My first trip to Africa...here's the report:

Orlando-Dulles...hooked up with Doug (dougaboy) in Dulles and he intro'd me to Mr. Bill Pace (former NRA Board member) and his new wife which just happens to be the widow of Mr. Finn Agaard (sp?). Great folks. We all flew over on the SAA Aircuss...long trip, but until there's a better way....cleared SAPS in Jo'berg w/o any problems whatsoever...and I did my own paperwork.
Hunted the Northern Province with Bobby Hansen Safaris for plains game. VERY large concessions and fair chase all the way. I was able to take an Impala at 130 yds, a Blue Wildebeest at 110 yds, a warthog at 90 yds, a Bushbuck at 150 yds, a Kudu at 250 yds...up the side of a mountain, and a Gemsbok in a hell-bent-for-leather flat out run at 100 yds with the finisher running directly away from me at 140 yds. All plains game were taken with a CZ 9.3 x 62 and 286 gr Partitions....great combination. All of my animals were old, past their prime specimens which is exactly what I wanted and discussed with Bobby. Bobby is the consumant gentleman, and exellent PH who got just as excited as I did. He runs a first rate operation.

Next was on to Zim for my buff. Hooked up with PH Craig Robinson in Bulawayo (he was freelancing for Carl Mason (African Trails) who couldn't make it) and his tracker Willy and started on our 10 hour drive to the Omay. Camp there (Mackenzie) was great...overlooking Lake Kariba. Steve (camp manager) runs a fantastic operation there for Butch.
The game in this area has been severely poached including snaring by the local villagers....we personally removed somewhere around 25-30 snares.
Anyway, we saw some very nice buff, but I was using an open-sighted 470 double so I limited myself to 100 yds...which I had practiced and was comfortable with.
On the 4th day with the help of a local villager, we located a single bull on a slight bluff overlooking the flood plains. He was in some tall grass and at first I looked over him (he was laying down) when Craig was trying to point him out. Evidently the bull winded or heard us as he started to get up 35 yards away. Craig said "oh, $hit...he gonna come at us"...and then, immediately..."#uck it...shoot him!". I did, my first shot hitting him as he got to his feet quartering slightly away from us...the bullet went in just behind the last rid and exited from the center of his chest. He spun around and came at us. The next 3 shots from my double, the left barrel, a reload, then both barrels went REAL fast. The second shot hit him in the chest with no apparent effect, the 3rd stooped him and he wobbled a bit, the 4th knocked him over and Craig said "I'm going to put one in for insurance, OK?"...as the bull hit the ground...Craig hit him in the chest with his 416 Rem.
Done....it all took probably 7-8 seconds from start to finish. Wasn't sure if I was scared or not....went too fast. Craig said he hadn't seen reloading that fast on a double in quite some time...my practice paid off.
Except for the first shot which exited, we found the last 3 of my shots, and the one Craig fired, in the hide at the back end of the buff...all of the bullets were within 6" of each other.
My bullets were 500 gr NF cups and Craig's was a 400 gr TB Sledgehammer.
We found out why he had such a sunny disposition...he had a snare embedded in his right foot that had turned septic. Nasty stuff.
The trip back was LONG, but uneventful, with all luggage making it to Dulles with no problems (Bulawayo-Jo'berg-Dulles).
It was a fantastic experience that, Lord willing, I will repeat.
Pardon the rambling of a first-timer....I had FUN!
I have pics and will post if I can get help.

Gary

OK, I'm not liking this trend. There's a tutorial on picture posting on the Help/Suggestions forum. Great report though.

Congrats on a great hunt. Sounds like you're a real gunslinger with that .470.

Thanks, Huff. I had an 8 cartridge holder from Murray that I practiced over and over again, popping out the old and in with the new....you just never know how it holds up under pressure...but it paid off.
I think I'll have pics up today for those that are interested.

Gary

Well....here's the pics that go with my original post....I hope they come out OK.

Gary

Hey Gary,

Some very nice trophies and a great story on the buff.

Your observations on the amount of poaching in Omay are similar to what I saw in Russ Broom's Binga area, or at least those of his Kabuba camp. Both of those areas are part of the Campfire program if I am not mistaken. The PH's that I hunted with said that they had seen a big drop in animal populations in just the last two years. We saw very little game, but lots and lots of people. With the amount of people moving in the animals stand very little chance.

Doug

Gary, some excellent trophies indeed. I particulalrly liked the wartie, bushbuck ( nice chocolate brown coat and great horns!) but the buff's a real "beaut!" Congrats, jorge

Hey, Doug, glad you liked the photos....I'm well pleased with the outcome of my hunts. My PH said the same thing. The camp actually had 2 other clients there with different PH's that went home without a buff. We worked hard to find the few shooters we did. I actually saw 3 nice shooters, but was a bit hampered by the open-sighted 470 double. That was my choice and I'm glad I did it that way. We saw (and removed) so many snares it was crazy. My PH said he gives the Omay 3-5 more years tops....like you said, too many people (villagers) taking land and snaring and/or poaching the game. It's a shame....the area is awesome.
It was great to met you in Dulles....sorry you didn't get your big tusker....from what I hear another by-product of the poaching....but glad you had a good time.
If you ever get to Florida, give me a shout...I'll do the same when I get to Texas.

Take care buddy.

Gary

Thanks, Jorge. It was my first trip and I just can't beleive I'm back in civilazation...I loved it there. A future trip is definitely in the cards. Thanks for your response.

Gary

By the way....the 3 on the left are NorthFork Cups from my buff and the 1 on the right is my PH's shot once the buff was down...it's a 400 gr Trophy Sledgehammer from his Win 70 in 416 Rem mag. My first shot (also a Cup) passed thru the buff and is still in Zimbabwe.
Mike makes a nice bullet...don't you think?

Gary

Gary: Iwas the same way with AFrica. I just said one trip to "get it out of my system"I'm now working on my third! BTW, that Sledgehammer looks like it riveted pretty badly and YES Mike DOES make THE best bullets! jorge