29 December 2022, 10:05
crbutlerCoutada 9 Mozambique 2022
October 12-November 2 (including travel days)Travel arranged by Shawn Kennedy at Gracy Travel (American, Qatar, and SA Airlink)
Coutada 9 Mozambique and MPhingwe Lodge
Outfitter Mokore Safaris (Mozambique)
PH Brian Van Blerk
Photographer Roy Alward
Rifles: .375 H&H Dakota 76 using 300 grain TSX handloads
.30-06 Mauser custom (supposedly made by Don Allen) using 200 grain Partitions and 220 grain Woodleigh solids handloads
I booked this hunt after deciding that I both wanted to see Mozambique and also wanted Suni, Red Duiker, and to get a free range Nyala. Of course, I can't go there without trying for buffalo as well. Brian had a concession that he had been working with that had really exceptional waterbuck, but apparently the operator started restricting where the clients could go. I had hunted with Mokore before and had talked with them about Mozambique, so it seemed to be a good fit. I had heard reports of lots of game on Coutada 9 as well as that Mokore's buffalo reintroduction was doing really well. Brian had heard good things about it as well, and of course, the Duckworths have a stellar reputation for running their hunting operations.
I was able to do some degree of quota cleanup, as there were numbers of lots of game still available. It wasn't quota cleanup in the classic sense of discounts, but I was able to take multiples of a number of species.
The camp is individual chalets with shower and toilets, along with a large communal area for eating. There is a waterhole in sight of the camp for game viewing that I did not get much viewing of given we were hunting most of the time, but one would see baboons, impala, reedbuck, and occasionally nyala at it.
I had thought that I had an exclusive camp, but that was a misunderstanding (I had full use of the concession). In any case, it did not affect the hunting at all other than making it necessary to plan where we were going before we went out. The concession is huge, but the portion that is actively hunted is rather small (as a percentage) and tends to be based on where water is available. The bush is very thick during the early season, and they really don't hunt then as the game has lots of area to spread out and you can't really see them except up close. When I was there it was quite hot, with 90's being the norm, and a number of days going as high as 106. It was somewhat humid at times as well. We also hunted an adjoining area (took about 8 hours to drive over pretty bad (even by African standards) roads. This is because that while there are Suni and Red Duiker at C-9, they are pretty rare and I saw 1 Red Duiker female and Brian saw a Suni, that was it at the Mokore area. The other area was more a photo/tourist target audience, but did have hunting. We saw LOTS of Suni, Red Duiker, and also Nyala at MPhingwe lodge, and were in and out in less than a day.
Buffalo:
You saw sign of them every day, and if you were actively hunting them you were on them, although sometimes other folks were bumped off of them by lions. I saw herds (may have been the same one, but I did not notice that) twice while hunting other things, but hunted them by going after dagga boys. It is my understanding that Mokore does not allow hunting the herd to both keep it in the area and to continue to build numbers. The buffalo were pretty calm, and they did not seem to be all that switched on by poaching presence. Mokore is running a pretty tight ship with regards to poaching. One thing they do is pay a bounty on traps. They use the traps as rebar for concrete work....
Cats:
There are no leopard here. Lions are fairly numerous, but as we were not looking for them, and I shot my buffalo fairly early on, I only saw them one time. They apparently have a quota that is pretty generous, but elect to take only 1 every other year, one at the main camp. The other groups reported getting involved with Lion while hunting buffalo pretty regularly, and we ran into tracks often. Apparently they are having issues with the lion taking off a bit more plains game than is good. There are small cats around, but not on license.
Nyala:
Lots of Nyala around, with exceptional trophy quality. I shot a 30" bull, as did the client who was there when I got in. I saw them pretty much daily, although not shooters that frequently.
Warthog:
This place is a pig shooter's paradise. Big warthog abound. I couldn't help but shoot 5 of them, although I did wound and lose one. They also have some Bushpig around, and another client shot one while I was there, even though I did not see one.
Kudu:
This place was crowded (overcrowded?) with Kudu. Lots of 50" bulls around. The biggest one I saw was probably 53". We saw them like I am used to seeing impala. Lots, all over the place. They were having trouble with losing condition due to a lack of adequate feed in the areas around water. They needed the rains to hit to get the bush growing again. If I didn't see a half dozen mature bulls a day, I was not looking.
Impala:
Large numbers, but not as numerous as the Kudu it seemed. The bigger rams were in the 22-23" range... not the giants of Tanzania, but very good.
Sable:
Lots of them around. Good trophy quality, quite a few over 40".
Eland:
Good numbers, and good trophy quality. I saw lots of them, and everyone who wanted one while I was there got one.
Waterbuck:
There are a pretty good number here, although not really big by my standards. I didn't see one that caught my fancy, but could have shot 3-4 of them.
Reedbuck:
Good numbers of common reedbuck, with some pretty exceptional ones.
Bushbuck:
Not huge numbers, but very huntable. I ended up seeing bigger than what I shot.
Other game:
I did see one zebra, and elected not to shoot. We saw some hartebeest, but not many. These have an issue with migrating through communal lands outside the concession, and get hit pretty hard. The lion also like them...
There is also a very interesting Francolin there, that after I saw one up close, I wanted, but it just didn't come together. Quite a few guinea fowl. Lots of interesting birds for the birders to identify.
There are elephant present, but not in huge numbers (and they are not hunted.) the elephant seem still a little nervous from the war days. I did not see crocodile or Hippo here.
Hunting:
I arrived late in the evening. It is a rather long drive from Tete in to camp. They do have an airstrip, and it is possible to charter in, but its pretty expensive and based on where you fly in to. Apparently there is no competeition at Tete, and thus the cost is very high. Beira is supposed to be the better choice to fly in to if you want to charter. I really didn't have an interest in chartering a plane, so I am pretty ignorant as to the particulars... but the roads are not good. We had an exceptional meal of Eland filet that the client who was in camp had shot, a long shower, and then to bed.
The next morning was the usual check zeros and make sure nothing went wonky with the equipment. My .30-06 had misplaced its zero, so it was a few shots to get things were they needed to be.
The first order of business was Buffalo. This is what the other folks hunting here would be targeting as main goals, so it was the best thing to target first as no one else was looking for them at that point. The client before me had shot a huge 44" bull, and was over the moon with him. He had previously hunted buffalo and not connected, so he was excited to say the least!
While looking for tracks the first day we ended up running into the resident lion pride, and saw a number of lionesses. While I ended up seeing fresh lion tracks, this was the only time I saw the cats themselves. That pretty much ended the morning buffalo hunt.
In the afternoon, we were out after buffalo tracks. While looking for tracks we saw a large old Reedbuck. I had shot a good one before, but he was missing his one horn halfway down. This guy had both, and was a fairly easy shot.
We saw a few buffalo in the distance late in the afternoon after a bit of tracking from water, and decided to go back after them the next day. Driving back from the skinning shed, I probably made the biggest mistake of this safari. We saw a Nyala bull that had one horn drooping down vertically and I said that we should wait before going after him. Brian said I would probably regret that decision... He was right. Droopy became one of the two animals that I ended up spending a lot of time chasing for the next two weeks. What was more, I could shoot more than one if I wanted... for just the trophy fee... Dumb, dumb dumb... If your PH says shoot, listen to him!
Day two was a lot like day one with a short range warthog appearance that I managed to flub the shot on and missed him clean, and not quite getting in on the buffalo, and at the end of the day finding some. We tried to get in with them and ended up bumping them two times before we backed off and hoped they decided to stay near to where we left them.
The following morning we were up on them early and spent some time trying to sort out the tracks to get on the right group. The lion had been in the area, even if we didn't see them. We then got on the buffalo after a few hours of walking. They were lying down in the heat of day and pretty much unaware of us, as the wind had been good and was staying steady (does that ever happen with buffalo? This time it did...). One bull was standing, and he was very good with a lot of drop. One shot with the .375 and they were all running. I followed him and was going to take a second shot, but was asked not to as Brian wasn't sure if I was still on the one I had hit. We started following them through the bush and after a bit were finding good red blood, and then heard a death bellow. Following further, they were standing there with the other big bull trying to hook him to stand up. They finally left and we went up to him. An excellent bull!
That afternoon we went looking for Nyala and came across a good Grysbok. If you can shoot a Grysbok in the day with a rifle, you had a good day in the bush! This day was certainly a red letter day with an excellent buffalo and a grysbok on the same day.
The 18th was a bit of an odd day. I started off planning on looking for Nyala. It was a rather cool, hazy, day and we saw some Nyala, but not Droopy or one that was big enough to meet our ideas of what to shoot. On our winding way back to camp, we see a sable. I am asked if I want another Sable after the good one I shot back in Zimbabwe a couple years back. Nope. We sit and observe him for a while, and Brian says "I really think you should shoot this Sable." Well, after the other day, OK, lets do it. A rather short stalk, and he is standing near a koppie bank. I take a shot and he's off. I think I missed him as I clearly saw dust underneath him at the shot. However, Brian said I hit him, and he's running full speed, then just stumbles and drops. Perfect heart shot, but the bullet took a weird direction on leaving him and looked like I shot at his feet.
I was later told that this was the biggest sable they shot here. He was missing a hoof, but had been doing well despite this. Snare wound, but quite a while ago. As an aside, later on in the hunt there was a injured sable that really could not walk. We saw him 2 days in a row in the same place, and if you went up to him he limped a half dozen paces and then turned and faced us. I ended up deciding to end his troubles on the third day as they did have an extra couple sable on quota and the lion were in the area. He was almost as large as the first one. Not a real hunt that one, more a putting down of a suffering animal.
The next day we saw the second animal that made me decide to chase this individual one. We were driving on one of the roads, and the trackers saw a Kudu. Now, we had been seeing them regularly, and stopping and looking at all of them. I didn't get the greatest look at him, but he had a very atypical horn. After a little discussion, I said I wanted him, as I have never seen an atypical kudu that was very large- usually just missing a part of one horn. This one had a deformed horn. We spent about 2 hours trying to catch him, but he managed to give us the slip. So now it was Droopy and ol'screwy that were our daily pursuit while at Coutada 9. Later, in the afternoon, we found a really big Nyala bull, and we elected to give him a go. He was in some of the thickest stuff on the concession, and I elected to use the .375 on this one, everything else this hunt was shot with the light rifle. After about an hour and a half, we managed to see him trying to slip away through a small opening. The only shot was a going away presentation, which made me glad I was carrying the bigger rifle. One shot anchored the bull, but I did shoot it a second time to kill it quickly. This was a very good Nyala bull (but not Droopy). I think this is what you should expect hunting Nyala here in Coutada 9.
The following day we drove to M'Phingwe for the Suni and Red Duiker. This was a very long drive, leaving just at dawn and getting there about 3 PM.
We unpacked at the lodge and then made a circuit of the roads to get a look-see. On the way in, we had seen numerous examples of both species, and there were females of both in camp during the day! Driving did not work, they did not like the sound of the cruiser, and doing the sit on the tailgate and jump off resulted in the animals running off before you could really evaluate them. Lots of Nyala would just stand there, but not the tiny guys. We ended up just getting off and quietly walking along the roads, and even so it was the trackers who saw them first. It was a little exasperating that I would see one, and Brian couldn't, or he would see it and I would not until it ran off. just before sunset, one big Suni make decided to stand still too long, and a shot with a solid got him.
The next morning, we were off looking for Red Duiker. There is a lot of variability in their coloration, and I saw one that was almost black on its head, but he ran before we had a shot. Again, after a few attempts, we finally got a good male to stand still just a bit too long and collected him.
We then dropped Albert off with him (to skin him) and did some sightseeing including an active wood mill.
We came back to the lodge about 11, and had some of the duiker for lunch (very good eating!) with our crew, and then headed back to Coutada 9. We drove quite a bit faster on the way back, and got back to camp just in time for an abbreviated reccy-run looking for Droopy and Screwy.
We saw a larger than usual impala, and shot him. (for impala shank dinner)
I managed to wound a warthog afterwards that we ended up looking for the following morning with no luck. It looks like I hit him in the leg and he was not leaving much of a blood trail. We followed him until dark and then saw fresh lion tracks on our walk back (they were on top of ours...) Looked like he probably ran for a few miles then got in with a mob of pigs and we lost track of him.
After that, my luck with pigs made a decided turn for the better. I ended up shooting and getting 4 other big pigs. I shot another impala, A good Oribi, a nice Eland, a Bushbuck and a common Duiker while we were looking for Droopy and Screwy.
The Kudu finally made a mistake and we saw him near where we had seen him the first time. We had been looking for him for about 10 days at this point. We decided to have Proud check a waterhole and see if either of the two spiral horns were using it, and relatively shortly thereafter, we saw a kudu from the road. We decided to follow him and take a look-see at him in case he was Screwy. after a bit of stalking quietly, we saw him standing on a termite mound with his horns in the tree. I could not see his horns, but Brian had and hissed to shoot him NOW. One shot, and he ran for a short bit into some of the thickest bush we could find, and there he was, dead. I think while not huge, he is probably my "best" Kudu. (larger, normal horn was 48" or so.)
At this point, there had been the first American hunter in camp, then a pair of South Africans hunting buffalo, and a couple days before we left, an couple from Belgium. The lady was very good at speaking english, and they were here for buffalo. However, when she heard about Droopy, her comment was that she wanted him also! In the end, I did not catch up with him. She ended up shooting a different atypical Nyala... so Droopy is still out there, if the lions didn't get him.
