Dates, Nov. 1 to Nov. 14.
Travel Arrangements, Gracey Travel
Safari Outfitter, HHK Safaris
PH George Hallamore
Hunt Locations, Charisa, Sengwa and Chete Safari Areas.
Trackers, Absent and Jensen
Animals on Quota, four tuskless elephants
Animals taken, five elephants
Animals seen, elephant, buffalo, eland, kudu, impala, waterbuck, grysbuck, crocodile, hippo, baboon and sable. Trophy quality animals of all species except croc were seen.

Rifles used:
G. Genshow, 465 Nitro double using handloads with North Fork FN solids at 2,145 fps.
Browning Safari Grade bolt rifle in 458 Win. Mag using handloads with Hornady DGS bullets at 2,150 fps.

I flew United Air Lines from Boise to Denver and then on to Washington D.C. Then connected with a SAA flight to Joberg. Going to Bulawayo requires and over night in Joberg so I had Gracey Travel arrange my stay at Afton House. I was met as I got off the plane by Gracey employee Bruce and guided through immigration, customs and the police firearms check. All paper work was handled by Bruce before my arrival and the police simply checked gun serial numbers and sent us on our way. I was at the airport less that 20 minutes before Bruce turned me over to an Afton House employee. The next morning AH took me to the airport where Bruce again met me and guided me through all the necessary checks. The only problem came when the ticket agent checked the weight of my ammo and I was over the 5 kg limit by one kg. I thought I would lose some ammo or have to pay a surcharge but Bruce said something to the agent and she passed us through with a warning to be more careful next time. Thanks Bruce!

I was met in Bulawayo by George Hallamore who I have hunted with in the past. The various people I encountered at the airport were very friendly and helpful in me getting through their requirements and it only took a few minutes. George whisked me off to his home for the night and I got to see his wife Justine and their to great kids Jordan and Mikala again. They treated me to an excellent steak dinner at the Cattleman's Restaurant that evening and the next morning we drove to Charisa to start our hunt. On the way George and I discussed what I hoped to accomplish on the hunt and agreed on "Rules of Engagement". Among those were my desire to try to take a frontal head shot and a broadside heart/lung shot with each caliber and load to test bullet performance. We also agreed that we did not want to have to shoot any female elephants other than the tuskless ones because they charged us. This required us to shoot from a little further distances than I prefer. In addition, I did not want to shoot any 1/2 or 2/3 grown elephants and wanted to take only fully mature cows without dependent calves.

As it turned out we had one tuskless on quota in Charisa and another in the neighboring Sengwa Research Area (SRA). I like that idea as I have hunted Charisa in the past and at that time the SRA was not open to hunting. I have always wondered what it was like. We also had three tuskless on quota at Chete.


Palm trees in the SRA.


Much of both areas had been burned during the dry season and animals were concentrated along available water locations. Elephants could be seen during the hot part of the afternoon around water. This allowed us to look over many elephants. We tracked from 2 to 4 groups of elephants every day looking for an adult tuskless. Many encounters were a little more than exciting. In one case we spotted an adult tuskless cow with a group of twelve elephants at a pan. They were headed into the brush when we saw them and we hurried to cut them off. We contacted them in some thick Jesse but they knew we were in the area but the fitful wind changes made it impossible for us to get close or for them to locate us. The matriarch of the herd led them running first one way then another, confused by our sent drifting in from different directions. The way that big cow acted created a De Ja Vue moment for me and reminded me of a similar acting situation in the Omay area when we were charged from close range by a matriarch cow after I shot a young bull out of the herd on a PAC hunt. I told George that cow would charge us of it got the chance and he agreed that she was on the prowl and that we would have to be careful or we would get charged. After running back and forth for 10 minutes the big cow took her herd out in the open pan where they formed a defensive circle, the same behavior I saw when the charge related above occurred. She moved out several paces from the herd and raised her trunk trying to locate us. At this point they were about 100 yards from us as we crouched at the edge of the trees. There was no doubt in my mind that if we stepped out into the open she would charge and we would have had to shoot her. Discretion being the better part of valor we backed off and let her win this round. I truly believe we made the right decision.

During our one week stay in this area we looked at over 450 elephants. Although we saw several tuskless cows, they did not meet our size and age criteria. On another day we were told that a PH named Stockhill was charged and hit by a cow buffalo with a snare on her leg. He failed to stop her with two shots from his 500 double and got hit on the leg and side. He was bruised severely from his knee to his arm pit and taken to the hospital. A couple of days later we were checking a pan for elephants and saw a very skinny cow buff with a snare on her leg slowly climbing out of the pan on the far side of the pan. George radioed Parks to see what they wanted us to do and they asked us to shoot it. We thought as slow as she was moving all we had to do was walk over the ridge and shoot her from close range. Of course it didn't turn out that way. She moved off at a much better clip than we thought her capable of and we followed for a couple of hundred yards only getting occasional glimpses of her. She entered a vlei of head high grass with narrow game paths through it. Just the kind of place where you could expect a charge from 10 yards or less. To say it was a hairy experience was an understatement. I was glad I was carrying my 465 double that day. As it turned out, she passed through the vlei and we were unable to follow her because we lost the tracks in the grass. A very exciting hours worth of hunting.

On our seventh day we were at the abandoned Park's camp of Chiwonde that sits on a hill overlooking the Sengwa River. Those of you that have been to Charisa will know the place well. We saw a group of around 50 elephants to the east of the camp about 3/4 of a mile from us. They were climbing the opposite ridge and we could see to large tuskless cows in the front of the herd. George knew that there was a stream with water in the valley beyond the ridge and that there was a road along that stream. he drove to that location and found where they had crossed the stream and continued up the far slope. We followed and soon came upon the tail end of the herd. We paralled them up the slope with them about 150 yards to our right and tried to get ahead of them to cut them off. After a couple of miles we were on a ridge when a small group left the main herd and crossed in front and below us. They were only 25 yards below us but the tuskless cows were not with them.




The remainder of the herd continued over the ridge in front of us. The game scout Makombei. Said that there was another stream over the ridge and that we might be able to cut them off if we drove over there. WE returned to the Cruiser and drove to that stream. George and the trackers walked down the stream to see if they crossed while I sat 30 yards from the cruiser in the shade of a large tree and ate a sandwich. A while later absent returned and asked me what I was doing. Resting in the shade I replied and he said "Can't you her the elephants?" "What elephants?" I replied. It turned out that the herd of 40 or more elephants was only about 150 yards from us in the Jesse. After more than 50 years of shooting my hearing is shot and I marveled at how good the hearing of the trackers was. Soon George returned and we made an approach. Wonder of wonders we came upon the front of the herd and there was a large tuskless cow in the lead. The brush was thick and we could only approach to around 25 yards without alerting the herd. Her head was blocked by brush but the shoulder was clearly visible through a hole in the brush. The rest of the herd was 10 to 15 yards behind her and we couldn't see any dependent calves with her. Also her teats were visible and it didn't appear that she was nursing. I had to kneel for the shot and placed the 500 grain DGS solid from my 458 at the top of the crease. She immediately turned and ran away from us and I didn't have time to get in a follow up shot but as it turned out it wasn't needed. We herd her fall and let out a deep groan. Once an elephant drops from a shoulder shot they very seldom get back up. We backed off and gave the rest of the herd time to move off. As we approached the fallen cow, it was apparent she was dead but George herd noise a few yards ahead of us and we again backed, off. After 10 minutes, George and the Game Scout went forward and the scout fired a couple of shots to scare off the herd. It was then that they found another young bull elephant down. George finished it with a head shot. Upon examination it turned out that my bullet passed through the large cow and hit the unseen young bull in the flank angling forward. The bullet passed through the elephants spleen and then the rear portion of the right lung ending up just under the skin at the rear of the right lung. I won't go into great detail here on bullet performance as I reported it under the African Hunting Forum in another thread and I refer you to it if your interested in how these bullets performed.

Safari crew with the first tuskless cow.

Much of the area was quite thick even though it was the dry season. often only parts and pieces of elephants were visible. This elephant was one of the more visible elephants that we saw.



An elephant cow sleeping on her side.

We were very concerned about what National Parks would say about our unintentional kill and we immediately drove to the Parks headquarters to report what happened. They instructed us to recover the meat from this kill and bring it and the tusks back to them. In addition they wanted George, the scout and me to each write a report on what happened. This caused a sleepless night for both George and myself. The next morning we recovered the meat from the young bull while the camp staff recovered the cow. We then returned to Parks and turned over the meat, skin, head and written reports to them and waited for the axe to fall.
Much to my surprise and relief the Senior Warden said that there was "No problem as it was an unintentional kill." He then thanked me for coming and hunting at Charisa and spending much needed forex with them. What a relief!

That afternoon we made the 6 hour drive to Chete over some of the most horrific roads you can imagine. The first day at Chete we followed some elephants in the morning and then brushed out tracks on some roads for the following morning. That afternoon we took the boat up the Segwe River to look for elephant. Don't get confused on these rivers. The Sengwa River runs through the middle of both Charisa and the Sengwa Research Area hunting blocks and empties into Lake Kariba. The Sengwe River forms the western border of the Chete Safari Area and borders the Sijarira Forestry Hunting Area.

Kapenta fishing boats on Lake Kariba.


Elephant along the shore line of Lake Kariba.


Boating up the Sengwe river.


Hippos in the Sengwe.

We saw several groups of elephant from the boat and two of them had a tuskless cow in them. I passed on the first one as it was only 3/4 grown and the second had a dependent calf at it's side
I should mention that our days started with a wake up call at 3:45 am and on the road by 4:45 am. We usually returned to camp at noon for lunch and a short sleep and then back at it around 2 pm. and we hunted until dark which occurred just after 6 pm. I should also mention that the food and accommodations at both camps was excellent and that the cook at Chete, Amos was a Chef in every sense of the word. I put on weight there. We had kudu, buffalo, impala, pork, chicken and bream for various meals.

One day George noticed a small radiator leak and he spent a good portion of the afternoon repairing it. We didn't get out of camp until 4:30 that afternoon. I though it probably a waste of time but you can't find a tuskless if you stay in camp so we gave it a try. much to my surprise I spotted an elephant from the Cruiser just as it was disappearing into the Jesse. George got a quick glimpse of it and said it didn't have a tusk on the right side and to grab my rifle. After a short stalk we came upon the small group of 4 elephants and indeed the large cow was tuskless. We stalked them a short distance and came upon the tuskless cow at around 20 to 25 yards range. The other three elephants were hidden in the brush 50 yards to her left and there was no dependent calf with her. She saw us and faced us in the heads up position and I placed a 480 grain NF solid from my 465 double centrally in her trunk about 12 inches below the eye line. What followed was the most dramatic reaction to a frontal brain shot that I have seen. In very slow motion her head came up as high as possible, she extended her trunk straight up and she raised her head so high that her front feet came off the ground a couple of feet. While in this position her back end collapsed then the front end cam crashing down while her head and trunk was still in the upright position. I could hear the trackers let out a wow as it happened. Just hen we saw a year old calf coming running towards us fro 50 yards away. We immediately back off and waited for the remainder of the herd to leave. Even though we moved forward, shoted and the scout fired a couple of rounds they would not leave. I suggested that we leave and come back the next morning as it would be too late to try to recover the cow that evening. This we did and I spent another sleepless night thinking that I might have shot a cow with a dependent calf. As it turned out the next morning, we could see that they remainder of the herd had stayed there most of the night by were gone by the time we arrived. An inspection of the cows udders showed that she was not nursing and that the calf belonged to one of the other elephant cows. Another relief. Apparently this old cow, although very large had very little meat on her. She was provably the matriarch of this small herd.

The large cow that put the show on for us.

The next afternoon we were again out for a late afternoon look see when we spotted a pair of bulls. We made a short stalk. As we approached to within 15 yards we spotted a young tuskless bull the other bull was young but mature and had around 30 lb tusks. Although the bull was not yet fully grown, we decided to take it as it would be of breeding age within the next couple of years and it was therefore a good one to remove from the herd. It was an excellent opportunity to use the 465 on a side body shot and again I placed the bullet on the top of the line behind the shoulder. The bull was staggered on the bullets impact and only went 20 feet before going down. The left barrel through the forehead finished it.


Young tuskless bull.


Entrance hole location for a high heart shot.


Entrance hole location for finishing frontal brain shot.

We were now down to our last day and mentioned to George that we needed to get the A game plan out for our last tuskless. We located some fresh tracks crossing the road and tracked them for an hour or so. They wandered around a bit and finally we heard a branch break to our left. A quick approach and what do we see but a very large tuskless cow at 30 yards in the wide open. We could see her from toe nails to the top of her head. We approached to within 20 yards when she became aware of us. She turned towards us and saw us. She took a couple of steps toward us and I didn't know if she would charge or turn and run. I wanted to take her with a frontal so rather than take a chance on her turning and running forcing me to take a shoulder shot, I took the frontal. The 500 grain DGS bullet from my browning 458 hit a little to the right going through the left temporal and occipital lobes and knocking her down in a most satisfying manner. Another shot to the forehead reached her brain and the death kick was evident.


The fourth tuskless of the hunt. Notice how long the trunk is.

This elephant was very tall but lanky in body shape. The front leg was over 9 feet from bottom of foot to top of shoulder blade. The trunk was noticeably long. George thought that she might have been from the Kalahari gene pool.

All in all this was a very satisfying hunt. Two years ago I had some very serious health issues and at that time it looked like I might have been on my last hunt. It was very gratifying to have been back in Africa. I thank who ever it is up there that has given me a second chance at life and to hunt Africa again.

Atcheson's always say " Go on Safari now while you are physically able". Great advice to live by!

465H&h

Great report, 465.. glad the warden at Chirisa sided with you and your PH as to the accident. That would have been a pucker factor.

That hunt sounded like a ton of fun.

How was the heat?

Excellent job on the hunt and the report. Congratulations!

Very well written, informative post. Thanks.

Very nice report, felt like I was back in Zim hunting ele. Congrats, and good shooting.

Your comments regarding your "second chance at life" should be a note/reminder to us all to not take anything for granted.

Do you have any good pictures of George? I'd like to put a face to a name. It's his father that I've read of, Lou. Thanks!

The one on the left is George and PH Brent Hein is on the right.



I need to get a better picture of him.

465H&H

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
Very well written, informative post. Thanks.

+1

Atta boy!-- great hunt and good writing
G

Congratulation and thanks for the interesting report!
If you compare stopping power and penetration of your hornady 500gr dgs load in 458 win and th 550gr woodleigh in the lott, what is your conclusion?

That's a bunch of elephants,sounds like fun though.

Thanks- made me feel for a moment I was back in Zim hunting ele. You admirably conveyed the "pucker factor" with both the cows and the game department.!

there was a new warden at Chirisa that had just started literally that week. He seemed to be a fairly decent guy according to my PH who just met him while I was there.

Outstanding report and a great hunt! It sounds like you found the right parks guy to deal with!

Brett

Congratulations on a fine tuskless hunt! Great job on intercepting the herd you saw from the abandoned warden station.Good shooting and I hope you return for many more!

quote:

Originally posted by Dentist:
Congratulation and thanks for the interesting report!
If you compare stopping power and penetration of your hornady 500gr dgs load in 458 win and th 550gr woodleigh in the lott, what is your conclusion?

Please remember that we are dealing with small sample sizes here and the next instant could show differing results. With that caveat, I did get more penetration from the Lott with 458 dia. 550 grain Woodleigh solids. I recovered two of these from the stomach contents of a large PAC bull and a large cow after successful frontal brain shots that impacted low on the trunks. Both the 458 Win with DGS solids and the Lott with the above loads have more than enough deep, straight line penetration for frontal shots on elephants based on these results. One key observation is that these bullets are so good that we now have to worry about over penetration on body shots on elephants as well as buffalo. My experience with the shoot through hitting an unintended elephant is proof of that. I have not had that problem with the Woodleigh RNS in the 470 or 465. Be careful when using these super penetrators. As for stopping power, I have never stopped a charge with either so really can't say.

465H&H

Thanks for the very informative report and congratulation on a succesful hunt.

quote:

Atcheson's always say " Go on Safari now while you are physically able". Great advice to live by!

Amen.....

Well done Hunt Report! Tuskless elephant hunts are probably some of the most exciting and cost effective hunts in Africa right now. I will second the vote for the new Hornady bullets... both DGS and DGX. Took an elephant bull with the DGS and actually shot through the skull! DGX broke both shoulders on my buff... huge improvement over the old IB's in my opinion. Once again, congrats on a great hunt!

465 H&H:

I hope you left a few tuskless in Chete! I'll be with George's father (Lou) there for the last half of next September and have a tuskless, a hippo and a leopard on ticket.

Delivery is expected of my new Searcy .450 N.E. on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to using it on the elephant and a chance at a hippo on land going to or from the river. I'll be using Hornady DGS factory ammo and hope to have similar performance as your successes. (As you know, I had great results with the Hornady .458 DGS on elephant already).

BTW, did you do any fishing or have fresh fish for any of your meals. I'm looking foward to that also!

Great report, btw.