G'Day, thought you might be interested in the story of my recent hunt with CM Safaris.

QUESTION ANSWERED

After two years in planning and waiting, I finally found myself back in the Holy Hunting Ground of hunting, Africa! It is hard to find any other place in the world that seems to draw one back time after time as this amazing continent does, one trip is usually only half completed and there is talk of where, how and what for the next time! That is how I found myself back in Zimbabwe with my good friend and PH Rich Tabor, who is now hunting full time with CM Safaris.

One of Rich’s major passions in life is hunting Elephant, from pursuing the majestic Elephant Bull for the white gold that they carry, to the pure adrenalin rush of chasing, and being chased by “the bitches of the bush” more commonly known as tuskless cows. All prospective clients should be very aware that after listening to the stories of previous experiences hunting Elephant, the passion is very catching and the only cure ( though this proves to be only short term) is too actually partake in this activity yourself. The thrill of being chased by very large, aggressive squealing Elephant Cow’s down in the Save Conservancy two years prior, while hunting Cape buffalo is an experience that I was keen to repeat. Though this time we would be actively trying to find the herds and hopefully interact closely with them.
Within the first hour of the hunt we are amongst a herd of eight Elephant, one being a half pint tuskless cow. The feeling of being up close and personal with the largest land mammal is definitely worth the price of admission; spend some time just trying to get comfortable being amongst these amazing animals.
QUESTION: How would I react to a real life charge from the dangerous game animals that we hunt, would the flight or fight instinct take over? I am sure that any one that has hunted dangerous game has at least thought of this.
The first day hunting saw us walking away from three tuskless cows, two half pints and a shooter that happened to be in a very awkward position that would have made the recovery very labour and time expensive, as usual in Africa not an ounce of meat is wasted. In total we saw around 30 Elephant in several small herds, plus tracked around 60 Buffalo for several hours, close to them several times but the swirling wind makes it all the more difficult.



The next several days are full on glassing and stalking, looking for that exceptional Buffalo Bull and a Tuskless Ele Cow. Tracks of three Dugga Boys are followed as they head to the shade at about 11.00am, best to be found was around the 36 inch, leave them in peace as hoping to better my Buff from previously. Break the boredom by stalking a small herd of Sable Antelope, but leave a 36 inch Sable Bull to mature! Got to love Africa.
Hunting the Zambezi Escarpment this late in the season after the burns, allows for the extensive use of both binoculars and spotting scopes. Rich has a Zeiss 60 power spotting scope, nicknamed the ‘limb saver’, which is a favourite for the amount of foot miles that it saves. Glassing a small herd of Ele high on the ridge about two kilometres away finds two of them are tuskless, one a half pint but the matriarch of the herd is a large bodied tuskless cow, need to go and check her out closely to see if there are any dependant calves. Elephant cows will breed till they die so a big emphasis is placed on making sure that any calf is old enough to take care of itself, no matter how big the cow is if it has a dependant age calf you have to be prepared to walk away. All this information can be found on the most informative DVD that focuses on all aspects of Elephant hunting that was used in preparation for this trip. “Hunting The African Elephant” by Charlton McCallum Safaris, does a tremendous job on educating the novice Elephant hunter on all the need to know facts.
Climbing the side of the steep ridge allows us to approach the small herd undetected, a quick check with the ash bag shows the slight breeze is still in our favour. At around 60 yards we pause to ascertain that there are no dependant calves, in a matter of minute’s Rich turns around and motions me forward, she is a shooter, game on. Feeling some nerves approach for a frontal brain shot as they are feeding slowly towards us, 30 feet, 25 then 20 feet away, get the nod to take the shot. Visualise where the brain sits inside that massive grey head and take aim over the open sights and take her cleanly with the first shot, jam another quick shot into the mass of grey as we back off quickly in case the other Ele start to get worked up. Once they vacate the area put two insurance shots into her front shoulder, not really necessary as the first shot had brained her, but it is always the “dead” animals that kill you! Hard to believe that I have just taken my first Elephant spend the next twenty minutes just letting the entire situation soak in, what a rush!

Rich, Myself, Ishmale, Noah, Mo and Norest


Now the real work begins, takes around four hours to remove the hide and recover as meat as possible. Freshly cooked elephant kebabs on green sticks help lighten the meat load. The remaining carcase will be used as Hyena bait.
With the tuskless Elephant in the salt, lots of time and effort are being devoted to following the Buffalo herds and tracking any Dugga boy tracks in search of a solid bossed old boy. Once again the later you hunt the more concentrated the animals become around the existing water supplies, some travelling many miles from their feeding grounds to slake their thirst. Leave a nice solid bull of around 38 inch to wander his solitary life, couple of younger soft bossed herd bulls around the 40 inch mark are left to mature. Spend several hours with a herd of 38 buffalo with 14 sable mixed in amongst them feeding. Do you look at that solid bossed Buffalo bull, or should I be concentrating on studying the Sable Bull of around 36 inch n length? A Chobe Bushbuck coming away from one of hidden springs leads us nice chase ducking and weaving, finally standing still long enough to take a heart/lung shot. Makes number three in the Bushbuck collection, already having the Limpopo and Cape Bushbuck.

Use enough gun, taken with .416 Rem Mag


Some of the most heard phrases in Africa seems to be “we will make a Plan”, “right place, right time,”well sometimes these plans really do come together and you can be in the right place at the right time. This is how I got to hunt an Elephant Bull that had turned rogue, and what a thrilling sport that is! Without the very good working relationship that has been built up with Parks and Wildlife this hunt could have fallen over any time, Rich will always have my thanks and appreciation for the extra effort involved.

Letter of authority from Parks And Wildlife


A rare sight, called a Pangolin. Considered to very lucky


After receiving the appropriate paperwork, plus picking up an extra Game Scout that knows the Rogue Bull by sight, we head drop down out of the Escarpment into the Valley itself and travel to the mighty Zambezi River. Once at the fishing village we pick up one of the locals who know the whereabouts of the Rogue, it also turns out that he was present when the woman was killed. Appears that the Bulls favourite hangout is on a track that connects two fishing villages and had been harassing the locals for some considerable time, the rule was run fast and don’t look back, unfortunately this day the Ele Bull caught the woman, knocked her down and then came back and stomped her to death.
We soon find several Elephant not far from the fishing camps and both our local guide and Game Scout identify the largest of the Bulls as the offender. Last minute instructions from Rich before we start the stalk are, “we are going to try and get in a position to take a side brain shot, but if he senses us he will spin and more than likely come in on a full charge, remember the reference points for a frontal brain shot?” Not trusting my voice, nod to all the instructions and check again that have a round in the chamber. Let the hunt begin!
Using the wind and what little cover there is, slowly work our round and get within 20 yards without being detected, close the gap to 15 then 12 yards. With that amazing survival instinct that wild animals have the Bull senses something is not right, does that amazing sideways spin that Elephants can do, lifts his head with ears spread wide to make himself look bigger, lowers his head and charges. The open sights of the Blaser .416 Rem Mag are aligned on the centre of the head at the widest part, trying to gauge the exact spot that the football sized brain is hiding inside the massive grey head, all this while the Elephant Bull works up to top speed in his charge. Everything lines up and a 400 grain Woodleigh Hydrostatic projectile drops the Bull in mid-stride, work the Blaser straight pull bolt and put another shot in the grey head, Rich pulls me to one side and says give him two into the front shoulder once again as insurance. Distance 7 yards.
ANSWER: Stood the charge of 6-7 Tonne Elephant Bull intent on adding us to his tally of victims. What a rush!! That was a charging Bull Elephant that I just shot!! Amazing, amazing, amazing feeling!!
Plenty of photos are taken before the major task taking the hide and head of this massive animal take place, lucky in protein starved Africa plenty of willing hands are there to help in exchange for some meat. The Parks and Wildlife will handle the butchering of the carcase, half the meat will go to the local community and half goes back to Marongora Ranger Station.

Smiles all round






Once we have the head back at camp, after it took 13 people to push and pull it into the back of cruiser, the skinners find a .375 projectile lodged near the left tusk. This proved to be the cause of the Bulls aggravation.

Right tusk
Length 4’8”
17 ½” at lip
53 lbs

Left tusk
Length 5’5”
17” at lip
55 lbs


Leaving camp early travel down what is aptly named “haemorrhoid road” towards the back of the concession towards what we have named Sable Mountain, as a large Sable Bull has managed to give us the slip on several occasions. This morning proves to be no different, after spending over an hour on hands and knees and down commando crawling across open ground to get in a position to hopefully get up close to an unsuspecting feeding sable bull what do we find? Nothing, zilch, zero. Once again looks like we have been outdone. While the Norest and Noah do the amazing work that trackers do to figure out what direction the Sable has taken, Mo our game scout sees the arse end of Sable going through a gully on the opposite side of the mountain, the side we had just come down! A much faster pace is set on the return trip, with the usual single file configuration, Norest, Noah, Rich, a larger gap the bigger the hill and me, followed by Mo. This proved to be the Sables undoing as he allowed the first three guys to go over a slight rise before stepping out of a gully about 70 yards to the left and showing that classic Sable pose of head turned along the flank, this allowed me to get the cross-hairs on him for a heart/lung shot. The 180 grain Sorrocco II from the .300 Win Mag did the job perfectly and dropped the Sable where he had stood. Rich and trackers had no clue what was happening when they heard the blast of the shot, turned to see me with the rifle up yelling, “hope that was the right one!” Turned out it was.

A 40 inch Sable Bull was our reward for persistence on Sable Mountain.


Seems Rich likes putting the Cruiser through its paces, as the next day we once again travel the haemorrhoid road, this time to the very end of the cut track. Who can complain as we spend the next four hours amongst buffalo herds, in total we looked at and passed up two small Buff Bulls of 32 inch, at least three solid boss 36 inch bulls and walked away from a soft herd bull of 39+ inches. In total we looked at over120 Buffalo of three different herds, looked down from under 50 yards on a unsuspecting Kudu Bull, what an amazing morning!! The only part of nature that seems dead set against us are the Tsetse flies, and do they make their feelings known. All is good till they find that tender spot on the back of neck, or that shallow nerve and then do they make you jump and shout.

Feeding herd of Buff in the Golden light of Zimbabwe


Sunset in Gods own country


Early the next morning sees us on the Kariba side of the Concession, over sixty road kilometres from camp, trying to find our way through 10 foot thatch grass following the tracks of a small herd of buffalo. Once again the pure magical skills of the trackers are amazing and bring us up on a herd of 20 cows and calves, but not a Bull in sight.
This country varies very quickly from flat and easy going, to the gentle undulating and then to the step sides of tall Kopjes. It is on the top of these small mountains that Rich says you can still find evidence left from camps of the famous Selous Scouts, who used this area extensively for training during the Bush Wars. One of the training exercises was to be dropped in the bush down Lakes end, then have to be in Makuti three days later, a distance of around 60 km over some very treacherous terrain. All this with no supplies at all, only what could be scrounged on the way. Tough men.
Enjoy lunch in the shade along one of the small spring fed creeks till around two o’clock in the arvo, when Rich decides it is a good time to follow the tracks of some Dugga boys that we come across on the way in. Not only is it 34 degrees, but the tracks lead uphill! Reckon the sun has finally got him!! But as usual he is on the money as within half hour hit some real fresh sign of the four Dugga boys, Norest the tracker says they are very close and the pace picks up. As we come over the top of one Kopje Mo spots the Dugga boys rounding the opposite one, quick look through the binoculars show a mass of horns but then they disappear again, 3.30pm. Race is on to climb up after them, Rich and Norest make it in time to see our four Dugga boys multiply into seven with several good heads in amongst them. A plan is made to get around in front and a mad dash finds us on hands and knees crawling on the opposite hill side, within a short time are 30 feet away trying to gain a position for a good look. Maybe a crack of a branch or some small movement gives the game away and the Buff move off at a fast amble, no chance of a shot as they disappear in one of the many folds of the land, 4.30 pm.
The saying “they don’t get big by being stupid” definitely applies to these boys, they simply seem to have disappeared! Leaving the trackers to unravel the trail, Rich and I gain some height to try and look in each and every hidey hole, finding a herd of feeding elephant but no Buff.
After twenty minutes of searching with no luck, begin to believe that they somehow gave us the slip. When a dark shape is spotted stepping into a gully the chase is on again. Following get in position about 70 yards away on the opposite side of the gully, get set on shooting sticks looking through the Zeiss scope, find the biggest and widest set of horns, third from the right. Rich calmly says wait, wait while checking for solid bosses and width. When I hear take the third one from the right, sweetly squeeze the trigger on the Blaser and can see the Bull hunch slightly from the heart shot, but still following his brothers. Making the most of the straight pull of the Blaser manage to make three quick follow up shots, the last making a spectacular sight of pole axing a running buffalo with a spine shot! All to the cheers of Norest, Noah and Mo.
Cross the gully and approach the downed animal with the upmost caution, take the insurance shot. A monster Cape Buffalo Bull is lying at our feet, what a hunt, what a feeling and what an ending! Love the combination of the Blaser and Woodleigh Hydrostatic projectiles.



Ishmale, Mo, Noah, Norest and Scott. Later measured the monster at 45 inches. Trophy of a life time


Rich, Blaser .416, Krieghoff .470


With still a week’s hunting left, take some time out and go explore Lake Kariba. Lunch by the lake enjoying a cool beer from the bar, pick up some local trinkets to take home for my girls and enjoy the tourist side of hunting. Leaving the passport with officials, stand on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia in the middle of the Zambezi River and marvel at the work that went into the building of the wall.




Drive down to the Zambezi and try our hand at tiger fishing, with no luck. Seems they are not biting even for the professionals so we amateurs have no chance. Enjoy the scenery of Mana Pools Reserve, amazing array of animals roaming a reasonable small area and all seem ready to stand for the camera.

Next morning once again head off to check the elephant carcase for any Hyena activity, this is our third attempt as keep getting side tracked hunting other animals. This time proves no different. Travelling past one of the open flays a Common Reedbuck is spotted feeding, a short stalk and a 275 yard shot over the shooting sticks using the .300 Win Mag brings a nice Ram down. Back to camp and the skinning shed by 7.00am. Rest of the day is spent trying to whistle up a Klipspringer using my fox whistle, must be tuned for the girls as no males appear interested.

While looking for an appropriate site to set the bait for Hyena on the Marongora River come across a Lion kill, the carcase of a Buffalo Bull. While that is not unusual, the fact that humans had finished butchering what the Lion had not consumed was, this was pieced together by tracks and axe marks left on the carcase. What the Lions and Locals had not taken the Hyenas had made the most of, so set up the bait about 150 yards away in the River bed. The work of carrying and tying together rotten meat, cutting branches to cover it all from Vultures and clearing the shooting lane and access taking the best part of 1 ½ hours paid off at daylight the next morning, with the taking of a 80+ kg Hyena. On approach there were up to eight Hyena on the bait, with enough light managed to ground the largest, though the shot was lower than intended. An accidental side brain shot soon finished this “smelly dog” though did not do the skull much good. Sure glad I did not have to skin him/her?



How does one judge the success of a Safari?
If it is by the trophies collected, than it was outstanding.
If it is by the quality of the experience, than it was outstanding.
If it is by the quality/quantity of animals seen, than it was outstanding.
If it is by pure enjoyment factor, than it was outstanding.
But most of all I got to spend time one of the most beautiful parts of the world amongst like minded people, learning about the animals and the environment I was in, maybe finding out the answer to a question. The making of new friends and continuing a great friendship with Rich and Sarah, having the privilege of meeting a special little guy called Sam.
Scott Brown
AUSTRALIA

Now that was an exceptional Safari with fantastic Trophy's.
What a way to start on AR.

What a fantastic safari! Congrats on some really great trophies.

Torbjørn

quote:

Originally posted by ozhunter:
Now that was an exceptional Safari with fantastic Trophy's.
What a way to start on AR.

Congratulations Scott, excellent!

Hardly surprising that bull had a bullet in it, no doubt from the barrel of one of those clowns who are shooting up Nyakasanga. Well done for dropping that bull, it would have killed someone else soon enough.

Cheers, David

Safari of a lifetime...

Welcome to the forum!
Thanks for sharing this with us. Great safari!
Great photos as well. Love those b&w photos especially.

Wonderful report! Thanks for the write up, and congratulations on an amazing trip.

Good work. Congrats.

Great trip and huge congrats on the trophies and the adventure...

looks you have had a safari of a lifetime!!Great trophiees and a fantastic buffalo!!

Outstanding hunt and a most enjoyable report. Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

One of the best to date. Great trophies, report and some exceptional photographs. Bloody well done.

Congratulations on your hunt with Richard in Makuti! It must have been something having that charging killer elephant in your open sights.

And all with a Blaser! There's a man who knows how to travel!

Conrgtualtions, sounds like you had the trip of a lifetime

That Buffalo really is the bull of a lifetime!

Congrats on a great trip.

Thanks for sharing the great stories and pictures.

Great trip and report

WOW - awesome hunt, trophies, report....and most impressively great shooting when it counted, on a job that had to be done. That charge will stay with you forever.

Congratulations all around.

What a dream safari.. It has it all!

Congrats on everything you were able to take on this hunt. Fanstastic.

Welcome to AR as well.

Damn nice trophies! Well done.

Great report, great story, and congratulations on your trophies. Welcome.

Great Report and Great Safari

Great all the way around. Good hunting, great trophies, and an excellent write up. Rich is a first class guy and PH. I've hunted with him twice now and have booked to go back with him again next October.

Awesome Buff. And I think you are Rich's first hunter to take a Hyena in Makuti. I missed one after unexpectedly spooking it while checking my Elephant carcass one afternoon this past June. That would have made me the first, but hey that's the way it goes. Rich was keen to nail that first "Smelly Dog" in Makuti! Congrats to you. Looks like you had a hell of a trip and I'm sure you'll be back.

Ismail, Norest, and Noah are good guys as well. Very hard workers and very pleasant to hunt with.

Thanks to all for positive feed back on the write up. Mate it was the first "smelly dog", but reckon hit the jackpot of spots to bait for them, going to be the sweet spot for hyena. Heard that Rich and client nailed a "toad" of Leopard very near the same place in last day or so.

A major plus is that everyone puts in 110% effort, but Norest and Noah have amazing eyes for spotting game. A bit of fun and a laugh is never far away either

So will you be having copy's of those tusks made up?

Fantastic safari & trophies. Thanks for sharing.

Are you allowed to keep the ivory from the bull or is it a PAC?

Great after action report. Nice trophies. Congratulations. I have to go now, dealing with jealousy issues.......

quote:

Originally posted by horn:
Safari of a lifetime...

That sums it up!

quote:

Originally posted by ozhunter:
So will you be having copy's of those tusks made up?

took measurements every 5" and lots of photos of the tusks and will get a repro set done.Taxidermy Africa that are doing the taxidermy also do repro tusks, so all works in.As close as ever get to getting the real thing back into Aus.

Bull was hunted as PAC because of the circumstances of the death of the Lady, but can not import any elephant products into Australia in any case.

Hi Scott

Well done on shooting that bull. 3 days before the bull killed the lady I was at the Sugar Estates" hunting and we had a morning off so my trackers walked to Chirundu and Eddy very nearly got squashed by the same guy-if it were not for a drain ditch that he managed to crawl into just before been caught he certainly would have met the same ending!

While a wonderful adventure for you, as Dave said, he was probably wounded by one of our "friends" south of the border who have over run Nyakasanga.

While we agree that there certainly are some bad local eggs in Zim we would do well by starting to ban SA "pro Hunters" from opperating in Nyakasanga. If we take clients to SA we need an SA ph ad that same rule should apply to SA Ph bringing clients into Zim.

Anyway Scott well done on a great hunt with Rich- he really has had a fanastic season and he has just shot another massive leopard, nice sable and buffalo ( they saw over 1000 buff) with another fellow AR gentleman!

Cheers Buzz

Ja, I hear you about the SA guys in Nyakasanga Buzz, but they must be hunting with Zim operators...I would be very interested to know which Zim operators are involved with SA operators in Nyakasanga. 'Ah but we have quota' is no damn excuse, they know they are overshooting the place. This is not about what is legal or illegal (very fine line there in modern day Zim), it is about what is right and wrong, what we were taught before we went to junior school. I personally have bigger issues with the Zim operators in Nyakasanga who are making it possible for the SA guys. I have been tempted to get involved in the 'illegal hunting' thread for weeks, especially after receiving some threatening messages from a couple of losers who are obviously involved and assume I am 'zimspatriot'...For their information, I am not, but I am on his side 100%. I like the idea of ZPHGA conducting an independent investigation into all the crap which is taking place in Zim hunting now and blacklisting all SA and Zim operators who should be. I am concerned that ZPHGA is not crying foul in a big way right now. Hunters could stop this and it is their responsibility to do so.

Cheers, Dave

I apologize Scott, Buzz, Richie for sounding off on this fantastic hunt report, it is not the right place to do so. I just remember the old Nyakasanga and it breaks my heart to hear what is going on there. I also knew other 'old' areas that have been destroyed, as many of you did. Nyakasanga is simply the latest casualty....

Loved the report and a great bull ele. Open sights and up close and personal.

Mike

Great report, great shooting and well deserved trophies. Trip of a lifetime

Fantastic report! Well done!

Zowie! Fantastic report on a dream hunt. Thank you. Big congrats on the ele, and especially being able to handle yourself and being able to do the job.
Buzz, you'd better look out for Eddy, or Sue will have your head and serve up your liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Elephant? That buffalo is a trophy of a lifetime.

Wow.

No question that buff is trophy of a lifetime. Stunning, and righteously hunted to boot. But to be able to approach and stand your ground in front of a known Mankiller and to perform flawlessly, well you have my respect.
Most of us never face that test, and ace it to boot. That's your real trophy, man. You will think about it every day for the rest of your life. Priceless.

Great write-up, great photos, and a great hunt.

And it's nice to see your use of B&W photos for some of your trophy shots. They add a wonderful sense of both atmosphere and gravitas to certain photographs, something I need to remember for future safaris.

Quite an auspicious maiden appearance to the AR board! We'll look forward to more from you in the future.