Almost a ‘Big 3†in the Caprivi with Vaughan Fulton

This hunt started out originally as a Cape Buffalo hunt with Vaughan Fulton and due to family issues it varied between a 2x1 hunt with my Father and myself for Cape Buffalo, to just me going, and finally back to the original 2x1 hunt originally planned. In the mean time it was decided that I should go for the Traditional Elephant for the Communal feast which takes place in Bukalo in the Caprivi strip in late July of each year.

In 2006 my wife went with me for the Traditional feast elephant hunt and I ended up taking two non-trophy bull elephants for the same Traditional Feast in 4 days time. This year my Dad would go along and also be hunting for Cape Buffalo.

The trip started out with some problems which couldn’t be overcome easily. When we showed up on Sunday morning in Windhoek we found that our rifles had not arrived from Frankfurt with us. Silvi, Vaughans Office personnel, originally talked to Air Namibia and they at first denied ever having knowledge of the firearms being checked in. This was, of course, BS as they had scanned all luggage tags in when we checked in at Frankfurt. They did eventually find the rifles and shipped them on the next flight. However, the original plan was to drive to the Caprivi early on Monday morning arriving late Monday night and hunting for 10+ days. Instead, we had to wait to retrieve the rifles at mid-morning on Tuesday. With everything else that needed to be done we were not able to leave Windhoek to start the drive until Wednesday morning. The good news about this is that Vaughan was able to fly home, spend some time with his family and newborn daughter Savannah and then drive back with us. I insisted that I drive, and as Namibians drive on the left side of the road, from the wrong side of the vehicle, Vaughan and my Dad never did get much rest on the trip. Actually, except for in town (which we won’t dwell on as the story teller has that privilege) it was a piece of cake. Good roads, straight as arrows and we could make good time. Good time until we were going through the Caprivi National Park during night time hours. Then Vaughan warned me to keep a sharp eye out and not overdrive the headlights to keep from running into any buffalo or elephant which often cross the road. There were many areas where signs of them crossing the road were quite obvious but we made it through with no problems.


Namibian Roadways, they ARE straight……

We spent Wednesday night at the Caprivi Boathouse Safari lodge in Katima and headed to camp first thing Thursday morning. On arriving we got settled in and then went to check the site in on the rifles, which were fine. Later in the evening we were out hoping to run across impala which we had said we would like to include if we did bump into any. We covered a lot of country and saw way more fresh elephant tracks than we did Impala.

Friday morning we were out early looking for fresh elephant tracks again. Near mid-morning we saw fresh tracks crossing the road and could see a fresh herd of elephant heading back in our direction. As it turned out, the bull in the herd was way too good of a bull to be considered non-trophy so we let that herd go. The rest of Friday passed with us not getting into any additional elephant so we were back at camp enjoying the scenery, night sounds of Africa, a good fire, good wine, good friends and a good meal served up from Lena.

Saturday was a repeat of Friday afternoon. We did get on some fresh elephant tracks early Saturday morning, but the bull ended up mixing into a large herd of cows and calves and the tracks became too spotty to follow with the speed we needed to enable us to catch up with them. Saturday evening was another spectacular night. We could see hundreds of buffalo coming out of the Chobe National park to water and feed in the flood plains. Many came across the river but were back in the park by morning. We have no idea how many buffalo there were. The floodplains were black with them and there were still well over a hundred buffalo coming down the slopes towards the river.

Sunday morning was the day for our elephant. We found fresh tracks early on, and were still making ready to go after them when 3 bulls crossed the road about 80 yards ahead of us. By the way, Vaughan loves it if you snap your arm out straight, point and nearly shout “THERE THEY ARE!†You guys should try it, it’s a real hoot.

We were able to close with those 3 bulls very quickly, but they too, were too nice to be considered non-trophy bulls. So we stayed on the tracks of the larger herd which had recently passed through. Within a half hour or so we closed in on a wall of elephants. There were many bulls in the rear of the herd mixed with various cows and elephants could be seen over the brush for quite a ways beyond where we were positioned.
Vaughan and I closed up to the herd until we were ‘stuck’ by having a cow facing directly at us with the bull we wanted in behind her. There was a young bull in the brush to our immediate right, probably 25 yards away. From there the elephants were scattered all around to our hard left where a young cow was laying in the brush about 20 yards away. Two bulls, much too nice to be non-trophy were between 15 and 20 yards to our left. They had a bit of an argument and one bull circled, trumpeting loudly and flapping his ears, until he had moved to our right side, facing directly at us from 15 to 20 yards away. Vaughan told me not to move. Not a problem, at this point it was either/or. I was either NOT moving or I would have been throwing rooster tails through the jess with me leaving. We were stuck in this manner, waiting for a clear shot at the bull we were after for probably 40 minutes. That could be the longest 40 minutes of my life. The bulls seemed to be constantly messing with one another, always making us well aware of how small we are and how quickly they can move for their enormous size. There were a couple moments where I nearly took the shot at the target bull. I did have one opportunity at a frontal brain shot but the bull eased off into the brush before the trigger release came. It then circled around and offered a clear heart-lung shot which I then took. At the shot he sagged and staggered away but I did put one more shot into the heart-lung area.

At that point Vaughan said “RUN.†I had not seen it but the closest bull facing us had jerked his head up at the first shot and homed in on us, and coming, at the second. We were off and running. Dad was a bit behind us so was facing us when we turned to run and only had time to ask what we were doing when it became obvious. Through the brush we went. After a ways we stopped to assess the situation. We could hear other elephants coming also and nearby we could see the outstretched ears of one bull and another beside him with his trunk snaking through the air. Off we went again. We stopped near a large brushy deteriorated termite mound which Vaughan climbed up to take a look. The two bulls immediately noticed the movement and rushed towards our position, so it was off to the races again. Finally we stopped and found that they had given up on the chase. We could hear several of them trumpeting over what we were sure was the dead bull back at the site of the shooting. After a fair wait……..and dram of scotch from my flask, we started stalking back towards where we figured the bull would be. Vaughan did end up yelling at two elephant that hadn’t yet moved off. When we got to where I had shot we found the bull 30 yards from his original position. A “Just in case†shot was put into his shoulder but the original two shots from my 404 Jeffery and Woodleigh solids had done their job well. He had fallen within 30 yards and had not moved, a good, quick ending to a grand creature.


Non-Trophy Elephant Bull

At that point, several phrases were coined which may last a long time. Both from my Dad. “Say, nobody ever briefed me on having to RUN from these things.â€

And, “I used to tell people I was too old to run but that I could walk well……………….I guess the right incentive does funny things to people.â€

Vaughan said “Well I sure wasn’t catching you very fast.â€


Vaughan and Dad with Bull Elephant

At that, we took pictures then started the process of cutting the head off to take it back to camp for security. The Community sent a large truck to pick the meat up as Vaughan’s spare truck hauled it to the main road. We left them to the butchering process so we could go get things in order for the boat trip on Monday morning.

Monday morning we began the process of getting to the Kasika Conservancy on the south-eastern tip of the Caprivi. It is a 6 hour boat ride through some fantastic scenery down the Zambezi River with Zambia to the north and the Caprivi to the south until you wind through the kesi channel which runs to the Chobe on the Namibia-Botswanna borders.


Zambezi River Sunset

This is an incredible area. Over the next 4 days we would see hundreds, if not a thousand elephant as they fed in the floodplains and came down out of the Chobe Park to feed & water. It is estimated that the Chobe Park currently has 150,000 elephant and the surrounding terrain certainly shows this. Something needs to be done as these elephant are eating themselves out of house and home. 150,000 elephants, figure on 300 pounds of forage a day, that’s 45 million pounds of forage EVERY DAY. Imagine if we were to start hauling off our timber, brush and grass at the astonishing rate of 1000 semi-loads every day from an area smaller then the State of Connecticut.



Sunset view from Camp


Bulls across the river from Camp

On Tuesday we were able to start in pursuit of a Hippo bull. One bull in particular had us following him up and down a river channel for 4 hours before we had to give up the chase. We would spot him 150 yards down river, move down to be closer when he surfaced next only to see him 200 yards upstream the next time. He was a smart old bull that I admit is still there, just wiser for our troubles. On Wednesday we did manage to spot a good bull feeding in the flats. We closed to within about 120 yards of him before I shot. He had been quartering a touch towards me and the shot went into the juncture of his neck and shoulder, actually taking him through the spine and dropping him where he stood. Where he stood was ‘on land’ but ‘land’ was covered with about 18 inches of water. We were able to get closer for a final shot with the use of a Makoro and traveling up the hippo channels to drier ground where we could walk in the last few yards to the hippo. That’s some fun right there. When you are inches above the water in a Makoro, try not to remember that Hippos kill more people in Africa every year then any other big game animal, certainly try to ignore the fact that there were some very large crocodiles cruising the river earlier in the day too. If you can’t ignore those facts you’ll miss out on a rather pleasant boat ride…….just sayin. We then took our pictures and instructed the N’Duna and his crew of helpers that I wanted two panels of hide to be tanned and the head, the rest was to go to the Traditional Feast in Bukalo. Vaughan thinks I’m nuts but I’m going to have the entire head shipped over instead of just the tusks. They look too prehistoric when skinned out for me to leave the head there.


Bull Hippo ‘on land’


With N’Duna and crew.

After getting back to the shore camp we decided we should try to go for Buffalo as time was rapidly running out. Vaughan had never had any issues with connecting with buffalo in this area so he was not the least concerned. So that afternoon we took a hard, 4 hour march looking for them, fresh sign, or evidence that they had been there. We did find sign, but it pointed towards them moving down into the flood plains near the tourist lodges where we couldn’t hunt. We kept looking through the next two days and visited with the local villagers to determine where the herds of buffalo were. It appeared that they had all moved down into the flood plains to graze on the grasses which had only recently become exposed with the dropping water levels. It seems that the hunting goddess wasn’t going to smile on us for our buffalo. A twist of fate had them moved out of our reach with not enough time left in the hunt to either wait them out or move deeper into the hunting concession in hopes of finding more buffalo. From all signs we were only a few days late in having them still in our area, and Edward the Game Scout said that in a week or so the buffalo moving out of the Chobe park in Botswanna would be flooding the area. That’s hunting luck I guess. There was a dark cloud hanging over our heads when we knew that the buffalo weren’t going to be ours on this trip. Looking back I regret not having more time allotted and also allowing myself to lose a positive attitude on the trip.

I have regained my composure and looking back at the pictures and videos we find that we had an experience which will never fade from our memories. We tracked down a herd of elephant, selected one specific bull and took him cleanly. Then had to avoid being hunted down by the very animals we had hunted. We saw more elephant in 4 days then a vast number of people will ever see in their lives. We have video and pictures which rival any National Geographic documentary. I was able to capture on video a leopard stalking Bushbuck along the Chobe river. We managed to take a hippo bull on land. Dad and I drove over 800 miles through some of the most varied African country side there is. From pure bush country with few or no people to the more settled areas of Northern Namibia with the local people along the roadways and kids waving at any opportunity.We drove over the Okavango river and through the length of the Caprivi strip; country Selous himself hunted, got lost in and explored for years.

My Dad said he won’t make a return trip as he can tell that his knees and structure just don’t hold up over the longer walks anymore, but he has memories of this trip that he can, and does, get to tell his grandchildren. Now, this report has taken longer then I figured it would to get written. With another weeks time between the start and closing on the finish………Dad is now thinking that maybe, just maybe, he would go “Just one more time.†When those thorns hook you, they hook you deep and just keep dragging you back.

I’ll be back. I’ll be back to listen to the frogs at night. To listen to the sounds elephant feet make when they are sucking back up out of the mud outside of your tent when they move through to cross the river. Every campfire I get around makes me wish it was of Mopane or Camelthorn so I can once again smell Africa. And, every time I see a black angus cow my stomach drops and I wish I was sighting down the barrel at those big old boys that stood out in the flood plains and fed with no worries………

Excellent report!

Sorry that the buffalo eluded you. Elephant and hippo on one trip is no small feat though.

Congratulations.

Good for your Dad and it is so great to share a hunt between a father and son.

Holy smokes, if that a NON-trophy bull, I would love to see a trophy! That is a great report and a magnificent animal.

Congratulations. Sounds like a great experience non-trophy or not! Tough luck on the buf. There's always next time.

quote:

...After a fair wait……..and dram of scotch from my flask, we started stalking back towards where we figured the bull would be...

How on earth did Vaughan manage to choke down a dram of scotch without 3 ice cubes to go in it.

Thank you for your excellent and extremely well written report.

Plus, congratulations on your elephant and big bull hippo! And sorry about your tough luck on the buffalo. It just goes to show how much time and luck can be a factor in these things.

I really enjoyed reading your report.

Mark T, Congratulations! Wonderful story and hunt.
Taking an elephant out of a large group can be a very exciting thing even after the bull is down!!
The largest herd of buffalo (my guess of 300), and the biggest group of bulls(perhaps 15)I have seen, personally, was in the Caprivi, and none were seen at a time or place where they could be taken.
Perhaps i missed it, but was the hippo taken on the Zambezi, the Kwando, the Chobe, or the Kavango rivers?

Great story and trophies. Vaughn is a great PH and works hard to make sure you have a good experience.

Excellent report and a heck of a trip with Vaughan. His reputation just keeps getting better and better. I would love to hunt with him someday and particularly in the Caprivi.

As I have said in the past, it's great to hear about these father/son hunts and I really would like to do one with my dad. Your dad's comments are quite funny.

Great report and congratulations on a great hunt!

We spent a few days wading around Kasika looking for buff last year and plan on going back next year after buff and hippo.

Definitely a great experience....I think!

Thanks for all of your responses.

Jorge, actually he was on the 5 ice cube kick on this trip! Warm scotch from a flask really just isn't his favorite......not much arm twisting involved though!

Steve, The hippo was taken on a side channel to the Chobe.

We'll make those buffalo pay for their indescretions some day. Year after next perhaps......

Congratulations on a super adventure made all the more special by sharing it with your father! Nice PAC ellie and hippo! Hunting the pachyderms is a blast, isn't it.

Great report and pics. Thanks.