Cape Buff Hunt - thoughts & photos

[Erick Gelhaus]

There are four posts before you get to the end of the write-up. Each one has a photo with it. Hope you enjoy this.

The Pre-Trip
About a day into my first Africa hunt, I had decided that I'd be coming back at least a time or two more. It was only going to be a question of finances. Hell, I was planning trips three and four during this one.

I started planning this trip back in the fall. By early February, I had everything more or less locked in with Mitch Bunce, the P/H.

From there, it was paying the deposit, getting the vacation time scheduled, making the flight reservations, updating vaccinations & getting the recommended medication.

Also, I had the weekly phone calls to my gunsmith inquiring as to when my rifle would be ready. Eventually, these turned into daily calls to him as the date neared. I got my rifle two weeks before I left and was able to get in one 40+ round range session. Rather than practice, it was spent strictly on trying to zero the scope. The length of the session might have had something to do with the scope not having been bore sighted. It really was not enough trigger time but I did try to make up for this with a tremendous amount of dry practice. It helped, but I'd have liked to do more range time - a lot more. Especially given the minimal amount of time I have with conventionally scoped rifle.

Mitch, my P/H (professional hunter) told me that we'd be hunting in the Matetsi Safari Area. This is government run area adjacent to Hwange National Park.


Pre-Trip Grief....

First, I had the State Department / ITARS bovine fecal matter to deal with. What a waste of time & effort that turned into.

Then, as it came down to the wire to leave, I realized that the plane tickets still had not arrived. A call to the travel company at first revealed nothing. They called back moments later and were more panicked than I was. Why? Because my tickets were sitting on their desk. Oops! I finally got my tickets at Midnight - seven hours before I was supposed to leave for the airport - after having driven to Oakland to get them from SWA Air Cargo.
(Right now, I'm real un-happy with this travel company - for a number of reasons. However, I'm going to give them a chance to make some of this right before I publicly thrash & trash them.)


The Trip and Arrival

The actual trip across the US and then across the pond was easy & enjoyable. Especially in Business Class. I will never take another inter / trans continental flight again in Coach. It is well worth it.

After a brief stop-over in Johannesburg, it was a mid afternoon arrival in Vic Falls, Zimbabwe. Clearing their immigration was rather simple, especially after one pays the $30 US entry fee.

By the time I was through Immigration, I noticed that a porter already had my rifle & suit cases on a cart. He was standing there with paperwork in hand. I detected Mitch's hand in this and was proven correct. The porter then got me through Customs with the firearms & ammo permits very quickly. I got myself & all my gear out to Mitch.
Once outside the airport terminal, we loaded everything into the Cruiser and departed for the camp. It was about an hour drive, maybe less as I wasn't checking the watch. We traveled about 15km on the Vic Falls / Bulawayo highway and then 35km +/- on the dirt road through the Matetsi Safari Area, on the road towards Robbins Camp in Hwange. Once off the highway and on the road to the camp, we passed only a few kraals and none of the larger tribal areas that exist farther south.

We did stop at the residence compound for the Parks Service game scouts and picked up one who would be in our crew for the duration. He wasn't a bad guy, all things considered.


The Camp...AWESOME!

We arrived at the Ganyana Safaris camp in Matetsi's Unit 5. It is leased from the Zim gov't and run by Roy and Rene Vincent - two excellant folks. They're on the land via a 5 year lease. What an incredible job they've done with the camp.

The camp sits on a ridgeline that has a view for miles. To quote Hershel Davis - You can't buy scenery like this!
There are three cottages for clients, one for the P/H's and the fifth is Roy and Renee's. They are seperated by the dining room / bar and a brick patio with a fire pit. The patio overlooks a watering hole that the Vincents had put in.

The cottages were exceptional. Rather than being open sided as I had on my first trip, these were enclosed. The roofs were thatched, with three thicknesses at the peak. The bath room facilities were inside, seperated from the sleeping area by two 6' walls. Hot & cold running water, flush toilets. Darn near all the comforts of home. No mosquito nets were needed, a welcome change.

The kitchen was set back from the dining room & bar. The lads there did an amazing job. The food was exceptional...Too Exceptional! At no time - except for the buff tongue lunch - did one have any idea they were eating game. The menu was varied and GOOD! Home made soup every night, bread that was to die for, salad fresh from garden, I could go on & on.

The skinning shed & butchery was located downhill and about a half mile from the camp. This was a much nicer set-up than at the camp from my first trip. The facility itself was neat and clean. The skinners did a very good job from what I could see.

The website for the camp is:
http://www.ganyana.com/index.html

Our Crew

I had met Mitch on my first hunt as he is my friend's personal P/H. He is in his mid 30's, has been hunting the bush the vast majority of his life. I think he'd be successful, no matter where he lived, given his skills with people. This applies not only to clients, but his empoyees and others I saw him meet. I doubt I'll hunt with anyone else in southern Africa, as long as Mitch is in the business.

Mitch's scouts are Joseph & Dumasani. Joseph is 55, former Rhodesian terroritorial & ex-poacher and has been with Mitch for years. He's got more kids spread around the country than Carter has pills & he chain smokes these horrible things he hand rolls from newspaper. Dumasani is a relatively new addition but a damn good one. Both of these guys have amazing bush skills and their eye sight in UN-BELIEVABLE!

This picture is of the deck & dining area at the camp.

[Erick Gelhaus]

Stalk #1

First morning, right after breakfast, we headed to the range just out of camp. The Vincent's did this range right. They've got an actual shooting bench in place, with overhead cover. Truly, most camps are not like that. The object of the sighting-in is to ensure that the rifle & scope are still on after the trip - not necessarily how well you shoot out of a given position. After checking zero and making an adjustment on my rifle we headed out.

An hour or so into the AM, our trackers saw spore. We got onto three bulls and tracked them for about 2 hours. Our first look at them was from about 100yds away. One was visible only from the right, never saw his left side & then only from the neck forward. The second was facing straight away from us. And the third could only be seen through brush, no indication of his size. Something spooked them and they took off before we could work around to get a better look. We next saw them 30 minutes or so later, disappearing into Hwange National Park. Mitch estimated two of the bulls at around 36 to 27 inches across and the third at 41 to 42".


Stalk #2

This one started within a half hour of us leaving camp on the second day. We were driving down the main road through Matetsi that heads to Robbins Camp. This road forms a boundery between the various units (concessions) in the safari area.

A solitary bull, rather small, was actually standing in the road. He eventually disappeared off into the bush and we went to where he crossed. The scouts found spore - tracks and dung - indicating that ten or so bulls had crossed there quite recently.

We drove down the road a bit, before pulling off into the bush and walking back to start the stalk. We walked in a couple hundred yards before picking up the trail. We followed the trail into a bit of a marshy area and through some very tall & thick elephant grass.

As we were about to emerge from the glass, Joseph signalled that there were Buff just beyond us in a field. We backed out through grass and worked around to them. Alas, they were young bulls, with soft bosses.

We backtracked a bit more and found were several Buff had crossed out of the marsh and into the bush. We were off again. We tracked this group, 9 bulls, off to the west for about 3/4 of a mile. We found them feeding pretty much in mass.

Leaving the scouts and trackers, Mitch and I began to sneak in. This was the involved part, trying to stay below the top of the grass - just above waist height - while trying to stay quiet and remain down wind. Eventually we got into a position where Mitch could start really glassing the group.

I couldn't tell what was going through Mitch's mind but I thiought it was interesting. After a few minutes, he motioned me up and had me look at each bull. I could see five from the tree we were behind. Not one of the bull's had a complete set of horns. Their bodies were huge. Neither photos nor TV gave me a true appreciation for the sheer size of these Dagga Boys. However, those we could see went from one bull with a horn tip broken off to another with nearly nothing but thick hard bosses that had no horns.

We moved to another spot about 30 yards away. From there we could see the rest of the herd. Same thing. Old Dagga Boys that were missing significant parts of one or both horns.

Mitch seemed flabbergasted. He told me that in all his years of hunting he has never encountered that many bulls, let alone that many together, that were missing horns.

We backed out, the way we came, and rejoined the scouts. Mitch explained what he'd seen to the scouts and they were surprised as well.


Stalk #3

A few K down the road, we saw sign for two bulls that was an hour or two old. We followed it for quite a while and eventually closed on the two buff in some very thick brush. As we started to exam them through binoculars, they spooked. Kind of startling to hear two extremely large animals that are scared crashing through the bush, especially its very hard to tell exactly where they are and which way they're headed. It's more startling when the scouts move behind the two guys with guns - Mitch and I. Actually, though that was a good thing. I knew where Mitch and the scouts were should a shots) needed to be taken.

After a few minutes, Mitch climbed a nearby tree and was unable to locate them. We walked the area but didn't get back on the spore.

That night, we talked to others in the camp. They had found signs that a herd of 200+ plus Buff had crossed into Unit 5 from Hwange.

We looked all the next morning for fresh sign from that herd without success. Apparently, over the next several days, everyone around saw that herd except us. But, hey, that's we why they call it hunting. I saw zebra nearly everyday but one client who really wanted a zebra never saw one.

This photo is Mitch the PH and I.

[Erick Gelhaus]

Stalk #4

It was after 3PM on the third day of the trip, Wednesday July 3rd. We stopped high atop a ridgeline overlooking the Kalala River valley. We could see for miles, I mean miles. The view was incredible. I could see at least three, someplaces four, ridgelines away. Not a sign of any animals except for a good size herd of Elephants.

The Matetsi area has an incredible amount of Elephants. It was difficult to move more than a few yards without coming across some sign of elephants, either destroyed trees, tracks or dung. The amount of damage that an elephant can do defies description. Think back to the pictures from Hurrican Andrew in southern Florida. Now apply that to a near desert forrest.

After 30 minutes or so, we piled back into the Cruiser. Mitch and I were up front. Joseph & Dumasani, along the gov't scout and Phillip were in the back.

Within a couple hundred yards, we turned onto a track that led down into the valley. Seconds later Mitch and I heard a light tapping on the roof of the cab. Mitch stopped as Joseph leaned in the window. There was an exchange in Ndebele, followed by pointing across the valley and more Ndebele. Mitch grabbed his binos and got out of the cab. He climbed up top with the lads. There was a fair amount of muted discussion. Out of all of this, all I caught was Mbogo. Now, while I'm not fluent in anything other than American English, even I knew this meant Buffalo.

Mitch climbed back into the cab, pointed across the valley towards what looked like the second ridgeline and asked "Do you see him?". See what?!? I asked. Mitch talks me onto a dark blob that looked miles away. In reality, Mitch estimated that it was 2km as the crow flies or 3+km as we walked it.

We drove to the bottom of the valley and got out. I checked the chamber, ensuring that I had a round up. The rifle was loaded with two 300gr solids and a 300gr Nosler partition. Off we went.

We hiked up the side of the valley, climbing to a plateau. We began working counter-clockwise to stay downwind and out of sight of the Buff. Periodically, Mitch or Joseph would point in the direction of the Buff.

Between the bush, the vegetation and what was pretty much a berm, I didn't see him.

Eventually, we ended up within about 20 yards of the Buff, slightly ahead of him. I could see only back half of him - Huge. His front half was hidden behind a bush. The scouts were probably 30 yards or so back. Just Mitch and I had gone forward.

Mitch leans over and whispers "Don't shoot until his shoulder is well past the bush. Hit him just above & behind the shoulder. Don't shoot him in the neck, whatever you do. I'll back you up."

At the time that last part was encouraging, given that Mitch was holding his .458Lott.

Mitch moved to the right, giving us a lateral seperation of about 5 yds.

I'm in the Ching sling in a low ready, finger is straight, thumb has pushed the safety off. I'm trying to control my breathing without making too much noise.

The Buff emerges from the bush. First the head, the horns are visible - damn, this a nice looking Dagga Boy.

Then the neck. God, what a massive neck.

Now the shoulders are out.

I raise the rifle up to my face, pick up the scope, move the crosshairs, take the slack out of the trigger. Check and see that I'm just back of the shoulder - remember, run the bolt. Press the triger, now.

The shot broke and hit.

I come out of recoil & run the bolt. The Buff has gone forward several feet, very quickly. He's turned, his tail is towards us and he stops.

As I bring my sights back on target, I see that my shot angle is from his left hip towards his right shoulder.

Instant Clarity, Instant Fear.

As my crosshairs are coming up, I see the Buff's head coming around. The body is oriented the same, but that massive neck is bringing the head and the horns connected to it around to the left - towards me.

I press the trigger again, sending my second round into him. As I run the bolt, Mitch's first shot breaks.

I re-acquire and fire my third round, again into the area just below the left hip.

Mitch's second (and final) shot breaks - Damn, that was loud!

The Buff is moving forward and to the left, he's not looking at us.

I tell Mitch I'm reloading as the Buff disappears behind some bush. Three rounds in, close the bolt and point in on the place I last saw the Buff.

I hear Mitch working his action and then..."Erick, keep watching for him, my gun's broke." I take a half step back to where I can see Mitch in my peripheral vision. He wrenches on the bolt handle. As the bolt rotates and goes rearward, something pops off and up from the bolt.

At about that time, I hear a very loud Thud! from past where I last saw the Buff. Within seconds, this is followed by what sounds like a bellow, a death rattle, and a curse all combined. I have never heard a sound like it before.
Mitch says "That's it, he's done. You got him."

I take about two steps forward and to my left. Through an opening in the bush, I can clearly see that the Buff is down. He's on his left side, spine towards me. I ask Mitch if I should a round into the spine - just for insurance.
Mitch says no, the Buff is dead.

We collect what parts we can find from Mitch's bolt before going forward. Turned out, it was the Sako extractor he'd had installed on the Rem 700 in place of Remington's extractor. Mitch had the work done by a gunsmith in South Carolina on his last trip over. He was trying to keep the Remington alive until his two new rifles were finished by a 'smith in Colorado.

We approach the Buff. What a big animal, I mean Big! Very large, deep, thick bosses. The horns are stout, thick with a slight rearward sweep. The points go towards each other.

I cannot describe my feelings at that point. Elation, Joy, Sadness - maybe a bit, at the fact that what had been a goal for long was over - Relief.

Mitch left me with the gov't scout who was carrying the ne'er popular AK, while he took Joseph, Dumasani & Phillip back to get the Cruiser. After getting to the Cruiser, they had to figure out how to get back to us. That seemed to have taken about an hour or so. I could feel the adreneline starting to leave my system. I was almost antsy from it.

We spent the time talking, covering the pools of blood coming from the mouth, finding a good sized rock to put under the Buff's chin for the pictures.

By the time they returned, the sun was well into setting. First, we took the obligatory photos. Me & the Buff - several. The Buffs, the lads & I. Then Mitch & I. Next, we cleared a path all the way in for the Cruiser.

That done, we had to get the Buff into the back. We chocked the wheels and reeled out the winch. With Mitch running the winch, the rest of us worked on lifting the Buff to clear the tailgate. Eventually we finally got a fauir amount of the Buff into the bed. A problem arose at this point as the Buff was so large that it was hanging up on the hunting seat of the truck. Mitch has had that Cruiser for 5 years and swears he had never had any so large that it did not clear the hunting seat. This includes Buff, Sable, land, etc. So, we stopped and unbolted the hunting seat before we could proceed.

Once the Buff was all the way in, we forced the tailgate closed. Then we tied the Buff's head up, so that it wouldn't bang around. Checking the area one last time, we grabbed the axes and the AK.


The Drive Out

Before leaving, Mitch asks Phillip, the camp's scout who was with us, what the road back to camp was like. Phillip said and demonstrated that it was flat & straight. Well, this wasn't quite the case. It was neither flat nor straight. We went through elephant grass higher than the cab, at least three streams, numerous muddy areas that will be streams if not rivers in the rainy season. I lost count of the steep uphills & downhills and streams we had to cross on the drive back.

All this in the dark, with a 1500+lb Buff and four scouts in the back.

While Mitch drove, I hung out the window with a Surefire in hand. We had to do this because between the grass and the terrain, the headlights weren't always on or even near the road. So, for the first mile or so through the elephant grass and across the various dips, climbs and streams, it was a Surefire light that kept us on the path back.

Part of the fun at this point was that while Mitch has hunted the other four units in Matetsi, this was his first time hunting Unit 5.

We also ended up relying on the GPS a bit here too. After a while though it was just to keep us informed as to our direction and the time left.

I was able to have a couple photos taken in the skinning shed. What a large animal! I asked the skinners to try and recover any bullets from my Buffalo. Not only did they being me the one .375 solid they found, but they brought the one .458 solid of Mitch's as well. My first shot was a through & through. They recovered the second. We don't know where the third (300gr Nosler) ended up or how it performed. Only one of Mitch's two solids were recovered.

A note about the 300gr Nosler & TB Bearclaw bullets. Mitch isn't happy with either of these on Buff. His preference is the Barnes X-Bullet, with the 300gr TB Solid being the next choice in .375H&H. I had a chance to get some detailed information on this a couple days later when one of the other hunters in camp took his buff. His first round, into the near shoulder, was a 300gr Nosler. It penetrated the skin and disrupted in front of everything, rather than penetrating to the vital organs.

[Erick Gelhaus]

Nimbabwe currently...

I cannot adequently descibe it. In addition to all of the good safari reading out there, my suggestions are to read:
'Cry Zimbabwe' by Peter Stiff and 'Our Votes, Our Guns' by

The country is going to tank. There are shortages of:
Diesel, petrol, salt, sugar, mealie meal, etc.

Food wise, it's not that the stuff doesn't exist, it does. It is just being hoarded by certain unscrupulous individuals who are extremely close to the powers-that-be. There no shortages in our camp.

The current inflation rate was 121%, up 7% from April. The exchange rate was Zim$500 to US$1; by comparision in 1999 the rate was Zim$37 to US$1.

Went into Vic Falls one morning for a bit of tourist shopping. Bracelets, spears, carvings, etc. When I did this in '99, there were only one or two individuals that made me uncomfortable. This time? There were only a handful that did not make uncomfortable once I was outside of the Elephant Walk shopping complex. It was worse than working the barrio, hood, projects, etc on a very bad night - sans pistol and shotgun. One hand on the wad of Zim$500 bills, the other wrapped around the folder.

If you go, I'd recommend packing a GPS, maps & a compass before the rifle. Please, know how to use them though. Also, bring lots of $1 bills - a whole lot easier to deal with those than changing $20s.


The Rest of the Trip

After the Buff, the rest of the trip was spent working on Baboon depredation and trying to find a larger Warthog that what I already. Never did find a larger Buff. I did take two more Baboons though.

Saw a tremendous number of good Sable bulls, which alas I did not want before the trip. There were nearly as many good Kudu bulls in the unit as well. What I noticed with the Kudu is that while their horns were longer than those in the area where I took mine, they were no where near as thick. Nor were the curls very deep.

Mitch and I spent a considerable amount of time discussing future hunts. For now, it looks like a Croc & Hippo hunt will be the next trip. After that, it'll be a cat / Buff trip.

Surprisingly, or maybe not to some, while Joseph and Dumasani were loading one of the baboons into the Cruiser, the gov't game scout said something I never would have expected. As the carcass hit the bed, the scout laughed and said "Comrade Mugabe." While that may not be that strange to our way of thinking, I was damn near shocked. One can be arrested in Mugabestan (used with permission) for speaking ill of Comrade Mugabe. To hear it coming from a black gov't employee was far from anything I expected to hear. This may just be another example of just how severe the problems there are.

Given that, the country where they were taken and other things, I have dubbed the baboons taken on this trip as Mugababoon One and Two. M-One will done as a skull only trophy. M-Two, a rather old and large herd bull much like my first baboon, will be mounted in a couple ways. M-Two was caped and will be a really nice pedestal mount. M-Two was skinned elsewhere and that part of the hide will become an award at work.

While I never saw any leopard or hyena, I did manage to see both a Lion and a lioness. On most nights, I could hear the hyena moving through camp. Their nails clicking on the concrete in front of the cottage.

The lioness was one of three - I never saw the other two. She was moving around in a vlei (valley, pronounced flay) about 70 to 80 yards from us. Eventually, she settled on a rock slab at the base of a bush. She watched us for quite some time. Eventually, she tired of us - long before we did of her - and she ambled off to join the others.

The lion was experienced much closer. We were about a hundred yards from a bait when the Cruiser stopped. Mitch pointed to an opening in the bush. Damned if I could see anything for several seconds. Eventually, I realized that I was looking at part of the head of a lion. Specifically, an ear, part of the mane and one eye. I watched in amazement for several seconds. The lion got to his feet. What a stunningly beautiful and powerful animal. He then bounded off with a quickness that was nearly unbelievable given his size. He disappeared into the bush and was gone. Still, that half minute or so was close to being worth the entire trip.


The Return Trip grief...

Flying was the easy part. Check in at Vic Falls was very smooth. Mitch has the system down. I cannot say enough Good Things about Mitch. He is excellant. Obviously, I trust him with my life. But, I believe I consider him a friend as well. What started as a business relationship, via a dear friend, is becoming another friendship. A rare thing.

The boarding security check at JoBurg had me fairly impressed. Rather than picking on the middle age white guys, the grandma's in wheelchairs & others, Everyone was hand searched (Pat-down) and had their carry-ons hand searched too.

Landed at Atlanta-Hartsfield early - always a good thing. Got my suitcase fairly quickly, then came the wait for gun case. 30+ minutes later it was obvious that something Not Good had happened. There were nine of us standing in front of the Oversized baggage counter - all waiting for gun cases. Seems somehow SAA LOST seven rifle cases in the process of transferring them at Jan Smuts Int'l. More than four days later still no sign of my rifle case and I have to keep bugging the airlines. Hmmm.

At this point, I'm sad about the Win 70 - it can be replaced but I took my Buff with it. Hell, I'd already decided to get a .416 as an upgrade.

But My Shotgun? The agony! I'm not kidding, that 870 is my baby! I'll be very PO'd if it doesn't turn up.

Plus, I'm out the military overrun Pelican case.


A final note on the State Department / ITARS stuff-

A day or so prior to my departure, I received a phone call from the State Dept folks. They informed me that I had not given them enough time to process my application. That friggin' frosted me! If you aren't aware of this BS, let me know & I'll fill you in.

So, I pretty much wrote them off. Once I got to Zim, there were many questions about all this. I explained all I gone through and done in an effort to comply. Everyone made me promise to give them an update upon my return.

Well, when I returned home I had mail from the State Dept. It was my original application along with a form letter. They informed me that they were denying my application because I had not given them sufficient time to process it.

Arrggghhhh!

This pic is the scouts and myself in the Cruiser at sunset

[Erick Gelhaus]

Boots - I wore Merrells rather than Courteneys. A mistake. The soles of the Merrells were extremely loud in the dry bush, no matter how quietly I tried to move. I had bought Courteneys at the end of my first trip and just plain forgot about them. Mitch gave me serious grief about not having brought them. I even tried wearing my New Balance walking shoes. Much quieter, though zero ankle support. The canvas Safari Gaiters that I had picked up from Cabelas were a good thing. Very happy with those, they are keepers.

Clothing - I hunted in OD ripstop BDU pants with the exception of one afternoon, having unintentionally gone swimming in the AM. These are quiet, comfortable & work very well - color wise - almost everywhere in the worl
d. Other clothing included shirts from Cabelas; these were a cotton/synthetic mix that held up really well. The Carhartt jacket was a must for the mornings. It kept me warm & really cut the wind. Riding in the hunting seat seats atop the Land Cruisers can be very chilly! A boonie hat is standard for me, but plenty of folks wear regular ball caps.

I used a Bill Jeans' VersaTac vest while hunting this trip. Yes, it is a "tactical vest" but it worked very well. Even Mitch liked the design - I really think he wants a left handed version. I also found a pic of Joseph, one of the scouts, wearing it. It carried everything I needed, where I needed it. This included extra ammo, a SureFire, a GPS, a Gerber tool, compass, maps, para-cord, food and my Camelback.
http://www.morrigan-consulting.com/versa-tac.html

I was field testing the rifle strips that Bill Jeans' just had made up for the VersaTac vests. I carried one on the velcro panel below the shooting pad & two in mag pouches on the right side. These things are The Heat, they are very good kit. When I took my Buff, I kept the stock up near my shoulder. I was able to reload pretty quickly from the strip while still keeping eyes on the bush I'd last seen the buff disappear behind. Rather comforting, espcially since Mitch was at that point telling me his gun had broke. I was only able to carry 4rds in each of the strips I kept in the pouches. The reason was the length of the loaded .375H&H rounds in relation to the width of the pouches. Not a problem, since the vest wasn't designed for those. Total ammo load was 3 in the rifle plus 14 on the vest.The strip attached very securely to the velcro panel. Even though the strips were designed / sewn for .308, they held the .375 rounds without problem.

Mitch was happy that I had that much ammo on me. Apparently, he has had previous clients who only carried the three rounds in the gun and nothing more. As a result, they have had to break off following a wounded animal to return the client to the Cruiser for more ammo. Not something he likes.

As mentioned, the SureFire came in very handy when we tried driving out with the Buff. The GPS was a good thing too..."Erick, turn that thing on & tell me where the camp is, which way we're supposed to be going"...a minute or so later "Mitch, camp is that away, three miles, er, 5 k's"... This is actually pretty close to the exact phrases.

I bought my Model 70 (used) after returning from my first Africa hunt. It came with a very nice wood stock, albeit in Monte Carlo style. I replaced that stock with a Bell & Carlson model. Following a lot of reading, especially the stuff from Doktari ( Doc Roberts, Zim veteranarian), I had the barrel shortened by two inches down to 22". The scope on it is a Leupold 1.5-5x20mm in quick detachable mounts (my .416 will have quick release mounts with the throw levers). I slung it with the Wilderness' version of the Ching Sling.

During the varmit (Baboon = Snoobab) depredation phase, I had some issues with the scope. These were issues related to me, rather than the quality of the equipment. This is only the second scoped rifle in my collection and the first of a conventional design. As I mentioned, I did not have enough trigger time with the gun. After hunting plains game and taking the General Rifle class at Gunsite with the Steyr Scout, I decided to change reticles. My belief, after looking at all of the choices was that I - me, myself - needed to go with either a German Post reticle (match to the front sight blade on a ghost ring system) or look at going to the Trijicon scopes (matching my Reflex). Anyway, I didn't have the reticle swapped out on the 1.5-5x before the hunt. My issues were in terms of trying to keep my focus on the thin wire duplex reticle. Would the thicker reticle ala the Scout Scope have helped? Maybe.

More Gun Purchases - During discussions with Mitch, I made the decision to upgrade to a .416 Rigby. A good friend had already started me down this road. Through reading & thinking on my own, I had decided that I'll be buying a .22 bolt action and setting it up like the .416 to prepare for future trips.

Now it looks like I'll have to replace an 870 - I am not looking forward to that. Not at all!

This is the deck at the end of the day.

[biltongG23]

Excellent post, good reading.

[clown714]

thanks for the post!

clown

[Larry Ashcraft]

Enjoyed the story, thanks for taking the time to write it up.

BTW, are Mitch's new rifles being built by Bill Sturtevant of Pueblo, CO?

[ralphtt]

Round numbers . . . what is the total cost of a trip like the one you describe? Time required?

[rock_jock]

Erick,

Your time and effort are truly appreciated. Makes me dream of lands and game far away. I would also like some idea of total costs. I'm thinking probably $8,000-10,000 - is this far off?

[leadbutt]

Excellent post,i am planing a hunt in the RSA for 2005,think i will now go with the 416 instead of the 375.

[KSFreeman]

Oh, my heart is tearing itself to pieces. What a wonderful land; what horrible, horrible people who are "in charge" of it. I dream of Africa . . . .

Thanks for sharing with the class, Erick.

[ronin308]

Thanks for the excellent write up. I can't wait till I graduate college...first stop: Africa

[Erick Gelhaus]

First, thank all of you for the kind words. Guess I succeeded in painting a word picture of the trip.

For the questions:
The total cost was about $17,000 (no, I'm not counting the missing guns in that).
Airfare - $6k;
Day Rate for PH dangerous game (lodging, meals, laundry, beverages) - $7k;
Trophy fee Cape Buffalo - $2k;
Birds & Baboons - $200;
Tips for PH, scouts & camp staff - $1K;
Ammo, clothing, other misc stuff - $500.

Flying coach, rather than business will knock $3k off. Plains game drops the Day Rate down to $300 to $500 depending on the area, the camp.

My first hunt, which was plains game and two days of costly tourism and flying coach, cost about the same. But I had six trophy fees to cover, four of them well over $500.

leadbutt-
There was nothing wrong with the .375's performance. I'm upgrading to the .416 primarily because the focus of my Africa hunts from here on out is dangerous game. The .375 is good all-around Africa rifle.

KS-
You are so correct brother. It is so beautiful, yet some things are so sickening.

If anyone has more questions, ask away. I'll do my best to answer.

[Art Eatman]

Excellent, Erick! Thanks!

, Art

[k77/22rp]

Very good read!!!
I really enjoyed it.

Amazing how many hits the buff took before going down!!!


So how about some pics of the recovered bullets???

-jeff

[Saeed]

Erick,

I see that you have had an experience hunting with my friends the Vincents.

I have known them for over 20 years, and have hunted with Roy 10 times so far.

Alan, their son, was hunting with us in South Africa last month.

Some of our friends here might be interested in seeing some of our hunts, all the ones in Zimbabwe have been with the Vincents.

http://www.accuratereloading.com/hunting.html

I hope you and some of our hunting friends enjoy looking at them.

Best regards

[Erick Gelhaus]

Saeed-

Roy & Rene are definately a gentleman and lady, in the truest sense of the words. It was a pleasure.

k77-
Cape Buff are quite tenacious of life. They - generally - require multiple rounds. The shots fired by Mitch and I were over in at most ten seconds, and probably much less.

[The Terminator]

I enjoyed your hunting trip story. I have a 375, and I am always interested in hunts taken with one. I have not shot it since I bought it over a year ago. I am wanting to put a scope on it first. It has a 26 inch barrel, but I am curious, why cut the barrel down to 22 inches? I certainly would do it, if it improved the performance of the gun. I have been cycling it with rounds this week, trying to break in the action. I bought mine primarliy for wild hogs, and elk. I notice that working the long action is quite different from working a short action. Thanks for sharing this great story with us.

[kjm]

What a great story. I will print and place in my Africa Archives. A dream of mine is to go to africa and hunt buffalo with my son when he gets old enough. Hopefully it will still be worth hunting. I can't even explain to my wife why I so badly want to go. I just do. It is one of those callings like being a priest. I don't care to hunt lions or elephant or rhino. Just a buffalo. Your story really pumped me up about it. Thanks!

[BigG]

Super job, Erick! Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

[C.R.Sam]

Great report.
Thank you Erick.

Sam

[12-34hom]

Fine post, excellent read!

12-34hom.

[Erick Gelhaus]

Again, thank you guys.

On a side note, met CR Sam this AM and had breakfast with him. Gentleman is a darn good word for him. The man has definately lived. Was a pleasure. Oh yeah, he brought Denny with him.
Both were excellant company.

[Erick Gelhaus]

The guns have been found.

My faith in SAA and Delta has plummetted drastically.

The gun case was "found" back on the 16th. It was given to a customs brokerage by Delta/SAA. Minor problem, Delta/SAA never gave the brokerage anything other than my PO Box.

Hit my PO Box early this AM and found a letter from them. Contacted the brokerage and the guns will be en-route soon.