HUNTER: Aaron Neilson - Global Hunting Resources

HUNT LOCATION: S.A. - NEWLY OPENED Mthimkulu Community Concession/Limpopo Province

OUTFITTER/PH: Rigby Big Game Safaris

HUNT DATES: July 21-30, 2009

SPECIES HUNTED: Buffalo/Waterbuck

WEAPONS: .350 Rem Mag w/225 gr. Barnes Triple Shock & .375 RUM w/270 gr. Barnes Triple Shock/banded solid

TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS: Fly into Phalaborwa, S.A. from Denver, Co. - Gracy Travel International - Shawn Kennedy


In early 2009 I was introduced to Johan Hermann of Rigby Big Game Safaris at a local SCI show in Detroit. I had recently heard of Johan's newly opened Mthimkulu concession in the Limpopo Province, and the success he had in late 2008 on the couple buffalo and elephant hunts he was allowed to do at the end of the year. Johan was given 3 buffalo and 1 elephant in November 2008 as a trial run by the community leaders and needless to say, things went great! He and his clients shot 3 buffalo going 43", 47" & 48", plus a 70lb jumbo in just a couple weeks of hunting! A friend of mine was familiar with one of the hunters and his success with Johan, so at Detroit, Johan and I formulated a plan for the 2009 season.

In January 2009, Rigby Big Game Safaris was granted the entire hunting rights to the 22,000 acre community concession. This to include 20 buffalo & 10 trophy elephant as the 2009 quota. A couple of plains game animals were added too, impala, waterbuck, nyala, bushbuck, etc. However, the Mthimkulu is mainly a BIG GAME area, and Johan intends on keeping it that way. Together we set out to fill the hunts, and of course I planned a hunt for myself in late July. Despite having only some good references in hand, and a little trust in Johan, I did manage to get several clients lined out for the 2009 season.

First was to be GHR's client, Brian Austin from Texas! Brian was interested mainly in a Big Jumbo, even though I told him several times to get a buffalo as well, he insisted on sticking with a 10-day elephant hunt. Brian's hunt was scheduled in mid-May, and the anticipation as my first client of the year was nerve-racking to say the least! However upon his return, all possible concerns were completely put to rest!! Not only did Brian shoot a 68lb. bull, he deeply regretted not have a buffalo tag in hand too! He told me that he had never seen so many big buffalo, and could have easily shot a 40" plus bull from the truck, every single day! So, needless to say I was now feeling pretty good about the remaining 2009 hunts! Pictured below is his bull.



Then in mid June 2009, my first two buffalo clients of the year were scheduled for a 10-day, 2on1 hunt with Johan as the guide! By day 3 both had shot excellent buffalo, and were searching for something else to do. Johan still had a trophy elephant on license, and an additional buff, so they made a plan! By day 9, they had shot 3 big buffalo of 40" - 43", and one jumbo of 60lbs. Dave Duncan was one of the clients, below is a quote from him that he e-mailed to me upon his return.

"Aaron The quality & number of Buffalo was unbelievable. The concession is World Class for Buffalo & Elephant. The camp, equipment & help was just right. Johan is a 10+, very professional, a real people person & a joy to be around. Jeff shot a hard boss, deep curled 40 inch bull the first day & a super heavy 43 inch bull the 9th day. I shot a 40+ inch bull with a very large boss, extremely deep curls, with long points turning back, exactly what I had hoped for. I also shot a 60 lb. elephant & we were close & personal with several large bulls over 100 lbs. You can not over sell this hunt. We have 800+ pics, it will take several days to sort through them & send on to you. Thanks Dave"

Pictured below are the trophies from Dave & Jeff's hunt.





Next came Mike Bean from Omaha, NE. Mike was on a 7-day, 1on1 buffalo hunt scheduled to end just 2 days before I arrived. Mike and I missed eachother in transit, so I didn't talk to him until I got home! He did however have nothing but good news, telling me how excited he was about his 42" buff, and wanting to plan his return. Unfortunately I do not yet have a picture of his buffalo, other than the pictures I took of ALL the trophies from the skinning shed, which I will show you later!

Finally it was my turn! I arrived on July 20th into Phalaborwa, along with my cameraman, client Pete Schweitzer from Florida, and client & friend, Steve Scott! Steve and I were scheduled to hunt together on a 10-day, 2on1 hunt, and Pete was scheduled to hunt 7-days, 1on1. Steve had two cameramen with him as well, so in total we had 6 guys, making the accommodations a bit tight, but we all made it work. Steve and I were each filming the hunts for TV, so both of us would have a cameraman along, and the 3rd would film Pete's hunt! Of course my guns showed up, but my luggage didn't! Not a big deal, my luggage only contained all my clothes, and the much needed AMMO for my gun! So needless to say, the first day of hunting was gonna be all Steve's!!!

Day 1: Steve had originally brought a .460 S&W handgun to try for the PAC elephants we would go after if the opportunity came available while we were there! He decided to head out that morning toting the hand gun, and I would carry his Blaser .416 Rem Mag for him, just in case. Not 45 minutes into the hunt we run straight into a herd of about 75 buffalo, and we instantly saw a couple of monsters. As they turn and walk away, we make a plan and head after them. Over the next 2 hrs, we saw a couple of the BIGGEST buffalo I had ever seen in my life! One was a 43" monster with DEEP drops, HUGE curls, and bosses to match! Unfortunately the handgun made it a bit tougher to get one of these big bulls, but with a rifle they were duck soup! After 3 attempts to get close enough with the pistol, they finally spooked good and that was that!

Day 2-4: My bag arrived late on day one, so now Steve and I would take turns alternating as to who would shoot first. Over the next 3 days we saw a couple hundred buffalo, and again some exceptional bulls, but seeing them, and shooting them on FILM, is a whole different story. Several times we had big bulls that we wanted but either we couldn't get a clear shot, the cameraman couldn't quite get him on film in time, or we would lose them in the mass of black feeding through the scrub. Frustrating to say the least, but that's hunting!
Pete Schweitzer on the other hand was getting into loads of big bulls, but his criteria was pretty high. He was only willing to shoot a 45" bull or bigger! Johan had been guiding him for the first 4-5 days, and although he enjoyed Pete's company, as did we all. According to Johan, some of the bulls they passed on were truly unbelievable. I can attest to that, because I have seen the footage!!

Day 5: Today was scheduled to be Steve's morning to shoot, and guide Jeff had another little spot he wanted us to check out! By 8am we were on a heard of about 50 animals, and looking for the big one! Within about 30 minutes of sneaking in and around the herd we located a very good bull of about 42" wide. He didn't have exceptionally deep drops, but was wide, and had excellent bosses. As we jockeyed for a position to shoot and get it on film, suddenly my cameraman Richard Sanchez said, "Hey, what about that one"? Holy SHIT, I thought as I look at the beast! This bull was truly a monster, at least 43" wide, with MASSIVE bosses, and very good curls! So as I tried to get Jeff's attention, Steve was waiting to shoot, and we were all flopping around like a bunch of morons! This clearly shows the difficulty in getting 2 cameramen, the guide, the hunter and the other "guide", all on the same page, at the same time! Needless to say, we couldn't make it happen. We continued following the herd for another 45 minutes, and kept looking for the huge bull. Finally the buffalo started to lay down for the day, and we were pinned down by the dozen or so animals we had right in front of us. The original 42" bull we had spotted at first was about 80 yards away, but Steve wanted the bull we found just to his right! Now, this wasn't the MONSTER, but he was what Steve really wanted! A bull he called, Darth Vader. One with deep drops, big curls, and big bosses. So I crawled about 10 yards to the left, told the guys they could could get a clear shot from there, and got the sticks set up as Steve and Jeff slid over to my position! As we stood to get a clear shot, the bull Steve was after did the same! The buff turned quartering towards us, and Steve dropped him in his tracks! Since the first day's frustrations with the handgun, Steve had gone back to the Blaser, and it did the job nicely! See pic below.


Day 6-7: By the end of day 7, my client Pete was leaving without a bull, but ready to come back in 2010. He truly had passed some huge bulls, in fact some bulls that I wish I had seen with a gun in my hand! I too saw a bunch more buffalo, but not what I wanted, at least not on our side of the river. One of the Letaba rivers was the concession boundary, and frustration was the word, when you would see some of these big bulls standing just a short distance out of reach! The only thing separating them from us was a mostly dry river bed, with spotty water pools, and an imaginary line that we couldn't cross!! Here's a picture showing an example of bulls in the safety zone.


Day 8: By now I had seen literally hundreds of buffalo, and honestly more bulls than I can remember over the 40" mark! The afternoon found us close to a herd of about 100 animals, approaching them from the left! As we got within 70-80 yards I immediately spotted 2 bulls, and one that I knew for sure I wanted!!! Johan was now my guide, and I was trying to show him and the cameraman the one I was talking about before he disappeared into the abyss. By the time they could both see him, the bull was mostly obscured making the video, vary poor! I passed on the shot, bot not without much frustration. As the herd continued to move, about 20 buffalo fed closer to us, and again pinned us down in the open. We completely lost sight of the big bull I wanted, but we knew he was staying close to the front-left part of the pack. Finally, we were able to move another 40-50 yards forward and again saw the big bull. This time however we could see only half of his head, and nothing more. About that time another good bull, probably 41" with good bosses and curls, stepped out to the left of the big bull in a perfect shooting and filming lane, but looking right at us. I think frustration had gotten the best of us as Johan leaned over and said, "Aaron that too is a good bull, you can shoot him if you want". Honestly, I hesitated for just a minute, then said "OK". Now I needed to move out of the way of the cameraman, get back on the bull and shoot! Just as I was ready to pull the trigger, he moved. Then 30 seconds later, he came back into the same lane but only for 2 seconds. Just as I leveled the crosshairs again, off he went!! Now, you just gotta see the film! I turned to the camera and said, "man, this is turning into a total goat rope". Then I turned around, looked back down the shooing lane, and there he stood!! "That's him, that's the big one, I hissed to Johan." Richard said take him, I got him, so I fired the shot. He was quartering at us, a perfect shot opportunity, but it happened so fast that as he ran off, I questioned myself as to whether or not I put it in the right place? Thirty seconds later we could hear the death moan, leaving little doubt as to the outcome. I knew he was big, but I was thrilled to death as we approached the bull and got a good look! He measured 44" across the spread, by far the biggest of the 9 buffalo I had shot to date!


Pictured below is a photo of my bull as we took them out of the skinning shed.


Day 9-10: Had us finishing up the filming needs, and looking at more big bulls, wishing I had another tag for something like this.


On day 10 we took all the buffalo shot to date, put them on the lawn and took a picture! I had never seen so many big buffalo all sitting together at one time, it was amazing!


After spending 10 days hunting this area, and seeing hundreds of buffalo and easily 30-40 bulls over 40". I am thoroughly convinced this is ONE of the single best places on the African continent for big buffalo & elephant. I spoke with Johan just yesterday, they shot two more big bulls since I left a week ago, one going 45". To date, all 6 ELEPHANT bulls they have shot have gone over 60lbs, and I expect the remaining 4 will be the same! The area is NOT subject to migration dependency, or other contributing factors that sometimes make the area void of game. Although you are occasionally frustrated by the game on the other side of the river scenario, there are plenty within the communial hunting area as well. These animals are truly wild, and can come and go as they please! I just can't imagine wild buffalo and elephant hunting getting any better than this!!!

Accommodations too were very good, and in fact if just the usual 2 clients are in camp, the rooms are actually very nice. FOOD was top notch, to say the least. Every single night we had steaks, pork chops, wild game, etc, etc. That was awesome for me, as I am a REAL meat guy!! Getting to Mthimkulu was extremely easy, requiring only a short 55 minute commercial flight from Joberg to Phalaborwa. No expensive charters are necessary, no tetsee flies to put with, good weather, and very little chance of Maleria. Local cell phone service can be had at some points in the hunting area, making communication easy, but of course I brought my SAT phone too. Kruger park is a short drive, allowing additional activities for the hunter or his family. Overall, just a REALLY GOOD PLACE!!

Lastly, and most importantly! Just before I left Johan made a huge addition to the Mthimkulu hunting concession! The adjoining community consisting of 200,000 additional acres has granted him the hunting lease! Adding 14 buffalo and 4 elephants to his current quota, and allowing a previously TOTALLY un-spoiled, and NEVER-BEFORE hunted area, to be open! With the addition of another 200,000 acres, Johan has everything he could possibly want, and an unlimited supply of big buffalo & elephant! I too saw the game in this area, unbelievable to say the least!!

On a side note, here is a photo of the 30" waterbuck I shot too!


GLOBAL HUNTING RESOURCES has signed a deal with RIGBY BIG GAME SAFARIS as the exclusive booking agent for all the hunts. Now with the addition of the new area, we have additional quota available for 2009 - March 2010. We will offer these hunts at the same 2009 discounted prices. Guys, I know this is a HUNT REPORT, but this is the opportunity to hunt an area and game that have never been hunted before, EVER!! I think Johan will shoot a 50" buffalo before long, I really believe that. If you are interested contact me asap, and I plan to put an ad on the Discount Hunt page within 24 hrs too! globalhunts@aol.com

I have another buffalo hunter going in about 2 weeks, and I will be HAPPY to provide contact info for my clients that have already hunted here in the past couple months. Just talk to Pete Schweitzer, he did not shoot a bull, but said it was the most incredible place he has been!!

Thanks for reading this report, hope it was informative!!

Aaron Neilson
Global Hunting Resources
www.globalhuntingresources.com
globalhunts@aol.com
aaron@globalhuntingresources.com
303-619-2872 - cell
303-932-0550 - office

What a great collection of buffalo. I love the super downsweep on the horns. Must be a great area.

Fantastic report, sounds like a great area.

The only question I have is how can they sustain this level of quality on such a relatively small area? That many buffalo on an area this small isn't sustainable, and especially not that many elephants. So, I presume they're shooting these animals as surplus that wander off the 'neighbor,' is that correct?

quote:

Originally posted by CAelknuts:
Fantastic report, sounds like a great area.

The only question I have is how can they sustain this level of quality on such a relatively small area? That many buffalo on an area this small isn't sustainable, and especially not that many elephants. So, I presume they're shooting these animals as surplus that wander off the 'neighbor,' is that correct?

"We were close & personal with several large bulls over 100 lbs." but the 6 elephants shot to date range between
60-70 lbs. - surely the PH must know what class of elephant are present in the area or is there a surcharge
for anything over 70lbs?

CAelknuts - Honestly, I was worried about the same thing, but not after being there!!! Plus, he has added the neighboring 200,000 acres, so now they are hunting 222,000 acres! Explaining it is difficult, you have to see it to believe it! The quality of both buffalo & elephant will remain for a long, long time!

Kibokolambogo - Johan is NOT allowed to shoot anything over 70lbs, even though they are present! We make that VERY clear to hunters, but he did have a problem 2 months ago with a SA hunter who was required to pass a 120lb bull! I understand the hunter's frustration, but the rules are established from the get-go.

Aaron

Aaron, PM sent.

Sorry, I have to ask a dumb question. Why can't one shoot one of the 100 pounders? I understand it may be quite pricey, but if the terms are agreeable, what else is the hold up? Are the 100 pounders being saved to pass on these genetics? I always assumed the big tusks like that were on old bulls past their prime anyhow. I've never hunted elephant so I'm sure these questions seem naive, just curious.

Sevenxbjt - Not a stupid question at all, and honestly price has nothing to do with it! The "political" pressure amongst the NON-hunting community is just too great! The outfitter has been asked NOT to shoot the huge bulls that occasionally frequent the hunting areas! They are seen as National Treasures, etc, etc, and it would just bring way more scrutiny that one needs. Doing so could seriously jeopardize his future hunting rights, so he chooses to honor the request.

Aaron

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:
CAelknuts - Honestly, I was worried about the same thing, but not after being there!!! Plus, he has added the neighboring 200,000 acres, so now they are hunting 222,000 acres! Explaining it is difficult, you have to see it to believe it! The quality of both buffalo & elephant will remain for a long, long time!

Kibokolambogo - Johan is NOT allowed to shoot anything over 70lbs, even though they are present! We make that VERY clear to hunters, but he did have a problem 2 months ago with a SA hunter who was required to pass a 120lb bull! I understand the hunter's frustration, but the rules are established from the get-go.

Aaron

I failed to read the bit that limited the weight to 70 lbs. - just 10 trophy elephants.

Guess one cannot argue over set rules but would have thought anything over a certain age
and I quote: "Very old bulls, ponderous hulks with the largest tusks are the most sedentary,
they end their days in swamps where they can still consume quantities of herbage as their last
molars wear out" fall into the category of a true trophy elephant.

A 70 lbs. elephant is in its prime breeding stage.

So, given the size of the elephant bulls, I'm assuming these are Kruger Park bulls. I'd hate to think that someone might want to shoot Hlanganini if he wandered over there.

Yes, it's unfortunate the VERY big bulls are not available, but they're not!

Congratulation to you and your clients!

Very nice trophies!

To pass a 120 pounder would kill me.

Dentist - I'm just glad I didn't see one of those. I'm sure I would have been in BIG trouble!

Aaron,
Thanks for clearing up the weight restrictions. I hope you have success acquiring the additional lands. Sounds like it would be a great place for first dg hunt.

Sevenxbjt - The outfitter has actually acquired the NEW lease already, so no it's just a matter of getting some of the quota sold. Yes, we expect it to be an excellent DG hunt in a place that has not been previously hunted.

Aaron

Outstanding!

Super Buffalo.Aaron congratulations

What a fantastic hunt and buff Aaron. Congrats, those bulls are amazing...

Those are some wonderful bulls, Aaron.. both buff and ele!

Too bad a couple of the BIG boys are off limits..

Thanks guys, appreciate the nice words! Tim, maybe we can get together on that Leopard hunt some day and hope it all works out for ya.

Aaron

Amen Aaron...