ZIMBABWE: Our Zimbawe Adventure & Hunt For Buffalo & Elephant

[ActionBob]

We had the buffalo! So our plan was to take care of it, get the meat distributed and pack up and leave camp to go to Threeways base camp for our last day to spend hunting plains game. We were looking forward to our last two nights in something other than that tent! And those single beds

Again nothing goes to waste. Just rinse out the intestines and rumen and they are good to go to the meat supply!

 

[Wheels]

Got to love it when the unexpected happens.

Nice buff.

 

[ActionBob]

The protocol for buffalo meat is to deliver it to the headman (AKA village idiot) who is supposed to divvy it out to families on the list to get it next. Of course he was out (drinking) so the women of the household took care of it. Ben also had his own list of people needing meat so we made several other stops dropping off about a bucket full t each place. Which appeared to include the local crack house with several children living there, a single mother who's husband had gone crazy and was gone, and others I was not sure of the details. But we spent about an hour with various stops around the village.

We loaded up the truck and headed out for the long drive to Threeways.

 

[ActionBob]

Threeways;

 

[CAustin]

Very nice bull Action Bob! Well done.

 

[ActionBob]

We got to Threeways and settled in and checked emails and had some popcorn! Tokkie the owner and Nadine joined us for a toast to our hunt and for a great dinner.

The next day we drove around looking for PG and even though we saw various critters, nothing to shoot. Saw giraffe but all young yellow ones so nothing I wanted. Zebra that were far off or moving fast. A nice duiker but not as nice as the one I have. A great nyala crossing over to the neighboring concession. And lots of impala and female and young kudu. Female wart hogs, etc.

I think I forgot to mention our night of trying to hunt hyena. The night the rain started we had been to a new area hoping to find a big Kudu, lots of sign but no critters other than more impala. Quinn mentioned that he had gotten hyena in the area as they denned up in then little caves in the hills of the area. He has recordings of Hyenas (and God knows what else?). So we planned to come back at dark to try calling them in and then spotlighting. Hi method was to brush in the truck, with the windows and doors open, me and the tracker on the back with the 375 and spotlight, telling me to shoot fast if we got one to come in. So we left and drove around some more looking for other game. Came across a guy gathering baobab fruit and I traded him a knife for some fruit (much to the delight of the guys) and we asked what he saw for critters. Oh nothing other than a big croc down at the river! So we drove down and found basically a lake of a water hole with several small crocs but no sign of a big one. We glassed a lot anyway and the guys cut brush and loaded it onto the truck.

We drove back and brushed in the truck at a crossroads of the donkey cart trails. Waited for it to get dark and Fanni set up the light and we all took our places and Quinn started the "music" right as a light rain started. Soon the rain was heavy enough that we decided any self respecting hyena would be denned up so we packed up in a downpour and headed back for supper cold and wet.

Well we planned to try again our final night at Threeways in a area near the trackers village where he was sure there were hyena. Made a valiant effort in a couple places but it was a bust and our hunt was over so we got back for a late dinner and bed. Took care of final tips and up the next morning at 3:30 to ride with Nadine in the van to Bulawayo for a visit to the taxidermist and to the airport.

Nadine did a great job this morning, brought breakfast sandwiches and got us through all the roadblocks without incident. Stopped at the one safe and clean rest stop along the way for a bathroom break and arrived at the gate to the taxidermist. Had a great tour of the place and saw lots of wonderful work. Nadine was our appointed time keeper and made sure we got out in time to get to the airport. Ann bought a curio for a housewarming gift for our niece who was hosting the family Thanksgiving the day after we were to get home. Nadine got us to the airport in pleanty of time. We got through all the steps of logging in our guns, etc. and had lunch and few out to Joberg, on to Paris and home. Tired but with lots of great memories of our wonderful adventure!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Up's and Downs and with some luck and tenacity you both got it done.
Thanks for sharing your safari.

 

[gillettehunter]

If at first you don't succeed then try try again... Looks like a trip you'll long remember. Congrats. Bruce

 

[ActionBob]

Yea the ups and downs make it a real adventure and memorable! Took until Day 9 for the Elephant and day 11 for the buffalo but we certainly had lots going on every day and saw a lot of territory, animals, and humanity. (not to mention donkey carts) I think I will cherish those memories forever. It is the hard earned stuff that really means the most and is the most rewarding.
Struggling through and attaining a goal is the real trophy in the end.

 

[billc]

You and the wife did a great job and in the end will have memory's for the rest of your life.You hunted two great trophys and should be very proud.

 

[ROCKET]

I enjoyed soo much your hunt Bob, like it was me who was there......still a dream for me, for you a dream como true.....!!!!!

Thank you very much for this great hunting report for this incredible hunt your wife and you have done it.

Congrats....!!!!

 

[enysse]

Excellent hunt report and picture, that is nice cape buffalo!

 

[Bobpuckett]

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this report. Awesome! Great pics and awesome right up . Thanks

 

[David Shires]

Thanks for sharing your hunt.

 

[Dragan N.]

It took a good portion of the day to get the elephant taken care of and the guys were all exhausted from the work so we took the rest of the day off. The guys wanted to party that night and Quinn gave them some beer, but they all fell asleep at a reasonable time from the hard work and intense heat..... Quinn did call Threeways to send a truck to pick up some of the elephant parts as they had two skinners there who had nothing else to do so they could do a lot of the finish work. The guys who had wives back that way sent their shares of the meat home for the wives to strip and dry.

Fanni's family is too far away so he had to strip all his own. He has several son's and a couple daughter in laws as well. He was frustrated getting enough help to cut meat off the head to lighten it enough to load.. So he got it loaded as is... Then proceeded to strip all the extra meat off it by himself.. So he made the best of the situation and worked hard at it, and got about 3 times as much meat as the rest! He said it would last his extended family about 3 months.

Another interesting point was that local custom dictates that we give the elephant trunk to the regional Chief. I would have liked to go with to deliver it to him but he was about half way to Threeways so that truck took it with. Quinn commented that it is very difficult to skin (they simply cut it off whole) and that the meat is very stringy and tough. It was about 100 degrees Fahrenheit by the time the truck showed up and had a couple hours to go yet. It had been several hours sense I shot the elephant.. I asked Quinn what the Chief does with it and he said "oh he'll eat it."

I will get replica tusks made from casts of the originals in Zimbabwe. And I plan to get a replica shoulder mount made back here in the USA. Quinn helped me find a market for the hide.

Fanni also had to chop out the tusks, he did that the following day... A lot of work!

ActionBob,
First of all congratulations on taking these 2 fine trophies and thank you very much for taking the time to write such an in-depth and eloquent report, it really made me feel like I was there!

I just have to two questions and my apologies I advance if they seem kind of out there or stupid.

1) I see you wrote in the above post that Quinn, your PH, found you a market for the elephant hide. I recall someone posted that a buyer in Zim. was buying elephant hide by the pound or kilo. If I may ask did you sell it by weight and if so how much did the entire hide weigh? Just curious what a bull elephant hide would weigh...

2) This other one is for you or anyone else knowledgeable about this but I see you wrote that the tusks where chopped out of the skull, why is it that sometimes the tusks are rotted out- i.e. the skull is buried for a few days and they come right out and other times they are chopped out. Why are they ever chopped out and not just always rotted out? As it seems that its both easier, chopping through solid bone is hard, and safer- a lot less risk of damaging the tusks if they are rotted out as opposed to chopped out. Yet I've heard the only time they are every really rotted out is when the client wants to save or keep the skull.

 

[ActionBob]

Dragon;
Perfectly good questions;
1) When we left the hide had been salted and was not ready to move. There were 6 large panels saved and two men could load them. They were still green or wet. The guys had actually laid them out and scrubbed and washed with a brush and removed lots of mud and crud. Really changes how it looks! In any case I don't know yet... It will be delivered to the taxidermist and dealt with through them. I will try to remember to get back on here and report.... Hoping Quinn has this info at DSC. If you attend, feel free to go ask him.

2) Yes it is easier to rot out the tusks and is a way to save the skull... But it was day 9 when I shot the bull. I was told it takes a good week to rot them out and I was leaving at 4 AM on day 13. Remember at this point I cannot import these tusks. So I wanted pictures with them and the only way to accomplish that was to chop them out while I was still there.... I can still feel them in my hands. Right now all I have is pictures and memories! I will have replicas cast from them but those are light fiberglass. I also just wanted to heft them!

Quinn did not even ask, he just told me "tomorrow Fanni will chop out your tusks". He was thinking ahead and knew I needed to get pictures and lift them... And he honestly seemed more anxious to weigh them than I was! He said it was his best of the year.

 

[glgardnerjr]

Great report. Especially identified with the despair and fear that you may not get what you came all that way to do and then it happens fast and quick.

I may have missed it but who was the outfitter? Quinn the PH but couldn't find the outfitter name. Looking for an elephant hunt in 2017.

 

[ActionBob]

Threeways Safaris.... Quinn seems to take more of a leadership/marketing role than some PH's though. And he has his own web site now... You can find Quinn on this site and PM him.

A footnote, I really had my hopes up to get more PG. The pricelist has incredibly good deals... But my observations are first off, PG is not as easy to find as it is in RSA, even free range RSA areas. Secondly, Quinn is into the DG. He is just so much more "switched on" going after elephant!

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Cool article and nice pictures. Congrats.. Thanks for sharing.
Witold

 

[CAustin]

Bob as everyone has said this report was outstanding! I hope to report as well as you have upon completion of my elephant hunt. I guess you kept a journal or was that your wife taking care of that part of the hunt? Did you take an iPad or something like it for notes or just plain old paper?