Powdermaker
AH veteran
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2015
- Messages
- 136
- Reaction score
- 207
- Location
- Saskatchewan
- Media
- 22
- Hunted
- Canada, Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Germany.
My brother (and hunting partner) has already written quite an informative and entertaining report of our time in the Save´ Valley. I suggest you look up Longwalker and read his account first:
ZIMBABWE: Buffalo In The Save´ with Mokore Safaris. August 3rd, 2022.
Here is a brief follow up report of my hunt with Mokore Safaris…..
“Lady Luck is a fickle girl who doesn’t like to linger in any one place; she strokes your hair back from your brow, kisses you quickly and flits away. Lady Misfortune, by contrast, presses you tightly to her loving heart; she says she’s not in a hurry, sits down beside your bed and knits.”
Author: Heinrich Heine
Day 3 - The Buffalo
Climbing aboard the Toyota, we began our morning hunt, as the sky was just starting to brighten on the eastern horizon. The air was misty and cool, with no wind. Slowly making our way down a narrow bush trail, we were accompanied by the quiet murmurs of the guys speaking Shona among themselves and the distinctive sound of the chugging diesel engine. The mopane forest was fairly open in places but intersperse with dry creek beds and very thick vegetation. Soon we started to see game, mostly impala and then a herd of giraffe which included a large “stink” bull. We could easily smell him from 100 meters away.
The sun was nearly peaking over the horizon now and we came through a narrow opening into a grassy spot that was filled with black shapes- buffalo! A large herd of over 100 animals. They split to the right and left. Cleopas stopped the truck while Dalton and Andrew made a plan. We waited a bit for them to settle and then headed to the left. The herd did not go far, and we soon caught up with them. (No visuals yet, but we could hear them.) The sun at our back would make it difficult for the buffalo to see us, as we slowly worked our way forward. Perfect.
Standing on the edge of a dry creek bed, buffalo broke cover to our right. Dugga boys! Two, then three, then five…after that I lost count as the lead bull moved steadily towards us. It was obvious he was a very old bull, worn horn tips and a roman nose. He stopped broadside at 60 meters. Miraculously no brush obscured the view, but tall grass covered the bottom half of his chest. Placing the cross hairs just above the grass, I touched off. He staggered and then whirled about heading back where they came from. I went to chamber another round only to have the rifle jam! With some difficulty, I was able to eject the faulty round and get a solid chambered. The group stopped about 150 meters away, unsure of where danger lurked. We crept a bit closer…. the buffalo remained perfectly still. Dalton strained his eyes trying to pick out the wounded bull in the thick cover…
“shoot the one on the right. He is lower than the rest and facing right. That is our bull.”
Boom!
Now the group is moving! Our bull moved left across the creek bed while his buddies all abandoned him and went straight away from us. My second shot appeared to have no effect on him.
Dalton, “We will pick up the track.”
This was my third trip to Africa and my brother Guy’s, fourth. So, we are still newbies compared to some of you more experienced travelers. Our most recent trips, had my brother hunt Buffalo in the Caprivi and myself hunting leopard in North West Namibia. Both of us were successful. We now wanted to hunt buffalo in a new (to us) area of Africa. Our research led us to the 2019, Calgary Hunting Expo where we met Gary Duckworth. The Duckworth family has been outfitting in Zimbabwe for over 30 years and they have a stellar reputation in the hunting industry. We decided to book a hunt and were about to pay a deposit. Then Covid hit. Two years later, my brother, received an email from Gary….
“Would you still be interested in a buffalo hunt?”
The answer an unequivocal “Yes!”
The offer was for one trophy and one management bull in the Save´ Valley. Available plains game would we dependent on quota.
Hunting buffalo in the thick stuff in late May. That sounds like fun! What the heck had we gotten ourselves into? One month later we would find out.
It was spring in the northern plains, with the creeks running high and lake ice soon to break up. Our departure date of May 18th had arrived. The trip from Saskatoon to Harare was relatively uneventful. Our driver, Lovemore, was waiting for us at the airport and he soon whisked us away to the Duckworth’s guest house. Jetlag aside, it was great to be back in Africa!
Most worthwhile pursuits costs time, money and personal effort. Our journey to the Save´ Valley required all three. Was it going to be worth it? After three days of travel and many hours of planning; we were about to find out.
There were five of us in the hunting party… My brother and I would alternate being the hunter or photographer. Our PH was Dalton Mclintock. He employed, Andrew as his tracker, Cleopas was our driver. A quiet young fellow by the name of Amos, made up the fifth member of our group. He was a local game scout.
The team had done a great job of getting us into buffalo the first two days. The thick vegetation was making it a challenge to actually see the buffalo.
Then there was our encounter with lions. While hunting in Saskatchewan, I have had close encounters with both wolves and mountain lion. I have never felt concerned that my hide might get perforated. Hunting in the presence of lions, adds an interesting dynamic to the hunt. Apparently, they don’t like the smell of Canadians. It was at dusk on our second day and we were quietly sneaking up on a large buffalo herd. The lioness had been lying flat on the ground, 20 meters from us when she decided that we were close enough and stood up. She ghosted off in front of us and was swallowed up by the grass…..
Dalton, “Everyone remain perfectly still.”
Andrew, “More lions behind us.”
We couldn’t see them but they were close enough that we could hear their footfalls. Then the buffalo herd we had been following blew up in a cacophony of breaking brush, grunts and bellows. Then it was very quiet indeed. Dalton decided to call it a night and we made the long walk back to the two-track, where Cleopas would pick us up with the bakkie. It was an awesome day.
The loooooong flight to Africa.
We caught a ride with Lovemore, Mokore's driver, as he did a weekly supply run to the camp. It was about 6 hours driving time.
It was an interesting drive.
Dalton and I in his bakkie. It is an impressive vehicle. I never knew a Toyota could haul a buffalo and 10 men!
Trying to clear the jammed rifle!
How do you spot a wounded buffalo in this thick crap?
A bit of blood was all we saw. Not encouraging.
ZIMBABWE: Buffalo In The Save´ with Mokore Safaris. August 3rd, 2022.
Here is a brief follow up report of my hunt with Mokore Safaris…..
“Lady Luck is a fickle girl who doesn’t like to linger in any one place; she strokes your hair back from your brow, kisses you quickly and flits away. Lady Misfortune, by contrast, presses you tightly to her loving heart; she says she’s not in a hurry, sits down beside your bed and knits.”
Author: Heinrich Heine
Day 3 - The Buffalo
Climbing aboard the Toyota, we began our morning hunt, as the sky was just starting to brighten on the eastern horizon. The air was misty and cool, with no wind. Slowly making our way down a narrow bush trail, we were accompanied by the quiet murmurs of the guys speaking Shona among themselves and the distinctive sound of the chugging diesel engine. The mopane forest was fairly open in places but intersperse with dry creek beds and very thick vegetation. Soon we started to see game, mostly impala and then a herd of giraffe which included a large “stink” bull. We could easily smell him from 100 meters away.
The sun was nearly peaking over the horizon now and we came through a narrow opening into a grassy spot that was filled with black shapes- buffalo! A large herd of over 100 animals. They split to the right and left. Cleopas stopped the truck while Dalton and Andrew made a plan. We waited a bit for them to settle and then headed to the left. The herd did not go far, and we soon caught up with them. (No visuals yet, but we could hear them.) The sun at our back would make it difficult for the buffalo to see us, as we slowly worked our way forward. Perfect.
Standing on the edge of a dry creek bed, buffalo broke cover to our right. Dugga boys! Two, then three, then five…after that I lost count as the lead bull moved steadily towards us. It was obvious he was a very old bull, worn horn tips and a roman nose. He stopped broadside at 60 meters. Miraculously no brush obscured the view, but tall grass covered the bottom half of his chest. Placing the cross hairs just above the grass, I touched off. He staggered and then whirled about heading back where they came from. I went to chamber another round only to have the rifle jam! With some difficulty, I was able to eject the faulty round and get a solid chambered. The group stopped about 150 meters away, unsure of where danger lurked. We crept a bit closer…. the buffalo remained perfectly still. Dalton strained his eyes trying to pick out the wounded bull in the thick cover…
“shoot the one on the right. He is lower than the rest and facing right. That is our bull.”
Boom!
Now the group is moving! Our bull moved left across the creek bed while his buddies all abandoned him and went straight away from us. My second shot appeared to have no effect on him.
Dalton, “We will pick up the track.”
This was my third trip to Africa and my brother Guy’s, fourth. So, we are still newbies compared to some of you more experienced travelers. Our most recent trips, had my brother hunt Buffalo in the Caprivi and myself hunting leopard in North West Namibia. Both of us were successful. We now wanted to hunt buffalo in a new (to us) area of Africa. Our research led us to the 2019, Calgary Hunting Expo where we met Gary Duckworth. The Duckworth family has been outfitting in Zimbabwe for over 30 years and they have a stellar reputation in the hunting industry. We decided to book a hunt and were about to pay a deposit. Then Covid hit. Two years later, my brother, received an email from Gary….
“Would you still be interested in a buffalo hunt?”
The answer an unequivocal “Yes!”
The offer was for one trophy and one management bull in the Save´ Valley. Available plains game would we dependent on quota.
Hunting buffalo in the thick stuff in late May. That sounds like fun! What the heck had we gotten ourselves into? One month later we would find out.
It was spring in the northern plains, with the creeks running high and lake ice soon to break up. Our departure date of May 18th had arrived. The trip from Saskatoon to Harare was relatively uneventful. Our driver, Lovemore, was waiting for us at the airport and he soon whisked us away to the Duckworth’s guest house. Jetlag aside, it was great to be back in Africa!
Most worthwhile pursuits costs time, money and personal effort. Our journey to the Save´ Valley required all three. Was it going to be worth it? After three days of travel and many hours of planning; we were about to find out.
There were five of us in the hunting party… My brother and I would alternate being the hunter or photographer. Our PH was Dalton Mclintock. He employed, Andrew as his tracker, Cleopas was our driver. A quiet young fellow by the name of Amos, made up the fifth member of our group. He was a local game scout.
The team had done a great job of getting us into buffalo the first two days. The thick vegetation was making it a challenge to actually see the buffalo.
Then there was our encounter with lions. While hunting in Saskatchewan, I have had close encounters with both wolves and mountain lion. I have never felt concerned that my hide might get perforated. Hunting in the presence of lions, adds an interesting dynamic to the hunt. Apparently, they don’t like the smell of Canadians. It was at dusk on our second day and we were quietly sneaking up on a large buffalo herd. The lioness had been lying flat on the ground, 20 meters from us when she decided that we were close enough and stood up. She ghosted off in front of us and was swallowed up by the grass…..
Dalton, “Everyone remain perfectly still.”
Andrew, “More lions behind us.”
We couldn’t see them but they were close enough that we could hear their footfalls. Then the buffalo herd we had been following blew up in a cacophony of breaking brush, grunts and bellows. Then it was very quiet indeed. Dalton decided to call it a night and we made the long walk back to the two-track, where Cleopas would pick us up with the bakkie. It was an awesome day.
The loooooong flight to Africa.
We caught a ride with Lovemore, Mokore's driver, as he did a weekly supply run to the camp. It was about 6 hours driving time.
It was an interesting drive.
Dalton and I in his bakkie. It is an impressive vehicle. I never knew a Toyota could haul a buffalo and 10 men!
Trying to clear the jammed rifle!
How do you spot a wounded buffalo in this thick crap?
A bit of blood was all we saw. Not encouraging.
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