Lion Hunt with Johnny duPlooy
Luangwa Valley, Zambia
Scheduled to start 10/8/09 thru 10/26/09
Rifle lowly Remington .375 push feed
Scope Luepold 1.75to 6x
Johnny has two areas which join Chanjuza & Nyaminga, I hunted Nyaminga
This hunt was a discounted hunt offered here on AR by Mark Young

10/5/09
My brother had me at Washington Dulles at 2:30 for a flight scheduled for about 6:00 PM but was delayed for 4 hours for something mechanical. Flight was routine bur made us late arriving JoBurg. But was picked up by Afton house rep. and acquired gun permit. One of the officers made a minor fuss because my 4457 did not have the caliber on it.
10/7/09
Afton house rep took me to airport for flight to Lusaka. Arrived 12:45 and got in line for visa and was greeted by Johnny's meey and greet lady Teresa. She said we would be chartering into camp as soon as I could get the visa, pay the ammo fee and departure tax which was $8 US. The visa $50US and ammo fee which had to be paid in quacha, she got money changed and took care of that about $40US. When I left JoBurg the temperature was pleasant upon arriving in Lusaka it was noticeably hotter. There were 4 hunters from Poland going to camp that I would be flying with, flight time 1:25 very pleasant but when they opened that airplane door it was hot as hell. Even the PH's were complaining about the heat. We spent the first night in the Chanjuzi camp.
10/8/09
After breakfast we drove to Nyaminga camp.On the way we spotted Buffalo and Johnny's brother Abbie and his client were hunting Buffalo so we called and told them where we had seen them and left some toilet paper on a bush for a marker.It was not long before Abbie called his voice up several octaves. It seem as he got close to where they expected to see Buffalo they had a run in with an elephant, some how the cleint got out of the vehicle so Abbie had to keep the Vehicle between the elephant and the cleint until he could get him back inside.He fired a shot over the elephants head, All the excitment they needed for that day. In this camp Nyaminga there were 3 Spanish gentlemen 2 hunters 1 observer. They spoke enough english so that we could communicate. They were scheduled for 7 days for Buffalo Hippo, Bush Buck, and Puku. So Ricardo shot his Hippo the afternoon of the first day. The temperature was 104F each day. Not guessing I had a thermometer.We reasoned would not last long in the heat. We had 3 hippo license between us so we would save mine in case it took a while to get a lion to feed.
10/9/09
Ricardo's Hippo was cut up into 5 baits 4 quarters and the head. The whole day was spent hanging baits.
10/10/09
We were out checking baits early,the one close to camp was fed on by a big male, long kinky hair in the bait.Johnny said I was damm lucky to have a big lion feeding this quick and this close to camp. Another bait was hit by a young male and a lioness. We moved one of the hippo quarters to where the big male had fed as there was only the hippo head there to begin. Also built a machan. As we drove away a young PH in training dubbed Obama spotted the lion laying in the grass about 200 Yds. from the bait. He said he looked excellent. We left him alone. Johnny says if he will feed tonight we will kill him tommorrow night
10/11/09
As we went to check baits this morning a young bull elephant stands us off. He made several mock charges but finally went his way. The lion has fed again last night everything looks good.Terry one of the PH's in camp has seen another male lion up the river and is raving about how big he is. So we go to that area and hang another bait for insurance if the lion we are feeding will not come back to the bait. We went and sat in the machan until good and dark,but no lion, it was very windy.
10/12/09
Two of the PH's Terry and Jody slept outside with just mosquito netting over their beds. During the night elephants were in camp and walked within 2 feet of them and crapped in the middle of camp.Jody said the lions raised hell at the bait site ,he thought they were fighting. We checked baits the lion had fed after we left last night. Johnny thought they were fu---ng rather than fighting. Anyway we got in the machan about 4:00 and lions came about 6:15 right at last last light, big male and a younger one. The shot was easy.He ran maybe 40 yds. and fell over. We waited for the vehicle and made sure he was dead.After loading him there was much singing dancing and drum beating. A nice celebration. He is nice big lion with a decent mane. Our pictures are not as good as I would have liked. It was dark and we had one light bulb and the flash from the camera. It was still probarbly 95 degreesF at that time so skinning started right away.I used a 300 grain Hornady soft point it angled in just behind the shoulder and was recovered close to the back leg. It did not hit any major and still weighed only 190 grains. not very good performance.
10/13/09
Deigo shot his hippo this morning. We rode around and shot guinea fowl with a 22 taking turns Johnny, Obama and myself,great fun. On the way back to lunch we found a retarded bush buck and took him . Missed him first time but he stood and let me shoot again.
10/14/09
Went to Chanjuzi concession and shot a Puku. Took down baits.
10/15/09
Went to the river and shot hippo, he was a nice big bull.Spent the afternoon doing nothing, it was long and hot.
10/16/09
All of the other hunters flew out this morning. I will drive out with the trucks in the morning.
10/17/09
We leave camp at 4:30 4 vehicles in convoy. One truck has a stabilizer bar come loose, they chain it. loose maybe an hour that's all. The first 7 or 8 hours the road is rough many water courses to climb through. There must have been 30 chances to take the wrong road at forks in the road, no signs, you just had to know. Anyway it took us 14 hours to get back to Lusaka. It was a long hot trip. Johnny has a beautiful place just outside Lusaka where I stayed for 2 days. My airline tickets were purchased through Gracy travel. Saturday 6:00 Lusaka time or about noon Texas time I tried to reach them to get my ticket changed. I was on a satellite phone and I all I could get was their recording saying they would call back. I gave them my number and dutifully sat outside with the phone for about an hour and then called again and waited to no avail. They have an emergency # but warn not to use it for any such trivial bullshit as changing tickets. Needless to say someone else will get my bussines next time. Monday morning Teresa took me to the airport and helped with getting me on the way. I had to purchase another ticket from Lusaka to JoBurg for about $250 because they could not determine the value of it by the way it was purchased. It cost another $250 to change tickets so about $500 additional. To summarize it was a great trip. Johnny was a great host and the people in camp were great. It is wild and remote, if you don't think so drive it one way.WE saw lions on several occasions, there were 6 buffalo hunters in the two camps and they alltook a buffalo. The camps are rustic but comfortable. The food was tasty and plenty of it.Lots of Impala and Puku.If I have a complaint it is about the temperature. If you like it hot go in October.

I have pictures if some one knows how to post them.

Congratulations on the lion!!!

Brett

Well done nothing like it. I,too, have to take the time to learn to post pics. There is a good description of the process using Photobucket in the general info section of this forum. Do you have room for the full life mount.......not that it matters. Jim

1. Create a www.photobucket account.

2. Load the picture you want to post onto photobucket.

3. Once the pictures are uploaded hold your cursor over the picture and a list will come down from the picture with 4 slots. Copy the text from the bottom slot. The easiest way to do that is to click on the slot once and then hold down the control button while you press C once. This will copy.

4. Paste the text into the post box on AR with the appropriate words you want to include. The easiest way to paste is to put the cursor where you want the text, hold down the control button, and press V.

Try it. It isn't that hard.

Brett

CONGRATS! LOOKING FORWARD TO THE PICS

congrats- looking forward to pix...

Cowpuncher asked me to post his pix from his recent safari with the DuPlooy's. Enjoy!


Checking baits

Elevated machan. The only way to hunt lion.

Simba

Nice bush buck

Beautiful puku

Big hippo

Rustic but comfy camp

Beautiful meals from the most basic of stoves

300 gr. DGX bullet from lion. Weight 190 gr. Given that performance on a lion that is a fairly soft target it would seem that this bullet might not be a good choice for buffalo.

Very nice trophies and congrats on your Lion!
LDK

Welcome to the Lion owners association.

Your quarters look very similar to mine in the Mwanya area of the Luangwa back in 2004.

Congratulations! A very nice cat and well-done sir!

Impressive,indeed. The size of these cats.....500 lbs.......is awe inspiring. Congrats. jim

Fantastic! A great lion!

Looks like a great safari!! Fantastic lion!!

Yes! Another hunter that shoots DG with a lowly pushfeed. Just remember not to operate the bolt upside down and you'll be OK.

Congratulations on your successful lion hunt. My husband and I hunted with Abbie out of Chanjuzi camp late August. We too enjoyed the benefits of hunting with the DuPlooys...top notch outfit!!!!

Again, congrats...D. Nelson

Great Lion!!Way to go!!

Cowpuncher congratulations on a very fine lion.

As for bullet failure,I disagree. The bullet is a soft and mushroomed and travel the length of simba and stayed with him and exhausting all energy inside of him.

Mike

Terrific lion, congratulations.

Enjoyed your story. Very succinct. Did a lot of reading between the lines. Congratulations on your lion.

This has to be fake. A Rem. push feed?

I won't be able to sleep at night anymore!

Thanks for sharing your hunt with us, nice lion!

Wonderful safari! Congrats !

Congrats on the lion, welldone.

I talked with Abbie about you and your husband, he said as nice people as I have ever met and I hope they return and I think we can do that lion.

quote:

Originally posted by D. Nelson:
Congratulations on your successful lion hunt. My husband and I hunted with Abbie out of Chanjuzi camp late August. We too enjoyed the benefits of hunting with the DuPlooys...top notch outfit!!!!

Again, congrats...D. Nelson

Cowpuncher;

quote:

I talked with Abbie about you and your husband, he said as nice people as I have ever met and I hope they return and I think we can do that lion.

Since you've been around Abie, you know he can embellish the truth a bit!!!!! Seriously, congratulations again on your lion and thanks for the kind words.

Best regards, Darin

I know what you mean but I think Abbie was impressed with the effort that was expended in spite of the vision problem and he said I would be proud to hunt with them anytime. I had read your hunt report so I knew what he was talking about and he seemed sincere to me.

quote:

Originally posted by D. Nelson:
Cowpuncher;

quote:

I talked with Abbie about you and your husband, he said as nice people as I have ever met and I hope they return and I think we can do that lion.

Since you've been around Abie, you know he can embellish the truth a bit!!!!! Seriously, congratulations again on your lion and thanks for the kind words.

Best regards, Darin

Cowpuncher;

We just loved hunting with Abie and consider him one of the top PH's with which we've hunted.

He kept us laughing too!

Best regards, Darin