09 September 2015, 15:22
Neil DuckworthLion,Sable,Nyala hunt : Mozambique with Mokore Safaris
Area: Coutada 9 / 13 Mozambique.Operator: Mokore Safaris
Client : Dan, Nic and Joe Mehner & Rob Mehner
PH : Neil Duckworth
Cameraman : Luari Allanthwaite, Osprey Filming Company
Type of hunt :Lion, Sable, Nyala and plainsgame
Dates 1-21 August 2015
Rifles : 458 Dakota and a 270 Weatherby
This was a family hunt .The main animals were to be hunted by Dan and other plainsgame / baits to be hunted by his sons and Rob.
To start we started out by shooting a bunch of non trophy kudu for bait.
After collecting some baits and setting them up we took and afternoon walk along a small river bed where Dan managed to collect his first trophy, a nice bushpig
Over the next few days whilst checking baits we managed to pick up a nice hartebeest which Dan took with his 270.
On the second day we had one bait hit by two young males and a lioness feed. On the 4th night we had a bait hit by 3 males. One of them was a nice male which was missing part of his front foot in an old injury from a poachers gin trap.
The lion we called Tripod! Note part of his front right foot missing.
From here we decided to build a tree blind and get set up.
By 4:30 pm we were all set and in our tree house mansion.
After only a couple hours in the blind the first of the 3 males walked in straight under the tree blind. It was last light and was not tripod. Shortly after the second male arrived and then followed by tripod. For some reason the lions did not come to the bait for some reason. We lay there for over 3 hours ,often with all three males roaring directly under our treestand. Clearly not amused by the addition to the tree.
Eventually they started to feed on the kudu bait so I turned on the rheostat light to the minimum setting ,when it came on the 2 youner males were feeding. At first they we not to happy with the light but started to settle down. After a while Tripod ,who was lying a little way off ,moved to the bait. After increasing the light a bit Dan took him with a quartering on shot. With the classic tumble and growl the lion headed off into some long grass.
We got out of the tree stand and headed off into the long grass. After about 15 very intense minutes where we were being circledand mock charged by the two younger males not knowing where tripod was, we eventually found him in the long grass not far from one of his growling companions. We loaded him up and headed out for some photos.
A very big bodied lion with skull measuring just under 25" SCI.
Dan's long time dream had been accomplished.
The dreaded long grass we had to venture through in the dark!!
From here we had our main trophy in the salt so concentrated on getting some of the many other plainsgame trophies on offer.
Nico's nice old bushbuck ram taken last light after a long walk up the Nyampenpentwa river.
Dan's fine Nyala bull taken on a late afternoon walk up the Pompwe river. There were two bulls of similar size ,Dan hit him a little low, with a follow up with head torches we manages to follow him up and finish him of. A beautiful animal.
Dan's nice 16 " bushbuck ram.
Ngwenya the driver posing.
Nhamo my head tracker who's covered many miles with me for the last 13 years. Quiet but deadly.
Kudu country .
Nico's warthog
Nico's nice Oribi taken on the same walk as the warthog.
Nico's very nice old Common duiker.
The boys and Rob had great fun everyday competing to shoot gueneafowl.
After some hard hunting we found this very nice sable bull. 39. 5 " bull with 10.5" bases!!
We found a young elephant bull that had died some months before. Probably wounded by poachers. Nico claiming he got it with his knife..
Joe arrived half way through and got this nice kudu bull on his first day.
Big smiles from the group when we introduced Joe to our version of Cheese! Gongo ino naka !!
I won't translate it but brought lots of laughs.
Rob with the dreaded scope eye. Both boys also got one from the 458. Unfortunately we had a problem with the 270 Weatherby which was firing as soon as you closed the bolt. So all hunting from then on was with the 458 which caused a few misses and wounds after the scope eyes but still racked up some good trophies.
Rob with his first trophy.
Joe with his 15 " Bushbuck
Joe's hog. Unfortunately he wounded and missed bigger ones with the 458, but still a nice hog.
Joe catching some shut eye over lunch in camp.
Dan's chalet.
Rob's Sharpe's grysbok.
Nico's wide kudu.
Joe's nice 22" impala
Nico's nice 22 " impala
Gongo ino naka!!
Some sights!!
All in all it was a great safari with many great trophies and lots of laughs. The area is a great hunting destination as can be seen by the quality and variety of game seen here. We collected 18 trophy animals ,wounded 2 and missed several.
Thanks Dan and family for hunting with us on a great safari.
