SOUTH AFRICA: KMG Hunting Safaris June 2023

[Mike B.]

My annual trip to Africa is now over. My friend and I both spent 10 days the first part of June hunting plains game in South Africa in the Eastern Cape and Stormberg Mountain areas with @KMG Hunting Safaris. We had a fantastic time hunting with Marius and Nick. I also hunted with Marius back in 2021, during the height of COVID. I didn't do a hunt report for that one but we had an amazing hunt then as well. Several of my animals were in his 2021 photo thread. Jumping to 2023. We flew down on the Delta 200 flight on May 31, spent the night at Africa Sky and then on to East London on June 2nd. The flights down were all very uneventful. During our month long stay, we actually had a total of 9 different flights throughout our trip and all of them went well with no delays. We were very thankful for that. We also did photo safari stuff in Botswana (Chobe) and went to Victoria Falls in Zim. One thing that I am super proud of is that I did the gorge swing at the falls. It was terrifying

When we arrived in East London, Nick picked us up from the airport. He needed to do a couple of quick things in town so we stopped by a few vehicle shops to get everything sorted. One was an awful squeak being made by the mount for the new winch he had installed. Is was deafening and I am mostly deaf The shop fixed him up quick and we were off to the lodge.

My buddy and his wife were first time Africa visitors so it was fun watching them be in awe of all the sights that they got to see. I tried to give them as much info as I could before we went but there is only so much you can describe to a person. Ultimately, seeing everything in person really opened their eyes and gave them a glimpse of how the southern part of Africa works.

When we got to the lodge, we settled in and then had lunch. After lunch, we quickly ran over to the range to make sure that the rifles we were using were good to go. My buddy and I decided that we would just use camp rifles just to make things easier on us with all of the touring we were planning on doing. We did find out later that Africa Sky would store rifles for a minimal fee. I believe they said $10 a day. After sighting in, we were ready for the next mornings hunt.

Day 1: Target Nyala and Kudu

I was going after kudu and nyala on a nearby property. We got to the property and we started doing our thing in search of some good animals to pursue. For anyone that has hunted in the Eastern Cape, you know that the mountains can be a bit of a challenge but also allows for some good glassing points where you can get above the canyons and look down into them. One reason I love to hunt this area is because it is very familiar terrain like we have in Utah with very similar hunting styles. We unfortunately didn't see anything up top as we were driving in and glassing but as we got further to the bottom of the property that is down by the river, we spotted a bushbuck. I had shot a good ram on my prior hunt with Marius and he mentioned that while it was a good one, it wasn't anything better than my last one so we passed on him. We sat and watched him for a few minutes just to make sure and then we moved on. We got further along the road and we stopped and got out to walk. We went up a small hillside to get on top so we could look up onto the bigger hillsides all around us. As we got to the top, we spotted a few nyala. Unfortunately they were all females. We sat and watched that area for a few more minutes and then Marius said he saw a bull, and then another. We looked them over the best we could and Marius said he thinks the one is good enough to go after. We were not in a really good position as there were walls of thorny vegetation everywhere. We tried to find ways around but we eventually gave up and said we will find another one in a better spot.

As we drove back out the same way, we ran into that same bushbuck still out feeding. I told Marius if he is out there again and we see him, that he might need to get shot at. I didn't have a set in stone list this time as I have shot a lot of plains game over the years. I told Marius this and said if we see something good and he tells me we need to shoot it, then I will be on board. That was a theme going forward and we made some changes and added a few animals to my list. As we drove out, Marius had mentioned seeing a good warthog at an area near an old barn. I told him that I would shoot another warthog if we ran into him. We walked through this area a few times in hopes of seeing him. I was able to get this picture of the bushbuck through the spotting scope.

In the afternoon, we got onto another road that looped around the river front from the opposite end of where we drove into that morning. We got to a point where we decided to walk and do some glassing as we walked. We saw a few nyala but no bulls. We got all the way back to the same hillside we saw the 2 bulls on earlier that morning. We could also see the top of the hill that we stood on then. We were about to move on and I spotted a bull walking close to where we had been earlier. We also found where there was a road that got us back over to that hillside so we got over there as fast as we could. As we got closer, we started going slower. One of the bulls we could see bedded down. As we got closer, the one stood up and Marius gave him a good look over. The bull then started running and the second bull followed behind. Marius was hesitant on him as he thought we should be able to do better. We had drove over to where we saw the bushbuck, which was out feeding in the exact same area by the way, and we set up there to see if anything came out as it got later in the evening. We spotted 4 bulls after a short while but they were all pretty young. As we were watching these, we were alerted to some nyala behind us. One looked like a decent bull so off we ran. We got to the top where we had seen them and we got busted by them pretty quick. They ran a bit and we went after them. Shortly after we could see just the head and horns above the tall grass looking right at us. They ran again and unfortunately, nothing came of it. By now it was close to getting dark and we jumped in the cruiser and started to head back to the lodge. While no shots were fired, it was still a fun and eventful day to start our hunt. This is a picture of the river and the road we were walking on and glassing from.

Day 2: Target Nyala and Kudu

We woke up, had a quick breakfast and were off to the same property. We went back to the same area where the bushbuck was seen, and of course he was out feeding again. We passed on him again and continued our pursuit of our target animals. As we drove down into the bottom, the tracker tapped on the top of the cruiser. There was a lone nyala bull walking out in the bottom. Marius looked him over and said he's a good one. We jumped out and off we went. The area the bull was in had basically no vegetation to hide behind. We had to do our best to get as close as we could. We We found one small bush that gave us enough cover and what really helped was the bull was feeding away from us. We got to about 70 yards and Marius put up the sticks. We waited for a good broadside shot and I pulled the trigger. Marius immediately said I think you may have hit a bit too far back and to put another one in him. I got a second shot off and as we were trying to reposition, the gun sling mount had gotten caught on the U shaped holder and we struggled to remove the gun from the sticks. We had a good laugh at that chaos and moved on to go find the bull. We walked over and he was laying close to where he was originally shot. First animal was down, and it was still very early in the morning.

We got him loaded up and Marius and I went off in search of a kudu. We had a plan to go sit on a hillside that we walked by the day before. We drove over and got dropped off while the tracker was going to take the nyala to the skinning shed and get working on that. We walked along the hillside and tried to find a good spot to sit and glass from. It was pretty thick and very steep. We got to a decent opening and started looking. We were there for maybe 30 minutes and Marius mentioned to me that this was also really good bushbuck area as well so don't be surprised if we see something. 10 minutes later and Marius had spotted a bushbuck ram. He looked him over and said he is a much older ram than the one we saw this morning and he was a good one to shoot. I decided that I was ok with adding this to my list and we made a plan. Since the hill was too steep to shoot from the prone position, we got settled in while seated. I was on a set of longer bipod sticks that worked well. Marius ranged him at around 270 yards. I waited for a good shot and then took it. The ram dropped to the shot. Marius said he could still see movement but he thinks he will be dead soon. We made a plan where I would sit and watch the ram and to guide them in when they got over to him. Marius had to walk out a bit to get cell service to call the tracker to drive them and the dogs over. It was maybe a minute or two as I was sitting there and I see flashes of white tumbling down the hill. The bushbuck was up! I got the gun up and ready as fast as I could but by then he had disappeared behind some thick bushes. I was nervous as hell for the next 20-30 minutes waiting. Once Marius got over to the hillside, he had the 3 dogs and the tracker with him. I was yelling to them from my position on where I had last seen him. Marius cautiously approached with his handgun ready to fire. Marius found him right where he had tumbled too and he was dead. It was a nasty haul out. They took him all the way down to a small creek and we got some good photos of him there.

We got him loaded up and off to the skinning shed to finish up the nyala as well. We sat down and had some drinks and cake provided by the land owner. It was Marius' birthday when we were there so it worked out that we got birthday cake twice! Both cakes were fantastic! Well...every dessert we were given was fantastic so that is why I gained 10 lbs during the month. After the animals were taken care of, we drove out. Several times we would walk through the area that Marius had seen the warthog at but we only saw a few smaller boars and a bunch of sows and piglets. We saw warthog both days in this area so we were really hoping he would show himself. We continued on. We did see some kudu on the property but nothing was big enough. We were off to hunt roan the next day so we would be making other plans for kudu later in the week.

 

[ILDRHNTR]

Sounds like an awesome start to a very long adventure. Thanks for the write up. Can’t wait to read more. These reports are addictive and sure fuel the fire to go back.

 

[SikaMDhunter]

Great report write up. Very informative

 

[Fatback]

What a great day to get such wonderful animals as that nyala and bushbuck. Sounds like your safari is off to a great start. Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip. Congrats.

 

[Mike B.]

Day 3: Roan

In the planning stages I had asked Marius about roan. I had shot a Sable the prior year in Zimbabwe and it would be nice to get a roan as well. So today we were off to a nearby property. I had hunted this property before on my prior trip so it was good to be back. We were working our way up a road that overlooked a canyon trying to locate a shooter roan. We got towards the top and across the canyon Marius spotted what we were after. We made a plan and dropped down into the canyon to work our way over to the other side. The wind direction wasn't great but we had to work with it the best we could. The roan was feeding along the top of the other side of the canyon and we were hoping to get to the tree line and work our way along that. As we got to the top, we quickly realized the roan was almost right on top of us. All we could see were the tips of the horns. We were lucky as we had been walking towards a set of small bushes to conceal ourselves and we were already close so we quickly stopped to figure out what to do next. The roan made the choice for us has he was walking and feeding in a direction that'd take him right past us. Marius put up the sticks and told me to wait until he gets behind the one small bush before I got onto the sticks. He also said wait for him to keep walking a bit for a better angle and if he gets too far the wind will screw everything up. As the roan made it's way, I got onto the sticks and we waited for a clear shot as he needed to come a ways further to get a better broadside shot. The roan took maybe 2 steps past that bush and he quickly pegged us. We aren't sure what we did for him to see us that fast but he immediately turned and was looking right at us. My only shot was a frontal at about 75 yards. I knew we didn't have long before he ran so I shot. He took off and out of view and Marius said it looked like a good shot but may have been a bit off. We waited for a few minutes as we didn't want to bump him if it wasn't. We waited for help and as the truck got there we then set off with the dogs. It didn't take long and we could see the brown hair sticking out of the tall grass.

I am a huge dog fan so it's awesome driving around with these beasts every day. I was excited to see Flex and Rigby again and to see the newest pup Gypsy in the lineup.

The plan for the next couple of days was to head to the Stormberg mountains and to hunt a few things there. I was excited to get back there as I thoroughly enjoyed hunting auodad there on my prior hunt. We were expecting it to be colder and windy than where we were currently at.

 

[Ridgewalker]

WOW! Another outstanding time at KMG!

 

[bo4elk]

You've got three little buddies there, I love how he's got his paw on your shoulder. Great pics! That Nyala is awesome, the ridges at the base really give it character.

 

[Firebird]

Fun to read your report and you killed some great animals. I’m glad I’m not the taxidermist that has to work on those bushbuck ears! I pick my bushbuck and springboks on Monday in Sandy. Very excited to see them again. Congratulations on a great trip-monster roan!

 

[gillettehunter]

Great start to your hunt. Nice animals and it sounds like you got see a lot while out hunting.KMG does a good job. Congrats and looking forward to the rest.
Bruce

 

[Mike B.]

Fun to read your report and you killed some great animals. I’m glad I’m not the taxidermist that has to work on those bushbuck ears! I pick my bushbuck and springboks on Monday in Sandy. Very excited to see them again. Congratulations on a great trip-monster roan

My Eland from the last hunt with Marius only had one ear. My buddy who is a taxidermist asked me if I shot it on purpose because of that. That was days after I had already shot it and I was like, what are you talking about? I had no idea it had one ear until he told me and it's clear as day in all the photos

 

[Mike B.]

Day 4: Small List of Animals

We woke up early this morning and headed to the Stormberg Mountains. We had a small list of animals we were going to try for and Marius and I were also hoping to add on a Vaal Rhebuck but there wasn't a guarantee that quota was available. I don't recall exactly when he found out we were able to go after one but we lucked out and made a plan to try the next day. My main animal on my list and the one that I told Marius was my high priority animal was a fallow deer. Funny that I flew all the way to Africa and fallow deer was my highest priority

We got to the lodge we would call home the next few days and unloaded all our gear and got settled in. We then loaded up in the cruiser and headed out to look for lechwe and anything else that was on my list. As we drove into a huge valley, we started to see all kinds of critters. We ran into big herds of black wildebeest, springbok, a few lechwe, reedbuck, and even Eland. We ran into a pretty good Eland bull right close to the road. The small group ran off and I had asked if he was a good one. Everyone agreed he was pretty good. As we continued on for about 100 yards, the Eland had run just a short ways and had stopped. As we crest the hill, we stopped and the bull continued to walk right to us. It wasn't long before they all took off the in opposite direction. I kind of regret not going after that bull now but my running joke the rest of the hunt was asking if we were going after Eland. Marius would always tell me no, because we ruined the chance at a big bull right off the road.

We continued on down the road and we spotted a bunch more animals. We were looking well down the canyon when we spotted a lechwe bull bedded down. We determine he was a good one and we decided to go after him. We tried to come in below him. As we were walking, he got up and decided to head up the mountain. We had to change plans to try and get ahead of him. We rushed around to a different spot and this time we were trying to get above him. We finally got into position and were glassing to find him. We finally spotted him and he ended up being a bit further away than we were hoping he'd be. He was still in a shootable spot though so I got into position to take the shot. I pulled the trigger and the other PH that was with us said it looked a bit to the right but might be on the shoulder. I tried to put another one in him but I shot high. I wasn't able to shoot again as the shot was way too far. We got running to try and catch up to try and finish him off. We quickly got to where we could see him again and kuckly he had stopped and had turned around and was making his way back in the direction he had just come from. We got setup and I took another shot. He took off running again and went out of sight. We moved down to try and find him again and as we were came over the cliff face, we could see him laying below us. Marius looked at me and said he decided to kill himself! here is a picture of the rock that knocked him out for good!

The day continued on and I had mentioned a nice springbok would be cool. I had shot one in Namibia a few years back but since my list was super fluid, I said let's see what we can find. We were heading to an area that they knew a big one was hanging out in and before we got there, we ran into a bunch of springbok right off the road as they ran by. We got a good look and Marius and the other PH said there is a really good one in this herd. So we made a plan to try and make it work. As we got into position, they all decided to keep running. At this point they had run to a spot that we thought we might be able to get back on them again. As we made our way up into the rocky face, we got to glassing and found them quite a ways away. We had to make up another plan to try and make this happen. We got a bit lucky as the springbok started to make their way back towards us. We eventually had them at about 200 yards away and I got into position and took the shot. The springbok dropped at the shot and we quickly got over there and finished him off with a quick second shot.

 

[Mike B.]

Day 4 : Continued

We now had a few animals loaded up and we were headed back to the skinning shed to drop them off. As we were getting closer to the lodge, we saw a few steenbuck down in a grassy field. There were 3 of them and one we thought was a pretty good ram. He had chased off another one and then had laid down next to a female. Since steenbuck was also on my list, we devised a plan and got into action. We had a large row of bushes that we could use as cover but the two steenbuck were laying very close to them. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to pop out from that row of bushes to get a shot without being spotted. We crawled on our stomachs to get into position and finally found a spot we could get a shot. The angle for me was tough and it was super difficult to get onto the butt stock of the gun to make a shot. I basically was holding my head above the stock. This wasn't ideal but since the shot was so close, I wasn't too concerned. Sadly, I should have been. When I pulled the trigger I missed. For some reason, and I was lucky as can be, they didn't budge and stayed right where they were so I was able to get another crack at this opportunity. This time I was able to make it count and he dropped to the shot.

We are now 3 animals in on this action packed day. I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. We had walked a long ways the past few days and I was ready for a break. We got back to the lodge and dropped the animals off. My buddy had a good day as well as when we got there, he had two animals hanging being skinned. We took a quick break and discussed looking for fallow deer this evening. They would hang out lower at night and would come out into the open areas to feed. Both my buddy and I had fallow on our lists so we all got into the trucks and off we went.

We got close to where we were going to be glassing from and Marius spotted a kudu just off the tree line. He looked him over real good and he was a bit hesitant. I was having a hard time telling anything about him with the way he was holding his head and how his horns reached up into the branches of the tree he was in front of. Eventually we decided to move on and the kudu ran off. As we drove up a bit we got another look at him as he went up the hillside. Marius mentioned a few times it was the shape of the horns that had him on the fence about being a shooter ror not. Nick was in the truck behind us and Marius jumped out and went and asked for a second opinion. The PH that was helping us had mentioned a few times throughout the day that he had been seeing a good kudu hanging around. They had searched for it on a previous hunt and could never turn him up. He was pretty sure this was the same bull. It was decided that he was a good one and he asked me if I wanted to go after him or go look for a fallow deer. He told me what they thought he was size wise and I said, let's go after the kudu.

We made a quick plan and started walking. I was a bit skeptical and wasn't sure if we'd be able to catch back up to him or not. As we go to the top of the hill, Marius and the other PH stopped and motioned for me to get up there. When you get that response, you know it's game time. Marius grabbed the gun from me and quickly put it onto a rock we were standing behind. I got the quick rundown of where the kudu was and I peeked over the rock and said I got him. As I got on the gun and looked through the scope, I quickly realized what I thought was him was actually a cow. I had no idea there were additional kudu there and I frantically searched for him. I found another, and then another but none of them were him. I finally said I don't have him. I got a quick nudge from behind and I was quickly lined up on him from the help of the other PH. That was super helpful. As I got on him, the kudu barked and I knew I had only a few seconds to make this happen. I pulled the trigger and he ran 30 yards and tumbled over. When I walked up to him I was super excited.

We now had 4 animals down in one day. The exhaustion from earlier was gone but only for a short while. I was dead tired. We had heard that while I was off chasing the kudu, my buddy had got a shot on a fallow deer. They looked for it for a while and then decided they'd go after it again in the morning as they didn't want to bump it and have it keep running. They figured it would lay down and stay close. So we all got back to the lodge and had a great dinner and some much needed rest.

 

[Mike B.]

Day 5: Fallow Deer, Black Springbok and Mountain Reedbuck

We made plans the prior evening to help my buddy look for his fallow deer. Marius would take his dogs out and go look in and around the open bottom fields with Nick and my buddy. I was headed up top to glass from there to see if anything got pushed out while everyone was in the bottom. I sat up there for about 2 hours and everyone walked all over that area but nothing was ever found. The fallow deer was shot out of a group of 7 stags so it was possible he had joined up with them after and we would find him later on.

I told Marius about two days before that a black Springbok would be cool. This was not an animal on my list so he knew of a place nearby that had them and he reached out. Everything was a go and so we took off and got to the area to start glassing. For those that have never seen the stormberg mountains, the terrain changes drastically here from what you'd see closer to East London. Most of the vegetation is taller grass with some trees and bushes down low. Basically you have small amounts of trees down low by the farm homes and fields but once you get away from that, it's nothing but grass as far as the eyes can see. This makes it difficult to stalk as you have to use the hilly terrain versus using bushes to conceal you. It also makes for much longer shots since it near impossible to get very close without getting busted by all the eyes watching out for danger. Here is a picture that I took while stalking a future days animal but this gives you an idea of what it's like. The wind also blows hard every day. Like maybe breaking the sound barrier hard

We arrived to the area the Springbok could be found and got to glassing. It wasn't long before we saw a herd of about 40 Springbok. Some commons and some black mixed in. We were a long long ways away so we tried to get a bit closer by driving back around from the side. Once we got to where we thought they were at, Marius and I got out and walked. We came through an area and found a few hanging out. Marius looked them over and decided there was one that would be a good one to take. We had to reposition for a shot and we got to a spot where I had an opportunity. I was on the gun and Marius was walking me through the shot to make sure I was on the right animal. They were walking away from us and constantly crossing back and forth in front of each other and that made it impossible for a clean shot. They eventually moved off and we had to make another plan.

We were wondering where the larger herd had gone to and I asked Marius if we were looking at the right hillside. We thought maybe they were one hillside over so we decided to walk around it and see if we could spot them. As we got to end of the hill, we came around the edge and quickly spotted some Springbok. We then got up on top of the hill and surveyed the rest of the area. The few black Springbok we had just seen were several hundred yards to the right and the rest of the big herd were to the left. Marius looked them all over and decided the one I tried to shoot was still the best one. Eventually the group of black Springbok met up with the others and it was a bit of chaos trying to keep the bigger one straight from the rest. We got setup for a shot as there was zero chance of getting closer. Marius walked me through the shot again and we waited for the one to stop broadside. He finally gave us the opportunity and I took it.

We got him loaded up and went looking for mountain reedbuck that also liked to hang out in this area. We glassed a few areas and we found own that was worth going after. We hiked up to the top of a big rocky hill we got to the top. The reedbuck was bedded when we spotted him from below and we hoped he hadn't moved. As we came to the edge to look down, we realized he had moved. As we proceeded to look around, we found him 100 yards from us and walking. We quickly tried to get setup for a shot but the reedbuck spooked and ran off. While up top we saw another smaller ram. After about an hour we gave up and moved on. It was getting later in the afternoon and we wanted to be back looking for fallow deer for the evening.

As we got back to the lodge, we dropped the Springbok off and took a quick break. We then headed off to glass for fallow. We didn't see much that evening but a few smaller stags. We'd be levaing sometime in the next morning so we had one last chance to try and find something.

 

[Mike B.]

Day 6: Fallow Deer and Vaal Rhebuck

This morning we were off to glass the bottoms real quick. We didn't see anything so we moved to a different property. It was noticeably colder this morning. When we got to the other property, we immediately saw a couple of fallow deer. One was potentially a shooter so we had to get closer to make sure. The wind wasn't working in our favor. We got to where we could see better and the fallow deer ran from about 300 yards away. We also found that the stag had only one horn and was marginal as well. So off we went to keep looking. Our next plan was to go back to the previous property and drive to the top and over to a canton that we thought the fallow deer were hanging out in. As we got there and we're driving to the top, we had fallow deer getting pushed out by us in a canton we didn't think anything was in. We saw a few bigger stags and then ended up counting 6. One was a good one. We had jumped the group of stags we were looking for and they ran towards the canyon where we thought they were.

As there were only 6 in this group, it was clear that my buddy's wounded fallow didn't join back up with them. We never found it and we have nonidea if it survived or not.

We continued to worked our way up to the top and then proceeded to go by foot. We walked through the tall grass and over to the canyon. As we got there, we saw about 8 fallow but only a couple of smaller stags. We couldn't find the bachelor group. We then took a few steps to our right and immediately saw movement. We were about 30 yards from the bachelor group. Marius and the other PH were working a quick plan and I adjusted my standing position ever so slightly. I stepped on a tiny dead plant and it made enough noise that the fallow busted out of there. Now, in my defense, I had no idea they were that close! I knew Marius had seen them but I hadn't seen them. I didn't see them until I saw their antler tips running off. They ran off back towards the canyon we had just driven through.

We watched them for a while and they decided to bed down. We made a plan to drive around the property and to try and stalk them from the other side. As we were driving back to pavement, we stopped and glassed a mountain that held rhebuck. We found some bedded down and determined there was a shooter inn that group. Our plan was to come back to this after fallow. We got back to the side of the property where we would start our hike. I was lagging behind a bit as my legs were sore. I was keeping up the best I could. We got to an area behind a big rock that we could peek over and I quickly got a hurry your ass up and get ready wave from both Marius and the other PH. I scurried up the hill and got on the gun. The fallow were all up and moving away from us. I was told you need to shoot now or we won't get another chance. It was a heavy quartering away shot. The biggest stag stopped briefly and it gave me a chance. The bullet went through the rear hind quarter and up into the chest. He went about 50 yards and fell over.

We got him loaded up and back to the skinning shed. We quickly transitioned into vaal rhebuck mode and off we went. I got several talks about how these animals are tough to get close on. Their eyesight is phenomenal and would make it difficult to get super close. So we went back to the big hill we saw them bedded down on. We started hiking and got to the top. The hill was steep. Once on top, we had to belly crawl for a while. We finally got into position and they peered over the Ridgeline. They quickly spotted the herd and found the ram we were after. I crawled up further and got on the gun. They walked me through the shot and when ready, told me to shoot. I shot and the rhebuck dropped at the shot. These are a cool species of antelope. Their hair is super fuzzy, more like domesticated sheep rather than any straight haired antelope. This was a great wrapup to our time in the Stormbergs. We would head back to the home lodge after this with no plans for the evening as it would be close to dark by the time we got back.

 

[Firebird]

Sorry about your buddies fallow. I love your animals, I need to hunt Vaal rhebok on my next trip to the east cape!

 

[Justhunt]

Keep it coming, congrats on some super animals. KMG getting it done!

 

[JNevada]

Great report.
I hunted with KMG in the same places in June of 2022 and headed back in June of 2024 with a Valle on the menu. I can't wait and your report just made the wait harder.

 

[Art Lambart II]

What a great hunt and report

 

[Mike B.]

Day 6 through 10:

Yikes, I totally forgot to finish this! Such a slacker. After the Rhebuck, we loaded up and headed back to the home lodge. I will post the pictures of the rest of the animals in this one post. We really slowed down our pursuit of animals or I would have ended up with 20 instead of 14 and it probably would have killed both Marius and I I really was exhausted and I had been working out for the prior 6 months very steadily. Lost 40 lbs during that time and I felt like I was in pretty good shape to be running around chasing after animals. If I hadn't have done that, I would have been done by day 2 and asking to shoot from the truck.

The highlight of the rest of the animals for me was definitely the two pigs. It's funny how things work out sometimes. Marius and I had went through the area in one of my prior posts looking for this particular warthog a few times. We had gone to look for him again in the following days and when we got there, nothing was out. There was a large herd of impala close by and that group spooked and blew everything out of the area so we were not hopeful that we would see anything. So we ended up setting up shop inside the old run down shed/barn and waited to see if anything came back. I don't recall how long we had been sitting there but we finally had given up and were 3 seconds from walking out. Marius and I were discussing what to do next and he looks down at his phone and I turn around and a warthog walks right past the huge door we were going to walk out of. I reach back and start tapping Marius as we were both surprised. He threw up the sticks and we waited for the sow to clear and then I made the shot. It was about 20 yards.

After this is was bushpig time. Earlier in the week we had gone and picked up the trail camera that was setup on a bait site. Marius went through the pictures and the pigs were showing up pretty regularly a little after 6:00pm and then again at 9:00pm. Sporadically they would show up a bit later but that was not always the case. So we decided to get there just before dark and sat about 50 yards away from the bait pile. We had a night vision scope and Marius had his handheld thermal as well. He explained things pretty well before we got there about what he would be looking for and what I should be looking for. One of the big things was that if there is a pig chasing other ones around, that is going to be the male. He also mentioned the knobs/warts on the face as well. I was pretty confident that I was going to be able to tell them apart based on this. In reality, that was not the case at all for me The pigs decided to show up right on cue shortly after dark so we didn't have to sit for very long. Marius grabbed my leg letting me know the pigs were on the bait and we slowly stood up. Marius got to looking over everything and he got me on the gun and started giving me directions. The night vision scope didn't give me enough detail to pick out the facial features but I was able to watch the one chase the others around. Marius took his time and made sure we were both looking at the right pig and then he gave me the go ahead to shoot. It took a few more seconds for the pig to turn broadside and then I shot. The pig took off like a rocket! I was worried I missed but Marius was confident I hit it, but he thought I hit it back in the guts. We went in looking shortly after to see and we could still hear pigs running around us. At one point, we had sows running away from us at 20 yards that still seemed to want to get on the bait pile. Finally we decided that we would wait a bit longer as Marius was thinking the pig we were hearing was him and he wanted to give him some time before we tried again. As we walked back over to the bait pile, there was a big rock next to a tree that Marius was standing on. He was looking down into a thick patch of trees and bushes. Marius looked over to his right a few times with his thermal as well as down into the thick stuff. After a few minutes Marius stops and looks a bit closer just to our right. He was looking at a rock that was there. Then he said, there's your pig. The boar had died right next to the rock and the rock kept throwing him off because he thought it was what was showing in the thermal.

The next day we went after sable for my buddy. We got that done and then we went after a white blesbok. We chased those damn blesbok for almost a full afternoon before we went after the bushpig and then again the next morning. Funny that the blesbok ended up being the nemesis animal but it is hard to hunt them out of a herd of a hundred or more when there are that many eyes looking for signs of trouble.

The last animal on my list was another zebra. I was wanting to do another rug so we used the last afternoon as the opportunity to get that done. We found a group that we were able to get onto and I shot a great stallion with super wide stripes. It will make a great rug for sure.

 

[Mike B.]

Just to wrap this up, Marius at KMG Safaris will treat you right. I've been twice now and I have loved every minute of each trip. He will put you on good animals and will do what he can to make your hunt as enjoyable as possible. This is evident with the numerous positive hunt reports people have posted. My buddy and I are planning another hunt in 2025 with Marius as I have to skip a year since I will be doing some dangerous game hunting in Zim and plains game with another great outfitter in Namibia next year. I look forward to being back in the east cape area and we will definitely be targeting animals that we can find in the Stormbergs as well. The mountain reedbuck is another nemesis of mine so it will definitely be on the list.