ZIMBABWE: March 2023 Amadundamela Forest Reserve Management Elephant Bull Hunt With CMS Safaris

[WAB]

Outstanding sir!

 

[PARA45]

More pictures please. We want more.

 

[Glennb51]

A great and well written story!

Thank you

 

[Longwalker]

Regarding teeth/body condition, he was on his fifth set of molars, all teeth were in place. Sixth set was still in reserve, so the "tooth theory" was investigated and dismissed. Maybe he was just a grumpy old cuss. I can relate to that.

 

[Longwalker]

One more photo, for perspective. I'm standing where I shot from, the little backpack is just a little closer to me than where Alan was standing. Our first 2 shots actually passed in front of the brain because he had tipped his head so far downward in order to crush us. Even though neither of our first shots hit the brain, we had fired big enough bullets with enough energy to stun him and make him stumble. A .416 and a .470 hitting near the brain simultaneously was enough to give us a little time. I'm glad I didn't choose to rent the .375 H&H I was offered. I know a .375 is normally adequate, but there was NO room for error here, and even though we shot "poorly" we got away with our lives. It was a very close brush with catastrophe.

 

[PARA45]

Question, the meat didn't spoil by leaving the elephant in the forest overnight?

 

[Longwalker]

Question, the meat didn't spoil by leaving the elephant in the forest overnight?

I think "spoil" is a relative term. The meat we ate from the topside "rib steaks" was excellent in kebabs and stew. I enjoyed the taste. No taint at all. Not "gamey" - whatever you might think that means. The meat on the side of the carcass nearest the ground was full of blood and so was quite dark, but had no bad smell when deboned. Hygiene during the butchering and processing was casual at best!

We harvested the meat that we wanted to eat early in the butchering process, used clean knives and hands and placed it in nice clean containers.

The strips of meat that we saw drying in the sun back at camp would not be something I would eat unless I was very hungry! Some of it smelled bad and had some flies landing on it. But the local people appreciated it very much.

 

[Sideshow]

Just for those that don’t no. In regards to rural Africans and a meat diet, most would be lucky to get one meal of meat a week.
They also have quite the strong constitution. As in they can eat stuff that you and would turn green on. Think it has more to do with them being used to the local bacteria.
I can see that in the photo above he dose look a little on the skinny side.
If that’s his poo though it dose look like it’s not been digested thoroughly.
I know that depends on what he had been eating.
Anyway once again thanks for sharing your hunt.
How are you going to top that?

Actually what did you do with the rest of your time there?
Cheers S

 

[Longwalker]

Since we shot the elephant the first day, we had most of a week to simply enjoy. The rest of the time was spent casually hunting a Wildebeest and Impala, getting lessons from the trackers in bushcraft & tracking and identifying birds and flowers and such, and hunting wild honey. We had such a fun time! No pressure, we did what we felt like every day. I got to track elephants with the best coaches in the world for one afternoon. And track Impala another morning. The crew was especially accommodating to my wife, who is vey interested in wild flowers, plants and trees. Nyathi was a fountain of knowledge and knows the English name, Latin name, and Shona name of most any plant we asked about. And food and medicinal uses. Criton is a wild honey hunter in the off season. He showed us his skills. We actually followed a legendary Honeyguide bird to a wild bee hive. The legend is true! That was as interesting as anything I've ever done in the bush. Also harvested honey from the stingless Mopane bees. I recommend such activities to anyone who wants to have a full cultural experience in the African bush.

 

[Sideshow]

Yeah man you got too see some real Africa!
Nice going!

Love the 2nd photo……it’s why they don’t have bush fires there
Dont think they would have been in season but did you try any Mopane worms?

 

[geoff rath]

Fantastic photos!! This is the REAL Africa!
When my hunt was finished, I was offered the choice of a wedding and a couple days touristing in Cape Town, or a couple of days in Kruger.
Kruger was fantastic!!

 

[MarkB]

Since we shot the elephant the first day, we had most of a week to simply enjoy. The rest of the time was spent casually hunting a Wildebeest and Impala, getting lessons from the trackers in bushcraft & tracking and identifying birds and flowers and such, and hunting wild honey. We had such a fun time! No pressure, we did what we felt like every day. I got to track elephants with the best coaches in the world for one afternoon. And track Impala another morning. The crew was especially accommodating to my wife, who is vey interested in wild flowers, plants and trees. Nyathi was a fountain of knowledge and knows the English name, Latin name, and Shona name of most any plant we asked about. And food and medicinal uses. Criton is a wild honey hunter in the off season. He showed us his skills. We actually followed a legendary Honeyguide bird to a wild bee hive. The legend is true! That was as interesting as anything I've ever done in the bush. Also harvested honey from the stingless Mopane bees. I recommend such activities to anyone who wants to have a full cultural experience in the African bush. View attachment 523466View attachment 523457View attachment 523447View attachment 523452View attachment 523459View attachment 523462View attachment 523463View attachment 523464

Now that is Safari, most get too caught up in completing lists to see everything else. Dam good job.

MB

 

[Mats Bergholm]

Longwalker,
Thank you for a fantastic hunting report and that you and the hunting team survived to tell the story.

As I consider your hunting report the best well written report i have read, some question arise around how do you register all details? Do you write on daily basis when you come back from the hunt before shower and dinner, or do you take notes during the hunt like record with your mobile phone? How long time do you spend memorise each days hunt? I'm preparing to hunt Loxodonta Africana in a year's time, and would like to record, written whith photos the hunt just like you have done. What a great trophy that would be.

Cheers

 

[Longwalker]

Mats, thanks for the compliment! All this praise is going to swell my head! The experience was so special to me I can recall most things without notes. But I was also fortunate to have recorded an interview with our trackers, Nyathi and Criton ( a voice memo on my phone) , about the events of the day of the elephant hunt. I did learn a few things from their perspective that I would have forgotten or missed. Photos also help me to remember things since each digital photo has a date and time record. The main body of this report was typed with one finger on my iPad while waiting in airports or on the planes during the long trip home.

 

[Mats Bergholm]

Thanks Longwalker!

 

[trperk1]

Great story and even better hunt! Thanks for sharing

 

[medvedhunting]

When we went back the next morning to butcher and haul meat, and my wife took this picture after some brush had been cleared away. I'm standing in the spot where I was when he charged. He rolled over towards my right as he died, so head and trunk was actually a bit closer during the shooting ...View attachment 523323

never to be forgotten for sure.

 

[medvedhunting]

thank you so much. the bush life is even better and reminded any minute i had when i lived and worked in CAR: for that thank you again.

the best honey i ever had and as a kid my family produced some honey.