ZIMBABWE: Matetsi 2, Zimbabwe With Classic African Hunting

[SkullKeeper]

Great detailed report so far keep at it please.
Glad Stu is back in the game how is injury doing from the accident?

He is good to go !

 

[SkullKeeper]

(...sorry about the duplicate ele photo for Day 1 AM and PM report ... he was seen in PM. Sometimes it’s hard to keep the photos in order!)

 

[SkullKeeper]

Day 2

After listening to the hyenas first during the night, the lions took over about an hour later and started roaring - all of which was within 150 yards of camp, between 3AM and 5:30Am. When I officially got up the first thing I looked for was the shirt that I had on when I have taken all but one of my buffalo. After a short breakfast we were off to again to Secret Valley to try and pick up that 6 pack from the evening before. There was some water on the far side of the ridge where we last saw the buffalo and we put Davey and Gift out to walk the ridge line hoping they would either spot them in the valley on the other side or cut tracks. Stu and I drove around the front side of the ridge to another high spot about 1/2 mile away where we walked up and over and glassed that end of the huge valley. We saw zebra and waterbuck but no buff. Getting back to the truck we continued on, backtracking and driving slowly towards the water hole. We bumped a single young elephant bull that took off exactly where we were headed - we joked (not really) about the ele potentially spooking the buffalo. The young athletic bull ended up crossing the road and disappeared in the elephant grass going to opposite way. It was then that we got a call on the radio from Davey- he found where a single buffalo had bedded on the high ridge the night before and had a line on his track. Gift had come down to the road to meet us and Stu instructed him to carry my scoped 404 just in case we had a far shot, I of course carried my double loaded with a soft on the right, solid on the left. We made our way to the top and Davey showed us the evidence. The tracking began. As we figured, the buff was headed for the water. Stu glassed as we approached within several hundred yards. There was an old, thick horned bull sable standing on the hill just above the waterhole - a serious contender for a bullet If he had been on license. We followed the lone buff’s tracks into and out of the water, he was now walking and grazing. About 2 hours in we came across a “cow patty” that was barely dry on the surface - he was close!! I looked at Billion and pointed to it, he smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Not even 100 yards from that point Gift ducted, pointing forward. Stu glassed, got the sticks from Davey, and we formed the tight worm formation and inched forward. We were in fairly thick scrubby brush with scattered openings here and there- the perfect double rifle situation. We came up behind a bush after 50 yards of sneaking and Stu leaned out slowly. The binos went down and the sticks went up as he said “he’s an old bull, you need to shoot this one”. I eased the double in the V and whispered to Stu “where is he?” - that’s about when the buff came out from behind a small shroud of scrub brush right in front of me 35 yards away! He was still grazing and walking quartering towards us. It only took a second for the bead to find the shoulder and the bull flinched at the shot. He spun and started running away in a slight arc. Off the sticks I picked him up, trying to anticipate his turn and sent the solid. I knew it hit him as he went from second immediately into fourth gear. We caught a good glimpse of him about 100 yards out running hard to the left. Running to try and keep sight of him was in vain due to the thick patchy brush. We all still continued to hurry forward now wide eyed and rifles ready for whatever was about to go down. I was on Stu’s left as we moved into much more open ground 100 yards later. We stopped and as I was scanning left Stu slapped me on the shoulder as he said “congratulations!” and pointed straight ahead. There, under a small tree, I could see a large black mass and a horn sticking up sideways. We all had the traditional hand shakes and hugs then I took the precautious lead motioning everyone behind me as I moved around towards the back of the buff. Just for the assurance of deader than dead, and the fact that I just like shooting bullets, I put two solids in the spine between the shoulders...now... let the photos begin!!
There’s nothing like the feeling of a long successful tracking job and a dead buffalo - people can have all the crack they want and they still can’t match this emotional level. Sometimes you can’t even feel your feet on the ground ! I love it !
Davey retrieved the vehicle and we loaded everything up. Stu has his truck setup perfectly - I was very impressed with the design of the tailgate and roller system. With a celebratory orange drink in hand we headed for the skinning shed.

 

[Tucketed]

Well done, congratulations.

 

[Fatback]

Beautiful bull, well hunted. Congrats.

 

[PARA45]

Beautiful old bull, what a great hunt! Congrats!!!

 

[USN]

Very nice

 

[SkullKeeper]

 

[wvfred]

A great start to a wonderful hunt!

 

[SkullKeeper]

Day 2 (continued)

After asking Andrew (the skinner) to locate the bullet we walked up to camp and freshened up for lunch. I had a late morning coffee even though I was already jacked up from my morning hunt... it’s just something about coffee that makes me happy. Stu and I reflected on the mornings’ events (we all do that “re-live the moment” thing) and had lunch. I was way too wired for a nap so I took a tennis ball and some candy down to the skinning shed where Andrew’s son, age 5-6, was sitting to watch dad work. I got a big “THANK YOU” and a great smile for that little present ! The men had already skinned the buff down to his neck and Andrew showed me the offside lump under flesh. Making a quick cut he extracted the North Fork bullet and handed it to me. The lungs and liver were out and I examined them, as I always try to do an “autopsy” to learn what did what. The bullet had entered a bit further back than I liked but it still took out the center of the right lung and the rear of the left lung. That explained why he was able to make it 200 yards before he died. The second shot (solid) entered just below the left hip and actually exited mid-rib cage as the bull was making an initial series of sharp “slalom” turns upon the shot- I tried to lead into his turn but I failed so it accounted for nothing.
The afternoon plan was to get going at 4 PM and see what we could find. I still had another buff on license so anything was game so to speak. We saddled up and moved out and on our way to check some water points when we drove right past a small herd of buff emerging from some thick stuff. We never slowed down until a quarter mile past them. To get the wind right we dropped into a dry depression to go out and way around them. Successfully doing that we started our approach along the road edge in an ultra crouched position. We worked with what little cover we had to get within 70 yards of the buffalo. We scanned and scanned finally getting a look at all in the group (approximately 30) which took about 30 minutes- No shooters in there. We let them move off on there own so not to spook them. I still call that a successful hunt even though no shot was fired. He drove on to check water for tracks. When we came to the dead elephant area we slowed to scan for hyenas. As soon as we stopped and got out to walk to the elephant up popped a side-stripped jackal from the long grass 15 yards away. A nice sighting ! Stu did see a huge male lion track there, we carried on. Ran into impala and waterbuck a bit later and also saw some warthogs in 2 different areas. We made are way back to camp a bit earlier- it had been a great day. Nelson was waiting for our arrival with that beautiful Porto, and after enjoying a wonderful sable dinner I sat by the fire pit....Sometimes it’s all a bit overwhelming. I’ll just leave it at that.

 

[Sideshow]

Nice one good read!

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats on a nice bull!

 

[Desperatezulu]

Nicely done! Congrats!

 

[Nyati]

Great bull, congrats !

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Well done, a very nice old bull! And I second the positive thoughts on Stu, good to see him back in the game.

 

[Mort Hill]

How was the weather in Matetsi in December? I was considering an elephant hunt in that area but concerned that by December the rains may push the big bulls back to Botswana.

We did have a few days of rain storms. We were told up front that late season has its risk, but really rain was not a issue other than sitting out the heavy stuff until it moved through. It started out seeing a lot of ele and then a few days of only occasional sightings. But the rain allowed us to cut fresh spoor and wound up with my hunting partner taking a fine bull in the high 40s. Obviously, every year is different weather wise, but we were offered a great deal on a late season bull through an AH offer, and just to the risk and it paid off.

 

[VertigoBE]

Waidmannsheil on a great Buffalo, well done and thanks for sharing!
Looking forward to the rest of the story!

V.

 

[Wheels]

Good to see Stu Taylor up and around. Glad you are having a great hunt with him. Solid buff. Congratulations!

 

[Wheels]

@SkullKeeper I always thought the best thing we could do for Stu after the shooting was to book a hunt with him. My hats off to you for doing it!

 

[SkullKeeper]

Day 3

Having slept good with a buff under my belt I got up wondering what was in store today. The usual quick breakfast, a little coffee, and we were off. The teams’ smiles were still of satisfaction from the day before knowing they had done a great job- nothing makes a team work harder than a previous days success !
We hadn’t been 200 yards from camp and we drove up on a “grey house cat” sitting with his back to us in the left track. At 20 feet I then realized there are no house cats here - about the time Stu said if it was 15 minutes later in the day we would have a beautiful genet to go with the buff. I had never seen one before and it was a fascinating little creature! He tiptoed away gracefully as we eased past. We ran across some young kudu bulls early, as well as several dozen impala (no good rams though). We made way to yet another watering hole to check for buff tracks and just before that we encountered a big-to-me group of sable bulls (about 15-16). A few in there were respectable but not having one on license I had to force myself to partly cover my eyes. Stu showed me a hyena blind that we were going to sit one evening. We also saw a nice group of roan, also with some respectable bulls in it. Arriving at the water hole we pushed out a small herd of impala which had a good ram in it. We jumped out quickly with rifles and sticks in hand - hurrying for the last point of visual contact we noticed a female bushbuck and yearling - which stood there even as we ran past ..now why can’t a bushbuck ram just do that ?! We didn’t get far on the impala before Gift flicked his hand away in a quick motion indicating that the impala had run off rapidly. Back to the water for tracks of the bovine kind - nothing. Stu had intel on a bushbuck that we needed to try for so we headed that direction, in which we would pass another watering spot. We passed a rather large opening on the right that was full of zebra and roan. Hands over eyes once more as several roan looked very tempting. The second water hole was void of buff activity so off to bushbuckville we went. Parking far away from the thickly vegetated waterway we sneaked along the road edge trying to avoid popping gravel. We left Davey at the truck so he could drive down and pick us up later when radioed. With Gift’s eyes leading the way we slo-mo’ed our way along , jumping one small ram from underneath a mesh of small trees. Another 75 yards and our target busted out and uphill through an open burn just on the other side of this wall of trees and I-dare-you-to-try-and-shoot-through-here mess. Arghhh !! Stu radioed Davey asking did he see the bushbuck... Davey came back saying the ram ran right by the truck. I just shook my head and chuckled. Back to camp for lunch and a nap - it was getting hot by now.

Day 3 (continued)

Lunchtime always gave Lovemore the opportunity to over feed us in which he did a splendid job. I was slowly but surely turning into a viable lion bait. This was the afternoon that Stu got word from one of his good friends that was hunting in Tanzania- he had taken a fantastic buffalo and the photos confirmed just that. Stu and I both were happy for him ! Truly a bull of a lifetime. Heading out to wherever we were going we had to cross through a big “ditch” of still water. Suddenly there was violent tapping on the truck top above Stu - Davey was trying to tell us something NOW. As Stu killed the truck engine and flung the door open I caught a glimpse of the buffalo as it disappeared into the ditch 50 yards ahead of us. Grabbing the 404 handed to me by Gift I followed Stu out and around to get the wind right. We scurried up and ahead with peeled eyes. There along the edge of dense brush lining the ditch black shapes started to emerge 75 yards away. Stu put the sticks up and told me to get ready. There were multiple buff walking in and out of sight inside the short thick tree line. Stu glassed feverishly as the buff filtered through. He could see some were soft but others went by undetermined. No need to follow them as we wouldn’t have favorable wind but he already had a plan - drive up to a high spot close by and glass them from there. We rolled up to the top as far as we could go. This was an old homestead or something many years back with a remnant of a building and foundation. We spotted the buff about 3/4 mile away walking and feeding steadily. There were 6. This was most likely the same bulls we got up with on Day 1. We could tell the lead bull was wide and had what appeared to be good configuration but the sun was shinning from behind them and Stu couldn’t tell if he was hard bossed. Looking at his watch Stu decided we had just enough time for a stalk if it went as planned. We took off on foot quickly trying to beat the sun. We had made roughly about 3/4 of the way to them and Stu sent Gift up one of the small trees to look. There were no trees more that 12 foot high and Gift barely was able to get his boots above my shoulder height but he pointed ahead that he saw them. The wind was a little undecided on which way it wanted to go but at this point we had no choice - we were in it to win it as they say. Scrambling hard left to keep the wind as favorable as we could, we made another 250 yards and sent Gift up again. I actually thought I had seen movement straight ahead of us a mere 125 yards or so and when Gift pointed he confirmed I had. Now Stu took the lead with sticks in hand, the buff were steadily moving and we continued making an end run for the winds’ sake. Again Gift spotted them ahead of us this time with his boots on the ground- we were on final approach. We wiggled our way through and around brush and the buff finally stopped in a big clump of trees 100 or so yards away. We both glassed and agreed the bull on the far right was pretty good, the two on the far left were soft. We still couldn’t see the three in the middle because of the short trees !! Stu said that from what he could tell the partially hidden 3 musketeers were not as good as the far right bull. After all the great effort getting in position, and with the light fading fast, I shook my head no. It was a magnificent hunt/stalk and everything went right. You can’t complain about being on sticks 3 days in a row !