HUNTERS

Chris Peccia and Robert Peccia

SAFARI OPERATOR

Northern Operations Africa
Dave and Maria Rademeyer
www.northernoperationsafrica.com

PROFESSIONAL HUNTER

Thierry Labat – Thierry Labat Safaris
www.thierrylabatsafaris.com

HUNT LOCATION

Northern Cameroon – Faro East’s Zone 5 Area

ACCOMODATIONS

Faro East’s Koti Manga Camp

TRACKERS

Lead Tracker: Gadal
Secondary Trackers: Aman, Romeo, Denny

DRIVER

Josef

DATES

Hunting dates: January 18th - January 29th, 2016

TRAVEL AND GUN PERMITS

Gracy Travel – Shawn Kennedy – shawn@gracytravel.com (airline arrangements to Douala)
Iles and Voyages – Mathias Michel – Cameroon Visa and gun import permit and inter-country flights

AIRLINES

Delta Airlines from HLN-MSP-CDG.
Air France from CDG to Douala
CamAir from Douala to Garoua and Ngaoundéré to Douala

FIREARMS, AMMUNITION AND OPTICS

Sako Model 85L .375 H&H with a Leupold VX-6 2x-12x42 mm with illuminated reticle
Federal Swift A-Frames 300 grains.
Swarovski 10x42 SLC binoculars

ANIMALS TAKEN

Lord Derby Eland, Harnessed Bushbuck, Red River Hog, Western Kob, Western Roan, Red-flanked Duiker, Western Savannah Buffalo, Sing Sing Waterbuck, Western Hartebeest

ANIMALS SEEN

Lord Derby Eland, Harnessed Bushbuck, Red River Hog, Western Kob, Western Roan, Red-flanked Duiker, Western Savannah Buffalo, Sing Sing Waterbuck, Western Hartebeest, Lion, Leopard, Bush Duiker, Warthog, Civet, Porcupine, Oribi, Olive Baboon

HUNT SUMMARY

Instead of having a day by day account, I’ll just give a quick summary on each species we hunted.

LORD DERBY ELAND

I’ve been looking forward to hunting the Lord Derby Eland for several years and booked this hunt in early 2014 and the wait for the hunt was a long one.

I think I probably had one of the fastest LDE hunts ever recorded. We left camp early on the first day and I was feeling a bit groggy with jet leg and the time change. About a half hour out of camp, Thierry and Gadal jolted me out of my coma by excitedly pointing out two eland bulls. They were cruising through the trees pretty quickly not giving us a clear look. Finally they ran through an opening and the first bull was clearly young and immature. The second one was not.

Thierry took a quick look at the 2nd bull and looked at me and said, “I know it’s the first day but we need to try to shoot this eland!” Oh, crap! Off the truck we go.

The eland were moving quickly and we were well behind them and a mad sprint ensued. Running across the uneven ground in Cameroon is a chore. Hell, just walking is a challenge! We took an angle to try to cut them off and we made up some pretty good distance at a very rapid pace.

The eland stopped and looked back and I quickly got on this sticks. The bull was quartering away hard at about 200 yards but I just couldn’t hold steady enough after the mad dash and elected not to shoot. The eland took off again and we kept up our pursuit.

After another couple hundred yards of sprinting, both eland bulls stopped and looked back for one last look. We skidded to a stop and up went the sticks. The bigger bull was slightly quartering away and I quickly got the crosshairs on him and squeezed the trigger. At the shot, I knew I was bit far back. Not good.

The bulls took off running hard and disappeared as I readied for a follow up. They reappeared running hard straight away at about 250 yards and I shot again, hitting him hard.

We made our way to where I shot the first time and didn’t see much for blood and continued following his tracks to where the 2nd shot hit. Pretty good blood from then on but it wasn’t looking great and I was starting to worry.

After about a half mile of tracking, Gadal spotted the bull lying down and I quickly shot him in the neck and it was done.

On closer inspection, the first shot was too far back and slightly low but with the quartering away shot it hit the liver and the far lung. Definitely not my finest hour and not text book shooting by any means.

The 2nd shot hit him about where you would expect on a going away, running shot but I’m glad I took it as it slowed the bull down and probably made a longer tracking job shorter. The first shot would have killed him but it probably would have taken awhile. Thankfully, that was the end of the spotty shooting and it was smooth sailing after that. No misses and no more poor shooting on either mine or my Dad's part.

Although not thrilled with my shooting, this was a terrific LDE bull. 48” on one side and a hair shorter on the other but a nice, mature, heavy horned bull and I was happy.













I’ve learned the hard way on a few hunts about passing up animals early in the hunt and regretting it so I no longer pass up “shooter” animals just because it is the first day or one of the first days. Some purists might think I didn’t earn the eland by miles and miles of tracking and that’s fine but I’ll take it. When Thierry says shoot, I figure he knows what he’s talking about and I shoot.

Peter Wood showed up to help in the recovery and we headed back to camp for a couple early morning beers to celebrate.

Day 1, eland done, what the heck were we going to do now? Have some fun, that’s what!

With the primary animal done, we had lots of time to look for the other species unique to Cameroon so the rest of hunt was going to be at a nice, relaxed pace. We hunted hard every single day but with absolutely no pressure which was really nice as it has been a tumultuous year for me personally.

HARNESSED BUSHBUCK

The hunt for bushbuck started out as a hunt for Red River hogs as we knew those would be challenging and wanted to give them a go. We headed to an area where Thierry had seen hog tracks on the previous hunt and quickly found where they’d crossed the road and took up chase.

After several hours of still-hunting and tracking through some thick, nasty riverine type area, we bumped the hogs and they were off and running. On our way back to the truck, Gadal saw a fresh bushbuck track so we switched gears and followed that for a ways.

After tracking for a while, we caught the bushbuck easing through the trees and I quickly got on the sticks and shot him through the shoulders.



Nice, old bushbuck. They are beautiful animals with very unique markings.

WESTERN KOB

Next up was looking for a western Kob for my Dad. We’d been seeing quite a few but were being fairly picky. These are not the brightest critters and would usually trot off a ways and look back at whatever spooked them and would typically lose interest quickly.

We were cruising along early in the morning and spotted a nice kob a short distance off the road. He looked good so Thierry, Gadal, my Dad and I bailed off the truck and did a quick stalk.

Not much too it, a couple hundred yards later, up went the sticks and my Dad shot the kob perfectly.

Pretty cool animals for sure.



RED-FLANKED DUIKER

The small antelopes just have never appealed to me for some reason. I’ve passed on several good quality members of the tiny ten over the years, much to the chagrin of Thierry and pretty much everybody else.

The red-flanked duiker peaked my interest though. I just thought they were fascinating little creatures with beautiful coloration and expressed my interest to Thierry. With a somewhat perplexed look knowing my history, he said we’d look for one.

Well it didn’t take long and we spotted a nice old male. Not much of a story, a quick dismount from the truck followed by a short stalk and a lucky break when the duiker stepped in the clear and we had our red-flanked duiker.



Pretty amazing little animals and I enjoyed it. Not sure any other tiny ten’s are on the wish-list but I enjoyed hunting the red-flanked duiker and spent a lot of time admiring him.

RED RIVER HOG

To be honest, I didn’t know much about Red River hogs. Just before I left for Cameroon, I stopped by my taxidermist, Monarch Taxidermy (shameless plug, they do great work!) and they were readying their showpiece animals for the SCI show. They had a full body Red River hog that was very cool and definitely increased my interest level as I love hunting warthogs, bushpigs, or any other hog.

Driving the roads one morning we saw some tracks crossing the road and decided to give it a go. After zig-zagging on the tracks for quite some time and through some real thick, nasty stuff, Gadal dropped low to the ground and gave the universal sign for "They are right there!"

He had made an incredible spot and the hogs were lying in the shade in some thick stuff about 40 yards in front of us. They were difficult to pick up with binoculars let alone see them with bare eyes as there were just bits and pieces visible. Thierry and I crawled to within about 25-30 yards from them. We could just see parts of hogs and sorting out the boars from the sows was difficult. They were lying in a big pig pile but as fortunes would have it, a nice boar was on our side of the pile of hogs. We had to maneuver slightly left to get the proper angle on him so we didn’t get a pass through and shoot a couple pigs but once we got the angle right I shot the sleeping hog. He leapt to his feet and stumbled around and was down with hogs running everywhere. There were three or four other good boars in the group and we could have shot several.



They are a very cool animal and I was thrilled. Hard to say a hog is beautiful but they really are. Red River hogs have very neat markings and unique body features.

WESTERN ROAN

The roan was a big deal to me. I really wanted one as I love their face marking and horn configuration. There is a LOT of roan in this area and we looked over many nice bulls. About midway through the hunt we saw a nice lone bull quite a ways off and decided to take a closer look as he was not aware of our presence. After stalking for several hundred yards, a kob that we hadn’t seen spooked and ran toward the roan. The roan hadn’t seen us but knew something was up and took off at a brisk walk angling away from us. He was walking through scattered trees and we began another mad dash to cut him off.

We closed the distance to about 200 yards and put the sticks up. He continued his quick pace and would not stop even though we tried whistling to get his attention. I was tracking him through the scope and could see a small opening ahead of the roan so I swung ahead and squeezed the trigger just as he entered the opening hitting him slightly above mid-level and dropping him immediately. Gadal and I ran up to him as Thierry continued filming and I quickly put two more in his chest and the roan was ours.

What a magnificent animal and a very nice old bull with heavy, 28” long horns.






WESTERN HARTEBEEST

The hartebeest turned out to be one of my favorite animals over there. We spent several days hunting them looking for a very good one. And we found one.

They are a challenging animal to hunt with exceptional eyesight.

We saw a small group of three males that were mingled in with a large group of roan and also a group of buffalo was nearby as well.

We made a long stalk to get in close but got hung up at about 200 yards and out of cover. After waiting out the roan and buffalo, they finally moved off and we moved in to close the deal. The hartebeest were behind a small knoll standing underneath some trees so we used a small drainage and moved closer. We got to about 70 yards and the one we were looking for must have heard us and peeked over the rise. I tried to get as high as possible on the sticks to clear the hilltop and take a frontal shot. Just as I was about the squeeze the trigger the hartebeest took a couple steps forward and then turned to run. I whacked him right on the shoulder as he turned and he was down right there.





He was very heavy horned with very nice length and we were all thrilled. Great animal and a great hunt with a close shot just like I like it.

WESTERN SAVANNAH BUFFALO

Like roan, there are a ton of buffalo on the Faro East property. We saw buffalo every day and usually multiple times. I really wanted a red buffalo bull but unfortunately it seemed like all the red ones we saw weren’t mature enough.

The savannah buffalo have nowhere near the horns of a cape buffalo but are a pretty neat animal in their own right.

Early in the hunt we did make a stalk on a half red/half black buffalo we easily could have, and probably should have, shot. But it was early and we were in no hurry.

On the second to the last day, Thierry recommended we try to find a very old bull, color be damned. That was fine with me. I was actually trying to get my Dad to shoot the buffalo but he doesn’t like rushed shots or rushed hunts and that is what this buffalo hunt turned into.

We saw a nice herd of buffalo right at dark with an ancient old bull but we were going to have to hustle to make it happen. I encouraged my Dad to make a go at it but he declined but wanted to come with us on the stalk. Another bout of running ensued as we tried to get in front of them in the fading light.

We succeeded and they fed right into us at about 80 yards. I again tried to coax my Dad onto the sticks but he waved me off and said shoot. The bull was walking right to left so I followed him as he walked and shot him when he stopped. The herd took off and I took another shot at the bull as they disappeared straight away from us.

We waited a few seconds and started walk to where the bull disappeared when we heard a bellow to our left a few hundred yards which was odd because the bull had gone straight away from us as far as we knew. We walked toward the bellow and sure enough our bull was down under a tree. A couple quick finishers and the deed was done.

He certainly didn’t possess amazing horn length but he was old and ugly, just like me.







SING SING WATERBUCK

After shooting my Dad’s buffalo, I wanted to try to find my Dad a waterbuck or reedbuck as we were running out of possible animals. We’d seen a few waterbuck during the hunt but nothing too exciting and we hadn't seen any reedbuck males.

Not too far into the afternoon hunt we saw a group of five or six waterbuck including one nice male. I didn’t have to twist my Dad’s arm too hard this time and he and Thierry were off the truck and began the short stalk.

They got within about 100 yards and the waterbuck presented a nice shot and my Dad shot him perfectly. One quick follow up and my Dad had his second animal of the hunt and the hunting was over.



We headed out the next morning to begin the long journey home, happy and satisfied but looking forward to being home.

COMMENTS ABOUT HUNTING IN CAMEROON

I’ve hunted Namibia once and Zimbabwe six times. Cameroon is definitely a little different animal in my opinion. The language barrier probably had a lot to do with it. I took five years of French in middle school and high school but that was 28 years ago and my French is quite rusty. That made conversing with the trackers, staff, airport personnel and the locals a bit challenging but I was able to get by OK.

Getting through the Douala airport and dealing with the firearms and customs people was not a real comforting experience. NOA’s meet and greet guy, Benoit, did a great job but he couldn’t go everywhere within the airport and the officials tended to isolate you when they could. I had to fork over a decent amount of cash to get things done. Not a biggie but something I wasn't used to. I don’t know what they would have said or done if you refused to pay them. Definitely not something that would be a deal-breaker for me to return but I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to travel and it was a little unnerving.

We really got lucky with the weather. I was really concerned about the heat and the bugs but it was not nearly as hot as I was expecting and the bugs (tsetse flies mainly) were not bad at all. I used a lot of Avon Skin So Soft and it seemed to keep the tsetse flies at bay and I never donned my head net once. The weather was upper 70’s to low 80’s and was quite pleasant. It was a little chilly in the mornings and evenings, but overall great hunting weather. I am told it gets much hotter and bugs worse later in the hunting season so if that is a concern, I’d look at hunting in January if you are considering hunting Cameroon.

The people, the camp and the hunting were outstanding and I certainly enjoyed hunting a new part of Africa and the new species.

NORTHERN OPERATIONS AFRICA

These guys do a fine job. My communications with them were pretty much limited to dealing with Maria Rademeyer but she was always quick with a reply or an answer. There have been no problems in sorting out the final bill and count me as a satisfied customer. I met Dave Rademeyer at SCI a few years ago but other than that I had no contact with him and didn’t need to as Maria did a great job.

No complaints and I’d hunt with them again and hope to for bongo.

THIERRY LABAT



This was my seventh hunt with Thierry. That really should say it all. But I’ll expand on my thoughts a bit. While we were in camp one night we added up how many animals we’d taken together. We put it to paper and came up with an actual count of 80. And I’m sure we missed something in there but we’ve done a fair amount of hunting together over 80 some days of hunting so I feel like I’m qualified to make a judgement.

I can’t say enough about his hunting abilities as he has an innate ability to know exactly what to do when. It is rather impressive and works almost every time. I can't imagine anybody being his equal. I certainly haven't come across anyone better.

Thierry is also quite worldly and up to date on current events worldwide so he’s very fun to hang out with in camp and while hunting. Most importantly, he is FUN. We always have a great time. My Dad and I are both pretty laid back and good about going with the flow and never get too excited about anything but a lot of that is due to how Thierry operates. We are low maintenance and he is low maintenance. It is a good fit for us and hopefully for him.

I also understand this is his job, he is the PH and I am the client. You always hear that stuff about how clients arrive as clients and leave as friends and everybody rolls their eyes when they hear that. Thierry really is one of my good friends and I’d hang out with him anytime just as buddies not just as client/PH. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only client he has that feels this way and I think that says a ton about the type of person he is.

It was a great hunt and one I’d highly recommend.

Extremely well done! You were there just after my wife and I left. I had thought I had taken all of the bigs ones, but obviously Thierry put you on some monsters! Way to go!!!
That is a very cool place and a great area to hunt. Thierry is the best!

Fantastic! Thanks for the great report and photos...

Thanks, gents!

Added a few pics.

Working on the formatting a little to make it easier to decipher. The bold text and paragraph breaks didn't copy and paste from Word very well so my apologies for that.

very good report and the essence of Western Africa is well shown.

seems Thierry is good wherever is hunting and touching ground.

well done guys.

Very nice!

I did not see any sign of Red River hog on my hunt, you had a lot of good luck there!

Fantastic report great looking animals I like the Buff he has a lot of character thanks for sharing just got back from Burkina Faso . Any hint of terror activity in northern Cameroon ?

Wow! Thank you. LDE has been my number one bucket list trophy for many years. Glad I could go hunting through you.
I'm in Kalispell. Buy you a beer at Moose's and hear the story in person if you are in the valley.

Ski+3

quote:

Originally posted by shotgun46:
Fantastic report great looking animals I like the Buff he has a lot of character thanks for sharing just got back from Burkina Faso . Any hint of terror activity in northern Cameroon ?

Not in this area but farther north didn't sound very good at all.

I certainly wouldn't venture into that part of the country but I never had an unsafe feeling anywhere we were.

WOW!! What a great hunt and trophies! Big Congratulations! Loved your pics!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Very Nice!!..Congratulations

quote:

Originally posted by SkiBumplus3:
Wow! Thank you. LDE has been my number one bucket list trophy for many years. Glad I could go hunting through you.
I'm in Kalispell. Buy you a beer at Moose's and hear the story in person if you are in the valley.

Ski+3

You got a deal! Gotta love Moose's pizza, beer and peanuts!

Well done Chris and Robert! Great photos and animals, whats up next

Well done! Some excellent trophies, especially that red river hog... has to be one of the best I have ever seen. And the LDE is a grand trophy and worthy of shooting early or late in the safari!

Fantastic trophies, outstanding photos!

Nice report Chris & I'll second your opinion on Labat!

Absolutely stunning Eland, and a great set of other trophies

thanks for the Excellent report

Great read! Congratulations on your fine trophies!

Wow! What an Eland. I think Mr. Labat would call that "A proper Eland".

What a great hunt and report. Photos are most excellent as well. I had the pleasure of sharing a camp with Thierry for a few days last year, and he surely seemed like the kind of man who would be great to share the bush with.
Congratulations.

Wonderful report on a great hunt! I would love to have the opportunity to hunt with Theirry some day.

Thanks for sharing!! Great Report!!

Great Report!!

Well done gents. Quite a performance.

Every time we topped a hill or rounded a corner, Thierry would comment, "This is where we shot Peccia's ______." And, there weren't many places where y'all didn't shoot something as far as I could tell.

Again, well done. Proper hunt and proper trophies.

Chris- Thats an awesome hunt well done to you guys!!!! I need to get up there sometime soon! Cheers Buzz

Incredible Trophys
Congrats the Client and PH

quote:

Originally posted by mboga biga bwana:
Incredible Trophys
Congrats the Client and PH

+1

Thanks for sharing.

Awesome hunt and exceptional trophies. After three Namibian trips, I've contracted "Eland Fever" and for my 2107 trip with Sebra Hunting Safaris, eland will be my #1 target species. I know I'll never afford a LDE trip, so a Namibian eland will have to suffice for my 70th Birthday Present to myself. Fantastic report and pictures.

Happy birthday

quote:

Originally posted by Bud Meadows:
Awesome hunt and exceptional trophies. After three Namibian trips, I've contracted "Eland Fever" and for my 2107 trip with Sebra Hunting Safaris, eland will be my #1 target species. I know I'll never afford a LDE trip, so a Namibian eland will have to suffice for my 70th Birthday Present to myself. Fantastic report and pictures.

Thank you for the great hunting report Mr Peccia and congratulations to you, your Dad and Thierry on one incredible hunt.

We look forwrd to hearing the stories from both you and Thierry in the coming months.

We would definitely like to help you make your Bongo hunt a reality and we looking forward to discussing some options with you.

Congratulations again and Have a great 2016.

regards

Dave, Maria and the NOA Team.

It was awesome sharing those moments with you and your dad. Thanks for the very humbling words and I can't wait for our next trip.

great looking hunt Chris!!
Labat got me out of bed yesterday am, with a message and reports...im sold on one of those big Eland for sure now!!
and your right about Thierry, a great guy, and an honor to be his friend!!
well done on the hunt!!