TANZANIA: Two Area Dream Hunt Sept/Oct 2021 With GAME Trackers AFRICA

[Edge]

Great buff, congrats!

 

[Rare Breed]

Can’t wait for

Travel day continued: We made it Dar a little early, via a technical stop in Arusha. luckily the guy who works for Jaco that helps with rifle imports was also at the airport early. We go through the conveyor belt line once you get off the plane to get in line for the rapid test required to enter. This test is now $10 vs $25 like it was previously. You fill the paperwork out online and pay before you arrive, which makes it a little smoother going through. The rapid test was quick, results probably in 5 minutes. I'm pretty sure that nobody tests positive (just my opinion and observation).

Go thorough customs and the visa line, etc, then the rifles get checked by a porter, then whisked off to one of the side offices for the police to check serial # and ammo, then pay the ammo tax. Then its off to a hotel for lunch to meet JP, as our charter is set for 3pm as Jaco is flying in from Namibia to meet us and fly with us.

It was raining and hot most of the afternoon, so the upcoming charter flight was a little worrisome in the back of my mind. Luckily most of the weather broke before our flight and the bumps along the 40 minute flight to camp weren't that bad.

A few pics of the terrain, the Rufiji, and the stark difference in the settled land and the game reserve. Took a few of the offloading of supplies and the pilot leaving us in the bush, kinda cool to experience something like this that I've seen on quite a few hunting tv shows but never experienced myself!

A quick celebratory beer and then off to the tents to unpack. Late afternoon we sight in the rifles, both of ours are still dead on! Then a nice dinner and an early night looking forward to getting our 7 day buffalo hunt started in the am.

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Cannot wait for rest of report!

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

Great Buff! Congratulations !

 

[Rare Breed]

Awesome buff!!!

 

[gillettehunter]

Tough looking bull. Nice bosses on him. Well done. Good one to get.
Bruce

 

[Randy F]

What a great old bull! Congratulations!!

 

[VertigoBE]

Congratulations ! Well done, thanks for sharing! Hope there is much more to come!

 

[Frederik]

Keep it coming!!!

 

[BJONES]

That is a great buffalo! Waiting for the rest of the report!

 

[cls]

Great old buffalo, now the rest of the story......

 

[MAdcox]

Great Buffalo! What a dream hunt, I've been waiting on this report since you told me you booked this hunt. Can't wait for the rest.

 

[cpr0312]

Day 3- Looking for wildebeest:

We go and check some new areas where the wildebeest are know to frequent. We spot 1 lone bull and decide to get out and make a stalk. We slowly make our way closer and closer to the bull who is continually feeding away from us. About 2 miles into the bush, we spot a few more wildebeest and a lot of zebra all together. We go from bush to bush low to the ground to try and get into a position to see what is there. By now, the bull we were tracking is mixed into the mass. We get to a spot where we can't go any further and wait. then some of the wildebeest start coming towards us. They come to about 30 yards and stop, feed, play fight, and lay in the shade. The whole time more and more start to come, we can't believe we haven't been made yest by sight or smell. I'd say about 25 WB were withing 30 yards of us, none of them the bull we want to see however. We look back in the opening, and there must be 50 Wb and another 30 plus zebra. Eventually the wind shifts and withing seconds all we see is a giant dust cloud. Pretty cool while it lasted thought!

Today the tsetse flies showed up and stayed the rest of the hunt, so time to burn elephant dung.

Late that day we would get on another lone bull and stalk another 4-5 miles. It was hot and humid today, so when we got back to camp, it was Serengeti and Kilimanjaro time!

We did see 2 lioness today under a tree, that was cool. Also quite a few elephant and a very nice kudu bull and Roosevelt sable bull. Oh yeah and a pack of wild dogs!!!! Talk about exciting to see.

 

[cpr0312]

Day 4- wildebeest quest

By this point I had started joking with JP and trackers that all the wildebeest must have moved back to Nyassaland in Moz because we aren't seeing the numbers we thought we should(minus yesterday's encounter with a large pack of cows and youngsters). They all get a kick out of it and say lets find the bulls who haven't left on vacation yet.

We get on a lone bull fairly early, but after about 2 miles of stalking the gig is up. Another nice bush lunch, this time buffalo schnitzel!

Late in the afternoon JP suggests we take a walk a few miles into the bush to a flat pan or opening he knows about where the wb, zebra, and hartebeest like to feed and hang out. Once we get back there and slowly scan the area, we see some movement a few hundred yards away. It is a small group of WB, 4 bulls. We make our way into position slowly. Luckily the wind is favorable and we get set up on the sticks. We have to wait on them to feed out a little further so I have a clear shot and not through thick brush.

JP identifies 2 of the bulls as good, luckily they are the first 2 coming towards the clearing. He says to me, whichever one presents itself first take it. What seemed like 10 minutes was probably about 1 minute, but finally the first one cleared, hard quartering to put a perfect shot and no concerns for the .375. Squeeze and the wb drops in his tracks, doens't move, doesn't even kick. The other bull is stunned and is looking at him like what are you doing. The other bull is still confused even while we are walking up, finally he bolts. Folks, I knew Nyassa WB sere stunning and beautiful, but I has no clue how stunning until I got up to the bull!

Notice the lump on his shoulder, yep that's the A frame and I cant wait to see this one. The bullet had entered near shoulder, completely destroyed everything inside, and landed on the far shoulder. When the trackers were gutting him, they could not believe the job the Federal Premium did. By the way it did the same thing to the buffalo and they were in awe with the job it did on him also.

The mane and tail on this wb are just incredible. Another amazing day in the Selous comes to an end. Time to celbrate with another great dinner and cocktails

 

[Nyati]

Great buff, congrats

 

[MAdcox]

Nyasa WB is a very cool animal, congratulations!

 

[Edge]

Gorgeous Wildebeest, you are having a great hunt!

 

[cpr0312]

Day 5:

We spend the day looking for the warthog once again, hoping to either find him dead or alive, with no luck. We have searched for the past few days as well. We also look for bush pig and hyena sign as well. We look over quite a few waterholes, and typically spend out lunchtime at a waterhole to see if anything makes a mistake. We see plenty of cat tracks daily also, the leopard sign around the area is a plenty. Also quite a few lion tracks as well.

We make a few treks into waterholes the rest of the day with no luck. So its back to the camp for another wonderful dinner and a few drinks. Safari is another great tasting beer in TZ, all three beers we have in camp are quite good!

 

[CAustin]

Day 2

We start off this morning headed to the same area we saw the buffalo yesterday, hoping to get a glimpse of that nice bull we were on yesterday. No luck, only lots and lots of zebra. we then head to a waterhole know to have buffalo and pigs. We stop on the road and walk about 200 yards. One of the trackers says mbogo, and the blood immediately starts going. We make sure we work the wind and walk around the bush downwind and come into the water from the far side of where we saw the buffalo.

Once we get in we only see the 1 bull, already laying down in the tall grass with some muddy water. He was feeding but had now laid down as the sun is fully out and starting to get hot. We can see his horns glistening in the sun and a few birds on and off of them. based on the side we can see, he looks pretty good and has the shape that I am really looking for. We are at a tree in the bush probably about 70 yards away from him. occasionally he turns his head and we think he is getting up.This goes on for an hour. Eventually he turns and re-positions himself, where we can see him clearly. JP and I discuss in depth about his age, his shape, the position we are in( great wind, in his bedroom without him knowing, etc). We still don't know 100% what he looks like until he stands. I can see he has a chunk of boss missing which to me is really cool character.

He stands and gives us the straight on look, but still doesn't know we are there. We have a few more seconds of discussion, and I decide this is not a bull I would pass on day 6 or 7, that coupled with his shape and character, it was time to act. He was broadside and I have a really good rest. Squeeze right on the shoulder, he takes 2 steps, hunches down like he doesn't want to move. We both know this was a good shot. I put another in behind the ribs going for the far shoulder now. It hits hard and he is definitely not moving now. Though as many of us know, buffalo are honery and don't give up. He takes 2 steps toward the bush and I put one in the back hip, which drops him. We are all smiles now! We cautiously approach and sure enough he is a tough old guy, make a try to get to his feet, so i put another in him. he drops in his tracks and seconds later the death bellow! So glad I got to hear this, and my first buffalo did not bellow.

When we get to him and see how coated in mud he was, the first thing that comes to mind is this is a true dagga boy, complete with mud caked all over. I am elated and honored to be able to take a lone old bull like this in the Selous! A true dream come true, the rest of the hunt is just gravy now!

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By the time we get him loaded up its noontime, we head back to camp to celebrate. the rest of the day is a blur, we looked for more wildebeest and pigs with no luck.

Here are a few of the rounds we pulled form him. No surprise the 300 grain Federal Premium A Frames performed perfectly once again.
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Fine looking Buff Charles! Good talking to you this evening.

 

[cpr0312]

Day 6- Zebra day

I had debated on whether or not to go after a zebra, as I have 2 rugs already. This being the EA Zebra with no shadow stripes, I convinced myself to go after one

We have seen many zebra daily, so I figured now that I wanted one, they would be hard to find. For the first part of the day they were, and we were able to get on a few small groups late in the afternoon. After a few failed attempts, we got the wind right and one stallion that stayed curious just long enough. We snuck around the thick brush, and he stayed back while his harem took off. He was chest on at about 75 yards. I squeezed and he dropped in his tracks, kicked once and that was it! The Federal Premiums have delivered once again!

We hurried back to camp to try to get a hyena bait hung before dark and then try to drag the road and sit on the bait.

We were able to do so and sit, but no luck. Another great day in Africa!!

 

[neckdeep]

Spectacular looking Zebra, be glad you added another rug!!