I just returned from my 30th Safari, and I have to say this one was just sort of Charmed. Everything seemed to go right. A friend (B) and I went and hunted 2x1 with Jason Stone (my main outfitter I book with for Zambia) in a couple of areas in the northern Luangwa Valley.
This was my B's first safari, and she went all out and had basically everything except bull elephant on license. I was just going along and was going to shoot a buff or two and a tuskless if the opportunity came about.
I am between trips now and don't have a ton of time to do a detailed report, but I will hit the high notes and add photos.

We started out and needed bait, so our first afternoon, B took a nice Kudu bull as first African animal.


We started hanging leopard baits. The next day B shot a zebra and a really nice puku, more bait.

On the morning of day 3 we had a good cat hit one of the kudu baits, so we decided to sit that afternoon.

We got settled in the blind about 3:30, and at 5:15, the cat jumped in the tree a full hour and 15 mins before dark, and B popped it. The shot looked great, but the cat ended up in a bush about 5 yards from the blind. Jason put one in it, and it got to the next large bush. He went right and I went left around the bush. One of the trackers could see it on my side, but the bush was so dense and low, I couldn't see and kept moving around. Jason was on hands and knees and saw the cat's head move as it was tracking me. He said it turned and bunched up to come at me, and he put a .470 in it. The cat was about 3-4 steps from me. It was a very nice older male.



The next day we drove about an hour and a half to an area where our game scout said a village was having problems with buffalo. When we arrived, one of the local guys said he had seen 2 bulls together that morning. Within 200 yards we were on fresh tracks. There was a lot of tall grass and small thickets, and the buff seemed to be just ahead of us. After about 45 minutes, and only about a mile of slow tracking, Jason and I simultaneously saw a buffalo off to our right about 80 yards in the edge of the tall grass looking right at us. Jason said "That's a good bull" as the sticks went up, and I put a .470 CEB in his chest. It knocked him straight down, and I reloaded, then he was up again. I fired and think I missed, as he and two other buff were off into the thick. We followed immediately, with pretty good blood, and after 100 yards, we came around a bunch of thick brush, and he was standing about 40 yards. I put another one in him, and it was game over. He was a nice 41.5" bull, and we promptly took him over to the neighboring concession where there was a lion on quota, and hung baits.


The next day B took a nice old roan- more lion bait. We had another PH in the other concession helping us with baits.



We decided to move camps to the other concession for a few days, hunt buff for B, and then help with the lion baits.
There had been a coalition of 3 big maned lions on bait earlier in the summer, and then one loan old male.

This is the single


The guys in the new camp told us there were a couple of big herds of buff around, and quite a few groups of dagga boys, so the next morning, we got on fresh bull tracks pretty quickly. We had gone in and out of 12' high grass for about 30 minutes when we busted the bulls out of the thick at 15 yards. We ran around the outside of the grass and could see the bulls in a semi open area about 250 yards away. There were 7 bulls. 5 were soft, one was very nice, probably 44", and then there was a monster. Jason, B and I slipped forward, but just couldn't get a shot. The bulls took off another 100 yards, stopped again, and we were able to put a huge termite mound between us and cut the distance. Finally B got a shot at the big one, and the herd took off into the high grass again. We waited around for a bellow that didn't come, and after 15-20 minutes, we followed a decent blood trail. Just inside the grass, we found the bull facing us and trying to get up. B put 2 more in him, and it was done. We were all absolutely amazed. The bull was huge. He ended up being 50" wide. Words just can't describe this bull of a lifetime.



After lots of photos, we put up part of the bull as lion bait.
The next morning, we had a hit on a bait, and it was the lone male. We analyzed a ton of trail cam pics, and he had tattered ears, black nose, scarred face, but we could never see his top teeth in pics. I know Jason wanted to wait on the coalition lions as one of them was absolutely a monster with an incredible black mane. So we waited.
The following day, the single lion was still on bait, so we refreshed it, and we had a discussion at lunch. It was day 8, so we had 6 days, and no sign of the coalition. We decided to sit.


A bit before dark, out of nowhere the lion roared about 100 yards off my side of the blind. He did 3 roaring sequences that were super loud that close, and then he was on the bait. We were losing light quickly, and he would never give a good broadside angle. Finally he dropped down off the bait, was standing at a slight quartering to angle, and Jason told B to shoot him square in the shoulder. At the shot, the cat just disappeared behind the bait tree in the long grass. No grunt, growl, nothing. B said the shot felt good, but the cat had no reaction.
We waited a while, called the truck in, and Jason and I got on the back with the other PH Nick in the middle with a light. We crept forward scanning everything, and after a few minutes, Nick spotted the cat lying with its back toward us in the yellow grass. I thought he was dead, that is until he started getting up! He was my side, so I aimed in the mane and hammered him with the .470. That did it, and we were able to go check him out. B had hit him back a good bit.

He was definitely an old lion. His teeth were broken, worn and some missing. His face was scarred, ears torn up, and you could just tell he was old. He didn't have the greatest mane, but he was a big cat, and any old lion like that is a super trophy. Again, success on our first sit!





So we had 6 days left, and not much left on the list...
B shot a nice bushbuck.


I was interested in a big croc, and we went and found one, but it was in a tight weed choked area of the river with no sunning spots, and he didn't want to come out of the water to the bait.
I was able to make a deal for a tuskless tag in our original area, so we moved back.
There were tons of elephants in the area. We never went out morning or evening and didn't see eles.
So when we went to hunt tuskless (and there are a lot of them there), we decided to just take a stroll down the edge of the Luangwa. There is both riverine and cathedral mopane close to the river, and we literally were in and out of elephants every few hundred yards.

First we found bulls, then a group of cows that had a tuskless, but it had a calf. Then we thought we had found an old loan tuskless, but it turned and had about 6" of 1 tusk. We found another small herd, no tuskless. The next group we ran into was 6 eles, and two were tuskless. Neither had calves, so we decided to go in. The first approach, they were in pretty open stuff, and we got to 35 yards, and Jason asked if I wanted to lung shoot. I told him I wanted to get close and go for a brain shot. About that time one of the other elephants picked us up and cut the distance trying to figure us out. We had a steady 10mph wind in our faces, and after 5 minutes with the elephant at 15 yards, it rejoined the others and they fed on.

We let them go, made a loop around and were able to get in front of them with favorable wind. Jason and I got up on a decent sized anthill and the group fed right to us. When our tuskless was at 12 steps, I took a frontal shot. I didn't compensate for shooting down. I hit her between the eyes, knocked her down, but she got up. I should have shot a bit higher. I put the 2nd barrel in her lungs, and all the elephants were milling around and trumpeting in confusion. When the tuskless got clear of the others, I got in a good side brain shot and dropped her. The others stood around for a while seemingly looking for us (you could tell they don't get hunted much), and after a while they left and we could do the recovery.


SO now we were pretty well finished. Since I shot the tuskless, I was out on a croc. B would consider a big croc, but planned to come back in a couple of years to do aquatics, sable, lechwe, etc.

Day 13 we decided to just hang out and take pics, and drive back toward the airport on day 14. So we went down the Luangwa to an area that has tons of hippos to take pics. We walked down the bank and started across a big sandbar to get closer to hippos, and I just decided to glass up the river in the opposite direction. About 500 yards away, I saw a croc that looked pretty darn big from that distance. I got Jason to look at it, and he said he thought we needed a closer look.

So we grabbed the rifles, and made an approach. We were able to get to 47 yards, and Jason told B that he thought it was definitely over 14'. I highly recommended shooting, and a couple of minutes later with a perfect shot to the smile, B had a 15' 2" croc. Our little photo safari turned into a real trophy.









So ended an absolutely charmed 13 days of hunting Zambia. In all that time, we had one stalk, tracking session or sit that wasn't successful, and that was day one on an impala for bait. Everything else we did resulted in a nice animal. I have just never experienced a hunt like that where virtually everything worked to a T.

Great stuff Tim. Truly a safari of a lifetime for B! Not a bad one for you either!

With that kind of luck, you should play the lottery. To get a lion, leopard, 15' croc, 50" buffalo, she won't ever beat that. Thanks for sharing, we can only dream.

Wow ! Unbelievable - 4 of the big 5 on a first safari in 2019!

Great lion, leopard & buff

Amazing Trophies!!! Congrats

Tim,

Superb safari. Congrats to B and all involved. The Luangwa is just magic in my opinion.

Mark

Tim

Congrats on a fabulous old time safari. The Facebook battle I jumped in on was interesting as well.

Are you going back for bull elephant in October? I thought I read that in another post.

No I am not going back for ele. Headed to Kaz. Next week and Uganda first of November.

Somehow I am banned for 7 days now from Facebook and no idea why. I hadn’t made a post in 3 days and FB didn’t tell me why, which post broke their rules, etc. I am pretty sick of it !

Has Jason taken any decent elephant bulls this year in Zambia?

He is starting a hunt now with one of my clients. He prefers Sept-Nov.

He did kill a 55 pounder in July with a crossbow hunter. Most years he kills 2 or 3 out of 5 that break 70.

Well done B and Tim! Trophies of a lifetime and all in 13 days.

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Herald:
He is starting a hunt now with one of my clients. He prefers Sept-Nov.

He did kill a 55 pounder in July with a crossbow hunter. Most years he kills 2 or 3 out of 5 that break 70.

Thanks Tim..let us know how he does.

Tim:

Thanks for the excellent report and congrats on y'alls success. What areas in Zambia is Jason hunting?

He hunts about 6 areas.

Awesome. Congratulations to you , B and Jason.

Some awesome trophies Tim. Judging by his teeth that lion must have had some British genes in his bloodline

Well, that was quite a safari. Thanks for the report!

Looks like awesome hunt Tim
Congratulations

What an incredible hunt Tim!! Well done to you, Jason, your client and the whole team!! A 50” solid buffalo is every PHs dream. Like getting a 100lb elephant

Well done Tim!!! Some fantastic trophies and a great hunt!! Words escape me with that Buffalo!

Tim,
Great trophies and a great hunt. Only one question, after a hunt like this, what are you going to do for an encore?

Amazing! What a safari! Huge, old and massive animals. Congratulations, and thanks for this terrific report. They are clearly still out there.

Gundog - I didn’t do most of the shooting. I am just happy to go back to Africa and see what happens next time. It was incredible though.

Great report Tim, some trophies of a lifetime there!

Can’t believe the quality of all these trophies. That safari puts the average safari to shame.

Just the buffs and lion alone are astounding.

BH63

WOW!! Great Hunt and Great Luck!! Thanks for posting. I have sent this to a good friend looking for a full bag Grande Finale hunt!!
Cheers,