Reed Thoma Outdoors
AH veteran
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2021
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- North Dakota
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- Hunted
- RSA, USA (MN, SD, ND, TX, AR)
I got my trophies back from my 2023 safari and decided it was finally time to finish my hunting report. This is one of my first hunting reports and got kinda long. I don't know what you guys like better, short and sweet or long and detailed. Let me know what you like better for future reports.
First African Safari: @BAYLY SIPPEL SAFARIS
Travel to -
We started our journey to Africa by catching a flight from MSP to Amsterdam. The first leg of the trip was the hardest for me because I didn’t know what to expect as the longest plane ride I have been on before this was around 4 hrs long. With a 9-hour flight ahead of me and a lady next to me who kept letting her pet cat out of its carrier, I was fearing the worst for this flight. After many naps and a couple movies we finally landed in Amsterdam.
We had only a couple hour layover, so we decided to take a nap on the airport couches for a bit. We eventually boarded our flight heading to Joburg. This flight, although longer, didn't feel nearly as long as the last. We arrived in Joburg late, so we got a hotel room and waited for our journey to start in the morning.
Hunting Day 1 -
We woke up early and had the hotel breakfast which I must say was very good. Definitely one of the best hotel breakfasts I've ever had. So we filled up and got the text from Mario that he was there to pick us up. When we went to meet him in the parking garage where we quickly learned that we were there on one of the coldest days they had in the last decade and just before the biggest snowstorms Joburg has seen in 12 years. Nonetheless, it wasn’t too bad for us Minnesota boys. We met Mario who actually was a fill in PH for Bayly Sippel as one of their PHs could not make it. Mario is actually the owner and operator of Neo Safaris. On our trip to meet our other PH we bombarded Mario with questions which he was very glad to answer.
We met up with my PH, Craig, at the petrol station. We had a very brief meet and greet after getting some refreshments and headed to the town closest to the first property so we could pick up salt for the hides and some booze, only the essentials. Off to the first property we went and it was surprising as I didn’t know we were going to be hunting in the mountains. Come to find out we were in the Waterberg mountains which I have heard of but never thought we would be there. So after taking in the scenery we made it to the front gate.
Upon arriving we saw blue wildebeest, impala, and white rhino right inside the gate. We snaked our way to the accommodations. I didn’t know what to expect when we were headed there because I have seen big lodges as well as luxury tents in other reports and videos. When we arrived we noticed that we will be staying in small cabins and the dining/cooking area was an outdoor area. We were informed that this property is more rustic and that Mario and Craig would be our PHs and our chefs. This made the camp feel more like the hunting camps we have back in the states. Craig and Mario told us to relax while they unpack the truck, but my father and I were very anxious to get out hunting so to pass the time we walked around exploring the camp.
After a quick lunch we went to their range to test out the rifles. We tried out their 30-06s and Mario’s new .458. The 30-06 was a breeze to shoot but I was a little nervous to shoot the .458 as it would be the largest caliber I’ve shot by far. I shot it once off sticks and once off hand. I will tell you it kicks like a mule off the sticks but wasn’t bad at all free handed.
Now, it was finally time to get out on the trails in search of some animals. Within the first hour of the hunt we had seen dozens of impala already, but none that met trophy status. We continued on until we saw a herd of blue wildebeest. Craig turned to my dad and I and asked if we were interested. I passed as blue wildebeest didn't really do it for me but my dad jumped on the opportunity. He stepped off the truck and Mario set up the sticks. Mario said shoot when comfortable and my dad placed a perfect shot on the bull. The bull did a wide circle up the mountain a bit but expired within seconds. We went up to look for him and found him not too far. The PHs and trackers lifted him down the mountain to a dry creek bed for photos.
After photos were taken the bull was loaded into the truck and we kept on hunting. We reached a pretty steep incline that the truck had some trouble getting up. It wasn’t shocking considering we had 6 guys and a wildebeest in it. After some of the guys got out Craig was able to make some ground, I turned to look back to see what we were stuck on and we hit another bump and I almost fell out the back of the truck. Thankfully my dad’s arm stopped me from flying out, but I think I gave Mario a heart attack. Needless to say I will always be holding on tight while riding in the back of the trucks. We decided to drop the bull off at the skinning shed to lose some weight.
After dropping off the bull we drove around a little bit more but didn’t see much so we started back to camp. Right before we got back to camp we saw a herd of impala. A nice ram was spotted so I hopped out of the truck with Craig. We got set up and I took my shot. He spun around in his track and crumpled. I was so glad to get an animal on the ground so I didn’t have so many nerves for the rest of the trip. He was a beautiful ram and could not be happier with my first African animal. We took some photos with a sunset background and made our way back to camp.
Craig and Mario cooked up some dinner and we began discussing tomorrow’s game plan. The main reason for coming to this property was because I wanted to shoot a nice dark bull giraffe. This property was supposed to have a monster bull and we needed to find it. We were searching for it earlier in the day and we did see giraffes, just not the one. The main concern was trying to find this bull early enough in the day so there was no spoilage and so the skinners didn’t have to work into the night. The plan was set on the giraffe so we decided to start celebrating the awesome animals we harvested. We indulged ourselves with some Castle Lites, ciders, and Two Keys whiskey cokes around the campfire. As they were swapping stories I noticed an animal come into the light of the cabin. I told the guys and they said it was a duiker, MArio looked through his binos and said he was a huge male. I took a look and knew I wanted to take one. They weren’t on my list of animals I wanted but they quickly made a spot after I saw how excited Mario got. They said we will drive around right about dusk the next couple days to see if we can get a nice one. After all that excitement we reluctantly went to bed and were looking forward to what tomorrow had in store.
Day 2 -
Our first morning in the bush was fairly cold but the guys already had a fire going and made us a nice cup of milo’s hot chocolate, as my dad and I aren’t big coffee drinkers. The guys made a quick breakfast and we headed out to look for the dark bull. We drove around and saw some other giraffe including another big bull who wasn’t dark so he wasn’t the one we were after. We kept driving around seeing impala, wildebeest, zebra, and cape buffalo. We began to drive further up the mountain and the game manager spotted a dark bull at the very top of the mountain. I have no idea how he saw it as you could only see the top couple feet of the head and neck which just looked like a dead branch from that distance.
Because he was so far up the mountain there was no way we would be able to get him off the mountain if we harvested him. So, one of the trackers was sent to push him off the top so we could get a better view of him and make a plan if it was the right one. The bull eventually came down and headed to where we could see him better. He was magnificent and I was ready to go but he apparently was not the right bull. They said this was a younger bull and the one we were going for was much bigger. I was shocked when they said he was bigger, but I trusted them because they are the experts.
After seeing the last bull, we started down the trail again until we got a radio call from some of the workers on the property that the big bull was on the other side of the mountain. We sped off to get to the other side and all I could say was “wow!”. There stood an absolutely massive dark bull with some cows. He dwarfed the cows and he looked black compared to them. Immediately we all knew he was the one but the game manager needed to confirm for sure by a scar he had on his right hindquarter. So we stalked up the road to get closer and as we did that the cows ran off. The bull was wary but not too concerned by our presence. The game manager snuck up really close and confirmed he was the bull. We decided to use the 30-06 and to shoot him right at the base of the head/neck connection because we could only see the top half of his neck at this point. I got up on the sticks and now I started to get “buck fever”, or I guess “bull fever” in this case. I lined up the shot we discussed and went to pull the trigger. BANG!
The bull dropped like a ton of brick and for a brief moment there was relief. Then all hell broke loose. A clamoring of hooves was heard from the brush and about as fast as he went down he was back on his feet. He snorted a bunch of blood out of his nostrils and started running down the mountain. I scrambled to get out of the sticks to shoot again and ended up shooting above the bulls back. Mario carried the .458 and asked if he should shoot and Craig yelled “Shoot!” We both were slinging bullets at the bull until he went down about 50-60 yards away. We were all relieved he was down and started walking over to where the bull went down. When we got eyes on him he was still struggling on the ground so I put a final .458 round center chest to finish him off.
Walking up to this beast was surreal. I have never felt more emotions about an animal I hunted than after harvesting this bull. I almost couldn’t speak because it was such a roller coaster. I’ve never harvested an animal anywhere near this caliber and it was a lot to take in. My dad still talks about it every time I see and how amazing he thought it was. Mario and Craig told me he was a huge bull and that they don’t see them that big too often. We later found out that just the carcass of the bull weighed 986 kg which made him the biggest giraffe Mario had been a part of hunting. I can attest that this bull had no ground shrinkage. We took in the moment and then positioned him for pictures. We could not prop him up otherwise he would have rolled down the mountain, so we stretched out the neck and began the photo op. After what seemed like hundreds of pictures the TLB was called so they could move it to begin the skinning and butchering. This was an interesting process that we watched for a while but in order to not waste hunting time we let the skinners do their work.
We had a quick lunch back at camp and headed out to look for a kudu for my dad. We drove around for the remainder of the day and started making our way back towards camp. Darkness began to fall so hunting was pretty much over for the day, or so we thought. A bush duiker popped up into the headlights and walked just off the road. Mario looked through binos to confirm it was a male and Craig was getting me ready for a shot. It was a confirmed shooter so I made a quick shot. He ran and I was not very confident on the shot but the guys said he’s dead. I nervously approached where I shot him and there was blood. We got on the trail and followed for about 20 yards to find him just inside the tall grass stone dead. He was a giant duiker similar to the one we saw the day previous. Mario was super excited maybe more than I was lol. It was such an experience to shoot one of the largest and the smallest animals on the property on the same day. I’m sure the skinners were sick of me because they just finished the giraffe and then I had to bring them the duiker. We made it back to camp for some dinner. We indulged in some more adult beverages to celebrate a killer day of hunting and hit the hay.
Day 3 -
We woke up again to a warm fire, light breakfast, and some milo’s hot cocoa. The plan for today was to focus on my dad’s list, as I already had three animals in the salt. We headed off to a dry riverbed to look for fresh sign or to see if we could bump into any animals. Kudu was the main focus until we heard the bark of a baboon. We headed the way of the bark and began to increase in elevation fast. In order to be more stealthy, Craig and I stayed back and waited while Mario and my dad went to search for the baboon.
They went up the mountain a couple hundred yards and they saw a group with a big male sitting on the tops of some trees. My dad propped up on a rock to take the far shot. He shot and we could hear it hit the baboon even though we were further down the mountains. IT was hanging out of the tree and my dad wanted to shoot it again but Mario said to hold off as it looked like a good shot. It fell from the tree and we waited a bit. We made our way up to the shot site and found some blood immediately but no baboon. We began tracking and found that the blood trail was dwindling fast. We eventually only find specks here and there. We looked for it for another four hours determined to find it. We never did recover the baboon but it was pretty fun honing our blood trailing skills in a different terrain than the woods back home.
Feeling a little defeated, we went back to camp for lunch. We went back out to continue looking for game for my dad. We spotted a group of impala deep in some scrub so Mario and my dad hopped out of the truck and made their stalk. They were gone for a good amount of time then we heard a shot. The impala didn’t go far but Mario sent my dad back to the truck while he drug the impala to the road. The one problem is my dad got a little lost after the long stalk and ended up on a different road that was by where the rhinos hung out. Craig and I found him pretty quick though and he was out of breath but unscathed lol.
We headed back to camp for dinner and a fire. We reminisced about the days we had so far and how much we enjoyed the time at this property. This was the last night at this camp so it was a little sad, but we partied it up that night and dreamt about what tomorrow will bring.
Day 4 -
My father and I woke up earlier than the PHs this morning and decided to get the fire started for them using the coals from the night before. We were up late the night before so we did not blame them for still sleeping. We were still adjusting to the time difference and were happy to help out around camp, honestly we really enjoyed helping out. Craig and Mario woke up and made breakfast. We began to pack up to head to the next property. We headed to the nearest town to get more refreshments and to say goodbye to Mario as he had to get back to his deli back in Joburg. It was a long goodbye as we now considered him a friend and we knew we would not see him for a while.
We headed to the new camp and we were stunned to say the least. This property was not nearly as rustic as the other. This was a huge fancy lodge with many private lodges. We had the whole place to ourselves and were both offered our own lodge and they were confused why I said I would just stay with my dad. I told them I don’t need a whole place for myself. We met my dad’s new PH, Rey, at the lodge while we were unpacking. We hung out and relaxed at the lodge to relax from the trip and Craig mentioned that my father and I were not as chatty as at the other camp. My dad and I said that we have never really been in a place this fancy and didn’t really know how to act lol. He assured us that we were fine to do whatever and to make ourselves comfortable. We were greeted by a big staff as well as the lodge owner and his family. The hospitality was unmatched. We were also greeted by a young sable bull right at the lodge, closest I was to an alive animal the whole trip.
We went out to make sure the guns were still accurate and to check out the property. There were definitely more animals on this property as we saw blesbok, impala, wildebeest, buffalo, ostrich, eland, kudu, nyala, and hartebeest on this ride. We did some hunting, but didn’t end up shooting anything. I was tempted to shoot a decent kudu but I was holding out to shoot an eland. We went back to an absolutely amazing dinner and had a fire with a beautiful African sunset background.
Day 5 -
We got up for breakfast and discussed a plan. We were going to split up; Craig and I were going for an eland while Rey and my dad were going for a kudu. Craig and Rey were joking with us that the SA springboks, the rugby team, were facing the New Zealand All Blacks at 9am and that we should get our animals by then. They laughed but you could tell they were half serious about wanting to watch the game, I guess it is a big rivalry and I definitely understand that being a football fan.
We headed our separate ways to start that morning's hunt. Right away we found an awesome kudu, so we radioed to Rey to tell him its general location and we proceeded to the other side of the property. We were driving and got to an opening where I caught a glimpse of a black spot and I knew right away what it was. It was the mop of a big eland bull. I told Craig so we stopped in some scrub and began our stalk up. I was told that eland can be very flighty so we made a very slow stalk through the brush. A half hour later we see the bull and he is slowly walking away from us. We get the sticks up and Craig says shoot when I'm ready. I shot clearly hitting right behind the shoulder. Craig was in the middle of saying “shoot him again” when I cracked off another shot dropping him in his tracks. I was shaking profusely, more than I had done with any other animal.
We walked up to the beast and it was huge. We got a call from Rey asking if we got him and found out that my dad shot that nice kudu. He was using a suppressor so we didn’t hear his shot but they heard mine. Rey told my dad that I was a quick shooter and my dad told him that we had to be because we hunt a small whitetail property and we don’t want the deer to run wounded into neighboring properties. So, we headed over to them to check out the Kudu and to take pics. Once done with that we all headed back to the eland for a photo op. The animals were loaded and ready for the skinning shed. We looked around there and it was a pretty impressive operation. The best part was that we were all done at 9:30 so we could catch the rest of the rugby game.
We celebrated at the lodge by having some beers and watching the game. The springboks unfortunately lost, but it was really funny watching Craig and Rey try to stay calm watching the game when they clearly wanted to yell at the screen. We had a nice lunch and proceeded hunting.
I sat in a blind over a watering hole hoping for a warthog. No warthogs but seen tons of animals including a pair of bat eared foxes. I didn’t end up shooting anything, but my dad had some more success this day. He wanted a gemsbok but the property did not have enough so he decided on a waterbuck or a zebra. He didn’t see any waterbuck bulls, but did find a herd of zebras. He took a 150yd shot and dropped a nice mare. We went to go check it out and take pictures, and of course as we took pictures here comes a dandy waterbuck out of the trees. We were both reaching our budget so we let him walk. Just another successful day in Africa.
Day 6 -
Our main mission of the day was warthogs. We have been eluded by them the whole time which I thought was odd as I figured they would be everywhere. We set off in different directions to drive the property in hopes to see some. We were driving and I saw one off the side of the road. It was a nice boar but I was waiting for the go ahead from Craig. My tracker said “shoot dat pig” but Craig couldn’t see it as he was driving. It was there for only a couple seconds before taking off. No biggie, we will just find another. We keep driving and another boar runs across the road and disappears quickly. I am getting excited now that we are seeing some. We get out and walk for a while and stumble upon a big sow. Unfortunately, this property didn’t allow the shooting of sows, if they did I would have gladly taken that big girl. We keep driving and seen a jackal but like the warthogs it was gone in a flash. My dad also had a boar run across the road but had no luck locating it. No warthogs for the morning.
After lunch we headed out again. We didn’t see any warthogs and I mentioned to Craig that I would shoot a blesbok to finish off the hunt because we have seen so many of them. He had a great idea that my dad and I should try and double up on blesbok. We radioed Rey and my dad agreed so we met up in the big field where we had been seeing them. The herd was out there and I told my dad to take the first shot. He lines up on the sticks and rips a 200yd shot and misses. The herd ran and my dad was disappointed. The PHs said that we can go to the other field and we should be able to find another herd. We headed over that way and found another herd. We couldn’t seem to get close enough on foot so we got just under 200yds in the truck. I told my dad to try again. He shot nicking its back and with a swift second shot dropped it. I quickly grabbed the gun lined up on the next one, but didn’t have a great rest. I shot over its back. I rack another bullet and now the blesbok are running right at us. I find my blesbok and shoot behind it. The gun was out of ammo and I yelled, “give me the other gun!” I shot again, hitting it too far back but slowed it down enough for me to get a final shot that dropped it.
Finally, after all that piss poor shooting we had our double. My father and I were not proud of our shooting as we don’t typically miss like that but it definitely was an adrenaline fueled ending to an awesome safari. We took pictures with the sunset behind us and were ready to celebrate. We got back to the lodge and had a feast. We had cigars and cognac, thanks to the lodge owner, and all hung out telling stories. We eventually made it into the lodge where we played music, had some two keys whiskey, and shot some pool. It was really fun bonding with the PHs and we soon found ourselves up until close to 1am. We decided to stop the fun and go to bed as we had a long day of traveling ahead.
Day 7 -
It was now the last morning in Africa. We got all our paperwork done and we settled up the payment. We packed and said our goodbyes to the camp staff. We couldn’t help but feel sad on the trip back to Joburg, but the whole time I was planning my next trip. When getting to Joburg we stopped at a local outdoors store and a local meat market. We picked up some meat snacks and some seasonings to bring home. We then ended up meeting one of the owners of Bayly Sippel, Dempsey Bayly, at a local coffee shop. He was very welcoming and thankful for us coming. We headed to the airport to say our final goodbyes to Craig and to head home.
I cannot put into words how much fun my father and I had on this trip. We still talk about it daily. I want to thank Bayly Sippel, Craig, Mario, Rey, the lodge owners, and all the camp staff for making us feel like family and for making this trip so awesome. I highly recommend Bayly Sippel and Neo Safaris if you are looking for a super fun, top-class hunting trip.
First African Safari: @BAYLY SIPPEL SAFARIS
Travel to -
We started our journey to Africa by catching a flight from MSP to Amsterdam. The first leg of the trip was the hardest for me because I didn’t know what to expect as the longest plane ride I have been on before this was around 4 hrs long. With a 9-hour flight ahead of me and a lady next to me who kept letting her pet cat out of its carrier, I was fearing the worst for this flight. After many naps and a couple movies we finally landed in Amsterdam.
We had only a couple hour layover, so we decided to take a nap on the airport couches for a bit. We eventually boarded our flight heading to Joburg. This flight, although longer, didn't feel nearly as long as the last. We arrived in Joburg late, so we got a hotel room and waited for our journey to start in the morning.
Hunting Day 1 -
We woke up early and had the hotel breakfast which I must say was very good. Definitely one of the best hotel breakfasts I've ever had. So we filled up and got the text from Mario that he was there to pick us up. When we went to meet him in the parking garage where we quickly learned that we were there on one of the coldest days they had in the last decade and just before the biggest snowstorms Joburg has seen in 12 years. Nonetheless, it wasn’t too bad for us Minnesota boys. We met Mario who actually was a fill in PH for Bayly Sippel as one of their PHs could not make it. Mario is actually the owner and operator of Neo Safaris. On our trip to meet our other PH we bombarded Mario with questions which he was very glad to answer.
We met up with my PH, Craig, at the petrol station. We had a very brief meet and greet after getting some refreshments and headed to the town closest to the first property so we could pick up salt for the hides and some booze, only the essentials. Off to the first property we went and it was surprising as I didn’t know we were going to be hunting in the mountains. Come to find out we were in the Waterberg mountains which I have heard of but never thought we would be there. So after taking in the scenery we made it to the front gate.
Upon arriving we saw blue wildebeest, impala, and white rhino right inside the gate. We snaked our way to the accommodations. I didn’t know what to expect when we were headed there because I have seen big lodges as well as luxury tents in other reports and videos. When we arrived we noticed that we will be staying in small cabins and the dining/cooking area was an outdoor area. We were informed that this property is more rustic and that Mario and Craig would be our PHs and our chefs. This made the camp feel more like the hunting camps we have back in the states. Craig and Mario told us to relax while they unpack the truck, but my father and I were very anxious to get out hunting so to pass the time we walked around exploring the camp.
After a quick lunch we went to their range to test out the rifles. We tried out their 30-06s and Mario’s new .458. The 30-06 was a breeze to shoot but I was a little nervous to shoot the .458 as it would be the largest caliber I’ve shot by far. I shot it once off sticks and once off hand. I will tell you it kicks like a mule off the sticks but wasn’t bad at all free handed.
Now, it was finally time to get out on the trails in search of some animals. Within the first hour of the hunt we had seen dozens of impala already, but none that met trophy status. We continued on until we saw a herd of blue wildebeest. Craig turned to my dad and I and asked if we were interested. I passed as blue wildebeest didn't really do it for me but my dad jumped on the opportunity. He stepped off the truck and Mario set up the sticks. Mario said shoot when comfortable and my dad placed a perfect shot on the bull. The bull did a wide circle up the mountain a bit but expired within seconds. We went up to look for him and found him not too far. The PHs and trackers lifted him down the mountain to a dry creek bed for photos.
After photos were taken the bull was loaded into the truck and we kept on hunting. We reached a pretty steep incline that the truck had some trouble getting up. It wasn’t shocking considering we had 6 guys and a wildebeest in it. After some of the guys got out Craig was able to make some ground, I turned to look back to see what we were stuck on and we hit another bump and I almost fell out the back of the truck. Thankfully my dad’s arm stopped me from flying out, but I think I gave Mario a heart attack. Needless to say I will always be holding on tight while riding in the back of the trucks. We decided to drop the bull off at the skinning shed to lose some weight.
After dropping off the bull we drove around a little bit more but didn’t see much so we started back to camp. Right before we got back to camp we saw a herd of impala. A nice ram was spotted so I hopped out of the truck with Craig. We got set up and I took my shot. He spun around in his track and crumpled. I was so glad to get an animal on the ground so I didn’t have so many nerves for the rest of the trip. He was a beautiful ram and could not be happier with my first African animal. We took some photos with a sunset background and made our way back to camp.
Craig and Mario cooked up some dinner and we began discussing tomorrow’s game plan. The main reason for coming to this property was because I wanted to shoot a nice dark bull giraffe. This property was supposed to have a monster bull and we needed to find it. We were searching for it earlier in the day and we did see giraffes, just not the one. The main concern was trying to find this bull early enough in the day so there was no spoilage and so the skinners didn’t have to work into the night. The plan was set on the giraffe so we decided to start celebrating the awesome animals we harvested. We indulged ourselves with some Castle Lites, ciders, and Two Keys whiskey cokes around the campfire. As they were swapping stories I noticed an animal come into the light of the cabin. I told the guys and they said it was a duiker, MArio looked through his binos and said he was a huge male. I took a look and knew I wanted to take one. They weren’t on my list of animals I wanted but they quickly made a spot after I saw how excited Mario got. They said we will drive around right about dusk the next couple days to see if we can get a nice one. After all that excitement we reluctantly went to bed and were looking forward to what tomorrow had in store.
Day 2 -
Our first morning in the bush was fairly cold but the guys already had a fire going and made us a nice cup of milo’s hot chocolate, as my dad and I aren’t big coffee drinkers. The guys made a quick breakfast and we headed out to look for the dark bull. We drove around and saw some other giraffe including another big bull who wasn’t dark so he wasn’t the one we were after. We kept driving around seeing impala, wildebeest, zebra, and cape buffalo. We began to drive further up the mountain and the game manager spotted a dark bull at the very top of the mountain. I have no idea how he saw it as you could only see the top couple feet of the head and neck which just looked like a dead branch from that distance.
Because he was so far up the mountain there was no way we would be able to get him off the mountain if we harvested him. So, one of the trackers was sent to push him off the top so we could get a better view of him and make a plan if it was the right one. The bull eventually came down and headed to where we could see him better. He was magnificent and I was ready to go but he apparently was not the right bull. They said this was a younger bull and the one we were going for was much bigger. I was shocked when they said he was bigger, but I trusted them because they are the experts.
After seeing the last bull, we started down the trail again until we got a radio call from some of the workers on the property that the big bull was on the other side of the mountain. We sped off to get to the other side and all I could say was “wow!”. There stood an absolutely massive dark bull with some cows. He dwarfed the cows and he looked black compared to them. Immediately we all knew he was the one but the game manager needed to confirm for sure by a scar he had on his right hindquarter. So we stalked up the road to get closer and as we did that the cows ran off. The bull was wary but not too concerned by our presence. The game manager snuck up really close and confirmed he was the bull. We decided to use the 30-06 and to shoot him right at the base of the head/neck connection because we could only see the top half of his neck at this point. I got up on the sticks and now I started to get “buck fever”, or I guess “bull fever” in this case. I lined up the shot we discussed and went to pull the trigger. BANG!
The bull dropped like a ton of brick and for a brief moment there was relief. Then all hell broke loose. A clamoring of hooves was heard from the brush and about as fast as he went down he was back on his feet. He snorted a bunch of blood out of his nostrils and started running down the mountain. I scrambled to get out of the sticks to shoot again and ended up shooting above the bulls back. Mario carried the .458 and asked if he should shoot and Craig yelled “Shoot!” We both were slinging bullets at the bull until he went down about 50-60 yards away. We were all relieved he was down and started walking over to where the bull went down. When we got eyes on him he was still struggling on the ground so I put a final .458 round center chest to finish him off.
Walking up to this beast was surreal. I have never felt more emotions about an animal I hunted than after harvesting this bull. I almost couldn’t speak because it was such a roller coaster. I’ve never harvested an animal anywhere near this caliber and it was a lot to take in. My dad still talks about it every time I see and how amazing he thought it was. Mario and Craig told me he was a huge bull and that they don’t see them that big too often. We later found out that just the carcass of the bull weighed 986 kg which made him the biggest giraffe Mario had been a part of hunting. I can attest that this bull had no ground shrinkage. We took in the moment and then positioned him for pictures. We could not prop him up otherwise he would have rolled down the mountain, so we stretched out the neck and began the photo op. After what seemed like hundreds of pictures the TLB was called so they could move it to begin the skinning and butchering. This was an interesting process that we watched for a while but in order to not waste hunting time we let the skinners do their work.
We had a quick lunch back at camp and headed out to look for a kudu for my dad. We drove around for the remainder of the day and started making our way back towards camp. Darkness began to fall so hunting was pretty much over for the day, or so we thought. A bush duiker popped up into the headlights and walked just off the road. Mario looked through binos to confirm it was a male and Craig was getting me ready for a shot. It was a confirmed shooter so I made a quick shot. He ran and I was not very confident on the shot but the guys said he’s dead. I nervously approached where I shot him and there was blood. We got on the trail and followed for about 20 yards to find him just inside the tall grass stone dead. He was a giant duiker similar to the one we saw the day previous. Mario was super excited maybe more than I was lol. It was such an experience to shoot one of the largest and the smallest animals on the property on the same day. I’m sure the skinners were sick of me because they just finished the giraffe and then I had to bring them the duiker. We made it back to camp for some dinner. We indulged in some more adult beverages to celebrate a killer day of hunting and hit the hay.
Day 3 -
We woke up again to a warm fire, light breakfast, and some milo’s hot cocoa. The plan for today was to focus on my dad’s list, as I already had three animals in the salt. We headed off to a dry riverbed to look for fresh sign or to see if we could bump into any animals. Kudu was the main focus until we heard the bark of a baboon. We headed the way of the bark and began to increase in elevation fast. In order to be more stealthy, Craig and I stayed back and waited while Mario and my dad went to search for the baboon.
They went up the mountain a couple hundred yards and they saw a group with a big male sitting on the tops of some trees. My dad propped up on a rock to take the far shot. He shot and we could hear it hit the baboon even though we were further down the mountains. IT was hanging out of the tree and my dad wanted to shoot it again but Mario said to hold off as it looked like a good shot. It fell from the tree and we waited a bit. We made our way up to the shot site and found some blood immediately but no baboon. We began tracking and found that the blood trail was dwindling fast. We eventually only find specks here and there. We looked for it for another four hours determined to find it. We never did recover the baboon but it was pretty fun honing our blood trailing skills in a different terrain than the woods back home.
Feeling a little defeated, we went back to camp for lunch. We went back out to continue looking for game for my dad. We spotted a group of impala deep in some scrub so Mario and my dad hopped out of the truck and made their stalk. They were gone for a good amount of time then we heard a shot. The impala didn’t go far but Mario sent my dad back to the truck while he drug the impala to the road. The one problem is my dad got a little lost after the long stalk and ended up on a different road that was by where the rhinos hung out. Craig and I found him pretty quick though and he was out of breath but unscathed lol.
We headed back to camp for dinner and a fire. We reminisced about the days we had so far and how much we enjoyed the time at this property. This was the last night at this camp so it was a little sad, but we partied it up that night and dreamt about what tomorrow will bring.
Day 4 -
My father and I woke up earlier than the PHs this morning and decided to get the fire started for them using the coals from the night before. We were up late the night before so we did not blame them for still sleeping. We were still adjusting to the time difference and were happy to help out around camp, honestly we really enjoyed helping out. Craig and Mario woke up and made breakfast. We began to pack up to head to the next property. We headed to the nearest town to get more refreshments and to say goodbye to Mario as he had to get back to his deli back in Joburg. It was a long goodbye as we now considered him a friend and we knew we would not see him for a while.
We headed to the new camp and we were stunned to say the least. This property was not nearly as rustic as the other. This was a huge fancy lodge with many private lodges. We had the whole place to ourselves and were both offered our own lodge and they were confused why I said I would just stay with my dad. I told them I don’t need a whole place for myself. We met my dad’s new PH, Rey, at the lodge while we were unpacking. We hung out and relaxed at the lodge to relax from the trip and Craig mentioned that my father and I were not as chatty as at the other camp. My dad and I said that we have never really been in a place this fancy and didn’t really know how to act lol. He assured us that we were fine to do whatever and to make ourselves comfortable. We were greeted by a big staff as well as the lodge owner and his family. The hospitality was unmatched. We were also greeted by a young sable bull right at the lodge, closest I was to an alive animal the whole trip.
We went out to make sure the guns were still accurate and to check out the property. There were definitely more animals on this property as we saw blesbok, impala, wildebeest, buffalo, ostrich, eland, kudu, nyala, and hartebeest on this ride. We did some hunting, but didn’t end up shooting anything. I was tempted to shoot a decent kudu but I was holding out to shoot an eland. We went back to an absolutely amazing dinner and had a fire with a beautiful African sunset background.
Day 5 -
We got up for breakfast and discussed a plan. We were going to split up; Craig and I were going for an eland while Rey and my dad were going for a kudu. Craig and Rey were joking with us that the SA springboks, the rugby team, were facing the New Zealand All Blacks at 9am and that we should get our animals by then. They laughed but you could tell they were half serious about wanting to watch the game, I guess it is a big rivalry and I definitely understand that being a football fan.
We headed our separate ways to start that morning's hunt. Right away we found an awesome kudu, so we radioed to Rey to tell him its general location and we proceeded to the other side of the property. We were driving and got to an opening where I caught a glimpse of a black spot and I knew right away what it was. It was the mop of a big eland bull. I told Craig so we stopped in some scrub and began our stalk up. I was told that eland can be very flighty so we made a very slow stalk through the brush. A half hour later we see the bull and he is slowly walking away from us. We get the sticks up and Craig says shoot when I'm ready. I shot clearly hitting right behind the shoulder. Craig was in the middle of saying “shoot him again” when I cracked off another shot dropping him in his tracks. I was shaking profusely, more than I had done with any other animal.
We walked up to the beast and it was huge. We got a call from Rey asking if we got him and found out that my dad shot that nice kudu. He was using a suppressor so we didn’t hear his shot but they heard mine. Rey told my dad that I was a quick shooter and my dad told him that we had to be because we hunt a small whitetail property and we don’t want the deer to run wounded into neighboring properties. So, we headed over to them to check out the Kudu and to take pics. Once done with that we all headed back to the eland for a photo op. The animals were loaded and ready for the skinning shed. We looked around there and it was a pretty impressive operation. The best part was that we were all done at 9:30 so we could catch the rest of the rugby game.
We celebrated at the lodge by having some beers and watching the game. The springboks unfortunately lost, but it was really funny watching Craig and Rey try to stay calm watching the game when they clearly wanted to yell at the screen. We had a nice lunch and proceeded hunting.
I sat in a blind over a watering hole hoping for a warthog. No warthogs but seen tons of animals including a pair of bat eared foxes. I didn’t end up shooting anything, but my dad had some more success this day. He wanted a gemsbok but the property did not have enough so he decided on a waterbuck or a zebra. He didn’t see any waterbuck bulls, but did find a herd of zebras. He took a 150yd shot and dropped a nice mare. We went to go check it out and take pictures, and of course as we took pictures here comes a dandy waterbuck out of the trees. We were both reaching our budget so we let him walk. Just another successful day in Africa.
Day 6 -
Our main mission of the day was warthogs. We have been eluded by them the whole time which I thought was odd as I figured they would be everywhere. We set off in different directions to drive the property in hopes to see some. We were driving and I saw one off the side of the road. It was a nice boar but I was waiting for the go ahead from Craig. My tracker said “shoot dat pig” but Craig couldn’t see it as he was driving. It was there for only a couple seconds before taking off. No biggie, we will just find another. We keep driving and another boar runs across the road and disappears quickly. I am getting excited now that we are seeing some. We get out and walk for a while and stumble upon a big sow. Unfortunately, this property didn’t allow the shooting of sows, if they did I would have gladly taken that big girl. We keep driving and seen a jackal but like the warthogs it was gone in a flash. My dad also had a boar run across the road but had no luck locating it. No warthogs for the morning.
After lunch we headed out again. We didn’t see any warthogs and I mentioned to Craig that I would shoot a blesbok to finish off the hunt because we have seen so many of them. He had a great idea that my dad and I should try and double up on blesbok. We radioed Rey and my dad agreed so we met up in the big field where we had been seeing them. The herd was out there and I told my dad to take the first shot. He lines up on the sticks and rips a 200yd shot and misses. The herd ran and my dad was disappointed. The PHs said that we can go to the other field and we should be able to find another herd. We headed over that way and found another herd. We couldn’t seem to get close enough on foot so we got just under 200yds in the truck. I told my dad to try again. He shot nicking its back and with a swift second shot dropped it. I quickly grabbed the gun lined up on the next one, but didn’t have a great rest. I shot over its back. I rack another bullet and now the blesbok are running right at us. I find my blesbok and shoot behind it. The gun was out of ammo and I yelled, “give me the other gun!” I shot again, hitting it too far back but slowed it down enough for me to get a final shot that dropped it.
Finally, after all that piss poor shooting we had our double. My father and I were not proud of our shooting as we don’t typically miss like that but it definitely was an adrenaline fueled ending to an awesome safari. We took pictures with the sunset behind us and were ready to celebrate. We got back to the lodge and had a feast. We had cigars and cognac, thanks to the lodge owner, and all hung out telling stories. We eventually made it into the lodge where we played music, had some two keys whiskey, and shot some pool. It was really fun bonding with the PHs and we soon found ourselves up until close to 1am. We decided to stop the fun and go to bed as we had a long day of traveling ahead.
Day 7 -
It was now the last morning in Africa. We got all our paperwork done and we settled up the payment. We packed and said our goodbyes to the camp staff. We couldn’t help but feel sad on the trip back to Joburg, but the whole time I was planning my next trip. When getting to Joburg we stopped at a local outdoors store and a local meat market. We picked up some meat snacks and some seasonings to bring home. We then ended up meeting one of the owners of Bayly Sippel, Dempsey Bayly, at a local coffee shop. He was very welcoming and thankful for us coming. We headed to the airport to say our final goodbyes to Craig and to head home.
I cannot put into words how much fun my father and I had on this trip. We still talk about it daily. I want to thank Bayly Sippel, Craig, Mario, Rey, the lodge owners, and all the camp staff for making us feel like family and for making this trip so awesome. I highly recommend Bayly Sippel and Neo Safaris if you are looking for a super fun, top-class hunting trip.
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