ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe With Buzz Charlton

[mark-hunter]

Great report so far, thanks for sharing.

 

[rinehart0050]

Great report! Looking forward to hearing more

 

[Lance Hopper]

Are you just screwing with us or what! Why haven’t you posted a picture of that elephant yet?

 

[Safari1]

Are you just screwing with us or what! Why haven’t you posted a picture of that elephant yet?

Look on Buzz’s website under Gallery.

 

[Mort Hill]

Awesome report. You take the armchair hunter along with you nicely. Keep it up!

 

[Sourdough]

Slight delay, spent a day and a half with Richard Harland then came to RSA to look at some properties, and headed home tomorrow afternoon so it will be early next week before I get back at the story. Thanks for your patience.

 

[Frederik]

Will try and be patient but ..........

 

[Sourdough]

Wanted to add something to Day 3. That night after dark we had a lion come into camp, so I grabbed my double and loaded it with 500gr Woodleigh RN SN and slept with it on the floor right next to the bed. As far as I know he never came to my tent, but he came close to at least one other.

 

[Sideshow]

Nothing like DG in camp to improve your sleep pattern

 

[Sourdough]

Day 4.

Started this day looking for elephant. Did see a small male in the morning. Looking for fresh tracks Buzz went into a sand river bottom and the trackers Creighton and Nyati headed towards a pan where they came across a Duggaboy in the mud. So we met up with them to track this guy.

The tracks (sign) was so fresh that where he rubbed his body on leaves and branches there was water still dripping from the mud. We followed this guy in the Jesse for 700 yards before feeling the wind on the back of our necks which sent the Duggaboy running and ended our chance to catch him.

We went back to looking for elephant and in a short time found a good looking track. After following a bit it looked like he was looping back so we split up into two groups, one to continue following the tracks, the other to see if we could get in front of him. But no luck with either group catching up with the bull.

Heading back to camp I spotted an animal off the road in the bushes looking at us. I'd already seen hundreds of impala so initially thought this might be an immature impala. But as I was processing what I was seeing I realized it was a spiral horn and was about to bring it to Buzz's attention when he spotted it and said it was a very big bushbuck. At the same time one of the trackers riding on the back of the hunting truck leaned over to the side window and said "big bushbuck".

We drove past him not changing our pace nor making eye contact in hopes he wouldn't panic. We continued down into a gully which, along with some big bushes, effectively hid us and the vehicle from his sight. We left the engine running, dismounted the truck and proceeded on foot up the gully until we got past the heavy bushes where we climbed out of the gully slowly peaking around the bushes to locate him.

It took maybe 5 minutes to find him. He had moved into his own gully, which was closer to the dirt track we were just on. All we could see were the tops of his horns. He walked his gully looking like he was headed to the dirt track. As he started to come out Buzz whistled to get him to stop which he did.

In the excitement of having something to shoot at after four days, and the size of this Chobe Bushbuck, and bushbucks being one of my favorite plains game, I forgot I was in Africa and instead of shooting him on the shoulder I shot him behind his shoulder. He jumped and ran across the dirt track something less than 50 yards before falling over.

I was of course congratulated by all for the amazing animal I'd hunted. I said "it's a team effort, you guys do all the hard work, I'm just the trigger puller" to which Nyati said "yes but you are a great trigger puller". I thought to myself okay sometimes, but eventually comes a point when I'm not so great.

[Note: we all like to get pictures of ourselves with our trophy, myself included, but I always get photos with the entire hunting team because in reality these teams are what allow us to hunt and shoot these fine animals. We just pull the trigger.]

Out came the tape measure and Buzz measured him multiple times. One horn nudging just past 18 inches and the other just short of 18 inches. The trackers and Buzz were excited. Buzz saying that in over 25 years as a PH he'd never hunted a bushbuck this big. I started to realize that I had gotten extremely lucky and what a special hunt this was. Buzz looked at me and said "that changes our mojo" and that would prove to be true for the remainder of the safari.

That night at camp when Dean, one of Buzz's PH's, was told of the 18" Bushbuck he said that in 34 years he'd never hunted one that big.

And if that wasn't amazing enough on the way back we went past three moderate sized elephant bulls and a little further down the track there was Boswell, Mana Pools biggest elephant a short distance off the track with a log horizontal held by his tusks while he chewed the bark off. We sat in the truck watching, taking pictures and filming for at least 15 minutes. He faced us the entire time yet never made a move towards us despite him obviously being in musth. At that point I realized the three smaller bulls were probably his askaris.

Buzz guesstimates his tusks to weigh 70 pounds and his age to be about 40. Says if he makes it to 50 years old he will be a hundred pounder as in the last years is when they really put weight on their ivory.

When Dean came back into camp he told us he'd never seen Boswell before. He also told us that he'd seen a very big bull but with tracks so unimpressive that no one would ever follow them. He marked the spot for us with toilet paper as well as the direction the bull was traveling. Plan for tomorrow was to go there and see if we could find something unique in his tracks so we could differentiate him from small bulls and the cows.

 

[PARA45]

Wow, what a Bushbuck, congratulations! Please keep it coming, anxiously waiting for more.

 

[Dinsdale]

I received the CMS email update on the season so far, pics are terrific, and I'm enjoying the hunt report.

 

[Sideshow]

@Sourdough you certainly know how to drip feed us good stuff!
More more more!

 

[Sourdough]

Day 5

After breakfast we headed to the area where the day before Dean had seen the big Elephant with small feet. Sure enough we located the toilet paper markers and Buzz and the two trackers tried to find something that would differentiate the big bulls small feet from all the other small feet. They were unable to do so.

We did find a big track on the way to that one so we headed back to that location. We picked up that track and went about a 150 yards into the Ataxacantha Jesse when we spotted a bull Elephant that Buzz wanted me to shoot. The Elephant presented a side brain shot at 18 yards and was content actually eating the Ataxacantha (aka Flame Acacia or Flame Thorn which refers to the color of the berries).

The thickness of the Jesse made it difficult for me to positively identify the Elephants ear hole. About the time the Elephant stopped flapping his ears, which indicates something warrants further investigation, I was comfortable with my shot placement for a side brain shot and squeezed the front trigger.

The Elephant reacted in the classic way for a brain shot with its back end collapsing first which causes him to throw his trunk up. Death is instantaneous. He remained in the upright position until Buzz had me put a second insurance shot into his shoulder which caused him to fall over.

We were all thrilled. Now the really hard work begun. First task was to remove the thorny brush and trees the Elephant had been feeding in so pictures could be taken and access to butcher the Elephant would exist.

Second, which happened somewhat concurrently, was to cut a 150 yard recovery road in the heavy Jesse so the elephant could be retrieved. To assist in this Buzz called for help from the staff of the camp.

Once the pictures were taken we took a break for lunch in the bush while the rest of the team continued to work on the road.

Soon a truck showed up with the guy who manages the concession and a few of his skinners and they went to work as well. Buzz decided to run the hunting car back to camp, unload everything in the back to make room for Elephant parts and meat. I decided to remain in camp as the hiccups were kicking my butt.

The hunt itself was over by 10am but Buzz and his people didn't get back till just before dark.

That night sitting around the campfire Buzz mentioned that his wife does impressions of the feet in silver as wall hangings. I thought that would be a great idea and okayed that work.

 

[Sideshow]

So that’s all I needed to do to get more out of you Keep it coming really enjoying this.

 

[Rare Breed]

Any how much the tusks weigh? Congratulations!!!

 

[K-man]

Day 5

After breakfast we headed to the area where the day before Dean had seen the big Elephant with small feet. Sure enough we located the toilet paper markers and Buzz and the two trackers tried to find something that would differentiate the big bulls small feet from all the other small feet. They were unable to do so.

We did find a big track on the way to that one so we headed back to that location. We picked up that track and went about a 150 yards into the Ataxacantha Jesse when we spotted a bull Elephant that Buzz wanted me to shoot. The Elephant presented a side brain shot at 18 yards and was content actually eating the Ataxacantha (aka Flame Acacia or Flame Thorn which refers to the color of the berries).

The thickness of the Jesse made it difficult for me to positively identify the Elephants ear hole. About the time the Elephant stopped flapping his ears, which indicates something warrants further investigation, I was comfortable with my shot placement for a side brain shot and squeezed the front trigger.

The Elephant reacted in the classic way for a brain shot with its back end collapsing first which causes him to throw his trunk up. Death is instantaneous. He remained in the upright position until Buzz had me put a second insurance shot into his shoulder which caused him to fall over.

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That night sitting around the campfire Buzz mentioned that his wife does impressions of the feet in silver as wall hangings. I thought that would be a great idea and okayed that work.

That's fantastic and good shooting! I met Buzz's wife at her booth Simpli Simbi at DSC. That's a great way to use the actual casting of the footprint.

 

[Sourdough]

So that’s all I needed to do to get more out of you Keep it coming really enjoying this.

I had a four hour layover in Atlanta so thought I'd make good use of that time

 

[Sourdough]

Any how much the tusks weigh? Congratulations!!!

Don't know yet, I'm guessing 35 only because we passed on a bunch of 25-30's. I'll post it once they been officially weighed. And thanks.

 

[Sourdough]

That's fantastic and good shooting! I met Buzz's wife at her booth Simpli Simbi at DSC. That's a great way to use the actual casting of the footprint.

Better then bar stools or whatever, at least for me anyway.