TANZANIA: Splitting a Full Bag In Tanzania

[CJW]

Your encounter with the mamba is remarkably similar to mine in Namibia. Turned toward the truck and everything.
Nobody tried to pull me away from danger though. By the time it was gone and I looked to my right, my PH was practically hanging off the drivers side of the truck ready to leave me for dead.

What was really terrifying was later walking around after witnessing how fast that 10 ft snake disapperared into a 2" crack in a nearby rock outcropping.

 

[PARA45]

Mambas…. That’s the one animal that scares the you know what out of me. I had a close call with one in Botswana in 1989, and if I never see another I’m OK with that (even though I’ve seen several since). I don’t particularly mind cobras or puff adders, but Black Mambas terrify me. They’re just plain evil as far as I’m concerned.

Did you write a report? I'd love to read about your mamba experience.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Scott, congrats on a fantastic, dare I say once in a lifetime adventure and hunt. Thanks for putting it to words and posting. The part about the snake gave me goosebumps. Good luck on #5!

 

[Scott CWO]

Scott, congrats on a fantastic, dare I say once in a lifetime adventure and hunt. Thanks for putting it to words and posting. The part about the snake gave me goosebumps. Good luck on #5!

Thanks and yes, definitely once in a lifetime for me for several reasons, not the least of which are that I successfully got my lion and the cost. The pressure release/relief when I got the lion was incredible and pure joy because I knew I couldn’t afford to do a lion hunt again. I’m a very intense hunter and like to hunt hard, even on a 21-day trip and I have to pick my hunting partners and PHs carefully or it doesn’t work for me. Leaving camp at 8am and returning before dark isn’t my style because at my core, I’m still a wilderness elk hunter. I have fun and joke around but I am going to hunt hard, especially early and late in the day when certain animals are moving.

Mike and Jim were great and will hunt hard, leave camp in the dark to get to places at daybreak, etc… Last year in Zambia, Fico and I left camp at 4:30am sometimes to get to machans in the dark in the swamp for sitatunga. If you’re rolling out of camp at daylight, the party is over if you’ve got a one hour drive to a certain place for a certain nocturnal animal. Likewise, we would never have seen my lion if we left camp five minutes later. This has served me well and then if I don’t get an animal, I have the satisfaction and happiness that we did everything we possibly could and it just didn’t work out.

 

[Nyati]

That was a fantastic hunt, congrats

 

[Mike Van Horn]

Wow what a hunt! Congratulations Scott and Jim. Even though you hunt a lot, l doubt you forget this one anytime soon!! Cool your wives got to experience it also.

That Lion is awesome!

 

[spotnspook]

This was a wonderful read and full of the stuff of dreams. Congratulations on all the impressive trophies and a hat tip for all of the hard work it took to get there and to hunt. I really enjoyed the read and thank you for taking the time to write everything so well and post for us. PS those memoirs don't sound too bad either, especially the elk charge.

 

[TTundra]

What an incredible hunt. I just went back and reread your Botswana hunt as well that your permits had been approved. Congrats on both this remarkable hunt and that approval!

 

[revturbo9967]

Amazing hunt and story. Congratulations on the lion, I couldn't imagine how you felt walking up to that tank.

 

[revturbo9967]

On November 14th, we left camp to look for hippos along the rivers near camp. It’s no secret that lion love hippo bait. My friend and PH in Zambia, Fico Vidale, always uses hippos for lion bait. Mike decided that we needed to up our game for lions with a hippo and Jim was only too happy to oblige. Jim really wanted a hippo skull.

None of our lion baits had been hit even though we heard lions often throughout the area and near camp. The lions were also being quite nocturnal and bedding in the thick brushy areas along the rivers during the day. We hadn’t seen any out sunning themselves on the big rocks in the area like they usually do. With the migration ending early, we wanted to keep as many lions around as possible.

Judging hippo and telling males from females can be difficult but the best clue is the shape of the top of the head. Males have a flat head along the top while females have a pronounced bump on top of the head.

In one slow moving turn of the river, we found a nice male hippo with three females. Jim got setup to shoot off the sticks with his S&W 500. The distance was about 50 yards. The male slightly surfaced for a breath of air and Jim took a shot. He hit the water just below the hippo’s head instead of the hippo. Incredibly, the bullet ricocheted and didn’t even hit the hippo. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself. There was no blood or reaction other than the hippo went back under water. None of the hippos seemed to know what happened because they didn’t even spook.

A few minutes later, the bull surfaced again unscathed, confirming our belief that it wasn’t hit. Mike and Jim decided that Jim should switch to his 375 JDJ because it is scoped. Jim got setup again, this time with the 375. A few minutes later, the bull surfaced again and Jim fired. The bull was hit this time and when it submerged, we could see blood in the water. For a few moments, we thought the bull was hit correctly in the brain because nothing much happened.

Then suddenly, the bull erupted up above the surface with blood clearly coming out of the head and it went berserk! This freaked out the cows too and they all were splashing around in chaos! Pandemonium ensued with the bull finally turning away to flee upriver and started heading for the shore. It ran out of the water with Mike exclaiming for Jim to shoot. Jim got another shot off but missed. Wendy and I backed away and returned to the Cruiser because we were unarmed. The Game Scout got worried and when she went to cock her AK-47, she inadvertently dumped out the clip and the ammo scattered out of the clip into the grass! I cannot lie, that made me chuckle a bit!!

Mike and Jim then started running along the riverbank heading upstream after the hippo. There was a big bend in the river. Mike got off two quick shots with his .458 WM double rifle as the hippo was out of the water running away. The hippo went down momentarily but then regained its feet and barreled into the water in the next bend in the river. Mike and the trackers were ahead of Jim and gave chase and found the hippo standing in shallow water and facing them. Mike shot it in the head before it could charge and it was all over! Wow, what a crazy situation and luckily, nobody got hurt. Mike handled it like a pro. Upon further inspection, we found that Jim’s shot hit the bull too low and missed the brain.


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When I shot my hippo, the shot also ricocheted off the water. I was aiming right at the water line on a side brain shot and hit a little low, and the bullet ended up exiting the top of the hippos head due to hitting the water and changing direction. It still was a one shot kill but very wild to see how water can turn bullets like that. I was very nervous waiting for that bull to surface again.

 

[Hornyman]

because at my core, I’m still a wilderness elk hunter.

You and me both!

 

[jacques smith]

Very nice report and an obviously grand safari—- thanks for packing us along— jacques

 

[Scott CWO]

Happy to say the shipment containing my lion and other animals cleared USFWS, Department of Agriculture and US Customs and is on the way to the taxidermist!