ZIMBABWE: Almost 12 Days In The Omay, The Nyakasanga Special With Dalton &York Safaris

[Backyardsniper]

Two days left in the hunt.

 

[mdwest]

I was a bit envious yesterday...

Now I am straight up jealous and completely green with envy...

I had my sights set on a PAC hippo for this years trip.. but (as expected) mr hippo has moved on from the place he was causing problems a month or so ago and is back in a protected area.. so no PAC permit is available for him...

hippo is definitely on my future short list...

 

[Backyardsniper]

Day 11 A Day of Total Relaxation


Having now killed pretty much everything on my list and then some, we decided it would be a good opportunity to take another day to sleep in and fish. We left out in the boat around 8:30 and fished until noon with no luck. The wind was awful! It was blowing against the flow of the river which was truly making a mess of things, so at lunch we decided just to go catfishing at the pond in front of the lodge. Parking the land cruiser by the levee we rolled out the folding chairs and baited the hooks. Not a fish was caught that day but it was a great day of fishing. Dinner that night was on the river where the lodge crew cooked some local specialties. A very dense version of grits meant to be eaten by hand, more or less patted into a spade shape between the thumb and three fingers and used as a delivery vessel for all the other goodies on the plate which included but was not limited to, a version of greens mixed with peanut butter, grilled meats of all sorts, chilli paste and a number of other goodies. I treated the food the same way I had treated the Gin that day, I ate until I was thoroughly miserable!


There is one last hunt to be told, it will be coming soon. It was the best last day of a hunt you could ask for!

 

[Backyardsniper]

Day 12. The Impala and the 2 pipe



Being in no particular hurry that day, we left camp around 9:00 to head out to the skinning shed and pass out some gratuity to the skinning and recovery crew and in the process we decided to make a last day go at an Impala. I love impala, to me they represent Africa, they're on every TV show and documentary you see. I think they are beautiful creatures. However, they are plentiful and apparently not overly blessed with intelligence because, let's face it, they aren't hard to kill. So, in an attempt to make this a little more sporting, I thought let's kill one with the old 2 pipe, that should make it sporting enough. It turned into one of the most exciting hunts of the whole trip!

We dismounted on the first batch of impala and made a great stalk. For probably 20 minutes we maneuvered and stayed within 40 to 70 yards of this small herd and got on the stick numerous times but, we could never get one in just the right position where he was clear of the others, and clear of the brush, and standing still! The wind finally sent this bunch on their way and we moved on down the road. It was about 45 minutes later when we spotted another bunch, off we went again, sneaking, crouching, cursing the wind and the baboons. We had all but given up on this bunch when York and I decided to make a dicey play at getting around an open spot and trying to put a bush between us and them so we could make some ground. This is where it got real interesting. With a good bit of sneaking and a whole lot of luck provided by the ram chasing one of the females for a few minutes, which allowed us to get into position, we now found ourselves about 60 yards from the whole herd, who were all milling about in a small grove of bushes.

It was almost noon on the dot when the sticks went up and I mounted the double. Soon this ram would make a fatal error and step into the open and I would seal the deal. I mean, right, it's an impala, he is gonna screw up, he will walk out here all Willy Nilly in just a minute, bang flop, we will wrap this up. Now it was 12:15, seriously, the females milled about, he would move from one side to the other occasionally, never showing himself. 12:30, come on man! He stepped into view but with a half dozen others behind him, no clear shot. My feet burned, my nose itched, my damn arms were going to sleep, York's knee was hurting. 12:45, you know that feeling when you are on a patrol and you can feel a sniper's crosshairs crawling on your back? For those that don't know, that's how that works, for every one guy a sniper shoots he will screw with the minds of 100. One guy gets it, and from then on you are looking over your shoulder wondering if he is out there looking at you. Well right about now old Shumba the Lion was the sniper in the back of my mind. We have been standing here for 45 minutes, what if he was sneaking up behind us right now? Your mind does funny things when it has idle time on its hands. We had seen a couple of lions right here in this very area, and now they were living in my head rent free. 13:00 now this is just ridiculous a female came out in the open and laid down, the ram walked around her but he was blocked by brush and at least a half a dozen others. The female got up and moved and now he stepped into the clear. This might be it, this might actually go down! He laid down, "I hate you so much" I said to the little impala, this is just ridiculous! There was one female with her leg behind him, that was all we needed, if she moves that leg then this mission is a green light! 50 yards and he was laying down facing me, I was about to send a totally unnecessary 500 grain bullet through him from stem to stern!

13:30 "Now take him, right in the chest." One hour and thirty minutes almost exactly from when I put the rifle on the sticks I jerked the trigger and blew dirt all over that impala. I was inconsolable, I was unpleasant to be around, I was about to get really, really unpleasant to be around when York shushed me and took off toward a tree, I tried to make the worlds most covert on the move reload while we were headed to this other tree for whatever reason, I was not sure. I had just touched off 110 grains of H4831sc and it was really loud and I was pretty confident that there was not any targetry left in this zip code. York swung to the right of the tree and popped up the sticks, I obliged by putting the gun on the stick, still not 100% sure what the plan was here as I stepped around to square myself up behind the ridiculously unnecessary rifle that I had brought for the task of killing this probably not very dangerous impala ram. I'll be damned! There he stood! Broadside! With his head behind a tree, not 40 yards away! In the clear with no other impala blocking my shot and no bushes in the way, he stood there gift wrapped for me like that christmas present that you had always wanted! Perhaps he was mocking me? Maybe he just didn't see me as a threat anymore after that display of marksmanship I had offered just a second ago? Whatever his reasoning, it was a mistake, this ram had just earned himself a one-way ticket to Kentucky by way of Woodbury taxidermy! I centered the red dot 1/3 of the way up his shoulder and I cleaved his tiny impala heart smoothly in half!

If you think the lowly impala is not a worthwhile trophy I will have to wholeheartedly disagree. That little fella will forever be one of my favorite trophies!

 

[Backyardsniper]

The Final Chapter

So ends this saga that was my first Safari! I appreciate you fellows taking time to read it and I truly hope I made it a worthwhile read for you. The succuess of this hunt would not have been possible without the help and sage wisdom of the AH crew and especially Michelle Buchanon! There are so many guys that helped me out with advice and tips that I can't possibly remeber all of them. I would like to thank the following guys for taking the time to help me with questions about everything from gear selection to shot placement and everytning in between.

@TOBY458 for debauchery and reloading advice
@BeeMaa for help with equiptment selection
@dchum for firearms surrender form
@deewayne2003 wayne2003 for all his help
@Inline6 for all the good advice
@buck wild for being @buckwild
@rinehart0050 for all the help and advice
@Medicine inspiring me to write the report
@krish for all the 470 brass
@BnC 04 for loaning the DVDs to me
@mdwest for advice and training encouragement
@Flewis for all the help and just generally being a nice guy
@ay2626 for the deal on the double, without which I could never have completed the dream of hunting Africa with a double.

 

[schmijar]

rifle on the sticks I jerked the trigger and blew dirt all over that impala

You especially killed me with this one! Ha, thanks for the great stories.

 

[Fatback]

I just have to say again, what a tremendous safari. Full of adventure, great folks and wonderful trophies to remember it all by. You accomplished more on your first safari than alot of people do on many safaris, myself included. Congrats and thank you for taking us along on your adventure.

 

[Graham Hunter]

Excellent report. Thankyou!

 

[Riksa]

Fantastic safari and even better story telling by you! Thank you for the story.

 

[cls]

Great story telling, thank you. You had an amazing first safari.

 

[godwincp]

You certainly had an outstanding adventure and your story telling was way at the top of all the great reports I’ve read. Having spent 14 days in this region your report brought back a lot of great memories of this truly wild region of Africa. If at all possible AH members should spend some time there!

 

[Justhunt]

Great report! Congratulations on a great safari. Very good story telling, thanks for sharing.

 

[PARA45]

What a great adventure, and your written report made me feel like I was walking behind you. Well done sir and thank you for taking us along.

Question, what are you going to do with the animals taken? Is the ele exportable?

 

[Mekaniks]

Great report!! Thank You

 

[Backyardsniper]

What a great adventure, and your written report made me feel like I was walking behind you. Well done sir and thank you for taking us along.

Question, what are you going to do with the animals taken? Is the ele exportable?

The elephant was non exportable, for some I think that is a big deal, for me it is not such a big deal. I would love to be able to bring part of it home, but the pictures and the memories will suffice. The Eland, Kudu, and impala will get shoulder mounts. The Hippo skin is expensive to ship due to weight so I went with only a skull mount for the hippo. You have to cut corners somewhere. The hyena I think will get a full body. I used Safari Specialty Importers for the shipping and I'm having it sent to Woodbury for the taxidermy. I had hoped.to avoid a huge taxidermy bill but, with the stuff I shot I almost couldn't justify not mounting it.

 

[buck wild]

Man I’m so happy for you. I know there were some tense moments leading up to it, but in the end, all worth it.

 

[Backyardsniper]

Man I’m so happy for you. I know there were some tense moments leading up to it, but in the end, all worth it.

I certainly was!

 

[Medicine]

Who knew @Backyardsniper was Shakespeare in a big man's body? Thank you for bringing us along.

 

[WMU05]

This is one of my favorite hunt reports. Well done! Congratulations on a great safari, and thanks for sharing.

 

[Backyardsniper]

Who knew @Backyardsniper was Shakespeare in a big man's body? Thank you for bringing us along.

Ha ha. I tried my best.