MOZAMBIQUE: 'Twas The Night Before Safari - Mozambique 2024

[LWood]

Congrats on an amazing trip. Can’t wait to hear more.

 

[Frederik]

Congrats on 3 fine animals glad you got a chance at a daylight bushpig.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Red Duiker

By 8:00pm last night we couldn't hold our heads up, but I dang near 8 hours sleep before waking up this fine first back to work morning...... :-(

So this ram was actually the last animal taken and was done so on the morning of our departure from this hunt. We had a few hours to kill prior to the charter arrival and we were intending this to be for Donna. But she wasn't feeling well and so it was just me.

A little different path was taken as we were only going out for a couple of hours. We headed south following the river. There were the usual culprits along the way, impala and waterbuck. But then this guy showed up, feeding calmly in the bush. Not much of a stalk required, he was behind some brush and I think the shot was deflected a little low, but a .375 and red duiker, well they go down.

He's a nice ram, but there were even better.......

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Yellow Baboon

I've only taken one baboon in my trips to Africa. That was in Uganda where by law you can hunt them, but you may not touch them. You shoot them and you must leave them lie. So I was not able to bring that one home.

In all of my other trips the baboons were so spooky I've never had a decent shot at one. Well that was not the case here in the Niassa. There are tons of them and they're as they say quite cheeky. They don't always stay put when the truck comes by, but as often as not, they do. And sometimes are even quite brazen.

So it was the middle of the day and we had setup for lunch in the shade of a tree right next to a small waterhole. At this point I had all but begged Jaco to let me shoot a baboon, but we were concentrating on buff. I don't normally get emotional about animals, with the one exception being my dogs, but I have a disdain for baboons.

Predators are what they are and they serve a purpose. If you go swimming in the ocean and you get bit by a shark, well they're just doing what they were designed to do. I don't blame the shark. Same goes for all other predators. But I've watched video of baboons hunting down various new born PG species, specifically impala. After capturing them, they seem to take enjoyment out of torturing the poor animals versus killing it quickly and getting on with their meal. That just rubs me wrong.

So as we were sitting and talking after our lunch, I see a baboon approaching us. He clearly sees us but seems determined to come get a drink of water. I implore Jaco that we have a baboon in dire need of being educated for being so stupid. He realizes I'm not likely to be deterred and gives me the green light.

So we get up, Jaco is getting the sticks and I get my rifle. Before Jaco can setup the sticks, I've got the rifle on the baboon who is now at the waters edge on the far side of the pan. I'm shooting off hand, but no worries.....bang. I was expecting a DRT, but to this animals credit he is one tough primate. As he bent down to drink I pulled the trigger. Somehow the shot went thru his right eye, missed the CNS, went down into the thorax and exited, leaving a gaping wound. The baboon still went 30-40 yards before dropping.

It would seem at this point I have now fully endeared myself with Joe and Dimojo. They both seem to dislike baboons more than I do.

I will have to get a pic from Jaco and post later. I just realized I didn't have one in my photos.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

THE Red Duiker

So as I mentioned in previous post on my first Red Duiker, there were even better. And in fact, this next one was taken prior to the one I previously posted about.

We were once again on the hunt for buff and making our way down one of the dirt paths when I said to Donna, hey there's something over there to our left and in front of us down in the bush about 100 yards away. The sun was beaming off the side of the animal, but there was enough bush in the way that I wasn't sure if it was a Red Duiker or the sun reflecting off the darker side of the hair of an impala.

Jaco had seen it too and slowed down, but as I thought he about to stop, he continued on and I didn't immediately get my binoculars on him. Jaco pulled a little further forward to where we could get a better look at the ram.

A brief pause to discuss optics. I have expressed my opinion on rifle scopes here on AH numerous times. I definitely appreciate the superior optics of Swarovski, S&B and Leica, but I put a priority on reliability. I made the switch over to Nikon scopes some years back. The reason being they just never seem to break, even on my bigger bores. Superior optical quality is second place in my mind to superior reliability, and in my experiences Nikon offers the latter.

But binoculars are a different story. I have and you most certainly can use mid-range binoculars and/or spotting scopes, but you are giving something up. And where that is can sometimes be hard to measure. But where I see it is in how quickly and easily small details become clearer. Your brain has a way of knowing what it is looking for and will kind of "argue" with your eyes with lesser quality glass to resolve things and eventually you get more/less what you're looking for.

This can really be experienced when hunting animals like Coues deer where you do a lot glassing. With superior optics, it is easier to pick out the details, that is it is easier on your brain. Spend a whole day glassing for Coues deer with less optics and you'll likely end up with a headache by the end of the day, at least that's what I've experienced.

So a couple of years ago I picked up my first pair of Swarovski binoculars. This was when the NL models came out and there were very good prices on the EL versions. Great bins for sure and this would've been what I used. But then @dogcat1 put some Leica Geovids up for sale including a pair with the range finding feature, and the price was impossible to beat. I bought a pair of these and let Donna use the Swaros.

This came into play on this Red Duiker. As Jaco stopped the truck I popped up the Leica's and with a quick focus, the horns on the animal were quickly distinguishable. I mean like instantly. This was one of those few times you realize immediately that there's no point in spending anymore time evaluating the animal. You just know right now that you're looking at one to take.

Jaco must've agreed as he was getting out of the truck as I jumped up to grab my rifle. Off the truck we went and made a short stalk to get within 75 yards of the ram.

Now there was a troop of yellow baboons in the trees by the ram and they started to get nervous and head out. I was afraid they would take the ram with them and in fact one baboons launch from a tree spooked the ram just a little bit but he went back to feeding in short order.

I had loaded up some North Fork flat point solids for moments like this and had one in the chamber. I took the short and while I didn't see the ram fall behind the dead tree that was in front of him I could tell by everyone's reaction that he was down.

In short order I was to lay my hands on this ram. So doing and at the risk of sounding boastful, I was certain we had a pretty special trophy here. I don't mean to seem boastful at all, God smiled on me that day and provided an opportunity at this ram that anyone else could've received.

If you're wondering, the ram was measured. I normally don't get too excited about measuring animals. I have had some measured and several would've made the SCI silver or gold ratings, but I've never submitted them. I just don't worry about that sort of thing too much. But this one was different and I believe is worth pursuing further.

So what did it score? I'm withholding that information for now. Measuring them is a simple thing to do. Measure the length of each horn and the circumference of each base. Add up those four measurements and you have your total. So it's kind difficult to not do an accurate measurement, but still I'd prefer to have an official measurement made before I publish the number.

View attachment IMG_0136.jpeg

View attachment IMG_0137.jpeg

 

[buck wild]

You won't likely experience too much shrinkage with such a small set of horns, but with a 1/16' making a big difference on where it falls, the score might go down after the 60-day drying period, up to 1/2" in total. It's probably too late now, but if anyone ever kills a near-world record horn type aniimal, it's best to rot the sheaths off the cores, then boil the remaining skull and never let the cores hit hot water.

Ok enough of that- Carry on

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Congrats on an amazing Red Duiker. It's very apparent why you knew when you first saw him

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Only seeing this now. Looks like a wonderful experience my friend. Well done to you and your bride.

 

[matt vejar]

Well his length and circumference are over 3” so that equals huge!!!! Congratulations that is a monster!

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Found the baboon pic.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

No Buff Love

So long story short, I did not get my buff. It was not for a lack of effort by Jaco, Joe and Dimojo. They worked their butts off for me. Two reasons for this. The aforementioned hunting conditions would be the first reason. The same conditions were making it very difficult for Kevin and his PH Danie. The buff didn't have to move far for their needs and it showed

Second reason is on me. I've been fighting bad feet for a couple years now with plantar fascitis and something else in my ankles (remains to be seen). I felt I had gotten ahead of it mostly this winter and into spring. But those elephant and any uneven terrain had my ankles rolling and it slowed me greatly.

In spite of it all, we were about 5 seconds from a bull on day 2. I was getting setup on the sticks with that one when he bolted into the jess. And on the last evening we'd closed the distance on another to less then 30 yards. Unfortunately he was in thick grass and did not present a shot before making us and bolting out.

I'm quite certain that without either one of these issues a buff would've been downed.

So there remains some unsettled business with a dagga boy that I left behind. The plan is to resolve that situation in September, 2026 along with a hunt for chui.

 

[thi9elsp]

Thank you for sharing. I too feel some unsettled business in Niassa with Manual Carona as I can remember the old dagga boy we jumped in the bamboo and it looked back at me on the hill across the way about 300 yards. I got one last day, but nothing compared to what I saw. 2026 will get here sooner than you can imagine. It looks like 2026 it will be for me to get back over.

 

[ACM]

Great report, thank you for sharing! Look forward to reading of your success in 2026!

 

[Chukardogs]

Great Report! It brings the memories right back. You spelled it Dimojo and I spelled his name Timodjo. Either way he is good at what he does. We would have really enjoyed 85-90 degrees. Like you said the later the hotter. We had 100-105+. Congratulations again on a great hunt and experience.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Dagga Kudu
............

It was quite fun for me to watch Donna's reaction to all of this, she was quite proud of herself.

..........

Taking a shot like that, I'd be proud too.
Well done.
Beautiful Kudu Bull.

The dreaded Elephant tracks in dried mud. You have to have the toughest ankles in the world for that stuff. Half the time you can't see them in the grass and you are rolling over before you even know it.

Monster Duiker Phil. It will score very well.

2026 is coming. Hunting Buffalo and Leopard at the same time should be a challenge. Jaco loves hunting Leopard.

 

[enysse]

Congratulations, nice animals, great memories!