ZIMBABWE: Charlton McCallum Safaris Oct 2021

[375Fox]

Wow that is a gorgeous Eland! Is that a Livingstone's Eland?

Congratulations! and Wow again!

I’m actually not sure if they are classed as a Livingstone there or not. Definitely appears to be one to me though. I just knew I was hunting eland.

 

[375Fox]

I used a 375 H&H with 300 grain bullets on this hunt. I think a scoped 375 is perfect for this hunting. From what I saw most shots are going to be between 50-100 yards with some brush in between, just like the kudu circled in red on the first page. Even though a 300 mag will easily kill many of the animals I took, I wouldn’t expect a lighter faster bullet to reliably make it there. I took 30 300 grain trophy bonded bear claws and 30 300 grain woodleigh protected points because that’s what I was able to obtain for ammo this year and they shot the same point at all distances. The trophy bonded bear claws performed perfectly every time and may have become my favorite bullet even over Swift A Frames. The woodleighs were very soft. I wouldn’t consider a woodleigh soft point on a buffalo at 375 H&H velocities after this. I used TBBCs only until buffalo was down, then tried to switch to woodleighs. I started putting a TBBC as the first shot after seeing the woodleigh’s performance.
1. Woodleigh fragments pulled from a roan shot at 70 yards. Potentially from 2 bullets. Both bullets did pass through.

2. Trophy bonded bear claw from eland 50/60 yards

3. Trophy bonded bear claw on left shot kudu 75 yards and woodleigh shot same kudu at 50 yards on right

4. Trophy bonded bear claw shot at kudu 70 yards and Trophy bonded bear claw shot at kudu up close to finish off kudu

 

[375Fox]

Travel - I flew Ethiopian. All went good. I checked in with United. My first flight on Ethiopian was at Dulles. I used @TRAVEL EXPRESS for the flights, all arrangements were organized perfectly. Jennifer sent me clear instructions prior to the flight and I made sure to follow them. United wasn’t concerned with firearm when I checked in, but Jennifer had sent me Ethiopian gun declaration forms and instructed me to bring multiple copies. When I got to gate at Dulles, I let gate agent know I had a firearm. She wanted copies for their procedures and my gun was waiting for me in Addis Ababa. I think this is where someone could make a mistake just assuming your firearm is fully checked in on partner airline. At Addis Ababa, an Ethiopian employee was waiting for me and two other hunters with a sign to go through our rifles. They wanted copy passport and copy 4457 to confirm serial numbers then good to go. I was delivered to my next gate. My rifle made it to Harare.
On return, Ethiopian gun declaration in Harare, no issues here. When I got to Addis Ababa, no one was waiting off plane or in airport. I had to find someone to help me post security, but they were helpful, and got me to correct person, and we did same procedure as flying in. I did not have any time to spare this time around though. 9 pm was a very busy time in Addis Abba. My rifle made it to Dulles, but this was a bit of a process. I told customs I had a firearm. I went to secondary and waited on rifle to be brought in. They needed to confirm rifle wasn’t in their system as stolen, which I hadn’t seen before. Once my rifle arrived, officer confirmed serial number against 4457 and I was allowed to temporarily leave secondary to retrieve my checked bag. I had to return to secondary and wait on Ethiopian employee to walk me to United counter with rifle. At United counter, rifle was rechecked, and their employee had to walk rifle to TSA with me. It went fine, but probably a 1.5 hour process at Dulles, not quick. My rifle and bags did make it home, so no complaints. Flying Ethiopian was my only real option, flying Emirates wasn’t practical from any nearby airports for me.
I found a same day RT-PCR test with arc point labs for 48 hours prior to departure. I got my results no issues. They wanted to see it checking in, at Dulles, and in Harare, no questions were asked about it. Leaving, CMS arranged a doctor to come to hotel in Harare in the evening and results were waiting at front desk for me next morning before my flight. They asked to see test at Harare and at Dulles, no questions asked here either.
I was very stressed about travel, but it was really as simple as showing a covid test in addition to your passport. Other than showing a covid test as additional documentation, it was the same as any travel I’ve ever done.

 

[375Fox]

I really like my 4 stable sticks shooting sticks and brought them with me. I was really glad to see Alan was using his own quad sticks. Alan said he wanted me to use my sticks during hunt. We did a couple practice set ups and everything went great during trip. I’ve wrote this in other posts but I really feel these sticks are as fast as a tripod but much more accurate with some practice. I had very very short shot windows on this hunt and made them all work. Biggest change using quad sticks is focusing on getting the back of the rifle into the sticks and not the front. The front will simply fall into place. Then learning to hold sticks and sling instead of forearm of rifle to give you the ability to pivot. I’ve never been able to get comfortable with a tripod and these sticks give me a lot of confidence. This hunt definitely proved to me they are equally fast as a tripod. I’m starting to see them in more photos and hope they’ll keep getting more popular.

 

[375Fox]

Last thing I’ll add to this report is what I would have done differently now. 16 days is a lot in one area, even with a great hunt like I had. I had option to move to a camp in the north at any time I chose. I also had option to hunt a croc along the river in the east. Both would have given a significant change. I was really hopeful we could get a bushpig, so we stayed in the core hunting area until the last day. I think now, I should have asked we go to the fishing camp on the Zambezi for the final two days. I would have liked to seen a new area and caught a big tiger fish, but that will have to be for a different trip.

 

[Andrew Short]

Sept 22 Day 2 - We start day at 0530 after breakfast and head to solar pan south of camp where we followed the 8 buffalo yesterday. Alan and trackers (Maplan and Martin) find tracks right away and decide to follow again. The wind is very strong this morning. We follow the tracks not too far, maybe 2 miles, and bump herd. They run and we get a partial look at them. They appear to be walking with wind now after we bumped them, but luckily they turn. We continue tracking them and Alan spots a buffalo in the thick stuff about 100 yards away. We are really lucky the wind is really blowing today. We move with the wind and it covers our noise in the dry grass and dry leaves. We crawl on our hands and knees to about 50 yards then start scooting in. We get to about 30 yards, but can only see a couple buffalo. Alan stands using a tree and sees a nice bull laying down facing us. He gets sticks set and has me stand. He says when it stands shoot if you have a good shot and if not let it run. I get on sticks and it stands immediately and I shoot, very clearly a broken shoulder. I couldn’t shoot again because of herd (maybe 10 buffalo some bulls and 4 cows without calves). I’m shaking good trying to reload and Alan says we will give it 20 minutes, but then we hear it fall 100 yards away and move in. It’s up, I put in another shot facing away. Then a couple insurance shots into heart lungs. We have a buffalo down 0900 in morning. I really never thought this would be a successful stalk because of the amount of noise with leaves and grass and how thick it was. Bull measures right at 39” and Alan thinks 11 or 12 years old, perfect bull. Attached are photos of bull and Alan looking at herd from about 50 yards. I thought this stalk was never going to work so I might as well get a photo of it!
View attachment 429666View attachment 429667View attachment 429668View attachment 429669View attachment 429670We head back to camp for lunch and rest until later in afternoon. We check out some pans still holding water along Mozambique border. We find buffalo tracks at most water holes, your normal plains game, and some roan tracks at some water holes. We see some kudu bulls, impala, and duikers and check my camera at Nemwa. Concern at this point is the strong winds and fires. It may badly affect our hunting if they burn the area around our remaining water pans. Luckily our camp manager Alpha and his anti-poaching team gets them put out and they never cross the road. End of day 2, great day.

Congratulations on a fine Buffalo!

 

[WAB]

Great hunt and great report!

 

[TwoTracks]

Congratulations on such a fine safari and spectacular animals. Thank you for taking the time to share it with us.

 

[TRAVEL EXPRESS]

Travel - I flew Ethiopian. All went good. I checked in with United. My first flight on Ethiopian was at Dulles. I used @TRAVEL EXPRESS for the flights, all arrangements were organized perfectly. Jennifer sent me clear instructions prior to the flight and I made sure to follow them. United wasn’t concerned with firearm when I checked in, but Jennifer had sent me Ethiopian gun declaration forms and instructed me to bring multiple copies. When I got to gate at Dulles, I let gate agent know I had a firearm. She wanted copies for their procedures and my gun was waiting for me in Addis Ababa. I think this is where someone could make a mistake just assuming your

Thanks for a great detailed report @375Fox , and for the plug!!

 

[Jeff505]

I really like my 4 stable sticks shooting sticks and brought them with me. I was really glad to see Alan was using his own quad sticks. Alan said he wanted me to use my sticks during hunt. We did a couple practice set ups and everything went great during trip. I’ve wrote this in other posts but I really feel these sticks are as fast as a tripod but much more accurate with some practice. I had very very short shot windows on this hunt and made them all work. Biggest change using quad sticks is focusing on getting the back of the rifle into the sticks and not the front. The front will simply fall into place. Then learning to hold sticks and sling instead of forearm of rifle to give you the ability to pivot. I’ve never been able to get comfortable with a tripod and these sticks give me a lot of confidence. This hunt definitely proved to me they are equally fast as a tripod. I’m starting to see them in more photos and hope they’ll keep getting more popular.

Great report and great hunt. The quad sticks are a really stable platform. I hunted with Alan last month and it was my first time using them. I was surprised and pleased at all the game you saw, I had heard that the Dande was more of a dangerous game area and not particularly known for plains game.

 

[cpr0312]

Great report, congrats and thanks for sharing!

 

[R.M.C.]

Damn that was a good read!! Sounds like a great hunt!! Thank you for sharing it!!
You can't go wrong with trophy bonded bullets in any caliber. They are extremely reliable

 

[vancewalker007]

I’m sitting in Harare now after just completing a really great safari. Here is a quick summary. Full report and photos to follow once I return home.

Outfitter: Charlton McCallum Safaris
PH: Alan Shearing
Concession: Dande East

Hunt Dates: Sept 21-Oct 6 2021
Arrive Sept 20 and Depart Oct 8

Rifle: 375 H&H Sako 85 with 1.5-5 Leupold
Ammo: Federal Premium Safari 300 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claws and 406 ammo 300 gr Woodleigh Protected Points

Game Taken: Buffalo, Sable, Roan, 2 kudu, impala, bushbuck, 3 hyena, eland

Game Seen: Buffalo, baboons, bushbuck, bushpig, duiker, eland, grysbok, hyena, impala, roan, jackal, kudu, sable, warthog

Addition game animals seen on trail camera: Elephant, Civet, porcupine, serval, honey badger

View attachment 429217View attachment 429218

I love the track and cartridge pict. Looks like a giant Kudu and a wide buff.

 

[375Fox]

Great report and great hunt. The quad sticks are a really stable platform. I hunted with Alan last month and it was my first time using them. I was surprised and pleased at all the game you saw, I had heard that the Dande was more of a dangerous game area and not particularly known for plains game.

From what Alan told me, a good general bag is possible in the east if you are there at the right time. Most of the pans had dried up concentrating the game near the remaining pans. The problem in the east is once the pans do dry up, there isn’t enough permanent water, and most of the animals will move across into Mozambique. The north has more permanent water from what I understand and more permanent game populations and a much higher quota. I did get lucky on my hunt though too, that was the first eland and first bushbuck ever taken in Dande East.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Congratulations on a fantastic hunt and report. I really like your bullet display with the write up!

 

[rinehart0050]

Great report! Congrats on all of your outstanding trophies!

 

[375Fox]

Great report! Congrats on all of your outstanding trophies!

Thanks. You set a really high standard for the Zimbabwe reports. I tried to do my best on this report.

 

[rinehart0050]

Thanks. You set a really high standard for the Zimbabwe reports. I tried to do my best on this report.

Thanks for your kind words! Great to see that hunting in Zimbabwe is back in full swing! Now is definitely the time to get out and hunt for those who have been holding back!

 

[Scott CWO]

Congrats on an awesome safari and good on you for still traveling through the COVID crap! It’s very doable with me the right mindset.

 

[Jörg Krüger]

Thank you for sharing your hunt. Another great read.
Especially love the Sable and 2nd Kudu. Rally stunning. Glad that you had a good time in Africa.