Zimbabwe 2012 hunt w/ pics

[MidgetIdjit]

I was one of the guys whose arm was twisted by Rob. Evidently he gets scared on airplanes and wanted company.

Below are a few of my animals. Shot a total of 10 animals over the 10 day period.

My choice of a novelty caliber worked very well. I had a pair of Rem 700's chambered in 350 Rem Mag. I used handloads consisting of some prototype 175gr CEB Raptors with a MV of just over 3000 fps.

My closest shot was 57 yards on the hyena. Longest shot was 215 yards on the zebra. 1 shot kills on everything. The furthest any animal traveled was about 50 yards (meat impala). Most dropped in their tracks. Rob has all the data.

The only blemish was my 1st zebra. As my ammo hadn't arrived yet, I was using a camp rifle (.308 w/ 147gr FMJ). Evidently, the FMJ bullets are preferred for the penetration.

Based on my shooting with the rifle (175yd shot on the jackel and 60yd on impala #1), I felt confident taking a 175yd shot on zebra #1. Foolishly overconfident as it turns out. Long story short, I wounded it, we followed it until dark, and when we came back the next morning to continue the tracking, the hyenas had got to it first. An $950 error of judgement.

However, it made Operation Zebra Vengeance much sweeter.

Anyway, on to the pics

Kudu



Bushpig



Hyena



Impala #1



Disco Donkey



Distant cousin



Jackel

[Austrian Hunter]

  Awesome!! Thanks for sharing!  There has been a few nice African hunts on here this year!!   

[Boss .300 winmag]

Nice trophies!

[pips4bucks]

Nice critters!  I can't wait to get back to Africa again!  It's more affordable that most people think it is.

[lhrbull]

rob mentioned a change where you were going to hunt where did you actually hunt great looking trophies are you going after buff next

[elkoholic1]

 

[MidgetIdjit]

rob mentioned a change where you were going to hunt where did you actually hunt great looking trophies are you going after buff next

We were scheduled to hunt the Save Conservancy. However, the usual Zim corruption and politicking took care of that. (Very simplistic answer. )

Instead, we hunted the Sentinel Ranch and surrounding area:

http://www.sentinellimpoposafaris.com/

Nice place. Lotsa animals.

Don't know what or even when my next safari will be. Buffalo is certainly an option. I have no desire for any of the cats. So probably a buffalo/plains hunt. Still need to get the warthog and bushbuck that I couldn't connect with this time.

[lhrbull]

would you hunt there again or try different area or even different country

[bearpaw]

very nice, congrats... 

[seth30]

Looks like a great time Are you you getting any of them taxideremed?

[MountainWalk]

Cool choice of caliber. A little info on your rifle would be nice as well. Great job.

[cedarriver]

Great looking trophies!

[arees]

would you hunt there again or try different area or even different country

I can't speak for the OP, but I have hunted both Zimbabwe and South Africa.  I would definitely hunt Zimbabwe again before South Africa but would probably hunt somewhere else first.  Maybe Namibia or Zambia if the budget ever recovers.

There are also some cool DIY hunts in Cameroon that would be quite the adventure.

[MidgetIdjit]

would you hunt there again or try different area or even different country

Yes.

I could be talked into hunting there again but in a non-drought year.

However, I'd prefer to either do the Save or a different country. Namibia appeals to me as I like the challenge of longer shots. An area that offers crocodile would be fun. Nothing like trying to hit a golf ball at 75 yards in the field. I've also still got to get an eland and warthog.

Cool choice of caliber. A little info on your rifle would be nice as well. Great job

Thanks. The rifle is a Remington 700 classic. Remington made the 350RM the classic caliber in 1985.

When I first decided to do this hunt, I started researching calibers. (The biggest rifle in my arsenal was a .308 which a lot of folks will say is too small for the bigger African plains game.) After looking, reading, and resisting Rob's attempts to get me into a 375 H&H, I came across mention of the 350RM. Reading up on it, it has a very good, but limited, reputation on plains game up to eland. As our area of the Save has a reputation for heavier brush, I figured the 350RM would make a good heavy hitting caliber. 

Then I stopped by Cabelas and came across the rifle on the used shelf. It looked like a safe queen and probably didn't have a box of shells through it. I took it as a good omen. Called Rob up and he didn't answer the phone in order to talk me out of it. That made two good omens.

So I bought it.

It came equipped with a Leupold M8-4x. As we were told to expect close up and fast shots due to the brush, I wasn't overly keen on the 4x and started looking around for different optics. Coincidently, SWFA was having a closeout sale on Vortex Vipers in 2-7x. So one of them found their way onto the rifle. (Kicking myself for not picking up another 1 or 2 of them. Damn nice scopes for $150.)

The downside of the 350RM is that factory ammo is A: virtually non-existant, and B: the Remington ammo is severely downloaded. The plus side is that it got me off my ass and the Hornady LNL out of the box in the garage.

After getting a load worked up with the 200gr TSX (64gr of TAC for 2940fps), I contacted CEB to ask if they were going to make a .358 version of the Raptor. A few weeks later, they sent me some free bullets in exchange for load and performance data. 

Thus ends the saga of the rifle.

Looks like a great time Are you you getting any of them taxideremed?

Yep. Looking at shoulder mounts for the impala and zebra. Pedestal for the kudu. Would like to do a full size on the hyena. Haven't decided on the others. 

[Rob]

So how did I miss this thread??

Great hunting with you Ray, hopefully we can get back again in the future!

I love that bushpig!