24hourcampfire.com
24hourcampfire.com
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Hop To
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,619
G
GRF Offline OP
Campfire Regular
OP Offline
Campfire Regular
G
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,619
Muhungo Camp 21:10 Thursday September 9

Today Jacques arranged for me to fish with a guide; Willie, from Mahangu Safari Lodge which is just north of Bwabwata National Park on the Kavango River with the main target being Tigerfish.

We started off trolling and very soon had caught a Tigerfish and a large Bream. The Bream was an exceptional catch as I gather Bream especially of that size area rare catch.

[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]

[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]

After that we had two Tigerfish on the hook while fishing with bait, one got away as the knot holding the hook in place slipped, the second as I adjusted my position in the boat there was an instant of slack line and the fish was off. After that we had numerous nibbles which robbed our bait bit no hookups.

The plan for the afternoon was to head to a large water hole at the west end of the park and try for a good photo of a large elephant, and keep an eye out for an exceptional warthog to hunt. Plans changed while Jacques was conversing the head of the local anti-poaching group, the group was short of meat and another own use permit was available at a very reasonable price. We are now hunting for buffalo number 4.

Seeing the incredibly large number of buffalo in the park I’m sure there are ample to supply the number of own use permits without touching the breeding population or trophy population of the total herd in the park. However I could see a situation where if they are not careful with he number of own use tags issued or become lax is which bulls they kill where it could affect the health of the herd when the old past breeding age non-trophy bulls are shot off and young bulls and cows are shot to fill the own use tags.

[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]

We went out looking for buffalo this PM and did not see any buffalo worth pursuing in locations where pursuit was possible with the time we had. Due possibly to a change in weather we saw the most sable we have seen this trip.

[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]

Muhungo Camp 09:30 Friday September 10

We left camp just before 6:00 and picked up Marta the game scout an drove to the south end of the park against the Botswana border and started working our way north, Very quickly we saw suitable buffalo moving from the flood plains into the bush and began our stalk before we were busted by a shift in the wind, the buffalo ran back onto the flood plain and headed north.

We moved our way north and got to the edge a large shallow drainage which has had an very large number of buffalo each morning and evening that we have been there, as expected the buffalo were filtering in from the flood plain and its abundant green grasses.

Two old bulls that fell into the too old to breed and not good enough to be trophy, with enough meat on their bones were on our edge of the drainage.

We snuck into place and waited for the bull to move into a shootable position. The bull closest towards us presented the best opportunity for a shot and Jaques “blatted” to make him stop. When he stopped at close to 100 yards he was quartering towards us slightly and I put the cross hairs between his legs in the lower third of the body, at Jacques command I fired.

At impact the bull came running directly at us, my second shot hit him in the flank as he turned to his left as he appeared to be focused upon the sounds of one of the trackers and the game scout running away and not upon me, my third shot was a click as I had short stroked the bolt while I was repositioning myself for a better shot, the third shot was a sold hit, his head was moving side to side rapidly so I tried to hit the neck shoulder junction it appears hit a little farther back for a solid thoracic cavity hit. At that shot the bull stopped moving but stood his ground and waved his head about. In the heat of the action I did not hear Jacques fire his .470 NE twice. I moved up the short slope behind us at Jacques direction (sadly it took multiple requests from Jacques to get me to respond) while was reloading. The bull was still on his feet thrashing around and I hit him my 4th shot which was a 300 grain Woodleigh HS solid, the previous 3 being 270 grain Barnes LRX bullets. The final shot was high shoulder from an elevated position and appeared to get the shoulder and some spine on the near side and lung on the far side. The bull went down hard rolled onto his back with his legs up. I had reloaded and had the crosshairs on the bull. A final follow up shot was not required.

We then moved in the flats and gave the bull several more minutes become fully and completely dead.

[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]

[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]

Jacques figured the bull ran to / charged the sound he had heard just before he was shot.Jacques was very calm and extremely profession through the entire experience, I would gladly recommend has a man to stand beside in a difficult and dangerous situation be it Cape Buffalo, Hippo, Elephant or one of the big cats, he is a guide “of the first water”.

Four buffalo in one trip, each a completely different experience. The availability of the own use tags has given me more experience than I could have ever expected in one hunt. Most hunts, successful and unsuccessful involved at least some crawling, lots of standing still and silent in close to very close proximity to buffalo.

Hunt 1; pulling a single bull (wrapped up in snare wire) out of a herd of about 300 animals mainly cows and calves.

Hunt 2: pursuing two old solitary bulls in on an island in dry river channel

Hunt 3: pursuing an old bull in herd of 20(?) mature bulls with one bull satellite to the main herd; unfortunate “bodyguard”.

Hunt 4: Pursuing a solitary bull at the edge of a large herd who decided to charge.

We went out to a manmade waterhole this evening to look at Elephants, the waterhole was not functioning properly due to baboons and lack of maintenance. Jaques called the park warden and seeking permission so he can fix the waterhole. A bull elephant watched us as he was pulling tiny amounts of water out of the base of the “pond”, he was interested as we drove up to the pumping station, and was pissed with us when we came down and there was no water flowing. Jacques says they are trained that someone driving unto the station means water coming into the pond.

[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]

BP-B2

Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 8,138
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 8,138
More adventure!

Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 14,435
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 14,435
What an experience, George! Great journal entries and a fun report to follow. Thanks, and congrats!

Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 4,648
B
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
B
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 4,648
Looks like a Weatherby DGR?

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,619
G
GRF Offline OP
Campfire Regular
OP Offline
Campfire Regular
G
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,619
Thanks Jordan!

Biebs; yes the Weatherby Vanguard DGR

IC B2


Moderated by  RickBin 

Link Copied to Clipboard
YB23

Who's Online Now
86 members (99Ozarks, 10gaugemag, batch, 257robertsimp, 12 invisible), 1,621 guests, and 734 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums81
Topics1,187,728
Posts18,400,758
Members73,822
Most Online11,491
Jul 7th, 2023


 







Fish & Game Departments | Solunar Tables | Mission Statement | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA
Hunting | Fishing | Camping | Backpacking | Reloading | Campfire Forums | Gear Shop
Copyright © 2000-2024 24hourcampfire.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
(Release build 20201027)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.3.33 Page Time: 0.094s Queries: 14 (0.004s) Memory: 0.8130 MB (Peak: 0.8794 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-29 08:17:45 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS