ZIMBABWE: Hunting The BVC In Zimbabwe For Buffalo, John Sharp Safaris Exceeding Expectations

Thanks Toby for posting on this report, otherwise I would have never seen it. I just finished reading this report and laughed my a$$ off. You guys have a great way of narrating a hunt, and it was entertaining and fun to read. Wow, what a great adventure, and life time memories. Oh, and great animals taken too. :)

BTW, I thought Jennifer Anniston was my girl, I'll have a word with her. :LOL::LOL:
Glad you enjoyed it Oscar! There was nothing about this trip that wasn’t great, Tim is right, I think I would be at peace if I wasn’t able to make a hunt like this again because this one was so special. I worry that international travel will require a BS vaccine(to be created in record time without substantial testing results) and at that point I’m benching myself. I guess time will tell on that.
The other side of it, I am willing to let Kathy beat Tim’s ass in order to go again!
Cheers,
Cody
 
Glad you enjoyed it Oscar! There was nothing about this trip that wasn’t great, Tim is right, I think I would be at peace if I wasn’t able to make a hunt like this again because this one was so special. I worry that international travel will require a BS vaccine(to be created in record time without substantial testing results) and at that point I’m benching myself. I guess time will tell on that.
The other side of it, I am willing to let Kathy beat Tim’s ass in order to go again!
Cheers,
Cody

I smell a plan coming together...
 
Not yet! Once you post your down payment to @John Sharp , I'll send my check to him as well! ;)

Toby - I wasn't talking about your check to John...I was talking about your check to ME!
 
Very special safari with very special people! Tim, Cody and Uncle John, you are gentlemen of the highest order. It was a rare privilege to be in the wilds of Zimbabwe with you chaps. By far one of my most memorable safaris to date. Thank you gents, let's do it again!

Hey Dave, I will be coming to Zimbabwe in May 2021 to hunt with John, I hope to see you there.
 
On the afternoon of day 3 we spot a couple Kudu off the trail, off to the left in the shadow of the mopane materializes two buffalo! We move around to try and get a better look at them as they start moving into the thick bush.
As the bulls are going up a hill out of the river bottom we can see horn on either side of his big old belly and an ass the size of Michelle Obama’s, this guy might be the one! We follow them until dark but never get a good frontal look at the bulls. We backed out as the wind was swirling down between the Kopjes and we were afraid of blowing the bulls out of the country! I went to bed excited to try to find the two bulls tracks in the morning.
We took up the tracks in the morning but the wind was in our face one minute and on the back of our necks the next. We had followed the bulls up onto a kopje where we located a hidden drinking hole in the rock formation, smart old buggers had themselves a secret water hole that kept them from leaving tracks around the pans! Dave decided that we climb another kopje adjacent to where the bulls had gone to see if maybe we could lay eyes on them from above and to keep the wind from spoiling our game. As we were climbing, I expected to see bighorn sheep or mountain goats at any moment as we neared the top! What a view we had from up there! The bottom of the valley was full of game, giraffes, wildebeest, zebra and a Kudu bull that Dave estimates at 57” and was still not yet completely turned out! What a dream bull he will make for someone next year! The top of the kopje had spoor from a bunch of animals as well, bushpig, hyena and leopard all seemed to favor the lovely view as well from up there.
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We climbed down off the far end of the kopje and walked to a pan that we had visited that morning to check tracks and sure enough the two bulls had visited in between us checking it and our mountaineering exercise! Praying for the wind to hold for us, we take up the tracks. The bulls walked their random pattern between mopane and thorn as they fed, we moved very slowly and carefully as we followed them, Dave and the trackers knew we were going to bump into them and I was getting excited, I just knew that the Obama bull was going to be awesome just from the way Dave acted the night before. We had looked at quite a few buffalo by this point and Dave had not gotten excited about anything yet, he really wanted a good look at this bull from last night though. I knew I was probably going to get my chance to kill a buffalo if we could get on these guys! Everyone stops Doobi and Thomas spot the buffalo ahead of us and they are still feeding and unaware of our presence. Dave and I start closing the distance between at a snails pace, every damn thing under my Courtney’s seems to be amplified and I’m waiting for that look from the PH that silently says quit making so much noise dumb ass! One bull is to our left and looks at us, he is not our bull. As the bull puts his head back down to feed Dave moved us into what I’m sure was the only open lane to shoot in that whole area and whispers that the other bull will join his buddy and wait for him to come out. Just like Dave said our bull walked out and looked dead at us, I’m on the sticks, ivory bead on the shoulder settled perfectly in the shallow V-notch of the Express sight, this bull was old and nasty! I quit looking at his head and went back to the sights waiting for Dave to say the word. “When you are ready, shoot him”. I let the bull put his leg forward to take a step and pulled the front trigger, the bull ran my left barrel cut down trees as I sent the round while swinging on the running bull in the thick bush! Reload and then we heard the death bellow! Over 30 years I have waited for that sound! We circle around to come in from behind the motionless bull, Dave has me put one from each barrel between the shoulder blades for insurance. Our bull is dead and I was for once in my life pretty damn speechless!
This bull had everything I have ever dreamed about and we hunted him the way it was meant to be done! Took awhile for it to all soak in!
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The mass on this bull really made his width hard to judge, I was honestly thinking 37-38”
Dave later measured him to be 41-1/4” with 16” bosses! If I die tomorrow my last thought will not be that I never took a great buffalo!
We radioed in the shots and location to headquarters and immediately heard from John and Tim with congratulations.
Dave went and got the truck as the guys started clearing trail from the nearest road.
About then I noticed that my grip on the rifle may have been less than tight. Lol
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Ouch!
Excellent bull, worth shedding a bit of blood for! Well done.
 
Ooops...I just got a quote for the water well in MO. $10,000.

Never mind....

@tarbe , Tim, a man can go a very long time without water.............you'll need another safari much sooner.
 
Awesome hunt, l love the way you guys shared your journey with us, thank you
 
Hunted there "Lemco" in 2007 for plains game-only and it was wonderful. 'Saw a lot of buffalo and lion tracks everywhere! Now, it's extraordinary!!
 
My first safari was to the BVC with Ade Langley as my PH. I was thinking of the Save for my next safari but after reading and rereading this account, I may just have to head back to the BVC. It IS a very special place.

You got that right- very special place! You might appreciate this. Taken at Nengo camp at end of season. A mutiny had been brewing and the guys were hungry :):)

L-R clockwise- Paul, Yabani, Rich. A better crew you couldn't ask for

In the pot.jpeg
 
As Cody mentioned, the flight to Jo'burg was uneventful.

Well, except the lady at the Delta counter in Houston who wanted to tell me that I could not have anything except my rifle in the rifle case!

A little fast talking had her distracted and I got my TuffPak checked in...only later to find out she checked my bags all the way through to Bulawayo!

So now I am not even out of Houston and my bags must be sent back, retrieved at baggage control, and checked in all over again, this time to Jo'burg.

Fast forward to Bulawayo. Guess what does not come off the luggage belt?

Yup....my 450 Dakota ammo! SAA left it in Jo'burg. Ugh.

It would be 0900 on day three before I saw my ammo.

Fortunately John brought a Ruger M77 in 300 Win Mag with Leupold 3.5 - 10x scope along and I started my hunt with it!
Had the same problems one time with Delta. They checked through to Bulawayo so luckily I had a change of clothes and some toiletries in my carry on as I overnighted in JNB with my gun but no luggage! They also spent an inexcusable amount of time reading their note on gun cases and yes what can be in them. It proves they are untrained on gun handling.
Philip
 

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