16 January 2015, 21:38
faisalMatetsi Lion Hunt
Dates: 14th -27th November 2014Outfitter: Russ Broom Safaris
Area: Matetsi & surrounding area
Professional Hunter: Peter Baker
Trackers: Dumela, England & Luckson
Game Taken: Lion, Livingstone’s Eland, Common Waterbuck, Giraffe, Baboon
Game not taken: Buffalo, Hyena
Game seen: Kudu, Impala, Common Waterbuck, Warthog, Sable, Roan, Livingstone’s Eland, Common Duiker, Giraffe, Hyena, Leopard, Lion, Zebra, Baboon, Vervet Monkey, Common Reedbuck, Elephant
Rifles: 375 H&H Magnum Bolt rifle & 470Nitro Express Double
Ammo: Handloaded 300Grn. Swift A-Frames in Norma brass & handloaded 500Grn. Woodleigh solids & softs in Norma brass
This was a late season cancellation that was booked in mid October.
Having previously hunted with Russ Broom Safaris, and after speaking to Russ I felt pretty confident that we stood a better than average chance of success.
I arrived in Victoria Falls and was greeted by Peter Baker who was to be my PH for this hunt. The drive to camp took a little over an hour.
The camp sat on a ridge overlooking a waterhole, kudu, waterbuck, and impala regularly came down to drink during the day.
Accomodation consisted of five wooden stilted chalets with thatched roofs and a central dinning area.
After checking zero we headed out to look for bait. Late in the afternoon we spotted a herd of about forty eland. After a short stalk I took the herd bull off sticks at about 150yds. A follow up was required along with a couple more shots to secure him.
The Eland went 39"
The following morning was spent hanging baits and making drags. Peter had a couple of bait sites planed and it was quite evident why he had chosen them as there was plenty of fresh spore on the roads nearby.
We had a number of trail cams that we set up at the baits we hung, the next day the camera showed that two lionesses had fed on the eland half only a couple of hours after we had hung it.
The search was on for Buffalo and Giraffe as we were going to need more bait.
That afternoon we watched a group of six giraffe cross into our area from the adjoining forestry block, amongst them was a old bull. Having never hunted giraffe before I was amazed at how difficult they were to approach. When your not hunting them they seem very relaxed and unaware of their surroundings, that all changes very fast when they are being hunted. After stalking the group for nearly an hour I was able to get a shot at the old bull. Although the shot was good it didn't seem to have much effect so a couple of minutes latter I followed up with a couple more. The bull now decided that it had had enough and ran off, England the tracker and I gave chase but soon lost sight of it. We eventually found him still standing although looking a little worse for wear some two kilometres away. Not fancying another 2k run I went for a head shot dropping him were he stood.
That night we herd two different lion calling near camp.
The following morning loaded up with giraffe we set about hanging more baits and making drags. A very promising track was picked up on the road near to were we heard the calling the previous night.
The cartridge for comparrison is a .450 Ackley
The two lionesses were now three and a leopard had fed on one the other baits we had hung.
The buffalo had seemed to have moved out of the area, we weren't finding any fresh sign, we just hoped that the baits would keep the lion occupied and in the area.
The area holds a good population of sable along with other plains game.
The giraffe were now acting more like giraffe now they weren't being hunted which allowed for some photo opportunities.
Yet again the lion were very vocal most of the night, the morning revealed that a large male had come through camp. so we hung another bait we were holding back some five hundred yards up the road down which he had walked the previous night.
We then started to check the baits.One of the baits had been hit, unfortunately we didn't have a camera on it but we found good mane hair and the same large track we had seen on the road two days prior. we constructed a blind some fifty yards away and cut a path into it from the road. later that day we also replenished the bait.
Peter said we would go in early the next morning so as to allow the bait site to settle down after building the blind.
The lions were calling most of the night so i didn't get a lot of sleep. one of them was very close to camp and must have hit the bait we put by the road.
We left camp in the dark stopping about a kilometer from the bait site. Peter, Dumela, England and myself walked about eight hundred yards down the road before hitting the path we had cut into the blind.
It was still dark as we slowly made our way to the blind; stopping every few yards to listen. Once in the blind England indicated that he could hear the lion nearby. peering through our binoculars it was apparent that half the bait was gone. we had tied the giraffe ribcage and a back leg to be base of the tree the previous day. the rib cage was now gone having been dragged off.
Moments passed and then the lion appeared from the left and started to try to make off with the remaining bait. Peter took one look at him and said if you have the shot take him. The lion was slightly quatering away and bristling with muscle as it tried to free the bait from the base of the tree. At the shot he summersaulted forwards picking himself up and crashing off into the bush growling as he went. Before he was out of view I managed to get another shot into him. The growling continued for the next minute or so getting fainter as time passed.
We waited in the blind listening for the next five minutes before going back to get the truck. Driving as close as we could we picked up his track and found good blood trail which led us to the dead lion some hundred yards away.
There was no ground shrinkage walking up on this cat, he was huge bodied and mature. I stood there speechless for a few moments in total awe of this most majestic creature.
We celebrated our sucess back at camp and took it easy for the rest of the day. Our primary goal now acomplished we spent the next few days looking for buffalo. The weather was also beginning to change a couple of electrical storms preceded some huge downpours.
Whilst out looking for tracks we spotted a decent waterbuck which I stalked into and took at around eighty yards.
On our way back to camp we spotted a large dog baboon that I took out of a group that was spread out foraging.
I also wanted to try for hyena so we dropped the baits and repositioned some of them and constructed a couple more blinds.
All the hyena baits were hit multiple times, but every time we sat on the bait they didn't appear until after we left. The one opportunity I did have resulted in me missing the shot!!!
Dumela discovered a chameleon in one of the blinds
The bait by camp was very active the trail cam had picked up hyena , leopard and another big lion all in one night.
we measured the lion skull to be 26 1/2"
The next day was spent going to see Victoria falls.
If you look carefully you can see a group of people swimming right at the edge of the waterfall.
The highlight of this safari was without doubt hunting and taking a large mature lion in its natural environment. Many thanks to Russ, Peter and the team for making it happen.
