NAMIBIA: Namibia 2019

[Rimbaud]

In salt

• Rimbaud
• Jun 21, 2019

Namibia 2019

Moment of impact

• Rimbaud
• Jun 21, 2019
• 1

Warthog at waterhole

• Rimbaud
• Jun 21, 2019

 

[Shootist43]

Is there a story behind these photos?

 

[Ridgewalker]

OK, I’m excited to hear the tale for each of the heads!

 

[gillettehunter]

Looks like you had a great hunt. We would love to hear the details.
Bruce

 

[Rimbaud]

The Warthog

Earlier in the day, we spotted bright white reflections in heavy brush on a kopje. We glassed the hillside and saw a lone boar quietly eating in the late morning sun. We got into position on sticks, and waited for the warthog to move into a small clearing. He did, and the shot from my .300 WSM went right above his right shoulder and kicked up a cloud of dust. He moved into thicker bush, and we watched him shimmy up the hill, and out of range. This was my second day. On the third day, for the second time, we moved to a big waterhole. Chacma baboons kept popping up on the far left side. We had blue wildebeests on the far right in the middle of the field. A young kudu bull cautiously emerged from the far side of the waterhole and came to drink. We tried to stay quiet, and not move. If the baboons saw us - and the group totaled about 50 - they would create an unmistakable symphony of noise and scare away everything coming out to drink in the hot sun. We listened to the birds. We watched many big warthogs emerge from the brush to the left of the water. All of them were old, but worn down. A herd of zebra moved in. We were so close to them that we could hear them passing gas as they drank. Finally, at the time when you wonder if the day is spent, and the animals are waiting for the sun to drop, a big warthog trotted out from behind us. The wind was in our favor, and he suspected nothing. He stood with his back to us. I put the reticle on the spot on his right side just past his rear. He was about 80 yards away. I squeezed the trigger. The 165 grain Barnes TTSX slammed into the animal light a freight train, generating so much power that it kicked up the dust from his body as it traveled toward his heart and lungs. The warthog dropped onto his side. His eyes dropped into his skull, and we still prodded him with our sticks. We had heard too many stories of farmers who had been attacked by these powerful beasts. One farmer was killed when the wounded warthog managed to rip his leg apart, and sever an artery. The farmer died under a tree before his son could reach him. The warthog weighed about 200 pounds. The tusks seem to be about 12 inches to 12 1/2 inches long. While he was not as big as the warthog that I missed, his tusks were probably only half an inch shorter. We went back another day to try to find the old boy that I missed, but no such luck.

 

[Rimbaud]

The Waterbuck

We had been out for about an hour. It was a cold morning, and so far we had seen little on our first hunt of the day. As we came to the top of a mountain, we did some "gasoline stalking." The driver just barely let the Land Cruiser inch forward so we could glass the far side of the valley. As we made it half way down the mountain, we spotted a big waterbuck amidst the kudu bushes. He was having his morning meal about 500 yards away. I had taken a kudu at almost 300 yards, but the .300 WSM needed a margin of safety so we ambled to get closer. The buck was smart. He almost certainly spotted the truck and so we sent it down the mountain and up the hill on the other side. We wanted to trick the buck into thinking we had all left, but this buck seemed to know how to count. We fell int0 a single-file line, and moved into the dense kudu bush, hoping the cover would allow us to shrink the shooting range to 350 yards or less. It felt like we were playing chess with the waterbuck. He seemed to move from one clump of dense kudu bush to another denser clump, reacting to us doing the same on the opposite side of the valley. We sometimes spotted his horns, or some glimmer in the sun, but he was ghostlike. Our tracker left us and covered so much ground so quickly that it was surprising to see him suddenly appear on a small rock cliff about 700 yards away on our left side. We watched the tracker. He moved from the rock cliff into the kudu bush. He was hoping to pressure the waterbuck. We saw nothing. We thought the wily buck had given us the slip and quietly darted over the ridge. Suddenly, the waterbuck crossed the road. He was big and moving fast. Up went the sticks. The waterbuck was in my sights. The scope was turned up to 12 power. I was tracking him through the dense kudu bush. For some reason, the waterbuck paused for a moment in an opening on the far hill. He was 320 yards away. The reticle was placed just above his front leg and I squeezed the trigger. The telltale "thunk" sung out across the valley. The waterbuck jumped a little and ran. We clamored down the mountain, and up the otherside. He was big, and I was anxious to lay eyes on him. We found him about 25 yards away from where he was shot. He was turned backwards, facing the direction from where he had ran. By the marks on the trunk of the thick kudu bush, the waterbuck had run into the dense wood with such force that it knocked him backwards and turned him around. He was lying on his side. We backed up the Land Cruiser to within 100 yards. We hacked a clearing through the brush, and dragged the waterbuck out by his horns and feet. He probably weighed 7oo pounds. I took four men to move him. His horns were so big that you could not close your hand around them.

 

[Rimbaud]

Kudu

Of all the plains game animals, the kudu is mystical to me. I wondered if I would even see the gray ghost on this, my first African hunt, and I wondered if I saw him if I would I be able to do what I wanted. The first kudu I saw was simply massive. We spotted him in thick kudu bush and we rushed into position and my rifle went up on the sticks. The bull was with some lady friends about 50 yards away. The shot was no good. The bullet would have "zwinged" off the tough brush. But that did not stop me from gazing at the bull through the scope; nothing truly prepares you for the majesty of this animal. To someone who normally shoots whitetail deer, sika stags and roebucks, the size of the kudu's horns are so large that they are awe inspiring. This is doubly true when the horns fill up the scope. We tried to track this old boy, but he and his girls never stopped moving. He was not curious like the waterbuck. He was wise and experienced. His horns were huge for a reason. When I went to bed that night, I tried to read but my mind kept wandering back to the kudu. I hoped he would return to his old stomping grounds, and I would have another chance. Before we could revisit his territory, we were driving along the top of a mountain when we spotted a lone kudu bull moving at the bottom of the valley. I couldn't see him. The guys had him in their field glasses, and after telling me to look at this green bush, and that browned-out tree, I found the kudu. He was about 280 yards away. He was just as impressive as the first bull I saw. I put the scope reticles just above his front shoulder. He was moving. I squeezed the trigger, and he dropped hard in his tracks. I exhaled. I had imagined this moment many times. When you are there, and you see the size of the animals, and you get acquainted with their legendary toughness, you hope that your shot is true, and you don't wind up tracking wounded game up and down kopjes over tough terrain. We hopped onto the Land Cruiser and drove down the little mountain. When the truck stopped, I jumped out and walked like a man with a mission to get to the animal. He was majestic. His coat was striped and his face had beautiful stripes. The shot took him in the neck. His horns measured 52.5 inches and his bases were about 11 inches.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Very exciting hunt! You did really well! I’ve never shot much over 200 yards from sticks. I can’t imagine shooting over 300! Guess I’d better start practicing!
Thanks for writing this up and sharing it with us.
A great first Africa adventure!

 

[Rick Cox]

Congratulations on a great hunt and some fine trophies! Thanks for writing this up...

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

You did have a good hunting Rimbaud.

 

[CAustin]

Good shooting! Looks like you had a great trip.

 

[Rimbaud]

Very exciting hunt! You did really well! I’ve never shot much over 200 yards from sticks. I can’t imagine shooting over 300! Guess I’d better start practicing!
Thanks for writing this up and sharing it with us.
A great first Africa adventure!

Thanks to all for the great feedback and support. This site has been an incredible resource and I'm grateful to everyone for sharing their experience. I learned a great trick for shooting off sticks. I had been told prior to my trip to grab the barrel with my index finger, or to truly snug the barrel into my shoulder. I found that either worked well at the range, and I was banging steel out to 200 like a champ. But when I was in the field I was told to grab the rifle just in front of the swivel stud and pull it back. That little trick truly steadied the shot, and helped me make longer shots than I expected. I had heard that African plains game hunting generally occurred at 150 yards, or under, but that wasn't my experience. On a few long shots - over 280 yards, or when I was in the sticks waiting for a shot - it helped to have the PH support the elbow of my trigger arm. Give the swivel hold a try. It really works.

 

[Slickshooter]

Wow, congrats Rimbaud! Great trophy’s! I will try the sling swivel trick on the sticks

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats on the hunt and thanks for sharing!

 

[meigsbucks]

Sounds like a great hunt. Great trophies.