08 October 2015, 12:45
Doug Duckworth(+42") Sable, Plains Game hunt with Mokore Safaris: Coutada 9, Mozambique -Pics Added
Area: Coutada 9, MozambiqueOperator: Mokore Safaris
Client: Beech McConnell and Brad Gilreath
PH: Doug Duckworth
Type of Hunt: Sable, Plains game
Beech McConnell and Brad Gilreath came to Mozambique in September 2015. These two friends had their eyes on a variety of plainsgame - priorities being a Sable for Beech and a Kudu for Brad. Beech, having hunted several times in Africa, wanted us to focus on Brad who had never been to Africa. Brad, however, after the first night, was already well on his way to being bitten by the addictive “Africa Disease”.
Their destination was the million acre Coutada 9, or otherwise known as Nhacainga. They would be hunting with PH Doug Duckworth of Mokore Safaris.
Doug picked them up at Tete Airport, a thankfully much improved air destination. Four hours later, Beech and Brad found themselves at Tandikwe camp situated in the heart of Nhacainga. After settling in to camp, they sat around a camp fire, cold beer in hand, discussing the upcoming hunt.
The first morning found the hunters at the shooting range. A couple shots with the 30-06 ensured it was still shooting straight and that both Brad and Beech were no strangers to shooting.
On the way back to the car after following some Eland, they spotted a big Warthog. The “hawg” was clueless as to the hunters’ presence. The sticks went up and Brad wasted no time in in placing a perfect shot into the engine box of the warthog. The morning and safari was off to a great start.
The rest of the day passed without hunting success, but the hunters got a good feel for the area and saw the vast variety of both plainsgame and dangerous game that C9 hosts. Brad saw his very first Elephant bull. Albeit at a distance his reaction was still priceless.
The next morning, the hunters were on the tracks of 4 sable bulls. Sable have some of the sharpest eyes around and made true their reputation as one of the harder trophies to hunt. The bulls were young and had the hunters spotted far before they had eyes on them. They allowed them a quick glimpse before bolting. On the way to the nearest road, a good Reedbuck ram was spotted walking towards the hunters. They crouched down, got the sticks up and Beech shot him in the middle of his chest. The Reedbuck never knew the hunters were there. Doug and Solomon (Tracker) would of course like to claim this as skill on their part, however, luck and good shooting must take the credit for this!
That same morning, the hunters found where a herd of sable drank. Sending the car back to camp with the reedbuck, the hunters followed the sable. They caught up to them in the shade of some Masasa trees. Beech and Doug crawled up to a termite mound and had a look. The sable were bedding down a herd of about 30 animals. The bull was right at the back and with no shot possible, Doug and Beech decided that instead of pushing them now and possibly losing any chance they should leave them and come back in the afternoon, when they started moving again. Heading back to the car, they took a detour to a waterhole. Here, they spotted another good size Warthog walking to the pan. Beech got close - about 25 yards - and they had another “hawg”. There is indeed no shortage of Warthog in Nhacainga, but to get two warthogs close to 14” in two days was a great achievement. The Sable once again eluded the hunters that afternoon.
The next day, the hunters were back on Sable again. The trackers did an excellent and very impressive job of following a single Sable bull for a good 6 hours. The Sable wasn’t stopping and they never caught up with it. Being a good 30kms from camp, they had lunch in the bush. That afternoon while making head way back to camp, they spotted a huge bushbuck. The sticks went up and a great Chobe Bushbuck was taken. It was later measured at a little over 15”.
If the day had ended there it would have been a great day, but with a few hours of light left Doug, decided to send the car back with the bushbuck and the hunters would do a walk through the mountains close to the river for Bushpig or Kudu. It wasn’t long into the walk that they spotted a herd of Elephant feeding. With the wind in their faces, Doug asked Brad if he would like to get a little closer and maybe take a couple pictures. Brad got to truly appreciate the size of Elephant up close. One of the cows started to take a little bit too much interest in the hunters and they decided to give the Elephants their space. A little later they came across a couple of Bushpig that were, unfortunately for them out early, and Beech had another fine trophy for the day.
The next morning the team found a huge Oribi. He was behind some thick brush and was looking straight at the hunters. Doug whispered to Beech, “You better try shoot through the gap, he is about to bolt.” Beech shot the gap and Oribi perfectly. Another great trophy - a little under 5”.
That evening the hunters did a walk through an acacia forest heading for a dam that always has a lot of animal traffic. At one stage, they had Chapman Zebra walking towards them, Waterbuck, Oribi, Impala, Warthog, Kudu and a young Sable bull all in sight at the same time. Right on last light, they came across a herd of Eland - close to 50 animals strong. There was a big old bull in the middle of the herd, almost black looking with a huge ruff. The hunters put the sticks up, but the Eland knew something wasn’t right even though it hadn’t pegged the team yet. The hunters quickly ran up on a slight rise and luck was on their side. The bull was in a clearing standing by himself. He was broadside but looking at the hunters. Doug told Beech to shoot him in the shoulder. The Eland turned his head, about to run, and Beech shot him. Doug knew it was a hit as the Eland jumped and then took off. The herd didn’t go far though and the hunters spotted him he was about to go down, but Doug told Beech to put another shot into him, and at a good 150 yards Beech made a great shot and he had a fine Eland. Once a road was cleared and pictures taken, the hunters only got back to camp close on 9pm.
So far it had been an excellent safari, however, the main animals that both Beech and Brad were after hadn’t been taken, and though they hunted them hard, they either got busted or they weren’t of adequate size. Sable and Sable Hunting was really starting to impress Beech - he loved the “Walk Africa” style of hunting that a good trophy demands. The hunters covered a good bit of ground each day – most days in excess of ten miles.
On the evening of the 6th day of the hunt, the hunters were walking near the main river that runs through Nhacainga. The wind was all wrong but the hunters had no option as they were following tracks. The sable were in deep cover and busted, but not before Doug spotted a great bull. Little did they know just how big he would truly be. At a glance Doug said he was close to 40”. The previous best shot in that area was 39” by Neil Duckworth earlier this same year. There had only been two pick-ups that went 41”. The hunters tried till last light to get another glimpse of the Sable, but to no avail. Beech turned to Doug and said, “For the rest of the hunt, it’s that bull or nothing!!!”
The next morning, Doug made a plan to walk the area from the other side - a good 5 mile hike just to get into position - but the wind would be in their favour, and really the only option. On the way to the area, a Kudu bull was seen. Not wanting to pass up a chance for another good trophy, Brad and Doug got into position and Brad dropped the Kudu in his tracks - a fantastic deep curled bull. Brad had his main animal and was over joyed. The time, effort and miles rewarded.
The morning was still young, so the team loaded the car and sent it back to camp with the Kudu and set out for a long walk back to the area that the Sable bull was spotted the previous day. Coming off one of the mountains, the hunters came through a ravine where they spotted a Sable on a ridge in front of them. IT WAS HIM! Unaware of the hunters at no more than 80 yards, sticks went up and Beech shot him in the shoulder. They ran up to where he was standing and spotted him again not yet down. Another shot and Beech had a trophy of a lifetime - the biggest taken from Nhacainga in ten Years - 42.5”. Both the hunt and the reaction from Beech and Brad was worthy of this magnificent animal.
The last couple of days was spent seeing the rest of the area. Brad desperately wanted a Bushpig and this proved his nemesis animal. Beech got a really nice Impala.
Brad, having never before seen Lions in the wild, got a first-hand experience up close. While walking, they came across a big male Lion. He had no clue the hunters were there. He walked 100 yards from them and lay down in some shade. They took a few pictures and then decided to leave it alone and started to walk around. Unfortunately, they managed to walk into the rest of the pride. With the males now alerted and growling, the cubs in the pride decided to take off in the hunters’ direction. Things got exciting quickly with two big males and a female coming at them (20 yards) and only turning after shot it in the air by Beech.
Indeed, a great safari was had by all. Coutada 9 proving once again that it is amongst the best hunting areas in Africa. Doug, Jordan (Cameraman) and Mokore Safaris would like congratulate Beech and Brad on a great hunt and thank them for their generous donations towards the local schools.
Man, that is what I want to see right there! 