Best time to be hunting in Zimbabwe

[death-from-above]

If you could choose your favorite month to hunt Zimbabwe , which month would you choose and why?
Also, what would the weather most likely be like during that month?

 

[gi jane]

Late April-Sept. Although great deals and decent hunting Oct.-Nov. Depends. Just my opinion and little experience. Don't invest too much in my input though. I am a beginner at this stuff and I don't live in Africa. Just happens I had a really good lucky streak (daddy spoiled me) to have been in Zim for hunting/observing in June, July, August, Sept, and Nov. November was the hottest and most "critter-abundant" but a good deal. I shot an amazing water buck on that trip. But I have to say the heat and bugs pushed me to be quite the impatient bitch. Still happy I was there regardless.
Best time for me was in June and late August. Just my take.
Jane

 

[jduckhunter]

First off, wow Jane go easy on yourself. My trip this year was in mid July and the weather was awesome. Cool nights and mornings, warm afternoons but not hot, and virtually no wind.

 

[Stocky]

I spent 2 weeks between the Matetsi Gorge and the Hwange Safari Area in September and saw lots of buff, lion, eland, kudu, waterbuck, impala and klippys. All the good duiker and Gray's Rhysbok seem to have been shot out of my area by then, however, some nice ones were in the salt shed. Probably would be saying the same thing about the klipspringer if the previous hunters could shoot, the 5"er I got was shot at three times before over the summer I was told, but there were still several in the 4" class on the rocks, couple in the shed.

The late, dry season is about as mosquito-free (a.k.a. malaria) as it gets. I don't think I saw two or three of the blood suckers so was able to stop the meds when I got there. 100 degree temps, and the game is all about water... animals finding it and hunters carrying plenty of it.

That been said, for leopard or lion I believe I'd like April, as close to the first couple hunts of the year as I could get. Potentially bigger selection, more bait-friendly cats that haven't been hunter-educated in a while. That's what my PH tells me anyway when we were discussing it.

 

[spike.t]

If you could choose your favorite month to hunt Zimbabwe , which month would you choose and why?
Also, what would the weather most likely be like during that month?

it depends on what you want to hunt and where in zim you are going to hunt. if you are hunting in the valley oct/nov are very hot but good as the animals are concentrated near water, in august the temp is fine but you can get very windy weather, sept is warming up but not too bad. earlier april and may the bush is very thick and can make it harder to hunt due to visibility and the animals being spread out due to plenty of waterholes having water in them still, but its good for cats as has been said and they also like the thicker cover when coming in to baits. the rest of the country doesnt get quite as hot as the valley and can be bloody cold in june, july and earlier aug especially at night and in the mornings. oct would be my choice but its getting pretty hot then, so sept is a good compromise, its still going to be hot by midday but the evenings are still coolish. the bush is thinner and a lot of the waterholes have dried up.