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HUNT SUMMARY from an African hunting rookie

Date of Hunt: September 18-30, 2005

Location: Fimbiri and Ngali Camps, Lemco Conservancy, Zimbabwe

Animals Taken: Southern Greater Kudu, Sable, Livingstone Eland, Nyala and Waterbuck

PH/Outfitter: Steve Brewer of HHK Safaris, Tracker - Dix
Website: http://www.hhksafaris.com/

Firearms/Equipment:
Pre 64 Winchester M70 chambered in 300 H&H Mag Bushnell Elite 4200 2.5-10x in Talley Rings and Bases. Serengeti modified Cheetah stock.
200 grain North Fork bullets ~3050 fps

Ruger No.1 S chambered in 338 Win Mag Leupold Vari-X III 1.5-5x in Leupold Rings.
250 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw bullets ~2800 fps.

REPORT

Travel:
My travel was handled by Kathi Klimes of Wild Travel (kathi@wildtravel.net 708-425-3552). She did an outstanding job arranging flights and making sure I understood the requirements for U.S. citizens entering RSA and Zimbabwe, especially transport of firearms. She sent copies of the Zimbabwe Visa and Zimbabwe Temporary Firearms Import forms. She reminded me of the U.S. Customs Form 4457 on more than one occasion. I will use Kathi’s services for all of my future travel needs. The itinerary took me from Anchorage to Seattle on Alaska Airlines. From Seattle to Atlanta on Delta. Atlanta to Johannesburg, RSA on South African Airways. Then on to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe on South African Airways. All flights were pleasant and comfortable even though my behind has never seen the first class portion of any airplane. Unfortunately, due some troubles that Alaska Airlines is going through right now, my checked bags did not arrive in Zimbabwe until 3 days after I did, and did not arrive home with me until the day after I returned. Until Alaska Airlines gets their struggles ironed out, buyer beware. Professional Hunter Steve Brewer met me at the Bulawayo Airport and assisted me in filing claims and making sure the airport personnel understood my firearms and luggage would be arriving and where they should be sent, or who would receive them when they arrived.

It is a long, long flight. 3 ½ hours from Anchorage to Seattle. Nearly 9 hours from Seattle to Atlanta, and 18 hours in the air from Atlanta to Johannesburg. Jo’burg to Bulawayo was about 2 ½ hours.

Camp & Related:
Camps were clean and comfortable. Rustic stone chalets with thatch roofs have replaced wall tents at Fimbiri and wood paneled chalets with thatched have replaced the tents at Ngali. Ants and other assorted bugs was a nuisance, but hey, it’s out in the middle of nowhere Africa! Flush toilets and showers have been installed. Staff included a cook (who was fantastic at Ngali and good at Fimbiri), a head waiter, a grounds keeper/maintenance man, skinner and game scout. The game scout is there to ensure game regulations/laws are followed and report any poaching or suspicious animal deaths in the conservancy. They are not required to help track or any other field activities, but the two we had with us were real go-getters and went well beyond their assigned duties. Since my firearms and luggage did not arrive with me, we spent the first morning begging a firearm and some ammunition at HHK headquarters. Jerry, the Ops Manager was kind enough to loan his giraffe culling rifle to me, a 3-9x Leupold VX-II scoped Ruger M77 MkII chambered in 308 Winchester. Since the rifle is used for culling, he only had FMJ ammo, so we begged HHK Principal’s (Charles Davy) to borrow a box 180 grain Selliot & Bennett ammunition. We folded a softcase over the hood of the PH’s Land Cruiser and fired a couple of shots at 100 meters at a homemade target. Surprisingly, the rifle was dead on perfect, even with the different ammo. The two shots were touching. I carried this rifle for 2 days and felt comfortable going after Sable with it, but felt a little uneasy going after the ton + Eland. As it turned it out, I didn’t get a shot till the fourth day, so it didn’t matter. The staff was incredible and I cannot say enough good things about the way they pitched in to make this hunt a wonderful experience.

Area:
The Lemco Conservancy consists of 5 camps and I would be hunting from 2: Fimbiri in the far northeastern section and Ngali in the southwestern section. Fimbiri consisted of many dry stream beds and a few lakes that still held water. It consisted of low rolling hills, heavily wooded with Mopani and the flatter areas choked with acacia thorn brush. Numerous rock outcroppings, or kopjes, dotted the landscape.

Ngali is sandwiched between the Mazunga River and the Bubye River. It was flat as a pancake and consisted mostly of barren plains between the two rivers. I guess during the rainy season and just after, the plains here are lush and green with grass knee high. Now, during the dry season, it appeared desert-like. The red ochre and black cotton soil was baked hard as a brick. What few Mopani trees are left, the elephants are destroying, either breaking them off or pushing them up by the roots. Zimbabwe has been in drought conditions all year and now, during the dry season, the game at Ngali is suffering, especially since the elephants have come through. Some areas at Ngali looked as if they were nuclear testing grounds. Even with these conditions, giraffe, zebra, kudu, duiker, steenbok, elephant, Cape buffalo, eland, black rhinoceros, Nyala, bushbuck, and other types of game were common.

Hunting:
I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. On the ride from the airport, the PH and I talked about what type of hunt and animals I was after. I told Steve that I wanted boot leather on the ground hunt, but did realize the conservancy was 1 million plus acres and there would be a substantial amount of driving. However, I did not want to hunt from the vehicle. Steve and Tracker Dix nearly walked my feet into nubs and I enjoyed every step of the way!

As for the animals, I told him what my priorities were. Honestly, I wanted a nice Sable, a nice Kudu, and a nice Nyala. The other animals were secondary and if I take the primary three in the 12 hunting days I had, I would be tickled to death. As for their size, I told him I didn’t carry around a tape measure, but I wanted the opportunity to take the best animals I possibly could. I have never entered any animal into any book, but then again, I’ve hunted with a PH or guide before either. If we were fortunate enough to take an animal that would make the “book”, I would enter it. Not for my own ego but:
1. I believe the animal deserves to be recognized.
2. I believe the PH and Tracker deserve the notoriety and publicity associated.
3. I believe the area deserves it.
Hunting was not guaranteed in any way, shape or form. The mopani wood was thick and the acacia thorn brush thicker. The animals were wild and wary. Though we saw a lot of animals of several species, even sable, it was another thing entirely to find the bull and get close enough or find one when looking for it. I was overwhelmed by the number and variety of game animals I saw everyday. I had originally intended to keep a daily journal, including the animals saw, and the number of each species. By noon the first day, I knew I could never do that. I had already lost count of impala, warthogs, zebra, and giraffes.

Temperatures were hot. Even the Zimbabweans were complaining. Steve said it felt more like late October than mid September. Temps soared above 100 degrees nearly everyday I was there. Even the wind was hot. When we got a strong breeze, it felt as if someone opened the door on a blast furnace. The nights held little relief and I would wake every few hours and stumble to the shower, turn the cold water on and stand there. Then back to bed, only to wake up a few hours later covered in sweat. I finally began to fill up the trash can with the cold water from the shower and just poured it on the bed. The bed would dry by morning.

Our hunts typically consisted of driving to an area the PH and Tracker suspected whatever specie we were hunting to be. We would then begin still-hunting, either through the mopani wood, acacia thorn, or through the reedbeds and thick riverine brush along the dry riverbeds. We would still-hunt until we cut fresh sign or spotted animals. If fresh sign was cut, Dix would take to the track and we would just stay on it until we tracked the animals down. I’ve always fancied myself a decent tracker, but I’m not even on the same planet as the big Zulu (term of absolute respect and honor). I honestly believe Dix could track a raindrop over a waterfall during a flood. PH Steve Brewer wasn’t a hack at it either. They could see sign that I would totally miss. To say I was impressed is the biggest understatement of the century. It was worth the price of admission just to watch these guys work!

We averaged around 10-12 miles on the ground each day. Our day would start before sunrise and last well after sunset. In the 12 days I hunted, we were back in camp two times to have a proper “sundowner” and watch the sun disappear below the horizon.

Species saw include: impala (thousands?), zebra, giraffes, baboons, warthogs, bushpigs, honeybadger, cheetah, leopard, lions, cape buffalo, elephant, crocodile, sable, kudu, eland, Nyala, bushbuck, waterbuck, duiker, steenbok, grysbok, klipspringer, virvet monkeys, wildebeest, tsessebe, black rhinoceros, hares, genet cat, serval cat, and bush babies.

Kudu:
Though we were concentrating on sable until we got one, the kudu was my first African animal. We were still-hunting through some mopani scrub late in the afternoon of Day Four when I spotted the kudu bull on a small hill a few hundred yards away. There’s an old saying, something like, “if it is big, it just looks big”. That was the case with this kudu. We immediately switched gears from hunting sable to putting a stalk on this kudu. There was a lot of crawling, crab walking, and slipping through the shadows. After about an hour, we had closed the gap to around 100 yards. The bull was feeding with its head down and when I viewed the animal in the thick brush through my scope, I saw that he was quartering away from me slightly. I placed the crosshair in the crease of his shoulder and began the trigger squeeze. Just past the point of no return, when there were precious few ounces of sear engagement left, I saw the bull raise his head and realized I was about to make a terrible mistake. Instead of the animal quartering away from me, he was quartering toward me. The crease of his shoulder I was focusing on was really a crease in his neck as he had it bent with his horns in the brush. BOOM! I saw the kudu fall like a stone as the rifle recoiled. I quickly chambered another round, but knew the hunt was over. As I approached him I could see I made a perfect neck shot. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, I guess. I received a tremendous amount of ribbing from the PH (especially after I made it clear that was okay by ribbing myself) about the shot the rest of the evening. The next day would put that to rest, though. The kudu was an old warrior. His horns were worn down, battered and chipped. His neck and shoulders carried scars from battles of years gone by. I cannot imagine a more perfect first African animal. His horns were roughly 52-53” in length and had massive bases.
[image]http://www.hunt101.com/watermark.php?file=500/8445Kudu_BT.JPG[/image]

Sable:
Since the hunt was booked as a “Sable and Plainsgame” safari, we focused on sable. The swirling winds, zebra, giraffes, and a host of other animals seemed to continually conspire against us while we tracking or stalking sable. We were able to find sable nearly everyday. Getting close or finding a herd with a mature bull was difficult. We had stalks busted by giraffes, zebra, warthogs, an old blue bull eland, and the ever fickle September winds. Late in the afternoon of Day 5, we drove to a new area and began still-hunting into the mopani woods. Temps hovered around the 100 degree mark and the winds were restless, blowing from one way one minute, then switching 180 degrees the next. After about ½ hour we cut fresh tracks of a lone bull. I could tell by the conversation (even though it was in Shona) between the PH and Tracker, the tracks were smoking hot. The wind was all wrong to track the animal though. The bull was traveling with the wind. We tried to make flanking maneuver and circle around in front of him. We nearly passed him in the thick brush. I spotted the horns as the animal moved. We tried crawling into better position for a shot. The thick mopani scrub completely concealed the bull from us. Whether the sable saw us, heard us, or maybe the wind betrayed us, I don’t know, but he took off. I sprang from the crawling position to standing and let the rifle find the animal. Just as the sable broke into a chin-tucked, horn lowered battering ram sprint, from about 120 yards away, the M70 spoke. I chambered another round as the rifle was coming out of recoil, but the sable was gone. We found him dead in mid-stride about 100 yards away from where he was hit. The 200 grain NF took out both lungs and exited. The PH had mentioned that sable hardly ever leaves a decent blood trail to follow, but this one bled hard. He was a grand bull, in his prime with fresh battle wounds on his shoulders and neck. We had seen two large bulls in the preceding days with broken horns, I’d like to think my black knight had something to do with that. Rough measurement put the sable around 40 to 41”.
[image]http://www.hunt101.com/watermark.php?file=500/8445Sable_BT.JPG[/image]

Eland:
Eland hunting is great fun. Anyone hunting Africa should give this a try. We hunted these animals similarly to the sable. Go to a good area and still-hunt while looking for sign. If we found fresh sign, we began tracking. The difference is the pace and pattern which the eland move. The eland’s walking pace pretty much requires the hunter to jog just to keep up. And, they do not stop. A typical eland tracking job is measured in tens of miles had halves of days. We had made stalks on eland only to get busted by zebra, giraffes, and warthogs, and swirling winds. On Day Four, 3 eland bulls had led us on a walk, run, jog, and crawling marathon for 6 hours, approximately 10 miles before the eland got the upper hand and headed for Botswana. On day six while still hunting through an area we had saw a large eland bull on the second day, our Tracker, Dix, spotted the tan hide of an eland slipping through the mopani and we gave chase. The eland was heading toward a large rocky kopje and it became evident it would round the kopje before we could catch up, and then it would have the wind in its favor. We decided to race up the kopje and sort it out from there. On top, we found the bull and found him to be a decent bull, but not what we were after. As we continue to glass the mopani wood, I spotted a very large bull lying in the shade. When I pointed the bull out to the PH and the tracker, I could tell immediately from their reactions this bull was something special. After a lot of whispered conversation, we decided I would try to take the bull when he stood. The shot was fairly long for an animal weighing a ton, but I was confident in the shooting if the PH was confident the cartridge was enough for the job. I got set up and waited what seemed like ten eternities for the big bull to stand. When the smaller bull started moving off, the big fellow stood and slowly turned to give me a quartering shot on his left shoulder. The Ruger recoiled, and through the scope I could see the bullet strike exactly where I had intended. I chambered another round and before he could gain his composure from the first shot, I let drive with the second. Again I saw the splash of the bullet through scope and chambered another round. The bullet turned full broadside and I took a shot for the heart. The bull stumbled, but did not go down and began a broken shouldered walk away into the brush. We raced down the kopje into the brush and found the bull had traveled a hundred yards or so in the few seconds it took us to enter the woods. He was standing, staring back at us. Fearing he would take us on a long tracking marathon, I took an offhand shot for the spine and the bull collapsed. I took a fifth shot on the bull for a finisher. These are just big animals and take a lot of killing. Upon examination, we found the 250 grain 338 Win Mag bullets had performed well enough and all shots had done exactly as I had intended. The bull was on the downhill side of his prime. His horns were still long, but well rounded and his neck and shoulders were beginning to exhibit the “blue bull” fading of an old patriarch. Even though the bull’s spirals seem to end abruptly, his horns were still about 38”, a great bull from Zimbabwe’s lowveld.
[image]http://www.hunt101.com/watermark.php?file=500/8445Eland_BT.JPG[/image]

Nyala:
This animal is a master of the shadows. Probably the slyest animal I’ve ever hunted and one I enjoyed hunting a tremendous amount. The animal inhabits the thick riverine brush and reedbeds along various water sources. Again, we would drive to an area, get the wind in our favor and begin still-hunting while looking for fresh sign to track. Unlike any other game we hunted, though, the Nyala will not run to put distance between the hunter and itself. He will use the brush and shadows to merely slip off unseen and usually slink in behind the hunter. On our first day hunting the Nyala, while slipping through the reeds and long grass on the banks of a dry river, we were intercepted by a herd of Cape buffalo. Nearly 100 animals were no more than 40 yards away from us. Later the same day, we ran into a bachelor group of three old dugga boys. The buff were caked in mud and had surly dispositions. What a grand time we were having. For three days hunting the Nyala, we tracked ourselves around in circles, glimpsing a big bull just twice. Both times were merely glimpses, and in the thickest brush imaginable, just as he seemed to disappear. It was the late afternoon on Day 9, were still-hunting toward a dry river when I caught a flash of legs moving through the thick mopani scrub. Five Nyala females were busy feeding. We dropped to our knees and began scanning the brush for the dark colored males. Almost as if by magic, the form of a big bull materialized in front of us about 70 yards away. I eased my way in front of the Tracker and brought the M70 to my shoulder just as the bull whirled around. He fell at the shot and just as he was regaining his feet, I put a round in his neck to anchor him. The kudu has more classic beauty, the sable may be more “royal”, the eland is the largest antelope in the world, but the Nyala is a tremendous animal with a beauty all its own. This bull was in his prime and had horns roughly 28” long with nice ivory tips.
[image]http://www.hunt101.com/watermark.php?file=500/8445Nyala_BT.JPG[/image]

Waterbuck:
Although I have always had an interest in hunting this animal, I had not originally intended to one on this trip. For a couple of reasons I had chosen to hunt bushbuck instead. For one, the bushbuck carried nearly a $1,000 less trophy fee. Two, I had thought since we would be hunting Nyala, bushbuck would be in the same vicinity and would not require the expense (if any) of relocating. However, upon arrival, I found out the bushbuck quota had been filled. Asked if there was anything I would look to give a try for if time remained, I immediately replied “Waterbuck”. We had moved to the Ngali camp along the Mazunga River to see if we could find a good Waterbuck, an outsized Warthog, Bushpig, call for Hyena and hopefully find a Honey Badger. Early in the morning on day 11, we were slipping through the reeds along the Mazunga when we saw a group of Waterbuck females. When we found their tracks, it was evident a large bull was traveling with them. Began tracking. 20 minutes or so on the trail, I saw a flash of white directly in front of us not 50 yards away. Suddenly the entire forest seemed to move. Elephants! We slowly and quietly began to slip back out of the thick brush along the river. Maybe we made too much noise or maybe the elephants spotted us, but for whatever reason, here they came. We made our way out onto the open plain, and Steve leveled his M70 416 Remington Magnum on the lead bull. The bulls stopped at about 25 yards and made it clear, in no uncertain terms, we were not welcomed. The 300 H&H sure felt puny in my hands at the time. The bulls were young, carrying 20 – 25 lbs of ivory per side, but were still very large animals. After the elephants left us, we continued our tracking the of the waterbuck group, although via a large looping and circuitous route. Whether the waterbuck herd the elephant commotion or we alerted by us, when we picked up their tracks again, they were running. They led us from the thick riverine growth of the sandy Mazunga River into the mopani scrub of the more open plain. Bornface, the skinner from Ngali, was the first to spot them. They had relaxed by this time and were quietly moving through the scrub brush. In the few seconds it took us to locate the bull, the wind began to swirl and was about to give us away. It was a long shot off of shooting sticks, but the setup felt solid. At the shot, I could see the bull buck run off as if it was untouched. I heard the PH mumble something. Up till this point, my shooting had been fairly good, ten for ten with all shots being in the vitals. As we began to walk toward where the waterbuck had been, the PH reached over and grabbed a small tree limb that was freshly cut. He said he saw the branch swing at the shot. Upon arriving to where the bull was standing and following his tracks a short distance, the tracker didn’t like the way the tracks were formed and thought the bull was hit. Therein began a 7 hour tracking job that led us from the mopani scrub through the acacia thorn, crisscrossing the numerous tributaries of the Mazunga River and the thick reed beds and long grass as the bull buck tried to elude us. This turned out to be the most fantastic tracking job I’ve ever witnessed. The bull buck through every trick in the book at us, yet Dix never faltered. Sure we were confused at one time or the other, but either Dix or the Game Scout or Bornface was always able to sort things out and get us back on track. Once when crossing a dry tributary that had one small pool of water left, a crocodile came at us, trying to protect its impala kill. The big bull buck finally made the mistake of trying sneak out the backdoor in a dry streambed behind us when I was finally able to put a shot between his shoulder blades and end the hunt. The Waterbuck was huge, his horns going just slightly better than 30” with massive bases.
[image]http://www.hunt101.com/watermark.php?file=500/8445Waterbuck_BT.JPG[/image]

Closing:
Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined this hunt would turn out as grand as it did. I have high praise for everyone involved in booking, travel, and execution of this trip (well, except for Alaska Airlines). PH Steve Brewer and Tracker Dix are a tremendous team and I would book another hunt with them in a heartbeat. All the staff worked extremely hard and were dedicated to making this hunt an incredible experience. Many went well above and beyond what was expected of them and beyond what was required of them.

Lessons Learned:
If I were to do this same hunt over again, there are some things I would do differently.

Since the airlines lost my luggage, I had to hunt the first two days in slacks, Ecco walker dress shoes, and a polo type shirt. The shoes worked okay as did the pants (which were green), but the shirt was too lightly colored (light gray). While I don’t think I would wear full safari garb on the airplane, I would pack at least one change of hunting clothes in my carry on. The clothes worn on the airplane would be of such color and fabric that they could be used for hunting as well.

Because of the dangerous game in all the areas I hunted (elephants, lions, leopard, Cape buffalo), I would probably take one rifle chambered in 375 H&H with Talley bases and two scopes with quick detach rings. The 300 and 338 performed well, but a 375 could have done the job just as well and been better suited when in close proximity to the elephants and Cape buffalo. I would not hunt eland again with anything less than a 375.

For some reason, I never even thought to bring solids for smaller game. I had 3 different opportunities to take nice Honey Badgers, but was certain the 300 and 338 would have made a terrible of mess of them. Solids would have worked splendidly.

If I would have taken a 375, I could have easily packed a shotgun and shotgun shells instead of the second rifle. There is great wingshooting available in the areas I hunted. I could have used the shotgun on smaller game as well. I will do this next time.

I had taken about 5 lbs of hard candy to pass out to the tracker and game scout before each still-hunt or stalk began. I believe I should have taken more as I had to begin rationing it too much toward the end of my time there. The leather gloves I took over were greatly appreciated, but I wished I had taken over some in X-Large.

I should have tried to get in touch with my PH much sooner. I wished I would have contacted him as soon as I found out who my PH would be, but I didn’t. Steve had back to back hunts before mine and was I unable to contact him before I left. Zimbabwe is in dire straits at this time and some supplies are becoming nearly impossible to come by. I saw that both he and the tracker could have used some sharpening stones and other inexpensive supplies. It would have very easy for me to bring those supplies over.

The one mistake I continually made, as far as my shooting goes, was taking too long to make the shot. I probably should have neck shot that first big sable, although it turned out okay. The Nyala almost slipped away from me. Quick shooting is something I will practice on in the future.