NAMIBIA: MOZAMBIQUE: Hunting Report From Oct/Nov Safaris To Namibia & Mozambique - Day 1

[SCmackey]

I took advantage of 2 cancellation safari opportunities and put together a 13 day elephant and plains game safari with @ndumo HUNTING SAFARIS in the Caprivi followed by a 7 day buffalo and plains game safari with Zambezi Delta Safaris in Coutada 11 in Mozambique. The safari's picked up right where I left off on my trip with Ndumo in March where I took 6 animals including, trophy ele, buff and hippo. On this trip I ended up with a total of 11 and will fill in the story as we go

I had my good friend Dan along as an observer for the Ndumo hunt, whom ultimately became a successful trophy elephant hunter. The trip started off fast as on our first pass through the concession we encountered 5 Bulls that had just come across the Kwando River from Botswana. So, we repositioned and made a quick quiet stalk and after Karl my PH looked over the Bulls he said...I know it's day one but that is a really big bull and you need to shoot it... no argument from me. So finishing our stalk by crawling the last 10 yds to a clump of trees that got us within 25-30 yds of our bull we got set up on him. He was set up for a side brain, but immediately turned toward us and I had no chance for a frontal brain due to tree branches. He then turned back broadside with his head still obscured when I heard Karl say ....take him on the shoulder... which I did. The Bull spun towards us and I gave him the other barrel of my VC 500 NE and broke his front leg, but he started walking limping right toward us so Karl backed me up while I was reloading and put a finishing shot in him that dropped him <15 yds away. A couple of insurance shots later, after the other bulls ran off and we had my Bull; no more than 1 hour of hunting time... that will never happen again. The old Bull's tusks measured just shy of 21 in at the lip with tusks of 60 & 55 lbs. Was really happy Karl had one last tag left for the season and my friend Dan decided to take it as I got to hunt elephants with him for 8 more days before Dan got his Bull..but that's another story.
We got the processing started and then went back to camp while Karl's team broke down the elephant and distributed the meat. We were able to get out at 3:30 in the afternoon for a hunt on the flood plains and Dan was successful on a nice Reedbuck and a while later I was able to put a stalk on a beautiful Waterbuck that makes Rowland Wards. Was one hell of a first day

 

[Wildwillalaska]

I mean, in a pinch, not a bad first day. Lol.

It’s always so darn hard. In sheep hunting we always say never pass a ram on day one that you’d shoot on day 11. …but…on something like Buffalo or elephant, hunting is so much darn fun and rewarding, I’d likely take a lesser bull on day 11 than a better one on day 1. Here, sounds like you got the best of both worlds…splendid elephant day one, and then the joy of hunting for another 8 days with your buddy before heading on for more in Moz.

Awesome and excited to hear/see more.

 

[Mekaniks]

Excellent! Congratulations