephant and lions that Buzz still has available. I think Skip is sitting for hyena in the morning early, looking for sable until lunch, and then he may head to the East as well and try his luck on hippo and whatever else might cross his path. We have six days left, and know we will find a tuskless, but I am getting a bit concerned about having a good male leopard feed. We have out 9 baits now, so we are doing all we can. I look forward to checking that trail cam mid-morning tomorrow, and hopefully the cat is shootable.

Day 5: This morning we tracked up a group of eles at sunup, took about an hour, and we made an approach on first 6 bulls (one 40 pounder), and then a group of 12 cows. They all had teeth.

We got on another set of tracks and left the road at 8:55 am. We got to the eles about 10AM, and the first one we see is a 40 lb one tusker. We saw another bull, and I thought, “great, here we go again!” Then we saw a few more eles a little lower in the small drain, so we began glassing. We determined that finally we had 2 tuskless in a group, and we might get a chance.

Buzz and I moved in, and we cut the wind at an angle on the tuskless. She was moving up a little, and we moved a bit closer. Finally she was going to come out past a tree moving left to right, and in the clear, but she looked and saw us. Instead of turning toward us, she took off up the hill and spooked the whole herd. We were all sick. This was about 125 elephants that we had looked at, and now our opportunity was gone.

Buzz said we would follow since we knew there was tuskless in the group, but we were, “in for a good walk”. We tracked, and tracked, and it was all in the very thick jesse. The guys lost tracks, found tracks, and did it all a few more times. Finally we got close, and we found a bull standing perfectly still in the jesse. The trackers determined that the two bulls had split from the cows, so we tried to relocate the cows.

This took another 20-30 minutes, and then we were back on the tracks for a while. Finally in very thick cover, we heard them. A few minutes later we saw the group of 10 or so eles resting in the shade, and we began an approach.

We found the tuskless on the right of the herd, and Buzz said it was so thick, we had to get on a trail that was half open, and just try to walk in. So we did…At about 20 yards, the big tuskless saw us, flared her ears, and Buzz told me that I needed to take the shot before they took off. There was a fair sized tree between us, and I had to drop to a knee and shoot up through a V in that tree. I squatted down, leveled the crosshairs across the eyes, and I squeezed off.

The big cow did not drop, and I must say that I was completely surprised. I wrenched another round in as she cut to the left. Buzz shot for the hip and I shot for the head. He hit her, and on my shot she turned back left. We moved a few steps over, and Buzz told me to put another in her as she was moving with the herd. I finally made the right shot and put one in her ear hole. She crumbled to the shot, and it was over.

I was disappointed that I had botched my frontal brain shot, but it all turned out well within 5-10 seconds, and there was no follow up job. She was a huge tuskless, and we were all very pleased and relieved as we were in the thick jesse, and we could have had a real mess in there. After 5 days, 125+ elephants, and tracking this group twice for over 4 hours, it was a culmination of an absolutely wonderful hunt.


We had 2 female leopards feed, and then we finished the day hanging two more baits. We have a 6-7 hours of ele recovery tomorrow, and then we are focusing 100% on a leopard. Time is running very short with 5 days left and no male leopard feeding. We definitely need some luck.

I came back to camp to find that Skip had shot a klipspringer, a nice warthog and an impala today. He had had quite a day 5. We are half way through the trip, and it has been a total success. We also learned that a gentleman from Texas that is in the Mururu camp shot a good buff on his first day. So for the four people hunting in Dande, we killed four good buff in the first four days of hunting.

Day 6: We spent the first half of the day on the tuskless recovery. The guys had to cut in some road through the jesse, and we could only get to a point across a huge gulley from the elephant, so the meat and skin had to be carried over. As anyone who has seen this process knows, it is a very impressive sight.

Buzz guessed the cow at 35-40 years old, and said she would feed about 250 people in the nearest village.

We spent the rest of the day checking leopard baits, re-dragging them, etc. I did shoot a big male baboon in the afternoon. We now have 3 female leopards that have fed, but we can’t catch a break and get a male on a bait. We have 10 baits out, but it is looking slim on the leopard front as we only have 4 days left. Skip shot a hyena off my tuskless carcass in the evening.

Buzz mentioned something today that really sticks out in my mind. He said, “ You know, it is funny that you killed your buffalo only 5 days back, and that feels like so long ago. It is like it was way in the past, yet this is day six of the safari, and it seems like the trip is flying by.” He is exactly right, so much happens, that an event 4-5 days ago does feel like forever ago, but my time is really short and the trip as a whole has sped by, and is much too short.

Day 7: Out again early to check baits. Skip shot another hyena off the tuskless carcass. We again have a regular female leopard feeding, but after checking all baits, we have 0 male hits. I find out that on morning 3 of his hunt, Dave in the other camp is already sitting on a male leopard.

We do a 2 hour walk in the morning looking for sable in between checking baits. We saw no sable, but it was a nice walk. We re-dragged some baits, and in the afternoon we did another sable walk in the hills. The trackers spotted a herd of sable about 2 miles off, so we hustled over to where they thought they were. It took a while to work it out, but they eventually found the tracks, and just before dark, the herd busted us fro about 150 yards out. Buzz marked the spot on the GPS because he said they wouldn’t go far, and they generally bed at night. When we came back to camp, we gave Skip and Rich the coordinates, and Buzz is sending Criton with them in the morning to go after the sable. I think their plan is to track those sable in the morning, and head to Dande East in the afternoon to try for a hippo and whatever else they might find. Lee returned from the East after chasing bull ele for 2 days.

We found out that Dave in Mururu Camp now has 2 male leopards feeding. They have out half as many baits as us, and within 3 days, they have 2 males on bait. Just goes to prove my luck. I have resigned today, that I am not taking a leopard or sable on this trip, and I am OK with it. I got the number 1 and number 4 animals on my wish list for this trip, and I will hunt leopard and sable again until I get them. Every time we pass fresh elephant tracks, I do wish we could follow them. It has only been two days since we took the tuskless, and I already miss elephant hunting. I have never done anything so exciting, and one consolation to not taking the leopard or sable will be that I can save that money and put it toward another elephant hunt with Buzz. I think if things work out in the future, and they secure Makuti when it comes up for bid, I would like to go there.

Day 8: I have just jumped in the front seat of the Dande Express emotional rollercoaster. I was in complete acceptance of going home without a leopard or sable, and then we have this morning. The bait that Buzz expected a big male leopard to be feeding on the whole safari (because it had been during the past 2 safaris) finally was slightly hit. The best we can construe is that early this morning, he came in and grabbed the baboon we had wired to an elephant skull in the middle of the dry river. He had dragged the bait and ele skull about 50 yards to the edge of the bank, and he had eaten a tiny bit of one arm when Rex and Lee came down the road on their way to go try for a hyena on my tuskless carcass.

The leopard dashed up the bank and was gone. After we checked it all out, we went on checking baits, and Jappie radioed to say we had another big male hit another bait, and he had eaten a good bit of the zebra leg. So now we are really pumped and decided the latter would be our primary setup.

We get there to find it was a female that had fed (our 4th) and that Jappie had been looking at a big hyena track. So my spirits really fell again as I am just really worried that the big mail was spooked off before he fed at the other spot, and he may be gone for good. It also made no sense to me that he hit the baboon, when only 35 yards away is a buffalo leg and a zebra ham in a nice big slanting tree.

We did go on and build a blind and get a setup ready at the river baits. We put another big piece of buff with the baboon on the riverbed, and then the two baits are still hanging. I am writing this after lunch, and in about an hour and a half we are going to go in and sit. Buzz and Nyati think our best chance is tomorrow morning, but with only this afternoon and 2 days left in the hunt, we have to try anytime we can.

We also got a call from Parks, and they asked us to kill a non-trophy buffalo for a national holiday. I told Buzz to call and let Lee hunt it today while we made our leopard plans, and if he didn’t get one, I would hunt it tomorrow. Lee and Rex were out in the field, and we couldn’t reach them, so I will give the ration buff a try tomorrow after we do our leopard sit. I am telling myself things just aren’t going to happen at this late time in the safari and not to get all worked up, but I guess it is only human to keep thinking it might work out. This really is nerve racking. Time to relax for a while before we head out again at 3:30.

Day 9: No luck with the cat last night. Trail cam showed him in around midnight and 4:00AM. Hyenas were there all night, and we had one on the bait at dawn.

We did hear 2 prides of lions roaring this morning, which is always a treat. We had another female hit another bait, and she was there at 4PM yesterday and 8:15 this morning in broad daylight. Why can’t we get a male like that?

About 8:15AM we headed out on the spoor on some buffalo from yesterday afternoon. They had meandered a lot, but Criton found their beds from overnight. We went in and out of thick jesse and semi open terrain, and we finally got between two herds in the jesse.

We could hear buff on both sides of us, so we closed in on the group that we had the best wind on, and it didn’t take long to spot black forms in the thick stuff. The first one we could see well was a beautiful bull with deep drops and great curl, but he was a couple of years from being completely hard bossed. There was another bull behind and to his left, and then Buzz said there was a cow yet farther to the left. The good-looking bull was staring us down, so we sat still for about 5 minutes. We had made the last 20 yards scooting on our backsides, and I am not crazy about looking up at buff 25-30 yards from my butt with my gun across my lap.

When the bull looked away, Buzz eased the sticks up, and I slowly stood. He stayed down, and told me to shoot the cow when she got in the opening the bull had originally been in. As she entered the hole, walking left to right, I knocked the safety of the .458 off, and I touched off a 500 grain Nosler Partition when her shoulder hit my crosshairs. The herd stampeded off, and Buzz asked how I felt about the shot. I told him it felt good, and he and Criton both thought it looked good.

We gave it a few minutes, and as there was no death bellow, we were a bit concerned. We eased in, and it took a while to find a few drops of blood, and I began second guessing myself. I knew I was on her and steady, but as she was moving and I wasn’t swinging, I was worried I might have hit her back.

Within a couple of minutes the guys found plenty of blood and only a few paces afterward, Nyati pointed ahead in a thick tangle, and we could see her standing there. We glassed to make sure it was the hit cow, and it was apparent that she was our target as her nostrils were pink with lung blood. I got on the sticks again at about 60 yards, and Buzz wanted me to shoot her in the head. I couldn’t because of brush, so I told him I would shoot her I the neck. On the report, she dropped and it was over. It was 10:15AM. What a fun hunt... Shooting a cow is the exact same hunt as hunting a bull in a herd; you just have a different outcome and no trophy. It was a nice bonus to be able to get the hunt in at the request of Parks with no trophy fee.

Nosler partition from Cow Buff

Back for lunch now, and we are going to sit on the big tracked leopard again this evening. I am not overly hopeful as I think he is one educated cat and is probably now completely nocturnal as Rich had a client miss him about 3 weeks ago. The hyenas aren’t helping either. We’ll give it a go as it is our only possibility right now, and tomorrow is the last day. We got news that Skip killed a hippo in Dande East this morning, and Lee smoked a big dog baboon for us to throw on our bait pile. Since this cat doesn’t seem to want to climb the tree and eat, we are moving everything into the riverbed 55 yards from the blind.

Day 10: The rollercoaster has really gone out of control. It is 9:00 AM on our last hunting day. The leopard showed last night at last light, and as I was getting into position to shoot, he bolted from the middle of the white riverbed. Buzz told me he stopped on the bank at the edge of the brush, so I swung the gun and could make him out. His head and neck were obscured as he stood facing uphill, right, and slightly quartering away. I pulled up behind the shoulder and let the .300 go. No sound, no nothing. I felt good about the shot, but Buzz said he was worried that there was no growl. We hoped he had been dropped on the spot.

We gave it 10 minutes, I took the .458, Buzz got his shotgun, and Criton and Nyati had axes and lights. Those guys are braver than anyone I have ever known. When we got to the bank, there was no blood, and I was just sick. After tracking him 75 yards, still no blood, but then Nyati found a speck. Over the next 100-150 yards, we found more specks, but it didn’t look good. It was thick with tangles, then high grass, then more tangled thick brush. I kept thinking if someone got mauled because of my shooting I didn’t know how I could live with myself.

Finally after what seemed forever, Buzz told me they hate to leave a cat overnight, but he felt it was the smart thing to do. I agreed 100%, so we returned to camp.

This morning we waited on good light, and we were back on the track. The bait had been demolished by 2 big male lions; one with long black mane hair. Within about 5 minutes, I saw Buzz drop his gun from his shoulder and his chin to his chest. I knew it wasn’t good, and there was the cat, half eaten by the lions. Buzz was just sick, and I was definitely disappointed but also relieved.

I won’t have a trophy mount, but no one got scratched up because of me, and we did recover the cat. I am very disappointed in myself for the bad shot that hit the cat back, but in reality, though not perfect, this outcome is better than many scenarios I can think of. I don’t know if I have had terrible luck or decent luck on this portion of the hunt. I guess it is all in how you look at it. Regardless, I had the opportunity, and I didn’t perform as I should have.

We were able to salvage some decent photos, and he was a wonderful cat. He was 7’ long, Buzz told me upon arrival that he had the biggest track he had seen in the Valley in many years, if not ever, and he had a beautiful square head. A magnificent animal, I just wish I had given him a more dignified way to go. It is hunting, and I am far from perfect, and though it will take a while, I am going to have to get over it and look ahead.



We got word on the way back to camp this morning that Skip killed a nice sable bull in Dande East, and Buzz said that is the first taken there in maybe 8 years as no one usually hunts them. It was in a herd of 8 bulls. Skip has truly had an incredible hunt with buff, sable, hippo, klippy, impala, warthog, hyena and zebra in 10 days.

We will spend the afternoon doing a bit more filming, taking photos, packing and relaxing. Well, I thought that was it…we all went down to one of my favorite river crossings where we had a bait, and had a barbeque n the evening. We had a Zim vs. US .22 shooting contest that we all eventually agreed was a tie, and then we shot a few sand grouse just at dark. The eating, drinking and reliving the hunt began, and it was a super way to end the trip. CM really took good care of us start to finish.


Buzz, Rich and Rex

Buzz being interviewed, and hating it!

The tracker team and cameraman Jon
Retrospect: I have never had a perfect safari, and I don’t know if there is such a thing, but besides the shot/trophy recovery of the leopard, this was close to a perfect trip for me. I was able to take 3 of Zim’s Big 4 in 9 days, I got to experience elephant hunting up close and personal with one of today’s undoubtedly best PH’s who I can now call a friend, and I spent a week and a half in camp with good friends from the States. We all were able to share ups and downs, hardship and celebration. Rex and Rich (Lee and Skip’s PH’s) are both fantastic guys, and I enjoyed their company very much, as was Jappie and the whole CM crew. They all went over and above for everyone in our group, and they have provided us all with one of the best times of our lives. I wish I had 10 more days here in Dande, but all good things must come to an end. There are many memories here that will be carried with me until the day I leave this earth, and that is what hunting is truly about to me. The pursuit of game in wild places is something that we hunters have deep inside us, but also meeting and sharing experiences with good people in different settings is just as important. We all need to take in every moment we are privileged to do these special things, and savor them as long as we can draw a breath.

(...I will likely add a few more photos in the next day or two. I am in the ATL airport posting the report now, and I am sure I will find a few more photos as I get more time.)

Additional photos as I can- Here...

The 60 pounder just as he decided to charge. He is about 35 yards, and this is with my point and shoot. We did get the whole thing on video...


The guys at the bait site where the leopard ordeal took place

View inside our tight little leopard blind

Glassing in Dande

Leopard skull

Our Navajo coming to pick us up

The guys' favorite lookout spot- where they raced down every time they went up to glass

Great story. Sorry about Mr. Spots, but you did get him and no one got hurt.

Tim,

Thank you for a wonderful report. I am sorry about your loss, but it's a pretty good reason to head back, yes?

Congrats on a good safari!

Nicely done Skinny.

Looks to me like there's enough of that leopard to do a nice head bust.

Welcome home.

Tim, congratulations on your hunt. Sounds like you had a great time. Sorry about the leopard -- I have a special attachment to that leopard. We had the leopard feeding and I told Buzz that since I already had a nice leopard from a prior hunt, we should leave it for another hunter and move on to Moz for the hippo and croc.

[You did not say anything about how many sand grouse the group actually put on the ground. Those bastards can fly. ]

Tim,
welcome home after a great safari. We all get humbled one time or another on safari.
I had it happen with a Roosevelt sable.
I have never forgotten this quote, " Humility is nthe name of the game. "

Regards,

Mike

Great report and pics Tim! Congratulations! I'm jealous about the Hyena that were shot!

Congrats Tim on a nice safari! As for the leopard, man you did your best, and sometimes shit happens. You'll lay it to em next time, no worries.

Great story and wonderful pics. Too bad about the leopard hide, but you do have the pics. More people will see the pics, than the hide, anyway.

Mad Dog

Great report, beautiful buffs there.

Thanks,

Tim,
wow! I hunt with CM in Nov. of next year----can't wait after reading this report--what great time you had.

sorry about the cat. This leopard curse you got is something else-------I hope it breaks for you soon.
time to go back, and have some more fun-

congratulations on a great hunt. Nice buffalo and tuskless, good leopard, it's a shame about the leopard but you got him and no one got scratched . Great pictures.

Great report Tim. Congrats on your trophies and positive attitude .

Wow- 3 of the big 5 on a 10 day hunt, excellent PH's, and friends around. Congrats on a great hunt.

You certainly packed a lot of hunting into ten days -- congrats!

Great report ! I like that "fluffy" hyena

Looks like a great hunt! Sorry to hear about your leopard. From the looks of it, I would guess you could still do decent mount; maybe have it sneaking out of some grass or something so the torn up parts are covered? Or, you could have a very nice scarf made for your wife...

Pete

Tim,

Heck of a 10 day safari. Lots of action, ups and downs packed into that one. Sorry about the leopard but that's all part of experience!

Congrats,

Mark

Congratulations!!! Beautiful leopard!

Brett

Tim,very nice report and a good safari for sure. Sorry for the leopard but as lion chewing goes, believe me when I say I have seen much worse. If he had been on the bait nice and proper you would have popped him dead center, no doubt. Those unexpected leopard shots make an already stressful shot harder still. Bad luck, nothing more. A good taxidermist can get creative and you can still come out of it with a nice, unique mount.
Congrats !

Congratulations...you GOT your leopard and I really liked your buffalo too. Sounds like a great hunt.

Best regards, D. Nelson

Thanks all...what no one sees it that in the leopard photo, you are seeing all that was left. His chest was eaten up to the neck, inside of all 4 legs gone, the entire underside and half up the ribs. Not even enough for a bust type mount. We worked hard for the photos, and you are seeing all that was left, literally. It was awful, and though I have photos of the underside, it pains me to look at them, and I don't want to post. I want to remember him in his glory.

Well done man!

Tim
Heck of time crammed into those ten days! Congrats on a dream hunt..
As for the cat, it happens. From the looks of the pics, it seems there may be enough for a rug..I sure so. Pics came out quite nice, considering.
Buff, ele, hyena, and leopard.. WOW!
Congrats, bud.

All in 10 days I hate to think what you could do on a 21 day hunt.
Congrats, sorry about Mr. Spots

Congratulations on a fantastic hunt Tim.

Congrats on a great hunt and adventure Tim. Excellent trophies, well hunted. Sorry about the cat, but it happens. One day your leopard luck will change for the better and you will savor that trophy like no other!

quote:

I kept thinking if someone got mauled because of my shooting I didn’t know how I could live with myself.

No problem as long as it's Buzz!

Speaking of Buzz, that picture of him with the .22 suggests to me that he had been enjoying a Castle or two as part of the shooting competition.

You know him well Mike...

...and I do owe you a drink in Dallas next year for choosing not to hunt that cat! Buzz said he was like clock work when you were there, and then I guess someone else missed him...

I enjoyed reading your account. I was sad to be leaving that very camp as your group was arriving. My ten days there were memorable and I hope to repeat the experience soon!

Buzz and Myles are top notch and hope to hunt with them in the near future. Great report and Pics. Every hunt has it's high and low points, just enjoy the high and laugh about the lows.g

quote:

Originally posted by 470drshooter:
Buzz and Myles are top notch

And that's the truth. CMS is a class outfit.

David

Tan the hide into a leopard thong, hat band, book mark or get Will to make a damn wallet out of it.

Great hunt. Congratulations.

Perry

Perry, actually great suggestions! I was going to sat the same thing, but you already did!

Mad Dog

Great report and photos. Sounds like a great 14 day hunt packed into 10!
Sorry about the cat, but he is dead, and that's what really counts, here.
I will be there next March, and that ele bull has me drooling.

Tim,

Congrats on a great hunt. Your pictures are like old home week for me I've hunted the Dande several times and am always thinking about going back.

What a great hunt!

Tim what is your general impression of the TC Icon?

Surestrike, PM about the ICON, but I love the ICONs and all of them I have are real shooters...

Tim,

Great report and like everyone else, I'm sorry about the leopard outcome. You have a great attitude about that portion and you are a tribute to the sport of hunting by sharing your successes and failures.

In regards to the cat, if you saved the entire skin that was left, I have an idea. I think you could make a very "artsy" type mount with a 1/2 bronze cat and half skin mount. I see it as an action type mount leaping for a pray animal that is all bronze.

I attached a photo of a "cold cast" bronze that is not metal but will stand up to the elements and is 1/3 the cost of a metal bronze. The deer is just an example of the cold cast "bronze". If you are interested we can talk further about my idea and I can prepare a sketch. I would just hate to cut that cat and experience short of a beautiful mount...

Tim, super trip, report and pics. Yeah, the cat is probably a major memory but you will always carry the good part with you.

Thanks for sharing your experience and when will we see some video?