TANZANIA: Two Area Dream Hunt Sept/Oct 2021 With GAME Trackers AFRICA

[cpr0312]

I have been back one week now and still can't believe I was in Tanzania and actually hunted in 2 of the most famed areas to boot. As I look back I just cant believe that 2-3 weeks ago I was in the Selous Game Reserve, and 10 days ago I was in Massailand.

This journey started at DSC 2019 when I met Jaco and JP from @GAME Trackers AFRICA and started asking questions. I stopped by Jaco's booth once again in 2020 and things got a little more serious after he was able to provide me with some prices and buffalo packages that were obtainable for us average Joes. I kept in touch with Jaco, his wife Magdel, and JP one of the PH through whatsapp, continually asking questions and tweaking the hunting options we had been discussing. We agreed upon a hunt that consisted of a buffalo and various pg in his Selous area, and then 3 days for a few pg in his massai area with 1 travel day in between. A buddy and fellow AH'er @MikeNC agreed to come on this hunt as it was a bucket list and dream hunt for him also.

So we booked and paid our first deposit about 8 months out. Then we rode the coivd nonsense roller coaster of what may be open or not, and more importantly testing negative in order to go. We both went for our test 3 days out and luckily both were negative. The week we left TZ actually changed their requirements to having your test only 96 hours before you depart from 72 hours before you arrive, so lots more wiggle room for the test.

The route would take us CLT-DFW-Doha-DAR or American and Qatar. Qatar on point as usual! The return would be JRO-Doha-JFK-CLT as we would be departing Kilimanjaro instead of Dar.

Wednesday, September 22: well it was time to start the long process of getting to camp in the Selous (42 hours door to door) and we would arrive late Friday afternoon in camp. Here are some pics from the air, we were just hoping to see Kilimanjaro and boy did we get to see it, more to come later in the story.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Getting the popcorn ready for this adventure!

 

[AZDAVE]

Looking forward to your report, this kind of trip is on my wife/mine short list.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Great news you pulled this Safari off

 

[Edge]

Looking forward to “the rest of the story”!

 

[gillettehunter]

Like the others I'm excited to read this report.
Bruce

 

[MMAL]

Looking forward to this one.

 

[cpr0312]

Travel day continued: We made it Dar a little early, via a technical stop in Arusha. luckily the guy who works for Jaco that helps with rifle imports was also at the airport early. We go through the conveyor belt line once you get off the plane to get in line for the rapid test required to enter. This test is now $10 vs $25 like it was previously. You fill the paperwork out online and pay before you arrive, which makes it a little smoother going through. The rapid test was quick, results probably in 5 minutes. I'm pretty sure that nobody tests positive (just my opinion and observation).

Go thorough customs and the visa line, etc, then the rifles get checked by a porter, then whisked off to one of the side offices for the police to check serial # and ammo, then pay the ammo tax. Then its off to a hotel for lunch to meet JP, as our charter is set for 3pm as Jaco is flying in from Namibia to meet us and fly with us.

It was raining and hot most of the afternoon, so the upcoming charter flight was a little worrisome in the back of my mind. Luckily most of the weather broke before our flight and the bumps along the 40 minute flight to camp weren't that bad.

A few pics of the terrain, the Rufiji, and the stark difference in the settled land and the game reserve. Took a few of the offloading of supplies and the pilot leaving us in the bush, kinda cool to experience something like this that I've seen on quite a few hunting tv shows but never experienced myself!

A quick celebratory beer and then off to the tents to unpack. Late afternoon we sight in the rifles, both of ours are still dead on! Then a nice dinner and an early night looking forward to getting our 7 day buffalo hunt started in the am.

 

[TwoTracks]

Wow, this should be epic.

 

[VertigoBE]

This will be another great adventure! Can't wait for the hunting to start!

 

[buck wild]

Waiting waiting

 

[Randy F]

Beer. Check
Popcorn. Check
iPad up. Check

 

[jpomazi]

Awesome write up so far. Can't wait........

 

[rinehart0050]

Jealous! Can't wait to hear how the hunt went!

 

[cpr0312]

Day 1 (Sept 25)

I will start the official hunt portion of the report a little differently, borrowing the idea from many of you on here.

For the entirety of my 7 day hunt in the Selous, the game seen was: hippo, croc, buffalo, impala, lion, elephant, duiker, nyassa wildebeest, EA zebra, warthog, bushpig, sable, kudu, wild dogs, waterbuck, eland, zorilla (skunk), grysbok, red duiker, baboon, monkey, black mamba, hyeana.

Game hunted: wildebeest, hyeana, buffalo, warthog, zebra, bushpig

We start off the first morning nice and early with a nice breakfast then take off. I go with JP and Mike goes with Jaco. We head to the northern part of the concession about 1 hour from camp, in pursuit of nyassa wildebeest and/or buffalo. We get some an arewa that is tall grasslands, and in the rainy season is a swamp and completly covered by water. We see waterbuck, warthog, plenty of zebra in teh fist part of the drive. Then about 730 the trackers spot Mbogo (buffalo). We are is the long grass, teh type of long grass you read about and dream about what wild Africa will look like. Even from the back of the truck all we can see is the backs of the buffalo. It appears to be 4 or 5, but until we stalk and get close, there is no way to tell what we are looking at. Ok, lets go! We have a very favorable wind, once we start walking in the grass it is like a book coming to life! the grass is anywhere from 6-10 feet tall, all around us! I'll be honest, i was thinking man I hope we don't stumble accross any lions in this stuff! I only had my phone with me on this stalk, and only took pics when I felt comfortable doing so, but this give you an idea of what it looked like, and it was much thicker during parts of the stalk! You can make out some black in the first couple of pics, that was the buff. What went from 4-5 buff turned into 30+ rather quickly.

We had the wind the entire time of this stalk, about 1.5 hours worth, and at times we were withing 20 yards of 30-40 buff and they had no clue, talk about awesome!

Finally they made it to a clearing and we put on another stalk, then we see 30+ buff turned into about 60 buff! We had identified 2 possible mature bulls in the grass, but were not able to confirm that until now, we did see 2. We see 1 bull that tickles my fancy and me and JP both looked at each other and said yes! Well now trying to get him picked out of the herd with the right shot and nothing behind him is the tricky part. The stars start to align and we see him making his way to the edge of the herd. Now buffalo are starting to go every which way, not running but not calm anymore. He looks dead at us chest on at probably 80 yards with a small tree covering about half his body. We just need him to take a few steps left or right and we would have our chance. Well it wasn't meant to be but wow what an amazing experience I just had!

This is what was left of the herd in the clearing after all was said and done. Oh well, time to go look for more buff and wildebeest.

 

[cpr0312]

Day 1 continued:
We search for wildebeest up until lunch, which is in the bush with a pretty cool fold out antique looking shipping box. We sit at a waterhole where buff, wildebeest, and pigs are known to frequent. While JP and I are talking and I crunching on a apple, a big mature eland bull steps into about 20 yards and start grazing. We could hear him "clicking" on the way in, really cool.

After lunch we carry on until late afternoon where we spot a herd of waterbuck, yes a herd of waterbuck, and even more of a surprise if that there is 1 wildebeest bull with them. Bad news is they are downwind and have already seen the truck. They scurry towards the bush and we make a plan to get to them. We set off on foot and begin tracking when we get to the bush. After about 1 hour, we back out as it doesn't seem to be on this group. On the way back to the truck we spot some warthogs, probably 10-15 covering a big open pan with some cover. JP sees large tusks and asks me if I want to proceed, we had previously talked about pigs, and that I already had one and really only wanted another if it was exceptional. He said then we need to go after this one. After a quick, but carefully planned out stalk, we were within about 100 yards. they were behind some cover and we had to wait, but they weren't moving. We slowly and lowly crept up to a small tree, and now were withing probably 60-70 yards. The wind is good and they don't know we are there, then they start feeding out where we need them to be. I get ready and take my shot when I have it.....

Bang, then I see the pig running, well more trotting then running. I ask JP if I missed, because at that range with a .375 and 300g swift A frames, the pig should have either dropped immediately or only ran a short distance. JP says no you hit him I saw blood on his chest going everywhere. The pig actually stops in the open at I'm guessing 125 yards. I take another shot and see the dust over his back, now I'm panicking, he stops again at probably 200 yards, quickly take another shot and dust once again. He then moves into the bush, a sick feeling comes over me.

We quickly pick up the track, and find blood but not much. I almost already know the outcome, with that pit of your stomach bad feeling. Anyways we keep on and track him into the thicker stuff, and the blood trail dries up. I ask JP to ask the trackers and confirm what I already know. We all come to the consensus that it was a flesh wound, and I tell JP the only thing I can think is I rushed the shot and pulled it. He agreed as the height was right based on what he saw through his binos of the wound on the pigs chest. Now there are 2 outcomes: he either lives or gets eaten by hyenas or lions and maybe somehow we get lucky and see vultures in the coming days and at least get the skull. Anyways, I felt sick for the pig and bad for all the guys and JP for the effort we put in. Unfortunately this happens occasionally, and we all hate it. Bottom line I rushed and didn't concentrate and squeeze.

Here are some tusks they have in camp, and JP and I both agree that the pig I messed up on was at least this big and most likely bigger

Oh well, it was a great day in the bush of the Selous, something I never would have dreamed of actually happening to me. A sour note to end the day but we will look for him again in the coming days. A few of the local beers with dinner and good conversation then off to sleep.

 

[Randy F]

Day 1 continued:
We search for wildebeest up until lunch, which is in the bush with a pretty cool fold out antique looking shipping box. We sit at a waterhole where buff, wildebeest, and pigs are known to frequent. While JP and I are talking and I crunching on a apple, a big mature eland bull steps into about 20 yards and start grazing. We could hear him "clicking" on the way in, really cool.

View attachment 431082
View attachment 431083View attachment 431084

After lunch we carry on until late afternoon where we spot a herd of waterbuck, yes a herd of waterbuck, and even more of a surprise if that there is 1 wildebeest bull with them. Bad news is they are downwind and have already seen the truck. They scurry towards the bush and we make a plan to get to them. We set off on foot and begin tracking when we get to the bush. After about 1 hour, we back out as it doesn't seem to be on this group. On the way back to the truck we spot some warthogs, probably 10-15 covering a big open pan with some cover. JP sees large tusks and asks me if I want to proceed, we had previously talked about pigs, and that I already had one and really only wanted another if it was exceptional. He said then we need to go after this one. After a quick, but carefully planned out stalk, we were within about 100 yards. they were behind some cover and we had to wait, but they weren't moving. We slowly and lowly crept up to a small tree, and now were withing probably 60-70 yards. The wind is good and they don't know we are there, then they start feeding out where we need them to be. I get ready and take my shot when I have it.....

Bang, then I see the pig running, well more trotting then running. I ask JP if I missed, because at that range with a .375 and 300g swift A frames, the pig should have either dropped immediately or only ran a short distance. JP says no you hit him I saw blood on his chest going everywhere. The pig actually stops in the open at I'm guessing 125 yards. I take another shot and see the dust over his back, now I'm panicking, he stops again at probably 200 yards, quickly take another shot and dust once again. He then moves into the bush, a sick feeling comes over me.

We quickly pick up the track, and find blood but not much. I almost already know the outcome, with that pit of your stomach bad feeling. Anyways we keep on and track him into the thicker stuff, and the blood trail dries up. I ask JP to ask the trackers and confirm what I already know. We all come to the consensus that it was a flesh wound, and I tell JP the only thing I can think is I rushed the shot and pulled it. He agreed as the height was right based on what he saw through his binos of the wound on the pigs chest. Now there are 2 outcomes: he either lives or gets eaten by hyenas or lions and maybe somehow we get lucky and see vultures in the coming days and at least get the skull. Anyways, I felt sick for the pig and bad for all the guys and JP for the effort we put in. Unfortunately this happens occasionally, and we all hate it. Bottom line I rushed and didn't concentrate and squeeze.

Here are some tusks they have in camp, and JP and I both agree that the pig I messed up on was at least this big and most likely bigger

View attachment 431089

Oh well, it was a great day in the bush of the Selous, something I never would have dreamed of actually happening to me. A sour note to end the day but we will look for him again in the coming days. A few of the local beers with dinner and good conversation then off to sleep.

View attachment 431090View attachment 431091

Ugh! Sorry to hear it. It happens to all of us eventually. Hope you found it.

 

[375Fox]

Could you add some details about Tanzania hunting license structure (10/14/21 day?) somewhere in your report before you finish? I’m looking forward to the rest.

 

[cpr0312]

@375Fox ,

They offer 7, 10, 14, 21 day licenses. All dependent on game desired (what game can be hunted on what amount of days). I don;t have a lot of input her, but things like sable, lion, and elephant can only be on a 21 day license. For our hunt, a 7 day buffalo we could shoot 1 buff, but if we had a 10 day license we could take 2 buff if they had the quota.

 

[cpr0312]

Day 2

We start off this morning headed to the same area we saw the buffalo yesterday, hoping to get a glimpse of that nice bull we were on yesterday. No luck, only lots and lots of zebra. we then head to a waterhole know to have buffalo and pigs. We stop on the road and walk about 200 yards. One of the trackers says mbogo, and the blood immediately starts going. We make sure we work the wind and walk around the bush downwind and come into the water from the far side of where we saw the buffalo.

Once we get in we only see the 1 bull, already laying down in the tall grass with some muddy water. He was feeding but had now laid down as the sun is fully out and starting to get hot. We can see his horns glistening in the sun and a few birds on and off of them. based on the side we can see, he looks pretty good and has the shape that I am really looking for. We are at a tree in the bush probably about 70 yards away from him. occasionally he turns his head and we think he is getting up.This goes on for an hour. Eventually he turns and re-positions himself, where we can see him clearly. JP and I discuss in depth about his age, his shape, the position we are in( great wind, in his bedroom without him knowing, etc). We still don't know 100% what he looks like until he stands. I can see he has a chunk of boss missing which to me is really cool character.

He stands and gives us the straight on look, but still doesn't know we are there. We have a few more seconds of discussion, and I decide this is not a bull I would pass on day 6 or 7, that coupled with his shape and character, it was time to act. He was broadside and I have a really good rest. Squeeze right on the shoulder, he takes 2 steps, hunches down like he doesn't want to move. We both know this was a good shot. I put another in behind the ribs going for the far shoulder now. It hits hard and he is definitely not moving now. Though as many of us know, buffalo are honery and don't give up. He takes 2 steps toward the bush and I put one in the back hip, which drops him. We are all smiles now! We cautiously approach and sure enough he is a tough old guy, make a try to get to his feet, so i put another in him. he drops in his tracks and seconds later the death bellow! So glad I got to hear this, and my first buffalo did not bellow.

When we get to him and see how coated in mud he was, the first thing that comes to mind is this is a true dagga boy, complete with mud caked all over. I am elated and honored to be able to take a lone old bull like this in the Selous! A true dream come true, the rest of the hunt is just gravy now!

By the time we get him loaded up its noontime, we head back to camp to celebrate. the rest of the day is a blur, we looked for more wildebeest and pigs with no luck.

Here are a few of the rounds we pulled form him. No surprise the 300 grain Federal Premium A Frames performed perfectly once again.