African Hunting Gazette – July 2019

52 http://www.africanhuntinggazette.com

successridingonhisback.Dayafterday,mile

aftermile,heplannedandplotted,organized

and schemed and formulated a plan for us

to follow.Our PH Ianwas just as obsessed

with making this

safari a success. His

relentlesspersistence

andpositiveattitude

kept us all in the

game.We discussed

our strategies every

eveningoverdinner.

Eventuallywechose

a newplanofattack

anddecidedtogivethethickjesseareasa rest.

Wewouldlookforbuffalointhethickreed

bedsclosertoLake CahoraBassa.Ifyou've

never been in the reed beds, you’d be in for

a big surprise.Each planthas hundreds of

needle-sharppointsontheendofeachleaf,

whichpunctureyourskinrepeatedly- ouch!

These reed beds are fullofbuffaloandhippo

trails that lead

into overgrown

vegetation tunnels.

We often crawled

through these

tunnels not

knowing whatkind

of "freight train"

might be waiting

at the other end!

Hippotrackswereeverywhere,andwecould

hearhippossnortinginthedistance.

Finallywegotwithin 30 yardsofa herd

of buffalo, some grazing, others lying or

Our head tracker

Willy never gave up

hope...

Mozambique: 2017

standing, but we couldn't see the bull we

wanted. Quite a few younger bulls were

visible. Thewindwasblowing inour faces

and the reeds were swaying. Willy kept

manueveringusaroundtheherd,constantly

shiftingandrepositioning.Aftermoving12-

15 times,we wereall huffingand puffing,

continuallyglassing.

Wesettleddowninthereeds,stillglassing.

Ian had Kayleigh place the .375 H&H on

the short sticks because we were down on

theground.Therewereatleast20-30buffalo

coming inand out ofthe reeds, interacting

witheachother.Severaldecentbullswereseen,

butIanwasholdingoutforsomethingspecial.

Wemusthavebeenhidingtherefor15-20

minuteswatchingandwaiting,whenoutof

nowheresuddenly loomed a larger-than-life

magnificentbull,thatwasbyfarmuchlarger

andmaturethan anywehadseenfor days!

IanwhisperedforKayleightoshoot.Atthe

sound of the blast, buffalo stampeded in

alldirections.Thebig bullranstraightinto

thethick reedbedsat theshot. Everything

happened so fast, but now all was quiet.

After waiting for a whilewe all cautiously

proceeded towards thearea where thebull

hadgoneintothereeds.

“Wheredidthebullenterthereeds?"Ian

askedWilly.Willypointed towards a slight

opening,about 50 yardsaway,andwecould

see the vague shape of a downed animal.

IanaskedKayleightoshootattheshoulder

outlineasweallstoodinanticipation.Atthe

shot there wasno movement. Themassive

bullwashers!

Oncethereeds werechopped away from

thismonsterbuffwebecameawareofwhat

an amazing animal it was. It had huge,

widespread bosses with heavy mass all the

wayouttothetips. IanandWillybothsaid

it wasthebestbuffalooftheircombined45-

year hunting careers. The whole team was

dancingwithjoy,Kayleighwasecstatic,and

shegratefullyshookhandswitheveryone.

Afterdays and days of tracking, the hard

workhadpaidoff.

Backatcampseveraldayslaterwefound

thebulltohavea 47"spreadandscoredSCI

138.

OurthankstoSimonRodgerandeveryone

whomadethishuntpossible- ThankYou!

Darby and Kayleigh Wright live in New

BraunfelsTexasandhavehuntedinAustralia,

Argentina, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia,

ZimbabweandMexicoTheyhavealsooutfitted

and enjoy self-guided hunting and fishing

in Alaska .They're always ready for the next

adventure!

Kayleigh on left, with chef and hostess Christine.

Wattle and daub thatched hut.