KMG Hunting Safaris 2024 Season Photos

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

This Bushbuck had it all! Dark coat, thick bases, length and maturity. While scouting for Kudu, PH Nick sat on a ridge overlooking a big valley when he noticed something out of place. The outline shape of a Bushbuck ram had him signalling to his tracker to bring the huntress closer. A quick setup on the bipods at a steepish angle below, and the shot found its mark on this stunning ram. By the time recovery had happened, the Eastern Cape was showing off with her colors, resulting in one of my all time favorite photos.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

This Nyala bull was walked and stalked by bow. A couple of close calls for a few days before it all came together. It is unbelievable how these animals simply have an extra sense to realise that something is inside their personal zone. All the elements can be in your favour with a strong wind in your face, zero movement, using the shade with camouflage and they still manage to pick you out.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Lechwe are such strikingly beautiful animals. Here our huntress connected on this old bull in one of our areas. Notice the rounded tips on this bull. Being one of the ringed antelope, first thing to look for are for solid bases, void of any white, flaky appearances. After this has been confirmed, look for a nice sweep with good length.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Our huntress getting it done with this beautiful Bushpig boar!

 

[cpr0312]

Looks like another great year for @KMG Hunting Safaris! The bushbuck and kudu as usual are some of the stars!

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

A photo with a difference. What was a first for us, this bull was hunted the previous day. After the shot, it had just enough to make it to the river edge, before tipping over into the rapids. The strong current washed the bull down river before it got caught in some debris. Our PH swam to the bull by getting a 50 yards head start upstream and tied the bull to the nearest tree as there was simply no way to retrieve the bull in darkness. First thing in the morning, the crew headed out to recover the bull. Some improvisation was needed for the photo of this soaking bull but a beautiful Kudu non the less.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

A superb Common Duiker taken in one of our free range areas. The Common or Brown Bush Duiker are part of the notorious Tiny 10 Slam. Many hunters don't get drawn by the pursuit of these members of the little ones. They are extremely fun and challenging to hunt.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

We managed to find this herd of bulls early in the morning. After double timing it to try and close the distance, we were just too late as they ventured into the thickets. We stayed roughly 100 yards behind them to hopefully catch them crossing an open area, but they simply moved into thicker brush. No doubt looking for a place to lie down for the morning. Roughly 40 minutes before dark, we managed to find a lone bull. One of the blessings of the Eastern Cape is having the hills/mountains as a vantage point. We saw the lone bull feeding in a narrow strip and closed the distance as quickly and quietly as possible. Leaving a scout on the hillside with a radio, he carefully guided us to within 50 yards of where we thought the bull would appear in a small opening, only for the bull to turn around and feed in the opposite direction. As we started to relocate to try and find another angle, the bull turned around again, feeding back to the original opening, making us scurry to get back into position. The bull offered us a slightly quartering shot and our hunter placed the 340gr Rhino into his shoulder. The bull made it to the thickest patch in the area, and we could hear him in there, making the follow up a hairy experience. We were extremely pleased to find the expired bull where e collapsed next to a tree. A simply magnificent bull.

 

[Nevada Wapati]

Fantastic bull. Congratulations.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Fantastic bull. Congratulations.

Thank you sir!

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

We are incredibly blessed to be surrounded by low fenced cattle ranches that allows us to hunt these great areas! Our hunter here with this old Warthog boar he took on a recent hunt with us. These cattle ranches mixed and bordered by vast unused government allows for some great hunting with ever producing quality.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

A Wonderful Klipspringer from the Eastern Cape. These are such incredible little creatures, and always great fun to hunt in challenging terrain. After a slow morning with quite a few rams seen, a few failed stalks, we managed to get onto this ram after hearing their call below. Fortunately, we were able to locate the ram lying down, before we could be identified. We managed to get a backpack down, and get our hunter to lie prone for the shot. This ram shows great secondary growth.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Cape Grysbuck, which are mainly nocturnal, are another one of the notorious Tiny 10 slam. We hunted an excellent area with an extremely high population, and as expected, mostly females showed themselves earlier in the evening. We passed over roughly 20 females before finally seeing a ram around 22:00. How these animals can disappear with seemingly little vegetation must be one of the great mysteries of hunting Cape Grysbuck. After admitting defeat on the ram, we checked another location within the general hunting area, and spotted another excellent ram, once again disappearing into thin air. We were only on day 1 of a 10 day hunt, and after already being successful on the Klipspringer, we decided to call it a night at 01:00.
The next evening, we proceeded back to the area and spotted this great ram within 10 minutes after dark.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Nice Hartebeest bull in some wide open country. Had to use the terrain to get to a half decent distance from him.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Ask many locals what's their favorite table fare, and this one will be high on everyone's list. Mountain Reedbuck can offer a challenging hunt in big terrain with little cover. Certainly not nearly as skittish as Vaal Rhebuck, these guys are normally found a few 100 feet below where the Vaalies start. Many legends have them as not mixing due to fighting, and its told than these fights end up in mortality of at least one. Personally, I have never seen this, and have found them in relative close proximity, but don't doubt the legends of the old tales.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

On a personal note, I think that I will remember this hunt for a very long time. While hunting for Vaal Rhebuck, spotted a pair of horns sticking out of the long grass. After pulling out the Spotting Scope, we noticed that what we first thought was a Vaalie, was indeed a Steenbuck. We had brought the 22 Hornet along for such an occasion and decided to try our hand in getting to within an acceptable range for the small caliber. Although deadly at much further ranges, I felt that 60 yards was where I was still comfortable with the Hornet. Before starting the stalk, I noticed a rocky outcrop above where the ram was lying down and thought that this could be a perfect spot to set up from. We made a large loop to get around the ram and make it to the rocky outcrop. Once we arrived there roughly 25min later, it became apparent that the spot where we wanted to get to was a little bit further from the ram than anticipated. Approaching from behind, the ram was still lying in the same spot and facing in the opposite direction to our stalk. We had a steady wind which assisted with the noise as well.
We managed to crawl/crouch walk to around 58 yards.
I was happy that we could see enough of the ram's body to take a shot at him, while he was still lying down. I had opened the sticks while still lying on my stomach, with the Steenbuck ram still unaware. As I signaled to our hunter to get up onto the shooting sticks, the ram swiveled his head around looking straight at us. I whispered that we will need to take the shot from a prone position and relatively soon. The hunter was already half way to prone so simply had to raise the rifle. The little 45gr bullet found it mark with a perfect shot in the crease of the shoulder. The ram trotted for roughly 25 yards before lying down. A great stalk on a beautiful Steenbuck ram and to do it with the little Hornet was just the icing on the cake.