19jayman73
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- May 12, 2025
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- Hunted
- South Africa
May 2024 I finally made my first trip to Africa and hunted with Magnus Crossberg and Ranchero Safaris in Limpopo, South Africa. After years of dreaming and 2 years of planning I finally made my way over to South Africa to do some hunting. The entire experience turned out better than I thought possible. The 2 professional hunters I rotated between over the 9 days I hunted were Magnus and JD and these guys pushed hard every day. We hunted 5 different properties, ranging from 3000 to 8000 hectares in size, with a mix of stalking, driving and stand hunting. They loaned me a suppressed 375 h&h magnum to shoot with. I was able to drop most game with 1 shot ranging anywhere from 15 to over 250 yards.
Day 1: After a few days in Johannesburg we flew into Polokwane in the northernmost province of South Africa. The hundreds of baboons we saw on the 2-hour drive to camp was a sure sign we weren't in Canada anymore. Arrived at camp around 1pm, then Magnus the owner and PH had me at the range around 3pm to sight in the rifle. Right away I was off hunting. I did not expect to hunt on my first day and was floored to be in the back of the truck with a rifle in hand and watching animals that I'd only seen in a zoo before. We had some unsuccessful stalks on impala then as it was getting dark we slipped into a watering hole to see what would come in. Right at dark a herd of Wildebeest walked in single file and once the herd bull drank his fill he walked clear of the herd and stood looking at us. I dropped him with the first shot then ran up and put a second anchoring shot broadside through his chest. Wildebeest are called "poor man's buffalo" for how tough they are and my PH was glad this one didn't get up. What I can say is wildebeest has a very strong flavour that's hard to describe with the consistency of beef. He weighed 124kg at the butcher which put his live weight around 550lbs.
Day 2: Out before dawn checking water holes for zebra tracks. My wife left a few hours later with the Outfitter's mother and sister to spend the next 5 days in Kruger Park. Our first stalk was blown by a baboon that trailed us just out of sight barking a warning to any animals within hearing distance. We chased the herd from concession to concession then tried to leapfrog them with the truck. We got glimpses a few times but they were on to us. Our tracker tried to get ahead then push them back to us without success. It was now past noon so we broke off to let them settle while we went for lunch. Just as we rounded a corner we saw the herd had double backed and were crossing into the next concession. We jumped out of the truck, ran down the road and Magnus set up the shooting sticks. The herd stallion started to cross then stopped to have a look at us. This was probably the longest shot I had to make all week and he didn't go more than 50 yards after I hit him in the shoulder. The entire carcass went to the butcher where he weighed 142 kg which put his live weight around 600lbs.
After lunch Magnus wanted me to see a huge Eland bull that showed up last week on another property. We were at a different property owned by a farmer who runs a tomato canning & ketchup operation. He also raises cape buffalo on the property. Every 2 days his staff dump the leftover tomato skins, seeds and stems to feed the buffalo. We were sitting in a bow hunting blind and once the buffalo ate their fill the eland started to move in. The bull we wanted came in last, giving me a clear shot at 15 yards. Eland wasn't high on my list of animals to take, but when Magnus started to get excited I knew I had to pull the trigger. Just before I pulled the trigger I told Magnus I would keep shooting until he dropped. I managed to hit him 3 times and he dropped within 30 yards. This thing weighed more than 1600lbs. Eland is better than moose so all the meat stayed at the camp for Magnus' family. We ate some on 3 different nights.
My PH was so excited he was calling friends and sending pics to his family. I figured we'd head back to camp for some drinks but once we got the eland loaded into his truck he wanted us back in the blind to see what might come out next. Within 30 minutes impala started to come in. I was about to pull the trigger on a nice ram when Magnus said "don't shoot, there's a better one coming in". The ram I took was something that you'd expect to see on the cover of a hunting magazine and I was ecstatic to drop him. Once he was on the ground Magnus said to me "I hardly ever do this, but I'll be back in a minute. He then gets a tape measure out of his truck and measures the horns at 24". We got back to camp and his family and staff were lined up to get their picture taken with the eland.
Day 3: My first day hunting with JD, the other PH. Spent the morning driving and stalking a third property for kudu. Saw a great bull with no chance at a shot. We spent the next 2 hours stalking the herd with no success. Later in the morning we bumped another herd without a good bull in it. Saw wild giraffe for the first time. It's amazing that for an animal this big, when they are standing among trees you can get within 50 yards before you see them. In the afternoon we headed back to the property where I shot the eland and impala the day before. Saw some smaller kudu bulls then bumped into a pair of gemsbok. While stalking the gemsbuck we saw an incredible duiker but JD wanted us to stay on the gemsbok. We lost them after 30 minutes then tried unsuccessfully to call that duiker in. It was getting dark and we're making our way to the property gate when I saw a small herd of gemsbok along the road about a kilometer ahead. We jumped out and ran down a trail to cut them off. It was almost dark now and we thought they had already passed us so we started back to the truck. That's when we saw the herd walking our way and I managed to take a nice bull.
Day 4: Back at the same property we started at yesterday morning with JD to see if we can catch up with the nice kudu bull we saw the day before. No kudu but saw some great sable and nyala. I told JD I wanted to get serious on the smaller antelope. Somehow our tracker Isok spotted a good duiker through the brush more than 200 yards away so we stopped and I got out to take the shot. About an hour later while driving JD somehow spotted a steenbuck in the brush and said I'd better take him because I wouldn't see a better one. There was no time to set up so I had to shoot freehand from the back of the truck, which is legal here. It didn't go as planned and we had a wounded antelope the size of a large cat to chase down. We threw the dog out with Isok behind him and JD and I running down the road to cut the steenbuck off. He didn't get far and within minutes I had an antelope that weighed less than 25 pounds but whose horns are equivalent to shooting a 50 inch bull moose in back home in Ontario.
Went back to the camp for lunch and started the afternoon stalking blesbuck. We walked more than an hour before we got the wind right and finally saw a group of blesbuck that were walking single file across our front about 100 yards out. There was no cover to set up the shooting sticks without being seen so JD drops to one knee and tells me to put the rifle on his shoulder. As the herd continued to move past us JD tells me to take an old bull whose coat was fading into a light tan from the usual chestnut brown that these antelope are. A single shot through the heart dropped this stockier antelope that weighed about 150lbs. We finished the day in an elevated blind waiting for a warthog that never showed.
Day 5: Hunting a new property with JD. This was an 8000 hectare property with over 1000 acres of crop fields with high electric fences to keep the warthog and baboons out. We hunted hard all day in 30C heat looking for kudu. Saw lots of game including many wildebeest, but nothing we were after. For the first time I saw some warthog including a great boar that did not want to give me a shot. Also saw a great male baboon but like the warthog he ran the moment he saw us. Hunted hard all day, climbed lots of hills and walked almost 10 miles. The beer at the camp tasted great that night.
Day 6: With JD to try and find the great kudu bull we saw the morning of day 3. Again lots of driving and stalking without coming across a good bull. We capped it off at lunch and headed back to camp. My wife was due back from Kruger at end of day and the staff took the afternoon to set up a BBQ on a dry riverbed beside a high rock outcrop. They cooked eland for us over open coals while we enjoyed our drinks and gazed up at the southern constellations.
Day 7: JD had to make the 12 hour round trip to Johannesburg and back that day so I was with Magnus chasing kudu on a property he had never hunted before. As JD was leaving Magnus was ribbing him that I needed a real PH to set me up for a proper kudu. My wife was sitting on the back of the truck with me and the trackers and within a kilometer we saw the first kudu group of the morning. There wasn't a good bull with them so we started driving through this large property that had a lot of variety in it's terrain. About an hour later a great kudu bull runs across the trail ahead of us. We tracked him on foot for about half an hour and were gaining until he caught up with the group of cows he was following. They managed to circle us, caught our wind and took off running. We did a pile of driving and some walking. It was getting close to lunch when we rounded a corner on the trail and 2 kudo cows bolted across the road 50 metres ahead. Magnus parks the truck, turns it off and tells me to get ready. I have the rifle leaning across the padded bar over the cab with the safety off. Now I'd already told Magnus we hunt deer by running them with dogs so I'd be comfortable with a running shot but I don't think he really believed me. Apparently most antelope will stand and fight a dog with some species known for being dog killers so in South Africa they don't understand how our deer actually run from a dog. Almost 2 minutes later a bull kudu sprints across the trail and I yell out to Magnus "that one?" and he yells back "YES!" from the cab of the truck. I had time for one shot and managed to hit the kudu high but a little further back than I wanted. In the echo of the shot I could hear the bull crashing through the brush and see a cloud of dust where he passed. Magnus jumps out of the truck with a look of disbelief and admits he did not think I would really shoot. From his seat he could see and hear the bullet hit the bull but expected we had a long tracking job ahead of us. He asked one of the trackers to get the tracking dog ready but they're both laughing and pointing at where we saw the kudu disappear in a cloud of dust. There he was lying about 25 yards of the trail with his back broken. He was angled more strongly away from us than I realized so even though the bullet entered at the top of the liver, it exited just behind the far shoulder clipping the lungs. As far as kudu go this one is no monster but I am thrilled to finally take one. We spend the rest of the day sitting for warthog but don't see a good boar.
Day 8: I spend the day with JD who works hard to put me on warthog and Nyala. We've seen Nyala most of the week who apparently become lethargic in the "cold" weather of late fall and don't run when they hear a truck coming. I tell JD that shooting an animal from the back of the truck that you can drive right up to is not what I have in mind so we spend much of the day walking. We see lots of game but no Nyala. In the evening we sit in an elevated stand for warthog when 3 sable bulls walk in. It looks like the displaced herd bull whose horns are chipped from fighting and two younger bulls with him. Sable are just beautiful and rightly called the prince of antelope for how stunning they are. They are also in high demand and outfitters ask a princely sum to shoot one. I decide to pass.
Day 9: Last hunting day. JD and I will give warthog one last try. Over breakfast Magnus my wife convinces me to take the opportunity on a sable if we see a good bull. JD and I start at dawn sitting at a water hole waiting to see if a warthog will come in. Maybe 30 minutes in we hear an animal walking then see the dominant sable bull come in. Mauren told me to take him if I have the chance so like the dutiful husband who always listens to my wife, I pull the trigger. We're back in camp before 9am. Magnus' dad is the camp game manager and gives me a big hug when he sees which sable I just shot.
We still have most of the day to hunt but I tell JD to take the rest of the day off. I did better than I thought possible. The staff and experience exceeded all expectations. The next day Maureen and I flew out to spend our last 3 days in Africa in Cape Town.
Day 1: After a few days in Johannesburg we flew into Polokwane in the northernmost province of South Africa. The hundreds of baboons we saw on the 2-hour drive to camp was a sure sign we weren't in Canada anymore. Arrived at camp around 1pm, then Magnus the owner and PH had me at the range around 3pm to sight in the rifle. Right away I was off hunting. I did not expect to hunt on my first day and was floored to be in the back of the truck with a rifle in hand and watching animals that I'd only seen in a zoo before. We had some unsuccessful stalks on impala then as it was getting dark we slipped into a watering hole to see what would come in. Right at dark a herd of Wildebeest walked in single file and once the herd bull drank his fill he walked clear of the herd and stood looking at us. I dropped him with the first shot then ran up and put a second anchoring shot broadside through his chest. Wildebeest are called "poor man's buffalo" for how tough they are and my PH was glad this one didn't get up. What I can say is wildebeest has a very strong flavour that's hard to describe with the consistency of beef. He weighed 124kg at the butcher which put his live weight around 550lbs.
Day 2: Out before dawn checking water holes for zebra tracks. My wife left a few hours later with the Outfitter's mother and sister to spend the next 5 days in Kruger Park. Our first stalk was blown by a baboon that trailed us just out of sight barking a warning to any animals within hearing distance. We chased the herd from concession to concession then tried to leapfrog them with the truck. We got glimpses a few times but they were on to us. Our tracker tried to get ahead then push them back to us without success. It was now past noon so we broke off to let them settle while we went for lunch. Just as we rounded a corner we saw the herd had double backed and were crossing into the next concession. We jumped out of the truck, ran down the road and Magnus set up the shooting sticks. The herd stallion started to cross then stopped to have a look at us. This was probably the longest shot I had to make all week and he didn't go more than 50 yards after I hit him in the shoulder. The entire carcass went to the butcher where he weighed 142 kg which put his live weight around 600lbs.
After lunch Magnus wanted me to see a huge Eland bull that showed up last week on another property. We were at a different property owned by a farmer who runs a tomato canning & ketchup operation. He also raises cape buffalo on the property. Every 2 days his staff dump the leftover tomato skins, seeds and stems to feed the buffalo. We were sitting in a bow hunting blind and once the buffalo ate their fill the eland started to move in. The bull we wanted came in last, giving me a clear shot at 15 yards. Eland wasn't high on my list of animals to take, but when Magnus started to get excited I knew I had to pull the trigger. Just before I pulled the trigger I told Magnus I would keep shooting until he dropped. I managed to hit him 3 times and he dropped within 30 yards. This thing weighed more than 1600lbs. Eland is better than moose so all the meat stayed at the camp for Magnus' family. We ate some on 3 different nights.
My PH was so excited he was calling friends and sending pics to his family. I figured we'd head back to camp for some drinks but once we got the eland loaded into his truck he wanted us back in the blind to see what might come out next. Within 30 minutes impala started to come in. I was about to pull the trigger on a nice ram when Magnus said "don't shoot, there's a better one coming in". The ram I took was something that you'd expect to see on the cover of a hunting magazine and I was ecstatic to drop him. Once he was on the ground Magnus said to me "I hardly ever do this, but I'll be back in a minute. He then gets a tape measure out of his truck and measures the horns at 24". We got back to camp and his family and staff were lined up to get their picture taken with the eland.
Day 3: My first day hunting with JD, the other PH. Spent the morning driving and stalking a third property for kudu. Saw a great bull with no chance at a shot. We spent the next 2 hours stalking the herd with no success. Later in the morning we bumped another herd without a good bull in it. Saw wild giraffe for the first time. It's amazing that for an animal this big, when they are standing among trees you can get within 50 yards before you see them. In the afternoon we headed back to the property where I shot the eland and impala the day before. Saw some smaller kudu bulls then bumped into a pair of gemsbok. While stalking the gemsbuck we saw an incredible duiker but JD wanted us to stay on the gemsbok. We lost them after 30 minutes then tried unsuccessfully to call that duiker in. It was getting dark and we're making our way to the property gate when I saw a small herd of gemsbok along the road about a kilometer ahead. We jumped out and ran down a trail to cut them off. It was almost dark now and we thought they had already passed us so we started back to the truck. That's when we saw the herd walking our way and I managed to take a nice bull.
Day 4: Back at the same property we started at yesterday morning with JD to see if we can catch up with the nice kudu bull we saw the day before. No kudu but saw some great sable and nyala. I told JD I wanted to get serious on the smaller antelope. Somehow our tracker Isok spotted a good duiker through the brush more than 200 yards away so we stopped and I got out to take the shot. About an hour later while driving JD somehow spotted a steenbuck in the brush and said I'd better take him because I wouldn't see a better one. There was no time to set up so I had to shoot freehand from the back of the truck, which is legal here. It didn't go as planned and we had a wounded antelope the size of a large cat to chase down. We threw the dog out with Isok behind him and JD and I running down the road to cut the steenbuck off. He didn't get far and within minutes I had an antelope that weighed less than 25 pounds but whose horns are equivalent to shooting a 50 inch bull moose in back home in Ontario.
Went back to the camp for lunch and started the afternoon stalking blesbuck. We walked more than an hour before we got the wind right and finally saw a group of blesbuck that were walking single file across our front about 100 yards out. There was no cover to set up the shooting sticks without being seen so JD drops to one knee and tells me to put the rifle on his shoulder. As the herd continued to move past us JD tells me to take an old bull whose coat was fading into a light tan from the usual chestnut brown that these antelope are. A single shot through the heart dropped this stockier antelope that weighed about 150lbs. We finished the day in an elevated blind waiting for a warthog that never showed.
Day 5: Hunting a new property with JD. This was an 8000 hectare property with over 1000 acres of crop fields with high electric fences to keep the warthog and baboons out. We hunted hard all day in 30C heat looking for kudu. Saw lots of game including many wildebeest, but nothing we were after. For the first time I saw some warthog including a great boar that did not want to give me a shot. Also saw a great male baboon but like the warthog he ran the moment he saw us. Hunted hard all day, climbed lots of hills and walked almost 10 miles. The beer at the camp tasted great that night.
Day 6: With JD to try and find the great kudu bull we saw the morning of day 3. Again lots of driving and stalking without coming across a good bull. We capped it off at lunch and headed back to camp. My wife was due back from Kruger at end of day and the staff took the afternoon to set up a BBQ on a dry riverbed beside a high rock outcrop. They cooked eland for us over open coals while we enjoyed our drinks and gazed up at the southern constellations.
Day 7: JD had to make the 12 hour round trip to Johannesburg and back that day so I was with Magnus chasing kudu on a property he had never hunted before. As JD was leaving Magnus was ribbing him that I needed a real PH to set me up for a proper kudu. My wife was sitting on the back of the truck with me and the trackers and within a kilometer we saw the first kudu group of the morning. There wasn't a good bull with them so we started driving through this large property that had a lot of variety in it's terrain. About an hour later a great kudu bull runs across the trail ahead of us. We tracked him on foot for about half an hour and were gaining until he caught up with the group of cows he was following. They managed to circle us, caught our wind and took off running. We did a pile of driving and some walking. It was getting close to lunch when we rounded a corner on the trail and 2 kudo cows bolted across the road 50 metres ahead. Magnus parks the truck, turns it off and tells me to get ready. I have the rifle leaning across the padded bar over the cab with the safety off. Now I'd already told Magnus we hunt deer by running them with dogs so I'd be comfortable with a running shot but I don't think he really believed me. Apparently most antelope will stand and fight a dog with some species known for being dog killers so in South Africa they don't understand how our deer actually run from a dog. Almost 2 minutes later a bull kudu sprints across the trail and I yell out to Magnus "that one?" and he yells back "YES!" from the cab of the truck. I had time for one shot and managed to hit the kudu high but a little further back than I wanted. In the echo of the shot I could hear the bull crashing through the brush and see a cloud of dust where he passed. Magnus jumps out of the truck with a look of disbelief and admits he did not think I would really shoot. From his seat he could see and hear the bullet hit the bull but expected we had a long tracking job ahead of us. He asked one of the trackers to get the tracking dog ready but they're both laughing and pointing at where we saw the kudu disappear in a cloud of dust. There he was lying about 25 yards of the trail with his back broken. He was angled more strongly away from us than I realized so even though the bullet entered at the top of the liver, it exited just behind the far shoulder clipping the lungs. As far as kudu go this one is no monster but I am thrilled to finally take one. We spend the rest of the day sitting for warthog but don't see a good boar.
Day 8: I spend the day with JD who works hard to put me on warthog and Nyala. We've seen Nyala most of the week who apparently become lethargic in the "cold" weather of late fall and don't run when they hear a truck coming. I tell JD that shooting an animal from the back of the truck that you can drive right up to is not what I have in mind so we spend much of the day walking. We see lots of game but no Nyala. In the evening we sit in an elevated stand for warthog when 3 sable bulls walk in. It looks like the displaced herd bull whose horns are chipped from fighting and two younger bulls with him. Sable are just beautiful and rightly called the prince of antelope for how stunning they are. They are also in high demand and outfitters ask a princely sum to shoot one. I decide to pass.
Day 9: Last hunting day. JD and I will give warthog one last try. Over breakfast Magnus my wife convinces me to take the opportunity on a sable if we see a good bull. JD and I start at dawn sitting at a water hole waiting to see if a warthog will come in. Maybe 30 minutes in we hear an animal walking then see the dominant sable bull come in. Mauren told me to take him if I have the chance so like the dutiful husband who always listens to my wife, I pull the trigger. We're back in camp before 9am. Magnus' dad is the camp game manager and gives me a big hug when he sees which sable I just shot.
We still have most of the day to hunt but I tell JD to take the rest of the day off. I did better than I thought possible. The staff and experience exceeded all expectations. The next day Maureen and I flew out to spend our last 3 days in Africa in Cape Town.
