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Safari Operator: Doma Safaris www.DomaSafaris.com
PH: Gordon Duncan
Country: Zimbabwe
Rifles: HEYM “PH” 450/400 & Satterlee 7x57

Flights went well with no luggage problems (DFW-ATL-JNB-HRE). Those headed to Zim are still well advised to bring their own carbon paper for the Zim firearms permits though, as this will definitely save you some time getting the required paperwork done.

Despite all the media coverage on the violence, election fraud and subsequent runoff, everything seems as normal as can be expected in Harare. There are the usual police and military road-blocks outside of the city, but we were waved through all of them but one. And then they only requested to see a driver’s license from Gordon and – jokingly – requested we bring them back some meat after the hunt.

Aside from the comical inflation rates (the government has just decided to drop ten zeros from the currency denominations), the biggest day-to-day problems for residents seem to be with the utilities in Harare and across Zim in general. Rolling blackouts are the daily norm for the entire country. They seem to follow no particular pattern other than the fact that you can count on having no electricity for part of / most of the day.

Electricity isn’t as much of a problem for those in Harare as water is. Everyone has come to expect something between intermittent to no running water. A few reported not having had any for the past few months, but they too seem to have “made a plan” and are carrying on as usual. Of course this wouldn’t affect your hunt in Zim, as Safari camps will be operating in remote areas and have independent supplies of electricity and water.

We were hunting on an 80K acre property between Tuli and Beitbridge. The Limpopo provided the Southern border with communal lands to the North and West. The terrain varied from extremely thick and jungle-like along the river to Mopani thickets and more open, arid plains as you progress farther to the North and away from the river. In between were huge sandstone kopjes and even palm groves.

On day one, we were checking water holes for fresh buffalo sign and also looking for Hyena bait as we went. We found a female bushbuck that had lost the lower half of her back leg in a snare, and although the wound had healed nicely (and painfully I’m sure), we decided to end her worries of a Leopard or Hyena finding her first.

As “targets of opportunity” often arise on a hunt, we also crossed paths with this nice Steenbok.

Day two was more productive and we were on the fresh spoor of 6 bulls by mid morning. We tracked them into the thick “forest” near the river and caught up to them about half an hour later. There was only one hard-bossed shooter in the group, and Gordon guessed him about 42”. The others were all still too young and too soft. We played tag with them in the thick stuff until midday without getting another look at the one we wanted, and finally left them to bed down in the heat of the day.

That afternoon we were back on them. The wind was in our favor this time, and we got within about 60-yards of the 6 bulls. They meddled around in a small clearing for about half an hour, but we could not get another look at the hard-bossed bull. He stayed out of sight in the thick surroundings. They eventually winded us, and the chase was on again. We perused them until dark, but never got another look or shot at the bull we wanted.

The next morning we were making the water hole rounds again and ran into a scout that said he had seen an old, lone bull further down river the day before. He pointed us in the right direction and a couple of hours later, we were on his tracks.

This band of vegetation along the river is THICK! When we weren’t crawling on hands and knees through tunnels, we were backtracking to find another way through some of this impenetrable vegetation. Eventually we came into a small clearing and one of the trackers spotted the old bull bedded down in the thick stuff about 30-yards away.

Gordon and I moved ahead of the trackers and into position as the bull stood up to give us a look. His top half was covered by the vegetation, but we could see enough of the worn tips and hard boss to know this was a shooter. I did not have a shot standing up, and quickly knelt on one knee to get a line of sight under the brush he was in.

He was slightly quartering to me when I hit him with a 400gr Swift from the right barrel. As he turned to run, I hit him with the 400gr Hornady solid from the left barrel. He hobbled about 15-yards through some unimaginably thick stuff and into a small clearing on the other side. We tried to follow his trail, but it was too thick and we had to quickly find a way around it catch him standing in a small opening on the other side. At about 25-yards, I hit him with two more solids and he fell over. I hit him once more with the “insurance” shot, and he gave the death bellow shortly thereafter.

This one should measure about 35".

The Swift hit in the right front shoulder, broke the front leg and was found under the skin on the off side.

It weighed 338 grains, and had mushroomed on 3-sides.

None of the solids were recovered. They were all pass-throughs.

The Hyena bait had been refreshed a couple of times up to this point with a couple of impala and an elephant skull from the hunt before mine. The baits were being hit regularly. After dinner a couple of nights later, we set out to sit on the bait for the first time. The baits were placed at the bottom of a large sandstone kopje. We drove to the backside of the kopje and walked the last 400-yards or so up on to the top of the kopje. On our approach, we could hear them calling and had a pretty good idea they were already on the bait or on their way to it.

The moon was full that night and the sky was clear. When we eased up to the top of the kopje and looked some 40-feet below, we could see Hyena, jackals and even a porcupine milling around the bait below. We picked out what appeared to be the largest Hyena, and I gave him one from the 7x57.

We could clearly see dust fly in the moonlight and all began to doubt that I had hit him as he ran from the impact of the bullet and up a dry river bed towards the kopje. About a minute later, we heard what could be best described as a Hyena “death bellow” and decided to give him another 30-minutes just in case the shot hadn’t been as well placed as I hoped.

Interestingly, after I fired the shot, the rest of the Hyena did absolutely nothing! They stopped, looked and continued feeding.

We headed back down the backside of the kopje to the truck and drove around to the front where the bait was located. We walked about 50-yards up the dry river bed to find him piled up. The bullet entered behind the ribs on the front side and exited through the shoulder on the off side. That was my kind of Hyena hunting – having them at the bait waiting on me, rather than the other way around!

On to the second buff: We had spent several days looking for tracks at the water holes and even decided to follow up on a fresh set of tracks from a herd to see if some old guys had meandered in there, but only found soft bossed bulls when we caught up to the herd.

The next day we decided to look back in the thick stuff along the river in the same type of cover where we had found the first bull. Sure enough, we ran into fresh spoor from two bulls and started on their tracks. We eventually found them bedded down in what could best be described as a brush “cave” – completely enclosed on the top and three sides, with only a small entry hole. We could make out the one bull’s horns pretty well. He had a nice spread (Gordon guessed him in the 46” range), but his boss was soft. The second bull we could see had nice spread and hooks, but we couldn’t see his boss.

The wide bull knew we were there and eventually grew impatient with our “window peeping” on them. They finally bust out of the brush cave and give us only enough time to see the second bull’s boss and determine him to be a shooter before they ran back in the thick stuff along the river.

To make an already long story “less long”, we track these bulls for the rest of the day, but only get a few shot opportunities at the wide, soft bull. The older, hard-bossed bull never presented himself.

Next morning we’re back on their tracks and finally think we have them isolated in the thick stuff. We made a loop around this area to see if we could find tracks leading out and did not. Now we’re convinced they’re in there… we just have to go in and get them.

We hadn’t gone 20-yards in, when the lead tracker snaps his fingers and drops to one knee. Gordon and I rush to the front of the line and look into a small clearing to see the wide, soft-bossed bull eyeing us from about 30-yards. He’s clearly had enough of us by now and is really posturing like he wants to come give us a closer look. We’re trying to keep him covered and still look for the other bull, but his actions have both mine and Gordon’s attention.

He finally backs down, and I happen to glance 45-degrees to my right and see the silhouette of the second bull at about 20-yards in some really thick stuff (he’s been standing there all along). I immediately go up the front leg with the sights and pull the trigger 1/3 of the way up the body. He turns to run, and I hit him with the solid in the second barrel.

All is now quiet, and although the first bull (the wide one) is out of sight, we’ve not actually heard or seen him run. We find the blood trail on the second bull and start easing in after him – constantly on the lookout for the other bull. It’s slow moving in the thick stuff with Gordon and I taking turns crawling while the other kneels as we work our way down the blood trail towards the downed bull. About 15-yeards inside the thick stuff, we found the second bull dead, but sat quietly by him for about 5-minutes trying to locate the first bull. Convinced finally that the first bull has moved on, we call in the trackers.

Hard bossed, with nice hooks, this one should measure about 42".

The entry hole on the shoulder (from the first shot) is oblong, and I start to doubt the angle of the bull when I fired the first shot. I replayed the image of the bull and the shot in my mind and couldn’t figure out why the hole was so oddly shaped.

We went back to where the first shot was fired and found that two branches had been hit. The first one the bullet cut into a bit, and the second one was broken cleanly. The bullet had obviously been turned in flight and hit the buff’s shoulder sideways. Although the first bullet broke the buff’s shoulder, it was clearly the second solid that did the real damage and put him down quickly.

Here’s the first limb that was hit.

The accommodations were great, the food was great, and the weather was a welcome relief from 105-degrees in Dallas.

The lodge at night.

A nice Mopani fire.

A full moon over some palms.

Gordon is a great guy and a great PH that puts on a first-class hunt!