HUNTERS – Josh Cleghorn & Butch Whiting www.kryptek.com
PH – Brent LeesMay
TRACKERS – Alfred, Magaya & Pesanayi (driver)
DATES – 2.4.13 – 11.4.13
AREA – Nuanetsi (Southern Zimbabwe)
ANIMALS HUNTED – Buffalo & Plainsgame
ANIMALS SHOT (by Josh, Butch & Adam) – 3 Buffalo,1 Cheetah, 1 Eland, 1 Waterbuck, 3 Zebra, 4 Wildebeest (blue), 1 Bushbuck, 5 Impala, 3 Warthog, 1 Giraffe, 4 Jackal, 2 Monkeys, 6 Baboons, 1 Genet
RIFLES USED (by Josh, Butch & Adam) – .300 Weatherby, 300 H&H Win Mag, .375 Ruger, .416 Weatherby, .500 Heym & .600 Heym
ALSO IN CAMP – Pro hunter Ivan Carter hunting with Adam Wickes of www.thewildlifegallery.com & being filmed by Andy McDonald

One of the benefits of managing a hunting concession is having the opportunity to conduct a couple hunts annually and it gives another management perspective by covering the ground on foot while hunting – truth be told, who wouldn’t love hunting in a good area with good hunting clients!!!

The minute these guys stepped off the Navajo at the Nuanetsi airstrip, I knew we were in for a good hunt! Good humour was flowing and everyone was in high spirits! Unfortunately Josh was not feeling well at all but still came with us to the range and fired a couple shots along with Butch and Adam – a couple minor adjustments and all the rifles were shooting perfectly!

Early each morning, Ivan and I would discuss our daily movements over coffee and shortly after breakfast we’d go our separate ways for the day. Josh and Butch hunted mainly with me and Adam with Ivan but we’d plan to change over later in the hunt when the priority animals where down. First prize for Adam, Josh and Butch would be Buffalo and any ‘plainsgame’ encountered along the way would be bonus!

First morning out with the Kryptek boys, we found a lone Dagga boy track which was not a huge track but certainly one worth following, especially to get the jitters of the first stalk out the way. This track led us through some thick mopane scrub and into a small herd of Buffalo which spooked ahead of us as they heard our approach. We persevered with this small group which led us into another small herd which we followed carefully being ever mindful of the wind and any stragglers at the back of the herd as the bush was very thick and visibility was not good. We were able to monitor the herd’s position by the constant chirping of the Red Billed Oxpeckers which pick the ticks off the Buff. As we progressed through the scrub, the bush began thinning out enough for us to spot the Buffalo moving through a clearing ahead – Butch and I moved quickly to intercept the animals as this was a “now or never” situation. I must say here that with Butch and Josh’s military & hunting background, they maneuvered swiftly and quietly into position when the need arose and this was one of the those times, Butch hunkered down behind a mopane sapling using it as a rest. The Buffalo began to enter the thick stuff at about 45 yards in front of us moving from left to right, all following the lead cow. Butch quickly recognized the Bull that I pointed out to him and hammered him with his .416 Weatherby. The loud “whop” doubled with the high forward lunge of the bull told us he was hit as he spun around and followed the herd of approx 30 animals across the opening into the thick beyond.

We sat for 15 minutes hoping for the bellow but it never came, so picked up tracks and began to follow across the open area when Butch hissed “ssssst ssssst” and pointed ahead – for some unbeknown reason, the Buffalo Bull had chosen to lie down in the relative open before getting to the thick bush where the herd had disappeared into. The Bull stood and ran with us in close pursuit and as he stopped Butch shot him again quickly but the Buff still made it to the thick stuff. The only way we knew where he was, was by the occasional cough which eventually fell silent so I assumed he had expired. I threw some rocks at the downed animal and after about the third throw, he jumped to his feet and took off but luckily Butch gave him a telling raking shot which downed him for good! We found that the first shot had been too far back behind the shoulder.





At dusk later that same day, Josh and I spotted a black-backed Jackal which we stalked across an open area and Josh made a fine shot with .300 Weatherby. Butch and the trackers gave us a hard time because we had stalked past a Jackal which we never saw at 15 yards to shoot one at 100 yards!!! Wildlife Gallery are going to have to improvise somewhat on this Jackal because the exit wasn’t pretty!



We awoke to some late season rains on the third morning which progressively got worse through the morning – so much so, that we picked up a large Dagga boy track at about 7am and eventually had to give it up 45 minutes later as the rain washed the tracks out! Not to be outdone by the weather, we hunted Zebra as that’s what we could find in the rain and both gentlemen took nice stallions a couple hours apart. With the Zebra loaded on the way back to camp, we caught a large troop of Baboons unawares and again, both Kryptek boys took a large Baboon each. Josh ‘s male was at 290 yards and has to be the biggest bodied male I have ever seen/shot.







A certain advantage after the rains, was that the tracking was really easy so we tried to cover as much ground as possible to find Dagga boy tracks before it got too hot. After having being stuck in the mud and the warn winch saving us lots of time – we found some tracks midmorning, which we exited the L/Cruiser to investigate when the Buff thundered off from just 50 yards ahead of us. We loaded rifles, water etc and followed for a couple hours before we heard the grunting of the feeding Buffalo up ahead. The game of ‘cat & mouse’ began as we tried to find a nice bull in the very thick Mopane scrub. We thought we were in luck once when we caught the tail end of the herd walking out across an open area but unfortunately all the trailing bulls were soft tops and not what Josh or I were looking for. I tried to take advantage of the situation and move into a better spot by moving too quickly and ended up comprising ourselves. As the Buff ran off into the thick, I had Josh run with me hoping to bump an unsuspecting bull but it didn’t work as the Buffalo outran us. Surprisingly, the herd only moved another couple hundred yards and lay down but the wind gave us away as we began to stalk in.

This time the herd split into 2 groups and I wasn’t too keen to track much longer as the Buffalo obviously knew what was up and I didn’t want to walk over dead ground back to the truck, so suggested we just carry on tracking and then we would radio the truck to collect us at the next road. The small splinter herd we now followed never moved far but always remained in the thick stuff where they felt most secure. We got close a few times but we could never see a nice bull but we still hadn’t seen all the animals – we caught up to the animals for about the fourth time when I could see a large black shape of a bull at about 50 yards across a small dip and in a slight opening. The only part that was clear was from the front leg forward and from his nose down!! Josh and I lay on our bellies and tried to get a better shot but this was it –not the ideal shot opportunity but it’s all we had to work with. I explained to Josh what he was looking at so he could get some perspective and eventually Josh camly said “I can do it, I got him….” Shooting a .416 Weatherby prone is not easy but Josh handled the shot very well considering the awkward position – the Bull immediately dropped his head and took off kicking his back legs indicating he was hard hit!

We stood up to dust ourselves and quickly discussed the sight picture/shot when we heard the bull staggering in the direction he had dissapeared. We cautiously approached and found the bull still on his feet but in a bad way as Josh’s shot had broken his front left shoulder and had also hit a lung. A couple more shots with the .416 and .500, finished the job.





The 5th evening, Josh took advantage of a lone Wildebeest out in an open area down in the south of the property



Ivan and Adam had also scored some beautiful trophies (including a fantastic Buff) , so from now on, the hunters would jump between the hunting vehicles everyday so we all got a chance to hunt with each other. Josh and Butch managed to get some fantastic trophies with Ivan and some awesome footage of their trophies (in particular was a Waterbuck which Josh dropped in it’s tracks while on the run – I thought that was an outstanding shot!!) Hopefully when Ivan gets a chance, he can post some photographs of the animals he shot with Butch & Josh.

Butch and l followed an Eland bull for many hours on the seventh day but in the end, luck just was not on our side and it was not to be. Later that day while enjoying an evening drive, a large Cheetah ran onto the road ahead and stopped broadside. It really is unfortunate that an American cannot import them into the US but Butch still took advantage of this very rare opportunity and placed a perfect heart shot at 100 yards – high fives all round as we were really lucky!





Mid morning on day 8 found Butch and I watching 2 Wildebeest bulls and one of them was huge but also clever as he slipped away with a herd of Zebra while we tried to follow him for a shot! On the way back to the truck we found another Bull which was also very nice so Butch hammered him with his .300 Weatherby



Adam and I got to hunt together the 9th day for a Kudu bull that he really wanted and although we got really close once, we could not seal the deal. On the way home, Adam collected a Genet cat which he was super happy with – he shot it at about 15 yards with a .375 Ruger using a Hornady solid and it made two neat little holes on entry/exit. The taxidermist of the group showed us how it was done when shooting the small game and minimizing damage!!!



Josh and I were headed to a rendezvous point in the bush where we were to meet Butch, Adam, Ivan and Andy for lunch when we spotted an old Warthog which Josh dropped with a single shot as the Hog was trying to elude us!



We’d packed a tender loin from Josh’s Eland he’d taken with Ivan a couple days earlier and this was sliced into steaks for lunch on hamburgers while Pesanayi skinned the W/Hog Josh had just taken….life on Safari is good stuff!!!





Late that afternoon which was the last hunting day, we finally found a big Giraffe bull (all the others we’d seen had given us the slip) which Josh gave barrels of Ivan’s .600 Heym, then I handed him my .500 Heym and he let loose both barrels with that too…needless to say, the Giraffe didn’t make it too far!!



I certainly had a fantastic time on this hunt, will all the guys mentioned above – the Kryptek boys have served their country in the heat of battle from the front line and have now started a company back home in the US which produces a camouflage pattern I personally know works incredibly well. Adam Wickes gave us some great helpful tips on trophy care/quality. All three guys are first class guys! Ivan and Andy….ever present humour and always a pleasure to share camp with!!

Look forward to doing it all over again.

Great report. It looks like you had fun and got some nice animals,

Great report and thank you and Ivan for all you did for Adam, Butch and Josh! Another great opportunity for The Wildlife Gallery Team, and our brothers at Kryptek Outdoor Group... DAN

I didn't get invited AGAIN?
Sounds like you were successful and had a good time.

congrats on a great hunt!

Proper and some great buffalo there. The wildebeest is a horse.

Cheers

Well done Brent, well done.

Brent...sounds like it is coming along nicely there at Nuanetsi..nice buff!

Did you see any of those elephants you have running around?

Nice hunt report, looks like a helluva lot of fun!

Congrats, Brent!

Very nice

Great report Brent, can't wait to see you in July!

Brent,
Good to see you out there in the heat of the battle still!!
Sounds like things are going just right for you.
Your report shire reminds me of our hunt with you this past August. (Best hunt ever by the way)
I am taking Leslie and then boys to Sango this August, to hunt with Alistair and Thierry.

Cheers mate,

Dino

Awesome report Brent! Thanks for sharing.

Great Report!!! Awesome Hunt!!

Great report Brent and a congrats on some very nice buff!

Please keep these reports coming, I relive my hunt with you guys every time I see a post on Nuanetsi

Cheers
Hendrik

Congratulations my friend!!! You are reaping the fruits of your labour. Nuanetsi is a special place and well done on some great trophies.

Outstanding trophies!
Congratulations to all!

Good job Brent, nice report!

Brent great Buffalo I met you last year with Steven Meyer at Nuanetsi om my Leopard hunt

Jim Ledgerwood

Well done!!! Thanks for posting!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Well done particularly in the heavy early season cover.

Mark

Thanks everyone......

Wildlife Gallery - Pleasure Dan, Adam is a good man.

Safari 2 - we don't see the Elephants often but we often have to remove the trees off the road that have been pushed over (they do it on purpose for sure!!!!!).

Dave Fulson - some "jaws" Leopard around, you're in for a good one brother.

Dino - hopefully the politics are sorted out in SVC and you are able to have a good hunt on Sango with your family. You'll meet my folks there.

Shotgun46 - thanks Jim, heard you were headed to the northern part of Zim for your Leopard? If so, good luck. We have taken 2 monster Leopard this year and am just waiting for permission to post the photos.

Well done Brent. I hope to see Nuanetsi sooner rather than later.

This is a special place for sure. If any of our AR brothers are interested in learning more about Nuanetsi they can give Tim or I a call at the CHIFUTI \ SAFARI CLASSICS OFFICE 214-360-9599
Keep my leopard tied down Brent!

Nice report and looks like a great hunt. I will be in the Nuanetsi area in June and Brent will be stopping my camp for dinner. I will be with Barry Styles' area. The Whiteheads of Chiredzi will join us for a meal, also.
Cal

Great report Brent. Gld you got some huning in. It looks pretty thick this time of year in the bush

Really enjoyed this report. Thanks for the post.
Regards
Steve

awesome report nice buffs

Hey Brent
Naturally I read with interest your report. Nice work man. A couple of great buff ... and others. Chip off the old block ??
I am looking forward to the end of the month. First of many more to come I hope !
See you soon.