The countdown has begun…

CAelknuts · May 27, 2023

We are now 84 days till we depart for unit MA1/Madaba in the very heart of the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania. Preparations, both ours and our safari operator’s, are underway.

Got all our Ammo loaded for the 375’s and my 416, got plenty of great factory Ammo for my 338. Working on the 4457’s. Just got a new Pelican 1615Air case which I really like a lot. Flights are booked on Emirates.

Alan Vincent, my PH and owner of Vincent Safaris, called today via WhatsApp and we had a long conversation. His team just arrived at the camp this afternoon, after spending a week cutting the road into the concession. They’re the first company to venture into the main area of the Selous this year and he reported that the roads were real rough after a very wet rainy season and the grass is very thick and tall. The camp is only 169 air miles from Dar es Salaam, but close to 300 road miles since they have to go around the reserve and come in from the south. The last 100 miles or so on dirt roads and two-tracks. Nice thing is, the charter flight into camp is only about 45 minutes in a Cessna Caravan instead of a 12 hour drive by ‘road’.

It’s going to be a very long wait till we get on the plane…

Snoopdogg · May 27, 2023

Sounds like it's gonna be a fun time.

billc · May 28, 2023

That should be a great hunt in one amazing area. I just booked our flights to moz for Sept and can not wait to get the bows out on a hunt there.

Hope you have a great trip and sjare lots of pictures.

CAelknuts · May 28, 2023

I just got this photo of the first 3 shot group out of the brand new barrel on my 375. I had a Shilen select match barrel put on a Pre-64 express action, Brown Precision stock, Timney trigger, topped with a Leupold VX5HD in 2-10 with the Firedot reticle. We’re going to break in the barrel tomorrow, but my rifle builder wanted to see how it might shoot so he tried a few Barnes VorTX loads with a 300 grain TSX. If these 3 shots are any indication, it’s gonna be a damned good shooter!

CAelknuts · May 29, 2023

I was asked in a PM where this area is, so here is a map that shows where the Selous Game Reserve is located in Tanzania, as well as where MA1 is in the Selous. It’s smack in the middle and 468,000 acres all to ourselves.

Betterluckythangood · May 30, 2023

CAelknuts said:
We are now 84 days till we depart for unit MA1/Madaba in the very heart of the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania. Preparations, both ours and our safari operator’s, are underway.

Got all our Ammo loaded for the 375’s and my 416, got plenty of great factory Ammo for my 338. Working on the 4457’s. Just got a new Pelican 1615Air case which I really like a lot. Flights are booked on Emirates.

Alan Vincent, my PH and owner of Tanganyika Game Safaris, called today via WhatsApp and we had a long conversation. His team just arrived at the camp this afternoon, after spending a week cutting the road into the concession. They’re the first company to venture into the main area of the Selous this year and he reported that the roads were real rough after a very wet rainy season and the grass is very thick and tall. The camp is only 169 air miles from Dar es Salaam, but close to 300 road miles since they have to go around the reserve and come in from the south. The last 100 miles or so on dirt roads and two-tracks. Nice thing is, the charter flight into camp is only about 45 minutes in a Cessna Caravan instead of a 12 hour drive by ‘road’.

It’s going to be a very long wait till we get on the plane…

This sounds like high adventure at it’s finest!!!

woodruffhunter · May 30, 2023

Dream Safari, and I have heard everything good about this Outfitter. Best of luck!

CAelknuts · May 30, 2023

woodruffhunter said:
Dream Safari, and I have heard everything good about this Outfitter. Best of luck!

Yes, Alan Vincent is simply excellent, a Pro’s Pro. He’s been a licensed PH in Zimbabwe since he was 18 years old And he’s 50 now. He mostly hunts Tanzania for the last 20 or so years, but also hunts in Zim & Cameroon. Alan has grown up in the business, as his father Roy was a long time PH in Zimbabwe. I first hunted with Roy in 1983 and Alan was a 10 year old boy running barefoot around camp. This will be my 2nd Tanzania hunt with him and we are hunting Cameroon in February. Already discussing another Tanzania hunt, probably for 2025.

woodruffhunter · May 30, 2023

CAelknuts said:
Yes, Alan Vincent is simply excellent, a Pro’s Pro. He’s been a licensed PH in Zimbabwe since he was 18 years old And he’s 50 now. He mostly hunts Tanzania for the last 20 or so years, but also hunts in Zim & Cameroon. Alan has grown up in the business, as his father Roy was a long time PH in Zimbabwe. I first hunted with Roy in 1983 and Alan was a 10 year old boy running barefoot around camp. This will be my 2nd Tanzania hunt with him and we are hunting Cameroon in February. Already discussing another Tanzania hunt, probably for 2025.

What are you going to hunt in Cameroon?

CAelknuts · May 30, 2023

woodruffhunter said:
What are you going to hunt in Cameroon?

Lord Derby Eland, Roan, Harnessed bushbuck, etc.

woodruffhunter · May 31, 2023

Wow, very nice. Lord Derby Eland would be at the top of my list.

CAelknuts · May 31, 2023

Today was a good day, as I just picked up the 375 H&H I had built.

It’s based on a pre-64 express action, 24” Shilen Stainless Select Match barrel in #5 contour, Hi-tech fiberglass stock (almost identical to Brown Precision), Timney trigger and topped with a Leupold VX5HD in 2-10x with Firedot reticle Set in Talley rings. Fully loaded with 4 rounds, it weighs 9.3 pounds. It’s a nice balance of easy carrying and comfortable shooting. Early groups during barrel break-in were under an inch.

We’ve got more ammo loaded than we need, all 300 grain bullets pushed by 70 grains of Reloader 15 and Federal 215 primers. Velocity is about 2,400 fps based on my son’s Model 70. Bullets are Barnes TSX, Swift A frame & Cutting Edge Solids. They all group well and near each other. I’ve also got a bunch of Federal Premium factory ammo loaded with Trophy Bonded Bearclaws coming. Shooting between now and when we leave is going to be interesting, especially since this rifle is going as a backup gun. My main DG rifle is a .416 Hoffman that’s anlmost identical except that it’s scoped with a 1-5x Leupold VX5HD w/Firedot. My son and I will be sharing these guns as well as my .338 Winchester which goes on all my African hunts.

SS! · Jun 1, 2023

Have fun and be safe!

Betterluckythangood · Sep 14, 2023

I am patiently waiting for an update on this adventure

CAelknuts · Sep 15, 2023

Betterluckythangood said:
I am patiently waiting for an update on this adventure

Well…

It was simply an excellent hunt in nearly every aspect. I took my son and we were joined by a very close friend who is 79 years old and was on his first African hunt.

I‘m not going to post a lengthy report here as I’ve put up a very detailed one with tons of photos on AR, under the hunt reports section. It’s titled ‘Selous hunt with Vincent Safaris’ if anyone wants to look it up. We took pretty much everything we wanted, highlighted by my son and I taking a pair of nice Dugga Boys together. My son was also right by my side, getting to experience dry land hippo , which was pretty intense for a bit as we were face to face with the bull at 15 yards in cover too thick for a shot. He was also with me in the leopard blind and had an incredible experience where we got over 5 minutes of video of the nice Tom feeding in full daylight.

All in all, one of my finest African hunts and I’ve enjoyed some stellar ones in the past.

Here are a few photos.

Son’s buffalo

CAelknuts · Sep 15, 2023

My Dugga Boy

CAelknuts · Sep 15, 2023

CAelknuts · Sep 15, 2023

CAelknuts · Sep 15, 2023

CAelknuts · Sep 15, 2023

CAelknuts · Sep 15, 2023

It was a fantastic hunt in every respect.

Alan is fully booked for 2024 and now taking bookings for 2025. If anyone is interested in contacting him about a hunt I’ll be happy to connect you. He does not use agents, pretty much just repeat clients and word of mouth. He’s widely regarded as one of the top PH’s hunting today, a reputation he’s earned over 32 years (and he’s just 50 years old).

The Selous Game Reserve is a special place and Alan has one of the best blocks in the Selous, Madaba (MA1 on the Selous map posted earlier on this thread). Madaba is 468,000 acres of wilderness, surrounded by several million acres in the adjoining blocks. The nearest village to his camp is over 7 hours away by Landcruiser.

I’ll be hunting there again with Alan in a few years.

CAelknuts · Sep 15, 2023

My friend Jim’s hippo. He also shot a 42” buffalo but I don’t have a picture to share.

wetmule · Sep 15, 2023

Nice AR writeup. Sounds like an awesome trip... congrats!

Betterluckythangood · Sep 15, 2023

CAelknuts said:
View attachment 119943 View attachment 119944

Whoa! Beast!

wybighorn · Sep 22, 2023

CAelknuts said:
Well…

It was simply an excellent hunt in nearly every aspect. I took my son and we were joined by a very close friend who is 79 years old and was on his first African hunt.

I‘m not going to post a lengthy report here as I’ve put up a very detailed one with tons of photos on AR, under the hunt reports section. It’s titled ‘Selous hunt with Vincent Safaris’ if anyone wants to look it up. We took pretty much everything we wanted, highlighted by my son and I taking a pair of nice Dugga Boys together. My son was also right by my side, getting to experience dry land hippo , which was pretty intense for a bit as we were face to face with the bull at 15 yards in cover too thick for a shot. He was also with me in the leopard blind and had an incredible experience where we got over 5 minutes of video of the nice Tom feeding in full daylight.

All in all, one of my finest African hunts and I’ve enjoyed some stellar ones in the past.

Here are a few photos.

Son’s buffalo

View attachment 119937

What is AR? I'd love to read about it.

kilbuc · Sep 22, 2023

Accurate Reloader, go to forums.

It's time to piss on the fire and call in the dogs

joesikora · Sep 24, 2023

CA do the hunters have dinners using the meat from the animals after harvesting them and was it tasty
Do you keep the croc hide as the trophy or make it into some fine leather goods

CAelknuts · Oct 3, 2023

joesikora said:
CA do the hunters have dinners using the meat from the animals after harvesting them and was it tasty
Do you keep the croc hide as the trophy or make it into some fine leather goods

Nearly Everything gets eaten, one way or another. Almost every dinner is some type of game meat that we shot, though we did have chicken once and ahi tuna a couple times. Buffalo and all the plains game are generally good to excellent. We try to only shoot old buffalo bulls so they’re often a bit tough (as is just about every other old animal) but much of the plains game I’ve enjoyed is better than most of our North American game here.

Most of the meat is either smoked or boiled & dried, then the The entire crew takes home large amounts of meat at the end of the season. A few things simply aren’t eaten by the crew, including crocodile, hyena and a very few other things; and if they won’t eat it, I sure as hell won’t either. Some stuff is used for bait but one way or the other it’s all eaten. I’ve eaten lots of meat from almost everything I’ve shot and can’t recall anything bad.

As to your croc question, I’m bringing home the skull, as well as the full skin which I’ll have made into a flat rug. There is so much croc skin that I may have some items made from the trimmings.

woodruffhunter · Oct 3, 2023

CA: I had part my croc hide tanned and made into wallets. I had a guy from accuratereloading make them. They turned out great and he ended up trading me for some of the extra hide.

Betterluckythangood · Oct 4, 2023

Can you still import leopard hides? Just curious

CAelknuts · Oct 4, 2023

Betterluckythangood said:
Can you still import leopard hides? Just curious

Yes, you can. They’re CITES listed, so a permit is required and it’s more complicated and difficult than before but still doable.

joesikora · Oct 5, 2023

CAelknuts said:
Nearly Everything gets eaten, one way or another. Almost every dinner is some type of game meat that we shot, though we did have chicken once and ahi tuna a couple times. Buffalo and all the plains game are generally good to excellent. We try to only shoot old buffalo bulls so they’re often a bit tough (as is just about every other old animal) but much of the plains game I’ve enjoyed is better than most of our domestic gamer here.

Most of the meat is either smoked or boiled & dried, then the The entire crew takes home large amounts of meat at the end of the season. A few things simply aren’t eaten by the crew, including crocodile, hyena and a very few other things; and if they won’t eat it, I sure as hell won’t either. Some stuff is used for bait but one way or the other it’s all eaten. I’ve eaten lots of meat from almost everything I’ve shot and can’t recall anything bad.

As to your croc question, I’m bringing home the skull, as well as the full skin which I’ll have made into a flat rug. There is so much croc skin that I may have some items made from the trimmings.

I’m sure you know that things made from Croc skin such as wallets, footwear, belts, etc cost a fortune thats why I figured a lot of the hid would be used to make things like that. Did you say that you have someone lined out to make some things for you?

CAelknuts · Oct 6, 2023

Joe, I don’t have anyone yet and haven’t even given much thought to what I’d have made, if anything. I won’t have my stuff back for 6-9 months, so will ponder that after my stuff gets home. I’ve just figured I’d probably have the croc tanned and made into a flat rug, but who knows what I’ll feel like once I get everything home.