HUNT REPORT

Zimbabwe
Save Valley Conservancy
Sango Concession, Ingwe Camp
Zambezi Hunters
Thierry Labat, PH
Will Parks, Hunter
Betsy Parks, Observer
May 31 - June 15, 2009
Logistics: Shawn at Gracy Travel
Rifles: Remington KS Safari in 375 H&H and 458 Win Mag
Ammunition: Federal factory loads, Trophy Bonded Bear Claws in 300 gr. and 500 gr.
Optics: Swarovski PH scopes and 8X30 Binoculars
Species Hunted Successfully: Leopard, Buffalo, Eland, Klipspringer, Warthog, Bushpig, Bushbuck, Waterbuck, Zebra (baits), Impala (baits)
Species Hunted Unsuccessfully: Sable, Grysbok
Species seen but not hunted: Everything! Black and white rhino, elephant, lion, brown hyaena, African wild dogs, cheetah, kudu, blue wildebeest, nyala, crocodile, duiker, wildcat, civet, giraffe.

We left ATL on May 29. A day later we were in Harare, without any bags. After spending the night at Johnny and Nina Hulme’s home, we decided to make the trip to camp, start hunting, and hope the bags arrived within a couple of days.

May 31
Following the ninety-minute flight from Harare, we arrived at the Sango airstrip. After a brief meet-and-greet, we loaded the Landcruiser for the short drive to camp.

As you can see from the photos, Ingwe "camp" is as luxurious as any camp in Africa.






After settling in and freshening up, we had a bite of brunch and set out to shoot a zebra for bait. We quickly found a herd of zebra and a stallion presented himself for a shot. The shot was true and we delivered the stallion to the skinning facilities for skinning and quartering.



Shortly after the Zebra, we shot a 14-plus-inch warthog.



We took the pig to the skinning shed and swapped him for the fresh zebra quarters. We spent the rest of the day hanging baits.

June 1
AM: We started out for buffalo and found a group of dugga boys. The wind was bad and they moved into thicker and thicker bush until we gave up the hunt.

PM: We built a leopard blind on a researcher’s bait where a male and female were feeding. The wind was bad, again, so we ended the sit at 9pm.

Still no bags.

June 2
AM: We hunted buffalo and checked leopard baits. No buffalo, no hits on baits.

PM: The afternoon buffalo hunt took a strange twist when we heard growling and snarling some 100 yards ahead of us. After hearing it twice, we decided it was a pair of leopards. We gave up the buffalo hunt and sneaked toward the leopards. We heard them two more times before they slipped away. We never saw them, but they were really close. After the leopards vanished, we heard a clicking sound. We then spotted two eland bulls feeding through the bush. One had fantastic horns, with the side profile of a mini Lord Derby. He was not the biggest bodied bull eland in the Save, but he had fantastic horns. Not shooting him was not an option as he was too fine to pass on any day of a safari. The shot was true, and we had a fantastic, 39.5 inch eland in the salt.

Still no bags.



June 3
AM: We saw another warthog and decided he was larger than the one I shot the first day. After a short stalk I managed to get a shot into him. Thierry was right and the pig was about one half inch longer on each tusk. After shooting the pig, we skipped buffalo hunting and went to check the baits.



The last bait we checked had been hit by a large male. As a bonus, there was a trail camera on the bait to capture the whole thing. As the picture below shows, he was a large male:



After lunch, we went into hunting mode. We built the blind and by 4:00 p.m. we settled in for the evening’s hunt. At 12:15 a.m. the leopard charged up to the base of the bait tree to run off a civet. The civet almost ran through the blind and I almost jumped into Thierry’s lap. He whispered, “It’s the leopard.”

By moonlight, I could just barely see the leopard moving on the bait branch. Thierry tapped me on the shoulder indicating that he was about the turn on the light. I gave him a thumbs up that I was ready. I can remember the light hitting the cat just long enough that I could see his yellow color. Then, instantly, the cat leapt from the branch, grunted, and ran off.

Not twenty minutes later, we again heard the sounds of the leopard feeding. This time, however, he would go up the tree, get a bite or two, and retreat to the ground. For several minutes, we watched bits and pieces of this activity by moonlight before the leopard stopped, walked into the open, sat down in the bright moonlight, and looked up at the bait. I could see the cat well and, in hindsight, probably should have shot him. Instead, I whispered, “I can see him. I can kill him right there.” Before Thierry could respond, the leopard looked right in my direction and ran away. I cannot believe that he heard me whispering, but I know that he did. Three hours later, there were no other encounters with the leopard, so we called for the truck at 4:00 a.m. Of course, after we left, the leopard returned and ate the remainder of the bait.

The best news of the day, the bags arrived.

June 4
AM: “Sleep in” until 7am, zero my rifles, hunt buffalo and check baits. Today we found a bait had been hit in the area where we heard the pair of leopards on June 2. We “remodeled” a machan from which a leopard had been shot in 2008 and readied it for the evening sit.

PM: In the machan by 4pm. At dark, the sounds of the leopards began. I thought we would kill the leopard at any time. While the female did walk under the bait at midnight, the male never came to the bait. We heard the pair of leopards all around us for most of the night. After 13 hours in the tree, we finally left the blind and returned to camp at 5am.

June 5
AM: "Sleep in" until 7am, then on the trail of the buffalo, but the buffalo won. Later, we found that we had another hit from the big male we caught on trail camera, so we decided to return to that blind and try that leopard again.

Mid-day we took a walk down the Mokore to look for waterbuck and bushbuck. After an hour walk, we found an ancient waterbuck. I made a good shot on him and after a short run across the river and one more insurance shot, he fell dead on the opposite river bank.



PM: In the leopard blind by 3:30 pm. No leopard as of 2am so we called for the car. We did see a brown hyaena and a civet.

June 6
AM: We begin with the hunt for buffalo. Following a track took us close to a leopard bait, so we went to check it. At 8am, there was a male and female on the bait. We would sit here tonight.

PM: Time to build a machan. We borrowed some flat boards from a rhino boma and made as fine of a machan as has ever been built. We were in the blind early and we heard the leopards just as darkness fell. The female walked under us, just 15 feet away, and we could hear the male purring not more than 30 yards to our left. For whatever reason, the female walked to the bait tree but would not commit to the bait. She walked away and the male must have followed. At 2am, we decided it was not going to happen, so we called for the car.

June 7
AM: More buffalo hunting, without success, and bait checking. On the buffalo trail, our approach on a herd was blocked by a herd of zebra and impala so we stopped to let them pass. While waiting, we saw a leopard sunning himself on top of a termite mound. We watched him for 10 minutes at 150 yards before he eventually rose and walked off. None of the baits have been hit overnight. Some are rotting and others are eaten. Thierry is beginning to think that we need to move into another part of the concession and start hunting different cats.

PM: We hang another zebra quarter where we had the June 3 encounter with the big male. On a hunch, we go ahead and build a blind. We have supper that night, for a change, and enjoy a good night’s sleep.

June 8
AM: We are on the tracks of buffalo, so we send Isaac to check baits. When he picks us up, he reports that the fresh zebra quarter has been hit by a big male leopard.

PM: Since the new blind was deeper in the bush, we planned to arrive at 3:00 p.m. in case the cat arrived early. At 10:15 p.m. the cat arrived and Thierry gave me the hand signal indicating where the cat was in relation to the tree. I sat up and looked through the scope and could not see anything. Clouds had moved in, and the bright moonlight that benefitted us on the previous nights was no longer there. After a few tense moments, the clouds parted just enough that I could make out the leopard. He was sitting like a dog and eating the bait on the shady side of the tree!

I turned to Thierry and gave him a thumbs up, a head nod, and a trigger pull gesture all at the same time. He nodded back and I returned to the sight picture, made out the leopard’s moving head, slid the crosshair down into his body, and squeeeeeeezed. Thierry turned on the light, but there was no dead leopard at the base of the tree. I saw nothing but fire when I pulled the trigger, but Thierry said that the shot definitely knocked the leopard down.

After fifteen minutes, we decided to slowly approach the bait tree. With rifles and flashlights at the ready, we began the long walk to the bait. About fifteen yards away, Theirry took the lead and asked me to stay behind. After finally getting to the bait tree, he began unloading his gun and called to me, “Mr. Parks, come see your leopard.” He was less than 10 feet from the bait.






June 9
AM and PM: Hunt for buffalo and cut down baits.

June 10:
AM: We are on the buffalo trail again, but with better luck I finally shot a big bull. We followed the track, he charged, and Thierry and I stopped him at eight steps with a simultaneous dose of 500 grain charge stoppers from our .458s.





June 11-15
With five days left, we shifted our focus to sable. We put in several miles each day walking for sable as they were in an area with few roads. We had several close encounters, but never connected with a sable bull. Along the way, however, we did manage to collect a klipspringer, a bushbuck, and a bushpig.





June 16
Then, before we knew it, the hunt was over and it was time to go home.



SUMMARY:
This was a fantastic hunt, in good country, with great people. The accommodations were five star. Leopards were plentiful. I saw four leopards, and the hunting party accounted for 9 leopard sightings in connection with this hunt. Buffalo were not as plentiful as in the Zambezi Valley or other parts of the SVC, but the bulls we encountered were old, big, and wide and we saw buffalo almost daily. I recall nine elephant encounters, five rhino sightings, and one group of lioness as well as lots of lion tracks and lions roaring at night and in the morning. While I did not find a big sable, there are strong numbers of all species of plains game in this area. In conclusion, I give the hunt my highest rating . . . . I’ve rebooked in the same area with the same PH.

Congrats on some fine trophies!
LDK

Very, very nice!

Holy crap. That is no camp, that is a resort.

Congrats on a great trip.

The picture of the buff boss it's fantastic.
Love the leopard and the bushpig also !!

The "camp" looks like a 5 star hotel !!!

Congrats

L

I don't know if I am more impressed by the size of your cat, or by the fact that your good lady seems to go leopard hunting in her pyjamas!

Great pictures and stories.

WOW!!!! What a "camp" and what a leopard!!!! Are you sure that's not a spotted lioness?

Brett

a great safari. Congratulations. I like very much your leopard.

What a great trip.
Congrats to a very nice Tom and Dagga Boy.

Seloushunter

Congrats to a SPLENDID hunt!!!!!!!!!

Very IMPRESSIVE indeed!!!!!

Congratulations on a great hunt! That camp looks awesome!

Absolutely beautiful pictures! It looks like you had a fabulous hunt. Really like the warties and bushpig. Great buff, and theleopard is a toad!

Mad Dog

Very nice! WOW! What a camp!

Absolutely a fantastic hunt - congrats and thanks for sharing! Gorgeous cat...

Great report and super trophies... more details on the buff charge please! Did he charge unprovoked or did he get bumped a time or two and get fed up?

And beautiful leopard!

Congrats on a great hunt.

Sounds like the long hours in the blind paid off! The area sounds like it's crawling with leopard

Wow...every animal is outstanding.

Will,

Great report and beautiful trophies. Glad you could share it with your wife. This year will be 14 safaris for Sadie and I together. I could not consider going without her.

The Save is a very special hunting destination and always a great choice for the novice or the expereinced safari hunter. We represent both Mokore Safaris and Zambezi Hunters there.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by bwanamrm:
Great report and super trophies... more details on the buff charge please! Did he charge unprovoked or did he get bumped a time or two and get fed up?

And beautiful leopard!

bwanamrm

For details on the buffalo charge:

http://forums.accuratereloadin...511098211#2511098211

Fantastic, sounds like a dream hunt in so many ways

WOW! Thanks for sharing your incredible hunt!

Fantastic cat - well done !

Ahhh... the date explains why I didn't see your earlier post. I was hunting in Africa on the 9th of July!

The camp looks very nice, and you have taken excellent photographs. Your leopard is a beauty. Congratulations.

Aziz

Will,

What an outstanding leopard! Thank YOU for sharing.

Looks like your hunt was 10 out of 10. Can't get any better than that. The camp, the game, your lovely bride along side, man you have it made.

Well done.

Wow!! what an awesome trip. Congrats

quote:

Zambezi Hunters

Thanks for the great write up! I hope to one day have as successful of a safari as you did. Its hard to chose which I like best your amazing leopard or the buff charge.

Thanks!

Great report Will. I had the same type of experience there. I just returned from the same camp and will attest that if you are taking your spouse this is THE camp to go to. Dusty came to dinner one night to show us his work with leopards and he was showing us the pictures from the trail camera of your cat. He said it was a really big cat. Congratulations on getting a fine animal.

More later.

crl

Either you are only 4' tall or that is a frikkin huge Leopard!

What a great hunt. I would imagine it doesn't get too much better than that.

Will, Congratulations on the super trophies,sounds like you had quite a shoot out with the Buffalo.

That sounded like an outstanding hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by Wendell Reich:
Either you are only 4' tall or that is a frikkin huge Leopard!

What a great hunt. I would imagine it doesn't get too much better than that.

Wendell:

To give you a proper reference, I'm 6'0", 250lbs.

What a great trip Will... thanks for sharing.
Wonderful trophies and a heck of a leopard.
Andy

Beautiful Cat!!

What did he weigh?

He "only" weighed 160. Post mortem revealed an almost empty stomach, I'm told.

He was like me, all head and shoulders.

Did you weigh him or was that your estimate?? It dosen't matter though, but I am just wondering. Beautiful cat!

He was weighed.

So that means with a belly full of meat he would probably be close to 180lbs.
Congrats!!

Received the good word today that the crate is at the taxidermist's, in good shape, with all of its contents in proper order. I sure feel alot better with the raw trophies 15 miles up the road.

By the way, that's four month delivery from the end of the hunt!

As a bonus, the taxidermist says he was shocked by the quality of the skinning, salting, cleanliness, and overall preservation of the skins and skulls. Some of the best he's seen. Thanks ZH.

I'm going up tomorrow to personally inspect the skulls and skins.

Will, well done! The leopard is incredible.......and the other trophies no slouches. My wife Lynn, afellow Save companion gives a big thumbs up to the trophies, THE CAMP!!!!! and the fact your wife could sleep in a nightgown, instead of longjohns, fleece, winter jacket and 4 blankets plus 3 hats. Jim