Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Thinking about a buff hunt in 2016?

Hey, it's your very rude, bottom-feeder comment buddy.

Do not judge a place in Zim based upon what you saw in the area before. My father hunted Binga, just W of where you are looking, in 2002. He got a leopard, buffalo, and elephant. It was a great hunt.

We went back there in 2008 and my God did it change. The poaching was rampant. We were only after buffalo and what little plains game we saw. The other guys in camp were some Spaniards after elephant. They were tracking a bull and machine gun fire opened-up on the herd they were tracking. They left immediately, as they felt it was too dangerous hunting there. We also heard machine gun fire and found the young bull elephant they poached the next day.

We left without buffalo. We shot a cow in a snare and found another cow who had just died in a drag-log snare. We pulled snares every day.

If you bumped buffalo, they went for hours. You never found them again.

It was the worst hunt I've ever been on. It went from heaven to hell in 6 years.

Be careful with "I've been there before" and Zimbabwe.

And here comes "another outfitter" mystery from his fantasies. You've already proven you've got something to hide by not posting your original login. I wonder why that is? Or even better, how about pictures from your last hunt in South Africa for a Cape Buffalo? I wonder how long you'll last this time until you're banned again? Like every other troll, you'll eventually hang yourself.

Thanks for the advice. The outfitter told me saw a buff that would go 46-48 inches at the close of this season, but he was out of tags.

The buff I killed back in 2004 had a scar around his neck from a poachers snare.

This guy hunts communal lands so it is quite possible the buff have been pretty much shot out.

Happy New Year Rude Comment Guy and again thanks for the advice.

PS I didn't mean you were a rude person, just that you made a rude comment.

BH

Jorgie,

Get over it. You and your buddies broke forum etiquette by posting a lot of boring sophomoric posts about meeting up at the DSC or DCS and I called you out over it.

If you really want to see a pic I posted go to the big bore express rifle section and look at a thread I started about recoil. It shows a very nice bull ellie (60lbs a side), that I killed in Zim in 2004.

Notice how nice the thread reads since everyone stayed on topic and shared their experiences and opinions about the topic?


Happy New Year,

BH

PS If I recall correctly you are in Florida correct? I would tell you my old handle, as I remember it, but it is much more fun, letting you wonder.

OK Buffhunter... Keep thinking anyone GAF. Say Doc, so we're all set for Saturday around 1230? The Omni has opened up a bunch of new restaurants and as you know they are only a couple of minutes away through the archway. Let me know! j

kscowboy,

Interesting that you hunted Binga in 2008. I hunted it in September of 2008 with Rory Muil of Russ Broom Safaris as my PH. I killed a bull elephant, a cape buffalo, a hippo, and a 14' croc.

The place was swarming with natives who had moved in from the cities due to Mugabe's economic policies. The schools were closed because the teachers just wandered off after not getting paid. In one place US Aid had constructed a fence to keep elephants out, but all the wire had been stolen. We found and destroyed 35 wire snares.

There was almost no game in fact smaller than buffalo, though there seemed to be a lot of elephants. We used part of my buff for leopard bait but a native stole it the first night. Whole areas of Binga were denuded--almost desertified--by the natives and their goats.

I considered this a good hunt, as my objective was to get elephant and buff. I have heard, however, that no one hunts there now due to the increased population.

I booked an elephant hunt with Dudley Rodgers in 2007. I had a medical problem and had to cancel a couple of months in advance, having paid a $4000 deposit to him. I asked if I could reschedule for 2008. He said only if he could resell the safari and he'd let me know. That was the last I ever heard from him.

Later there was a long series of posts on AR about a lady client who had failed to receive her trophies because he had filled out the paperwork wrong. Neither he more the booking agent apparently lifted a finger to help her until a lot of the AR African hunting members got a little testy about it.

Do as you like. But as for me, I would not book a hunt with Dudley Rodgers even though he has satisfied clients.

PS: None of my business but I don't think the clique of old pals who are meeting up at DSC are a very closed clique or that they would freeze out new people. I suspect if I went, they would welcome me.

I'm planning to attend DSC in 2017. Fly in for the convention, fly back to RSA, then fly back to US/Canada in March for the rest of my show schedule. Would certainly hope we can have a gathering over a few refreshments in 2017.

Consider it done!

You lads are hijacking again!

Thanks for the information IndyCA35.

The only thing I have heard bad (or at least controversial) about Dudley was that a client on an elephant hunt took a very dicey shot at an elephant against the PHs advice, and wound up killing a very small tusker. The client, who was adamant that he wanted to kill a large tusker, was about 3 days into a 14-day hunt. He wanted to kill another elephant, and Dudley stated he would let him kill another, but the first hunt was over, and he had to pay, in addition to another trophy fee, another 14-day camp fee.

I thought that was kind of strange, but I suppose elephants are very sought after tags, and he outfitter wants to maximize his profit for each ellie tag.

Apparently his group has killed one heck of a lot of elephants. I got a picture somewhere that shows hundreds of elephant skulls lined up in rows at one of his camps.

BH

Indy, we must have just missed each other. We hunted with Gavin in Russ' area. My father hunted with Gavin in the same area in 2002. If Rory told you the story of being detained for the stolen government ivory, my dad was there for that incident in 2002. Gavin tossed him I don't know how many thousand in cash just in case they came back for him. Gavin hired the local witch doctor and one of the camp staff immediately recovered the ivory and confessed.

The area is still great for hippo and croc, as it's right on Lake Kariba. 2008 was when the hyper-inflation was occurring and Zim even had a billion dollar bill that once it was printed, wouldn't buy a loaf of bread. Corn, fish, tobacco, and bush meat was currency. It was a straight-up bartering system, so no wonder they were poaching.

The elephant were there but they were getting poached daily. I'd be curious to see what the elephant population is there now. There were buffalo and we were on them every day but as I said, if you bumped them, you never saw them again. The wind had a tendency to shift when we were there. It sure didn't help that the leaves sounded like walking on cornflakes.

The group from Boston after us got a buff that went over 42". They finally had a good, steady wind and made it happen. We got up on the herd we'd been stalking for multiple days on our final day to only find that he was soft.

What did you think of the Mopane Bees? I don't smoke but I ripped a couple of cigs just to keep them away. I sure wish I had some Avon Skin So Soft that trip!

There are far better areas that have much more game. We hunted Dande North in 2011 and that was definitely a much better area.

Jorge, I'm thinking we should definitely meet at one of the Omni restaurants... the BBQ inside the convention hall is OK, but it's spendy and the seating ain't exactly posh...

^
You boys have fun, but remember to practice safe sex.

Jorgie,

Here is a hint "I once deliberately shot a buff off shoulder to make it charge".

BH63

That's what I'm seeing these days, too. I had a chance to pick up a similar license in Tanzania 2 years ago for $7K, short notice due to a hunter getting sick and cancelling, etc... didn't pull the trigger and not sure it would've been a good idea for a first buff hunt anyway.

I'm looking at going back for another buff in '17, and at this point I'm considering Mozambique and the Bubye in Zim... Moz is cheaper, but the non-tangibles are hard to predict. I know what I'm getting for my $$$ in Zimbabwe, whereas a new area/PH in Moz has a lot of unknowns.

But Marius's comments about cost-effective RSA buffalo are welcome news. I'm gonna have to do some figuring.

Will these high falootin' Omni restaurants allow a gent in with a Shiloh rifle T-shirt and jeans?

The Sports Bar in the Omni was pretty good the last time I attended DSC.

And yes, one would fit right in with T-shirt (even with firearm logos) and jeans.

Hell, dressed like that you'll get into the VIP section during DSC, Patrick!!!

The Shiloh t-shirt was certainly good for starting a conversation with Ralf Martini, and a couple of Ruger guys

Someday I should get one made with a couple of my #1's on it. Maybe a pic of one of the nicer ones, saying "Rugers used to look like this..."

Doc your cell # still the same?

Reading comprehension issues on top of "a-s-s-holeness" BUFFHUNTER?



Great seeing some of you guys,