Buffalo/Leopard and Plains game, Mokore Ranch Save Valley Conservancy
Clients : Jimmy and Jeff Bruton
PH: Gary and Doug Duckworth
Date: May 2015



Jeff and his brother Jimmy joined us at Mokore in May 2015. Jimmy was hunting with Doug Duckworth for a buffalo and leopard and Jeff hunted with Gary Duckworth for a buffalo and plainsgame.



Save in May is absolutely magnificent weather and the game encountered was unreal. The whole property was thick with elephants, plenty buffalo and plainsgame. I think between the two hunting parties we saw leopard three times during the day (excluding those on bait), lion once, and rhino three times.
The next morning everyone was off to the range to make sure the rifles were still shooting straight, a couple shots later proved that all rifles were still true and the hunters knew how to handle them.



Jim and Doug set out to get some bait to hang for the leopard, half an hour later some zebra were found after a short stalk a nice stallion presented a shot, Jim got on the sticks and made a perfect shot in the shoulder the morning was off to a great start. We headed back to camp to get the Zebra skinned and quartered so we could hang some baits that afternoon, on the way back the hunters managed to shoot two impala also for bait.




Gary and Jeff went straight after Buffalo, but were not going to pass up any good animal, the morning proved uneventful though lots of Buffalo sign was seen, in the afternoon Gary spotted a good Impala Ram, which on its death run ran into a tree and snapped a horn off…it became bait!!



Jeff the next morning shot a big Zebra Stallion, The actual hunt for it took a while after we spotted the herd only by the movements in the thick cover. We must have watched the herd for almost 20 minutes before we had a clear shot at what I was sure was the big stallion. Anyway it worked out well in the end.



The next couple days Jim shot another Zebra and a few more impala all of which was hung as bait, it wasn’t until day three that we got our first big Tom (Male Leopard) feeding, he was nicknamed three spot, this was due to the three little spots that he had on his right side. A sturdy blind was built as the hunters would be spending the night, with mattresses and a packed dinner Doug and Jim went into the blind just before 4pm, at 6pm a female Leopard came in and fed, at 2am in the morning we heard bones crunching, Doug slowly turned on the light and sure enough a Leopard was at the bait unfortunately it was feeding at such an angle that the hunters couldn’t be sure it was a male, and then he was gone. That morning revealed that there was two females that had fed and 1 male.



(3 Spot the first night)

With the Buffalo still top of Gary and Jeffs list, they concentrated along the Mokore River the next morning along which we had seen tracks of numerous dagga boy groups the previous day. The hunters had literally driven about a kilometre up the river road when they saw 5 dagga boys crossing into the brush on the side of the river. We carried on driving for a couple minutes, had a sandwich and then worked our way back to where we had last seen them The wind was fairly steady and so we got it in the right direction and then did a loop so as to get in front of where we predicted them to be. This flanking movement worked perfectly and we managed to get within 25 yards of a good old dagga boy. (The ecologist aged this bull at ten years old. Jimmy’s bull went thirteen so two very nice old dagga boys). Jeff hit him with a perfectly placed frontal shot and he ran about 50 m before piling up. We were able to see him from where we were and so that is always a comforting feeling.



Doug and Jimmy after the night in the blind checked the remaining baits awhile keeping an eye out for some fresh buffalo sign to follow, while walking down the Mokore river we spotted a old Dagga Boy lying in the shade on one of the islands, the hunters got the wind right and then went in, at about 50 yards Doug set up the sticks and Jim got his .375 up and on them, the buffalo was sleeping facing away, a shot was possible but it wasn’t the greatest angle, Doug called a few times to try and get the Old Dagga boy to stand up, instead younger smaller bull that we had not seen got up and started walking towards the hunters between the bull we wanted to shoot and us. The hunters dared not move, eventually the young bull turned away which got the old bull to his feet and presented a clear shot, Jim wasted no time in placing a bullet in the Shoulder. The Buffalo ran off, the hunters waited a little while before following hoping to hear the “Death Below” it never came, Doug, Soloman (Tracker) and Jim started following with rifles at the ready. The Buffalo was found only 70 yards away stone dead though another insurance shot was put in just in case. The bull was indeed very old aged later at 13yrs a fine trophy and a fine hunt.




There was no celebration that night however as the Leopard was still feeding which meant another night in the blind, a long story short three spot managed to elude the hunters, he is a big cat and didn’t get that way by being stupid, after the second night he stopped feeding, Jim and Doug spent the following night back at camp.
The next morning baits and trail cams were checked, we found another big Tom was feeding at the other end of the hunting area, another blind was built and the hunters followed the same routine, it was an exciting night with over 200 buffalo deciding to bed down not 60 yards from the blind then eventually stampeding (luckily) away from the blind, along with a few Elephant breaking branches close by. The first sign of action on the bait came at just after midnight when Doug heard a Klipspringer calling a sure sign that some predator was around, however it wasn’t until just after 2am that we heard the cat feeding, Jim got into position and Doug slowly turned the rheostat and the light came on slowly, the Leopard was feeding at a strange angle he eventually turned and we could both see that he was indeed a Tom and a good size one at that but now his front shoulder was obscured by a branch, we waited for some minutes and then he was gone. The hunters spirits sank, the light was turned off and we got back on our mattresses Jim was thinking that the whole process would have to be repeated again tomorrow, another night in the blind!! It wasn’t 30 minutes later and the Tom was back in the tree Doug got Jim to get ready again and the light was once again slowly put on, this time he was feeding broadside, it didn’t take long to recognise this as the same Tom, Doug whispered to Jim to shoot it. There is nothing that can describe the silence following a .375 going off at 3am in the morning, the Leopard leapt in the air gave a few growls, then a long slurred growl and then silence.
The car was called and the hunters went very very cautiously to investigate the scene … NO BLOOD … It was definitely a hit and the sounds it made afterwards Doug was sure that it was close by. 20 very nervous minutes later we found the Tom stone dead not more than 40 yards away.
It was a great hunt, 85hours in the blind had payed off and it was a beautiful trophy.





With the main animals in the Salt, the only other animal that Jim really wanted was a Kudu, having previously taken a 47” kudu in South Africa he wanted a big one, The Save has some outstanding Kudu and Jim was lucky enough to take one of these, it was a huge Kudu 57”.



The last two days Jim and Jeff spent shooting a couple of doves and taking some pictures.
On behalf of Doug, Gary and the Mokore team we would like to congratulate both Jim and Jeff on an outstanding hunt.



Jeff and His 54" Kudu


31" Waterbuck


Jeff and his huge Grysbok



This Warthog went over 14"

Well done guys, it is a magical place and the pictures confirm this. Great hunt for two brothers with two Duckworth's.

Congrats on some outstanding trophies!

Warthog is a pig! Great eland as well....

Thanks for sharing...

Outstanding hunt and Adventure in the Save with the Duckworth boys!!!
Big Congratulations....a hard earned Cat in an area where they are very clever!
Great pictures and a nice mixture of wonderful trophies.

Quality photos, great trip thanks for sharing.

Wow congratulations on your hunt your trophies are magnificent. I know how hard a Leopard is to get It took me the day after the last day of my 5 hunt to get mine . I love the character in your old buff . I like that old bromed off look so much better than the clear face with huge horns

quote:

There is nothing that can describe the silence following a .375 going off at 3am in the morning

Amen to that! Unless you have experienced it, you really cannot put it adequately into words.

Great hunt and writeup with super trophies across the board.

Makorokoto!

Nice hunt Doug! Amazing place, can't wait to get back.

Awesome hunt with a great outfit.

Beautiful leopard and some real nice old dagga boys.

Huge congrats to both you & the Duckworth's!

Beautiful trophies (especially the big leopard & warthog!!)

Jim

Some very nice trophies! Congratulations on what sounds like a great hunt.

Excellent all around.

Love the first photo!

Great job all involved.

Congrats to both of you on your hunts! Thanks for posting.

Good job, Doug! My son, Sam, and I are looking forward to hunting with you at Mokore this time next year. Fantastic warthog! I'm sorry we didn't see one like that when I was there. Also glad to see your acacia hasn't been knocked over by an elephant!

Well done Gents. Some exceptional trophies!!

What a warthog! Beautiful old dagga boys.

Some really outstanding trophies, congrats to the hunters.

The Save is known for excellent trophies and you proved it. Well done.

Does it get any better than that?

A great hunt for sure, but I am most impressed by the fantastic photos - really cool!!!!!!!!

Congratulations. I would love to go for that buffalo, warthog and Eland!! They are dream trophies!

Awesome pics and a great adventure! Thanks for sharing!

Great trophies Doug and excellent pictures. The question is can you repeat this performance in a months time?

Wonderful Trophies!!! Congrats

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone, it was a great hunt with great people!

Well done Doug & Gary looks like you guys having a cracker of a season.

Outstanding photos! Congratulations!

Well done. Safari of a lifetime