Allen W. Johnson's Hunt In Tanzania 2005

Date of Hunt: August 15 - Sept. 6, 2005

Locations: Selous R2 - Tanzania. Also called the Mseguni area along the Ruaha river.

Animals Taken: Elephant Bull, Hippo, Lion, Bushbuck, Roosevelt Sable, Kongoni, Hyena

Animals Hunted But Not Shot: Leopard

PH/Outfitter: Pierr'e Van Tonder

Booking Agent: Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
10 Ward Lane,
Filer, Idaho, 83328
208-326-4120
http://www.atkinsonhunting.com

PROFESSIONAL HUNTER AND BOOKING AGENT:
This was the fifth hunt booked through Ray Atkinson and my second hunt with Pierre.

All five of the hunts Ray booked for me have been successful and Pierre is an enthusiastic, hard hunting PH that exceeds expectations in every regard.

The trackers were Twiga and Dominic. The driver was Hamilton. The gamescout was Mama Fatima. All the reservations and paperwork was coordinated by Pierre's wife Anneli.

HIPPO (KIBOKO)
We were returning to camp just at dusk when out of a small waterhole a couple miles from the river emerged a hippo. He headed away from us into the bush.

Pierre said "Would you like to shoot a hippo?"
I answered by plunking two solids into my 470 and climbing down off the Land Cruiser. Pierre had not waited for an answer anyway and already had his 375 out of the gun rack.

Pierre and I did an end-around-run to get into a downwind position for a shot. After about a 100 yard dash we had closed to within 15 yards of him. He was now just walking at a brisk pace.

The main problem was the disappearing light, however it was obviously a big bull and it was visible enough at that range for a shot. After a dodge around a couple bushes I ended up at about 10 yards and let the first barrel into him. I couldn't see the sights but the Searcy was built for me and I knew they were lined up at that range.

The muzzle flash was blinding but I couldn't quite tell what the effect was so I let him have another barrel. At that point I couldn't see anything except orange and blue. Pierre said he was down. He was now calling on me to come up and put one in the neck. I stumbled forward and finished the work with one barrel then the other.

When I regained a little of my night vision I thought I saw people floating above the ground. Then the Land Rover pulled up and shined its lights on the subject and I saw that our trackers had been joined by Richards trackers and they were all dancing on the hippos' body. We didn't even know that Richard Lemmer was in the area but he said they thought a war was going on and had been just behind us so they came over to see what or who had been killed.

Running through the bush and blazing away with the flame throwing double rifle was itself worth the price of the Searcy.

The picture below was taken the next morning. We cut him up for lion and croc baits. I was surprised to see there was little fat on him. The skin was nearly 2" thick then after that there was just muscle.
 

BUFFALO (NYATI)
I was not really looking to shoot a buff this trip but Twiga spotted mbogo and before I knew it we were all in a fast walk through the tall grass. I was doing my best to keep up and all the while thinking they were like bird dogs and you couldn't call them off buff if you tried.

After about half a mile we had closed to within 70 yards. The herd was moving through tall grass so thick that you could never see the whole animal - just parts of them.

Pierre was looking thru his glasses and muttered mostly to himself "there is a bull - a small bull - but its a bull". I looked at Pierre and whispered that I didn't want to shoot a small bull. While I was looking at Pierre I did not see that the small bull had moved out and a bigger one had taken its place in the opening.

Suddenly Pierre excitedly said "Allen shoot this bull". Still thinking he was wanting me to shoot a small bull, I said I don't want to sh... - Pierre stopped me with a raised hand and angrily said "I know that - just shoot the f****r! Not wanting the Searcy wrapped around my neck I looked back and took the shot. Just his head and neck were exposed so I estimated where the shoulder was.

Pierre shouted "You hit him Bwana - You hit him" then everyone was suddenly running after the herd. I hadn't realized how many there were. It was quite a stampede. After crossing a sandy riverbed they disappeared up the bank into some brush.

We followed a good blood trail up the 6 foot embankment and ducked under some low brush at the top. Just ahead we heard some bellowing but it didn't sound like a death bellow. Something was either mad or in pain or both. I looked at Pierre - He said nothing.

Suddenly Twiga came flying to the rear. I looked into the black shadows and saw a red ball coming at me. I remember thinking what a bright red it was. It quickly transformed into a bull with blood gushing out its nose and it was coming for us at what I later stepped off at about 12 yards.

I raised the rifle but just then Twiga brushed past and knocked my alignment off. Kaboom. Pierre dumped him with a .375 cup point solid though the nose.

I told Pierr'e that for helping me out I would be like Ray and leave this buff to him in my will. He said "Ya-Ya you guys and your wills. The problem is I don't want either of you dead".
 

LION (SIMBA)
I told Pierre that if we had a chance at a lion I wanted to do it on foot - not out of a blind up in a tree or out of the Land Cruiser.

He said he was one of the few PH's that would do that but said "Do you realize that you are a couple sandwiches short of a picnic?" I said that others before him had that opinion of me. He said "Well, they are right."

We spent several days shooting and hanging Kongoni, buffalo, hippo and Zebra baits - a very smelly, fly ridden occupation. One day at lunch Richard Lemmer and Barry Rich reported a lion hit on a Zebra bait Barry had shot. Barry was not hunting lion but was just helping me out by shooting and hanging baits as he fulfilled his trophy list.

Pierre made a plan to go there at last light. Anneli brought out the liability waiver that I had forgotten to sign and said "This would be a good time to sign this paper Allen."

We parked a mile or two from the bait and slipped in single file - Twiga, Pierre, Myself, Mama Fatima and Hamilton. About a quarter mile from the bait Hamilton spotted a female lion lying in the 16" or so high grass. We crept around her at about 30 yards looking for the male whose tracks Richard had seen under the bait. Twiga spotted another female with two cubs.

Pierre assigned me the first female to watch and Hamilton the second one. He warned us as he had previously warned Judge G to stare them down and not take our eyes off them. He and Twiga were now standing on a termite mound looking for the male. It was getting dark.

Then as I shifted my weight my female bunched her hind legs up under her and stiffly flicked her tail. I whispered to Pierre that my gal was getting a little dicey. He looked at her then went back into his glasses. He couldn't see the male so we backed out all the while maintaining eye contact with those unforgettable yellow eyes.

We circled the females and crept on to the bait which was still a couple hundred yards ahead. It was now getting really dark and I was hoping he was not there. He was not and I was relieved when we walked briskly back to the truck.

Just after we reached the truck we heard him roar. He had been there all along - we just had not seen him. He continued to roar. Even at a miles distance those roars in the dark were bone chilling.

The next morning we got up at 3:30 and drove back to the bait site. Just as the sun rose we started walking the mile or two back to the bait. No one home. We walked up to the bait. It had been fed on during the night. As Twiga, Pierre and myself were looking over the tracks in the dusted bare ground under the bait Dominic was using my binoculars to look around.

Suddenly he gestured toward the brush 30 yards away and snapping his arm back and forth to point said "Bwana - Simba hapa hapa" Pierre took a quick look and then tried to point him out to me. We had a major communication problem about trees - the forked tree or two trees etc. and I couldn't see him. Then he moved and I saw and shot in the same instant. He roared and whirled and bit himself. I shot again into the whirling mass and he went down. Pierre thought it was a very nice lion for the Selous.

We had a big Kabuke Kabuke that night. We stopped just out of camp, decorated the Land Cruiser with branches, shot twice into the air and started blowing a whistle while driving toward camp. The staff came streaming out of camp waving branches and beating on metal lids all very happy that they would get to drink beer that night. A chair was produced and I was carried to the campfire. As at least 15 staff members danced around the fire repeatedly saying in Kiswahili: Kabuki - Kabuki - "Who shot the big lion - Allen shot the big lion" Kuta - Kuta. As if by magic about an hour later a cake was produced from Moses "kitchen" with icing that said "Congratulations Allen for the big lion".

Pierre knows how to run a camp and how to throw a Kabuke. We all got slammed. My aspirin supply was already running low and we were only a third of the way through the safari.
 

SABLE (PALAPALA)
This was a bonus animal that was taken while on an elephant stalk. He was so black that he almost looked purple. The Roosevelt sable horns are not as long as the common sable horns but perhaps the Roosevelt has a more beautiful a skin.
 

ELEPHANT (TEMBO)
Prior to shooting this bull we put the stalk on several other bulls. It is easy to see why so many believe this is the most exciting hunting on the planet.

This final stalk was over several korongo's. At one point we lost them completely. We located three of them again in some tall grass. All were bulls. We approached through some grass to within 35 yards. I lined up the sights for a heart shot. At the shot I could see the skin move exactly where I wanted to shoot. I fully expected him to run off and fall over so was almost shocked when he whirled and came for us. As the Searcy came down out of recoil I shot to break the "broomstick". The bull was raising its head as it turned for us. I did not see that the right tusk end passed through my line of fire. I did not notice pieces of the tusk flying off at the time but the bull stopped the charge and started rocking its head sideways as if he had run into a brick wall. As I dropped in two more solids I couldn't believe he wasn't going down - at least he had stopped coming for us.

Now we had another problem. Pierre said "Allen look left". The askari's were now coming for us. Fortunately it was a bluff and they stopped about 25 yards out. As I turned back to the original bull I noticed it was coming again. Just then Pierre decided it was time for him to get involved and brained the bull with his 500 Jeffrey. I could have had another shot or even two but Pierre didn't know that and he did the right thing by bringing this to an end.

At Pierre's shot the askaris began to move off into the brush. The eagle eyed trackers found all the pieces to the tusk I had shot off and they can be glued back on. Another Kabuke Kabuke tonite - two beers this time - Pombe Mbele