Dates: June 5, 2011 – June 18, 2011
Areas: Dande Safari Area, Zimbabwe and Dande East, Zimbabwe
Outfitter: Charlton McCallum Safaris
Professional Hunter: Buzz Charlton
Travel Agent: Steve Turner, Travel With Guns
Trophies Taken: Tuskless Elephant (2), Buffalo, Kudu, Hippo and Hyena
Rifle Used: Heym PH .500 NE and Blaser R93 .375 H&H
Cigars: Macanudo Duke of York, Montecristo #3
Whiskey: Johnny Walker Double Black
Beer: Castle

[Apologies for the picture quality, when I resized the pictures for the report I apparently went a little too far.]

General Background

This was my fifth safari with Buzz. The focus of the hunt was on getting two tuskless elephant to bring the number of elephant I have hunted to an even dozen and to get a nice hard boss bull buffalo with my double. I was accompanied on the trip by my friend Bill Clayton who had a debt to settle with an elephant and was also hunting a leopard.



Upon our arrival in Harare we were picked up by Buzz and Alan Shearing and taken to Harrison House, a nice bed and breakfast near Buzz’s house. The accommodations at Harrison House were very nice and early the next morning we found ourselves at Buzz’s home packing up the last of the gear for the drive to the Dande Safari Area. One more stop for the veggie resupply and we were on our way. The highlight of the trip was a brief road side stop to stock up on the tasty little bananas that can be purchased for $1.00 a bowl.




We started the safari in the Dande Safari Area. Our hunt was out of the Mururu Camp. I hunted out of the same camp last summer and it was good to see some old familiar faces along with some new faces in camp. Mururu is a wonderful camp. Situated along a seasonal sand river, virtually every night you are serenaded by lions and hyena. In fact, both this year and last year we had lions in the camp during the stay.

This trip was my first opportunity to meet Alan. A relatively quiet and unassuming person, he was a delight to spend time with in camp. His passion for hunting is obvious and it was great to see him back in the field doing what he loves. You would be hard pressed to find a more decent human being than Alan.



In addition to Buzz, our team consisted of Criton and Nyati, Buzz’s trackers, Eddy, Buzz’s driver and Netsai, our communal game scout. In addition to the communal scout we also had a National Park scout. The purpose of having both was so that we could also wander between the wards that adjoin the Dande Safari Area.






DSA road kill.



Unlike last year, this year my intention was to try and use a double rifle for most of the hunt. I elected to bring my Heym PH in .500 NE. The rifle shoots well and is regulated with Hornady ammunition. I used Hornady DGS and DGX ammo on the hunt. I also brought a .505 Gibbs that spent most of the trip in the rifle slip. It did emerge for a shooting competition at the end of the hunt. More on that later.



Tuskless in the Jesse

In order to help Bill out with his leopard baits our initial focus was on trying to get a tuskless. As is the case with most elephant hunting, this involves finding tracks and then taking up the track and seeing what you find at the other end.

After picking up tracks in the road, we took up the spore. The tracks led us into some thick jesse. Hunting this time of the year is a blessing and curse. It is a blessing in that the leaves on the trees have started to drop and so visibility is greatly improved. It is a curse in that with all the dry leaves on the ground it is like walking on corn flakes. The stalk was slow and tedious since we needed to be particularly keen to holding noise down. Walking meant using your toe to gently brush aside the leaves to make a small place to step. Slow going.

We found the group of cows resting in the jesse. There was a large tuskless without a calf facing us with other mature cows on both sides of her. We continued the approach until we were approximately 18 yards in front the tuskless cow. The jesse was so thick that I did not have a shot standing up. To have a frontal shot on the cow I had to squat down. At the shot the cow started to drop and then turned to our left. Two more shots and she was down for the count. We hastily backed out since the other cows were now in a high state of aggravation. After backing off about 50 yards we waited for the cows to eventually move on. After a short 15 minute break we made our way back to the cow. The video clip is interesting since because I was kneeling down, when I shot I fell back into Justin Drainer the camera man! In any event, Bill had his baits and I had my first tuskless in the salt.






Picture showing where the shot was taken from.



Chasing Buffalo

With one tuskless down, we began turned our attention to the buffalo. Our first day hunting buffalo was a clear victory for the buffalo. We found a nice sized herd and decided to give chase. Over the course of the day we made at least seven different approaches on the buffalo. We crawled, duck walked, walked hunched over, scooted along on our butts, and used every trick we could think of to try and get up on the buffalo, but each time it was a gentle shift of the wind, a vigilant cow or some other factor that resulted in the buffalo busting us and storming off. Late in the day we succeeded in forcing the buffalo to a road. We were able to set up on the opposite side and wait for them to cross. They bunched up along the road but were clearly reluctant to cross. Eventually those at the front were basically pushed across by those in the back. We did not see a shooter bull and the position for a shot was ideal. After giving it our best shot for the better part of the day, we declared the buffalo victorious and gave in to the Siren call of the Castle in the cold box.

My favorite time of the day . . .




The next day we headed out anxious to even the score. After picking up fresh tracks in the road we tracked a smaller group of buffalo to a thick area where the buffalo were laid up under a tree. There was a large termite mound approximately 25 yards from the tree. We slowly made our way up to and then up the termite mound. From the top of the termite mound we could see several of the cows but not a bull. We decided to wait out the buffalo and see if the group would move eventually. Unexpectedly we felt a slight breeze on the back of our necks and knew that the wind had shifted. The buffalo stood up and started moving to our left. Over the top of the grass we could see the boss of a nice bull that had stopped to look in our direction. That was his last mistake. Buzz asked if I could make the shot, I stood up, fired once and the buffalo dropped. I fired a second shot into his chest. He never moved. Hunting buffalo up close with a double. A very satisfying experience.





Tuskless in the Open

Several days later, driving back to camp one evening we spotted a group of elephant on a hill well off the side of the road. We stopped the Cruiser and checked them out with the binoculars. There were two mature tuskless in the group. One was clearly the matriarch. We did not have much daylight left and Buzz asked if I wanted to give it a go. Trying to be cute I said sure, the light will be great for the camera.

We loaded up and started a hike down the hill to get in a position to make our approach. The wind was good but there was very little cover between us and the elephant. We focused in on the matriarch and started to stalk closer. Accompanying the matriarch was a young tusked cow. As we got closer the younger cow sensed that something was up. She had not busted us, but was clearly uneasy. Off to the left was the second large tuskless. The small group that she was in had no idea we were present. We immediately abandoned the chase for the matriarch and turned our focus on the other tuskless.

We continued to walk in closer. The cow was now walking to our right, perpendicular to our approach. When we got to about 20 yards, the cow sensed that we were there and turned to face us. I fired and at the shot she literally lifted up and flopped on her side all four legs kicking. At the sound of the shot the other cows went nuts. They began trumpeting and looking in all directions to identify the source of the shot. We high tailed it backwards about 25 yards. The cow we shot had not been brained but was still down. I put two raking shots into her. By now the other cows were at her side and attempting to lift her. After milling around momentarily the other cows hastily run across a small valley to another hill.

Rather than approach the cow we decided to hang tight for a moment. Good move. As the downed cow gave one last bellow, the other cows immediately did a 180 degree turn and returned on the run to the cow’s side. We knew she was down for good, but with fading light and with the other cows not prepared to move off, we made the decision to back out for the night and return in the morning.

In the morning we returned to the cow. It was clear from the spore that the other cows had in fact stayed in the area for some considerable time after we had left. Elephant are truly special creatures.





At this point we were about half way through the hunt and we had already taken the primary trophies I had come for. We decided to spend another day in the DSA and then move to Dande East and see if we could shake up an elephant bull, a sable or a lion. The next day before relocating we went to an area in the DSA known to hold sable. We were going to go on an evening stroll to see if we could spot them. Ten minutes into the stroll we spotted several kudu. The rut was just getting into swing and while we were setting up on the sticks a nice kudu bull walked out of the brush headed to our right. A quick shot on the shoulder and a short follow up tracking session and there was a fine old kudu bull. He was quite an old fellow. Notice the wear and coloration in the horns. Also notice his hide, which was almost white. I am not sure who was the happiest, Bill because he had some more baits or Jappe because he had some meat for biltong!






There’s a little pyro in all of us . . .



Dande East

The next day we packed up and headed to Dande East. Dande East is about 2 ½ hours south of the Dande Safari Area. It is a communal area that covers a very large area, much of which borders on Mozambique. Buzz describes it as a recovering area in terms of the game populations. It is flatter than the DSA with sections of super thick jesse and areas of more open Mopane woodlands. It may be a recovering area but while we were there we saw elephant, lion, hippo, duiker, gysbuck, impala, sable, roan, baboon, hyena and tracks of a number of other animals.



Buzz and Myles have been using Dande East primarily as an early season elephant hunting area. Catching bulls crossing over from Mozambique and frequenting the many pans that hold water early season. There is a lot of elephant sign in the area and the pans are covered up with elephant tracks in the dried mud. This is the area where AR member Marty Vick hunted an elephant bull earlier this year and shot a nice elephant bull, and saw an outstanding bull that they could not get a shot on.

The camp in the East is very comfortable. The camp is being run by Bongi, Myles’ tracker. Bongi is doing an outstanding job. The camp staff were all very attentive, the meals were wonderful and Bongi works as hard or harder than anyone in camp. (While we were there Bongi had a road crew that was cutting roads in new areas.)







We spent several days tracking sable and elephant. The marula trees were dropping fruit and the elephant were making nocturnal trips into Zim to poach the fruit and then head into Moz. I am not sure I understand the appeal of marula to elephant. If you look at their dung, the marula does not even get chewed. It gets ingested whole and passes right on through. Maybe the appeal is the smell. Marula has a wonderfully pleasant smell that is easily recognized walking through the bush. Once you caught a whiff of the marula you could usually spot a tree within fifty yards. We saw several small bulls but no big boys. We did find one incredible track of a well worn bull with deep cracks, but the tracks were a little too cold to follow.



What surprised me in tracking the sable was the number of roan in the area. Some places were covered up with roan tracks. We saw roan on a couple of occasions, but being royal game in Zim we could look but we could not touch.

Hyena

I will be the first to admit, I enjoy hunting hyena. I think hyena are a much under appreciated trophy. I have been fortunate enough to shoot four hyenas and enjoy the challenge of hunting them. One evening just towards dusk, we parked the Cruiser in an area we had seen tracks earlier in the day. Sitting quietly we heard a hyena woop in the distance. The trackers whispered that the hyena was coming towards us. Within minutes the hyena materialized in front of the Cruiser. One shot and the hyena was finished. It was amazing to hear the hyena call and then have him come in.




Hippo

As hunts go, the hippo was not the most exciting hunt in the world. Buzz told me as much in advance. The real excitement around the hippo hunt was the recovery.

I decided that I wanted to try and take a hippo with my double. Hippo can be hunted in the East in a communal area along a river the name of which I have already forgotten. We woke up early and made the drive to the river. When we arrived at the river, folks immediately began to take interest. They knew someone was there to hunt a hippo and that hopefully nyama was just around the corner.

Lots of this along the river, yikes.



We walked along the edge of the river looking for pods. After a short walk we found a pod that had a large hippo in the group. After slowly walking up to the edge of the bank overlooking the river, I settled the double on the sticks and let loose. Less than thirty minutes after the hunt started it was over. Now the real fun began.

Within minutes two dugouts materialized on the river slowly making their way to the hippo. Once they secured the hippo they began paddling downstream toward a sand bar where the hippo could be beached. People started appearing out of no where, school girls in uniforms showed up, even the village dogs began to arrive. By the time the hippo was beached we had a crowd of several hundred happy . . . and hungry people gathered around.

The recovery began in an orderly enough way. Several individuals were selected to help the trackers with the skinning. Tree limbs were cut to lay out the meat and panels on. After taking some pictures the trackers started to butcher the hippo. At this point the crowd now surrounded us in a semi-circle. Everyone was standing approximately 20 yards from the hippo. As the recovery progressed, the semi-circle began to close, by the end the semi-circle was within a couple of yards of the hippo. There as party-like atmosphere. We have no appreciation of what a little protein can mean to a person. I held out at the hippo until the circle had closed to within feet of hippo when I abandoned the carcass and headed to the Cruiser. I climbed up on top of the Cruiser to observe the finale. What began in such an orderly way ended in chaos. Several large piles of meat had been cut and laid out on tree limbs. At some point someone darted in and grabbed a piece of meat and that apparently signaled the start of the melee. In an instant, the crowd closed the remaining distance on the carcass and began hacking and carving with the strangest collection of knives and axes you can imagine. I am amazed to this day that no one lost an appendage in frenzy. Occasionally someone would dash out of the scrum with a piece of meat or intestines, a leg or some other body part. Suffice it to say hunger is a powerful thing.

I was glad I did the hippo hunt. While it might not have been the most interesting hunt ever conducted, to take a hippo with a double and more importantly to see the appreciation of the local people made the hunt very worthwhile.











Tracking Lions

Probably the most interesting, enjoyable and exciting part of the hunt in Dande East was the time we spent tracking lions. We tracked lions on three different days and on two of the three days could have easily – and almost had to – shot lionesses.

From driving the roads we had determined that there was pride of lions in the area and the pride included at least one large male. Picking up the tracks in the morning on three occasions we tracked the lions. Tracking elephant is one thing. Tracking lion takes the art of tracking to a whole new level. Dande East is not like areas in western Zim that have lots of sand. The area has a lot of brush and woodlands and hence, at this time of year, lots of leaves on the ground. I was amazed at the ability of the trackers to stay on the tracks. Tracking involved literally brushing leaves aside to look for impressions under the leaves. On all three occasions that we tracked the lions we caught them. The first time we bumped them several times without catching sight of them. A grunt or low growl and they were off into thicker brush. On the second and third attempts we not only caught up to the pride but got to within 20-30 yards of the pride. On the second attempt we followed the pride from a small spring and caught them laying down on a little hill. When we walked up on them they were facing away from us and had no clue we were behind them at about 30 yards. After a couple of minutes the pride began walking off to the left. It would have been a doddle to take a couple as marched across in front of us, including one very large lioness. We could not see the male and so we moved up to where they had been standing. Off to our left the pride was about 25 yards. One lioness busted us. She locked on with yellow eyes staring. Her tail was flicking back and forth. With a low growl she began to charge. I was using Buzz’s Blaser R93 in .375 H&H. The problem is that the rifle is scoped with a 2x7 Leupold scope. It highlights why scopes can be dangerous on a dangerous game rifle, it was hard to pick up the lioness in the grass and required you to look through the scope then look without the scope. Eventually I picked up the lioness and had her in the scope. After running towards us about 10 yards she stopped. Buzz was shouting, “If she comes any closer, you can shoot”. Fortunately it was just a mock charge, she stopped and then broke off and headed off with the rest of the pride. We never did see the male and believe that he had broken off from the pride before we caught them.

Our third attempt played out in much the same way although this time they led us through some nasty thickets of wait-a-bit vines and other thorns bushes. We caught the pride after bumping them off to our left. Distance was close. This time I was carrying the double. It was replay of the prior day. One lioness, perhaps the same cheeky one, locked on to us and began a charge. This time with the double I had her the whole way. Again after growling and plunging forward for 10-15 yards she stopped, turned and moved off. Buzz issued the same instructions, any closer, bust her. After the pride moved off I noticed that my left leg was shaking. That’s about as up close and personal as I desire to get with lions.

I was reminded of a quote from A Far From Ordinary Life by Fred Duckworth:

"I have more than once heard the flutter of an angel's winds above me, pouring raw fear into the core of my soul, and worse yet, the times when the flutter fans so close that you can feel the air washing over you and you realise just how close the angel really is."

Final Impressions

To close out the hunt we had a braai on the last night. Grilled buffalo, kudu and pork chops. Excellent fare to celebrate a wonderful hunt. The next morning we had a shooting contest for the staff. Everyone got to pick between the .500 NE double or the .505 Gibbs bolt gun. Criton ended up winning the competition (and a nice headlamp to boot) with a great shot with the .505 Gibbs. Watching some of the others shoot the .505 was excellent entertainment for the whole group.












Back in town, in what has become a bit of annual event, we had the privilege of having dinner with Richard and Brita Harland. Both are doing well. They are adjusting to life in Harare after the loss of their farm several years ago. Richard is working hard on his new career and Brita is painting again. We enjoyed our visit with them. And thanks to Steph for preparing a wonderful meal on short notice. A good time was had by all.



One of Brita's paintings.



Once again Buzz and team, Justin, Eddy, Criton and Nyati and the office staff Kirsty and Charmain did a great job and the hunt from start to finish was outstanding.

For me the highlight of the trip had to be, just being in Africa . . . .

Thank you for a great report, Mike. I had been watching for this since you returned.

Congratulations on a successful safari and great animals.

Mike-
I've been waiting for this one, thank you! The hippo recovery and lion encounters were real highlights. I think that more than just my leg would have been shaking.
I'll be in Dande in April, 2013, and you have certainly stoked the fire of anticipation for me.
I know DSA is hillier than the East, but how would you compare it to the hills at Makuti?
Thanks for the fine report, and the excellent photos. Nice to see all those smiling faces. I especially liked the picture of the little kid with you and your rifle.

Marty, comparing the DSA to Makuti is like comparing Texas to Colorado. Don't get me wrong there are some hills in the DSA, particularly if you get over along the boundary with Chewore, but overall it is very manageable.

Outstanding report, Mike! Congratulations on a very successful safari! I'm jealous of the hyena. I've targeted them during the last four safaris and the score is: Hyena-4 UEG-0.

Great report, Mike. I hope to use my double on a hippo as well. Gives me a great preview for my Sept. 2012 hunt with the boys.


Dutch

Mike, great report and beautiful pics! Congrats! Makes waiting another 25 days for my safari very anxious!


Mad Dog

Mike-
I was just looking at your photos again. Did you have a female scout? Never seen that.

Great report Mike, I knew that I'd enjoy it.

I know that you're an elephant hunter at heart but that Kudu was something special.

Mike, Thank you for posting this excellent report and pictures. Very nice trophies and memorable experience. Buzz will need to start paying you for advertising, Im convienced my next trip will be with his outfit.

Marty, yes, a female game scout. This is the second time we have had a female game scout. Makes for a lot of "little house" discussion in camp for sure.

Frank, you think that kudu is nice. Go to Buzz's website and check the gallery. The fellow I was hunting with shot a 60"+ free ranging kudu. That is s special kudu.

Looks like you had another most excellent trip. Glad to hear Bongi is still going strong. Based on my short acquaintance with him, he is one you can count on.

Well done Mr Jines
Thanks for taking me back to Africa for a while on this boring UK afternoon ( although believe it or not it is very hot and sunny)
I'm jealous about the lion adventures, although I'm not sure about the charges.
The hyena sounds fun and typical of your luck to have one come towards you like that. I bet everyone was very suprised ?
Is the female game scout Muno's girlfriend?
What's that big soft looking thing on the end of the double, it looks like a feather pillow ?
Great report and thanks for sharing.
Regards
Rob

The game scout is the very one Rob. Muno seemed to be quite pleased when we drove into camp and he saw that the "little house" had come to him.

That pad on the rifle is an after market item for wimps like me. The real value in the pad was putting it on Buzz's Blaser. That little SOB kicks. Look closely at the kudu pictures and you can see that the scope gave me a little kiss.

Speaking of hyenas and surprises . . .

Thanks for the great report. Congrats on a great hunt.Can't wait to get back with CM Safaris for another hunt.

I really enjoyed this report.Being among the lions and shooting the hippo,eles and buff with the open-sighted double must be really rewarding.Having all those people show up for the hippo meat must also be a fine experience.Congratulations! What are you thinking of hunting next time out?

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Marty, yes, a female game scout. This is the second time we have had a female game scout. Makes for a lot of "little house" discussion in camp for sure.

Frank, you think that kudu is nice. Go to Buzz's website and check the gallery. The fellow I was hunting with shot a 60"+ free ranging kudu. That is s special kudu.

Inches don't count with me, I like the high character animals.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Dates: June 5, 2011 – June 18, 2011
Areas: Dande Safari Area, Zimbabwe and Dande East, Zimbabwe
Outfitter: Charlton McCallum Safaris
Professional Hunter: Buzz Charlton
Trophies Taken: Tuskless Elephant (2), Buffalo, Kudu, Hippo and Hyena
Rifle Used: Heym PH .500 NE and Blaser R93 .375 H&H
Cigars: Macanudo Duke of York, Montecristo #3
Whiskey: Johnny Walker Double Black
Beer: Castle

[Apologies for the picture quality, when I resized the pictures for the report I apparently went a little too far.]

General Background

This was my fifth safari with Buzz. The focus of the hunt was on getting two tuskless elephant to bring the number of elephant I have hunted to an even dozen and to get a nice hard boss bull buffalo with my double. I was accompanied on the trip by my friend Bill Clayton who had a debt to settle with an elephant and was also hunting a leopard.



Upon our arrival in Harare we were picked up by Buzz and Alan Shearing and taken to Harrison House, a nice bed and breakfast near Buzz’s house. The accommodations at Harrison House were very nice and early the next morning we found ourselves at Buzz’s home packing up the last of the gear for the drive to the Dande Safari Area. One more stop for the veggie resupply and we were on our way. The highlight of the trip was a brief road side stop to stock up on the tasty little bananas that can be purchased for $1.00 a bowl.




We started the safari in the Dande Safari Area. Our hunt was out of the Mururu Camp. I hunted out of the same camp last summer and it was good to see some old familiar faces along with some new faces in camp. Mururu is a wonderful camp. Situated along a seasonal sand river, virtually every night you are serenaded by lions and hyena. In fact, both this year and last year we had lions in the camp during the stay.

This trip was my first opportunity to meet Alan. A relatively quiet and unassuming person, he was a delight to spend time with in camp. His passion for hunting is obvious and it was great to see him back in the field doing what he loves. You would be hard pressed to find a more decent human being than Alan.



In addition to Buzz, our team consisted of Criton and Nyati, Buzz’s trackers, Eddy, Buzz’s driver and Netsai, our communal game scout. In addition to the communal scout we also had a National Park scout. The purpose of having both was so that we could also wander between the wards that adjoin the Dande Safari Area.






DSA road kill.



Unlike last year, this year my intention was to try and use a double rifle for most of the hunt. I elected to bring my Heym PH in .500 NE. The rifle shoots well and is regulated with Hornady ammunition. I used Hornady DGS and DGX ammo on the hunt. I also brought a .505 Gibbs that spent most of the trip in the rifle slip. It did emerge for a shooting competition at the end of the hunt. More on that later.



Tuskless in the Jesse

In order to help Bill out with his leopard baits our initial focus was on trying to get a tuskless. As is the case with most elephant hunting, this involves finding tracks and then taking up the track and seeing what you find at the other end.

After picking up tracks in the road, we took up the spore. The tracks led us into some thick jesse. Hunting this time of the year is a blessing and curse. It is a blessing in that the leaves on the trees have started to drop and so visibility is greatly improved. It is a curse in that with all the dry leaves on the ground it is like walking on corn flakes. The stalk was slow and tedious since we needed to be particularly keen to holding noise down. Walking meant using your toe to gently brush aside the leaves to make a small place to step. Slow going.

We found the group of cows resting in the jesse. There was a large tuskless without a calf facing us with other mature cows on both sides of her. We continued the approach until we were approximately 18 yards in front the tuskless cow. The jesse was so thick that I did not have a shot standing up. To have a frontal shot on the cow I had to squat down. At the shot the cow started to drop and then turned to our left. Two more shots and she was down for the count. We hastily backed out since the other cows were now in a high state of aggravation. After backing off about 50 yards we waited for the cows to eventually move on. After a short 15 minute break we made our way back to the cow. The video clip is interesting since because I was kneeling down, when I shot I fell back into Justin Drainer the camera man! In any event, Bill had his baits and I had my first tuskless in the salt.






Picture showing where the shot was taken from.



Chasing Buffalo

With one tuskless down, we began turned our attention to the buffalo. Our first day hunting buffalo was a clear victory for the buffalo. We found a nice sized herd and decided to give chase. Over the course of the day we made at least seven different approaches on the buffalo. We crawled, duck walked, walked hunched over, scooted along on our butts, and used every trick we could think of to try and get up on the buffalo, but each time it was a gentle shift of the wind, a vigilant cow or some other factor that resulted in the buffalo busting us and storming off. Late in the day we succeeded in forcing the buffalo to a road. We were able to set up on the opposite side and wait for them to cross. They bunched up along the road but were clearly reluctant to cross. Eventually those at the front were basically pushed across by those in the back. We did not see a shooter bull and the position for a shot was ideal. After giving it our best shot for the better part of the day, we declared the buffalo victorious and gave in to the Siren call of the Castle in the cold box.

My favorite time of the day . . .




The next day we headed out anxious to even the score. After picking up fresh tracks in the road we tracked a smaller group of buffalo to a thick area where the buffalo were laid up under a tree. There was a large termite mound approximately 25 yards from the tree. We slowly made our way up to and then up the termite mound. From the top of the termite mound we could see several of the cows but not a bull. We decided to wait out the buffalo and see if the group would move eventually. Unexpectedly we felt a slight breeze on the back of our necks and knew that the wind had shifted. The buffalo stood up and started moving to our left. Over the top of the grass we could see the boss of a nice bull that had stopped to look in our direction. That was his last mistake. Buzz asked if I could make the shot, I stood up, fired once and the buffalo dropped. I fired a second shot into his chest. He never moved. Hunting buffalo up close with a double. A very satisfying experience.





Tuskless in the Open

Several days later, driving back to camp one evening we spotted a group of elephant on a hill well off the side of the road. We stopped the Cruiser and checked them out with the binoculars. There were two mature tuskless in the group. One was clearly the matriarch. We did not have much daylight left and Buzz asked if I wanted to give it a go. Trying to be cute I said sure, the light will be great for the camera.

We loaded up and started a hike down the hill to get in a position to make our approach. The wind was good but there was very little cover between us and the elephant. We focused in on the matriarch and started to stalk closer. Accompanying the matriarch was a young tusked cow. As we got closer the younger cow sensed that something was up. She had not busted us, but was clearly uneasy. Off to the left was the second large tuskless. The small group that she was in had no idea we were present. We immediately abandoned the chase for the matriarch and turned our focus on the other tuskless.

We continued to walk in closer. The cow was now walking to our right, perpendicular to our approach. When we got to about 20 yards, the cow sensed that we were there and turned to face us. I fired and at the shot she literally lifted up and flopped on her side all four legs kicking. At the sound of the shot the other cows went nuts. They began trumpeting and looking in all directions to identify the source of the shot. We high tailed it backwards about 25 yards. The cow we shot had not been brained but was still down. I put two raking shots into her. By now the other cows were at her side and attempting to lift her. After milling around momentarily the other cows hastily run across a small valley to another hill.

Rather than approach the cow we decided to hang tight for a moment. Good move. As the downed cow gave one last bellow, the other cows immediately did a 180 degree turn and returned on the run to the cow’s side. We knew she was down for good, but with fading light and with the other cows not prepared to move off, we made the decision to back out for the night and return in the morning.

In the morning we returned to the cow. It was clear from the spore that the other cows had in fact stayed in the area for some considerable time after we had left. Elephant are truly special creatures.





At this point we were about half way through the hunt and we had already taken the primary trophies I had come for. We decided to spend another day in the DSA and then move to Dande East and see if we could shake up an elephant bull, a sable or a lion. The next day before relocating we went to an area in the DSA known to hold sable. We were going to go on an evening stroll to see if we could spot them. Ten minutes into the stroll we spotted several kudu. The rut was just getting into swing and while we were setting up on the sticks a nice kudu bull walked out of the brush headed to our right. A quick shot on the shoulder and a short follow up tracking session and there was a fine old kudu bull. He was quite an old fellow. Notice the wear and coloration in the horns. Also notice his hide, which was almost white. I am not sure who was the happiest, Bill because he had some more baits or Jappe because he had some meat for biltong!






There’s a little pyro in all of us . . .



Dande East

The next day we packed up and headed to Dande East. Dande East is about 2 ½ hours south of the Dande Safari Area. It is a communal area that covers a very large area, much of which borders on Mozambique. Buzz describes it as a recovering area in terms of the game populations. It is flatter than the DSA with sections of super thick jesse and areas of more open Mopane woodlands. It may be a recovering area but while we were there we saw elephant, lion, hippo, duiker, gysbuck, impala, sable, roan, baboon, hyena and tracks of a number of other animals.



Buzz and Myles have been using Dande East primarily as an early season elephant hunting area. Catching bulls crossing over from Mozambique and frequenting the many pans that hold water early season. There is a lot of elephant sign in the area and the pans are covered up with elephant tracks in the dried mud. This is the area where AR member Marty Vick hunted an elephant bull earlier this year and shot a nice elephant bull, and saw an outstanding bull that they could not get a shot on.

The camp in the East is very comfortable. The camp is being run by Bongi, Myles’ tracker. Bongi is doing an outstanding job. The camp staff were all very attentive, the meals were wonderful and Bongi works as hard or harder than anyone in camp. (While we were there Bongi had a road crew that was cutting roads in new areas.)







We spent several days tracking sable and elephant. The marula trees were dropping fruit and the elephant were making nocturnal trips into Zim to poach the fruit and then head into Moz. I am not sure I understand the appeal of marula to elephant. If you look at their dung, the marula does not even get chewed. It gets ingested whole and passes right on through. Maybe the appeal is the smell. Marula has a wonderfully pleasant smell that is easily recognize walking through the bush. Once you caught a whiff of the marula you could usually spot a tree within fifty yards. We saw several small bulls but no big boys. We did find one incredible track of a well worn bull with deep cracks, but the tracks were a little too cold to follow.



What surprised me in tracking the sable was the number of roan in the area. Some places were covered up with roan tracks. We saw roan on a couple of occasions, but being royal game in Zim we could look but we could not touch.

Hyena

I will be the first to admit, I enjoy hunting hyena. I think hyena are a much under appreciated trophy. I have been fortunate enough to shoot four hyenas and enjoy the challenge of hunting them. One evening just towards dusk, we parked the Cruiser in an area we had seen tracks earlier in the day. Sitting quietly we heard a hyena woop in the distance. The trackers whispered that the hyena was coming towards us. Within minutes the hyena materialized in front of the Cruiser. One shot and the hyena was finished. It was amazing to hear the hyena call and then have him come in.




Hippo

As hunts go, the hippo was not the most exciting hunt in the world. Buzz told me as much in advance. The real excitement around the hippo hunt was the recovery.

I decided that I wanted to try and take a hippo with my double. Hippo can be hunted in the East in a communal area along a river the name of which I have already forgotten. We woke up early and made the drive to the river. When we arrived at the river, folks immediately began to take interest. They knew someone was there to hunt a hippo and that hopefully nyama was just around the corner.

Lots of this along the river, yikes.



We walked along the edge of the river looking for pods. After a short walk we found a pod that had a large hippo in the group. After slowly walking up to the edge of the bank overlooking the river, I settled the double on the sticks and let loose. Less than thirty minutes after the hunt started it was over. Now the real fun began.

Within minutes two dugouts materialized on the river slowly making their way to the hippo. Once they secured the hippo they began paddling downstream toward a sand bar where the hippo could be beached. People started appearing out of no where, school girls in uniforms showed up, even the village dogs began to arrive. By the time the hippo was beached we had a crowd of several hundred happy . . . and hungry people gathered around.

The recovery began in an orderly enough way. Several individuals were selected to help the trackers with the skinning. Tree limbs were cut to lay out the meat and panels on. After taking some pictures the trackers started to butcher the hippo. At this point the crowd now surrounded us in a semi-circle. Everyone was standing approximately 20 yards from the hippo. As the recovery progressed, the semi-circle began to close, by the end the semi-circle was within a couple of yards of the hippo. There as party-like atmosphere. We have no appreciation of what a little protein can mean to a person. I held out at the hippo until the circle had closed to within feet of hippo when I abandoned the carcass and headed to the Cruiser. I climbed up on top of the Cruiser to observe the finale. What began in such an orderly way ended in chaos. Several large piles of meat had been cut and laid out on tree limbs. At some point someone darted in and grabbed a piece of meat and that apparently signaled the start of the melee. In an instant, the crowd closed the remaining distance on the carcass and began hacking and carving with the strangest collection of knives and axes you can imagine. I am amazed to this day that no one lost an appendage in frenzy. Occasionally someone would dash out of the scrum with a piece of meat or intestines, a leg or some other body part. Suffice it to say hunger is a powerful thing.

I was glad I did the hippo hunt. While it might not have been the most interesting hunt ever conducted, to take a hippo with a double and more importantly to see the appreciation of the local people made the hunt very worthwhile.











Tracking Lions

Probably the most interesting, enjoyable and exciting part of the hunt in Dande East was the time we spent tracking lions. We tracked lions on three different days and on two of the three days could have easily – and almost had to – shot lionesses.

From driving the roads we had determined that there was pride of lions in the area and the pride included at least one large male. Picking up the tracks in the morning on three occasions we tracked the lions. Tracking elephant is one thing. Tracking lion takes the art of tracking to a whole new level. Dande East is not like areas in western Zim that have lots of sand. The area has a lot of brush and woodlands and hence, at this time of year, lots of leaves on the ground. I was amazed at the ability of the trackers to stay on the tracks. Tracking involved literally brushing leaves aside to look for impressions under the leaves. On all three occasions that we tracked the lions we caught them. The first time we bumped them several times without catching sight of them. A grunt or low growl and they were off into thicker brush. On the second and third attempts we not only caught up to the pride but got to within 20-30 yards of the pride. On the second attempt we followed the pride from a small spring and caught them laying down on a little hill. When we walked up on them they were facing away from us and had no clue we were behind them at about 30 yards. After a couple of minutes the pride began walking off to the left. It would have been a doddle to take a couple as marched across in front of us, including one very large lioness. We could not see the male and so we moved up to where they had been standing. Off to our left the pride was about 25 yards. One lioness busted us. She locked on with yellow eyes staring. Her tail was flicking back and forth. With a low growl she began to charge. I was using Buzz’s Blaser R93 in .375 H&H. The problem is that the rifle is scoped with a 2x7 Leupold scope. It highlights why scopes can be dangerous on a dangerous game rifle, it was hard to pick up the lioness in the grass and required you to look through the scope then look without the scope. Eventually I picked up the lioness and had her in the scope. After running towards us about 10 yards she stopped. Buzz was shouting, “If she comes any closer, you can shoot”. Fortunately it was just a mock charge, she stopped and then broke off and headed off with the rest of the pride. We never did see the male and believe that he had broken off from the pride before we caught them.

Our third attempt played out in much the same way although this time they led us through some nasty thickets of wait-a-bit vines and other thorns bushes. We caught the pride after bumping them off to our left. Distance was close. This time I was carrying the double. It was replay of the prior day. One lioness, perhaps the same cheeky one, locked on to us and began a charge. This time with the double I had her the whole way. Again after growling and plunging forward for 10-15 yards she stopped, turned and moved off. Buzz issued the same instructions, any closer, bust her. After the pride moved off I noticed that my left leg was shaking. That’s about as up close and personal as I desire to get with lions.

Final Impressions

To close out the hunt we had a braai on the last night. Grilled buffalo, kudu and pork chops. Excellent fare to celebrate a wonderful hunt. The next morning we had a shooting contest for the staff. Everyone got to pick between the .500 NE double or the .505 Gibbs bolt gun. Criton ended up winning the competition (and a nice headlamp to boot) with a great shot with the .505 Gibbs. Watching some of the others shoot the .505 was excellent entertainment for the whole group.












Back in town, in what has become a bit of annual event, we had the privilege of having dinner with Richard and Brita Harland. Both are doing well. They are adjusting to life in Harare after the loss of their farm several years ago. Richard is working hard on his new career and Brita is painting again. We enjoyed our visit with them.



Once again Buzz and team, Justin, Eddy, Criton and Nyati and the office staff Kirsty and Charmain did a great job and the hunt from start to finish was outstanding.

For me the highlight of the trip had to be, just being in Africa . . . .

Mike excellent Report I enjoyed reading it and your photos were great

Mike,
awesome report,I am so glad that one of my fav people is getting so much out of life

Mike,

Great report and makes me homesick!

TT

When I grow up, I want to be like you.
Great trip.

Mike, Thank you for an informative and enjoyable report. Good shooting and I agree up close with double rifle.
Dallas in January...

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by shotgun46:
Mike excellent Report I enjoyed reading it and your photos were great

You did not just quote his entire post!

Mike;

Congratulations...excellent report and photos! Definitely worth waiting for.

Are you ever going to consider hunting with someone besides CM?

Best regards, Darin

Sounds like the hunt of a lifetime!

Thanks for sharing.

quote:

Originally posted by D. Nelson:
Are you ever going to consider hunting with someone besides CM?

Darin, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. With CM I have been fortunate to have a number of "hunts of a lifetime". Now it is just hunting with friends.

Wonderful pictures and a great looking hunt. Reports like this will force me to hunt with Buzz. He surely seems to be a good guy.

What a great hunt!! Thank you for sharing. How did your friend make out with the Leopard hunt. Will he be posting a hunt report?

I better defer to Bill on his report. This was his second trip to Africa and he felt this trip was much better than his first.

Mike, congratulations to you! Nice trophies, and alot of good pics too.

Excellent report for an enjoyable area. Both camps offer something unique and both hold their own romance. The nearness of the East camp to Harare makes it an interesting staging area or halfway point on the trip home from Dande. You did well wherever you went, as usual. Congratulations for the good work with the double on a variety of game --- one of my favorite pursuits.

Thank you for sharing the experience and welcome home.

Mike,

Have been looking forward to this post much like many of the AR team. Was not disappointed!
Great trophies!
Having the locals start surrounding the river while one is looking for hippo is quite the show! They come quickly and from nowhere. Our game scout had to enter the frenzy to take four of the homemade axes away from butchering crowd. One of the first to leave w/meat was a young (4-5 yr old) boy w/ a 8-10 lb of meat. He emerged from the frenzy hold his prize w/a smile the only a child can don. We saw the child again as we headed back to camp. We would have been at least a mile from the river. The child was in a trot as we approached, quickly jumping into the weeds off the road. Both arms out holding the oversized chunk of meat--still smiling that smile. --This photo opportunity I missed, but will forever have in my mind. As you said, Mike, we can not apprieate their need/want for protein. Buzz told me that I had increased the world population by 1000 after getting my hippo. He may not be too far off w/that statement
Again, great hunt and report!!!!

Great report, Mike; I have been waiting patiently Sounds like you and Bill had a great hunt. Less than two weeks for me....

Congratulations, Mike! Glad to see you had another great trip! Thanks for sharing!

Great hunt and report as usual Mike. Thanks for sharing, and you photos were excellent as we have come to expect. What is on the ticket next year?

Next year . . . we are planning on hunting an elephant bull in one of the Forestry areas around Hwange, like Ngamo/Sikumi. Or perhaps I will drag Buzz off to hunt in Botswana. I would really like to chase one of those big bodied bulls that hang out in that part of the world.

quote:

For me the highlight of the trip had to be, just being in Africa . . . .

Amen Brother Mike!

Congratulations on another successful hunt and some very nice trophies. As usual, your hunting report was well done and gives the inexperienced as well as the old hands a good idea of what your days afield were like with Buzz and the boys. Excellent job.

BTW, it was good to see the Gibbs where she belongs, even if she didn't get "blooded".

Congrats on your trip Mike, well done and a very good report and photo's. Cheers, David

Wow, great hunt! How cool to have a 'girl scout'? Neat to see the local ladies have some opportunity. Nice boss on the buff and the kudu is quite the bruiser.

Great stuff Hunter Jines. Congratulations and welcome home.