THE NONCHALANT CLIENT
Every hunter has his own agenda
Trophies are not always important
A FRENCH HUNTER, coming to Tanzania to visit a missionary friend, contacted me to arrange a few days hunting while there. He needed to hire a rifle and did not want a safari or any elaborate camp, being quite happy to sleep rough for a few nights to hunt a kudu.
Michel duly arrived and, after some practice with my .30-06, we set off to hunt the Wami River area near my hometown of Morogoro. I took two oneman tents with bedding and a tarpaulin, all of which fitted into my Land Rover. It was the height of the dry season so there was little chance of rain. I also took one man to cook and look after the camp.
On the third day, Michel shot a good kudu. He wanted only the horns, not the cape, which isn’t unusual for European clients who seldom mount their trophies. During the hunt Michel had expressed interest in doing a full safari to hunt buffalo and possibly an elephant. I described my safari operation in the Selous Game Reserve and we agreed on dates for the following year. He paid the deposit for the Selous safari and left very satisfied.
FOR HIS SELOUS hunt, Michel brought an 8mm Mauser rifle and a .470 Jeffery double. His main interest was a buffalo after which he would consider an elephant and other trophies.
As usual, I started the hunt with lesser game such as impala and hartebeest for the pot and then moved onto sable antelope and a kudu. These were both good trophies but again, he wanted no skins. As is common among many French hunters, he manifested a dislike for including a professional hunter in any photos. I think this stems from France’s Colonial African period, when French hunters had no professional guides and even had to take their own equipment with them. They did not want it known that they were guided and backed up by a PH. I once stayed with a client in Paris, who took me to a live pigeon shoot. I did well, and afterwards a group of shooters came up to congratulate me. Their interpreter asked if I was a professional hunter. When I replied in the affirmative, the group laughed and comments passed between them. Apparently my client had told them he always hunts alone and that I was his camp manager who looked after his equipment between safaris.
Michel carried this one step further by trying to plan and conduct the hunts himself while on safari with me. His efforts became annoying when we started hunting his buffalo. On the first day he followed my directions, but after that he wanted to decide everything himself.
ON DAY TWO he asked me which way we were going and I told him we would hunt downstream from camp. “No,” he exclaimed shaking his finger at me, “I wish to go upstream.” I explained that it was too dry upstream and there were no buffalo there. He insisted, so we went upstream. We wasted a whole day looking in all the places he wanted to hunt. This went on for a further five days, then at dinner he said there was no game in the area and that we should move to another block. As I had only this block allocated to his safari, we could not move. I decided I’d better put a stop to this, so I told him he was paying a lot of money for his safari and that a large portion of the fee was for my advice. I told him of all the experience my tracker and I had of hunting in this area, and suggested that he let us decide where we should hunt. He very sheepishly agreed saying he was only trying to help.
The next day we found four buffalo bulls downstream from our camp, lying in a wallow in the dry riverbed. However, when we got into a shooting position and Kisengi, my tracker, handed Michel his double rifle, he refused to take it. He wanted to use his ‘carbine’, adding that his ‘express’ was only for elephant. I told him it was illegal to shoot buffalo with that calibre and pointed out that he had only softnosed bullets for it. With the delay and arguing the buffalo took off. We followed them for two hours until they crossed into the adjoining block and we had to abandon the hunt. That evening I explained at length about thick-skinned animals and how his 8mm soft-nosed bullets would hardly penetrate a buffalo’s hide.
After two more days of hunting, I got Michel to within twenty yards of two good buffalo bulls. He agreed to use his .470 and shot the buffalo, which was standing broadside, in the shoulder. It ran off but we found it dead fifty yards away. Once again, only he could appear in the photo.
Michel now decided he wanted to
We wasted a whole day looking in all the places he wanted to hunt
hunt an elephant. These were numerous and fairly easy to hunt. The old bulls had their own drinking spots away from the cow herds and usually drank during the hottest part of the day. Michel could not understand why I was passing up so many bulls, he was happy to shoot the first one we approached. He did not insist on any particular trophy size but agreed that we should look for a big tusker.
HIS FRUSTRATION SEEMED to increase when, a week later, we still had not shot an elephant after passing up many with long tusks. I explained that the Selous elephant were small in body size and their tusks were thin. However, living in such soft green habitat and not having to dig in salt-licks, Selous elephants grew very long tusks. Usually, the working tusk was not worn much, and since the bulls seldom fought, there were few broken tusks.
One day we were following a ridge, scanning the valley below, when I spotted a large lone tusker heading towards the waterhole ahead of us. As we approached, I saw the bull had veered off and was travelling towards a dense thicket. We left the vehicle and hurriedly proceeded down the valley. Soon we had picked up his tracks; he was slowly feeding into the wind as he went.
After about half an hour we heard him just ahead of us and soon caught up. The wind was blowing towards us and we were able to stalk to within 25 yards. It was then that I saw both tusks, which were long and carried good weight – I was sure it was a hundred-pounder. I mentioned this to Michel, who showed no extra excitement. We stalked to within 15 yards of the bull and when it turned broadside, I explained where to aim at the shoulder. Michel raised his rifle and seemingly without aiming, fired. The elephant collapsed instantly, the hindquarters going down first. He had shot it in the brain! Once again, he had done things his way but at least this time, it was the right way.
This very old bull was obviously a 100-pounder and Michel agreed it was a ‘good elephant’ but, not knowing anything about record books, he did not understand when I explained that it qualified for entry in the book. He requested that I take a photo of him with ‘his’ tracker. We returned to camp, and I sent Kisengi with a team to extract the tusks. At that time, they were the largest set of tusks we had taken in the Selous, a beautifully matched pair weighing 111lb and 108lb. Michel showed no more interest in this pair of tusks than he did in his buffalo and other trophies. I could not help feeling they were wasted on him and wished I had reserved the bull for a client who badly wanted, and would appreciate, a hundred-pounder.
It was then that I saw both tusks, which were long and carried good weight – I was sure it was a hundred-pounder. I mentioned this to Michel, who showed no extra excitement
I WAS FURTHER shocked when, back in Dar es Salaam, Michel asked me if he could sell his tusks. I naturally refused and told him it was his best trophy. The following year when I visited his home in Paris, the tusks were not among his other trophies.