I've been ghosting this site for quite some time. Still amazed by the body of knowledge posessed by all the members. Enough grovelling, let me tell you about my adventure.
I am primarily a bow hunter but own a number of firearms and enjoy using the smokestick. Booked a Zim buffalo hunt with Mokore Safaris for Octobers 04, this was to be a bowhunt. That being said it was necessary to hunt private land as bowhunting DG is not legal on government property in Zim. The hunt took place in the Save conservancy in the Mokore and Incondu(sp) blocks.
My PH was Hilton Nichols, quite a character and a whole lot of fun. Hilton is a traditional bowhunter and has two of the neatest longbows I ever saw. I also hunted with a native PH "Magucher." What these men have forgotten about hunting Africa is more than I'll ever know. Trackers, amazing abilities, these guys track at a trot. I can say their names but doubt I could spell them, so I won't.
The Mokore camp is beautiful and sits on the Turgwe river. The dining area has a deck that literally overhangs the river bank. Large trees shade the entire camp and it always seems to have a cool breeze. Food was good, chalets were spacious & clean. It amazes me how much luxury you can get out in the bush.
Got my buffalo on the evening of day three. Put a heart shot on him, he spun a couple circles looking for us. The bull then turned broadside (standing) and I let him have it again. The bull went about a 100 yards and piled up. Got the "bellow," what an experience! He was a really nice bull, 14.5" bosses and a 40" spread.
Did some plains game hunting, got an 38.5" eland among other trophies.
Overall everything went smooth, good camp, lots of wildlife, no surprises. Plenty of elephants on these properties, I truly enjoyed hunting an area that holds the big 5. I did a plains game hunt with Mokore Safaris in 01 so I knew what to expect. The Duckworths run a nice operation. Next up, Leopard!

Thanks for the report. Man that buffalo sounds great.

Got any pictures?

Regards,

Terry

Swivelhead,

Thanks for the report. I'm going to the Save in April of this year to hunt buffalo with Jumbo Moore. I'm glad to hear that the poaching in the Save has not decimated all the game, as the articles would have you believe.

Did you see a lot of buff? How about other member of the big 5? I'd love to learn as much as possible about the Save before I go there.

Swivelhead,

Welcome to the forum. The more the merrier. Post photos as soon as you can. We all love to see how "bad" you have it! It makes us feel better and feeds our dreams at the same time.

Bull1

Thanks for the report! I have been waiting for one to come along.. The Report-section is one of my favourites, but this time of the year there are quite few and far between.. August to October is the prime time...
Photo`s is highly appreciated!

I'll post photo's early next week. I don't have a scanner and the photos are celluloid. A friend who is computer savy will help me with it. Just to let you know in advance, this trip was a photographic disaster. My camera failed and I had to depend on others for my pictures.
Concerning wildlife in the Save: I saw more wildlife in 04 than in 01. I did not see any large herds of bufflo but groups of up to eight bulls (never saw a cow). Concerning DG I personally only saw buffalo and elephant. My hunting pardners saw Leopard, lion, cheetah, rhino, hippo (everyone saw elephant and buff), all during daylight. My PH's pointed out different DG spoor from time to time. Lion tracks are especially impressive. Did not see any crocodiles this trip. We did have a hippo visiting our camp at night to dine on the large grassy area. I heard him (her?) make some godawful sounds during the night. Camp staff asked that we not wander around after lights out to which I cheerfully complied. I'll post additional info when I get the pictures up.

Congrats on a great hunt and a super trophy with a bow! Amazing it takes us regular Joes big bore rifles to complete the same feat. Looking forward to your pix as well.

Here are the pics. Comments on pics will be posted later.

I'm headed back to the Save Conservancy this October. It's not only a great part of Africa for big leopard, but a great property for big leopard.

Swivelhead,

Thanks for posting the pictures and for your report. Looks like you hada wonderful time and you took some very nice trophies with your bow. Congratulations!... and welcome to the forum.

BigBullet

Thanks all, Africa truly is a paradise. I am thankful that my friend Joe drug me over there in 01. Without his enthusiasm and encouragement it would have never happened. Joe told me "never a day will go by that you won't recall your time in Africa." He was right.

#1-2, No field pics. The guy in the background with his thumb up is my hunting pardner Joe. Not to be outdone, he took a whopper bull the next morning with his bow. His bull had 16.5" bosses and was an abosolute tank.
#3, The eland. Double lunged at a pit blind, made it 100 yards at a sprint.
#4, Impala, from a pit, dropped in his tracks. The shot was upward and quartering away. The arrow got lungs and spine.
#5, Bush pig, Stalked on the ground (cool!) PH got me a 25 yd. shot and I blew it, you could jerk a shot more than I did but you'd really have to try hard. PH calmed me down, we tracked the pigs for 1/2 mile and got a 20 yd. opportunity, put it through his heart, he went 10 yards.
#6, Mr. Warthog, I truly love hunting warthogs as they have so much personality. Made a high double lung hit on this guy, he still managed to go 150+ yards. It was from a pit blind and we had Zebra close so we waited and by the time we recovered the hog he had stiffened some.
#7, Giraffe, I got a pass-thru on a quartering away shot. After studying giraffe anatomy I still shot low. I did get lung but not enough. My PH loaned me his .470 NE to finish.

Swivelhead- Congratulations! Could you tell us how the hunt was organized? Blind or stalking? Also- could you please give us an overview of youe equipment. Thanks, Bob Butler.

Crane, I booked my hunt through Bowhunters Africa. Travel was arranged, equipment/gear requirements expained, etc. Plains game was hunted from pit blinds or tree stands. Amazing amounts of wildlife would show up at waterholes. Most booking agents for archers stress "bowhunting only" areas. These areas have bowhunters sitting on water throughout the hunting season. Although I've never hunted a bowhunting only area, it stands to reason the wildlife becomes aware of this situation. I think hunting a concession with fewer archers makes pit/treestand hunting that much better.
My buffalo hunt was conducted in the traditional manner. Locate tracks, trail, stalk. This is the method by which I got my buff. I took my bushpig while pursuing buffalo. Spending the daily rate for a buff hunt to pursue bushpig probably isn't wise but I could'nt help myself! ANY african game taken on the ground by a bowhunter is a trophy.
The bow I used was Hoyt spiral cam ultratec. I have a 29.5" draw and shot the bow at 75#. I used a duplexed carbon arrow with a steel broadhead adpater (125 gr.) and a 190 gr. grizzly broadhead. The arrow weighed 1010 grains. The bow/arrow combo produced 94 ft/lbs of KE. South Afica requires a 750 gr./80 ft/lbs minimum for DG. My setup surpassed this benchmark. The combo performed well providing more than adequate penetration and trajectory.

Swivelhead

Glad you enjoyed your safari and congratulations on your trophies. I hunted Chewore South and the Mokore area of the Save in June of 04 and also found the entire Mokore operation to be first class. Barrie Duckworth certainly knows what he is doing. I also met your PH, he seemed like a great guy. As you say the Mokore camp is beautiful and there is an abundance of game.

CFA

Thanks Swivelhead. Most of the info I have been collecting on bowhunting the Save was from hunts much earlier in the season. And not with any level of success like you experienced. Congratulations !

Swivelhead- I tried to get contact info for your agent and came up empty on a search. Could you give a number or e-mail? Thanks again, Bob Butler.

crane,

I represent Mokore Safaris and have hunted with them. If I can be of any help just let me know. I also personally hunted with Hilton Nichols and I am in contact with Barrie on a regular basis.

Regards,

Mark

Crane, Joe Nochta can be reached at bowhuntersafrica@cox.net. The Save has a number of live rivers. The rivers tend to dry up mid-august through mid-october. This makes waterhole hunting particularly effective during this time period.