SOUTH AFRICA: Hippopotamus Hunt With Pawprint Safaris 2017

[edward]

at 78 charlie,not much time left,you can sleep anytime.

 

[CAustin]

Well guys I have rested up a little and can now bring everyone up to speed!
Hunting the Hippopotamus is VERY HUMBLING INDEED! It is not an easy hunt at all. I arrived in Africa thinking.....get the hippo by day two and then go after a list of other animals. Did I mention that this was a hippo hunt not a hippo shoot?
Day one we did the rifle adjustments and went on a game drive around the lodge area. Saw stuff just not what I was looking for. In other words Pieter did not have a hippo in some one acre pond three miles from camp! Our plan for day two was to leave early around 0300 hours and drive Northeast to an agricultural area near Settlers RSA so we could arrive by 0500 and await sunrise. The hunt area is situated just off the Pinaars River and the free ranging hippos come out of the river, eat in the farm fields during the night And then return to the river or a large irrigation lake at sunrise. The hope was to catch them either returning to get in the water or to ambush in one of the fields. The temperature outside was below freezing and the lake was covered in mist which didn't fully burn off until about 0900. When the mist was gone we approached the side of the lake glassing for river horse. At first we saw no hippo in the water! So we drove the three kilometers around this lake looking for entry and exit signs.....and we found plenty. The entire edge and islands In The middle of the lake are covered with tall reeds. In fact they are some 10-12 feet tall and just about that deep into the water in most areas. When a hippo pushes through this stuff he leaves a tunnel that clearly says hippo went this way. So we sit on top and back of the truck watching the water. At about 1000 hrs our tracker Joe points to the far side and end of the lake which is closest to the river and the pump inlet that brings the river water into the lake.
Hippo is all he says! We had not seen them enter the water at all! But who cares right??? We have hippo in The water! Where they came from is of no importance to me lets go get a bull I'm thinking.
We slowly drive around the lake to the far side where we saw them but from the dam top I can not see over those reeds. Standing atop the trucks cab Chris says "we have a bull about 45 yards out looking our way". Pieter says to load up and come on! He grabs the shooting sticks and tells tracker Joe to start breaking the reeds down as we work our way down the bank of the dam and into the reeds. Joe is busy breaking reeds down as Pieter sets up the shoot sticks. But I still can't see a hippo.....but then he speaks to me and everyone else for a mile around. The hippo is speaking not Pieter.
A hippo sort of grunts at you but it sounds like Ha HA Ha HA except like through a bull horn and at a very low range. As I hear this I think...that's not 45 yards away. Just then joe pulls aside the last few reeds so I can see what's making all the noise. To everyone's surprise the massive hippo bull has his head way up and out of the water headed our way. He is about 25 yards away. I am not yet on the sticks when. Pieter announces very loudly
"We must LEAVE HERE NOW". You see this two ton hunk of blubber is pissed off at whoever is breaking his reeds and he is intent upon doing something about it. Then we turn to start up the bank with Joe and Pieter pushing my fat ass and short legs back up the slippery bank. I get to the top on my knees almost crawling! I hear a crash in the water and another round of HA Ha HA Ha and then a loud sort of hiss. Then silence! My first encounter with a hippo outside a zoo ends with me turning tail and getting the heck out of dodge. Pieter latter tells me that when he looked over his shoulder the last time the bull was about ten yards out in the water.
DID I TELL YOU THAT HIPPOS KILL PEOPLE AND THAT THIS WAS NOT A HIPPO SHOOT!?
In Africa your PH has to make split decisions that take into account everyone 's safety. In this case Pieter thought the smart thing to do was to get out of the big bulls area for the time being. In other words. Live and fight later!

 

[cpr0312]

"We must LEAVE HERE NOW". You see this two ton hunk of blubber is pissed off at whoever is breaking his reeds and he is intent upon doing something about it. Then we turn to start up the bank with Joe and Pieter pushing my fat ass and short legs back up the slippery bank. I get to the top on my knees almost crawling! I hear a crash in the water and another round of HA Ha HA Ha and then a loud sort of hiss. Then silence! My first encounter with a hippo outside a zoo ends with me turning tail and getting the heck out of dodge. Pieter latter tells me that when he looked over his shoulder the last time the bull was about ten yards out in the water.

This sounds like a pretty exciting few moments

 

[CAustin]

This sounds like a pretty exciting few moments

Yes sir it was! Sort of heart pounding there for a moment!

 

[CAustin]

So the bull and his family swim off towards the other side of the lake. There is a baby in this group and it spends time on the mothers back riding around. I had seen this done by a pod of hippo in 2015 during my elephant hunt on the Oliphants river. What I did not expect to see was for the bull to come up with his head just on the surface and to have the calf on his back. This caused some confusion at first when they were a ways off because I thought it was a cow!
We decided to break for lunch near by. After a fire was built we grilled some butterworts sausage and had them on fresh bun! Man nothing better than something cooked on an open fire in the bush. Why one of our members had assured me that hippo lips prepared over an open fire was excellent eating........but for now the sausage would have to do.
After lunch it was back to the lake to see if we could get in position to take a shot on the bull. COOPERATION WAS NOT FORTH COMING FROM THE BIG FELLA. Did I say this was a hippo hunt not a hippo shoot! This bull and his family stayed just about two hundreds yards away from any side of the lake for the better part of mid day. Finally at about 1600 hours they were about 95 to 100 yards out. From the back of the truck I leaned over the shooting rest and watched him through the scope mounted atop my Ruger #1 in 375 H&H. Patience is a virtue folks......you have no doubt heard sometime in your life. So I kept watching and waiting. Pieter says take your shot when you are comfortable. Folks at 95 yards the brain target on a hippo is really small and the margin of error is nill. Unless he sticks his head way up you are basically shooting at something about the size of a plastic 1/2 gallon milk jug floating along the surface of the water. All you see is ears and forehead and eyes.
After about 15 minutes he finally picked his head up just a little out of the water. I pulled the trigger and the Ruger sent the hot Federal Premium Trophy bonded Swift A Frame 300 grain bullet down range. We all heard a thwack and the bull sank below the surface. It looked like a hit and the reaction of the bull looked like he was hit and went under to die. Pieter says it will take 45 minutes to 1.5 hours for him to float back up. So we relax. Where did the other hippos go? Scanning the lake we see nothing! After two hours no floating hippo and it's getting dark. We make a plan to return the following morning to collect my hippo. As cold as it is it may take all night for the beast to rise to the top of the water. Pieter says this has been the coldest day this year in this part of RSA.

 

[edward]

come on charlie,im seeing my grave in the horizon,get with it or ill haunt you from hell.

 

[Wayne t]

Sounding great so far

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

"We must LEAVE HERE NOW"..........not exactly, "I have not yet begun to fight", but sound words to live and hunt by nonetheless. Great story so far and you lived to tell about, so that's good!

 

[cpr0312]

Looking forward to more!

 

[CAustin]

The following morning we return to the lake at 0900 only to find NO FLOATING HIPPO!
No hippos appear in the lake at all. Is the bull wounded and run off into the river? We drive the road around the lake looking for signs of an exit. On the river side the tracker Joe sees where he thinks hippo have moved down towards the river into a thick area. Everybody loads up a rifle and we walk down into this flood plain area to see if we have a dead hippo. We find a place where a group had obviously laid down for a period of time and then entered the river! NO BLOOD! On the edge of the river bank we can see where the hippos stepped down the side having left their massive foot prints in the mud! The calf was the last to enter the water as it's prints are on top of the rest!
We spend the rest of that day and the next staked out at the waters edge until dark awaiting the return if the river horse family. That following afternoon at 1730 or just before dark we are on the back side of the lake glassing the road to see if they come in from the river. Just then joe says hippo! The calf is in the water next to one of those islands about 200 yards away. Then the cow appears and then another. No noise they just appear in the water from that island of reeds. We watch closely as the sun drops and then the bull is with them. They now make their HA Ha Ha noises and the big guy rises from the water and yawns for us! WOW what large teeth you have Mr Hippo!!!
He is not wounded. He is fine! We are all very happy that I missed the shot and that we did not loose the hippo!
We make a plan for the following day!

 

[jacques smith]

Get him Edward don't let him stop now!

 

[crudeoildude]

Its all based on the fact that they try to sneak them out so no one knows where it came from,whats realy funny is when theres only 2 of you in the room and you know you didn't fart.

 

[CAustin]

The plan is set to return the following day and stay all day even into the night to try a night ambush of the hippo as they feed in the alfalfa field below the lake!
We watch all through the day light hours and never see a hippo in the water. We think they are on one of the islands out in the lake but can see no movement. Pieter selects the ambush site so that the moon rise will be behind us giving us the chance to see the shapes of the hippo before they see or smell us. The wind is in our favor and the truck shape is obscured by very tall grass! We wait! It is cold! We soon find out that Max, the skinner, snores so we rename him Pumba! The sun had vanished by 1800 and we were all getting cold! The farm owner had stopped by to check our progress earlier in the day and told us that the hippo were always in the field by 2000 hours and feeding. So we wait! Did I tell you it was cold? By 2130 hours we had seen nor heard any hippo noises so we decide to drive around the area looking for hippo in or around the water with spot lights. All the way around we go and come back to the fields side of the lake. Joe spots fresh hippo dung beside the road and we shine all the lights out into the field to our right. All of a sudden Pieter guns the truck engine and we race forward across the dam! Just outside of the trucks lights he had seen a dust cloud drifting across the road! By the time we reach the dust the hippos are back in The water water making a big laugh at us! HA Ha Ha we are smarter than you guys they seem to say! They had not crossed into the alfalfa field but rather the next field of recently cut maze! Damn these things are quick and silent when they want to be! I think of that bull on the other side of the reeds making all the noise he wanted to now and I could see him....just hear him! I picture putting a bullet between his eyes the following day!
We know they are here and we know they hide in the reed beds on the islands. Tomorrow is another day!

 

[edward]

its fathers day charlie,show me the pic of the hippo,oops,where are his lips????

 

[siml]

Hell Charlie, you got us all sitting on the edge of our seats!!!!!! What do you think happened to your dead rest off the bakkie? Any explanation for the thwack sound?

 

[ArmyGrunt]

Deep sound of Ha ha ha ha.... Was it like Jabba the Hut? That's what I heard in my mind.

 

[Art Lambart II]

Charlie, it sounds like that new #1 is unlucky. I'm sure I can find a good home for it

 

[CAustin]

Deep sound of Ha ha ha ha.... Was it like Jabba the Hut? That's what I heard in my mind.

Very similar to Jaba yes!

 

[CAustin]

Hell Charlie, you got us all sitting on the edge of our seats!!!!!! What do you think happened to your dead rest off the bakkie? Any explanation for the thwack sound?

Simon I think the bullet went just behind his neck and hit the water somewhere behind him!

 

[CAustin]

Pictured at top is what the lake looked like and the bottom picture is an entry exit point for the hippos from the ever side of the lake.

Note the islands in the distance/background of the top picture. This is where the hippo were sleeping during the day. When I looked at these on Google earth you could see that a Mack Truck could park on top of them and not be seen! Smart beast the hippo. He used the lake to his advantage.