quote:

Originally posted by Tim Herald:

Our #2 tracker got struck at twice this morning by a puff adder. It hit his baggy coveralls both time s but no leg...it was a tense time!

Good to hear Aralea did not get bitten. Nice chap.

Decided to take the day off of buffs as they have kicked our butt. Saw a nice sable, but he was in a herd, so no go.

SO we get a call about 7:15 that another PH just saw 2 dugga boys, so we head out about an hour's drive. He marked the spot, so off we go. They headed straight into an absolute riverine jungle on the Lugenda.

We tracked for about 20 minutes, and we jumped them at about 20 yards, but couldn't see them. The wind was bad, so we backed out. We were going to leave, but Stu Taylor said he had a longshot plan. The band of riverine bush tapered down to an opening about 2 miles from the buff, so we went there and setup with the wind in our face.

The trackers kept on the tracks pushing the buff. A bit over an hour later, I heard a noise coming from the brush where we expected them to emerge, and seconds later, here they come steady. I am on the lead bull Stu says take him, but I keep waiting for him to stop. My cameraguy is to the left, and then the buff pass, and cameraman is between me and them. Chaos...I moved cameraman moved and buff are 15 yards.

I shoot the lead bull, he tears up a steep bank and I shoot again when he hits the top. He didn't flinch either time, and the dust on the 1st shot looked to all of us like I shot over him (at 15 yards)! I am pissed at myself and can't believe it.

We give it 5 minutes and go to look, and half up the hill there is plenty of blood. We follow 100 yards and he is DOA. First shot was a double lung and 2nd was in the gut.

He is a great OLD bull. not much spread, but good solid chipped bosses, and worn tips. The guys estimate him at 12 years. The .458 Nosler Solids went through him like butter, thus no reaction. Now I have 6 days left to find that elusive old sable that isn't in a herd.

Having trouble uploading photos but will try again after dinner this evening.

Congratulations Tim on the Leopard and Buff. With six days left to find a Sable I'm hoping you get it done... on day six of course !

Congrats on the Buff and good luck on the Sable but also don't forget Eland and Hyena.

Can't wait to see the Buff

Buff Photos

Photo a little grainy, but we saw this old lady last night just before sunset at 65 yards.

Congrats tim,
Some fine hunting going on there, makes next august seem very far away.

Tim,

Congratulations on your success! Sounds like a great time, and thanks for "taking us along"...

No shots for me today. Started out seeing a 3 year old male lion, and an old black maned male as well. Pretty cool stuff. I would like to find him next year!

Ended the day finding a nice lone sable and stalking to about 75 yards, but he had no secondary growth, so we passed. Will be back at it tomorrow. The other guys aren't in yet, so don't know how they did. Cheers...

3rd leopard down in 8 days for one of my guys here. We have taken them all in daylight, and there are still 5 shootable toms on bait! Photos tomorrow...

I believe you, but it is unbelievable!

Tim,

You must be lying. Leopard hunting is much harder than that. Everybody knows that if they read AR. AND in daylight? I can't believe it. no sir! No way!

Leopard areas are not all equal. Wild areas like you are hunting can produce quite an easy leopard hunt as you have seen.

Big congrats to you and all the rest of the hunters. Fantastic safari!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark

Tim, sounds like you have found leopard Utopia. I am vey happy for you. Keep it up. Wade

Simply AWESOME---area, hunt, trophies, report . . ..

...and last and final old buff down. so...8 days, 3 leopard and 4 dugga boys...I don't think I need to say more...photos tomorrow...

Tim
Don't quit now. You have plenty of time left to find a grand sable. Good Luck

Tim, what a hunt. Congratulations. I know you must be very pleased with the leopard. Way to go!

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Herald:
Drinking a beer for breakfast!!! More to come

Nothing like a good beer buz, early in the morning! Or so says Cheryl Crow!

Tim,
That buff will do. Nice worn hard boss, they just don't get much better.

Got on a nice sable today, but no secondary growth! At it tomorrow...David is posting the last buff and leopard photos for me. Tech difficulties. The tom was shot at 4:20PM...

Tim asked me to post these pics for him:
Harry's Cat

Here is Jim's old buff

Good morning...took a beautiful little Johnston's impala with the .300 and after numerous stalks on the same herd, killed an old bull Crawshay's Defassa waterbuck that was the herd bull of about 15 cows. I wanted to shoot one with the .458, and it really hammered him. We are going to hunt another day and a half and go to the beach house on the Indian Ocean for our last day. I have 1.5 days left for a sable. Stalked a bull this evening, had him in scope at 100 yards, but no 2ndary growth again...

Tim,
That waterbuck is a beauty.Sounds like you are having the time of your life.

Good stuff! That is a beautiful waterbuck.

Tim,

Nice work on the waterbuck. I'm dedicating some time next year just to look for one in Zambia. You'll love the beach. We flew along a big peice of it from Beira south early in morning, Too beautiful. Good luck on the sable.

Mark

I love Jim's old buff!

Great report!

Well done buddy!

Did Jim get a broadside on that Buff? Congrats to all the guys, I know y'all had a ball!

Cheers,

Charl...Jim got an everything at the buff! Shot him a bunch.

Jim killed a 14' croc today with 6 or more inches of tail missing. Biggest croc they have ever killed here. Will post photos when I get them.

We chased the same old bull sable from 9am-5PM...he won. Half a day left tomorrow...not looking good, but that is always something to come back for. We aren't giving up...

If i could pick out the perfect buff for me, Jims would fit the bill. I love the big drops.

Hunt has ended...what a ride! We fly to Pemba today to spend a day at Kambako's beach house, a swim in the Indian Ocean, and some seafood, and then home tomorrow. I will do one condensed proper report when I get home with additional photos...Cheers!

Excellent safari bwana.

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Herald:
OK...here's what happened. We walked in to our blind just before 5AM. When we could see the cat was not there, and I thought, "here we go again, and I am taking Stu down with me." We had planned to stay about an hour, but 15 minutes later, I spotted the cat about 60 yards to the left of our bait in the wide open walking to the bait. I pointed him out to Stu, and he told me to just wait. The cat sat down for a few minutes, and then he walked to the base of the small tree where the bait was. SHortly, he stood and began to feed (the bait was hung like a lion bait where he had to reach up to eat, but not climb). My cameraman was rolling the whole time, and we waited on light to get better. The cat sat down, got up fed again, etc. Finally I got the thumbs up from everyone, I waited another 30 seconds and put one right behind his shoulder while he was standing. He rolled, attacked the bait with a vengeance and then ran off about 100 yards growling. We waited a few minutes, followed him up, and that was the end of the story. He was dead just by some brush. I couldn't be happier. We went out for a while after breakfast and got on some sable, and there was a beautiful 41"+ bull, but he didn't have secondary horn growth and they don't shoot them out of herds here, so we walked away. It was tough...off for a nap...

What a nice cat , congratulations Tim. Don't forget to post the remaining photographs, Cheers, Ali

Snakes! High on my list of reasons to never take the point while hunting in Africa.

Great trophies and report. Thanks for sharing.

Amazing following your adventure like this "live"...

Congratulations on that Tom and Buff, both are very special.

O

Great Hunt. Congratulations and well done. Very interesting to hear the reaction of your cat to the shot. I don't recall anyone else mentioning that their cat savaged the bait after being shot.