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Africa 2017 |
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REMF
Optics Apprentice Joined: June/04/2008 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 153 |
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Posted: August/29/2017 at 22:41 |
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Traveled to Mozambique at the beginning of the month to enjoy some time with my father. We were fortunate enough to take some pretty fantastic trophies.
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Peddler
Optics God Joined: July/04/2012 Location: Oswego,NY Status: Offline Points: 13526 |
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Thanks for sharing đź‘Ť.
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When you are dead, you don't know you are dead.It is difficult only for others.
It is the same when you are stupid. |
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Skylar McMahon
Optics Jedi Knight Capt. BlowHard Joined: April/05/2011 Location: TEXAS Status: Offline Points: 6082 |
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Wow, appears to have been a successful excursion. Please share the details if you don't mind.
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REMF
Optics Apprentice Joined: June/04/2008 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 153 |
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We flew into Tete from Johannesburg. A visa is required to enter Mozambique, and it's not an easy process to get one. Their embassy in Washington is only open in the afternoons for a couple of hours. They don't answer their phones. Their voicemail is full. Their website is down. I used a visa expeditor.
The rifle import permits are handled by your outfitter. They are VERY interested in the number of rounds you enter the country with. You are allowed 60 at the most. When you exit the country, they count the rounds you are leaving with and charge you $2.00 per round expended while in country. The first thing you notice in Mozambique is the poverty. They have nothing. Absolutely nothing. I've seen poverty in lots of this world but not like this. US dollars are widely accepted, and there is a robust black market for them with much better exchange rates. Much of the plains game in the country has been poached. The country still suffers greatly from the revolution with Portugal and the ensuing civil war that lasted for decades. There are still areas with lots of land mines. Soldiers on both sides killed much of the game for food. Whatever was left is often killed by poachers when they have the opportunity. All of the weapons hung on the wall in croc camp were taken from poachers they come across. All of the metal work was done by hand in the bush. No rifling - just smooth bore barrels. Here are some pictures of a Catholic mission and hospital where we actually sat in for baboon one afternoon. All mission workers were killed during the war, and there were still bullet holes in the walls. We were in the Cahora Bassa lake created by the Zambezi river - just west of Tete. We spent four hours in the truck and another hour by boat to get to camp. Three total travel days from Texas to get there. You hunt croc by boat. The bays and inlets of the lake offer calmer water, and the crocs have to get out of the water midday to warm back up - typically between 11:00 and 3:00. They are incredibly wary. They hear, see and smell incredibly well. They also sense vibrations in the soil from a long way away. Once you spot them from the boat, you beach the vessel - preferably about 800 yards away - and stalk on land. It's a tough stalk, and we were busted several times before closing the deal. We stalked my croc to 143 yards, and that wasn't close enough. Croc is the most often lost trophy in Africa. Your first shot is absolutely critical. You work like hell to get broadside for a brain or spine shot. I didn't want to jack up the skull (part of the trophy), so I took the spine shot about 5" behind the "smile." I used a 300 Win Mag with Barnes TTSX 180 grain rounds. Our back up gun was a 375 H&H with 300 grain expandable rounds. With a round in the central nervous system, the croc twitches. To stop him from wiggling back in the water, the back up gun puts a round in the spine while the primary gun reloads. Then the primary gun shoots while the back up reloads, etc. We put 6 rounds into his spine and a final shot into his lungs behind the shoulder. My croc had been in a fight with another beast who took some of his forearm. You can see the white flesh in the wound in the picture. The animal is so heavy that you have to skin it where it sits. You can see from the belly skin that this is not the critter to make handbags, wallets, belts, etc. from. Those products are made from 2-3 year old crocs from a farm. This thing was estimated to be about 80 years old. Teeth are the best way to estimate age. Once you shoot, local fishermen arrive to help with the skinning. This gentleman's name was Cuthebert. He is originally from Zimbabwe, but was in Mozambique poaching fish to feed and support his family. He was absolutely MASTERFUL with the homemade chopper tool he had fashioned. To thank him for his help, we gave him all the meat for his village. He said they would have a BBQ that night - and lay the rest of it out to dry in strips to make a product akin to jerky. You'll notice from this picture that the shore is not a slow and steady incline. There is a 12-15 foot dropoff very quickly in the water. Big crocs only crawl out at a spot where they have this drop off for a quick and safe get away. They aren't stupid. Once back at camp, the skinners scrape the fat off the skin. They then put the skin in salt for two days. They remove the skin from the salt and scrape the fat off again. Then back in the salt. Four days later, they remove the skin from the salt and scrape again. Then back in the salt. The fat is very similar to the yellow fat you see on alligators or zebras. It becomes more visible in time, and they have to make sure all of it is off. The skull is not removed. The skin on the skull actually falls off largely on its own. The taxidermist does the finishing touches. After the hunt, we spent a little time fishing for Tiger Fish in the Zambezi. October is the best time for Tigers, so the water was still a bit to dirty and cool for them. I was able to connect on a couple of smaller ones. Fought like hell! This was a bucket-list item for me. I'm not the world's biggest angler, but all of my buddies who fish say they'd give their left nut to catch a tiger. Nasty teeth. You wouldn't want to lip one of these. Use pliers. I shot the giraffe in South Africa on the way home.
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cheaptrick
MODERATOR Joined: September/27/2004 Location: South Carolina Status: Offline Points: 20844 |
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Outstanding!! Wow, what a hunt of a lifetime!
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If at first you don't secede...try..try again.
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supertool73
Optics God Superstool Joined: January/03/2008 Status: Offline Points: 11814 |
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Wow. Thansk for sharing. I had no idea crocks got that old, amazing.
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Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.
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cheaptrick
MODERATOR Joined: September/27/2004 Location: South Carolina Status: Offline Points: 20844 |
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I wouldn't want to be close enough to a LIVE one to ascertain his age by looking at his teeth.
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If at first you don't secede...try..try again.
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mike650
Optics God Joined: May/14/2006 Location: West of Rockies Status: Offline Points: 14569 |
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“A hunt based only on trophies taken falls far short of what the ultimate goal should be.” – Fred Bear
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Urimaginaryfrnd
MODERATOR Resident Redneck Joined: June/20/2005 Location: Iowa Status: Offline Points: 14964 |
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Like the Crock pretty impressive trophy.
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"Always do the right thing, just because it is the right thing to do". Bobby Paul Doherty Texas Ranger |
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Kickboxer
MODERATOR Moderator Joined: February/13/2008 Status: Offline Points: 23679 |
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Must have been a great experience….
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Opinion,untempered by fact,is ignorance.
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RifleDude
MODERATOR EVIL OPPRESSOR Joined: October/13/2006 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 16337 |
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Good stuff, Remf! Thanks for sharing! I too didn't realize crocs lived that long.
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Ted
Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle. |
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8shots
Optics Jedi Knight Lord Of The Flies Joined: March/14/2007 Location: South Africa Status: Offline Points: 6253 |
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Thanks for sharing. And unfortunately we share a border with these guys (Mozambicans). They poach in our game parks. Rhino and elephant. And vehicles in the towns. They are very brazen about it and steal even vehicles parked in the police compound.
Unfortunately they are war time buddies of our ruling Government, so there is no political will to do anything about it.
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Son of Ed
Chuck Norris Joined: June/18/2011 Location: TEXAS Status: Offline Points: 122179 |
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Super excellent account of a remarkable trip!
A hundred years ago it was thought that crocs could live to be 200 years old...but now I guess the scientists say about 70-100 years is all.....
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Visit the Ed Show
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Son of Ed
Chuck Norris Joined: June/18/2011 Location: TEXAS Status: Offline Points: 122179 |
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Fellow Comrades..... |
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Visit the Ed Show
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Scrumbag
Optics Master Extraordinaire Joined: October/22/2013 Location: London, UK Status: Offline Points: 4205 |
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And there is a massive problem with Africa today. An unwillingness to criticize the "old comrades"
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Was sure I had a point when I started this post...
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Son of Ed
Chuck Norris Joined: June/18/2011 Location: TEXAS Status: Offline Points: 122179 |
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Visit the Ed Show
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Son of Ed
Chuck Norris Joined: June/18/2011 Location: TEXAS Status: Offline Points: 122179 |
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Visit the Ed Show
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budperm
Optics Retard show me your sheep!! Joined: January/01/2009 Location: Pennsylvania Status: Offline Points: 31710 |
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If that was Eduardo they be serving leather dogs....
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"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".
--Thomas Jefferson |
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SVT_Tactical
MODERATOR Chief Sackscratch Joined: December/17/2009 Location: NorthCackalacky Status: Offline Points: 31233 |
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Now that funny! Reminds me of this one -
Worst part of being a seeing eye dog is ...... |
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"Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be" - Abraham Lincoln
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Son of Ed
Chuck Norris Joined: June/18/2011 Location: TEXAS Status: Offline Points: 122179 |
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Visit the Ed Show
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