Davis and Becky Walton came to Zimbabwe to hunt a tuskless elephant cow and some plains-game with Mokore Safaris and Professional Hunter Doug Duckworth. Doug met them at the Harare International airport mid afternoon and as it was to late to head to Sengwa, the area in which they were hunting, they stayed at the Mokore Safaris Harare house for the night. Early the next morning, the bags, guns and a few camp nessecities were loaded into the car and their six hour trip to Sengwa began.



They arrived in Sengwa mid-afternoon. After getting settled, they went to the National parks HQ to let the officials know they had arrived and fill out the mandatory paperwork. With that, it was down to the shooting range. Before Davis had left the US he had sited in his rifle (.375 H&H Ruger) at 30 yards and it was still spot on. It was then back to the camp for a few sun downers and lesson on Elephant shot placement.

The next morning, before the sun was up, they were off. As the first rays of sun were touching the tree tops, the car was stopped and it was walking time. Doug having been hunting the area since the beginning of the season had a good idea where the Elephant were and, sure enough it wasn't long before they were on some fresh spoor. They could hear Elephant feeding in the distance and it was shortly after that when Solomon (Doug's head tracker) spotted a group of bulls on the opposite bank of the river they had walked up on. This would be a good opportunity for Davis to get close to some elephant and see the brain position in relation to the head. The bulls didn't have a clue the team were there. It was only until a young bull that had half it's trunk missing walked down the river bank towards them that they had any idea that the team were in the area. After a small show of "young bull attitude" the hunters decided it was time to move on. The rest of the walk was uneventful and as midday neared they made their way back to the camp for lunch.



That afternoon the team were on another herd of Elephant, a far larger group - possibly over 60. Doug had spotted a tuskless earlier but, being such a large group, was unable to see it again in the "thick stuff". As they were close to the Sengwa river, Doug decided to leave them for now. Hopefully by late afternoon they would be on the river where it was a little more open.

At lunch they picked up a back leg from a Zebra that had been shot on a previous Safari to use as bait for Davis's hyena. On the way to hang the bait, Solomon spotted an Elephant way off in the distance walking down one of the main tributaries of the Sengwa river. Albeit dry on the surface at this time of year, the water flows just under the sand. This supports a lush riverine vegetation and every now and again, it breaks to the surface in springs that always have a multitude of animal sign around them,which is why the Elephant were in this area. Doug sent Mutongi, his second tracker and driver, off to go hang the bait and the hunters were soon after the Elephant. Here, it must be mentioned that Becky did really well in keeping up with the fast pace set by Solomon and Doug. They finally caught up to the Elephant in some seriously thick bush and with the wind swirling, the hunters didn't have long and they were gone. Once again, they were back on their spoor and, luckily, though they realized something was afoot, the elephant were not quiet sure what, and hadn't moved too far. Once the team had caught up to them again, the hunters moved into a position that would be more favorable with the wind and also had a better view of the herd. They could see there was a couple tuskless cows in this herd. Leaving Becky, Solomon and the National Parks Ranger safely behind a tree, Doug, Davis and the Cameraman, Jordan, went in. The Herd was starting to move off again but one tuskless cow was on high alert at the back and when Doug got to about 20 yards from the Cow, up went the sticks and Davis wasted no time in putting a round into her brain. A couple insurance shots later and Davis had a very big tuskless cow and an experience of a life time, all in the first day!



The next morning, the elephant was recovered and sent the meat off to the local school and the team continued with the safari.

The other animals that were on Davis's list were the previously mentioned Hyena, waterbuck, bushbuck, Zebra and a Baboon. Doug was pretty confident that they would get most of these but the Hyena would require a lot of work and some luck.

The third day into the safari they came upon a small group of Zebra. The famous butt walk that every hunter goes through multiple times ensued and we got within shooting distance. Up went the sticks again and Davis, once again wasted no time. Unfortunately, as they later found out when they went back to the range, the scope was shooting very high. This was only discovered, however, after shooting the zebra, finding a couple drops of blood and following it for over 25 kilometers. The trackers did an amazing job in keeping on the spoor and just when Doug thought they must have lost the spoor, another small drop of blood was found. Late afternoon on the following day, however, they called off the chase. This part of the hunt is often left out of videos you may watch or reports that are written. It is being added in here as it is a very real part of hunting and anyone who hunts long enough will go through this at least once, probably more.

With the gun re-sighted, the team started the 5th morning. Doug wanted to go to an area that they had been seen a few waterbuck in the previous day and, sure enough, as they got close, they spotted a herd with a nice bull a little way off to the side. They got to within 80 yards, and as he was facing the hunters, Davis shot him right in the chest. The bull ran a bit and and got into some thick Mopane where he died. He was a nice Waterbuck and after the emotions of the previous day, just what was needed to lift the spirits of the whole group. Later, it was measured at 29", a very nice waterbuck indeed.



That afternoon after putting more bait out for the Hyena and a few finishing touches to the blind they had built on the second day - the blind being so "good" that one of the hyenas had decided to sleep in it the previous evening - the hunters decided to take a slow walk down the edge of the Sengwa river looking for Bushbuck. 20 minutes into the walk, they spotted a nice ram 40 yards away looking straight at them. Davis didn't have much time before the bushbuck would have bolted, but as he did with all his animals that he took, he didn't waste time and the ram dropped where he stood.




The following day, the hunters were out early and walking into the blind before sun up. The Hyena, however, were nowhere to be found. They had fed throughout the night and left us a nice shiny bone as evidence, or possibly their version of the finger. They got back to the car and the think tank made up of Doug, Solomon, Jordan and Mutongi, (A small tank admittedly) came up with the idea of going to the top of one of the mountains where they had often seen Hyena spoor to try and catch them in the early morning, Sunning themselves on the ridges, luck was with the team. As they drove up one of the many ridges, they spotted one off to the right. The team bailed out of the truck. However, they were not able to get a good opportunity as the Hyena was obviously in on the plan. On the way back to the truck, Doug spotted another Hyena on the next ridge. The "Spotted Dog" took off at this time. Doug whistled and the Hyena stopped just long enough for Davis to get a shot off. The shot was perfect and though they only found the hyena much later, it was very big specimen.



It was the perfect end to the Safari. Sengwa is one of the most stunning areas I have hunted in. The animal variety and quality is amongst the best in Zimbabwe and was shown in this Safari.
On behalf of myself, Jordan and the whole Mokore team I would like to thank Davis and Becky for a fantastic hunt and congratulate them on some wonderful trophies.

Congratulations!I hunted just next door in Chirisa.It is a pretty area.It is a good thing that you can hunt tuskless there.Maybe one day I will return.

Congrats on a nice safari! I'll be there in October. Save me a couple.

Dux,

Nice write up. I'm very happy to have played a small part in this very successful safari. Congrats to all involved.

Mark

Very good hunt and hunt review. Congratulations Doug.

John Williford

That first picture says it all. Sengwa Research is a very neat area. Congrats on a fine hunt.

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

Congrats to the team...well done

Great report and some very fine trophies.

Great one, thanks for posting.

Thanks for the report.

Congrats.

Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the comments everyone, was a great hunt.

Whats with the halal on the hyena? Don't tell me you were going to eat it?

Nice Work Dux!
Hope to join you soon for another hunt myself.

Well done.