ZIMBABWE: Elephant & Leopard In Zimbabwe - Cancellation Hunt Report

[Green Chile]

You know I thought we would have problems with snakes since it was pretty hot but we only saw spoor of 1 puff adder away from camp and nothing in camp. There were a lot of rock kopjes near camp where I expected there to be snakes but we didn't have any in camp or on the roads. We sure walked through a lot of high grass and I always went second or third in line!!!

We tried to bait some bush pigs out of those kopjes and had a few small ones around but didn't find the big boys. Not really any klippies around either but it was fun to see the baboons and dassies on the rocks sunning.

 

[K-man]

Beautiful tusks! Probably need to revise my earlier estimate down to about 53 and 5o lbs. Hard to tell about how long the nerve is. How about the teeth? one or one and one/half molars? Still a beautiful elephant!

 

[Green Chile]

View attachment 562209

These are what I have for recovered NF's, 23 animal's from Klipspringer to Giraffe including a couple Buffalo and one very large Eland. The bullets on the right came from the Eland and Giraffe and where mostly finishing shot's I believe. I also saw a soft (300 gr SS)under the offside skin on a Zebra on that same trip but didn't get that bullet back. The ones on the left came from a Mozambique buffalo that was hopped up on 6hours of adrenaline after a poor first shot on my part ( a 300 gr NF FNS right through the neck a couple inches above his spine). I believe to this day that if I would have used a soft ( 300 gr NF SS) the outcome would have came to a conclusion much faster. Much more blood to follow than a solid zipping straight through. I like the riveting bullet's better, leave more hydrostatic shock on the way through.

Interesting. Say, how do you recover bullets from a klippie?

 

[PARA45]

Did you get the NF bullets from NF directly?

 

[Green Chile]

Yes direct from the US source along with some load data.

 

[PARA45]

Is this report over?

 

[Green Chile]

Not quite...report on ivory registration coming from Zim Parks...hopefully today!

 

[PARA45]

 

[Green Chile]

Outfitter took the ivory to Zim Parks. His message to me was "this scale is really dodgy...I don't think it's right but it says 44 pounds."

The lowest estimate by those who handled the ivory was 46 lbs and the top end was 52 lbs. We are somewhere in that range. Whatever the weight is, I'm very pleased to have had the experience and taken this old bull, estimated to be 45-50 years old.

 

[R.M.C.]

I laugh every time I read Nick Nolte. Can’t help but to think this….
View attachment 561868

+1 hahaha

 

[David Spain]

Outfitter took the ivory to Zim Parks. His message to me was "this scale is really dodgy...I don't think it's right but it says 44 pounds."

The lowest estimate by those who handled the ivory was 46 lbs and the top end was 52 lbs. We are somewhere in that range. Whatever the weight is, I'm very pleased to have had the experience and taken this old bull, estimated to be 45-50 years old.

You must be really proud of the bull you took.
To take an old bull of 44 pounds it’s really difficult in Zimbabwe nowadays, so I completely understand you feel very pleased with the experience and the elle.
I hope you can take the tusks to your country and enjoying seeing and touching them like I do with mines.
Once again, congratulations. Great job.

 

[Green Chile]

Thank you. Yes, very proud of the bull and the way in which we took him. Proper bull...proper hunt. I admit to the hunter's luck on this hunt in several ways. Great memories!

 

[BRICKBURN]

I think that scale is certainly dodgy. I’m going with the guys who put their hands on the ivory for weight.

No matter the weight, what a hunt.

 

[Green Chile]

Thank you. It was an incredible hunt.

As an interesting point, the PHs said they were being conservative at 46-48 lbs...the skinner and also the lead tracker said 50-52.

 

[Sideshow]

Great question and I meant to show that earlier. I really liked our camp. It was basic, no frills but EVERY time we came back into camp I said, we're home! It was a tented camp with a good flush toilet (gravity feed) and hot showers (gravity feed also). Meals weren't fancy but were tasty venison, etc. We did have one luxury...ice for drinks! I was jazzed about that since it was so hot during this hunt. We went over one day to a different side of the concession that had the little chalets, swimming pool, etc. I was kind of happy to get back to our private little tent camp under the trees with baboons in the yard and elephants feeding at night.

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Yeah that’s more like it!!!
Propper camp. Loved the taped up light switch on the shower
Its okay it’s outside the wet zone
Yeah good fire pit just love the smell of mopane best bushman’s tv right there, want to change the channel? Chuck on another log!
Lucky to have ice. We used to bury our beer pour water on the top light a fire next to it the shift this on top the evaporation cooled them down a bit.
Moving the fire and digging them out again made you more thirsty
Clients got a kick out of it though….hey this is actually cool??wtf

Thanks for this trip report…..I just hope whoever cancelled doesn’t read it

 

[Altitude sickness]

I guessed 48 and 53 so I think your tracker and skinner are right on :>)))))

 

[Green Chile]

It's kind of interesting...when you pick them both up, you can't tell which one is heavier. They are pretty close to being the same weight. The shorter one is slightly thicker in taper...and very little taper at that.

 

[R.M.C.]

Yeah that’s more like it!!!
Propper camp. Loved the taped up light switch on the shower
Its okay it’s outside the wet zone
Yeah good fire pit just love the smell of mopane best bushman’s tv right there, want to change the channel? Chuck on another log!
Lucky to have ice. We used to bury our beer pour water on the top light a fire next to it the shift this on top the evaporation cooled them down a bit.
Moving the fire and digging them out again made you more thirsty
Clients got a kick out of it though….hey this is actually cool??wtf

Thanks for this trip report…..I just hope whoever cancelled doesn’t read it

Very good point, I'd hate to be the guy who cancelled hahaha!!

 

[IronRanger]

Thanks so much for an excellent report, shaming all of us poor writers! Really enjoyed the read, touched me. I just pulled my stands today on a unsuccessful bear/bait hunt in MN. Hunting old, smart, males is HARD. You had an epic hunt that ended as a hunt... wanting more but at peace with the result.

 

[gillettehunter]

Great report and some fine animals. Well done.
Bruce