We loaded the bull and headed back to camp to skin this beautiful bull and enjoy the afternoon at camp relaxing and waiting for a hopefully successful friend. It was getting on a little and we were starting to get excited, then we could see headlights coming in the distance to camp. Would there be singing or not… we waited but all was quiet. Apparently they had heard the cat calling and coming to the bait but he didn’t turn up in time, then when the car came to collect them they saw eyes under the tree in the grass which one would have to assume was Mr spots.

Day 13 :

This was to be our last day of hunting whatever happened and we decided to leave earlyish and go to check the baits and then look for Buffalo tracks. The area is not known for lots of buffalo however a few days we had seen the tracks from a herd in an area so we headed there to go and see if we could pick up some fresh spoor. It took a few hours but eventually we picked up tracks from that morning, we did some checks on roads surrounding the area and believed they hadn’t left the area so that afternoon we decided to go and pick up the tracks and see what happened. It didn’t take to much tracking and after about an hour we came into a thicket and before to look the tracker stopped quickly and pointed forward, there laid just 35m away was the buffalo. We sat tight for a few minutes before very slowly edging in with my bow, we edged closer and closer until we came to 26m of the nearest buff, the problem wasn’t going to be the distance at this point, it was going to be finding a hard bossed bull (size didn’t matter whatsoever to me), as well as a clear shooting lane for an arrow. We could see a couple of nearly hard bossed bulls but Billy said they just weren’t quite ready, we then spotted a really nice bull off to the right but we were now right in the mix and a couple started to sense something was up. We froze and just hoped this bull would move into a shooting lane, we were toler-ated for a few more minutes but the shot just never presented and then suddenly all hell broke loose and the buff were off. We sat tight again and let them settle, they didn’t go far and we then tried again. The next time we didn’t get so close and a cow clocked us and took the herd off again. The only good thing now is when we next caught up with the herd they had moved onto the edge of a dambo and were feeding along it. The wind was good and so we rushed to get in front of them and try to incept one of the bulls. The plan worked and when we came out the herd was just appearing from our left, the big bull was at the front but he was a fair ways out, about 70m. Then a bull appeared closer to us, he looked hard, I asked Billy and he said yes he is a good old bull but not wide, that didn’t matter he became the focus, I ranged him at 58m and waited. I had long dreamed about taking a buff with my bow, ever since I hunted them with a rifle I felt it would be an incredible challenge with a bow. The bull was crossing me perfectly and I a perfect shooting lane just a few meters ahead of him, I stood still, composing myself and just waited. At this point I must admit I was so focused on this bull I hadn’t paid much attention to the rest of the herd, he had one more step to take just to open his chest up and suddenly he stopped and looked in my direction. I then froze but also noticed that all the other buff were also looking at me, one of them must have clocked me because it certainly wasn’t him. I just couldn’t get a shot with his front shoulder where it was so I had to wait, this was tense but still they didn’t really seem too nervous. Then the bull trotted a few steps away back towards the herd and turned perfectly broadside and looked back, I asked Billy to confirm the range and he said 67m. The next part can only be described as a complete mental breakdown under intense pressure in the heat of the moment, I have electronic pins on my bow sight every 10m the last being 80m. For a reason that I just cant explain, the first pin my eyes / brain locked onto was the 80m and before I could stop myself I was steady and squeezing and the moment that arrow flew I just said no, the arrow flew perfectly but went straight over the buffs back, the herd charging off into the bush. Billy said what happened, he said the line was perfect and it looked great but just flew high. I then told him what I had done and the chance was gone. If I could tell you over the next minutes, hours, days and weeks and probably now months how many times I have played that over in my head it would be crazy, just a complete mental block at the most important moment. We took a break and gathered ourselves and continued to follow the herd, we again tried with the bow and had a couple of shooting opportunities but again just couldn’t find the right bull in a shooting lane. It wasn’t the result we wanted but we had huge amounts of fun and it really was the pinnacle for me with the bow and certainly the next time I head to Africa I am sure it will be with my bow in search of an old buffalo bull.

That was us done and what a great safari it had been, highs and lows but they all added to the experience and certainly I wouldn’t have changed anything about the safari, I was incredibly fortunate.

That evening we played the waiting game again, and sure enough the lights came but no singing… my heart sank as I knew now we were really cutting it tight. The Tom had come in but he was now with a female and they were up to other business shall we say that apparently for him was more exciting than eating in the tree. They backed out and planned to head back in the morning.

Day 14 :

Our last day and we were actually due to drive back to Lusaka that afternoon. We woke up pretty early and watched the sun rise. My friend obviously was long gone and we were wondering what was happening at their end. We decided that we would head out to take down our blind and sort a few other last day things when we were driving along a track and we saw a cruiser coming towards us. It then became clear there had been success, there was singing and lots of hand waving from the top of the cruiser. When they had arrived at the blind the Tom and female were still there but shortly before light the female left and then just as the light came the Tom jumped into the tree, my friend made no mistake and made a perfect shot. Our safari had come to the perfect end and just in time.

We went back and celebrated with all of the camp and had the most fantastic breakfast with everything you could imagine that makes a good breakfast in the bush. On that note I would like to comment on how fantastic the food and all the staff were for the duration of the safari, they were really great and we could not have wished for anymore from them.

That afternoon we packed up and headed back to Lusaka, here we stayed at Johnny & Laura’s guesthouse which was fantastic and it was a pleasure to meet Laura who made us feel extremely welcome.

Until next time, thank you Zambia!

Those big kafue Leopard sure are tricky mate.

Photos?

Andrew,

Leopard pix on Part 1.

Mark