Dfield
New member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2016
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- 50
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- south carolina
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- 21
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- Hunted
- United States, Zimbabwe, British Columbia, Mozambique
This was my first African trip and I was hunting with Mokore Safaris. I chose Mokore Safaris after meeting PH Gary Duckworth at Dallas Safari Club a few years ago. I kept in touch with Gary over the years prior to my trip via email and I would have to say that he was one of the most professional and respectable men I have ever met. That fact right there sold me. After a 16 hour long flight, I was ready to get to the Sengwa Research Area hunting camp along the Sengwa River in Zimbabwe.
I did quite a lot of research on hunting African dangerous game and plains game before my travels. I am the kind of guy that always likes to be prepared and knows what he’s getting in to prior to anything actually happening. I found one tidbit of information that was ubiquitous throughout all of my reading and that is that African animals are tough. Not necessarily tough as in the actual process of hunting them, more of the fact that they can take a perfect shot and still run forever. I don’t speak for all Americans by any means, but I am used to whitetail deer hunting and for the most part, a great shot on a whitetail will drop it in its tracks. Everything I read before my trip says do not expect this same result when hunting in Africa. Knowing this helped me choose which rifles I should take on the trip.
My goal was to hunt both dangerous and plains game. For my Black Death hunt, I chose the largest caliber in my gun safe, the .416 Weatherby Magnum. Shooting both Conley Precision Cartridge 400 grain soft points and 400 grain solids, this rifle would be perfect for Cape Buffalo. For my larger plains game hunts I chose my .300 Weatherby Magnum. Shooting a 180 grain Nosler Accubond bullet, this would be absolutely perfect for Kudu and Waterbuck. Finally, for my smaller plains game hunts, I chose to shoot my Tikka 7mm-08 Remington rifle. This rifle is my go-to rifle back in the States for most game, shooting a Norma Ammunition 156 grain Oryx bullet and would be amazing for Impala and Bushbuck. Some of this might seem like over-kill to you, but like I said earlier, these animals are tough and I want as much of a clean, humane kill as humanly possible.
My first hunt was for buffalo. Since this is a very hard species to hunt and stalk, it’s wise (if your PH doesn’t already do it for you) to have this hunt be your first. This gives you ample time to find the big dagga boy you’ve been waiting for your whole life. I was lucky enough to shoot my Cape Buffalo on the evening of my 2nd full day of hunting. After a lot of belly-crawling, we had a big herd in front of us with about 60 head. My PH asked if I saw the gray-colored bull, facing right. I nodded. “Take him when ready.” With my first shot, I shot the 400 grain soft point from sticks at about 45 meters away. The shot was great, exactly where I was told to hit the animal. Immediately reload. Time to put a 400 grain solid in him too. But without further ado, the he took off with the herd before I could get another shot. Safety back on; now time to run after him. The buffalo ran roughly 120 meters. The herd turned 90 degrees and headed to the right. My buffalo turned in the opposite direction and left the herd. I ran about 100 meters and had about a 20 meter shot on a moving target. I braced against a tree and let my second shot ring out. “Another great shot,” PH Gary Duckworth said. The buffalo walked about 20 more meters and gave the sign that I read so much about during my research before the trip: the death bellow. It’s quite a hauntingly eerie sound, but it was music to my ears. My dangerous game hunt was complete. He may not be the oldest or biggest bull, but the adventure and memories of such a rigorous stalk for Black Death will rank, in my book at least, with any giant, world-record bulls. There was definitely not any “ground shrinkage” with this one; he ended up going 40.5 inches. I’ll take it all day long.
Just to prove how tough these animals are, I have a little anecdote for you about my buffalo. Back at camp, the skinners asked if I would like to get my bullets back, as memorabilia of my successful hunt. Of course I said yes! I was handed three bullets. Yea, that confused me too because I only shot twice (and my PH didn’t shoot at all). The head skinner handed me two, easily recognizable .416 Weatherby Magnum bullets. One soft point with perfect mushroom. One solid with slightly over 99% mass retention. Then he asked if I shot a .375 caliber rifle and hit the buffalo back, near the gut area. Not even bringing a .375 rifle on the trip, I politely said no. Gary told me that the buffalo most likely took a poor shot from a .375 caliber a few years back and just went on living his life without any life-threatening damage. That’s how tough these things are! The buffalo took a .375 bullet to the gut a few years ago and kept going on about his day. Now that’s amazing!
I had 5 hunting days left. The rest of my trip, I hunted plains game with PH Doug Duckworth. After many entertaining stalks and some belly crawling (which I got pretty good at and familiar with in Africa), I ended up with four more animals. I shot a zebra, waterbuck, impala, and warthog. The zebra was very good-looking without many scars on his hide. He’ll make a perfect rug. The waterbuck measured 28 inches and will be a nice sculpted-back shoulder mount. The impala measured right at 22.5 inches and will also be a nice sculpted-back shoulder mount. Now the warthog, as you can tell from the picture, was an absolute stud! Topping the scale at over 90 kilograms, this bad boy also had 14 inch tusks.
The Sengwa Research Area hunting camp was absolutely amazing and shockingly beautiful! The food, lodging, hospitality, scenery, and amount of African game were all top-notch. From the homemade bread that was made in a ground-oven with hot coals, to the herds of elephant with over 100 head, to a really neat, hollowed-out baobab tree, Sengwa is the epitome of perfect African experience. Be prepared to eat what you kill. I ate every single animal that I shot with the exception of the boar, and man, was everything was delicious! I took so many pictures and videos to help me remember this amazing trip and remind me of all of the cool things Africa has to offer.
I would highly advise you to do research before your trip. Do research on the animals in the area; the ones you plan on hunting, as well as the ones you don’t. Do research on the safari company. Do research on the PH. You can’t go into one of the hunts in a foreign place with “too much” information. You just can’t. Practice shooting and immediately reloading the firearm. Like I have discussed, these animals are tough and more than likely will need another shot. Make that follow-up shot quick for a good, clean, humane kill on a wounded animal. Before my trip but after my rifle has been sighted in for a certain distance, I add two things to the rifle/optic. Firstly, I will use a computer to make a small ballistics/drop chart for the particular round that I am sighted in with, and tape it to the side of my rifle. This way, I will have a quick reference if I must shoot at longer ranges and know exactly where my bullet will hit. Secondly, I will add a couple dots of bright colored finger nail polish in the crack between both of my optic’s rings and the scope itself. After travel, if the scope has been bumped at all, there will be a white crack in the finger nail polish. If you see the white crack, you must start from scratch and re-sight in your rifle. Another helpful hint for you would be to not only practice shooting before your trip, but to practice shooting from sticks (at minimum a tripod). Two sturdy sticks tied together with electrical tape or a shoe-lace will be great training. I was used to shooting from solid rests, similar to my deer stands back in the States. Most of the time, this skill of shooting from a bench will not get you very far while hunting in Africa. Practice shooting from sticks. Seriously, it’s not as easy as it looks on Hornady’s Dark & Dangerous TV show. From a memory stand-point, bring multiple digital cameras and video cameras. Bring extra batteries and SD memory cards for these cameras too. Bring a trauma/first aid kit, similar to any of the ones made by Tactical Medical Solutions. So far from civilization, why take the unnecessary risk?
I’ll be back, Africa. I’ll be back Zim. I’ll be back Mokore Safaris. I’ll be back, Doug and Gary. Thank you all for the memories and I can’t wait for our next adventure together.
I did quite a lot of research on hunting African dangerous game and plains game before my travels. I am the kind of guy that always likes to be prepared and knows what he’s getting in to prior to anything actually happening. I found one tidbit of information that was ubiquitous throughout all of my reading and that is that African animals are tough. Not necessarily tough as in the actual process of hunting them, more of the fact that they can take a perfect shot and still run forever. I don’t speak for all Americans by any means, but I am used to whitetail deer hunting and for the most part, a great shot on a whitetail will drop it in its tracks. Everything I read before my trip says do not expect this same result when hunting in Africa. Knowing this helped me choose which rifles I should take on the trip.
My goal was to hunt both dangerous and plains game. For my Black Death hunt, I chose the largest caliber in my gun safe, the .416 Weatherby Magnum. Shooting both Conley Precision Cartridge 400 grain soft points and 400 grain solids, this rifle would be perfect for Cape Buffalo. For my larger plains game hunts I chose my .300 Weatherby Magnum. Shooting a 180 grain Nosler Accubond bullet, this would be absolutely perfect for Kudu and Waterbuck. Finally, for my smaller plains game hunts, I chose to shoot my Tikka 7mm-08 Remington rifle. This rifle is my go-to rifle back in the States for most game, shooting a Norma Ammunition 156 grain Oryx bullet and would be amazing for Impala and Bushbuck. Some of this might seem like over-kill to you, but like I said earlier, these animals are tough and I want as much of a clean, humane kill as humanly possible.
My first hunt was for buffalo. Since this is a very hard species to hunt and stalk, it’s wise (if your PH doesn’t already do it for you) to have this hunt be your first. This gives you ample time to find the big dagga boy you’ve been waiting for your whole life. I was lucky enough to shoot my Cape Buffalo on the evening of my 2nd full day of hunting. After a lot of belly-crawling, we had a big herd in front of us with about 60 head. My PH asked if I saw the gray-colored bull, facing right. I nodded. “Take him when ready.” With my first shot, I shot the 400 grain soft point from sticks at about 45 meters away. The shot was great, exactly where I was told to hit the animal. Immediately reload. Time to put a 400 grain solid in him too. But without further ado, the he took off with the herd before I could get another shot. Safety back on; now time to run after him. The buffalo ran roughly 120 meters. The herd turned 90 degrees and headed to the right. My buffalo turned in the opposite direction and left the herd. I ran about 100 meters and had about a 20 meter shot on a moving target. I braced against a tree and let my second shot ring out. “Another great shot,” PH Gary Duckworth said. The buffalo walked about 20 more meters and gave the sign that I read so much about during my research before the trip: the death bellow. It’s quite a hauntingly eerie sound, but it was music to my ears. My dangerous game hunt was complete. He may not be the oldest or biggest bull, but the adventure and memories of such a rigorous stalk for Black Death will rank, in my book at least, with any giant, world-record bulls. There was definitely not any “ground shrinkage” with this one; he ended up going 40.5 inches. I’ll take it all day long.
Just to prove how tough these animals are, I have a little anecdote for you about my buffalo. Back at camp, the skinners asked if I would like to get my bullets back, as memorabilia of my successful hunt. Of course I said yes! I was handed three bullets. Yea, that confused me too because I only shot twice (and my PH didn’t shoot at all). The head skinner handed me two, easily recognizable .416 Weatherby Magnum bullets. One soft point with perfect mushroom. One solid with slightly over 99% mass retention. Then he asked if I shot a .375 caliber rifle and hit the buffalo back, near the gut area. Not even bringing a .375 rifle on the trip, I politely said no. Gary told me that the buffalo most likely took a poor shot from a .375 caliber a few years back and just went on living his life without any life-threatening damage. That’s how tough these things are! The buffalo took a .375 bullet to the gut a few years ago and kept going on about his day. Now that’s amazing!
I had 5 hunting days left. The rest of my trip, I hunted plains game with PH Doug Duckworth. After many entertaining stalks and some belly crawling (which I got pretty good at and familiar with in Africa), I ended up with four more animals. I shot a zebra, waterbuck, impala, and warthog. The zebra was very good-looking without many scars on his hide. He’ll make a perfect rug. The waterbuck measured 28 inches and will be a nice sculpted-back shoulder mount. The impala measured right at 22.5 inches and will also be a nice sculpted-back shoulder mount. Now the warthog, as you can tell from the picture, was an absolute stud! Topping the scale at over 90 kilograms, this bad boy also had 14 inch tusks.
The Sengwa Research Area hunting camp was absolutely amazing and shockingly beautiful! The food, lodging, hospitality, scenery, and amount of African game were all top-notch. From the homemade bread that was made in a ground-oven with hot coals, to the herds of elephant with over 100 head, to a really neat, hollowed-out baobab tree, Sengwa is the epitome of perfect African experience. Be prepared to eat what you kill. I ate every single animal that I shot with the exception of the boar, and man, was everything was delicious! I took so many pictures and videos to help me remember this amazing trip and remind me of all of the cool things Africa has to offer.
I would highly advise you to do research before your trip. Do research on the animals in the area; the ones you plan on hunting, as well as the ones you don’t. Do research on the safari company. Do research on the PH. You can’t go into one of the hunts in a foreign place with “too much” information. You just can’t. Practice shooting and immediately reloading the firearm. Like I have discussed, these animals are tough and more than likely will need another shot. Make that follow-up shot quick for a good, clean, humane kill on a wounded animal. Before my trip but after my rifle has been sighted in for a certain distance, I add two things to the rifle/optic. Firstly, I will use a computer to make a small ballistics/drop chart for the particular round that I am sighted in with, and tape it to the side of my rifle. This way, I will have a quick reference if I must shoot at longer ranges and know exactly where my bullet will hit. Secondly, I will add a couple dots of bright colored finger nail polish in the crack between both of my optic’s rings and the scope itself. After travel, if the scope has been bumped at all, there will be a white crack in the finger nail polish. If you see the white crack, you must start from scratch and re-sight in your rifle. Another helpful hint for you would be to not only practice shooting before your trip, but to practice shooting from sticks (at minimum a tripod). Two sturdy sticks tied together with electrical tape or a shoe-lace will be great training. I was used to shooting from solid rests, similar to my deer stands back in the States. Most of the time, this skill of shooting from a bench will not get you very far while hunting in Africa. Practice shooting from sticks. Seriously, it’s not as easy as it looks on Hornady’s Dark & Dangerous TV show. From a memory stand-point, bring multiple digital cameras and video cameras. Bring extra batteries and SD memory cards for these cameras too. Bring a trauma/first aid kit, similar to any of the ones made by Tactical Medical Solutions. So far from civilization, why take the unnecessary risk?
I’ll be back, Africa. I’ll be back Zim. I’ll be back Mokore Safaris. I’ll be back, Doug and Gary. Thank you all for the memories and I can’t wait for our next adventure together.
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