Area Hunted: Chirisa, Zimbabwe
Professional Hunter: Clive Hallamore
Others in camp: My wife, BigGuy458(Karl) & wife, Lou Hallamore
Firearm: Sabatti 470 (also used PH's 375H&H)

We left DFW Friday morning on Delta airlines with no problems checking guns or ammunition. Made the connection to the Boeing 777 and had an uneventful flight to Joburg. Overnighted at the City Lodge and caught a SAA flight to Victoria Falls.



A new twist for us was that after the uniformed guy checked our guns and signed the rifle permit he passed it to a plain clothes guy who held it tightly and explained how important it was that we not lose it and also that "it is not illegal to tip this policeman". He would not let go until I gave him $5 and he did the same thing to Karl. The charter pilot was watching this from about 15 feet away and told me later that it was definitely illegal. But we got through the shakedown and made the 50 minute flight to the camp airstrip. We stopped at the Wardens Office to do paperwork and saw this huge kudu that the rangers had found - well over 60 inches.



Then we headed off to camp to settle in.



The accommodations were as advertised and the food was very good although a little sparse until the supply truck arrived and we started adding meat to the cooler.



Hunting Day 1: We were up at 5:00 AM and saw hundreds of baboon crossing the dry riverbed. Almost got a shot at a big sable but he crossed the border into Sengwe Research where we could not hunt. We saw elephant and impala and stalked a herd of buffalo but there were no mature bulls. After lunch we glassed from a high point overlooking the river and saw lots of baboon and impala. We bumped a young bull elephant as we crossed the river and tracked a small herd of cows. We got close several times but there were no tuskless.

Hunting Day 2: Tracked a herd of elephant for about 13 miles and never caught up to them. We did find 4 snares.



We found a dead elephant cow as we headed back to camp. The trackers took the trunk to eat. We saw baboon, bushbuck, duiker and impala before lunch. After lunch we headed back out and got a call from Lou that they had been up on the high point glassing and had seen a boy running flat out down by the river bed and thought he might be lost. We stopped to try to shoot an impala for the game scouts ration and saw a huge bushbuck ram but there were none left on quota. While we stalked the impala one of the trackers went and looked for the boy. He found his tracks and estimated that he was about 10 years old. When he came back and told us how young the kid was we abandoned the impala and started tracking the kid. The tracks eventually led us to the river below camp where they turned off into the bush. The youngest and most nimble tracker followed the tracks up the cliff to camp and found the kid who turned out to be 9. He was playing hide and seek with friends and got turned around and ran several miles into the concession and got lost. At least that was his story. The camp managers wife took him in and gave him food and a new set of clothes. He was returned to his village a day later.

Hunting Day 3: We saw kudu, duiker, impala and baboons as we looked for elephant tracks. We found tracks and got to within 60 yards but there were no tuskless. After lunch we were again tracking elephant when we heard dogs barking. We immediately headed to the barking at a trot. 3 dogs had a baboon treed. The game scout shot one of the dogs and the others ran off. We shot some guinea fowl for the trackers to eat on the way back to camp.

Hunting Day 4: Tracked elephant 10 miles but never caught up with them. Found 2 snares. After lunch finally shot an impala for the game scouts. Tracked a herd of elephant in very thick brush and nearly had a heart attack when a warthog came boiling out of it's hole right at our feet. Continued following elephant and then climbed a hill to try to get a look at them. Saw a herd of at least 50 with at least 2 tuskless but we could not get any closer than 170 yards. Eventually they winded us and took off.

Hunting day 5: We went back to where we had seen the elephant the day before and started tracking them. We bumped them several times and got to with about 30 yards once but the tuskless always stayed behind other cows. After lunch we tracked a buffalo herd. We got up to them several times but could only see a few at a time. Eventually we came to the edge of a dry river. We circled out into the riverbed upwind of the herd and sent a tracker back to try to ease them out into the open so we could get a look. After a long weight we heard them crashing toward us and had to make several quick sprints to avoid them coming out right on top of us. They crossed about 20-30 yards from us but there were no good bulls. Shot some crested franklin on the way back to camp.

Hunting Day 6: Saw a herd of 60 buffalo but no big bulls. Saw a 52" kudu. In the afternoon we went back to where we had seen the tuskless elephant the day before. The trackers found the tracks and suspected they were headed to water. We circled around to where we could intercept them on the way to the waterhole. We heard them rumbling and breaking tree limbs but then they moved off away from the water. We went to the water hole and found that they had already watered earlier that afternoon.

Hunting Day 7: We headed directly to where we had heard the elephant the previous afternoon. As we neared the area in the truck we saw a tusked cow near the dirt road. We stopped ran about 100 yards down the road and then cut about 30 yards into the brush. The herd was passing through an opening about 30 yards in front of us. When the tuskless cow stepped into the open area Clive said shoot and I took a heart lung shot. The 500 grain CEB solid visibly rocked the cow and I thought it would fall right there. It regained footing and I gave it the left barrel. It ran about 30 yards and fell and I ran over and put to shots in the top of the head. I have no recollection of dumping out the empty brass or of reloading. All the shots passed completely through.





There were about 12 guys that showed up from camp and made short work of cutting up the cow. About 4 hours later there was nothing but some blood and stomach contents left on the ground. After lunch we went to look for some dagga boy tracks to make a plan for the next morning. We found tracks near a waterhole and Clive sent a tracker to follow them to get an idea of where to look the next morning. After 50 yards the tracker bumped 3 bulls. Clive decided we should go ahead and follow them now. We tracked them for probably about 1.5 hours - sometimes we sprinted and sometimes we crawled. We came across a pangolin and I was kicking myself for not having a little pocket camera to get a picture. Eventually one of the bigger bulls stopped in some thick brush. I took a shot with a 460 grain CEB "soft" and the bull spun and ran before I could fire the left barrel. We followed the tracks a short distance and found some very small drops of blood. We all knew it was not a good hit - I blamed myself for making a poor shot but others thought maybe the brush deflected the bullet and at least one blamed the "new to them - never heard of CEB bullet". We continued following a very sparse blood trail for about an hour with the trackers tracking and Clive and I scanning a head for a disgruntled buffalo. Then I saw multiple buffalo about 75 yards ahead. I signaled the guys and we stopped. The herd then crashed off through the trees obliterating any sign left by my bull. Clive marked the spot on the GPS so we could come back the next day and then we decided to follow the herd in case the bull had joined in with them. After a short distance we saw a bull standing on the other side of a clearing we were approaching. The horns looked like my bull but since he was facing us we could not tell if he had a wound. Eventually he turned to walk away and Clive said he could see a wound. We quickly crossed the clearing and entered the trees where the buff had gone. Less than 100 yards in Clive caught sight of a buffalo standing in a patch of very thick bushes - we had to sit down to have any kind of a clear shot - all I could really see was the head and a general shadow outline of the body. I aimed where I thought the shoulder should be and the solid knocked the bull down part way but he got back up so I shot again. We ran closer as he was spinning around and I shot 2 more times. Now he was down but I gave him 2 more just to be sure.



My first buffalo hunt 3 years ago was very similar. It seems that I can put an elephant down easy but buffalo give me fits. Clive turned to me after the last shot and said "Does buffalo hunting always have to be so hard with you?" All in all it was quite a day.

Hunting Day 8: Clive asked what I wanted to hunt next and I told him maybe a duiker and a hyena but mostly I wanted to do anything we could to help Karl on his quest for an elephant bull. So we drove to same distance parts of the concession that neither of us had been to yet to see if we saw any bull tracks. We did not find any but did see kudu, impala, zebra, bushbuck, waterbuck and crocodiles.

Hunting Day 9: We drove to the concession boundary and jumped some bushpig. We tracked them awhile but never got a shot. Shot some crested franklin in the afternoon.

Hunting Day 10: We found a cobra crossing the dirt road as we were driving along. It hung off at least a foot on both sides of the road which would make it 9 feet long or more. First snake I have seen in 3 trips to Africa. In the afternoon we built a blind at the bone yard just a short distance from camp.



The trackers wired the elephant skull/ribs/pelvis to a tree about 70 yards away from the blind.



We headed for the skinning shed to measure the buffalo horns (38") and saw a big male baboon sitting in the top of a tree. I shot him with Clive's 375H&H and we made a drag up and down several roads leading to our bait pile. We jumped a big herd of eland with what Clive said was a huge bull but I said I was not interested in another eland.

Hunting Day 11: Got up early and walked to blind but did not see anything. Only one jackal track at bait. Tracked duiker and got a shot off but was a clean miss.

Hunting Day 12: Got up even earlier and went to blind. Clive could see some hyena but I could not find them in the scope. Eventually I could see shadows moving and could make out the shape of a hyena head. I aimed where I thought the body should be and fired. When it was fully light we went to the bait but found no hyena and no blood. The trackers went at least 500 yards in all directions and never found anything. So it was another clean miss. I was losing confidence in myself. We went back to where I had missed the duiker the day before and got a shot at one at 105 yards and hit it perfect.



Saw a herd of at least 100 buffalo in the afternoon. Clive kept telling me how big the eland was that we had seen and how I really should consider going after it.

Hunting Day 12: Up early again and walked to blind in dark. Both PH's doubted that hyena would come back to bait after I had shot and missed but we had heard a bunch during the night. When we got into the blind I could see one standing broadside. I waited until it got a little more defined in the scope and then shot. There was no bullet slap and no noise from the hyena. I was convinced that I had missed again. The light was still very low so we walked back to camp and had breakfast. Once it was fully light we went back to the bait. I was disheartened to see that there was no dead hyena lying there. I was commenting on how I must have missed again when the tracker pointed 30 yards to the right at a huge stone dead hyena.



It had been a perfect heart/lung shot. The hyena weighted 172 pounds on the scale at the skinning shed. Clive continued to wear down my resistance to going after the big eland. Finally I told him that if we could find it again I would go for it. After dropping the hyena off at the skinning shed we went to look for some dagga boy tracks for Karl to follow in the afternoon (at this point he was still hunting hard for a bull elephant). We found some tracks and made note of the location and then headed off to look for the eland. We went up and down roads for several hours trying to sort out the tracks. There was some questions as to whether they had crossed out of the concession. As we neared the area where we had see them the first time they ran across the road a couple hundred yards away. Before the truck stopped I was out the door and grabbing for the 375H&H from the tracker. As we ran quick marched after them I chambered a round and remembered to turn the scope down from 10x where it had been set in the hyena blind. After a short track we found them and I got set up on the sticks. They milled around for probably 30 seconds and the bull came into view. One shot and he ran less than 100 yards. He was an awesome sight.



He measured 41".

Hunting Day 14: The last day. We drove around and looked at animals and all the dramatic scenery of Africa and shot a few guinea fowl and francolin.

Awesome! Congratulations!

When he says more to come, he is not kidding!

Karl

Well done. Waiting for more.

So far so good...one question so far..was the dead elephant poached/snared?

There was no obvious cause of death for the elephant - no bullet holes or snares. No missing tissue except what the vultures ate.

Another great adventure. I'm jealous and envious, until I go again.
Congratulation on your hunt Dude.

Nice report. Congratulations on a successful hunt.

Well done. Hyena are tough to hunt and that one is a trophy.

Great trip. Very impressed by the Hyena. I would very much like to pursue one. Waiting for more of the report. Well done.

Thanks for sharing. That eland is ridiculous!

Great report- congrats. That eland is a stud. You made the right decision...

If you look closely at the photos you will see the beginnings of a mustache...maybe Scott will elaborate on that in a later post. If you ever get the chance to share a camp with Dr Scott; by all means do so, I have been on two trips to Zim with him as well as hunted deer and pigs here at home and he is a pleasure to hunt with...but he is the luckiest sonofagun you have ever seen when it comes to hunting in Africa.

Karl

It started as a vow to not shave until I shot something big and it morphed into a porn stash that caused such a disruption at the dinner table that my wife made me shave it off.

Hopefully Karl will post up a picture of his buffalo - it beats mine all to pieces and he only had to shoot it once.

Well done. Great report. Great Eland. Did Karl get his ele?

Good job. Hyena is very underrated trophy in my opinion.

That Eland is beautiful!

Incredible Eland!! Congratulations.

That is ONE CRANKER OF AN ELAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I saw lots of ele in Chirisa in 2008.It looks like a good place for tuskless.Some nice kudu also.I was there in August and there was not a tseste fly or mosquitoe.Congratulations!

Thanks for your report.
That Hyena looks chunky - must be dining well.
The Eland is a monster - bet you're glad they convinced you to hunt him.

Great report, thanks.

Hunted Chirisa last year with ITS and Phil. Remembered the kudu horns at the Parks office plus the bone yard you mentioned. Got a great eland there as well. They grow 'em big! Congrats on such a great hunt!

Great report Scott, thanks for posting.

That eland is crazy!! Congrats.

A good report that I enjoyed reading. Well done on the Ele and finaly geting the Buff. That Eland certainly does have some size about him.

Thanks for sharing! Looks like you had fun!

Congratulations on a great safari!!!
Your report along with your superb photos made this a fantastic read...thoroughly enjoyed it

Roland

Most excellent hunt!

Very nice. Congratulations. Really like that hyena and the eland.

Congrats on a great safari! Fantastic eland!

Torbjorn

Well done Dr Scott some great trophies there.

What an eland! Congratulations, and thank you for the nice report and photos.

Thanks for the great report. Looks like you had a super hunt.

For those of you that might be interested...and Scott is too modest to say, but his Eland scores #14 in the SCI book and his huge Hyena ties for #7 SCI! What a great hunt!

Karl

Sounds like you had great fun! Thanks for sharing.

Nice!