ZIMBABWE: My Most Ambitious Hunt To Date And...

Do you feel like the ph, cameraman, and trackers are enjoying the interviews that you are doing?

The Elephant Hunt

Although we took the elephant on day 16 of our 21 day Safari elephant hunting began on day one.

Each day we’d leave camp looking for fresh elephant tracks and in particular big bull tracks.

When we were in the hunting car generally Buzz would be driving while Eddie the driver would be in “his office” which is a metal chair mounted to the left front of the bull bar (bumper). From that vantage point Eddie could see the tracks clearly as we passed over them. Occasionally Buzz would sit in Eddie’s office while Eddie or the appy (apprentice) PH Daniel or our camera man Andy would drive.

Kryton (Kriton), one of Buzz’s trackers, would stand up in the back of the hunting car looking for tracks on the dirt roads and animals in the bush, in particular elephant bulls. He is an extraordinary tracker.

Nyati, the other of Buzz’s extraordinary trackers would sit in the second row of seats in the back which were higher than the front row where we sat. Nyati would also look for animals and evaluate tracks we came across.

Along with Buzz’s team we also had an excellent tracker from Matetsi 6 and of course a government appointed game scout (ranger) filled out the team.

Although we saw dozens of bull elephants we were not seeing what we’d hoped so the last few days Buzz sent out Daniel, the appy, along with Nyati to follow one set of tracks while we followed another. Doubling our chances.

As you know not every day ended up being about elephants. The Lion, Cape Buffalo and Leopard inserted themselves into the story.

The countryside was stunningly beautiful with everything its own intense shade of green due to the heavy rains that preceded the hunt and which continued many afternoons. This made the brush thick which made the walking more difficult.

One day I was pretty whipped from only getting an hour of sleep so when we found tracks Buzz and the trackers checked them out with the plan to come get me if they’d found a big one- but they didn’t. That was a great option to continue hunting while letting me rest. The following day was back to normal.

Day 16 arrives and begins as every other day with us starting out on a track that parallels the Botswana border. It took a couple of hours before we began our first sighting of game which was some cow elephants and small bulls. Then a herd of well over a hundred Cape Buffalo alongside the track, then giraffes and zebras.

We dropped Daniel and Nyati at a big bulls track that was made the night before and a bit later we got on another big bulls track. The hunt was on.

Once we caught up with the Elephants we were tracking again. They were big old bulls with broken tusks.

We took a break planning on a short rest before heading back to the hunting car when our other team contacted us. They were tracking a group of bulls that had potential so off we went on foot needing to cover three kilometers to meet with Nyati and then catch up with bulls.

By the time we caught them it was the heat of the day and the bulls were bunched up tight resting with the lead big bull’s forehead against a small tree. We could see his tusks but none of the others so we backed off a few dozen meters to wait for them to complete their rest and start moving so we could see the other tusks.

After 20 or 30 minutes the bulls began to shuffle around. Buzz moved in closer to judge the other bulls. Too small.

He and I discussed the lead bull. He was very old, probably a 50 pounder with one tusk broken to about 35 pounds. An excellent bull to take so we both decided this was the guy.

We stalked to about 25 yards for a side brain shot. Buzz put up the sticks, I set the fore grip of my double on the sticks, lined up the iron sights and pulled the trigger. The RIGBY 450 No 2 roared to life and the elephant collapsed where he stood. We moved in for two more insurance shots and another first, the first elephant shot by a Rigby 450 No 2.

Close examination showed the elephant to be around 50 years old. And the broken tusk had abscessed with puss coming out around its base, surely had to be hurting.

Of course now the work began. First order of day was to get him flipped over so we could see both tusks. Then the photos and videos.

Heather cut off the elephants tail, a traditional sign of ownership. She even gave skinning him a try.

And then the really hard work began. Cutting in a road for the recovery vehicles, then skinning and cutting up the elephant. This work would go well into the night so we headed back to camp for a well deserved rest.

Excellent! What an awesome photo, congrats

That’s a great bull. And man what a way to put an exclamation point on an epic hunt. All with iron sights.

Nice work

Congratulations! I have enjoyed following your reports. Thank you for sharing this epic adventure

Cme1983 said:

Do you feel like the ph, cameraman, and trackers are enjoying the interviews that you are doing?

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They all really enjoyed it and the content is excellent. Nyati talked for 50 minutes! Really looking forward to the completed films.

Congratulations on an amazing hunt! Thanks for posting your report.

Nyati said he was gonna fly with me to Canada when the charter arrived. Haha Justin told him he'd freeze to death.

Nyati is such a good guy

Sourdough said:

The Elephant Hunt

Although we took the elephant on day 16 of our 21 day Safari elephant hunting began on day one.

Each day we’d leave camp looking for fresh elephant tracks and in particular big bull tracks.

When we were in the hunting car generally Buzz would be driving while Eddie the driver would be in “his office” which is a metal chair mounted to the left front of the bull bar (bumper). From that vantage point Eddie could see the tracks clearly as we passed over them. Occasionally Buzz would sit in Eddie’s office while Eddie or the appy (apprentice) PH Daniel or our camera man Andy would drive.

Kryton (Kriton), one of Buzz’s trackers, would stand up in the back of the hunting car looking for tracks on the dirt roads and animals in the bush, in particular elephant bulls. He is an extraordinary tracker.

Nyati, the other of Buzz’s extraordinary trackers would sit in the second row of seats in the back which were higher than the front row where we sat. Nyati would also look for animals and evaluate tracks we came across.

Along with Buzz’s team we also had an excellent tracker from Matetsi 6 and of course a government appointed game scout (ranger) filled out the team.

Although we saw dozens of bull elephants we were not seeing what we’d hoped so the last few days Buzz sent out Daniel, the appy, along with Nyati to follow one set of tracks while we followed another. Doubling our chances.

As you know not every day ended up being about elephants. The Lion, Cape Buffalo and Leopard inserted themselves into the story.

The countryside was stunningly beautiful with everything its own intense shade of green due to the heavy rains that preceded the hunt and which continued many afternoons. This made the brush thick which made the walking more difficult.

One day I was pretty whipped from only getting an hour of sleep so when we found tracks Buzz and the trackers checked them out with the plan to come get me if they’d found a big one- but they didn’t. That was a great option to continue hunting while letting me rest. The following day was back to normal.

Day 16 arrives and begins as every other day with us starting out on a track that parallels the Botswana border. It took a couple of hours before we began our first sighting of game which was some cow elephants and small bulls. Then a herd of well over a hundred Cape Buffalo alongside the track, then giraffes and zebras.

We dropped Daniel and Nyati at a big bulls track that was made the night before and a bit later we got on another big bulls track. The hunt was on.

Once we caught up with the Elephants we were tracking again. They were big old bulls with broken tusks.

We took a break planning on a short rest before heading back to the hunting car when our other team contacted us. They were tracking a group of bulls that had potential so off we went on foot needing to cover three kilometers to meet with Nyati and then catch up with bulls.

By the time we caught them it was the heat of the day and the bulls were bunched up tight resting with the lead big bull’s forehead against a small tree. We could see his tusks but none of the others so we backed off a few dozen meters to wait for them to complete their rest and start moving so we could see the other tusks.

After 20 or 30 minutes the bulls began to shuffle around. Buzz moved in closer to judge the other bulls. Too small.

He and I discussed the lead bull. He was very old, probably a 50 pounder with one tusk broken to about 35 pounds. An excellent bull to take so we both decided this was the guy.

We stalked to about 25 yards for a side brain shot. Buzz put up the sticks, I set the fore grip of my double on the sticks, lined up the iron sights and pulled the trigger. The RIGBY 450 No 2 roared to life and the elephant collapsed where he stood. We moved in for two more insurance shots and another first, the first elephant shot by a Rigby 450 No 2.

Close examination showed the elephant to be around 50 years old. And the broken tusk had abscessed with puss coming out around its base, surely had to be hurting.

Of course now the work began. First order of day was to get him flipped over so we could see both tusks. Then the photos and videos.

Heather cut off the elephants tail, a traditional sign of ownership. She even gave skinning him a try.

And then the really hard work began. Cutting in a road for the recovery vehicles, then skinning and cutting up the elephant. This work would go well into the night so we headed back to camp for a well deserved rest.

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Congratulations! And thank you for the wonderful report! Its one for the history books!

Time for some side stories. This was is titled the 3 wasp stings.

Sourdough said:

Time for some side stories. This was is titled the 3 wasp stings.

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I figured the guy with the AK-47 is the government escort, and the guy with his pants down is seriously being disrespected in the groin area by the artist... lol.

hoytcanon said:

I figured the guy with the AK-47 is the government escort, and the guy with his pants down is seriously being disrespected in the groin area by the artist... lol.

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I think it's his wife lol

Adam Stevens said:

I think it's his wife lol

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I know... that's the joke.

haaaaaaa. Sarcasm right over head! Got me!

View out the back of the Victoria Falls Hotel

That view brings back memories! I stayed there for about a week nearly 20 years ago. I may be hunting Matetsi with CMS in the next couple of years and will definitely be staying there before or after the hunt.

View from our room at the Victoria Falls Hotel. Will be here two full days. Nice way to wind down from the Safari.

Sourdough said:

View from our room at the Victoria Falls Hotel. Will be here two full days. Nice way to wind down from the Safari.
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Familiar view there, stayed there on my way to Zambia, booked again for spring 2027... I'm boarding a flight in 48 hours for Namibia.
Looks like you had another amazing trip... you really could not have asked for more than that! Congrats.

Thank you for the story sir! It was great to follow along on such a marvelous, and awesome hunt. I can't wait until your video gets produced.

Waidmannsheil on the final jewel of this safari! What a bull elephant! Well done @Sourdough !