TANZANIA: Splitting a Full Bag In Tanzania

[Wheels]

Congratulations on a fantastic lion Scott. Enjoying your report. You are both taking some great animals.

 

[DieJager]

Congrats, magnificent lion and hats off for your storytelling.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

The next morning, November 17th, Mike and I got up early and the trackers dropped us off in the dark at the blind. I put a 300 grain Swift A-Frame cartridge up the pipe and turned the red dot on in my Leupold scope. We settled in, waiting for daylight, our senses on high alert. I was sitting on the left side of the blind with a good view around the bait and to my right. Mike was sitting on the right side of the blind with a good view around the bait and to the left.

A few months before the safari, I had sent my Whitworth Interarms 375 H&H to Wayne Jacobson at AHR to have him install a Timney trigger and to smooth up the action. Wayne installed the trigger and stoned the action and the bolt. A dangerous game rifle shouldn’t have a sticky bolt and the Whitworth is smooth now. Hopefully, all these preparations would pay off.

At first light, we saw the lion just to the right of the bait. He was moving right and disappeared behind the brush. We could see a mane but was this lion ever going to give us time to get a decent look at him?

All went quiet. The minutes felt like hours. It felt like a lyric from one of my favorite Gordon Lightfoot songs, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: “Does any one know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?” We waited, and waited and waited. Nothing. It was full daylight now. We began to sense that our opportunity this morning with this lion was ending but hoping against hope that it wasn’t. I continued to scan intensely with my eyes and look at everything I could. I wasn’t giving up yet.

Then, like a ghost, a big-maned lion appeared to my right, at about 80 yards, moving quartering to my left and towards us from behind some bushes and trees! I hissed to Mike, “There he is, to the right! He looks good!” From Mike’s chair, he couldn’t see to the right very far so he halfway stood up and leaned over my way to get a better look out the window. He saw the lion and raised his binoculars. He later told me he could see the mature mane and droopy jowls. He said, “Yes, shoot that lion, Scott!”

Well, he didn’t have to tell me twice and I’ve never been one to dilly-dally around when it comes time to shoot! The tripod rest that kept my rifle pointed towards the bait was of no use now. I raised the rifle off of the rest and swung it to the right. My crosshair and red dot instinctively found the correct spot on the front of the lion for a quartering towards shot and I squeezed off a shot. At the shot, the big lion did exactly what big brown bears do when hit hard, he started jumping and spinning around in circles. Never one to hold back and watch, I already had another round chambered and touched off another shot, which missed. I quickly jacked another round in the chamber and shot a third time, dropping him. He let out another roar from the impact and all went silent. Mike couldn’t even see what was happening from his angle and he asked me, “Is he down? Did you get him? Is he down?” The lion had disappeared into the grass and behind some dead tree branches when he dropped so I said, “Yes, I think he’s down!”

We kept watch for a minute or so and then Mike radioed for the trackers and Game Scout to come pick us up with the Cruiser. They were sitting in the Cruiser, just outside of camp and had heard the shots. They arrived a few minutes later. Mike and I got in the back of the Cruiser, standing up behind the cab with our rifles. We drove towards the lion. When the lion came into view, Mike tapped on the roof and Bryson, the driver, stopped. We looked with our binoculars and couldn’t see the lion breathing or moving. We drove up to him and he was dead!

We got down on the ground and approached the lion from behind. We could tell from the body position of the lion that he was dead but you never take chances with dangerous game. As they say, “It’s the dead ones that kill you.” I poked the lion and he didn’t move. That’s when the party started and I let out a loud yell. Everyone started high-fiving, screaming and hugging. It was such an incredible relief! The pinnacle of my African hunting career! I was feeling the pressure earlier and now it was nothing but pure joy. I could feel the tension leave my body and I could now relax and enjoy the moment.

Since we were only a mile from camp, Mike sent the driver back to pick up Wendy, Jim and Cindy. They all had actually heard the shots. Jim said the shots were so close together that he thought maybe Mike had also taken a shot but had not. Upon further examination, we found my first shot was a killing shot that quartered through the lion and and the bullet was just under the skin on the back hip. My third shot entered the rear part of the guts and angled forward into the vitals as well.

When the Cruiser arrived with everyone, we all celebrated and took a hundred pictures. Mike said the lion had a great full mane that was filled in all across the head and shoulders and also had a good dorsal mane down the back and great mane under his head. He said it was the biggest-bodied lion he thinks he has ever taken. We took a picture of Bryson laying next to the lion for scale. Bryson is 5’9” and a normal sized 5’9” guy.

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Great Lion Scott! and congratulations on a phenomenal safari.

HH

 

[shootist~]

Monster of a lion. I swear I was holding my breath!

 

[Woodcarver]

Fantastic lion! That pic with the tracker really does give a great perspective on the size of the beast. Congratulations!

 

[gillettehunter]

Thats a very nice lion. Good shooting. Congrats
Bruce

 

[Tucketed]

What a hunt, beautiful lion! Exciting to read and live your hunt.

 

[Scott CWO]

After getting the reedbuck, we continue south and saw a lot of elephants. We saw a cow with really great genetics and long tusks that reached almost to the ground. I took a picture but it’s a tad blurry. Hopefully she passes her genes to her sons. We also saw a young baby elephant with its mother.

Matteo spotted some dagga boys here and there hiding in the shade under thick trees. His eyesight is on another level. Unfortunately, none of the bulls were over 40”.

While driving parallel along a river, we ended up finding the big impala male that Mike had seen with the Russian. He had quite a harem. Lots of eyes. We got on him a couple times but it was hard to get lined up on him with all the other impala around him. We lost track of the group after a while. We decided to walk to one more spot and luckily, we found them there. I had a quick opportunity and took a shot. I hit him but it was a bit low. He got behind some brush but I could still see him so I shot through the brush and that did the trick. I knew he was wide, heavy and long but he was even bigger than I thought when we walked up to him. We had figured he was close to 30” and he was. Definitely my best impala ever!

After caping the impala, we headed west to the western boundary of the concession. There are settlers that live and farm just outside of the game reserve. Sometimes elephants will raid their crops. There are some big kopje hills that we glassed from in that area and there’s a government Game Scout camp there as well. While checking for elephants in the area, we came across a nice jackal and Jim was able to take it. Not long after he got the jackal, it started raining quite hard. We put on our rain gear and drove back and hunted our way back to camp. It was a great day!

 

[Scott CWO]

On November 19th, Jim and Cindy stayed in camp because Jim had been up half the night being sick. Mike, Wendy, the crew and I went way north looking for buffalo for me and elephant for Jim. We hoped Jim would be able to hunt in the afternoon if he was feeling better.

It was a bit of a slow morning but on the way back to camp for lunch, we saw a nice Defassa waterbuck by itself. We had only seen one bigger on the trip so far but it got away from Jim when he stalked it.

Jim was feeling a bit better after lunch and we talked him into going out for the afternoon. We thought we could find the waterbuck again for him.

Sure enough, we were able to relocate the waterbuck, not far from where we had seen it before lunch. Jim and the guys went after it. Jim was able to get a shot but hit it too far back. They tracked it for a couple miles before seeing it bedded. Jim’s second shot did the trick and he was rewarded with a nice 25” Defassa waterbuck.

 

[BourbonTrail]

Rain seems to make for an incredible amount of flies in that area.

Question about your lion: did they weigh him?

 

[channelkat]

Congratulations on a great hunt. It would be hard to imagine a better trip.

 

[Scott CWO]

My hero, Matteo

On November 20th, we hoped to find a big elephant so that the girls could be there when Jim got it because they were due to charter back to Arusha on the 21st and fly home while Jim and I stayed another week. Cindy had to get back to work and two weeks in camp in Africa is usually enough for Wendy. They both were also having some issues with a rash from tsetse fly bites. Mike said that about 50% of women have this reaction to tsetse bites after several bites/days.

We saw a lot of elephants but unfortunately, didn’t get one. We returned to camp for lunch. Wendy decided to stay in camp for the afternoon to pack up, dry her boots and get ready to fly out the next day. Cindy went out with us, still hoping to see Jim get his elephant.

We didn’t get an elephant or anything else but that’s not to say we didn’t have any excitement!

While driving slowly off road in an area of short grass while looking for game, I was standing in the back of the Cruiser on the left side. Jim was standing in the middle and Matteo was on the right side. Mike was driving and sitting below Matteo. Cindy was in the cab, below me, with Mike. Suddenly on the left side of the Cruiser, a large black mamba that we must have almost ran over rose up. Mike and Cindy saw it rise up not a foot from Cindy’s door and right next to me while I was standing behind the cab and Cindy. I was busy looking down range for animals and didn’t see it at first. Somehow, Matteo saw the mamba right next to me and reached over and grabbed me and pulled me towards him and Jim and away from the snake! I saw something out of the corner of my eye and turned my head to the left as Matteo pulled me to the right. I saw the snake there at about the level of my knees. We drove past the snake and I saw it drop back down to the ground and slither into an anthill hole. Geez, that was a close one!

Mike had seen the mamba rise up and heard all the commotion in the back of the Cruiser and stopped to see if anyone had been bit. Matteo told Mike that the snake’s head was very close to my leg and that he thought I was going to get bitten so he grabbed me. Cindy’s window was partially rolled down and it could have struck her as well! Spooky! I had never seen a mamba before and don’t care to ever see one again!

The mamba episode was not the only excitement we were to experience that afternoon. A couple hours later, we were driving a road near the park border when we spotted a small terrier dog on the left side of the Cruiser. At first blush, we thought it might be a jackal but when we got closer, we could see it was a skinny dog. Mike immediately knew that it was likely a poachers dog and he turned off the road to follow the dog. The dog took us right to two poachers hiding in the bush. The trackers all jumped off the Cruiser and chased them down, caught them and disarmed them of their knives and machetes. Mike and Veronica got out and started interrogating the poachers about where they were camped, who else might be with them, etc…. Veronica got upset with them and threw their shoes, scattering the shoes around in the bush. That’s not all she did but that’s all I’m going to say on here!

The trackers tied the poachers together and we hauled them back to the Game Scout Camp near our camp. Not far from this location earlier in the safari, we had found and destroyed eight snares that probably belonged to these two guys.

 

[Scott CWO]

Rain seems to make for an incredible amount of flies in that area.

Question about your lion: did they weigh him?

Yes, lots of flies arrive when you kill something and there’s a buffalo herd nearby. Away from the buffalo, it’s not as bad except near baits.

I did not hear that they weighed him. Mike said he was 500+ pounds. They did weigh the leopard and it was 167 pounds.

 

[Scott CWO]

On November 21st, we had a late breakfast and took Wendy and Cindy to the strip to meet the charter plane at 9am. The plane was a very new Cessna Caravan in excellent shape. It was a dry morning and the plane didn’t have any trouble landing or taking off. While we were sad to see Wendy and Cindy go, we knew they had lots of fun but were ready to get back home.

Later that afternoon, while we were way down in the southern end of the concession, we saw a lot of elephants and buffalo but no big shooters.

Although the wildebeest migration was largely over, there’s always a few stragglers around. We found a nice bull all by itself and Jim still wanted a wildebeest so he and Mike went after it. Jim made a good 200 yards shot and had his wildebeest!

 

[MontanaPat]

That’s a whopper of an Impala, congrats

 

[Red Leg]

On November 18th and onward, with two cats in the salt, our focus now shifted to elephant, buffalo and plains game. No more checking baits, which was fine by me. The amount of flies around the baits is not something to miss.

This middle part of the hunt also dried out quite a bit and we were able to cover more ground and not get stuck as often. Until now, I hadn’t mentioned the lovely tsetse fly. Of course they were present and nasty in some areas and we sometimes wore a headnet in those areas. Luckily, we didn’t see them around camp.

We headed south in good weather to look for elephants and we found plenty. Along the way, we spotted a Bohor reedbuck with a female. The Bohor subspecies is smaller than the common reedbuck. I have quite a large common reedbuck from Coutada 9 in Mozambique so I didn’t think I would shoot a Bohor as I’m not one to collect every subspecies. While watching the Bohor male, Mike kept tempting me by saying how big it was and that I should try to shoot it. He said it was bigger than Jim’s reedbuck and we all started joking about that. I’m not a competitive hunter but even Jim thought I should shoot it, partly because it was bigger than his. I happily relented after Mike told me a fourth time how big it was!

We dismounted and started walking after the reedbuck. The male was chasing the female around and they had moved off. Once we got closer, we could never get a standing shot due to all the chasing going on. I finally took a moving shot and of course, hit the male a bit too far back. He took off and we gave chase. He was sick and finally stopped. I quickly shot again. He then bolted towards a lower swampy area and went out of sight. He was obviously hit a second time. We tracked him to the swampy area but couldn’t find him anywhere. We started circling and one of the trackers spotted him completely submerged under the water! We pulled him out and the trackers carried him back towards the Cruiser for pictures. And yes, all in good fun,View attachment 575750 he was bigger than Jim’s. Haha.

My hero, Matteo

On November 20th, we hoped to find a big elephant so that the girls could be there when Jim got it because they were due to charter back to Arusha on the 21st and fly home while Jim and I stayed another week. Cindy had to get back to work and two weeks in camp in Africa is usually enough for Wendy. They both were also having some issues with a rash from tsetse fly bites. Mike said that about 50% of women have this reaction to tsetse bites after several bites/days.

We saw a lot of elephants but unfortunately, didn’t get one. We returned to camp for lunch. Wendy decided to stay in camp for the afternoon to pack up, dry her boots and get ready to fly out the next day. Cindy went out with us, still hoping to see Jim get his elephant.

We didn’t get an elephant or anything else but that’s not to say we didn’t have any excitement!

While driving slowly off road in an area of short grass while looking for game, I was standing in the back of the Cruiser on the left side. Jim was standing in the middle and Matteo was on the right side. Mike was driving and sitting below Matteo. Cindy was in the cab, below me, with Mike. Suddenly on the left side of the Cruiser, a large black mamba that we must have almost ran over rose up. Mike and Cindy saw it rise up not a foot from Cindy’s door and right next to me while I was standing behind the cab and Cindy. I was busy looking down range for animals and didn’t see it at first. Somehow, Matteo saw the mamba right next to me and reached over and grabbed me and pulled me towards him and Jim and away from the snake! I saw something out of the corner of my eye and turned my head to the left as Matteo pulled me to the right. I saw the snake there at about the level of my knees. We drove past the snake and I saw it drop back down to the ground and slither into an anthill hole. Geez, that was a close one!

Mike had seen the mamba rise up and heard all the commotion in the back of the Cruiser and stopped to see if anyone had been bit. Matteo told Mike that the snake’s head was very close to my leg and that he thought I was going to get bitten so he grabbed me. Cindy’s window was partially rolled down and it could have struck her as well! Spooky! I had never seen a mamba before and don’t care to ever see one again!

The mamba episode was not the only excitement we were to experience that afternoon. A couple hours later, we were driving a road near the park border when we spotted a small terrier dog on the left side of the Cruiser. At first blush, we thought it might be a jackal but when we got closer, we could see it was a skinny dog. Mike immediately knew that it was likely a poachers dog and he turned off the road to follow the dog. The dog took us right to two poachers hiding in the bush. The trackers all jumped off the Cruiser and chased them down, caught them and disarmed them of their knives and machetes. Mike and Veronica got out and started interrogating the poachers about where they were camped, who else might be with them, etc…. Veronica got upset with them and threw their shoes, scattering the shoes around in the bush. That’s not all she did but that’s all I’m going to say on here!

The trackers tied the poachers together and we hauled them back to the Game Scout Camp near our camp. Not far from this location earlier in the safari, we had found and destroyed eight snares that probably belonged to these two guys.

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As a South Louisianan, I always love a good snake story.

 

[Scott CWO]

On November 22nd, we headed north. We were seeing new elephants everyday so we just kept looking and looking. The weather started out okay but rain was threatening. We looked at lots of elephants and ended up back at camp for lunch. Just after lunch, we got a message that the other group of trackers with the other Cruiser, including Martius, had seen a big bull elephant down south and they were trying to keep it in sight until we could arrive.

We headed their way and it started to rain. It was a very wet day and the forecast was calling for more rain in the coming days. Not far from Martius, we spotted another group of bulls with a longer bull in it. The long bull wasn’t quite as heavy as we would have liked but his length sure made for a good looking elephant! We left two trackers there to watch the bull while we continued towards Martius.

Before we reached Martius, he radioed and said they had lost track of the bull and it was raining really hard where they were. He described the bull as quite heavy but broomed back a bit shorter than desired. He said it might be the same size by weight as the longer bull we had just seen but put together differently. Mike, Jim and I then stopped and we all had a conversation. Mike mentioned that he likes the looks of longer bulls than a heavier shorter bull. Jim agreed. With the weather forecast for the coming days, Mike wasn’t sure if we would be able to get around very well, especially in the south where most of the elephants were being found and where we had to cross more rivers to get back to camp. He suggested that Jim might want to shoot the long bull and that it was a good looking bull. Jim asked my opinion. I said I didn’t think it would be a mistake to shoot the long bull or to wait, since we still had five days to hunt. I wanted Jim to make his own decision. Jim and Mike decided to go back to the long bull and hunt it.

We then drove back to where we had left two of the trackers, Maponas and Issa. They said the long bull had moved but not real far. We loaded up with guns and cameras and walked until we found the bull feeding and undisturbed. The bull was feeding heavily when we saw it. Mike, Jim and I made the final approach. I stopped about 50 yards from the bull and started filming while Mike and Jim went closer. I had my Lott with me just in case. Mike had his double rifle and Jim had his S&W 500 revolver.

They snuck up on the feeding bull to about 25 yards. Jim got on the sticks and Mike had his rifle aimed at the bull as well. When Jim shot, the bull immediately went down and its back legs were locked, as if it had been perfectly brained! Mike did not shoot. They moved closer and Mike had Jim shoot the bull in the chest and then again in the head for insurance. Wow, that handgun flattened the bull!

We celebrated and took lots of pictures. The ivory was long and symmetrical. It will make for a beautiful set of long ivory on either side of Jim’s fireplace. Mike estimated the bull would be about 65 pounds. We celebrated again when the other Cruiser arrived with more help. We were three for three on the big species - lion, leopard and elephant!

After pictures, Mike told the crew what to do and then we headed back to camp in the rain to dry out and celebrate. The crew stayed the night with the elephant to cut it up and salvage as much meat as the Cruiser would carry.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Scott, it appears you can find deadly trouble anywhere. Mambas, Poachers, Hmmm. At least these guys were not shooting at you.

 

[Mauser3000]

Wonderful hunt so far! I hope your luck holds out and you take a nice Dagga boy.

 

[Cme1983]

Heck of a hunt Scott! Congrats on the great Lion.