Kazuma Elephant Hunt by Ma Baker

I am posting this report for Ma Baker.

Hunter: Jeremy Carr
Area: Kazuma Forest
Dates: 13 August to 22 August 2012
Booking Agent: Classic African Hunting
www.classicafricanhunting.com
PH: Guav Johnson
Trackers: Lovemore and Mishak
Gun: Sako 85 in .375 with Leopold 2.5 – 8 x 32 scope
Ammo: Barnes Banded Solids – 300 grain

Got to camp at 16h00 after the short flight from Johannesburg and a 2 hour road transfer to Kazuma camp. We saw Sable, Kudu, Waterbuck, Impala and Warthog on the drive from Vic Falls airport to camp. Sighted rifle just after 5. One Barnes X and one solid. All good.

Day 1:
We left camp at 06h20 and headed west towards the Botswana boundary. We travelled past the fire tower to Kawena pan. There was lots of activity and tracks from bulls that had watered during the night. Found good tracks of 2 big bulls and 1 small from the night before. We followed for 20 minutes and worked out that they were feeding so we fancied our chances of catching up to them. After almost 2 hours of tracking our scout spotted a single bull feeding 200m to our left. We doubled back around him to be downwind. He was feeding under big tree. Got in to about 50 yards of him and judged him to be around 45 pounds.
We continued on the tracks of the three bulls – their dung started to get warmer. Lovemore climbed a tree and saw them about 500m ahead of us. We got up to them. The young bull was facing us and the one older bull was feeding broadside. The biggest bodied bull had his back to us. We eventually got a look at him. Guav judged him to be around 40 pounds. The other older bull was even smaller. We backed out for the long walk to the vehicle.

Back at the truck we had snacks and juice then continued looking for tracks. We could not go longer than 500m without having to stop to look at other tracks - elephant everywhere! At around 12h30 the trackers spotted a herd of elephant cross ding the road in the distance. At first we thought it was a herd of cows because there were so many. When we got closer we saw that they were all bulls and the one in the front definitely deserved a double look. The trackers were all very excited about this bull - I am used to guys getting over excited so never really thought this was the one until I looked in the glasses and saw a pair of tusks coming out from behind a bush followed by a bull that stood higher than the rest. They were walking quickly and we summized they were heading to no 14 borehole. We followed at a very quick pace for about 2 km and found the herd mingling under a big teak tree. There were about 30 bulls in the herd which was going to make the stalk challenging.

We went in for a closer look and could see our guy in the middle of the group. We got to about 30 yards when a young bull took an interest in us. Lovemore was urging me to shoot. The front bulls parted way and there stood the bull - head against the tree and broadside. We could see his left tusk clearly. We knew he had a right tusk but couldn’t get a clear view. Guav cautiously estimated the bull at 55 pounds. (I later found out that this is his calming tactic.) I wasn’t sure if I should take him so early in the hunt but Guav assured me this was definitely a day 1 bull. The sticks went up and the shot placement whispers started. He was almost broadside so Guav suggested a shoulder shot. I said I thought I should take a brain shot on the condition that Guav backs me up on the shoulder in case I missed. Fear, adrenaline - you name it. Safety off - squeeze. 3 inches above the eye and 4 inches in front of the ear was the call. The shot went off and all I saw was his truck flying into the air as his back legs gave way. All hell broke loose with elephants running in all directions. 3 younger bulls hung around as we were running up to the downed bull. A lot of shouting and urging from Guav sent them on their way. We ran to within 5 m and I put in 2 insurance shots in the heart lung area plus one in front of the ear just in case. The scout and 2 trackers were high fiving and hugging me - relief of note - especially that the shot had been good!

The bull had dropped in his tracks and was still in the upright position. I couldn't believe that this had actually happened. On closer inspection we saw that the right tusk was even longer than the left one we had originally seen.
A dream come true.

After a photo session that was longer than my wedding photos, we started back to the camp to collect the skinning team. We had a quick lunch at camp and headed back to the scene of the hunt. The trackers cut a road through the bush. When we were about 1 km away, Guav and I walked ahead for another photo session. Unbeknown to us, Guav had put the coordinates of a different bull he had shot and the cutting crew were heading to a place 3 km away!
Eventually we met up with them and got the vehicle to the elephant. After another photo session the guys cut the head off the bull then the real work started - loading the head. The springs of Guav's truck nearly bottomed out.

We got back to camp at around 19h30 for a few celebratory drinks. Rob Styles and his client Don were in camp. Don was celebrating his lion from 2 days before. A great evening was had by all.
My first elephant and 1 on day 1!!!!!!

Day 2 - Recovery

Wake up was a little later than usual due to Rob Styles keeping us lubricated well into the night. We got to elephant at around 08h30 and started the skinning process. The guys manning the pump at borehole no 14 arrived on foot - out of the blue. They had heard the shots the night before and followed the vultures - from 4 km away. They certainly weren’t going to miss out on their share of the meat! Even if it meant walking through Lion country unarmed. A fire was started – they clearly had a feast on their minds!

Great Morning snack – freshly barbequed elephant Kebabs

Nothing left to waste!

I found the recovery of the carcass to be very interesting and it kept us entertained for the most of day 2. Hunting days 3 to 7 were spent trying to get a Hyena without the aid of a spotlight. We had great fun building blinds and had many encounters with Lions on our baits. We kept ourselves busy and had many a great laugh.

We ran into this Kudu Bull on day 5.

Day 7
Eventually on the morning of day 7 – our 7th try we connected. Up at 04h15 for our 7th visit to a blind. We were all feeling confident this morning as we had moved our blind into a position with a great view of the surrounds, plus we had seen planty tracks on this new bait. We left camp just after 04h30 for the long drive and arrived at about 05h45 for the walk into the blind. This entry was along a road with the blind only 3 meters from the road. Slowly into the blind. Before I was even in position Guav had looked through the shooting hole - Hyena at last. He told me to get my gun ready and to take the one on the left. The Shooting hole had a great rest. I looked through the scope and saw one Hyena to the right of the bait and another on the left at the base of the tree. Boom - not even 1 minute after getting to the blind. I ejected a round and ran around the side of the blind for a better view of the area. Not a Hyena to be seen. Amazing how fast they cover ground. Guav saw 2 Hyena leaving the scene - not a good sign. We went down to the bait and saw a Hyena lying behind the tree - down. There had actually been 3 Hyena and not 2 as we thought. It was 06h00 and the hunt was over. Persistence by Guav and the trackers had eventually paid off with us getting a Hyena without the use of a light. Some Leopard hunts are not even this hard.

We went for sundowner drinks in the Kazuma National Park along the depression bordering Botswana – we saw some great Elephant Bulls.

It is safe to say that the area is currently FULL of elephant bulls. Without even tracking, we saw bulls daily that would be shooters in most places! We had encounters with lions daily and saw some monster black maned males. We even had lions coming into our baits when waiting for Hyena – awesome experience!
My friends from Charleston, SC were also in camp and connected on a great Sable Bull on day 1 of their hunts as well as a Zebra and Baboon.
We pulled the tusks on day 8 for the unofficial weighing and removal of the nerves.

Overall, it was a most enjoyable hunt topped off by finding out after my departure that parks and weighed the right tusk in at 71 pounds and the left tusk went 64 pounds.

Henry and the camp staff were fantastic. I have heard some horror stories about Forestry camps. Henry has definitely bucked the trend and we had endless supplies of good quality food and drink. The camp was clean and extremely well serviced.
Kazuma forest lived up to its reputation and delivered me and experience and an elephant bull beyond my wildest expectations. I cannot talk highly enough about Guav and his head tracker - Lovemore. They kept giving it 100% until the last day to make sure I had every opportunity to take my daytime Hyena.

The danger of civilization, of course, is that you will piss away your life on nonsense

Posts: 782 | Location: Baltimore, MD | Registered: 22 July 2005

A.Dahlgren

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