Len Taylor

First day on the river for Hippo. Saw a lot but was not able to shoot. 2nd day got a buffalo cow in secret valley out of a large herd with about 3 shoot-able bulls. We just could not connect with one of them so we took a cow at the end of the day. 3rd day we tracked a herd of buffalo from Broken Bridge to Baboon Spring. Got a nice buffalo bull. There was one other good bull in there. The lion we ended up shooting was behind the buffalo all day. 4th day spent hanging baits. 2 at Broken Bridge area, 2 at Pedza area. 5th day we got a report that a male Lion was by Hippo Pools. Spent the day looking for it. Shot a tuskless elephant later in the day at Elephant Pools. From then on we put baits at Buffalo Bend. 7 Females and 1 young male lion feeding. Secret Valley no lions at this time. 2 Females and 1 young male at Broken Bridge. We shot the lion on day 14. On Day 13 we tracked him the whole day at the end of the day I saw the direction he was going and we had a hippo leg in the truck so we hung it up at Manfred’s and walked in the next day early. I saw him immediately and got SR ready to shoot which he did. There were 5 females with him. The shot was a little to the side of the chest. We then followed the lion and he charged out of the thicket he was in, but fortunately the first shot was bad enough, he was not able to keep coming and SR shot him another time.

During the hunt on one of our other baits, we had a big leopard feed. He was feeding late at about 9pm. So I found a quiet place on Manfred’s road and put the bait there. 3 days later he arrived. Got him feeding on a fresh impala and later he came in early. 6pm just in time to get a shot.

The lion seen on the trail camera at Broken Bridge, Pedza and Mururu was the same lion. The hippo was shot near an island opposite the Kanyemba Police Station. Cow hippo for bait. The bushbuck was shot in Secret Valley. We also did a lot of burning. SR was very happy with the hunt and would like to come back for maybe an elephant bull.

This was a truly amazing hunt and even better than I could have imagined. Len worked so hard to get my Lion, I’ve never seen such a knowledgeable and hard working group and Len know his stuff. Day 1 to 21 was excellent.

- SR, May 2019