I am on the plane headed home doing this from my I phone . My apologies for the typos and those annoying autocorrects. Editing will be done when I get home.

Client- Larry Shores

Company- Charlton McCallum

PH- Collen van Der Linden

Dates- 9/10-9/20/2016 (I think )

Trackers- Criton
Gabriel
Tiki (one of Gibbo's trackers)

Area- Dande

Guns - VC 500 NE
Rifles, Inc 416 Remington Magnum

Ammo- Barnes 570 grain banded solids for the 500
Federal Premium 570 grain A frames for the 500
Federal Premium 400 grain A frames for the 416

This was my 24th safari, the 3rd with CMS and the 6th with Collen as the PH. To be candid, I have regretted booking the safari and wished I had chosen an argali hunt instead. This is no longer the case. This safari ended up having many extraordinary moments. It was one of my best safaris ever . I think about some of them and I can't stop smiling .

The best thing to do is to run things down day by day.

After getting a late start due to all of my luggage not making it (probably my fault , see the problems section at the end), I made it to camp . I sorted my gear and checked the rifles. All was good. I was warned however that things were different this year. A herd of buff were grazing on the yard. Well, I could clearly see evidence of that. There were also two leopards in camp from time to time. They had even been known to get on the roof of one of the rooms. Oh boy, this might be entertaining I thought . I was very much cured of walking around in the dark with no flashlight!

Day 1- This was a most amazing day. We got up at 4:30, ate and took off. We had not gone far when I spotted a couple of buff bulls. Actually, I had spotted the very corner of a herd. Personally, I wanted to hunt tuskless. I said no to the buff.

The buff were quite annoying all day (I am being sarcastic here). We kept bumping into them when we weren't even looking , 7 different herds in all! This was more buff than I had seen in my prior trips. I was very encouraged .

We found the tracks of a herd of elephant cows. Off we go on the tracks . Several miles later, the elephants are spotted. A rather large tuskless is near the rear of the herd. Fantastic! We move in and get set up. All the tuskless has to do is follow the others and she is mine. Does she cooperate? Oh hell no, that would be boring .

As I am standing there waiting patiently, two cows break to their left. One is headed directly for yours truly. I am not too worried . She continues to get closer and closer. She has no idea we are there. I look over at Criton. He thinks this is hysteical. To be truthful, I guess I did too until I realized she was not going to stop. At 10 yards, I eased my safety off just in case. She was danger close. Then the second cow that broke left walked across our tracks and apparently smelled them. She sounded the alarm. The cow that had been headed my way was at about 6-8 yards. Close, real close. For a brief instant , I wondered if I was going to get trampled. Fortunately, she ran the other way.

We still had a chance. All the tuskless had to do was run same way the others ran and I was going to send her a 570 grain greeting card. That would be too easy. She ran straight away. Women!

I think I should mention that we saw an extraordinary amount of PG for the area that day . Astounded is the word that comes to mind. Having been here twice before, I was very impressed. Perhaps the efforts of DAPU are working .

Hell of a first day!

DAY 2- This day was not quite as exciting nor did we see as much game. I opined that the moon phase probably was having an impact. Collen agreed.

We found nothing to shoot (tuskless) in spite of our best efforts most of the day . We followed one final set of tracks for quite a few miles. Personally, I was ready to throw in the towel for the day as we had little light left. Then, as we were walking along, I noticed an elephant trunk stick out from behind a tree. No way the others could see this . I made a slight whistle . Everyone stopped. I pointed out the elephants . There was indeed a tuskless near the rear . We re-positioned. This was a bad angle, shooting down at a moving target . Some brush was in the way . I went for the heart/lung. It was clear she was done from the first shot but I gave her a second anyway. She did not take 2 steps before she fell.

Not a bad way to end the day.

DAY 3- This proved to be a most interesting day and ended with a first for me. It also ended with something that has not happened at CMS in a long time I am told.

We tracked a number of elephants . No luck . We got out by a spring and started looking for sign. We saw fresh elephant spoor and got on it. We followed the spoor for miles . The sun was getting low and I was getting nervous. I really didn't want to walk by the spring in the dark. Collen said we were headed toward another road where Kapazai would pick us up. I was relieved. Seems my concerns were well founded as Kapazai had seen a lioness with cubs at the spring as he was sitting in the vehicle .

As we continued on, I looked to my left and saw fresh buff tracks. Hell, it was so late that I didn't say anything. We had not gone 50 yards when Criton spotted the group of dugga boys. They asked if I wanted to give them a go. Hell yes I said ! I wanted to take the solids out of the 500 NE and put softs in to replace them.

Off we so, slinking like cats trying to get closer. Personally, I thought we were plenty close. Then a bull we had not seen spotted us and sounded the alarm. They took off but stopped on this ridge to look back. They were over 150 yards I am sure. Collen wanted to know if I could make the shot. Well, I won't repeat my exact response herein. Let's just say that it meant yes. Up go the sticks. I put the red dot in the right place and squeezed the trigger. I hit him . They all took off running.

Criton and I scrambled up to the ridge. We found blood right away. A lot of blood. Collen and I briefly debated the issue of going in then versus waiting. We had less than 5 minutes until it was pitch black. I could see buff standing there looking back. We could hear one wheezing and gurgling badly. I opined that one was down and the others were looking back for their fallen comrade. Collen agreed. He posed another question. What were we going to do about that big bull standing there ? My response ? Shoot him. Up go the sticks . I brained him. He was DRT. We moved a few feet and we could see the first buff down. I put an insurance shot into both. I had my first buff double! What an afternoon !

DAY 4- This was yet another interesting day. It was interesting for reasons that should not have been. More later.

We tracked some cows in hopes of finding another tuskless. No luck . As we were walking out, Criton spotted other elephants pretty close. Personally, at that point , I couldn't tell if they were bulls or cows.

Well, here I am , walking along like a dumb ass with my 500 over my right shoulder when this happens . The elephants move. I can now see these are young bulls . One is full of piss and vinegar . They are close, too close when the lead bull turns to look at us and he moves closer. Damn it, I have really f'ed up now. This bull is danger close and I am standing there with my rifle on my shoulder. Not much time to react at 9 yards! Then I hear Collen ease his safety off. Not that there had been any doubt that I had made a mistake before but this confirmed it. I was in the process of oh so slowly moving my rifle to a better position. I figured it was more likely than not he was going to give us a go. I figured it was a 100% if one of the game scouts ran. Fortunately, they did not run. Unsure of himself, the bulls moved off. Definitely dodged a bullet there.


Now all of this was bad enough. It could have been worse. Wait until you hear what happened that afternoon. All I can say is thank God those bulls did not charge. It might have been ugly as you will see.

We went on a long walk after lunch. We cut some fresh elephant tracks. Off we go. Several miles later, we catch them. No tuskless. Then someone hears some others further away . We move. There is a fair sized tuskless. We get into position . Just as I am about to shoot, all the elephants take off. I switch to heart/lung. Boom! The first shot rocks her hard. I go for the follow up. Guess what? There was no red dot! Talk about disconcerting . I shot anyway hoping for the best . Collen was shocked at how high I shot. Then I told him about the red dot. He handed me his 450 Ackley. I made a really good brain shot with iron sites at about 115! All I could think was thank goodness that elephant didn't charge in the morning .

The fun for the day was not over. I took the Dokter Optik off. We headed to the truck which was a mile away or so. On the way, Criton spotted a hell of a Chobe bushbuck. Collen wanted me to shoot it as I had never taken a Chobe bushbuck before. I hammered it with the 500 with iron sites at just over 100 yards with solids .

DAY 5- This was the day we were going for a croc. Myles had advised of a couple of big ones around. Off we go.

We had gone quite a way toward the Zambezi when a hyena ran across the road. We jumped out and ran like hell. We caught the hyena and I shot him. He was positively ancient , kind of like me!

We continue on. When we get to the river , we get a shock. The water is way higher than it is supposed to be. The dam allowed a bunch of water through . Just my luck.

Well, we took a little ride in a boat. We changed our mind about the setup a couple of times. I liked the final setup. I liked it a lot.

We had not been in the blind 15 minutes when I heard a strange noise. Hmmmmm. I ask Collen but I have a pretty good idea. There are two crocs fighting near our bait. Damn this is wild. The victor moves to the bait. We slip out of our shady position to the blind. I see the croc. I am not too sure about this croc. Fortunately ,plovers make the decision for us. The croc retreats. So do we.

About 15 minutes later I hear a commotion . Criton whistles lightly. We slip up to the blind. Now this is a croc. I get on the sticks and hammer him good and proper, all 13'1" of him .

There was another interesting thing happen. The croc was being cleaned up and posed for pictures. I saw Criton have a reaction to something . He reached on the croc's mouth. Unbelievably , one of the bullets was laying there in the croc's mouth! I was absolutely astounded.

DAYS 6&7- To briefly summarize, they sucked. It was right after the full moon. Little game was seen.

Day 8- This was to be it for me. I decided to leave early. If I stayed , I was going to fly home then have to fly out the next day. That would suck.

We went to the communal area to look for buff. We immediately found tracks. Off we go. They busted us twice . On the 3rd time we were well hidden. The jess was thick. We identified a mature bull. There was a little opening about 70 yards away. It was slightly bigger than a baseball. Collen wanted to know if I could make it. I said yes. BOOM!

The buff was clearly hit. He was running with his head down. Both of us figured he would be dead in short order. We were both wrong .

We found blood, even a lot of blood. At 300 yards, I was concerned. I moved from behind the trackers off to one side just in case. We followed for a while, at times with no blood trail. Hmmmm. We started down a hill. I saw the bull standing under a tree watching his back trail. He took off. I fired and was pretty sure I hit him. I fired again just before he disappeared . I felt pretty good about both shots even though the second was far less certain.

Criton finds a lot of blood. Game on. One has to know Criton to understand . When he saw this blood, he was like a shark with blood in the water. He was on the trail and he was serious. I stayed to Criton's right. Collen to the left . I see the black shadow of the buff in some bushes . He was starting to run. I sent 400 grains after him.

We hear the buff. We move. Collen watches the river in case he tries to cross . The bull breaks and runs for it . I hammer him hard. He is down. Damn but this was exciting as hell. To say I was happy was an understatement .

We examined the buff. It appears I had hit him every time. My initial shot was slightly low but the baseball sized hole was all I had to shoot through . Considering that the follow up shots were mostly snap shots off hand at running buff, I was pretty pleased .

We made it back to camp. We rested a bit. We grabbed shotguns and went off to shoot sand grouse. This always seems to be a lot of fun.

We got to my favorite spring and got set up. I was equipped with Buzz's o/u 12 ga that I had never seen before in my life. No problem.

The birds showed and when I pulled the trigger the first time,I heard a resounding click. WTF? This ended up happening about 50% of the time. I am sure I said a few words my mother would not like to hear . This positively killed my kill ratio. Generally , I am pretty decent with a shotgun. Regardless, we picked up a pile of birds and headed back to the camp. My 24th safari was over.


OTHER MATTERS

First , I want to thank Collen. He is a friend and a great PH.

I want to thank everyone at CMS, particularly Buzz who graciously made Criton available . I have been going since 1988. Criton is , without a doubt, the best tracker I have ever seen. He is a game changer. Additionally , there is some sort of chemistry between the two of us. There have been numerous tense moments, potentially life threatening moments when I look at Criton and we both just start laughing silently .

CMS runs a hell of a good operation. I can't say enough good about them.

The DAPU must be working . We walked a lot of miles and did not pick up a single snare. There are marked increases in the amount of PG that I saw . Granted , this isn't the Save but it has to start somewhere. We saw a ton of buff. Perhaps more importantly a ton of young bulls that were quite large. This seems to be positive for the future.

On the other hand, all the anti-poaching in the world in Dande cannot stop the elephant poaching in Mozambique. CMS cannot impact that.

PROBLEMS

I want to bring up various issues related to the trip to help others avoid some of the mistakes I made.
Let me be crystal clear, these are NOT CMS problems.

1- The Delta flight arrives a little later than it used to. While it is still entirely possible to make the evening flight to Harare, there may not be enough time for the bags to make it. None of mine did. From what I am hearing, most who try this end up without their bags. I doubt I will try it again.

2- The cash issues in Zim give me a little concern . Let me be clear . There is a cash shortage in Zim. So, yes,in theory one can wire the money . If one does that, how does the staff get their money ? These are the people who need it the most.

I took about $9,000. I declared this at customs. I was taken to a dark room where they wanted to count my money. Yes, I was scared. Myles probably wondered what the hell was wrong with me because I wanted to get the hell out of there so fast. Frankly, I was afraid I would be robbed.

Never again will I declare all the money I have. I will declare only what I expect to take out.

For whatever it is worth, I was asked abut how much I was leaving with. My answer was a whole lot less than I came with. That seemed to satisfy them.

3- For year and years I have hunted in a pair of Keens. If asked, I would have said I could walk all day every day with no problem whatsoever. I would be wrong. I hunted a few days . No problem. Then on the second hike one day, I started to have problems. It felt like something was in the shoe. I stopped repeatedly . Nothing was in the shoe. This was particularly puzzling as our first hike of the morning was about 4 miles and I had no problem. WTF?

Collen's theory is that the shoe must be worn out and they were now flexing abnormally. He might be right . So here I am with a highly inflamed foot, miles from camp. I know if I carry on, there will be a problem. Back to camp we go.

I learned a lesson. I will always put an extra pair of shoes in my bag before we leave camp.

4- I suffered with my allergies while there. If you are a fellow allergy sufferer, consideration might be given to going when the trees are not blooming . I REALLY suffered.

I am damn glad I didn't go to Mongolia. I bought my wife a couple of very nice presents. I am hoping these help me to be able to go deer hunting this weekend. No, I don't have a problem.



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More pics and editing to come. Pics take lifetimes on this plane.

Keep writing Larry

Can't wait for the pics...this is a fun ride along

Sounds excellent so far, Larry! Congratulations. Looking forward to the balance of it.

Where's my DVD??? :-)

Can hardly wait for pics. Sounds like a lot of great hunting. Congrats. Bruce

Good so far, but without pictures, well...

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Where's my DVD??? :-)

Larry is producing slow ...

No dvd this time.

Thank you for the report! Can you give some information on the failure of the red dot sight?

quote:

Originally posted by jaegerfrank:
Thank you for the report! Can you give some information on the failure of the red dot sight?

I wish I knew. When I shot the first time, all was good. When I went for the follow up, there was no red dot.

It will be going back.

Hi Larry

I am sorry I missed you this time but followed your success through Criton while I was down here on Hammond! Well done indeed and thanks for coming out with us again- quite a hunt you had I must say!

I think on the traveling with money the answer is to bring in as much as one wants as that is not the issue, but when leaving if you have any more then $1000 you should just leave it with us and we would wire it back to you. As it is cash is an issue here so we would put it to good use!

Look forward to seeing you at the shows Larry- all the best Buzz

What a hunt! Well done Larry!

I have always carried a pair of sneakers and put them behind the seat of the hunting truck..
just in case.

Congratulations on a great hunt.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

Nice Job Larry. One question, why two watches?

One is actually a GPS that measures the distance walked. For some
reason, I like to know.

Outstanding report Larry!

Glad you enjoyed your hunt,Larry.

Well done Larry

Excellent!
Glad things are continuing to improve in Dande. Sadly you are spot on about the elephant poaching across the border.
Criton is spectacular. You should see him work as a team with Nyati sometime!
Keep the pictures coming, I'm already homesick.

Excellent Hunt!!! Thanks for your Conservation efforts!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Marty:

Criton is spectacular. You should see him work as a team with Nyati sometime!

Ain't that the truth. It's like they read each other's minds.

Cheers
Jim

I have hunted with both Criton and Nyati twice. I know what you mean.

Larry,
Once again a great report! You are my hero. Just please , please tell me you have not fallen for Dennis Campbell's charade over at Grand Slam Club Ovis and joined his band of charlatans who care more about self gratification under the disguise of wild sheep conservation.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Echoanne12:
Larry,
Once again a great report! You are my hero. Just please , please tell me you have not fallen for Dennis Campbell's charade over at Grand Slam Club Ovis and joined his band of charlatans who care more about self gratification under the disguise of wild sheep conservation.[/QUOTE

Thanks.

I am not certain what you are referring to with the sheep. I have taken the grand slam. They are not registered.

Well done Larry. Tell us a little about Collen's rifle . . . looks like a CZ550 . . . what caliber? Hope you get to feeling better.

Mike:

It is. It is chambered in 450 Ackley. I have shot it several times. I really like it.

Larry;

What a fantastic safari in so many ways!!! Congratulations on fine accomplishments!!!

I look forward to more pics... Your report was excellent!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Great hunt Larry! Thanks for the report...

Thanks for letting us live vicariously through your hunt report
Well done!!

Your usual top shelf report, Larry! I'm especially impressed with your hyena. I've tried for them in Namibia a number of times without success. The closest I came to bagging a hyena was in 2013 when my PH dropped me off in the dark at an elevated blind and drove the truck about 500 yards away to hide it behind a kopje. A male hyena followed the truck for about 200 yards and approached to within 6 yards of the PH, poised to attack. He shot it at 15 yards.

Great trophies and concise, candid report - well done Larry!

Very impressive safari Mr. Shores, glad you had a good time,my sincere congratulations and thanks for sharing your adventure!, Out of curiosity this brings your count to how many buff and elephants taken?

49 & 27 respectively.

Great hunt and great write-up.

Thank you, loved the pics.

HUNT WORTH DOING GREAT ANIMALS

Congratulations great hunt great report

Great hunt and terrific write up. Well done .

Always great to read about your adventures.
Thanks again for posting another excellent hunt report.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

quote:

Originally posted by jaegerfrank:
Thank you for the report! Can you give some information on the failure of the red dot sight?

I wish I knew. When I shot the first time, all was good. When I went for the follow up, there was no red dot.

It will be going back.

Could have been a bat flattery - it happened to me on one occasion when I forgot to turn it off and these contraptions have a tendency to suck juice over those long treks if on and even more if they are turned on high.

A lesson learned and I now carry several spare batteries - it takes less than a minute to replace the dud one.