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I emailed Graham Hingeston and received an email in reply with a request to post the following report.

Note I am not nor NE is involved in this matter, just facilitating that both sides of the argument or hunt get a fair hearing and chance to comment.

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Graham Hingeston: "The hunt was booked by Paul Stone Safaris with us and he had his SA professional hunter accompany the safari as an independent observer. A while back I asked Paul to have his SA PH write me a report to see what the true facts were. He had no axe to grind, he does not work for HHK and I did not solicit any information in this regard. I attached his report and hope this clears up some of the facts. .... I would appreciate it if you would post the attached report as I say written by the SA ph - Herman - who accompanied the clients on the hunt. "

The report by the South African PH:

A. VEHICLES

1. General:

1.1 I cannot comment on the extent to which the vehicles are maintained or serviced as I do not have direct knowledge of this aspect.
1.2 The vehicles, given the current difficulties in Zimbabwe i.r.o. parts/services and the fact that these are working/bush vehicles, appeared, on the face of it, to be in reasonable order. They were certainly not pristine, new vehicles.
1.3 Given what has happened one could probably say that the vehicles could have been in better mechanical order. (It is, of course, ultimately a question as to whether the problems that arose were reasonably foreseeable.)
1.4 I will limit my specific observations to what is stated herein below.

2. Steve’s vehicle:

2.1 It is correct that the vehicle had a mechanical breakdown and that it was unusable afterwards.
2.2 The morning hunting session was lost on the day of the breakdown.
2.3 A replacement vehicle was obtained on the same day and the breakdown did not interfere with the afternoon hunting session on that day or at any further stage.
2.4 Prior to the breakdown the alleged state of the vehicle had no impact on the hunt.
2.5 I cannot comment on the alleged lack of rear brakes as I have no direct knowledge thereof. I was never under the impression that the vehicle was unsafe due to malfunctioning brakes, nor did I at any stage (over a period of 5 days) feel unsafe in that vehicle. (It did appear as if the vehicle’s handbrake was not 100%, but that came into play only whilst the vehicle was stationary.)
2.6 The replacement vehicle functioned faultlessly.

3. Allan’s vehicle:

3.1 I cannot comment on the exact status of the vehicle’s four wheel drive functioning as I have no direct knowledge of the exact nature of the problem.
3.2 It did appear as if the vehicle had problems engaging four wheel drive, or at least a lack of “pull” in four wheel drive.
3.3 Allan told me during the course of the hunt that he recently bought the vehicle and spent a considerable sum of money on servicing the vehicle. I never got the impression that he was aware of the problem until this safari. If he was, then I am sure he would not have attempted to traverse the areas where he got stuck.
3.4 I am aware that the vehicle got stuck whilst I was not present but can obviously not comment on the duration thereof or the impact that it had on hunting time. As far as I know it got stuck twice in one afternoon.
3.5 I was present on two other occasions when the vehicle got stuck. It is correct that on the one occasion it took us the best part of an afternoon to get the vehicle out. On the other occasion it took us approximately three quarters of an hour to get the vehicle out. On this second occasion it got stuck in sand that was so waterlogged that I think most four wheel drive vehicles would have battled in it.
3.6 It is correct that the hi-lift jack gave a lot of problems and that the vehicle does not have a winch.
3.7 I think that the state of the vehicle did cause a limitation of some sorts and it obviously caused delays in hunting, but I do not think it is accurate to say that access to the concession was “severely” limited.
3.8 I also do not think that there was a material loss of hunting opportunities because of the vehicle.
3.9 The areas that seemed to have the highest concentrations of elephant and buffalo were definitely accessible and these were obviously the areas that were concentrated on. Allan was, notwithstanding the state of the vehicle, still able to provide Eric with opportunities on both buffalo and elephant.
3.10 It is consequently perhaps debatable whether this limitation had any impact on the actual outcome of the safari.
3.11 I thought that the “character building” remark was said in jest and perhaps in frustration. It was not dismissive of the seriousness of the situation.
3.12 Allan did mention to me that he was frustrated and embarrassed by the problems with his vehicle – an indication I believe that he was, prior to the safari, unaware of the problem and that he did not dismiss it as trivial.

B. PROFESSIONAL HUNTERS

4. General:

4.1 Both Allan and Steve obviously knew the area intimately (an indication, I submit, that they are experienced hunters).
4.2 I do not know them well enough to express an informed opinion regarding their hunting ability but, during the time I hunted with them I certainly witnessed nothing that made me doubt their hunting ability. In fact, my impression was that they were experienced hunters. Both Eric and Graeme agreed with this assessment just before we parted ways in Victoria Falls.
4.3 They both successfully guided Eric and Graeme on elephant under circumstances and in an area that were obviously not easy.
4.4 I never got the impression that anyone was unhappy with their style, modus operandi, fitness levels, etc. when it came to the elephant hunts and thus find it strange that the same style, modus operandi, fitness levels etc. were unacceptable when it came to the buffalo hunting.

5. Allan Moodie:

5.1 I spent five days with Allan hunting elephant and following Eric’s wounded buffalo. During this period the following situations arose:
5.1.1 an afternoon of trying to close in on elephant in extremely thick riverine jesse;
5.1.2 tracking elephant on a number of occasions and ultimately successfully stalking a herd an shooting a cow;
5.1.3 following and/or looking for the tracks of the wounded buffalo for three days.
5.2 I never got the impression that he was impatient or excitable in the presence of game. In fact, during the stalks on elephant I found Allan to be calm. After the final approach was made on Eric’s elephant, Allan put no pressure on Eric to shoot. The correct animal was identified, the shot was briefly discussed, whereafter Allan told Eric to take the shot whenever he was ready.
5.3 Furthermore, I think the fact that Allan was prepared to persist in looking for the wounded buffalo for five days, even after the trail went cold, is hardly a sign of impatience.
5.4 Furthermore, Allan spent most of an afternoon, after Eric shot his elephant, trying to establish telephonic contact with the HHK office in an attempt to establish whether a further buffalo was available on quota for Eric. He spent some time in Siyakobvu in order to locate someone with a phone that works in that area, borrowed the phone and then spent some further time in order to find someone willing to sell airtime to him. The cell phone connections were obviously very bad and trying to establish successful communications were very difficult. I thought that Allan was very patient in his attempts to get the information.
5.5 I do not know Allan well enough to comment on his temper. I am not aware of him losing his temper with any of the clients at any stage. I submit, with respect, that this in any event had no bearing on the outcome of the safari. Different people deal with frustrating situations, like vehicles getting stuck and bad cell phone connections, differently.
5.6 No hunting time was lost due to the “celebrations” on the night that Eric shot his elephant.
5.7 We left camp as per normal the following morning, went to look for the tracks of the wounded buffalo and found no tracks that indicated that they might belong to the wounded bull. I was present that morning. The day’s hunting was called off because we could not, despite a search of a few hours, find the tracks of the wounded bull, not because of any other reason. I believe that that was the correct and reasonable decision under the circumstances. We nevertheless, at Eric’s insistence, followed random tracks for more than an hour in the hope of finding the wounded bull. Eric was not interested in hunting any other animals. Later that day Allan located a shotgun and offered Eric a go at some bird shooting.

6. Steve Boshoff:

6.1 I do not think that Steve was severely handicapped nor is he physically incapable of hunting because of weight, smoking or a bad knee.
6.2 Steve is in all fairness perhaps not the fittest person I have met.
6.3 Steve did suffer from bronchitis during the course of the safari. It was my understanding that he contracted the bronchitis shortly before the safari started. I shared a room with Steve and can verify that he did take medication (anti-biotics) and use a nebuliser, on an ongoing basis, in order to shake off the bronchitis.
6.4 I spent five days hunting with Steve. At no stage during this period was a stalk or tracking session or hunting day cancelled due to Steve’s inability to carry on. No opportunities to approach animals were lost during those days as a result of the alleged handicaps.
6.5 It is correct that Steve at times suffered from fits of coughing, sometimes in the proximity of animals. This was of some concern to me as well and I distinctly recall holding my breath every time this happened, waiting for the herd to thunder off. I clearly recall that there was not a single occasion where the animals actually ran off because of Steve’s coughing.
6.6 Graeme did on occasion ask me to swop places with him so that he could sit on the back of the truck. He indicated that he enjoyed sitting on the back from time to time (as most clients do). I do not know whether he discussed Steve’s smoking in the vehicle with Steve. (Graeme certainly made no mention of that to me.) I am sure that a polite request to Steve could have solved the problem. I am thus not entirely sure that Steve “insisted” on smoking in the vehicle. Perhaps Steve can comment on this.
6.7 Steve never approached any animals down-wind just for the sake of approaching and I think to say that he did this as “common practice” is perhaps, with respect, an exaggeration. I think the ash-bottle issue is more a question of style and personal preference. Steve and his trackers constantly checked the wind using dust. (The local tracker, whose name escapes me for the moment, in any event did carry and use an ash-bottle.) It is correct that animals sometimes winded us. Anyone with some experience in tracking buffalo/elephant in swirling wind conditions in thick bush will surely appreciate that this will happen from time to time.
6.8 I was present on one occasion when Graeme was on the sticks. I was some distance back and it was my understanding that a buffalo was turned down because, although big, it was not yet fully mature.
6.9 I could, from my position, not see any other shootable bulls in that herd.
6.10 Steve and Graeme were fairly close to the herd for sometime without spooking the herd, but, I think, also in a position where a further approach was not possible.
6.11 I was not present on the other occasions when Graeme was on sticks, but it was my understanding, based on discussions around the dinner table in the evenings, that a bull of approximately 36” was turned down. I can obviously not give any first hand report on this and stand to be corrected in this matter.
6.12 Graeme did, on the first evening of the safari, indicate that he would prefer a bull bigger than the 36” bull he shot last year. (This point came up when the clients enquired about the size of the buffalo trophies one can reasonably expect in the area. Both Allan and Steve mentioned that something in the order of 36” would be about on par.)

7. The wounded buffalo:

7.1 I was not present on the day that the buffalo was wounded and cannot comment on what exactly happened on the day.
7.2 I can however mention the following:
7.2.1 The night before the buffalo was wounded Allan specifically mentioned that he wanted to go the Nabiri/Siyakobvu area to look for bulls that he suspected frequented the area;
7.2.2 It apparently turned out that there were bachelor bulls in that area;
7.2.3 I submit that this is a positive indication of Allan’s experience and local knowledge;
7.2.4 Eric, according to both Allan and Eric, took his shot freehand although shooting sticks were available. Eric specifically mentioned to me during the course of the safari that he does not want to shoot off sticks. (He also shot his elephant freehand – an excellent single side brain shot at approximately 40 yards.)
7.2.5 It appears, from the discussions that I had with him, that Eric is knowledgeable when it comes to firearms, ammunition and the relative merits of softs versus solids under various conditions.
7.3 I was present on days eight, nine and ten when further attempts were made to locate the wounded buffalo.
7.4 Neither fresh tracks that were believed to be those of the bull nor the bull itself were located on days eight and nine.
7.5 The bull was part of a group of three of three bulls. These bulls are apparently relatively territorial and frequent the Ume River near the bridge below Siyakobvu. We were consequently looking for the tracks of three bachelor bulls. (Apparently the track of the wounded bull also showed a twist from time to time and was very large.)
7.6 It was on days eight and nine that Allan, and I concurred with him, mentioned that “there is no plan here”. There were just no tracks to follow, apart from the tracks of a few smallish herds. On day eight we in fact followed one of these herds for a while at Eric’s insistence, but obviously without success.
7.7 On day ten we found the tracks of the three bulls, followed them to where the tracks joined those of a herd and carried on following the herd.
7.8 We eventually came up on some buffalo and a bull ran off which both Allan and Eric believed to be the wounded bull. Apparently the bull was limping. I was some metres back and was unsighted in the thick jesse.
7.9 We followed this bull’s track (it was a large track) and caught up with it again. It was now standing and facing away from us.
7.10 Allan crept up and looked at the bull for some time through his binoculars. Eric was directly behind him. In order to minimise noise and movement, I hung back. I could only see the rear end of the bull.
7.11 The bull turned slightly after a while. Allan indicated that he could see the wound on the bull’s side and was apparently about to indicate to Eric to take the shot. At this point the bull took off again.
7.12 We followed the herd for some time. The herd later split up. We caught up with the herd twice more but could not positively identify the wounded bull and/or get a clear shot at it again.
7.13 After this the herd kept on running in the direction of some very thick jesse. After consultation with his trackers, Allan decided to call off the hunt. They were fairly certain that we would not catch up with the buffalo again. I agreed with that assessment and it was my impression that Eric did as well. By now we were in any event not sure in which splinter group the bull was.
7.14 I disagree that we were just “going through the motions”. Five days were spent trying to get the wounded bull. Allan, in Eric’s absence, on numerous occasions said to me that we need to “get back onto the buffalo’s case” as soon as Eric shot his elephant.
7.15 As stated herein above, whenever there were tracks that we believed were those of the bull, we followed those tracks.
7.16 I do not believe that the approach was negative at all. I think it was realistic and based on experience.
7.17 I never saw the horns of the buffalo – I saw its rear end once. I cannot comment on the trophy quality of the bull.
7.18 Allan did say on a few occasions, on the day that it was wounded and on day ten, that it was not the best of bulls. My understanding was that the spread was fair but that the boss was still soft.
7.19 Allan did say to me that the bull had his head in brush at the time of the shot. He also said that he believed that this bull was, given that it was in a bachelor group, that it had a massive body and that it had a very large track, a mature bull. (The bull I saw on day ten that was believed to be the wounded bull did have a large body and track.)

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John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"

Ok, here's my Zim story as it appears in African Hunting Gazette. The hunt took place in June 2006. Would I hunt with these people again, or in Zim? Read on ...

ONE MINUTE BUFFALO

A lot of hunting stories start out with the hunter in a tight situation with an unhappy animal off the barrel of his rifle. Well, mine doesn’t begin quite that way. Our adventure began when the hunting truck broke down for the second time in 6 hours.

We (we being me, my brother and his 19-year-old son) had left South Africa early the morning of day six of a fifteen day hunt for plains game and Cape Buffalo. The first five days had been occupied with collecting a Zebra, a Kudu, a couple of wart hogs and a very nice Gemsbuck (Oryx) by my nephew PJ and Sean, his dad. I was fortunate to take a very big, very old Giraffe with a handgun, but that’s for a later story. Then it was time to depart for Zimbabwe to hunt Buffalo.

Over The Road

Anywho, dawn arrived and we were in the truck and out of camp. Our route would take us across the border at the Messina, SA/ Beitbridge, Zimbabwe crossing, then up to a hunting concession on the Gwai River south of Victoria Falls. There were five of us in the Toyota truck – our Professional Hunter (PH) Peter, yours truly, Sean, PJ and Willi our tracker.

Our first taste of adventure came when the exhaust pipe broke off the header when we were about 10 miles south of Beitbridge. Once the truck was repaired at a muffler shop we proceeded to the border.

I’m not going to give a blow-by-blow of the border crossing fun and games, but suffice it to say a little over 5 hours were eaten up in transit. This and the exhaust pipe repair put us into Zim with about 2 hours until darkness. We still had 500+ km to travel, so it looked like we’d hit camp between midnight – one AM.

This just was not to be. As the sun set, we were about 250 km in-country, and had passed through Gwanda 15 minutes before, when Peter tried to downshift for a hill and the clutch pedal sank gracefully to the floorboards. No clutch. Yes darkness.

Off the Road
Closer examination showed a broken hydraulic line going to the clutch slave cylinder. Not only did we have no clutch, we weren’t going to have any clutch anytime in the near future.

Sitting on the side of the road in darkest Zimbabwe is not a place I really wanted to spend the night. Villagers and other people were appearing out of the darkness and within 20 minutes we had an audience of 10-12 men watching our travails.

A quick consultation and Sean, who had a number of years as a race car driver, jumped into the right, driver’s, seat. Yes, right seat! Zimbabwe was set up like England in that the steering wheel was on the right and driving was on the left. We all pushed while he hit the starter and the truck lit off in first gear. Much jumping aboard then ensued!

He was able to operate the truck, shifting the five-speed transmission without the clutch by double-clutching and matching the transmission speed to engine rpm, until we made it into Bulawayo where we spent a very thankful night at the only Holiday Inn within 500 km in any direction. A small amount of alcohol was consumed later, yessir.

More Truck Games

Come the morning, and after a repair was made, we departed scenic Bulawayo (no employment, no food and zero gasoline in the entire country) and headed towards camp - where the engine proceeded to blow up 10 miles before our destination. It could not be repaired in the field, so there we sat until rescued. Hours later we drug into camp.

What has all this to do with hunting, you may ask? Well, the short version is that between all the fun with the truck and some paperwork problems back in SA, we lost 3 of our 7 days set up for hunting Cape Buffalo. The plan had been that PJ would take a cow buffalo and I’d go after a big bull with my handgun, a Smith & Wesson 500 Magnum shooting 500 grain flat points from Hornady factory loads. With only 4 days to get both animals, we were going to need to be up early, out late and very lucky.

A spare truck was supposed to arrive that morning, but by 8:30 no such luck. Finally, we got out chasing tracks in the afternoon, but everything we saw was at least 2 days old. Back to camp by 7 pm and asleep by 9.

Camp

Let me digress here a moment and describe our camp. It was called “Malindi” and was constructed out of railroad cars arraigned in a “V” around a central fireplace area that was raised up to the lever of the car’s entrances and made out of poured concrete. It was a very beautiful camp and we would have enjoyed it immensely except we never saw it in the light as we were up before daylight and back after dark.

There was a water hole about 125-135 yards in front of the camp where a lot of animals would come to drink, we were told, but about all we saw were a few female Sables and some fauns. The cook said buffalo sometimes watered there, but the only tracks we found were quite old.

The next day, before it was light, we were back tracking tracks and busting a lot of bush. Oh yeah – the bush. The undergrowth and trees in Zimbabwe usually are no higher than 15 feet, with the bush being around 4-5 feet tall, but it contains some of the nastiest thorn bushes known to man. Their needles resemble a #24 hypodermic needle and would probably penetrate more Kevlar than a .44 magnum. Plus they break off and fester in the wound. So we walked and grew lots of nice, round red holes. I have absolutely no idea as to how the PHs do it wearing only shorts.

PJ’s Buffalo

In late afternoon we got on some fresh buffalo tracks and followed them for quite a while through the bush, but the buffalo heard us and kept moving away. We later found out that they were just leading us in a big circle, so it was time to jump into the truck and run down to head ‘em off at the next crossing.

We covered a little less than ½ mile when Peter slammed on the brakes bailed out of the truck and pulled PJ with him. As we followed, he whispered to PJ, “Cow … get your rifle.” PJ pulled his rifle, a Ruger #1 in .458 Lott, out of the padded clamps on the roll bar and ran up to where Peter stood. Peter motioned him forward and pointed down the trail. Seventy-five yards separated them from a cow standing sideways on the trail watching our antics. She wasn’t concerned, just curious.

The Rifle

Before the hunt, I had spent a lot of time with PJ and the Ruger
( Actually, it was my rifle, but upon seeing it for the first time, PJ permanently adopted it.), going over where to place a shot depending on how the buffalo stood and what part of its body could be seen. I told him to smack the buff behind the shoulder and let the bullet do the work.

The .458 Lott is a .404 Jeffery necked up to .458. It is a great deal more powerful than the better-known .458 Winchester Magnum – 5873 ft-lbs of muzzle energy vs. 4622 ft-lbs for the .458 Winchester. Muzzle velocity is up also with the Lott at 2300 fps, and the Winchester coming along at 2040fps. Both shoot a 500-gr. bullet, but the Lott will take the fight out of any dangerous game much better than the Winchester. It do kick a trifle harder, though. The only animal I had ever shot with it was a California wild pig, and that was with a 500-gr. solid. I think the bullet’s still traveling.

The Shot

This cow was almost perpendicular to us, offering a good shoulder shot, but she was starting to get antsy. Peter leaned towards PJ and said something as PJ brought the rifle to his shoulder and flipped off the safety. Booom! The recoil drew him back a step. I heard bullet hit buffalo. The cow found first gear and disappeared into the bush

Here we go again, more tracking, more thorns. Willi, the tracker, found blood on a branch where the cow had stopped to try and wipe off the pain. We tracked. After 5 minutes, or so, we heard the cow moving in the bush about 20 yards ahead of us, but could see nothing. We tracked some more. After a few more minutes, I backed off and returned to the truck so as to have fewer people making noise.

Outcome

My watch said 5:30. The sun dropped below the horizon. The ground, surrounding vegetation and nearby bushes all turned the same shade of gray. Tracking was done for the day. We’d have to return in the morning.

PJ came back to the truck very unhappy with himself. His Kudu had dropped with one shot. His wart hog and Impala did likewise – why hadn’t the buffalo. I reminded him that a Cape Buffalo was a bit tougher than a plains game animal and that my first one had absorbed four .416 hits from my Remington Magnum before becoming steaks and chops. For some reason he wasn’t too interested in war stories right at the moment.

We split up the next morning – me to hunt for a bull and PJ to follow up on his cow. It wasn’t a very good day. I saw exactly nothing and PJ followed tracks for over 3 hours until the blood trail dried up and the cow’s tracks merged with the rest of the heard and disappeared.

Why No Buffalo (we think)

Later, after we had returned to the US, we went over the video of his shot in slow motion. Both shot and impact were clearly visible. The only problem was that the shot was too high and was only a flesh wound that would heal fast and the cow be none the worse for wear.

What happened?

Remember when Peter leaned over to PJ just before he shot? Well, Peter told him to aim for the point of the shoulder, not behind it as we had discussed. PJ errored in thinking a buffalo’s shoulder was like a human’s and up high on the body. It isn’t, it’s down more towards the middle of the torso. He had hit where he aimed, the bullet had blown through, but the cow will see another summer or two. A lesson learned, which I think was good, because he was beginning to think this hunting business was easy. He said (through clenched teeth, I might add) that he’ll be back, and next time bring a Cape Buffalo home.

The End of the Hunt

I spent the next day wandering through the concession trying to pick up some fresh tracks, but to no avail. Darkness intruded, so that was it for the hunt. We were leaving the next morning for Victoria Falls. To add insult to injury, on our way back to camp, we spotted a huge herd of buffalo about 600 yards away over open ground. Too bad! They were fairly smart buffalo and they were in a photograph-only area and could not be hunted. Needless to say, I was not in the best frame of mind when I returned to camp. I spent the evening in my room and skipped dinner. I was pretty graveled because if we hadn’t lost all that time to that bloody piece-of-junk truck, we’d still have days to hunt. Sleep was a long time in coming.

Departure

Six AM came ‘round and up we got. Wasn’t a lot of talking going on this morning until we found we were out of coffee. Now, I can put up with a lot, but no morning coffee was about my limit. Black thoughts!

Time to go. Truck was packed, cameras and suitcases put away, guns in their cases at the bottom of the truck bed. Wasn’t a very happy group of hunters departing camp. Even the trackers were subdued.

One Minute

I was riding shotgun, Sean and PJ in back on the raised seats. Peter sat down and pushed in the clutch; hand on the gearshift.

Then.

Then.

Then!

The cook came running out to the truck, sputtering and shouting!

“Buffalo, buffalo! They come! They are to the water hole.” He pointed over his right shoulder. “They come!”

Out of the truck. Up on the patio. Sure as God made little green frogs, there they were. A herd of about 60 had come to the water hole. They were still in the bush, 300 yards from us, 150 yards from the water. Cows and calves in front, bulls in the back. Little movement. They were checking out the area.

“ Willi, unloadthetruckgettheguns.” My emotions were outpacing my brain and my tongue was caught in the middle. The binoculars were in a case. The binoculars were in my hand, case on the ground. Check out the animals. They were still too bunched up to make out the bulls.

Peter scanned the herd. “There’s some bulls way in the back. They’ll push the cows ‘n’ calves out, then drink last.

The gun cases were open. This was going to be a 125 + yard shot, so the S&W 500 was left behind. I opened the action on the Ruger and fed it a 500-gr. solid. Cranked the scope up to its max – 4 power.

We moved to the front of the patio. I took off my jacket and used it like a sandbag between the gun and table. Peter joined me with his rifle.

“Peter, this is going to be tough. When I shoot, as soon as I shoot, follow me up. If we don’t drop him he’ll disappear into the bush.”

“Ok Tom, but wait until there’s a clear shot.”

One clear shot was all there was going to be. The cows were approaching the water, but milling in tight. Any bulls? Hell, I couldn’t see even one!

My heart finally slowed down enough to where the crosshairs quit bouncing around.

“Tom, look on the far right. There’s a big bull right at the water. He’s got a cow directly in front of him, so wait.” The cow acted like she owned the water hole and didn’t want to leave. ‘He’s going to finish, then turn to go. Wait. Wait until he’s clear the cow.”

The bull finished his drink and turned his rump towards us. He stepped back from the water hole on his way to the bush. The cow in front of him turned and moved to the right. The bull started walking off.

He stopped. Turned to a nearby cow as if to say something. Turned back with a quartering step to the right and stopped. Open! It was going to be a Texas brain shot, but it was the only shot.

He stood still.

I pulled the trigger.

The gun barrel lurched towards the ground! Dead silence.

Did I mention releasing the safety? I thought not. Because I hadn’t. Nice work, Tom!

Ok. Stop. Take a breath. Kick off the safety. Reacquire the sight picture. Same picture – same tail end shot.

The Ruger belched! The bull kicked high into the air and jumped to the side.

“He’s hit,” Peter said. “And hit damn well.”

“Whewwww,” I said.

The bull ran into the herd and they all took off into the brush. They got about 20 yards into the jess and stopped for a short time, then took off. We waited a few minutes before following.

The herd had stopped because the bull had only made it that far before dying. He only went that far on nerves. The bullet entered the left hip, traveled all the way up through the lung and heart and came to a stop just under the hide on the chest. When recovered, it looked like it could have been reloaded and fired again.

The last minute of the last hour of the last day of the hunt.

One minute buffalo!

SIDEBAR – Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country that gained its independence in 1980. Prior to then It was called Rhodesia. The US State Department does not recommend travel in the country and especially states that the cities can be very dangerous. We originally intended to run straight through the country, only stopping at camp. The truck was a Diesel Toyota and we carried a 55-gallon drum of fuel as there was no gasoline, Diesel or propane available in the entire country. Unemployment is nearing 80% and a country that used to be a net exporter of food is now an importer. The usual cautions prevail; don’t carry or flash any cash or valuables, stay in groups, don’t wander around after dark, stay in well lighted areas, and be careful about people who approach you. You are a walking money bag to them.

During our stay in Zimbabwe, the rate of exchange was 130,000 Zim dollars to one dollar US and rising. When we were in Bulawayo, prices were extremely high. One room for one night at the Holiday Inn was $150 US. Food in the restaurants was likewise very expensive. In our hotel at Victoria Falls, the Kingdom, dinner and drinks were $175. Not bad if steak and a good wine were on the menu, but we were pizza and beer. The crocodile appetizers were good, though.

There was a $20 entrance fee for foreigners at the Falls. Locals were free. Plus, the locals wouldn’t take their own money! That’s right. Even the taxi driver who took us to the airport absolutely refused to take Zim dollars. Plus, he jacked up the fare when we got there. He knew the ticket agent at the airport and we couldn’t check in until our wallets were empty. They did a very professional job of cleaning us out.

Hunting is good, but a lot of the plains game has been snared and turned into bush meat. I can’t blame the villagers, because if I had nothing to eat, I’d set snares myself.

If you want to go hunt there, the buffalo is good, there’s lots of Leopards; Elephants are common. But, be prepared for the situation. Buy travel insurance, buy health insurance, see a travel clinic before you go. Don’t drink the water and don’t swim in the rivers – the crocodiles have enough to eat.

SIDEBAR – On Importing guns Into South Africa

The South African Police have made it a bit harder to import guns for hunting. There’s a new, complicated, 8-page form, South African Police Service SAPS 520 Form, that has to be filled out before entering the country. You will also need a copy of US Customs Form 4457 (at any Customs office) that lists your guns and their serial numbers. Your passport must have at least two free pages – preferably more, especially if you travel into another country during the hunt. It must be valid for at least four months after the end of the hunt.

I wanted to use my handgun in SA, so I had to write a letter explaining just why I wanted to bring it into the country. Also, it had to have a barrel longer than 4 inches and of a caliber suitable for hunting. No 9 mm semis allowed. My gun was a Smith & Wesson Performance Center 500 Magnum with a 10-1/2 in. barrel. If you bring similar, bring lots of ammo as everyone will want to shoot it. Max allowed is 200 rounds per firearm. I brought 40.

I hired an expediter to help bring the guns into SA. I highly recommend doing the same. I used Hunter’s Support Air 2000 (air2000@global.co.za). They charged $125 per hunter and were well worth it.

Going from South Africa to Zim, you’re pretty much on your own at the border. Be prepared for lots of wasted time. You’ll have to check your guns out of South Africa and into Zimbabwe. Bring cash – at least $200 in small bills.

I’d suggest flying from SA to Vic Falls and clearing customs there. You can stay there a night or two, and then your PH will pick you up from your hotel. Handguns are not a problem in Zim providing you grease a palm or two. Your outfitter can handle all the necessary permits. Be prepared for a different culture. Be patient.