Recap of Thierry Labat's 2012 Hunting Season :-

Thierry has asked me to post this report on his behalf.
Cheers,
Brent
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Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to share my 2012 hunting season with you all. I’d like to thank all of you who have continued to support me and who continue to come on Safari with me year after year. To those who are booked to hunt with me in the coming years, I am looking forward to it. I would also like to thank Northern Operations Africa and Zambezi Hunters, both of whom are a pleasure to work with and for.

As usual my first safaris of the year were conducted in the Central African Republic with Dave Rademeyers, Northern Operations Africa.

Brook Minx from the USA came to C.A.R in the hope of collecting various species of animals in the hope of getting closer to achieving his goal of winning the Weatherby Award. This is an award won by a hunter who has to have successfully hunted a large number of different species from all over Africa. We hunted hard for the Lord Derby and only on the last day of the hunt were we given our first real opportunity at a beautiful, old bull. The shot was not an easy one, at 175yds, but a clean miss was better than wounding it. We saw eland sign or eland almost every day, but things did not work out. Its hunting after all and Brook had a great attitude. We did however manage to collect some very nice trophies along the way including a great buffalo, giant forest hog, red river hog, warthog, red flanked duiker, western bush duiker and a civet. Brook , I wish you all the best.

Brad Coors from the USA, came to CAR in the hope of ultimately getting a Lord Derby with his bow. This was to be a real challenge. Sitting in ambush at a saltlick was not an option, as Brad wanted to do it by stalking. We had a huge amount of fun stalking to within bow shooting range of many different animals. I think the closest we got to a Giant Forest Hog was under 10 yards, but unfortunately things did not work out in the end. I can’t begin to explain how much fun that hunt was and in the end we managed to get 2 dagga boys with a bow. The eland never worked out with a bow and Brad decided on the 2nd last day to go for it with my open sighted .375 winchester. After 6hrs of following the herd, we were finally presented with a shot and Brad made an excellent shot at a magnificent bull. This was one of the most rewarding hunts I have ever conducted and it will be engraved in my mind for as long as I live. Well done again Brad and I look forward to some more close encounters in the years to come.

Bill and Mary Britain from the US, accompanied with a close friend of theirs Sean Kelly, were to be my last hunt in CAR. Having just completed a successful but physically hard hunt with Brad, I had warned Bill on the drive into camp from the airstrip that the hunt we were about to undertake was probably going to be one of the toughest he would go on. On the very first morning of the hunt, while making our way to check a saltlick for eland sign we literally drove through the middle of a herd of eland. An awesome bull was standing on the right hand side of the road and I quickly convinced Bill, that we had to take what Diana had presented to us on a silver platter. After some hasty movement of getting into a shooting position, Bill had his eland down. We could not believe it!! We were not even 30 minutes into the first hunting day and we had our superb eland. Bill went on to get a giant forest hog, roan, red river hog, bush duiker, 2 red flanked duikers, warthog and a massive baboon. I will remember this for being the shortest eland hunt I have conducted and for one of the hunts I have laughed the most on. Bills sense of humour was great and Mary was a real trooper during this hunt. I am looking forward to hunting with you guys again in the future.

Back in Zim and going on my first ever safari with a wedding ring on my hand. EISH!!!! Joe and Deby Pederson also from the US were after primarily Klipspringer, Buffalo and anything else. I must add that Joe has hunted with Jonathan Hulme and Zambezi Hunters for many years and has collected the big 4, including several buffalo, so this was in his own words going to be “a cheese & wine safari “ The aim of the hunt was to try and get a buff in excess of 40” with a nice drop curl. We saw a good number of buffs during the hunt, but never saw what we were looking for and finally in the latter stages of the hunt Joe got a very nice 39” bull. During the course of the hunt we managed to get a monster Klipspringer, wildebeest, warthog, couple of impalas, zebra all excepting the klipspringer and a zebra with a double. As far as shooting with a double goes, Joe displayed some fine shooting indeed and some shots were in excess of 125yds. Thanks again Joe/Debby, see you soon.

Miguel & Jackie Facusse from Honduras were the next safari. Miguel and I had previously hunted together and had a great time. This time Miguel was primarily after leopard and buffalo. Leopard is one of my favourite hunts and so I was really looking forward to getting the first leopard of the year in the salt. On the 3rd day of the hunt we had a very nice tom hit one of our baits and that night we closed the deal with it. Miguel went on to get a buffalo, waterbuck, 2 eland ( one with his bow ) wildebeest, 2 zebra( one with his bow), 3 warthogs(one with his bow), bushpig, bushbuck and a couple of impalas. We only hunted 7 days, and I must say that there are not too many places in the world where you can hunt for 7 days and collect that amount of good quality trophies. This is tribute to management of Sango. Thanks Miguel and I look forward to our lion hunt in 2014.

Will & Betsy Parks accompanied by Chris & Jill Green, were next to come and enjoy what Sango had to offer. Will and I had previously hunted numerous times together, collecting 3 leopards, elephant, 8 buffalos, croc, hippo and a heap of plainsgame along the way. This however, was to be our biggest safari, as lion was the main aim, as well as leopard and buff. It did not take long to get activity on our baits and on the 4th evening of the hunt we had a large 155lb leopard in the salt. This was the 2nd leopard that Will had taken using moonlight and no artificial light. We had several lion on bait, but there was one in particular, that we had photographed on a hyena bait the previous year that we were trying to bag. We had nicknamed it the Garurwe King, Garurwe being the name of a hill we believed the lion used as his home. The King hit one of our baits and in the evening of the 6th day of the hunt, we were in the blind by 4pm. Lion roared around us all night and finally at 05:05am, the King appeared under the bait in the moonlight. Again, using just moonlight Will waited for a good angle before taking his shot. The King only went 30 yds. It’s hard to explain the feeling of euphoria we experienced upon seeing the lion as well as a feeling of sadness in successfully hunting something which for his whole life had been the hunter. Pressure was off by the morning of the 7th day and the rest of the safari went according to plan. Chris got to collect some great trophies, while on his hunt with Will and by the end of the 21 days we had managed to collect some great trophies including lion, leopard, buffalo, 2 kudu, waterbuck, eland, couple zebra, impala, wildebeest and grysbok. Will and Betsy it’s always a pleasure and I am looking forward to our Lord Derby hunt in January. Chris and Jill, it was great meeting you guys.

Chris & Didi Peccia, accompanied by Bob Peccia, touched down on Sango airstrip to start their long awaited dangerous game safari. Chris’s main reason for coming out was to try and get a leopard and buffalo. Again it did not take long before we had lots of activity on our baits and no less than 3 toms hit our various baits within the first few days. There was a particular cat that we were hoping to get, so we elected to pass on the first few males on bait. Our patience paid. We had a very interesting first night in the blind with a herd of elephants not 15yds from us and at one stage we also had a pair of leopards, growling, purring and doing their thing literally 20yds from the blind. Changing the bait site and blind location, due to the previous night’s activities with elephants, turned out to be a great decision as that’s where we eventually got the cat. The cat was an absolute beauty. We also had another incredible experience while hunting hyena. While in the blind, a lion came onto our hyena bait and 30 minutes later 6 hyena turned up and we watched as the hyena and lion were battling it out over the bait. It was the night of the full moon, so we could see everything clearly. What an amazing experience. By the end of the safari, Chris had bagged a superb eland of 42”, leopard, buffalo, sable, kudu, warthog, zebra, bushbuck and hyena. Bob also managed to bag a couple of things. 2 wildebeest and a warthog. Chris, I am looking forward to our leopard hunt in 2013 and another buff hunt in 2014.

Jason Shrieve and his girlfriend Holly were visiting Zimbabwe and indeed Africa for the first time. Jason’s priority animals were leopard and buff, as well as anything else we could find along the way. As most hunts on Sango do, this hunt got off to a cracking start. Within the first few hours of the hunt Jason had bagged a big wildebeest and a zebra for leopard bait. Once the baits were out it only took a couple of days before we had a cat I was personally hoping to get on bait. After just 4hrs in the blind, the leopard came to the restaurant and Jason made a good shot on it, just as it was about to jump off the branch. We chased buffalo almost on a daily basis and finally on about the 6th or 7th day we got onto a group of about 6 dagga boys. Amongst them was a great bull with big curls and decent bosses. After a little crawling and bum shuffling we got into position and Jason once again made a good shot. The bull bucked, before getting hammered a few more times and piled up only about 15yds away. During the course of the trip we successfully hunted a waterbuck, kudu, impala, warthog, eland, klipspringer, civet, 2 wildebeest and a bushpig. Holly also managed to get her first African animal while on this trip. A beautiful zebra. Well done Holly.

Mr and Mrs X were due to hunt on Sango, but because of some unforeseen circumstances we had to relocate this hunt to the Zambezi valley. With elephant and buffalo being the priority species for this 10 day hunt we didn’t waste much time with getting the show on the road. In the late afternoon of the first day while glassing off the top of a hill we spotted a small herd of buff. A careful approach got us to within 75yds of a very nice bull and after an excellent shot the buff was down and we couldn’t have been happier. This meant that we had lots of time to concentrate on elephant. After several long walks and fruitless tracking escapades we were finally onto two very promising elephant bull tracks. After 5 hrs of tracking, we got our first glimpse of them as they were moving off in a hurry. We looped around them and managed to get to within about 40yds of them. Problem is they had seen us and were still moving pretty fast. Mr X took a running shot at the lead bull and hit it good. A short chase ensued and a couple more shots were fired, before the bull went crashing down. What a hunt! On the last day of the hunt we cut some sable tracks and again after an hour of brilliant tracking, got onto them. A nice bull presented himself and down he went. The sable was certainly the cherry on the cake and was a fitting end to a great 10 days in the Zambezi Valley. Mrs X bagged an impala and baboon. Other animals successfully hunted on the trip were, hyena, civet and klipspringer. I look forward to more hunting with you Mr and Mrs X.

Phil Cahoon from Canada was originally booked to hunt on ARDA, but again circumstances forced us to change plans and relocate our hunt to an area I was not familiar with, we were to hunt on Nuanetsi (I truly believe this area will soon be one of Zimbabwe’s premiere hunting destinations). The main aim of the hunt was leopard and buff. I was excited and apprehensive about hunting in a new area and was not too sure what to expect. It didn’t take long to realise that we were in a good area. We regularly saw lots of cat and buff sign. Local information given to us by Brent Lees May about a particular leopard that had given some previous hunters the run around, got our interest. We had a very large leopard on one of our baits the very first night, which we could have easily tried to get, but after a little discussion and seeing as it was early in the hunt, we decided to pass on it and try for the big cat that had previously outsmarted a couple of hunters. The cat we nicknamed ‘ Hercules ‘ because of his size. Our decision to pass on the cat we earlier had on bait paid off when on the 3rd night of the safari, Hercules turned up on one of the baits. Phil made a great shot and after a short but intense follow up we found the cat stone dead. Out of the 32 leopard I have guided hunters onto, this was the 2nd largest. He weighed 167lbs and his skull was large. Phil went on to get a 60” kudu, buff, eland, bushbuck, zebra, nyala, grysbok, serval, duiker, 2 warthogs, porcupine, steenbok and baboon. Phil, it was an absolute pleasure to hunt with you and I really hope we can do it again in the future.

Antonio Goncalves has hunted with me several times now and together we have managed to get a leopard and buffalo with his bow, as well as a variety of plainsgame. Getting any of the big 5 with a bow is an extraordinary achievement, and for that I congratulate you Antonio. The goal of this hunt was to try and get a sable in particular and anything else would be a bonus. We got a very nice sable on the first day. The nine following days were a lot of fun and Antonio managed to get a kudu, tsessebe, warthog, 2 zebra, wildebeest, 2 impala, bushpig, duiker and a very nice kudu, all with his bow. It is a pleasure watching someone who can shoot a bow accurately. Not a single animal was wounded and lost during this hunt. I must also say that Rosslyns Safaris, Cawston Block where this hunt took place is in my opinion the best bow hunting destination in Zimbabwe. I commend the Johnstone family for doing a great job there. I am looking forward to our lion hunt with a bow next year....eish!

JP Adam and his two sons, Didier & Eric, decided to try a new destination, other than the Zambezi Valley or SAVE. JP has hunted with me many times and between him and his sons and grandsons they have successfully hunted 9 buffalo, 2 sable, croc, leopard and many, many plainsgame, so it was partly for this reason that we decided to try a new hunting area in Mozambique, that would give us the opportunity to try for some different species. This 7 day hunt was packed full of action and no less than 21 trophies were taken, but the highlight of the safari was an eland that Didier had successfully hunted. Eland are renowned for their ability to move a long way if wounded and this was to be no exception. After the initial shot, we followed the eland, literally for 2 full days before some fine marksmanship on Didier’s behalf ended the ordeal. The ordeal could have ended a little earlier if it wasn’t for bad shooting on my part though. During this hunt JP managed to take a great 30” Nyala as well as whole lot of warthogs, reedbuck, kudu and Erik managed to get some nice things too. Les Adam, it is always a pleasure hunting with you and I look forward to doing it again in the future.

Pierre Noel and Pierre Jnr, were the last hunt of the year and this was initially going to be a 7 day plainsgame hunt, but an opportunity had come up to hunt 2 buffalo bulls , as there were a couple left over on quota. It did not take too much convincing to get the father/son combination to be interested in buffalo. On the morning of the 3rd day we found tracks of a group of 3 dagga boys, and after a 30min track, we found them lying in some scrub mopane. Managing to get ourselves to within 50yds of them, we had to wait for them to get up and start moving, but after 2 hrs of sitting in the same place our patience started to waver and finally Pierre Jnr decided to take a tough shot at a buff lying down. The shot was true and the 40” bull just rolled over dead where he was lying. At the shot the other 2 bulls stood up and were a little confused, which gave us enough time for Pierre Snr to get onto a bull and make a good shot as it was spinning to run. Both bulls were really old specimens with great bosses and nice spreads. It was a wonderful sight to see a father and son enjoying a special moment in the bush together. Between them they also managed to get a massive eland, kudu, bushbuck, 2 zebra, klipspringer, huge waterbuck, grysbok, warthog, duiker and 2 impala. All in all it was a 7 days well spent. I know you will be back Pierre and I really look forward to it.

Once again I’d like to thank you all, as without you none of this would have been possible. I’d also like to thank Dave and Maria Rademeyer of Northern Operations Africa and Alistair Pole of Zambezi Hunters. One last thank you to my trackers, Mudini and Ishmail, who have done an outstanding job and where instrumental in the success of every safari. I am already looking forward to the 2013 hunting season.

Cheers for now
Thierry

Posts: 352 | Location: Zambia | Registered: 01 May 2011

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