3 1/2 weeks in Zimbabwe.... I made it back!

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

Nice new avatar Gino! Love those Kudu!!!

 

 

I wanted one (Kudu) so badly... happy that I even saw one as thick as the area we hunted was.... he is not very big but the only bull I had a chance at... did not see the larger bull with him till after the shot. The only 2 bulls we saw in 24 days.

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

Here are some Elephant pics....

 

Can you say ".com" billboard??

[izquik72]

Wow these are just awesome.

 

[Snapshot]

That tusker in the last photo looks decent!

 

Did your buddy get one?

 

Inquiring minds..............?

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

That tusker in the last photo looks decent!

 

Did your buddy get one?

 

Inquiring minds..............?

 

 

Well... He shot all 4 of the big 4.... However there was a glitch on the Ele bull... and he was hit but not very well... we tracked him for 10 miles... and we left his tracks nearly a mile and 1/2 into Mozambique.... where he was lined out due east and we were not willing to get shot as poachers..... a Shame... he was a good bull.

[Snapshot]

That tusker in the last photo looks decent!

 

Did your buddy get one?

 

Inquiring minds..............?

 

 

Well... He shot all 4 of the big 4.... However there was a glitch on the Ele bull... and he was hit but not very well... we tracked him for 10 miles... and we left his tracks nearly a mile and 1/2 into Mozambique.... where he was lined out due east and we were not willing to get shot as poachers..... a Shame... he was a good bull.

 

 

Glad to hear your friend got "The big 4". That is a great accomplishment. Sorry about the elephant. But sometimes it happens!

 

10 miles of tracking! Bet you guys were exhausted after that day was over. But I bet it was fun!

[stanley]

That tusker in the last photo looks decent!

 

Did your buddy get one?

 

Inquiring minds..............?

 

 

Well... He shot all 4 of the big 4.... However there was a glitch on the Ele bull... and he was hit but not very well... we tracked him for 10 miles... and we left his tracks nearly a mile and 1/2 into Mozambique.... where he was lined out due east and we were not willing to get shot as poachers..... a Shame... he was a good bull.

 

 

Glad to hear your friend got "The big 4". That is a great accomplishment. Sorry about the elephant. But sometimes it happens!

 

10 miles of tracking! Bet you guys were exhausted after that day was over. But I bet it was fun!

 

+1!!!!

I would LOVE to hear the details of that elephant story!!!!

 

As a matter of fact, 3 1/2 weeks in Zimbabwe???? I would LOVE to hear the details of each and every hunt!!! VERY cool!!!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

S.

 

[C.O.U.E.S.]

....Wellcome back CnS...very cool avatar...should we be look'n for "Pro Hunter" on your resume soon? ..awesome trophy pics for sure..

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

 

 

Sorry all I'm not getting my story on line like I should be.... just runnin' in circles trying to catch up.... I'll get some of it posted next week.... I've go a lillte done but 3 1/2 weeks is a long story!! LOL!!

 

...and better yet we might have a Video vewing at Chasin' a Dream Outfitters when Eric at Payson Outfitters gets done editing all the film....

[HaYen]

Which rifle(s) did you take?

[Hunterdan]

Congrats Gino on a great trip. I just got back from a hunt and have a lot of catching up to do reading you and Caseys Africa Trips. Congrats again!!

[Kilimanjaro]

Hope you had a great time in Zim, Gino.. I love that country.. It is a wild place full of game.

 

I'll be back there in Zim 5 short months away! I'm already ready to get back.

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

Well our adventure’s first stop in the Zambezi Valley would be the Karunga camp of the Dande East (Communal lands). The accommodations of the “fly camp” were far beyond my expectations; there were better camps to come! Two days of hoping to catch a big Mozambique bull (Elephant) raiding in the maize fields or a Dugga Boy in the jesse (jungle like, thick crap) did not pan out so we packed and headed for the DSA (Dande Safari Area, controlled by Parks & Wildlife), and the main camp of Pedsa Pasi, where we spent a few very plush nights, and our hunting days were filled with Ele encounters, Lion & Cape buff hunting. During these first days Ron shot a Cape Buffalo cow for Lion Bait…. The lions found the bait, two large males, we built a blind and sat for them but they never came back…. Strike one. Our PH was relentless about us moving to the next camp… a DSA Fly camp called Mururu (Red Mahogany)… as it is his favorite camp…. It was only an hour+ away in the 120,000 acre DSA and put us in better Cat country so off we went! We spent the remainder of our hunt at the Mururu Camp and it was placed right on the edge of the Monyimba River teaming with wildlife…. We stalked and hunted and shot game right from camp on several occasions… and it was much cooler there which made for better sleeping!

We hunted long hours each day often not arriving back at cam till hours after dark. Ron’s Custom Bansner 9.3x62 rifle was very busy racking up our “body count”… The rewards were high as I harvested my Kudu with one shot and he expired within a 100 yards of the unfenced Mozambique border. Ron pounded a second cow buffalo for Lion bait on a remote pan (waterhole) in the thickest jesse around… a recovery road could only be cut so close, so we hand packed the meat for the last 500 yds, in the moon light, with lions roaring in the distance was awesome! We had a male Leopard hit a lion bait one morning so we built a blind to sit that evening… as we sat quietly the jesse behind the blind began to make noise…. What the…???? Soon there was more noise and a heavy “snuffing” sound and it was coming right at us! Was it elephants? My heart rate was high…and my eyes were as large as poached eggs as 2000 lbs of Dugga Boy melted from the Jesse and stood staring into the back of the blind at less than 5 yards covered in thick white mud (over 1 /12” thick on his back!)…I was directly in his path and could not move a muscle… Ron and Buzz (our PH) were just out of his sight in the blind and were assessing him as a trophy. The bull’s heavy breathing sounded like a roar at that distance and he was not sure about the blind and began to move up our back trail till he crossed our sent on the path and froze… now which way would he bolt???? BOOM! …and gone into the jesse he went… soon we could hear the labored lung shot breathing in the dense brush not 50yds from the blind…he was ours! A 40 ¼” bull and good one for the DSA these days!

We stacked up a pile of impala for baits and table fare… Ron shot a 21”& a 16” I took a 20” & a 17” (cuz I didn’t see the larger ram in the back…) I pounded a 10 ¼” warthog and Ron shot a dream Bush Buck (15 ½”) in the river near camp on one of the only 3 days we ate lunch at camp. On this day the “Deli Bait” was born… down river about a mile from camp was a nice bend and some bluffs… and a large sausage tree perfect for tying lion bait to… we hung the Warthog, Bush Buck, and a fresh Impala there, as they spilled the guts from the impala and drug the “mutumbo” (guts) up and down the river we heard splashing in the dark river behind us… we turned our head lamps to find a pack of the rare African Wild Dogs standing on the beach at no more than 5-6 yards! It was a rare and brief encounter lasting not more than 5 minutes but they were not afraid of us in the least and that was a bit unnerving since they are Africa’s most proficient killers, boast a 100% success rate while hunting. Well we thought it good luck to have seen the “Dogs” there at that bait and we were right! A pride of Lions that we had tracked but not caught up to the day before showed up on the bait the next morning and a we built a blind. We put a nice male lion in the salt that afternoon and I took over 45 minutes of raw video footage of the pride and of taking this big cat. The 450 lb male had just let out large yawn from his up right laying position when the 9.3x62 roared…. The lion was leaking out both side instantly as he ran straight at us! He turned west up the river bank, and out of my camera view and Ron pounded him again at a dead run! The lion made it less than 50 yards into the jesse before flipping over backwards, dead as a log. The Deli bait was a success! There was much singing and celebrating on the ride to camp and in camp that evening. We actually slept in till 6am the next morning.

We were off to set leopard baits… The hunt was half over the half of the Big 4 were in the salt and we were looking to score a big Valley leopard. We freshened a bait that had been hit by a male while we were lion hunting… then set a new bait in an adjoining river in case he did not return…. Then it happened… we bumped a Zebra stallion bedded with some Sable….I grabbed Ron’s 9.3 (did I mention that Ron is a lefty) and threw it on the sticks… Boom… Wack… it was a steep uphill shot in thick country and the shot felt good…. Miles later…. We were approaching the DSA boundary and wondering if I hit di more than scratch this Zebra, when I spy him looking over a ridge to our left at about a 100 yds…. only head and upper neck showing… no time for a rest I threw up the rifle sucked a short breath…. Boom…. Down! Finally I had my Zebra stallion... and a beauty! My first shot had been perfect left/right and low (real low) and I later realized that I could change my point of impact on that (borrowed) rifle on uphill and downhill shots really easy if I got into the scope… so I did not make that mistake again. The next day we spent get out a few more baits…. By mid-day we had out 9 leopard baits… and then we checked one that had been hit twice in the last 12 hrs! Time to build a blind! That night there would once again be singing and celebrating!! Leopard in the salt! We recovered the nice male just 40-50 yards from the bait tree… another perfect shot by Ron! 3 of the Big 4 in the salt!

Now on to the Ele hunting… we had already logged several 10-15 mile days chasing Ele in the thick jesse and Mopani woodlands by this time and we knew the last week of the hunt was going to be long hard days of tracking. Mostly the early mornings consisted of driving roads looking for a good track and then tracking it…. If no track was found then a “random walk” into thick, road less country would fill the rest of our day. On one such late morning we were climbing a “mountain” (really a large hill by our standards) that was actually quite steep, but pretty open compared to most of the country we had been hunting, when we stumbled into a another herd of cow elephants. Now we had been in close quarters with the cows on several occasions… even less than 15 yards in the thick jesse before we knew they were there... today they were 25-30yrds and the cow in the back turned immediately on us. Buzz began to “shout her down” and she turned to leave and we did likewise…. Then it happed… The same cow changed her mind, trumpeted, and charged… she covered 40 yds ano the steep slope before I covered 5 yards. As I rounded a termite mound an desperately hunkered down behind a 12” tree (dumb on my part), I saw here zeroed in on Buzz and chasing him down…. He wheeled and shot … she fell to the ground just 3 yards from him and 5 yards to my left…. We all ran again. Regrouping 30 yards down the hill checking to make sure all made it. We all were scared, it happened so fast and now it was over… I can admit honestly that there is nothing that has ever scared me more than a charging Ele…. Not lions, not grizzly bears…. Nothing. Someone was getting squished right then had Buzz not done what he did… a sad and necessary taking of life… she had every chance to go… yet she chose to attack. We were shaken… nervous laughs were exchanged by me and Ron… not sure what else to do.

When hunting of the Bull Ele resumed I was far less eager to charge into the Jesse after the previous day’s encounter… I was also very content now more than ever to walk at the very back of the line… not that 6 steps was much of a buffer. We walked long and hard… The Guys found a very distinct and large track… Game on! We were 12 hours behind and the Trackers were tracking hard and fast! The old bull was smart and we ended up bumping him twice…. He was in musk and stunk so much that at times I only knew we were on the right bull by his rank smell. On the third close encounter he was wallowing in a pan and it was so thick I could only see a small part of his massive head as he stood less than 20 yards away head on…. The Roar of the 470 Nitro Express was earth shattering and the bull stumbled… then miraculously he wheeled and was gone! Buzz had let a shot follow from his .416 Rigby as the bull spun out of site… and we were running! Tracking the mud covered giant in the thick jesse was easy at a trot and we were soon covered in mud ourselves. One mile… 2 miles…. Now 4… as it got dark we had 6 miles behind us since the shot and the bull was not slowing his pace. Darkness forced us to retreat to the truck after GPS’ing our last tracks…. A long worrisome night… first light found us back on the tracks… then the worst thing that could have happened did happen…. The tracks turned toward Mozambique… just 3 miles to the border… our heart began to sink. We tracked the bull for over 10 mile since the shot and when we were “certain” that he was the property of Mozambique and not coming back… only then did we begin the “longest walk” back toward the Land Cruiser…. Ron’s worst nightmare was now realized… and his big 4 was not going to happen…. Lowest of lows… We only had one day left at this point…. No time make the trek to another concession to hunt another bull….the hunt was all but over.

The last day we focused on trying to get the old Bush Buck that I had seen twice before, finding a big Water Buck and/or Warthog for Ron, and “baboon patrol”…. We found Ron a giant Warthog but the thick jesse swallowed him up before he could get a shot… and the Baboons were just plain fun Ron shot a dandy in his prime (huge teeth) as he walked away at 150+ yds and dumped him! I shot 2 old guys with broken teeth one at 125 yds early in the day and the second from 145 yds.

Well over all I can say this…. It was a trip of a lifetime the things I saw and experienced… the animals I shot with a gun, video or still camera…. All priceless! I even learned a touch of the Shona language, and spread some Western politics while I was there. I brought home over 25 hours of video, 3000 still photos, 7 trophies for my walls, and more memories than I can recount in anyone sitting. I am very grateful o my friend Ron Price for the adventure we shared and the memories we will be recapping for years around the campfire. Thanks to Buzz Charlton, Justin Drainer, and the rest of the CM Safaris Staff for an outstanding time! These guys are very good at what they do! And finally thank you to my Bride… for without her pushing me and her blessing for me to do this I’d not have taken the plunge in time such as these…. I have never missed anything in my life more than I missed my Wife on this trip. I am Very Glad to be home!

 

I am sure I left out details but 24 days is a lot too recap… Fire away if detail on my part leaves questions… Thanks to all for your patience! Sorry for the long read......

 

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

Hope you had a great time in Zim, Gino.. I love that country.. It is a wild place full of game.

 

I'll be back there in Zim 5 short months away! I'm already ready to get back.

 

 

Scotty, Zim was Great! I had a great time and saw things I'll likely never see again.... People like us don't get to go lion hunting.... unless we win the LOTO! There are so many other parts of the trip than just the hunt, but the hunting was amazing... how awesome the trackers are... and how different the terrain and hunting styles are there. I can honestly say that the best part for me was know I was in a truely wild place.... Limited roads, limited people (in some parts), and absolutely no fences... even though in this hunt they might have been a help.....

 

An besides... I got to start a political ruckus in my wake! Our malaria stricken PH, Buzz< had to put out the flames some days after we left.... More to come on the T-shirt drama!!

[bonecollector]

Nice write up. I enjoyed reading every word of it. I couldn't imagine being charged by an elephant. That had to be a pretty intense moment.Thanks for sharing your Africa adventure.