I think it was about day 6 we were joined in camp by Doug’s aunt and uncle, Barry and Bertie Duckworth. It was a pleasure and an honor to have met them and I enjoyed their company tremendously. Barry is the founder of Mokore Safaris and spent 35 years as a PH after a number of years with Parks and doing control work. I wish I had more of an opportunity to get to know both Barry and Bertie. What wonderful and enjoyable people!
They were joined by two of their friends from South Africa, and the four of them had been spending time touring Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
In my usual forgetful way, I neglected to get a picture with them!
While they were out on a game drive they spotted a group of 6 or 7 Kudu bulls. One of which got Barry excited. That night around the fire we got the intel and from the sound of it we needed to go do a little investigating
I may have mentioned Kudu is on my wish list
Barry only got enough of a look to see deep curls, long horns and a big body. He assured Doug the bull was at least 55” and possibly as much as 58”. Yup, we must investigate!
The next morning was going to be an early one. Our Hyena bait had been supplemented with elephant bones and Hyena, Lion, Civet and Jackal had all been at it from the tracks we saw the previous day.
To make a long story short, the Hyena didn’t cooperate. They were there, but we think they may have heard the truck even tough we parked a mile away, and headed for the hills.
After having fulfilled my dream of an elephant, Doug suggested we could keep hunting Ele if we wanted. He had one more Tuskless tag and either Jim or I could have it. I quickly suggested the opportunity should be Jim’s and like a great friend will do he immediately shouldered the heavy burden without complaint! Did I mention I have some great friends?
So! We are still hunting elephant!
It will be a very opportunistic style of hunting from here on. We still have Kudu, Eland, Grysbok, Hyena, BIG Impala and Warthog to try for. I think Doug may be feeling a wee bit of pressure by now
After scratching on Hyena, we go looking for elephant.
Jim’s hunt is his story to tell, and I will let him tell it where and when he chooses. Suffice it to say Jim was successful on Day 9 and his experience was every bit as exciting as mine! We had an absolute blast! Jim made two excellent heart/lung shots on a big tuskless cow, about 1.5 seconds apart with his .375 H&H and she collapsed about 75 yards from where she was shot.
Jim spent 31 years in law enforcement, many of which were spent as a sniper and eventually in charge of the SWAT Sniper teams. He can shoot and he can run a bolt! Enough said.
Side note, if there is any question about the effectiveness of a .375 solid on elephant, both shots were angling away, raking shots put in front of the hip and both solids penetrated to the off side shoulder. One through the lungs and one through the heart. Dead elephant. It goes to show the importance of lead in the right place as opposed to bigger is better. I’m not advocating that the .375 H&H is the best elephant medicine, simply that it is plenty adequate for the task at hand if you do your part. And I still love my .416 Rigby
Back to Kudu...
We went looking for that bachelor band of Kudu bulls, and by golly we found them! We had parked the truck on the FAR downwind side of the area we thought they may be in and made a plan to spend the better part of the day working our way through the area on foot. A winding path casting about, a bit like hunting dogs, but hoping to find their tracks (fresh) and following tracks to Kudu. To my embarrassment I must admit to having a bit of doubt that we would find that group’s tracks and follow them to Kudu, but that is exactly what we did! Solomon is probably the most incredible tracker I have seen. I can’t say enough about his ability. Simply amazing!
We found the group lounging in the shade and snuck in to about 100 yards of them. It took a while of very careful maneuvering to get a good look at them all, but ultimately we identified the big bull and he was obviously a shooter!
Only one problem, he is blocked by younger bulls and unless I want to risk a neck shot, we have not shot. We wait...
Well, at least I have plenty of time to breathe and relax. Finally something makes them nervous and they start looking around. One of the smaller bulls moves. And then another.
Eventually the big bull takes a couple steps straight away and I consider the possibility of a spine shot. No, gonna wait and see what happens.
Yes! He takes a step and turns broadside. I have to adjust the sticks higher than I would like, but it is the only way to find a clear path for the bullet through the branches between me and him. I’m standing on my tippy toes, but solid with a good sight picture. Boom! And down he goes! I don’t particularly like it when that happens. Unless they are stone cold dead, they have a nasty habit of getting back up.
I’m running the bolt as I’m recoveing from recoil and getting ready to send another one. He scrambles to his feet and I see a big patch of blood on the exit side right behind the shoulder through the scope. What a beautiful sight, but he is up and moving and as long he is moving I will be shooting. My follow up shot is a clean miss. I dunno, just didn’t connect
The rest of the group go one way, he goes the other.
We see him going through thick brush heading right for a big open area. We run!
I have a steeply quartering away running shot and make a beautiful raking shot behind his last rib that puts him in the dirt. Yes! Doug yells “Nice Shot!” That always feels great when your PH tells you that and you know he really means it!
200 yards, running, quartering away. Yeah, I make that shot every day
We get to him and he’s just fading out as we approach. We wait a moment and no one says a word until he relaxes and we know it is done. I check to make sure he is dead and then we all start grinning and shaking hands. The rest of the crew arrive after having hung back from the final stalk. They claim they took a nap while they were waiting for me to pull the trigger
Barry was spot on. This is a great Kudu bull with deep curls! When the tape gets stretched at the skinning shed it will say exactly 56”. Even more importantly, this is an old bull. He has done all the growing he ever would have and would be in a down hill slide from here. A magnificent trophy in every way!
There is no way I could be any happier. To track a specific bull and hunt him on his terms and come out the victor, it just can’t get much better than that. And while I did my part, this is every bit as much Solomon’s and Doug’s trophy as it is mine! Probably more.
I feel like I am blessed with so much more good fortune than one man desreves. There will be a prayer of thanks this night for sure.
