Blackfox (Casey Terry) asked me to post the following pictures for him (apologies for the size of the pictures, that is how I received them). He intends to reply with a short report on his hunt. Casey professes to be computer illiterate, I think he just wants me to do the heavy lifting for him.

This was Casey's first trip to Africa. He was hunting with Rich Tabor of CM Safaris in Makuti. He hunted October 24 to November 6. The hunt was originally booked as a sable/buffalo hunt but Casey was able to take advantage of a remaining leopard on quota. I would say that is a pretty good first trip to Africa, two of the Big Five plus a sable. I will leave the rest of the details to Casey.

Congrats Casey.

Congrats! I would say he sure did have one heck of a 1st safari!

He sure did it right for his first safari. Love the canines on that feline!

Great looking trophies. That cat is huge!

Congrats.

Congratulations, Blackfox.

I look forward to reading your report.

Wow! That's a heck of a group of trophies. The only questions, is where do you go from there?

Nice going! Rich produces yet another super cat. I saw these on the website a couple of days ago.

Rich and I played chess with these Makuti cats for 2 weeks in June. I finally scored toward the end of the trip. I wonder which valley this one was taken out of as we had 11 baits out over 98km.

Casey and I overlapped on our hunts by three days. I was going for buffalo / leopard and Casey at the time was going for a Buffalo, Sable and Trophy Bull elephant. I had baits up for six straight days and we were starting to get some hits, but I was unsuccessful. I told Casey he should just continue on the leopard. He was more keen on the ele at the time, but a guess he switched tactics when I left. Congrats on a super first hunt!

I met Blackfox in Harare while we were waiting our plane. Actually we almost missed our flight.

He did indeed have a great trip.

I look forward to his report.

quote:

Originally posted by BigBoreCore:
Casey and I overlapped on our hunts by three days. I was going for buffalo / leopard and Casey at the time was going for a Buffalo, Sable and Trophy Bull elephant. I had baits up for six straight days and we were starting to get some hits, but I was unsuccessful. I told Casey he should just continue on the leopard. He was more keen on the ele at the time, but a guess he switched tactics when I left. Congrats on a super first hunt!

Do you know which site he took the cat from. I can't remember the names of all of them off the top of my head from June but if you said the name, I would remember it. I ask because Rich was using many bait sites from previous hunts and was narrowing down which cat we were playing chess with. I am just curious which one Blackfox outsmarted or if it was a new one altogether!

Hi Todd

Casey shot his huge cat just below Marangora ,just on the other side of the road from where you shot your big cat Todd.

Casey did have an awesome hunt- they looked at over 1000 buff before shooting his old dugga boy with a double.

As always the sable hunting was great and Casey sable was a beautiful black bull just under 40 and on Richs last hunt he shot a 45" sable. What was interesting was he was much browner but still have very thick 11" bases! Check out the pics of this magnificient bull as well as Caseys on www.cmsafaris.com under gallery. Makuti would certainly give Matetsi a run for its money for sable at half the price!

Outstanding.

Mike

Well done on a great safari Sir. Glad you chose to go to Africa for the 1st time with one of the best companies and PHs in the business. Congrats to all invloved. Look forward to reading the report.

Thanks for posting the pictures Mike. Sending them to you to small proves I'm not a good computer nerd.

I've used AR for a lot of information, but never contributed. I thought I would this time to pay you guys back for all the information I've got off this site.

I hunted with CM Safaris and can't say enough about the operation they run. First class all the way!! Everything that Myles and Buzz told me in Dallas when I booked the hunt went exactly as planned. The weather, the people, Makuti, the types and kind of game and the amount of game was exactly what they said it would be.

My PH was Rich Tabor, and him and his team are some of the hardest working and knowledgable people I have hunted with.

The weaher was hot, above 100 farenheit for the first ten days but cooled to around 100 the last four days.

I took two rifles on this hunt, a Heym Safari in .470 N.E. and a Prechtl mauser in 9.3X64 Brenneke. I had 286 grain Swift A-Frames for the 9.3 and 500 grain A-Frames and North Fork solids for the .470

Hunting late in the year had it's advantages and disadvantages, The first day out and the first long walk we saw a super Eland bull, which was the only animal I really wanted other than the Sable and Buffalo, but all the quota had been taken for the year. That night Buzz and Myles called and said they had a bull elephant left on quota and said I could shoot it if we saw one. Also five days into the hunt another hunter (Mike from California) didn;t connect on his Leopard and I was offered the Leopard also. Which turned out to be a good deal.

We saw a few small bull elephants durring the hunt but no shooters. We saw two that ran before Rich could get a good look and we tracked them in 100 degree heat for about three miles and finaly got to within twenty yards from them but Rich said the largest one was less than 30 Lbs. so we didn't shoot.

On day 2 we got a nice Grysbok.
We chased Sable and Buffalo until the morning of the 7th day and shot a super nice Sable. Broadside shot at just under 150 yds. He collapsed right where he was shot. We used some of the Sable to set up four different Leopard baits and used some of Mikes old bait to set up a Hyena bait in a large dry river bed.

We saw well over a thousand buffalo on this hunt, but damn it's hard to get a shot at a bull you want. They are always behind cows or trees or running and jumping for no reason.
Finaly in the afternoon of day 10 the trackers spotted four or five buffalo on top of a hill about a mile away and thought they were bulls. After a 45 minute stalk I finaly got one facing straight towards me through a hole in the brush at 75 yds.I shot him in the center of the chest and could tell it was a good hit. He was instantly out of sight in the brush. We found him on his side about 80 yds. from where I had shot him. He was still moving his head around some so I shot two solids through him just to make Rich happy.

At this point nothing had hit on our Leopard baits, but after waiting for Hyenas to cmme to our Hyena bait the trackers found tracks where a large Leopard had been there the night before. Rich and his team then built a blind 90 yds. from the bait for the next morning.
We got to the blind the morning of the 12th day around 3:30. AT 5:00 THE leopard came to feed but was stretched out eating with his back half behind a large rock by the bait. When it started to get light enough to see, Rich couldn't 100% be sure he was a tom becouse his back half was behind the rock. Finaly just before the sun broke over the hill he instantly stood up and started walking straight away from us, and Rich confirmed it was a tom. He had about 15 yds to walk from the bait to being completely out of sight behind some trees. Just before he went out of sight I gave up that he would stop and maybe give me some type of side shot or turn and look our way and I shot him in the left flank as he was walking at a slight angle away and the bullet exited his right front shoulder. We found him behind the trees 30 yds from where he was shot.
He was large and old and his head was scarred from fights in his life. His left upper lip was missing a piece , but had long since healed.

Day 13 we drove around and took it easy and looked for a giant Warthog, but no luck.

Day 14 went back to the Hyena/Leopard bait early but they came and went earlier in the night,but there was a Jackle and I did get a shot at him. Rich said it was the first one they have shot in Makuti.

I shot the buffalo with the .470 WITH A 500 grain A-Frame straight in the center of his chest when he was facing us. The skinner found the bullet in his stomach. It weighed 417 grains 83% of original weight.
I shot the Sable broadside through both shoulders with the9.3x64 The bullet was just under the skin on the far side. It weighed 271 grains 95% of original. I used the 9.3 on everything else also but it exited everything else.

I also had the hunt filmed, and Ray the cameraman was just like Rich and his team. You couldn't find people any where that would work harder to make sure your hunt went as perfect as possible.

For travel I used Steve Turner. I drove 250 miles from home to Midland Texas. Then flew to Houston to Washington on Uninted, and from Washington to Johannesburg to Harare on SAA.
I checked bag and guns all the way through going and coming with no stay overs. Made all my conections and my bag and guns showed up when I did.

I've got guns and ammo in and out of Canada four different times, and getting them in and out of Zim. was easier.
Getting them in I was on my own, becouse they wouldn't let Rich in the area where you get your visa and gun permit. He helped me get them through customs and tagged and checked in with SAA when leaving.

It was a great hunt!

Casey

Congrats on a great hunt! You were in very good hands with Rich and his team, definetly one of the best PH's! Know the exact spot that you took your Leopard, reading your report brings back lots of GREAT memories. By the sound of things Africa has got her hooks into another hunter. Scott

Ahh, Prechtl 9.3x64 and Heym Double. Not only a great Safari but done with classy Kit!

Congrats on a great safari. You are right, CMS is first class all the way. I also had Ray for a photographer-he worked as hard as anybody.

Congratulations on a great safari and thank you for the report.

Unbeatable first hunt and a big thumbs up for CMS.

Congratulations on an excellent first African hunt,now you should be hooked like the rest of us

Well done Casey!!!

Nice first hunt. Is that the worlds biggest jackle? Holy smokes...

Awesome hunt, well done. Magnificent cat!

Well done on a great hunt. Rich T. is starting to get a reputaion for fooling those big cats.

Great hunt. Buzz, I think I know the spot you're talking about.

You're right about Rich and his team. He is THE hardest working PH I've ever hunted with. We were still hanging new baits at noon on day 12 on my leopard hunt. He never gives up and his success reflects it.

I highly recommend CMS!

Congratulations on a very successful safari!I see those A-frames worked great.That is a super nice leopard.You hunted with a hard working team.

Very nice cat!!....

Thanks for the report and pictures. Congratulations on a great hunt and outstanding trophies.

Beautiful leopard and the buff too. Thanks for sharing the adventure.

John