Mozambique Hunt Report - Lyle Sirett

Hi all, I just finished a wonderful safari in Mozambique with Bayly Sippel Hunting Safaris at the Mutemba Safaris lodge. Dempsey Bayly was my PH. My wife and I had a great time with some very good quality people surrounding us. 

I shot 2 Cape Buffalo on the trip. One was out of necessity as it charged us unprovoked from about 25m away. It was a 5-6 year old soft bull. He almost got us, but luckily we got a few good shots into him and he slipped past us only a few feet away and hit the ground. A few days later we saw a bull come in at dusk to drink and saw that he had a snare on his back foot. Upon seeing him I decided that I wanted that bull!

The trackers picked up the tracks the next day and we caught up after about 4 hrs of highly skilful tracking. I was using my Merkel double 450/400. We had to pull off our boots to finish the stalk! I managed to get a good first shot into him. However with it being a Buffalo and knowing how notoriously tough they can be we sent a few follow up’s his way! 

I also shot a nice Warthog, Nyala and an Impala. I shot a great Zebra stallion as well, however the next day the rangers saw tracks of another zebra that appeared to have a snare around its foot. We were asked if we could try and track it down and dispatch it. We tracked him for a short while and I shot him at about 130m offhand. The snare wound was very old and had unfortunately broken his back leg, however it had completely healed and he was making do with only 3 legs! The tenacity of African animals is truly legendary. 

I had taken the trijicon red dot off my double after buffalo, and fitted on a 1-4x scope. Making it a lot easier to hunt the plains game! Overall it was an unforgettable experience and everything I had hoped my adventure into the wilds of Africa would be. We had a great time with great hosts. And of course the trackers made this Aussie (who guide’s other hunters back home) look blind! 

They have a strong and highly active anti-poaching program in place where we hunted. Most snared animals come in from the surrounding concessions in search of water of which there is no shortage on this concession. There are 6 permanently pumped waterholes on the concession making it a wildlife haven in the winter months. I can’t say enough about the guys at Bayly Sippel Safaris, they definitely walk the talk and can get you almost anything you may want to hunt in Africa.