ZAMBIA: SOUTH AFRICA: My Hunt With Takeri Reserve, Diekie Mueller Safaris & Coenraad Vermaak Safaris

[BRICKBURN]

Those travel days sure are boring around here.

 

[spike.t]

well i just arrived in ndola from lusaka after dropping larry there the other day. now i just have to remember to go to the airport in the morning...........now what was i going there for ..........

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

well i just arrived in ndola from lusaka after dropping larry there the other day. now i just have to remember to go to the airport in the morning...........now what was i going there for ..........

Orange Vodka/Coke?

 

[PeteG]

Orange Vodka/Coke?

Dont joke, the duty free shop at the airport is the only place in Ndola you can find that dreadful Grey Goose Orange.

 

[gillettehunter]

Thanks for the well wishes. Made it to Jo-berg with my rifle and all luggage! Nice to have it all arrive. Overnight at Afton and on to Zambia tomorrow. Bruce

 

[BRICKBURN]

Happy steak!

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Dont joke, the duty free shop at the airport is the only place in Ndola you can find that dreadful Grey Goose Orange.

Who said I was joking?

 

[gillettehunter]

For whatever reason, no steak. The driver from airport took me to a selection of fast food places to buy dinner. Was wishing I had the steak. Didn't sleep over 3 hrs on the flights and up before 3AM now........ Gonna need to get some sleep eventually. Bruce

 

[BRICKBURN]

Yeesh. Sleep in Zambia

 

[spike.t]

Yeesh. Sleep in Zambia

in the vehicle on way from airport.....promise to drive genteely............

 

[50by50]

have a great hunt! looking forward to the report.

 

[cpr0312]

Have a great time, looking forward to the report!

 

[gillettehunter]

Well I finally made it to Takeri..... Flight was about 1 1/2 late from Jo-berg. Had to switch planes. Then customs was rather interesting. The fine folks at customs in Ndola were rather new and had no clue about the ammo duties..... They wanted a receipt. Took about 20 min extra to get that cleared up. Mike was waiting and helped w/ customs. Bought some food and drove out to Takeri.
Absolutely beautiful property. Internet is extremely slow. Not sure if I can attach some pics. Last 26 miles take about 1 1/2 hrs. Much of the road floods every yr. Not much maintenence. So it is a rough road. Could not believe how many locals were out on the road walking or biking. Got in just a little late to check the rifle.....
I am in a semi permanent tent right on the river bank. Warm here. No AC, but it cools off nice at night. Finally got a decent nights sleep. 2 beds in the tent. Concrete slab with a wood floor. All running water at the tent comes from the river so we drink bottled water. They have a large fire going right now set by poachers to "concentrate" animals. About fire number 7 in the last month....Bluey is here and I have really enjoyed visiting with him so far. He spent all day Sat fighting fire.
Got up at 5:10 and left at 6 to go check the rifle. Minor adjustment and off to hunt. We have Mike driving the truck with Patsy, myself and a tracker in back. We saw a lot of sable this AM. 3 herds and also 2 bulls together. One of the bulls is quite nice, but Patsy tells me there are 2-3 a little better. This one looked to be over 42 inches and good mass. Did a couple of stalks and got some good looks. Saw 3 Bushbuck. All off and running fast. Couple of herds of Lechwe and a small herd of Zebra. Couple of warthogs too.
Going out we found one of the trucks with a tire off... Troubles for the fire fighting team. We realized the fire was heading for the truck . So we cleared the ground around it and then burned around it so the fire couldn't get to the truck..... We met up with the firefighters and helped them set some backfires. Probably a good thing we were there. Tonight Patsy and I are going to take a walk and see if we can find a bushbuck. They have some good ones here. I'll post this and then see if some pics will attach.... Bruce

 

[Upton O. Good]

Great data that supports "TIA"! Enjoying the reports and the great details beyond the hunting. Well done, keep up the good work. Oh, and stay down wind and shoot straight!

 

[johnnyblues]

Good hunting! I'm jealous.

 

[wife of Gillette Hunter]

Sorry I missed your call. Glad you made it safely! Texted you.

 

[spike.t]

Sorry I missed your call. Glad you made it safely! Texted you.

hi welcome aboard bruce has just headed out to do some walking after bushbuck. going to pick him and patsy up in 1.5 hrs will tell him you are on . if the txt is via sat then he will get it later but if by phone no cell signal here. cheers mike

 

[siml]

Spike, fresh bushbuck backstraps for dinner?

 

[wife of Gillette Hunter]

hi welcome aboard bruce has just headed out to do some walking after bushbuck. going to pick him and patsy up in 1.5 hrs will tell him you are on . if the txt is via sat then he will get it later but if by phone no cell signal here. cheers mike

Thanks Mike,
Texted via Hangout over wifi. Hoping I have Internet in Brazil i'm t thinking it will be spotty there too.

 

[gillettehunter]

Well we had a great walk. The "Takeri cornflakes" are all over the ground so we walked the road. Followed the river. They have these amazing termute mounds all over the place. Some are 30 ft high and 100 ft around. The bushbuck often bed on top of them. We made a careful 2 mile walk and saw 6 Bushbuck. 2 were males, but young. I saw we, but the tracker Lakson saw that many. I only saw 4.....
Still a great day. We saw Sable, Zebra, Bushbuck, Lechwe and warthogs. Also several flocks of Guinea fowl. Had a beautiful sunset. Got hot. Up to about 90 defrees. Had some humidity and it lightly sprinkled some. Was a good day hunti ng and saw some nice animals. Good time at dinner. Patsy and Bluey act like their already married. Bit of back and forth. Mike was awfully quiet. Not sure if he is feeling 100%.
The really good news for the day is it looks like we got the fire finished with some of the backfires we started. Had been moving right along. On Mon AM it seems like we got it shut down....
So for Mon AM Patsy wants up and in the field at first light. So we left at 5 AM and drove down by the damn and river to take a walk. We were early enough to take 20 min for Bushbuck on the way to look for Sable. In the headlights we saw 4 young Puku males. and went on down to the damn. We walked for 20 min and saw 6 Bushbuck. No rams of any size. Mike and Bluey were in the truck and picked us up. Patsy had seen a couple of single bulls that are apparently kicked out of the breeding herds. Heading that direction I spotted a Bushbuck a little more than 100 yds off the road. One glance and Patsy said thats the one. Mike pulled forward a ways to put a termite mound between him and us. We offloaded and make a quick stalk... On the sticks he was quartering to me some. I shot and hit a bit back. He got into some grass and Patsy said to hit him again so I tried a 2nd. We walked out a bit and he got up to try and run. So put another in him as a finisher.
He is a great Bushbuck. Just shy of 15 inches and 6 1/2 inch bases! Great color and wonderful ridges on the horns. He is exactly what I hoped for. Carries the mass up very well. Several scars on him from fighting. Very happy with this trophy!.. Bluey is calling us for lunch. I'll finish the AM stoy in a bit.... Bruce