Mokore 2011
Safari Operator: Mokore Safaris, The Duckworth Family
Professional Hunters: Gary Duckworth and Neil Duckworth
Travel Agent: Steve Turner, “Travel with Guns”
Dates: August 1-10 2011
Firearms: Duane Wiebe: Mauser ’98 in 404 Jeffery; Heym 88 Safari 450 3 ¼”

This hunt started for me two and a half years back when my best friend and I attended SCI, Reno. We were there to meet with safari operators, particularly those hunting Save Valley Conservancy. First up was Zambezi Hunters. As we were talking with Alistair Pole, I happened to mention reading on AR about Larry Shore’s hunt. Alistair said, “Oh Larry is here, he just walked by but he’s coming back.” Long story short, Larry spent an hour speaking with us about Zambezi Hunters and the Save. Larry really played a big part in putting my mind at ease knowing that we had found the right area in what were looking for in a hunt. We primarily were looking to hunt buffalo and some of the spiral horns, and if we could see some more of “the big five” that was bonus in my view. We met with most of the operators in the Save, but when we met with Gary and Neil Duckworth at Mokore Safaris, something clicked. For me, I wanted to meet and know who would be my PH. So when we went back to Mokore’s booth the next day and found out that Gary and Neil were available on dates we could make work, that sealed the deal. With deposits paid, we walked away with the feeling that could be described as nothing less than, “Holy Toledo…We are going to Africa!”

The lead-up time was great for us, we had some gear to pick up (and all the stuff one does to prepare). Many of you guys here at AR helped; Larry Shores was always there and Larry Burgin help me figure out what I wanted in a double. I had been doing all the “mental gymnastics” on double rifles but when he and Bal invited me to a gathering of the Michigan DRSS and let me shoot their rifles, that cleared the fog for me.
Steve Turner came up with a plan to make me feel better about our guns and gear showing up. Basically, we planned to lay over another day in Joburg in the event that our bags were misplaced but, in fact, they arrived there with us. And, thanks to the VIP service that Henry at riflepermits.com arranged, we actually found one of mine that did not come off with the other bags. Caroline, the nice young lady Henry had meet us at the gate, knew right away something was up—and she got right on it. She was actually up in the baggage shoot and she wasn’t fooling around. Thirty minutes later, she had found my bag and escorted us to the SAPS office where Henry was waiting with our pre-approved permits. We showed the officers our firearms and were out of the SAPS office in ten minutes. Folks from Afton picked us up and before you knew it, we were sitting down to a great steak Ari had grilled for us.

The next day, we took a trip to Cabano&Son’s and the drive let us see a bit of Joburg. “The townships” are not pretty but the neighborhood that the Afton house is in is very nice and Annalise is a wonderful hostess. Our check-in and flight to Harare went smoothly and I was very happy to see Neil waiting for us just outside the door where we were issued our Zimbabwe gun permits. Neil checked our paper work before we left the airport then drove us on to the Duckworth’s house, a very, very nice place.

The next morning we headed for Mokore. The approximate 5 hour ride down, passing through Mutare and Rusape (boyhood home of Richard Harland), was interesting and I’m glad we got to see the country side. Also, interestingly, we saw no game animals at all until we entered the conservancy, then it was game everywhere! We arrived just before lunch as the guys carried our bags to our chalets, I had my first look across the Turgwe river. There were Kudu, Waterbuck, Bushbuck, Baboons, and Warthog. I had a terrible time unpacking, as I kept running outside to have another look! I wasn’t unpacked before a young man dressed in crisp, all-white chef’s apparel came to tell us lunch was ready. At lunch we met Barrie and Bertie Duckworth along with Hilton Nichols. Buff filet and eggs make for a great lunch and truly, the food was fantastic everyday.









This being a travel day we had no plans but Gary and Neil did—as we were finishing lunch they said “How bout after tea, we’ll check your rifles and have a drive and see what’s up.” That suited us fine of course. Really I am (as best as I can put it) in la-la-land! The camp is beautiful. We took a short walk to the skinning shed where we saw some very impressive trophies. After tea, we brought our rifles to the awaiting trucks. It was here, I found out, even PH’s can be gun nuts.

Hilton asked what we were shooting and when I said, “404 Jeffery,” he asked to see it. Uncasing the rifle and handing it to Hilton he said, “Oh my…” It is a very nice rifle built by Duane Wiebe. Both Hilton and Barrie commented on the 404 Jeffery as being a great cartridge. “Very underrated,” said Barrie. And of course we needed to see Hilton’s 470; it looked awfully good for seeing 20 plus years in the field. And I made Barrie promise to tell me all about his 505 Gibbs.

Finally, Gary and Neil were able to peel us gun nuts apart so we could get to the landing strip and check the rifles. Having shot and found the rifles still on, we headed out and picked up a thorn tree to drag some roads. We saw Zebra, Wildebeest, and loads of Impala while dragging. About 4 p.m., Gary asked if I was up for a bit of a walk and, as I was all for that, we headed down towards the Turgwe. Gary wanted to check this part of the river bottom for buffalo sign. Upon stopping, as I cinched my cartridge belt, and Chiru (Gary’s head tracker) handed me down the Heym, it just kind of hit me: you’re in Zimbabwe and you’re not just dreaming of it…you’re here.

We headed on down to the river on foot, Chiru in front then Jeff (Gary’s number 2) then Gary, and lastly me. As we get to the river and start across, Gary points out a pod of Hippos in the river and two Crocs, sunning themselves upstream. It is about this moment it occurs to me, “Did I load this damn rifle?!” Of course I had, but somehow, the sight of Hippos and Crocs gave me a second of doubt.

Heading down the river bottom, it is mostly head high or higher grass. It looks like Plum grass. There are game trails through it, and occasional small openings were you can see twenty to forty yards. The channel splits and we are going back and forth across the bottom looking for sign. Several times, we came up to the river channels, the trackers stop and then Gary takes the lead and crosses, so I just follow him across. About the third time this happens, were I see the trackers come up to the channel, of course I can’t tell what they’re whispering but I can recognize the left-to-right shaking of their heads. Again, Gary crosses and I follow, I ask, “What is up with that?” Gary tells me, “They’re waiting to see if we make it, crocs you know, it makes them nervous if you can’t see the bottom.” “Oh good,” I’m thinking.

With the coming of dusk, we climbed the river bank up out of the bottom and we are slipping along, looking across the river when Gary turns to me and says, “Kudu—404.” Gary lines us up with some cover and we quickly move closer to the edge of the bank. Following Gary’s gaze I can just make out the white chevron of a Kudu bull’s face. Out into the river bottom parade six Kudu bulls. Wonderfully relaxed just walking and feeding, really they all looked pretty nice. The biggest had three complete curls but was fairly narrow. Gary pointed out the narrow one and asked me what I thought. Well I don’t claim to know Kudu but I told Gary not tonight. I had no more than got these words out of my mouth when I looked back to where all the kudu had come out of and there comes a kudu that made me think of what Jack O’Conner said about the big ones just looking big. This bull was larger in body and darker in coat and the horns had deep bends. I asked Gary, “What about this one coming out?” He immediately said, “That’s a big bull. You want that one!” We made another small move to our right as the bulls fed and continued to walk. At about 150 yards, the bull moved into an opening. As the bull was angling away I tried to hold just behind the near shoulder. Much as my heart was pumping, I had a decent hold. At the shot, the Kudu humped and I was sure I hit him but he moved off another 30 yards or so. When he stopped, I shot him again, holding a tad high on the shoulder (which is right where I hit him) but he didn’t fall to that shot either. The bull then moved into the high grass of the bottom and with him facing straight on, I could just see his horns, head, and neck. I held below the neck, where I thought the chest had to be, and at the crack, the bull collapsed out of view.



The feelings I had when I looked at this beautiful animal and hefted his head were the first of several surreal moments. Those are my hands wrapped around those horns.

Day 1
We left camp at pink light, heading out on the roads we had drug before long the sun was up and Chiru took his place on the left front fender of the open Toyota. I enjoyed the open truck, thought it cool in more ways than one on these chilly mornings. We saw plenty of Impala, Warthog mommas and babies, Baboons galore, Waterbuck, Zebra, and Wildebeest, big Leopard tracks, Lion tracks, but not the Dugga boy tracks we had hoped to come across. We stopped for tea about 8:30 and Gary had a plan to stretch our legs a little and have Gumi pick us up with the truck at some point several hours later. Chiru and Jeff let us off for a walk down the Gwezi river, currently a sand river; very scenic, each turn a new view.

We would occasionally cut across a wooden point or walk up some of the cuts and before long I realized we were making adjustments with the wind to our benefit. About two hours into this walk we saw a really vibrant green small bird and, although Gary told me its name, I have forgotten it. This bird kept hopping ahead of us about six or eight feet at a time on the river bed. As we continued along, Gary pointed ahead of us and ten to twelve feet up on the river bank, a large number of two inch holes that looked as if they had been drilled. “This”, he told me, “is where that bird lives and they live in colonies.” He added that occasionally the water can get high enough to wipe all of them out. Just then I noticed both trackers stop dead still and the Gary was whispering at me to shoot that pig! I finally saw the bush pig everyone else had been looking at, standing 50 yards across the bottom. I shot him off hand with the 450. The old boar dropped right there. I didn’t know much about bush pig (and still don’t) but they are a neat looking animal and Gary told me they are pretty tough.



After lunch, Gary, Jeff, and I had a great walk through a bunch of Mopane thickets to see if we couldn’t scare up a good Eland bull. We twisted and turned with what the wind dictated, maneuvering around herds of wildebeest and zebra and then we came on to three Eland bulls: two young and an old blue bull. At one point we had Eland on three sides of us, the furthest at maybe 40 yards, the closest at half of that. The old bull, big as he was, wasn’t blessed for horns but the show wasn’t over as we spotted a black backed jackal and Gary squeaked him in to thirty yards before he made us. It was a great afternoon. I enjoyed the walk back to the truck knowing we could have done the deed but letting them walk meant we could pursue Eland another day. Cold castle on the ride back to camp and Kudu filets for supper made for a very satisfying day.

Day 2
Early this morning, before Chiru was on his perch on the fender, I heard it for the first time, “Nyati.” It was Gumi up in the back pointing down toward the river bottoms several hundred yards below. We quickly peeled off morning cover-ups, buckled on shell belts, making sure the sights were clear of fuzz from the case, and I dropped in a soft and a solid, rechecked the safety, and down we went.

We hit the bottom and it got low and slow for a few and then I saw the reeds shake. We crabbed on to get ahead of the moving reeds. Gary climbed up a perfectly placed tree offering a view into the reeds. As he does this, I see my first buffalo no more than 25 yards away. A huge bodied old bull with scrum cap for horns, weaves out of the tall reeds and then right back in. I am sure the bull never saw me as it continued walking and feeding just inside the reed bed. At one point it was 15 yards or under and I could see its patchy hide. With this one so close, it held my attention but I noticed the reeds moving beyond the old bull. They were right there in front of us for a good while. I don’t know whether the wind shifted, or they saw something, but spooked off a little and then I was able to see two other bulls as they made higher ground at forty yards. The other two bulls were soft but showed great promise. Now that was fun! The old bull was perfect. One glimpse told you he had survived many a challenge.

Returning to the truck, we went on to check several water sources. Finding nothing of interest at the first two, we hit pay dirt at the third . Chiru and Jeff had found tracks of two cow buffalo leaving the water. Gary said, “The guys are pretty certain these are two old cows,” and further counseled if we shoot one of them, “things could get a little hairy, as the other may not want to leave,” adding to “watch out as everyone may get to running around.” The wind was mostly in our face as the guys took up the track. We had gone about twenty minutes and the guys were locked up on point. I eventually found the formless black shadow as it took a step. I then could make out the two buff, maybe forty yards ahead. Gary and I moved left to a more open area as the buffalo fed, angling slightly towards us. We set up once but it was still too thick to get a bullet through. We ducked and crabbed to our left again and found a little better opening. Not a minute passed before the largest cow fed into this small opening at about 35 yards. I had the brass front sight just behind the point of the shoulder when the trigger broke. The cow buckled but stayed on her feet and I got back on her and let go with the left barrel but saw no reaction. She turned right towards us as I broke the gun. And Gary says, “Watch out!” At twenty yards, she veered slightly to her left and Gary took a whack at her just as I had the gun back on my shoulder. The cow showed no reaction to Gary’s shot and swinging with her, I crushed the front trigger just as the front sight passed the point of her shoulder and down she went. Insurance paid, we had to focus on the other cow that had run off.

I knew she was to the rear of the one we just shot but I wasn’t sure where she went. The guys saw her go on passed, but thought maybe she had circled back beyond where they had been when we first saw them. A little later, as they were cutting a path in for the truck, Gary saw an ox pecker drop straight down. About sixty yards further back but we never saw that cow again. I should mention a couple of thoughts, I never felt the cow was charging. Her eyes never fixed on us, I don’t know if she even saw us! She was just getting the hell out of Dodge and that was the clearest path. The other thing being, although I’ve never indulged in drugs, I have heard that crack is instantly addictive. While not crack, I had a big pull on the buffalo with a two pipe and I did inhale.



After dropping off the cow at the skinning shed, we had some fantastic Eland burgers and chips. They tell me we’ll go back out at 2, after tea, I should catch a nap but the view across the Turgwe river as seen from the rocking chair on the veranda of my chalet is ever changing; bush buck, kudu, waterbuck, warthog, impala, the camp dogs keep me company. Everyone here is well trained.

After tea, we head out a different way than we had been going, and after doing some dragging, we end up in Jorrum’s block, so named for Jorrum Mlambo, Pete Fick’s head tracker who was killed by a bull elephant here on May 2nd 2006.



Gary, Chiru, and I leave the truck with both the 404 and 450. Originally we head north east and then turn back south to southeast and playing the wind through the Mopane thickets. I am not sure if it was Gary or Chiru who first spotted the Eland bull. We made a few small moves before the sticks went up and I settled the 404 Jeffery on them. The bull was about eighty yards and in some really thick stuff. It looked like it would be a “shoot through the hole” situation. I asked Gary if this was a proper blue bull and got the nod. We continued watching the bull for five minutes or so. He appeared to be alone. Eventually, his shoulder was in an opening quartering to us. I put the junction of the crosshairs at the point of his shoulder and the gun surprises me when it goes off. His whole body was rocked by the 380 grain North Fork soft and then he tried to move off but as we were moving to another position, all we saw was a big cloud of dust as he tipped over. The bull had a good ruff. A very cool animal, I was tickled to get him.
As Chiru took two pipes with him to fetch the guys and the truck, Gary and I positioned the bull. Eland are heavy duty. We raced the sun to get photos.





Day 3
Half five was to be the leave time and faithfully, Ed our waiter would softly knock and hot tea and coffee were on the table no matter how quickly I could get dressed and get to the dining area. This day, we would switch areas. Kurt and Neil would check at the areas Gary and I had been hunting, and Gary and I would try our hand where they had spent the last two days. Today we would also switch tactics.

It was still dark as Gary edged the truck off the road. We would hoof it from here, the plan being to head towards a sand river, about a mile in the distance and then see if we could find some buff tracks to get on. Just at pink light, we head down a slight grade and I can make out the river crossing one-hundred yards ahead. Another 50 yards on and Chiru and Jeff stop and are analyzing the ground hard. Gary confers with them and Chiru, having gone back and forth on the road holds out five fingers. Gary tells me that Chiru says, “Five bull buffalo crossed here.” For the life of me I don’t know how these guys can read the sign so well. The sun is not yet up and I can barely even see the tracks. Where we are is about 50-60 yards up off the river and the guys take up the track right away. The river siding is quite thick and we slowly weave our way along and the sun is taking its good old time shedding some light on our critical maneuvers. It is more like grey light where we are. Once in a while we hit a slight opening and I can see down to the river sand and thinking, “be nice if these buffalo would go down on the sand and pose in one of the openings (as seen on TV).”

We had proceeded several hundred yards when looking ahead over Gary’s right shoulder, I notice a grey rock sort of reflecting what little light there was. At that instant Gary stopped the guys and up came his binoculars. Immediately, everybody ahead of me drops. Gary crawls forward passing the trackers and I move up beside them. Gary turned around whispering something to Jeff and then Jeff holds out the 404 to me while I hand him my double. Chiru motions for me to follow Gary. Gary and I begin crawling on all fours away from the river. I still haven’t seen the buffalo so I don’t know where they are but I am sure Gary was looking straight ahead when everybody hit the deck. So I assume we must be trying to gain a little elevation. We only made it about ten yards when the bush explodes and there goes that rock I saw running away. Oh shit. We were right on top of them. They were all laying down. My PH comes out of the blocks like the starter’s gun just went off for the 100 so I follow. We run basically parallel with the buffalo for several hundred yards. It is now an athletic event! As we dodge thorn trees and try to keep the buff in sight, Gary stopped and asked if I could see them. Luckily, I picked up the milling patches of black out about 100 yards off to our right and in the only place you could see that far. We dropped down and duck walked behind some cover and then Gary made a very smart move. Taking us away from the buffalo, over just the slightest rise in the ground, we then ran for another 50-60 yards hoping to get ahead of them before coming back over the rise, low and slow. Gary lined us up with some cover but it is starting to open up fast. We did the next 50 yards on our butts. Going under the thorn trees we had to work with, Gary had me keep right behind him, my feet right against his back. I tried to keep my head down as Gary studied the buff with his binoculars. We had one more tree to go under and we would be out of cover. I snuck a peak as we started under the last tree and caught a glimpse of black. Gary had just cleared the tree and as I attempted to follow I got my left shoulder stuck hard in the thorns. I tried to wiggle away but that wasn’t working and there was nothing to do but try and break it off. I was able to get this done quietly just as Gary reached around his back and pulled out a set of short, collapsible cross-sticks. Gary moved left and motioned for me to come up beside him as I set my hands and heels forward and inched ahead, I could see the head of a bull looking in our direction. Gary handed me the cross-sticks and I was able to slow, slow, slow, get the rifle settled. As I am looking through the scope, Gary tells me, “That bull looking at us is a shooter.” But there is no shot. All that is exposed is the head and maybe six inches of neck. I ask Gary how far and “120” comes back. We have a stalemate for about 10 minutes. There are other buff behind this one we are focused on and this bull is standing with his head to the left but everything else covered. Another bull’s body is exposed, standing with its head behind the one we want. The bull is going to have to take a step or two and that is all we are going to get as the opening is perhaps eight feet wide. Having this much time was good for me as I was pumped from running and the adrenaline rush. I had settled pretty well when the bull raised his head, and you could tell he was searching with his nose. Finally I saw the buffalo behind start to mill and relax. The bull’s head turned for the first time and I tried to put the horizontal crosshair where I thought the point of his shoulder would be if he did take that first step. I whispered to Gary, “Here we go it’s going to happen” just as the bull took that first step. With the next step the gun went off. As I am coming out of recoil I hear, “Reload! Reload!” Gary is up and running towards the buffalo. He is twenty five yards ahead of me as I gain my feet. Sprinting towards him, I see Gary raise his Lott and hearing me coming he looks back and lowers his rifle.
“Where is he? Did I miss him?”
“No. He’s down, I think you spined him.”

After making sure I turned my scope down. We quickly advanced to about thirty yards. Only the head moves. And I put the lid on him with a solid. My first bull buffalo, taken with a true classic cartridge and rifle with a great professional hunter, who made all the right moves.

The sun finally decided to shine on us as I reached to run my hands over the horns, I thought to look at my watch. It was not yet 7am. I ask Gary, “What day is this?” And he knew what I was asking. “Day three” he replied.







Day three and many of the animals I had hoped to hunt were in the salt. I wanted to just slow down a little and take it all in. Also, we could spend some time checking for buff sign in an area other than where Neil and Kurt were hunting.

I seem to remember someone mentioning at lunch that perhaps I had a golden horseshoe buried in some part of my anatomy, and let me say here, I have a great hunting partner. Kurt and I have been friends all our lives. We grew up together going to school, playing sports and have hunted together much of the U.S. including Alaska. At this point Neil and Kurt were doing pretty well themselves. So far they’d come in with a great bush pig boar and a zebra stud Kurt took with his 470 double on day one and this morning they returned for lunch having taken a good bushbuck. Gary and I spent the afternoon dragging roads for Neil and Kurt. We also spent some time sneaking on some bushbuck but we passed on those. Additionally, I got to take some great bird pictures and there really are a bunch of cool looking birds here; the Go-Away bird, maybe not so cool. But the locals, however, have some rather unique names for him of which I am certain are not scientific.

Day 4
We spent much of the morning checking the road for buffalo tracks hoping to find something for Neil and Kurt to go on. We found big leopard tracks, lion tracks, along with lots of game standing in their tracks including a good waterbuck, loads of impala, wildebeest, zebra, warthogs, hippo, and kudu. You’re never bored here. The country is so scenic and you just never know what you’ll see next.



As we came down to a sand river, there’s a young fella with his arms full of branches. Gary speaks to him and, although I don’t know what was said, I could get the gist of a friendly greeting. Just beyond, we see a man and a woman walking up the sand river. We say hello and as we continue towards another safari truck, Gary tells me the young guy is Thierry Labat’s #1 and that he is “Bloody good.”
“Oh hell,” I say, “Well that has to be Peg-Leg and his wife.”

Gary asked, “Do you know that guy?”
“Well yes and no. We both read and post at AR so we knew we would both be here in the Save and I knew Thierry was to be his PH.”
We rolled up to Thierry in his truck and Dave and his Mrs, walked up and we met there. Thierry was showing Gary the photos from Safari Lawyer’s just completed hunt. I got a kick out of that. As Gary and I drove on, Gary says to me, “Your buddy there is going to kill a good cat.” Thierry is a cat man proper!

Later we got on several warthogs but looking for Mr. Big Teeth continued as they were either average or broke on one side. One was truly an old hog with one huge tusk and we had him dead to rights but we just let him go about his business.
Some of the elephant behavior we got to see evidence of was interesting. Yesterday we came upon a tree an elephant had busted down and pushed across the road. Gary had hooked a toe strap to it and dragged it off the road. Today part off the tree is back on the road. No elephant in sight but tracks everywhere. Mokore has several outposts for their anti-poaching teams, simple buildings with a high fence around the yard. An elephant had pushed a big stout gate post over and went to have a look-see. Nothing else was damaged.

After lunch, I photographed a super bushbuck crossing the river right in front of my chalet.





Day 5
We spent most of the day looking for a good bushbuck. First thing in the morning we saw one across the river. Gary thought he may go 16 inches. I thought it a little too far to shoot and when we had got to his side, he had slipped away. I really enjoyed the bushbuck hunting. We did several bushbuck ballets. We would spot one of maybe interest, and bail off a river bank to a bottom and then try and slip up on them. Gary has tremendous stalking skills and we got on more of them than gave us the slip. We had time and I was having a blast so being picky just provided more opportunity for more fun. And one of the few tips I could offer someone might be, if your ever-so proper PH says to you “We must go quite quickly,” what he means is “Let’s run like hell!”

We went in for an early lunch, Neil and Kurt had come in also and told us of running with a herd of buffalo. Neil says there are several good bulls and one in particular that really had their attention. Neil further adds that the bull is one of the biggest bulls he had ever seen in the Save. They got on them but got busted, then ran with them and got ahead and although several bulls filtered out in front of the gun, they kept waiting for the big one. The big one never showed. Neil figured the herd had to split and they were going back to try and get on them this afternoon.

After tea, with bushbuck the focus, Gary thought we should give sitting a try. He chose a great looking place to spend the afternoon. From this rock overlooking a section of the Turgwe River, we could cover a fairly large area of great looking river bottom. We spent about four hours and were successful in seeing an old heavy horned ram, but he had one busted tip that I never would have seen, but Gary did. Another ram we saw showed promise but was still a little young with some growing to do. Also, several yews and young put in an appearance.



It was good to sit and watch the river bottom. This gave me some time to further contemplate something I had been wrestling around in my head. Gary had, several days earlier; mentioned they still had a Sable available. Now I think Sable are incredible, maybe the most desirable of all the antelope. I’d love to hunt and take one good Sable, but just one. This hunt had been nothing short of a fabulous success. For me, I think the best trophies I take home are memories. I wasn’t sure I needed a Sable chapter in the memory bank right now.

But still this was Sable and I thought “I can’t pass up a chance to hunt a Sable.” Having felt like we likely had seen what this part of the river was going to reveal, we went back to the truck with a little time left to take a peek at another area or two and promptly ran into a whopper of a waterbuck. We had him but I decided already I was going to give Sable a go, and there wasn’t room in my wallet for everything so we shot him with the camera and headed in for another great supper.



Neil and Kurt had found the herd again but so did some lions and when the lions took a calf out of the herd, those buffalo blew out.

Day 6
We went back looking for the bushbuck that had given us the slip the day before, but he missed our appointment. We also made moves on several warthogs, but upon closer inspection, they turned out to be busted on one side or just not quite there yet. It was great fun, and we got some exercise in the process.

After lunch, we headed out to see if we could find some sable. We started in on foot twice only to have the wind flip on us and send us back to the truck where we then saw a king-kong sized klippy. With sable on the menu, he was safe and must have known it as he posed like a super model.



When we got back to camp that evening, Neil and Kurt were not yet back. Thirty minutes later, they still weren’t back and when they rolled in a full hour later than normal, we found out that late in the day, Kurt had hit a bull buffalo, but they ran out of light and will have to see what’s up first thing in the morning.

Day 7
We left, all of us together, hopeful for a quick recovery of the buff Kurt had hit last evening. No body found, but trailable blood to several beds. After four hours, Gary, Chiru, Jeff, and I broke off returning to the truck, but not before we had come onto a neat grysbok. I could have taken a whack at him with my double, but I thought better of it, as the shot would have brought the cavalry. We drove around the area looking for tracks where the bull Kurt had hit may have crossed the road, while Neil, Kurt, and crew followed the spore. And damned if we didn’t find where it crossed! The bull had split from the herd and hadn’t got to water. Wishing the guys luck, we headed in for lunch. After lunch, we hoped to have a walk and maybe find a sable along the way. We stuck our nose into the wind, heading through a high grass-wooded valley. Good God it looked gamey! Then came the Zimbabwe opera star, George, from high up the valley. Loud and proud, he alerted all of our presence. It was like, zebra to the left of me, impala to the right, and here I am stuck in the middle. This delighted my PH to no end. Bloody damned baboon! We continued on a trail and began some trail maintenance since we had observed everything run helter-skelter. As we plotted along, not paying much attention, you guessed it- we promptly flushed a herd of sable. As they went running through the trees, great black beasts flashing through openings, this further delighted my PH. Just a bit further on, we came out to our guys waiting with the truck. We jump in, and went maybe 500 yards, and we had sable crossing in front of us. We bailed out, and we had sable on both sides of us and had the truck move on. There was a sable bull tucked back in a recession of the hillside. Flat on my ass at the edge of the road, I could just see the white on his face and his ears when he would move them. The sun was racing down as we had a proper standoff for at least ten minutes. We butt-crawled backwards trying to gain a view, but he had us, and broke up the hillside. We ran parallel to him, and at one point, I could’ve had a shot at his silhouette, but it was just too dark. Sable wins, and I still had a big smile on my face. Neil and Kurt returned having never made a contact on the wounded bull, but they still have blood and the bull is yet to make it to water.

Day 8
We headed back toward the area we had found the sable yesterday afternoon and promptly found them before we could get out of the truck. A bull posed just 30-40 yards off the boundary road, the wrong side of the boundary road. And of course, the best dressed antelope posed like a super model on the red carpet. I think maybe Gary told him to vogue, but I could’ve misheard that.



We attempted a stalk on another bull spotted on a hillside in a distant thorned valley. We made it to 50 yards or so, but they left before we had it all figured out. Up a big pile of rocks we went trying to locate the sable, but they gave us the slip. Just as we had thrown in the towel, we heard a lion roar. I asked Gary how far, but I don’t recall his answer, as my imagination had outrun my ears. We lost the sable stalk, but I still felt a winner. A lion telling everybody he has a full belly at 8:30am is a special morning. We returned to the truck and had not gone far when we interrupted a buffalo pool party at a water pan. It reminded me of when a life guard yells “Everybody out of the pool!” Forty plus heads stood and stared at us, several of them looked to be good bulls.





Shortly, we again left the truck and took a walk down on Gwezi River, currently sand. We came upon a fresh looking elephant track and then some fresh looking dung. “Old one,” Gary says. The dung looked like it was practically unchewed. A mile or so further, we found the elephant standing in the river bed drilling for water with its trunk. A very old cow, we skirted up on the riverbank and approached quite close. It was an interesting emotion, being that close the elephant, and then we got closer when she walked up a cut in the bank, and we followed to within about 15 yards. Then we turned away and continued on down the river. She never knew we were there, and I totally enjoyed seeing this elephant up close.

After lunch, we made another stab at getting on a sable. We had a nice walk, and we ran across another grinding stone on a wooded hillside. Getting on toward quitting time, we came on some zebra, and I decided to take an old one with my 450 double. I made a good shot at 60 yards, right on the point of the shoulder and was shocked to see the thing try and take off. The zebra took the bullet hard, but managed some yards, and with the shoulder smashed, tough animals. Dead when we got to her, the old dry mare is very thin for these normally butter-fat zebra. She was very sunk at the temples, and I was glad to get her.



That evening, we learned that Kurt and Neil had jumped the wounded bull several times today. But the bull is so clever, they never see him go, they just hear him, and gone.

Day 9
We looked for and found several bushbuck rams. Our standards remain pretty high. When Kurt and Neil come in for lunch, they had taken a buffalo, but not the wounded buffalo they had been tracking for the last 2+ days. They got back on that bulls track this morning, but he had finally got to water and just wasn’t meant to be. That was the bad news. The good news was that they had got on another group of buffalo, and Kurt had punched his cow tag. Bitter sweet, I know it was tough for Kurt as it would be any of us to lose the bull. On our way out this afternoon, we came up on two cheetahs, and we were able to get some photos before they slinked deeper into the thorns. We needed a little change of pace, so we went looking for a good warthog. It is always fun taking the double for a walk. Chiru wove us back deeper through thorns, and then we were into a more open valley between two large granite out croppings. We skirted impala only to bump a kudu bull. We crossed lion tracks, and here and there, we came across the remains of what I imagine to be the leftovers of a lion’s supper.
“Yeah,” Gary says, “maybe not the best place to be after dark.”

We continued on just looking about- Chiru in the lead, Gary, then me. We were in a warthog neighborhood and had just crossed over a hole when I heard thumping of running feet from behind and closing fast. Needless to say, I pivoted quite quickly! All I see is dust and a tail whipping about. The “Hey, hey!” I yelled drew the attention of my PH, who was maybe eight feet away, and his “Don’t shoot!” was a life saver for what turned out to be a charging warthog mama and baby. My always serious tracker, Chiru, found this hysterical, and it was! But I think this may have been a highlight of our time for Chiru, as he was still giggling an hour later. Returning to camp, we found out that Kurt had killed a good kudu this afternoon, which supplied us with all that we needed for multiple toasts.

Day 10
With my decision to save the sable pursuit for a future hunt, we went back to the rock overlooking that great Turgwe river bottom. Nothing moved before 8:15, but as the sun filled the bottom, we started to get some activity. Several ewes and babies came out for a drink along with a few waterbuck. A young George gave us hell after he crossed the river, and I had begun to think maybe the jig was up, but we stayed put. It wasn’t very long before Gary whispered, “There’s a ram.” He looked heavy, and Gary checked his tips. The bushbuck was over 300 yards downstream and heading further away. So, we made a run down over the bank and hit the sand 150 yards from the feeding away ram. We snuck another 50 yards or so before Gary set the sticks. Through the scope, all I see is rear end as he feeds at the river’s edge. We’re standing right out in the open, and I’m thinking, ‘This thing is going to see us as soon as he raises his head!’ Just at this moment, he turned slightly and raised his head. I think I can get one in the shoulder. ‘Bang!’ And splash down, right at the river’s edge. 404 sure makes a big impression on bushbuck! With great pleasure, I pulled him out of the river and dragged him up on the sand.
Gary says, “He’s a very old ram.” I myself think him to be perfect!
The front of his horns are almost translucent. The guys cut a pole, carry him out, and we head in for lunch.



Kurt and Neil are there when we get back to camp. They had a great walk, but no shots fired. They will head out looking to get on an eland this afternoon. After tea, we went out, and Gary, Chiru, and I had a great walk for several hours slipping along hoping to find a good warthog. We did get on several and managed to get close but no old boars. I wasn’t disappointed in the least. Neil and Kurt did get in on a huge bodied eland bull, but Kurt let him walk.

That night, Neil and Barrie grilled us eland steaks that would have embarrassed Fred Flintstone; they were so big!

The entire team at Mokore Safaris is just outstanding, no matter whether you are in the field hunting or at camp, they exceeded my expectations. And Peg Leg was right in his prediction, as both Kurt and I are booked again for June 2013.





Many Thanks!
Brett

excellent hunt

Brett, that Eland is a slammer...beautiful Bull.

Brett, great trophies, report and great pictures all around.

Brett:

Nice trophies and excellent pictures. Well done!

Larry, maybe he'll send us a free DVD? :-)

Congrats! Wonderful trip and trophies.

Brett,

Thanks for the report and photos. Congratulations on your great trophies and memories.

Brett,

Great report and trophies. You showed great restraint as I know you could have taken a far larger bag. Neil and Gary as you found out are some of the very best in Zim. I never worry a minute when I book a client with these guys.

Congrats!

Mark

That is one heck of an Eland.

Looks like you had a great time.

Well done.

What a great report and wonderful trophies. Congratulations. Gary was in camp with a client on my first trip to Zim and I look forward to seeing the Save with him in the future. I know he contributed to the fun & quality of your hunt.

Brett,
What a great safari,congratulations my friend,it was an awesome adventure,
I am sure though you will be inhaling more outta those double pipes in the future,
See ya in Dallas.

Fantastic stuff.

Brett:

How big was the kudu & the eland? They look pretty good to my old eyes!

I particularly like the picture of you standing behind the buff. I have never seen a similar picture before. It is excellent.

I am very happy that you had such an outstanding hunt.

Biebs,

Thanks for the kind words! I was pleased with the Eland, just great fun to hunt. If you think this one big you should see the one Gary took with a client after I was there it went something like 38".

I wont have the DVD before SCI, but if it looks good I will see you get one.

Many Thanks

Brett

Larry,

The kudu went 58 1/2". I can't exactly recall what the eland went I think mid 30"s. I know one of Gary's hunters later killed a super eland that went 38".

This really could have gone differently, and I am thankfull you took the time to speak with us at SCI not to mention all the on going help you have provided.

Many Thanks

Brett

Oday450,

Yes I think the world of Gary and entire Duckworth family they all play a part in making Mokore a special place. My best friend Kurt would tell the same about Neil.

Many Thanks

Brett

Bill73,

Bal, I am totally hooked on Buff in the thorns with a double. Wasn't it you who said "the first taste is free" or something like that?

Many Thanks

Brett

Will,

It was great fun watching Thierry show Gary photos from your hunt. And then the discussion of how I had already seen them here on AR. Good News travels fast and that Ele. Bull of yours was Great News.

Many Thanks

Brett

Great report HBH, thanks for sharing. Mokore was already on my short list for what would be my first trip to Zim, so I appreciate you taking the time to write this up.

Congrats on some great trophies!

That's an awesome bushpig, you lucky bastard !!!

Thanks for sharing the great pictures and stories. It looks like a picture perfect safari.

Awsome Safari
Well done!

Excellent report and outstanding trophies.

Love the kudu, that's a hoss!

Sounds like a good outfit to go with, can't wait until my own two feet are on the ground in the Save this June, you guys are killing me with these reports.

Hey, Brett--

Your report was well worth the wait. It has inspired me to try to get mine out this week. (To everyone else, I was in camp for a ten day plainsgame hunt right after Brett and Kurt and also had a fantastic time.)
That is a beautiful eland. I didn't realize you had shot one.
I'm glad (and a bit envious!) that you have booked for 2013.

Scott

Great Hunt and great report. Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

Great report and trophies. Me and a buddy are hunting with Gary and Neil in August and your report just got me stoked. Can't wait.

Scott'

Yes it took me awhile, I had to get the kids to help me with the photos as I am a total cluts at this computer thing.

Looking forward to your report.

Many Thanks

Brett

Go Dawgs,

You are going to have a great time. Feel free to PM me if you would like.

There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about this hunt and the next one.

Many Thanks

Brett

Congratulations on a very successful hunt! Way to go!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Outstanding safari!!

Great Kudu bull! And your buff are lovely as well.
Thanks for posting your report and pictures!

O

Fanatstic and thanks for sharing looks like a great time was had. Might need to give that area a try myself

Brett, bought time you got around to the report...beginning to think you forgot about it...

BTW great report and trophies! told ya almost 6 mos. ago I wanted to see that bushpig again!


Mad Dog

Great report! Some fantastic animals there.

How did you pass on the Klippy?

Frank,

It was a struggle! By the time we came on this Klippy, I had decided to try for a Sable. There being only so much remaining in my wallet it was a tuff choice.

Honestly, we walked away with a smile, from a number of animals I chose not to shoot. I had a great time we did not shoot anything we saw from the truck. Everything was taken on a walk, track, stalk hunt which I enjoyed. The country is that good, my PH and his trackers are that good(they would be mad if they knew I said that) and I was just lucky to get to tag along.

Many Thanks

Brett

Awesome hunt, thats the way to do it - walking and stalking. Those are some beautiful trophies - Well done.

Phillip Smythe
Ivory Trail Safaris

www.ivorytrailsafaris.com
phillip@ivorytrailsafaris.com

Great Hunt, great trophies with a great company- well done Brett the Duckworths are not to shabby!!

Buzz,

Thanks Man, I'll see you guys in Vegas and do my small part of helping with the pub fund- I am looking forward to seeing the new DVD!

Many Thanks

Brett