ZIMBABWE: Oct 24 - The Adventure Of A Lifetime

[Niklas]

“I never felt scared (before, during or after the charge). Dalton had control of the situation “

Great point. We had multiple sketchy situations that Dalton had us quickly retreat from. We all knew the consequences of sneaking into herds of cows but there was never panic or fear. But only respect for what those cows can do to us.

Dalton will get you in and out safely

By the way. I wish I hadn’t read this. Now I want to return for another cow hunt ASAP

Thanks for highlighting this part. As I have previously stated, this was my first DG hunt in Africa and like everyone else, I read articles and watched YouTube clips about charges and when things "go wrong" in Africa. This of course creates a perceived view of what to expect but Dalton was clear on how to act in case of a "situation" before the hunt.

The interaction with the tuskless was the first, but no the last, close encounter with DG during this trip... more to come...

Furthermore, it seems to be very contagious to hunt for tuskless... 2 years ago I would not even have considered a tuskless hunt… next time is almost a given for the wishlist…

 

[Altitude sickness]

I was the same way, we all dream of giant Tuskers, but the fact is cows with babies and Tuskless are the most dangerous animal in Africa. so sneaking in multiple herds and sneaking out is very exciting. and probably the best bang for your buck in Africa.
I could go and do only cow hunts from now on.

 

[Niklas]

Part 3 “Recovery and a missed opportunity”

Day 2 Recovery of the tuskless and recovery of me…

After a long and needed night’s rest, Day 2 would be focused on recovery of the harvested animal from the day before and my physical body. The day started with a wonderful breakfast in camp and recap of the previous day. Camp manager Charlie and parts of his team had started before the break of day to cut a temporary road to access the site where the tuskless was shot and we joined them just before 8AM. It was a cool 16C degrees in the morning which was really refreshing in comparison to the high heat from the day before…this was however the last time we saw anything below 25C degrees during the rest of the trip… regardless of time of the day… October in the Zambezi Valley is really warm…

It was amazing to see the guys work on the harvested animal and see how all parts are taken care of and eventually utilized as food, material, or potential bait for other animals. Fascinating structure and quite quick, with many knives and axes working on the animal at the same time. My focus during the day was to rehydrate, reload electrolytes and energy. So I was more or else endlessly drinking water with supplements throughout the day.

Arrived back at camp for a late lunch and planning for Day 3… Buffalo was back in focus…



Day 3 “Back at it - Dalton delivers and I miss an opportunity”

We were all ready and loaded early in the morning. Dalton had an idea from the day before of where we should start looking for fresh tracks of dugga boys. His intuition would be proven correct even before we got there… as we where making our way to the starting point, our trackers spotted a group of buffalo from the car… a first of many “get off the car…get ready” was stated…

We quickly made an attempt to get close, but the wind was unfavorable and walking on the dried leaves of Chewore was like walking on cornflakes… but we were on the tracks and the pursuit was on…

After a long stalk Dalton had me on the sticks with a mature buffalo standing 25-30m away in the shadows underneath a tree. I struggled to find a clear shot as the buffalo really blended in in the shadows and was partly standing behind a tree. My red dot was on the lung area, and I followed the bull’s movement. The buffalo took a big step backwards and became stationary…I took the shot…not realizing that the vital zone now was covered by the tree that standing in front of the buffalo.

Now the “confusion” starts, we see that we had followed a group of three bulls, all running of away from us… which animal had I shot at… was it hit…which bull if any, should I fire my second shot at?

We quickly started following the tracks to determine whether or not I had hit one of them. We followed the track for a couple of hours. The tracks looked normal, no traces of blood… there was no signs of a hit. The decision was made by Dalton to call my shot a missed opportunity, concurred by the trackers, the game scout and myself.

The day can be summarized with…Dalton and his team delivered their part…I missed a clear opportunity… Important to point out is that Dalton provided “support” and refocused my thinking on what was to come next and not looking back.

 

[Niklas]

Part 4, Day 4 - “Amazing, absolutely fucking amazing”

After Day 3’s missed opportunity we loaded up early and left camp by 05:15 to start looking for buffalo tracks. I felt ready for a new chance and was really looking forward to a new day of intense hunting… intense, might have been the understatement of the week…

Barely making it out of camp, maybe 10min, just getting out on Security Road, the now so familiar “get out off the car”-phrase was voiced by Dalton!

All of us had just spotted two really nice buffalo bulls stand close to the road. A quick scan with binos just confirmed the initial call that both of the bull were prime candidates for what was to come next.

Dalton had me on the sticks within a few minutes and the perfect shot opportunity presented itself almost immediately. The red dot was spot on the shoulder… I tried to control my breathing… “don’t fuck it up” went thru my head reminiscing my mistake from the day before. I slowly squeezed the trigger of my S2… BOOM…my 500grain Aframe went flying through the air… BOOM…my back-up buddy’s 550grain Woodleigh flew as well, within a second. Both bullets made contact with the bull and the animal showed clear signs of being hit…

I was now expecting the buffalo to collapse or at least move very slowly… but no… it ran off into the thicket… had I missed again… no it couldn’t be… I was absolutely convinced that both bullets had been well placed… I looked over towards Dalton… he too was sure of two good hits.

We quickly made our way to the spot where the buffalo had been standing when it was shot… blood… a lot of blood. A great relief for me and the entire team. Now it was just a matter of finding the buffalo, it surely had just ran off to die… I couldn’t have been more wrong. This bull was a warrior.

Within minutes we find the bull standing in thick bushes. On the sticks again… another shot connects with bull, who again starts to run off. A second shot from my double, another from my back-up and third from Daltons Winchester… all clear hits.

We move in on the buffalo, who now is laying down. As we approach the bull stands up, it is not giving up just yet. It swings around and stares right back at us. “Get ready, he is coming for us” Daltons says… For whatever reason, the bull rethinks its options and tries to evade us but we are right on top of him.

I empty my ammo belt of softs, all hits, and the final shot is taken by my buddy to put an end to the strong warrior. I look at my watch, 05:50, the most intense 20min of my life have just past. Amazing, absolutely fucking amazing experience. Yet again Dalton had given me exactly what I had asked for. Up close and personal and experience I most likely will never forget.

How can an animal take this massive amount of trauma and still keep on moving? We are talking about a dozen of hits of 458 and 470 bullets, all in the vital area or the hip/back legs.

We pay tribute to the harvested animal, take som photos and continue to load up the 600-700kg bull in the back of the LandCruiser. Luckily we are close to the road so recovery is relatively straightforward. We recover a few bullets including my initial shot and second shots. Both of these (Aframe and Woodleigh soft) had passed thru the lungs, expanded perfectly and were found just underneath the skin on the opposite side.

Back to camp for some well deserved breakfast…

 

[Niklas]

 

[Altitude sickness]

Great old bull. Congrats

 

[375Fox]

View attachment 647425View attachment 647426

Beautiful buffalo. Is that the woodleigh on left and A frame on right?

 

[WAB]

Great bull!

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Part 4, Day 4 - “Amazing, absolutely fucking amazing”

After Day 3’s missed opportunity we loaded up early and left camp by 05:15 to start looking for buffalo tracks. I felt ready for a new chance and was really looking forward to a new day of intense hunting… intense, might have been the understatement of the week…

Barely making it out of camp, maybe 10min, just getting out on Security Road, the now so familiar “get out off the car”-phrase was voiced by Dalton!

All of us had just spotted two really nice buffalo bulls stand close to the road. A quick scan with binos just confirmed the initial call that both of the bull were prime candidates for what was to come next.

Dalton had me on the sticks within a few minutes and the perfect shot opportunity presented itself almost immediately. The red dot was spot on the shoulder… I tried to control my breathing… “don’t fuck it up” went thru my head reminiscing my mistake from the day before. I slowly squeezed the trigger of my S2… BOOM…my 500grain Aframe went flying through the air… BOOM…my back-up buddy’s 550grain Woodleigh flew as well, within a second. Both bullets made contact with the bull and the animal showed clear signs of being hit…

I was now expecting the buffalo to collapse or at least move very slowly… but no… it ran off into the thicket… had I missed again… no it couldn’t be… I was absolutely convinced that both bullets had been well placed… I looked over towards Dalton… he too was sure of two good hits.

We quickly made our way to the spot where the buffalo had been standing when it was shot… blood… a lot of blood. A great relief for me and the entire team. Now it was just a matter of finding the buffalo, it surely had just ran off to die… I couldn’t have been more wrong. This bull was a warrior.

Within minutes we find the bull standing in thick bushes. On the sticks again… another shot connects with bull, who again starts to run off. A second shot from my double, another from my back-up and third from Daltons Winchester… all clear hits.

We move in on the buffalo, who now is laying down. As we approach the bull stands up, it is not giving up just yet. It swings around and stares right back at us. “Get ready, he is coming for us” Daltons says… For whatever reason, the bull rethinks its options and tries to evade us but we are right on top of him.

I empty my ammo belt of softs, all hits, and the final shot is taken by my buddy to put an end to the strong warrior. I look at my watch, 05:50, the most intense 20min of my life have just past. Amazing, absolutely fucking amazing experience. Yet again Dalton had given me exactly what I had asked for. Up close and personal and experience I most likely will never forget.

How can an animal take this massive amount of trauma and still keep on moving? We are talking about a dozen of hits of 458 and 470 bullets, all in the vital area or the hip/back legs.

We pay tribute to the harvested animal, take som photos and continue to load up the 600-700kg bull in the back of the LandCruiser. Luckily we are close to the road so recovery is relatively straightforward. We recover a few bullets including my initial shot and second shots. Both of these (Aframe and Woodleigh soft) had passed thru the lungs, expanded perfectly and were found just underneath the skin on the opposite side.

Back to camp for some well deserved breakfast…

Sometimes buffalos mistake bullets for vitamins!

HH

 

[cls]

Well done, enjoyed your report. Thanks for posting.

 

[Niklas]

Beautiful buffalo. Is that the woodleigh on left and A frame on right?

Yes, 500grain Woodleigh RNSN on the left and 500 grain Swift A-Frame to the right.

Both loaded in Normas PH range of ammunition. These are originally/stock loaded with Woodleighs, but I have altered some to be equipped with Aframes as well. In my rifle, the Aframes print to the same POI as the Woodis.

The Blaser S2 doesn’t seem to be that picky about what bullets I use as I also have great results with Hornady DGS, Woodleigh FMJ and Barnes TSXs as well. The later however, needs a slightly lighter load in order to match the others POI

 

[Niklas]

Well done, enjoyed your report. Thanks for posting.

Great to see/heard that it is appreciated. I have found that writing these report help me sort out and bank my memories from the trip in a better way. Furthermore, (with the risk of sounding pretentious, which I am not) I hope that my trip can aspire and/or help a fellow AH member who is thinking about going to Africa.

Let me know if there is anything specific that you would like to know… more details about Chewore and Omay will come in future post, as well as more “reviews” of the Dalton & York operation and the fabulous Dalton Tink…