mdwest
AH ambassador
Location: @Bos en Dal SAFARIS , NW Province, RSA
Time: July 2024
Rifle Used: Musgrave 7x57 / Swaro Optic (camp rifle)
Who: @mdwest, wife, youngest daughter & @Goopy
I'll start with the same typical disclaimer up front that Ive made with other Bos en Dal hunt reports.. I obviously have a relationship with this outfitter (see banner at the bottom of every post), and am clearly biased.. I absolutely love this camp, the staff, the animal quality, the food, etc..etc.. which is why we keep going back every year (the only year missed in recent history has been 2020 when RSA was shut down for COVID), and why I maintain a relationship with Gerrit, the owner of @Bos en Dal SAFARIS ...
All of that said, I am NOT paid by Bos en Dal either for posting hunt reports or for acting as the US Representative.. much like others here that act as US representatives for African outfitters, I have become very close personal friends with quite literally ALL of the PH's, camp staff, the outfitter, etc over the years and personally want to see their business do well.. that is my motivation... (the same motivation that sees me host parties in our home each year during DSC, etc)...
So.. with that now behind us.. on to the hunt report!
Having hunted with @Bos en Dal SAFARIS many times previously, we really didnt have much of an agenda this year.. We know the properties extremely well, and honestly between my wife and I, have taken most of the species available on the property over the years.. We really just wanted to spend time with our friends, get away from the cell phones and laptops for a week, and enjoy being in South Africa for a little while... any hunting we did would be a "bonus"....
Flights on Qatar out of DFW were completely uneventful.. Check in was easy (no firearms this year).. and as always the plane was in great shape and we were able to get really good seating (Im an AA Platinum Pro flyer and have been for years.. so grabbing bulkhead or exit row seating at normal economy rates is easy to do).... We had bulkhead seats on both flights to OR Tambo, and Exit Row seating on both flights back to DFW...
Once we arrived in Doha, we found the the Al Mourjan lounge crowded and backed up... No problem, Qatar upgraded our entire party (to include @Goopy ) to the Oryx lounge at no additional cost.. this made the 8 hour layover we got stuck with much, much easier and palatable..
We landed in Joberg around 930, and cleared the airport around 1130... After getting the mini bus loaded up with all of our stuff, we got on the road and arrived in camp a little before 130PM... a quick bite to eat, a quick unloading of our gear, and we were off to the range before 3PM.. confirming zero for everyone was a breeze, and we were all hunting by 330...
As some of you know, my wife, youngest daughter, and I all do a little work to support an orphanage in Rustenberg, South Africa and have gone so far as to set up a non-profit that we use to collect funding (much of which comes from us personally) and take on certain projects to help out the 66 kids that currently reside there.. One of the challenges they have is keeping all the kids fed...
Last year while we were @Bos en Dal SAFARIS with @roverandbrew , an idea that was fielded was to pay to cull some cow blue wildebeest (@Bos en Dal SAFARIS has huge herds of blues running around everywhere and needed some culling done this year and last), and then donate all of the meat to the orphanage... Gerrit was onboard with this idea.. so we decided we'd set out each day in search of a cull or two.. and then if we saw anything else attractive, we'd just take whatever the bush provided, and be happy..
Thinking we really only had about 2 hours before we ran out of daylight, we decided to make a cull wildebeest a priority... theyre abundant on the main property and we thought they'd be easy to find this late in the day (almost certainly going to be either at a watering hole or in a field feeding)...
Less than 15 minutes after leaving the range we spotted a fairly large herd of blues in the distance. We dismounted, and began to stalk, but before we could close the distance we were busted and they took off... we knew that theres a fairly large dam in the direction they were heading though and figured theyd probably stop there if we didnt pressure them too hard.. so we moved to circle around where we thought they were headed with the intent of being able to sneak up on the banks of the far side of the dam and ambush them when they arrived..
When we arrived we found that the wildebeest beat us to the dam and about 1/2 of the herd was already milling around the waters edge getting drinks... we were pretty close on the other side with most shots being between 100-120 yards.. so we started the process of trying to identify a cow that didnt have a calve for us to cull...
Right about the time we identified a really nice cow to take, I saw movement just off to the right of the herd, roughly 70 yards from my location... I pulled by head away from the scope, and saw a young jackal, just casually walking down the banks of the dam that was completely unaware of our presence..
In all the trips Ive made to South Africa, Ive never seen a jackal that close during daylight... certainly not one that calm and relaxed...
So our wildebeest cull hunt immediately became a jackal hunt lol... (we still had plenty of time to take the 3-5 culls we wanted to take by the end of the week)...
It only took a few seconds to get the jackal in the crosshairs.. once I told Rikus (our PH for the week) that I had him, Rikus made a light squeeking sound and the jackal stopped in his tracks, giving me a perfect broadside shot..
Jackals clearly do not enjoy 7x57 projectiles.. He jumped 2-3 feet straight up once hit, turned back toward the wood line, ran no more than 15 yards, and expired..
@Goopy also had a successful 1st day.. but I wont spoil his story in case he chooses to post a separate hunt report..
We were back in camp by 615.. were greeted with wonderful snacks and even better libations the moment we rolled in.. and hung out by the fire until about 7PM.. Dinner was a slow roasted leg of springbok with potatoes and a nice vegetable medley... After dinner we all managed to keep ourselves awake until about 9PM, but we were all exhausted from the travel, so we retired to our rooms, got cleaned up from the day, checked our gear, and hit the bed early..
More to follow tomorrow after I get some more pics downloaded from the phone and do a little better job collecting my notes from the trip...
Time: July 2024
Rifle Used: Musgrave 7x57 / Swaro Optic (camp rifle)
Who: @mdwest, wife, youngest daughter & @Goopy
I'll start with the same typical disclaimer up front that Ive made with other Bos en Dal hunt reports.. I obviously have a relationship with this outfitter (see banner at the bottom of every post), and am clearly biased.. I absolutely love this camp, the staff, the animal quality, the food, etc..etc.. which is why we keep going back every year (the only year missed in recent history has been 2020 when RSA was shut down for COVID), and why I maintain a relationship with Gerrit, the owner of @Bos en Dal SAFARIS ...
All of that said, I am NOT paid by Bos en Dal either for posting hunt reports or for acting as the US Representative.. much like others here that act as US representatives for African outfitters, I have become very close personal friends with quite literally ALL of the PH's, camp staff, the outfitter, etc over the years and personally want to see their business do well.. that is my motivation... (the same motivation that sees me host parties in our home each year during DSC, etc)...
So.. with that now behind us.. on to the hunt report!
Having hunted with @Bos en Dal SAFARIS many times previously, we really didnt have much of an agenda this year.. We know the properties extremely well, and honestly between my wife and I, have taken most of the species available on the property over the years.. We really just wanted to spend time with our friends, get away from the cell phones and laptops for a week, and enjoy being in South Africa for a little while... any hunting we did would be a "bonus"....
Flights on Qatar out of DFW were completely uneventful.. Check in was easy (no firearms this year).. and as always the plane was in great shape and we were able to get really good seating (Im an AA Platinum Pro flyer and have been for years.. so grabbing bulkhead or exit row seating at normal economy rates is easy to do).... We had bulkhead seats on both flights to OR Tambo, and Exit Row seating on both flights back to DFW...
Once we arrived in Doha, we found the the Al Mourjan lounge crowded and backed up... No problem, Qatar upgraded our entire party (to include @Goopy ) to the Oryx lounge at no additional cost.. this made the 8 hour layover we got stuck with much, much easier and palatable..
We landed in Joberg around 930, and cleared the airport around 1130... After getting the mini bus loaded up with all of our stuff, we got on the road and arrived in camp a little before 130PM... a quick bite to eat, a quick unloading of our gear, and we were off to the range before 3PM.. confirming zero for everyone was a breeze, and we were all hunting by 330...
As some of you know, my wife, youngest daughter, and I all do a little work to support an orphanage in Rustenberg, South Africa and have gone so far as to set up a non-profit that we use to collect funding (much of which comes from us personally) and take on certain projects to help out the 66 kids that currently reside there.. One of the challenges they have is keeping all the kids fed...
Last year while we were @Bos en Dal SAFARIS with @roverandbrew , an idea that was fielded was to pay to cull some cow blue wildebeest (@Bos en Dal SAFARIS has huge herds of blues running around everywhere and needed some culling done this year and last), and then donate all of the meat to the orphanage... Gerrit was onboard with this idea.. so we decided we'd set out each day in search of a cull or two.. and then if we saw anything else attractive, we'd just take whatever the bush provided, and be happy..
Thinking we really only had about 2 hours before we ran out of daylight, we decided to make a cull wildebeest a priority... theyre abundant on the main property and we thought they'd be easy to find this late in the day (almost certainly going to be either at a watering hole or in a field feeding)...
Less than 15 minutes after leaving the range we spotted a fairly large herd of blues in the distance. We dismounted, and began to stalk, but before we could close the distance we were busted and they took off... we knew that theres a fairly large dam in the direction they were heading though and figured theyd probably stop there if we didnt pressure them too hard.. so we moved to circle around where we thought they were headed with the intent of being able to sneak up on the banks of the far side of the dam and ambush them when they arrived..
When we arrived we found that the wildebeest beat us to the dam and about 1/2 of the herd was already milling around the waters edge getting drinks... we were pretty close on the other side with most shots being between 100-120 yards.. so we started the process of trying to identify a cow that didnt have a calve for us to cull...
Right about the time we identified a really nice cow to take, I saw movement just off to the right of the herd, roughly 70 yards from my location... I pulled by head away from the scope, and saw a young jackal, just casually walking down the banks of the dam that was completely unaware of our presence..
In all the trips Ive made to South Africa, Ive never seen a jackal that close during daylight... certainly not one that calm and relaxed...
So our wildebeest cull hunt immediately became a jackal hunt lol... (we still had plenty of time to take the 3-5 culls we wanted to take by the end of the week)...
It only took a few seconds to get the jackal in the crosshairs.. once I told Rikus (our PH for the week) that I had him, Rikus made a light squeeking sound and the jackal stopped in his tracks, giving me a perfect broadside shot..
Jackals clearly do not enjoy 7x57 projectiles.. He jumped 2-3 feet straight up once hit, turned back toward the wood line, ran no more than 15 yards, and expired..
@Goopy also had a successful 1st day.. but I wont spoil his story in case he chooses to post a separate hunt report..
We were back in camp by 615.. were greeted with wonderful snacks and even better libations the moment we rolled in.. and hung out by the fire until about 7PM.. Dinner was a slow roasted leg of springbok with potatoes and a nice vegetable medley... After dinner we all managed to keep ourselves awake until about 9PM, but we were all exhausted from the travel, so we retired to our rooms, got cleaned up from the day, checked our gear, and hit the bed early..
More to follow tomorrow after I get some more pics downloaded from the phone and do a little better job collecting my notes from the trip...
Looking forward to the rest of your report Dave.
