Outfitter CMS,
PH Len Taylor
Country Zimbabwe
Area North Dande
Dates 041023-141023 Buffalo hunt
Rifle .404 Jeffery by AHR. Handloads

Long time lurker here and first hunt to Africa. I killed this bull after 5 days (photo to follow once I figure out how to post it). We saw and were on several small groups (anywhere from 1-4 bulls) of dagga boys the first 2 days, and then a group of 2 starting the 3rd day that had a bull that Len felt was the one I wanted, and I killed him late afternoon of the 5th day after not getting on the sticks fast enough when we bumped them off their anthill that morning.

Temperatures were up to 48 celsius in the afternoons (we started at 3:00 pm on the dot every day), and the going was extremely slow as we (or Len sensed) we were getting close.

Rest of hunt was devoted to getting "fatty," an enormous bull traveling with 3 companions whose spoor we crossed on the 2nd day. They busted us in the swirling wind around 11 am that day, and we got a visual on the four of them briefly when we climbed out of the hole and fatty was in the lead - enormous - but we were not able to find them after our afternoon siesta. We picked up their spoor on the 7th day, and Len sweet talked 3 of them in to within 15 paces, but fatty stayed aloof, alone, and apparently glued to his "spot" to the left and behind his 3 companions with his butt facing us, and we never got a presentation on him. It was very interesting to see one of the 3 companion bulls, estimated at 40+, shaking his head in our direction (Len and I were absolutely still), kind of doing several half turn-around - presenting a classic broadside - and then whipping around and taking a few more steps towards us trying to figure us out. I practiced a lot on the sticks with "Robertson" shots. They eventually drifted off - all undisturbed and probably mystified at what they were hearing and seeing.

Todd who you all know was very helpful in helping me prepare for this hunt. He arrived the day after I left. We had a good conversation with Alan Shearing on my last night and I am dreaming that Todd is on that fat boy.

I can share more of the logistics, challenges, and some of the details of the kill in a follow up if there is any any interest.

Robert

Don't forget the pics. We Won't believe you without pics!!!
Glad you had a great hunt. I love Dande North!

Always happy to see pics of Buff.
Go ahead and add further comments to your report. Every bit of knowledge helps.

Well done and yes please expand on your report

Thanks for the report and congrats on the buff; yes, we'd love to see photos. There is a link in my signature below to instructions for posting photos.

Which camp did you stay in?

Hey Bob,

Great to hear you had a successful hunt. Sorry we missed you, I thought we might have a day overlap

I'm glad I was able to provide some info for you hunt. Hannay has some good instructions in his link for posting photos. If you have trouble getting them to work, you can email them to me and I'll post them. We brought the Starlink into camp so we have high speed internet currently.

Congrats again on your buff!!

Hi, I'm going to try this link that my phone made.
I'll try Hannay's link if it does not work.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EGjtjBw5EwEEHBCu6

quote:

Originally posted by robullelk:
Hi, I'm going to try this link that my phone made.
I'll try Hannay's link if it does not work.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EGjtjBw5EwEEHBCu6

Very nice photo, and very nice buff. Your smile is telling. Congrats ona great bull.

First off logistics wise I enlisted Shawn at Gracy Travel who took care of everything and managed the complexity of accomodating schedule changes and kept me informed on any issues I needed to be aware of in a timely fashion. I flew 1st class on alaskan, and business class on Emirates. Emirates bclass far outshines 1st class on any domestic carrier in my opinion. Also, their lounges are great and I took advantage of their shower facilities coming and going, as well as their superior food and drink.

I stayed at Amanzi coming and going arranged by Lynn of CMS. I stayed in the Egyptian room and the air conditioning especially on the return from camp was really needed.

I had requested that I be driven to camp and CMS obliged. Buzz and Len met me for breakfast on the morning after my arrival (I'll let them tell you about my having to climb out of my room through the window). Len drove me to camp and we got to know each other. I wanted to see the country side and it was an experience I'm glad I had.

I stayed at Pedza Pasi the entire 10 days and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I would not be alone. The other client had a film crew and was doing a show/doc ? on hunting and its benefits for a european outdoor-type tv ? show. I got to meet Keith and Alan (on my final day) and Andy who had done a film for a friend of mine. The dinners were great, and the whole table on my final day hoisted their glasses and toasted me which made me a little embarrassed, but good all the same. Great companions and lots of stories around the fire pit (which we did not light for obvious reasons).

Todd played a key role in making my stay comfortable, not only at camp, but on the trail. His tips and experience/knowledge I know made things much more tolerable. So I was very comfortable given the time of year. Aside from slicing me left index finger open on a piece of grass and getting bitten twice by Tse Tse flies, I had no challenges or physical issues on the trail, and kept up most of the time except when climbing out of holes.

I should mention Len's heavily modified 79 series 1HZ Toyota Landcruiser. He himself has turned it into a 2 ton truck and he has a roller bar on bearings that came in handy as the guys hoisted the bull into the back of it. I have customized 2 trucks and a jeep for my backcountry sojourns here in Montana, and we have similar ideas on headache racks and suspensions, and we even have the same winch. Looking at that truck that morning at Amanzi with the knowledge I have gave me a lot of confidence that there would be no screw-ups in the back country - and there wasn't any. He never was high centered, and his ability to judge momentum, angle, and weight got us through all the dry river beds. Just amazing. I was very impressed.

Speaking of the guys hoisting the bull into the truck, I was wondering after our Bataan death march back to the truck how we were going to get that bull back - and it was dark. The four guys (I'll attach another photo) literally hacked (I wondered what all those machetes strapped to the headache rack were for) a path/road through 300 meters of jess where Len then had some open field running that got us to the buff - and they did it in about 1/2 hour. I was glad I had my headlamp, but of course I was just a spectator taking it all in.

As I mentioned in my first post, we were on the two bulls around 5:30ish pm and they were about 50 meters away. Len had the sticks, I was behind him, and we were both crouched (oh my 70 year old knees, but I held out) for about 30 minutes. Finally the bull Len wanted me to kill was broadside with a tree obscuring his middle - and of course a lot of intervening jess in between us and the bull. Len starting rising slowly with me behind him and they were off in an instant. I stood and ran a few paces to my right and had a running 1 ton quail shot through the jess and then lost him and lowered my rifle briefly whereupon Len said shoot and I instinctively (I don't remember this part, Len filled me in afterwards) went to my knee drawing down on him and shot him that fast through both lungs. I do remember not seeing his head or shoulder through the screen but could see the great patch of him directly behind the shoulder. It turned out I shot a little high and back, but I looked at the lungs when they skinned him and they were both perforated and it was a through and through (using Barnes banded solid 400 grain).

He was off and so were we but Len said he was hard hit and was dragging. He stopped and Len got the sticks down but he was off again, again he stopped, same thing, then still running after him, he stopped a third time and was broadside at 80 meters with just his shoulder and head showing. I shot him 3 times quickly off the sticks. He humped the first time, and then hunched going forward at the second shot, and then the third shot, kind of high as he was coming down put him down but not out. Len motioned for me to follow him in a circular route now to our left and we came up on him trying to get up and Len told me to shoot the white patch on the side of his belly which I did. He stretched, stiffened, and then was still. The brief bellow came 10-15 seconds later then he was still. Turns out that last shot destroyed his liver.

All this happened in what I guess was 5 minutes at most, but I was fueled on adrenaline and not feeling anything, recoil, thorns, whatever - and most amazingly I was running, and I did not even know or remember this.

A fabulous first hunt with a first class outfit and a class act with Len and his crew. I am so happy, and so is my family and extended family of friends and fellow nimrods.

I hope I did not go into too much detail, but I wanted to get all this out while it was fresh, and I am dreaming africa all the time now.

If I have said things that beg more questions or seem out of line, feel free to pm me or just post your thoughts and I'll try to respond.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CUs1qwuCY5Wa5hZA7

Thanks for a very good account. I enjoyed it.
Yes, once Buff hunting gets into your blood there's no turning back. Gotta make those 70 year old knees understand that ...

Thanks for the more detailed account - sounds pretty exciting! I hunted out of Pedsa Pasi last year with Keith Wall as PH.

I can post the two photos from Google here if you like. Just let me know.

Congratulations again, and welcome to AR!

Congrats and great report! That's a hell of a bull! I too got my first buff in Dande North. Keep the pics coming! Any plains game? Fishing?

I did want a zebra and we jumped 3 while in the truck the 2nd morning but we kept going looking for the spoor of 3 bulls we saw the evening of the 1st day. Len walkitakied the camp and Keith got his client on them and they killed one for lion bait (and they got the lion !). We did spend a morning, I think of the 7th on the spoor of 6 zebras. I enjoyed that "walk" because it was flat and I was full of vimnvinegar from the kill, and aside from the bazillion mopane flies trying to crawl under my eyelids, we finally got on them at 150 meters but they broke running, again just when getting on the sticks. It was fun watching Len monkey up a tree. That was impressive. I have to get a pair of those greenie tennis shoes he wears. Saw some young wart hogs left them alone, and no fishing. I was pretty focused on buffalo and I considered the plains game as opportunistic.

Len and I discussed (bull) elephant hunting which is what I am focused on now. On the 6th day Len took me into a big pan that had water in it looking for buffalo sign, we bumped some female elephants with calves. Len had already briefed me on the situation with the females, and not to be too dramatic, we backed out of there - just to blunder into another female with calf about 150 meters away, so we snaked our way around them, but it was my first sighting of an elephant and I was pretty amped up.

On that same 7th day of the morning constitutional after zebra, we went into a hole and as we were descending Len poked me and I saw a grayish-green mass - and it was a bull elephant in the sand in the center of the dry stream bed. We had the wind and continued to about 35 meters directly in front of him and just stood. He was classic, nice symmetrical tusks (i don't want to guess size and I did not ask Len). Len estimated between 40-50 years. Quietly and seemingly casual he was cooling himself with his ears and very still. Len then pointed out 3 other bulls flanking him and standing on the bank facing us - 1 on left, 2 on right about 100 or so meters away. Again, very quiet and hardly moving. They were older and pretty much what I had been, abstractly, thinking about for my next hunt. Again, very stimulating to see these wild bulls so close, quiet and still in that heat

Hannay please post the photos per your offer if that is not a burden.

Hi Todd, I left some business cards in my room for you, maybe if they are still there (ask Brady ?) you can grab one. Also I left some Mount Gay XO cognac style rum and a bottle of Cointreau on the bar if mai tais are to your liking.

I'll dig out some more photos and post them.

Robullelk's photos:

Hey Bob,

That's a very nice buffalo. The guys here in camp say they really enjoyed you being here and hunting with them. I'm really sorry I missed you. We'll catch up next time.

Congrats on your bull!!

Hi Todd, Thank you for the good words. I'm still pretty excited.

Some photos to follow and a little bit of an elliptical narration, and then maybe Hannay can post them with his magic !

Amanzi first morning: https://photos.app.goo.gl/EsBW5Z1Ur5vBpmoQA

Truck at Amanzi first morning: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UXqkUm3VzsttfJLZA

Fruits and veggies for camp https://photos.app.goo.gl/fACL2WbnRgrPWNM16

An Archean batholith, one of many on the way north:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/19ATifHqxKpWYmgHA

Pedra Pazi:https://photos.app.goo.gl/N7ZhzcxVgRKcZfA39

Confortable with gravity fed hot water. Don't forget headlamp if you are up after generator is off:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/N7ZhzcxVgRKcZfA39

Kagwere my shadow who did multiple jobs including hacking the road through the jess:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/cL6oscyk59wGNqqD9

After 5th day bump and the rock/coulee where we chased them. hot hot hot: https://photos.app.goo.gl/mLoeRD4duBhg6cQt8

Restnrefuel:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mLoeRD4duBhg6cQt8

GardenAbstract: Waking up after 2 hour snooze cooking on tabletop rock in hot hot hot weather. Just totally soaked through matt with no clothes on except a bandanna on top of my jewels for modesty sake around the locals. Len just jumped into the spring with his clothes on. The sock changes really helped:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/TRTCtBu9uREdnaSZA

One of several holes. Elephants had preceded us:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/g5r6ommgxccGj3L9A

After the snooze above and the events previously recounted up to the bellow, and now following Len's orders: Len checking the results

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ffkt1UzuAUsjkyA1A

Fast forward to end of 6.5 hour drive with Len and return to Harare and the Amanzi Lodge's Egyptian room with AC:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/TAotRSqCxHiUaPdy8

A much needed Mai Tai: https://photos.app.goo.gl/csTPGETg8nSC7WNY6

Then inner (oxtails) at the bar with a very good South African Chenin Blanc done right. Don't see them in the states that much anymore:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/J2GHoCF6TrGqwdp79

Back at the ranch but thinking only of getting back to africa ! https://photos.app.goo.gl/gaWzMBoMd18XpcZx6

Here's the right photo for restnrefuel:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sYbuC6gsQZoa2Yac8

Robullelk's photos:

Some photos to follow and a little bit of an elliptical narration, and then maybe Hannay can post them with his magic !

01 Amanzi first morning:


02 Truck at Amanzi first morning:


03 Fruits and veggies


04 An Archean batholith, one of many on the way north:


05 Pedra Pazi

06 Confortable with gravity fed hot water. Don't forget headlamp if you are up after generator is off:
<Photo missing>

07 Kagwere my shadow who did multiple jobs including hacking the road through the jess:


08 After 5th day bump and the rock/coulee where we chased them. hot hot hot:


09 Restnrefuel:


10 GardenAbstract: Waking up after 2 hour snooze cooking on tabletop rock in hot hot hot weather. Just totally soaked through matt with no clothes on except a bandanna on top of my jewels for modesty sake around the locals. Len just jumped into the spring with his clothes on. The sock changes really helped:


11 One of several holes. Elephants had preceded us:


12 After the snooze above and the events previously recounted up to the bellow, and now following Len's orders: Len checking the results

13 Fast forward to end of 6.5 hour drive with Len and return to Harare and the Amanzi Lodge's Egyptian room with AC:



14 A much needed Mai Tai:


15 Then inner (oxtails) at the bar with a very good South African Chenin Blanc done right. Don't see them in the states that much anymore:


16 Back at the ranch but thinking only of getting back to africa !

Nice!!

Congrats and thanks for posting!

Thank you all for your kind and useful words, and especially to those on this forum and other forums who gave me good advice, coaching, and counsel. I really appreciate it.

Hi Bob.
This is Alberto. It was nice to share camp with you and Todd, hope you had a nice trip going back home.
I am very happy to see you both got the trophies you were after, CMS is a great operation.
I am also back to Spain and getting ready my videos about hunting and conservation. I just uploaded to youtube the first one and I am waiting for Spanish TV to begin pushing on the spread of it.
Here is the link in case you would like to watch it and hopefully help anyway you can in spread the message as much as possible.
More videos and film to come.
https://youtu.be/LyxcAZwDZaM

Best regards and take care friends

Hola Jefe, ¿cómo estás? Es un placer saber de usted y sí, ayudaré a correr la voz y haré mi parte tanto como pueda. ¡Espero volver a compartir campamento contigo algún día!

Hi Bob :-)
You are improving a lot your Spanish amigo
Thank you very much, we must spread the message and we will stand and stop all this anti hunting bull shit.
Hope we will share camp again, that will mean pure hunting still going on

Un abrazo

Looks like an awesome trip/hunt. Thank you for sharing.

Makes me want to go back!

Your welcome. And I am going back to Dande. This time for elephant - and in late may-early June. No more heat like that for me.