ZIMBABWE: ZimAfrica Hunting Elephants & Buffalo With 500 Jeff & 416 Rigby

[BigBore]

Just returned from my 3rd safari in Africa. This time with ZimAfrica Operated by Rebecca Steyn And Wayne Jardine
I have also hunting in Europe, Alaska, Argentina and New Zealand. But I would have to say the best hunt I ever had was this one. I took a CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery for elephants and a 416 Rigby for buffalo and every thing else. My PH Raphael was a native to the area and new the region and people very well. He took good care of me and I was able to shoot 2 bull elephants, a nice buffalo and a nice bull giraffe along with other game on a 10 day hunt. The 500 Jeffery knocked both elephants down on the first shot although I fired follow up shots, the 416 Rigby did in the buffalo with a 400 gr Barnes X through the heart on a quartering shoot and a solid follow up, he ran 30 yards. ZimAfrica took care of all my special needs and provided me with a top notch hunt. I would recommend them to any one. I hunted in the north camp along the park border. The first elephant was on the contract and shot in thier area the second was a PAC elephant that had been raiding a village about 200 K from camp. The hunt was in July and tempature were great mid 70's in the day and mid 40's at night.

 

[sestoppelman]

Sounds like quite an adventure! Congrats on a good hunt!!

 

[Bobpuckett]

BigBore sounds like you had a great time please post some pictures of your trophies as soon as you get a chance. Thanks for the report.

 

[spike.t]

nice, i like it, a .416 rigby as your light rifle :beer::biggrin2:

 

[Buff-Buster]

Congrat's Bigbore! Like Bob said, we would love to see some pictures!

 

[RickB]

Congrats, sounds like a sucessfull hunt! Pleas post pics if you can. I too would love to see them.

 

[classicsafari]

I met the guys that would have been in camp after you. They were going for Buffalo.
Unusual for PAC at this time of the year. Were they raiding crops?

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Thank you for posting your hunt report!

 

[BigBore]

I met the guys that would have been in camp after you. They were going for Buffalo.
Unusual for PAC at this time of the year. Were they raiding crops?

YEs very unusual for a Pac elephant at that time of year. JUst a few day ealier a Ph there told me it never happens that time of year any any one selling Pac elephants out side the crop season were fruads. But it so happen I contracted for one elephant and one buffalo on a 10 day hunt with the option for hippo if I got the other 2. Well I shot the first elephant on day 2 and the buffalo on day 4. SO that was so quick they were not ready for the hippo. THen after 2 days they were not able to get a hippo permit as all the quotas were gone for the year. THey asked if I wanted any thing else, I told them a second elephant would be nice but was not willing to pay more then what I was willing to pay for the hippo. SO they checked around and found a Pac elephants that was raiding a water supply for a village cattle . THe elephants were breaking down they correl for the cattle to get to the water. SO they were very glad to see us and were happy to take us in to the bush at sun down to where the elephants had been coming from. WE got to a dry river bed just at twilight and could see the heard making thier way to us, we just waited and after dark with no moon we waited until we heard them close, turned on a flash like and there was a bull elephant in front of me. I heart shot him and the 500 jeff knocked him off his feet, as he got up I fired 2 follow up shots and it ran about 50 yards. THe next day we came back for pictures and all the villagers were waiting to butcher him. PLease pardon my typing , i'm riding in a cqar right now trying to type on a tablet with out spell check.

 

[Bobpuckett]

sounds like you were in the right place at the right time. Sure would like to hear the details of the buff and see all the Pictures.

 

[Wheels]

Congratulations on a great hunt. If you can share any pictures it would be great.

 

[BigBore]

Will post pictures soon when I return home. I have not posted pictures on this site before but will give a try.

 

[hank]

BigBore,
I am new to the forum also, just joined. I am sure my brother and I spent a few nights at the Colliery with you. I saw your buffalo in the back of the truck that night and what a beast. As you know my brother took a nice bull elephant, buffalo, and leopard from that area.
I did not harvest an elephant but I am going back in October to finish the job. Wayne offered to return at no cost. I will post how the 500 Jeffery does when I take the elephant.
Good to here from you again.
Hank-MF

 

[BigBore]

Hello Hank, Yes that was me. You left camp too soon. Seen lots of elephants after you left. Also on the last night a lion walk right thru the middle of camp past all of our tents. Wayne treated me very well. I'm glad to hear he letting you come back at no cost. He gave me a very good deal on the second elephant. Like I said when I meet you in camp, I may not be a good hunter, but I'm a lucky hunter. Just got to be at the right place at the right time.
View attachment 21776View attachment 21777View attachment 21778View attachment 21779View attachment 21780

 

[BRICKBURN]

Awesome Buffalo

Love the Bert Reynolds pose with the Giraffe.


Thanks for sharing your report and pictures.

 

[BigBore]

Thanks. For some reason I missed the picture of the first elephant so here it is. View attachment 21781

 

[hank]

I heard about the lion walking through camp. Congrats on your elephants. I will post the story and pics when I get back from Zim.

 

[dsmerrills]

Fantastic Big bore, its so heart warning to hear of hunters that came to Africa who enjoyed there hunt in our amazing continent.

 

[BigBore]

Fantastic Big bore, its so heart warning to hear of hunters that came to Africa who enjoyed there hunt in our amazing continent.

Yes Africa is my favorit destination. I'm 58 and first started hunting out side the USA in 1972 in many destination around the world. All hunts don't always work out the way you hope but I have been unnusaully lucky. First trip to South Africa I shot 12 animals in 10 days, the other hunter in camp had not shot any anaimals in his first 5 days. Then a few years ago on a Eland hunt in Namibia, the owner told me they wanted to cull all the Gemsboks we saw while we were out, so I ended up shooting 10 Gemsboks and no charge. All of them were around 40" and some more. Here is pic of one

 

[BigBore]

Yes Africa is my favorite destination. I'm 58 and first started hunting out side the USA in 1972 in many destination around the world. All hunts don't always work out the way you hope but I have been unusually lucky. First trip to South Africa I shot 12 animals in 10 days, the other hunter in camp had not shot any animals in his first 5 days. Then a few years ago on a Eland hunt in Namibia, the owner told me they wanted to cull all the Gemsboks we saw while we were out, so I ended up shooting 10 Gemsboks and no charge. All of them were around 40" and some more. Here is picture of one View attachment 21796 View attachment 21797 also shot 2 Zebras on that trip.

I did hunt New Zealand once for Tahr. On foot started climbing at 3:30 am shot a top 4 SCI bull Tahr at 358 yds with winds gusting to 50 mph, kept the Tahr in my scope for 1 1/2 hours before the wind settled down and he was in a position to shoot at the same time. One shoot from a 7mm mag with a Leupold 4-12 did the trick. When I saw him rolling down the mountain after the shoot, I could hardly believe it. My PH said to shoot some of the other Tahr, so I shoot 3 more times killing 2 more smaller Tahr. They did not charge me for the extra Tahr. The next day I shot a SCI Silver Chamois. I won that trip at a SCI auction for $1,200.00. I also duck hunted on the same trip and shot 2 black swans. View attachment 21798 View attachment 21799

I have always used hand loaded ammunition since I was 14 so that's 44 years experiment. I may not be a good hunter or the best shot and I have missed my share of easy shots that I would be embarrassed to share but I certainly am lucky hunter. So many times a trip started out by my PH or Guide saying conditions were not good and they were skeptical of success. That use to worry me, but it seems every time I'm told that, it ends up being a great hunt.

My advise to hunters planing a trip is do your home work but don't believe every thing you read or are told. I have contracted with so called top notch highly rated outfits with tons of references just to get screwed by the outfit and I have hunted with outfits with garbage written about them on the Internet and have some of the best hunts.

Once you get to your hunt and it's not going the way you want, just try and make the best of it and work with your PH. When booking a hunt, try and read between the lines. Normally you don't get more then you pay for but some times you can. You will find if you listen to your PH and do as they ask even if you think better, you'll have a better hunt. I always ask my PH what they expect from me and I ask them about problem clients they have had. You can learn a lot by listening about other problem clients. Once you do that you will gain the confidence of your PH and he'll know he can work with you.

Not to say it always works out. There are 2 outfitters I will never work with again because of their practices and one PH because of his ethics.