NAMIBIA: 4 Weeks In Namibia With Ongariwanda

[buchnerl]

Well @dory I am very pleased to know you finally booked and hunted with @Huntin Africa

As I said from the beginning, real hunting in real Africa. I just returned from my family a week ago and do I already miss that place? We hunted Oryx and Hartmann Zebra.

I truly enjoy your hunt report and live every moment of what you explain as I have been at exactly those spots you have been and pictured in your report only a couple of days back. Looking forward to the rest of the report and other animals you have taken!

A good read thus far

 

[dory]

Well @dory I am very pleased to know you finally booked and hunted with @Huntin Africa

As I said from the beginning, real hunting in real Africa. I just returned from my family a week ago and do I already miss that place? We hunted Oryx and Hartmann Zebra.

I truly enjoy your hunt report and live every moment of what you explain as I have been at exactly those spots you have been and pictured in your report only a couple of days back. Looking forward to the rest of the report and other animals you have taken!

A good read thus far

Thanks Loodt .
Johnnie and Jens spoke highly of you while we were there . Johnnie told me about his bush buck hunt at your place and how beautiful the cape area is . I would love to hunt them myself one day so who knows , we might meet one day .
Chers Dory .

 

[stug]

Great report Dory. A wee bit different to hunting whitetail on Stewart Island!

 

[dory]

Up at 430 , fire lit , kettle on , say good morning to the dogs that would camp on the couch with us most nights . Beats spending the night in a kennel . Debs decided to have a sleep in this morning so I left her to it and started getting my gear ready for the day as breakie is at 6 every morning . A minute later she is up asking for two bags in her cup of tea ? No, she said , she could not let us go hunting without her , she might miss out on something . Good girl !
630 am , truck loaded and we start heading out the gate . Zebra johnnie states ! Not today , lets hunt something else for a change . We had seen some really outstanding lady oryx while we had been here and one to go with my male would be great .We kept seeing blue wildebeest during the morning with some nice bulls . Geez they were tempting but I had oryx on the brain . Followed some tracks for a while but no luck , we were in an area where the scrub was a bit lower and at ground level you could not see to far making stalking bloody hard . Back on the truck and change areas to try and cut some fresh oryx tracks .
Coming around a corner Johnnie bangs the cab and starts pointing down the road . Whats he pointing at , buggered if I can see anything .Even debs who has become an expert at seeing game from the truck cant see anything . Johnnie whispers zebra .
Shit , where ! For anyone who has not hunted zebra in scrub and bush country and thinks that their stripes would stand out like the proverbable pair of dog nuts , think again . They blend in like you would not believe . Until the larger stallion moved I just could not see them . No one shoots animals from the truck at johnnies and that suited me good ,,,,, untilll now!
We had spent the whole trip so far starting everyday chasing zebra , And at times that was all we were doing , chase them round in circles . I had lost more blood in the thorns than is medically possible hunting these buggers and they had outsmarted us on numerous occasions . Infact I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to shot one on this trip ? This might be our only chance . Now johnnie knew how much Debbie had really wanted to take some skins home .
Then he whispers , take the big stallion . Now be honest with your self , what would you do ????
At about 200 plus yards at an uncomfortable angle , and with the adrenalin levels running at about 98 percent and the memory of missing one a few days ago , this was not as easy as it looked .
I can still see the stallion in the scope now as I write this and was amazed at the time how steady the crosshairs were on its shoulder . I cant remember squeezing the trigger , but I can remember the immense relief at the resounding whack and seeing him react with the shock of the impact . He bolted instantly into a full gallop taking the younger stallion and the mare with him on a death run for about a hundred yards before he just collapsed dead in his tracks . The other two came to an instant holt to see what had happen to their mate . At three hundred yards but side on , Johnnie instructed me to take the other younger stallion . I remember being as calm as I have ever been by now and laid the crosshairs on the base of his neck and squeezed off once more . Because of the range and the depth of field the Vortex scope has I was able to watch trough the scope as the bullet stuck him at the base of the neck . His back legs gave way instantly and he was dead before he hit the ground . The mare bolted , but she was safe , Debbie finally had her prized zebra that she had wanted so much , and I had finally shot my two Hartmann Zebra stallions that I thought would be one of the easier animals I would hunt in Africa , but had turned into the hardest .
The emotions in me and Debs while walking up to these two amazing animals are impossible to write . Before coming to Africa , I never thought I could actually shoot a zebra and feel good about it . But the more i researched hunting them the more the passion grew to hunt them , for me and for Deb .
They were amazing looking animals , one an old warrior by his scars and the other a beautiful young colt with hardly a blemish on him . Awesome !
Another radio call and half the population of Ongariwanda seemed to be on there way to help us .
There is one thing that we will never forget about the morning . After everyone arrived to help us recover the animals , Johnnies father came over to us and told us that in the morning after we had left , himself and the workers had prayed for us . They had asked that we would have good luck hunting Zebras today . Makes you think a bit really . Me and Debs thanked him , as our luck had definitely changed for the good .

 

[buchnerl]

and it keeps on getting better, two beautiful Hartmanns you got there @dory - keep the story going!!!

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Great report. Cool pictures and nice trophies.
You did have a good hunting. Congrats.
Witold

 

[dory]

Anyone ever wondered how much edible meat is on a Zebra ? Check this out .

 

[buchnerl]

@dory your quote is hilarious!!! ......I really miss her!

 

[dory]

After a morning like that , lunch was pretty special at the Van Rensburgs dinning room , I think once Jennie found out we had got our Zebra she dug out everything that had anything to zebras and used them on the dinning table . Even the serviettes were covered in zebras and even folded like one . Awesome !! These are the sort of things that you never forget and the reasons that make you want to return again and again . Namibia , don't you just love it !!!
Pretty hard to go for a serious hunt that afternoon , so late in the afternoon we went out and got some photos and video coverage while sitting at a blind at a waterhole .
We never had another chance at a zebra while we were there . So if I had not taken the opportunity when the chance arose , well , I would not have got one . And I would always have wondered what if ? Lucky I did !

Following day felt so different . The pressure was off . Everything we really wanted to hunt we had . I had mentioned to Johnnie other animals when we fist arrived , but to be honest from now on everything was a bonus .
Remember all the Wildebeest we saw yesterday , well bugger it, lets go get one ! Hows that for blind confidence . They were not in the same area as the previous day , but it did not take long to find there marks . A quick pow wow between Johnnie and Anton and we were of up a riverbed to where they might be laying up for the day . Sure enough we were on to them immediately . There were twenty or thirty in the mob and they did not know we were there . No shooters though , Anton said they were all ladies and young males . Back to the truck and off again . Well, not really , two minutes later Johnnie spots some more . Off on foot again . For some reason the stalking part of the hunt is going really well today and again we get onto them without them aware of us . Anton glasses them , which is bloody hard as they are all in the scrub and they never seem to stand still . Then he slowly beckons me over to where he his and indicates to use his shoulder as a rest . A nice bull is looking straight at us rom about a hundred yards away . I think Wildebeest were the hardest animal to judge horn size I came across while I was there as they all looked the same to me , even the girls looked big to me . Anyway he looked all right to me so I quietly lined up his lower chest and click !!! Yep , another misfire . This time though there was no second chance . The bull just vanished . Shit .
Remember that blind confidence , well the blind bit was right . I think Anton was used to these stuff ups now , as he didn't say a thing just told me to follow him as we carried on tracking them . They didn't go far but they would not stop long enough for a shot . We climbed a Koppie to try and out flank them . This worked a treat and we watched the whole heard go past us at about 200 yards . Picking the right bull was impossible . For some reason one bull just stopped dead in his tracks turned around and stared at us from about 300 yards out .I don't think he was the bigger bull but he looked okay and Anton said to use his shoulder as he was a shooter . I didn't even try , I would need a better rest than Antons shoulder at that range . I had not wounded an animal this trip , and these things are tough . Back down to the truck . The consensus was to leave these couple of mobs and try somewhere else . Half an hour later a big lone bull breaks from the side of the road and runs down the road in front of the truck then takes off into the scrub . Johnnie likes him so we are off again Anton me then Debs . This area was made up of thick low bush and a nightmare to sneak through .
More severe blood loss . These thorns are killing me , much to the amusement of everyone else . Man did we get close to him at times . He wouldn't run far then stop . He would then snort at us run again . Anton picked the radio up and had just started talking to johnnie when he snorted again just out to our side . Radio away and we sneak towards him . Visibility is terrible but somehow Anton finds him . Through a gap in the bush there he is . He is in the shade and hard to see . He is looking straight at us but hard to make out in the scope because he just looks like a black shadow standing in the shade . I try the same shoot as earlier in the lower chest . This time the ammo works and the bull leaps and is off . Anton is off to , in the direction he last saw the bull go . Im not as fast as Anton and me and Debs are still looking for blood where he had been standing when a shout from anton confirms he's down . Awesome ! I don't know how Anton could go straight to him in that thick scrub without looking for tracks , I don't know . But he did and there he was laying out in the open stone dead . The shot had been perfect but he still ran about 100 Yards dead on his feet . I have a new respect for these African animals . A new level of tough . The bullet preformed perfectly and if it had been a big stag at home he would have died where he stood .
What a perfect bull . Deb was amazed when we walked up to him , such a neat animal but so ugly .When I said I was doing a full mount I got that look that only married men know .
Loved his skin and his horns are awesome with thick bases . Johnnie aged him at 7 years old . A nice mature bull .

 

[dory]

If you think we would have a quiet afternoon , wrong ! Straight after lunch we were off again.
Johnnie had a bit of an accident about 10 months before we arrived at Ongariwanda and managed to break both his legs . He had to hire other PHs to take his clients out with the help of Anton .
I can tell by the way he talked he hated every minute of it . We just happened to be the first hunters he had taken out since he could get around again . He was still on crutches some of the time and he drove the truck while we hunted with mr Anton his tracker most of the time ,but you could tell he was enjoying himself . So johnnie did not want to sit around home , he wanted to be out hunting . Thats what we came here for so it suited us just fine .
Every day we would see a couple off good mobs of springbok and there was a good mob of about 50 or 60 that lived close to the homestead on the open grasslands . Normally Johnnie would have a glass of them all and then carry on saying no big males . This afternoon he saw a good male . They were in the scrub again and really hard to know which one was which . Man do they look all the same size and color when they are walking through low scrub together . Johnnie told Anton which one he wanted me to shoot and away we went . I could never understand why you need binos in the bush in Africa . I do now . I was right behind Anton and he had the binos up even though the springbok were only 30 yrds away . The horns looked all the same until you checked them out with the binos . Anton knelt down and once again pointed to his shoulder . It was a bit uncomfortable but not to bad and the buck was only 30 yrds away . Once I was sure we were looking at the same animal and I was certain which way he was standing I put a shot in just behind his shoulder . I blew him off his feet and he was down for the count . Man they are a beautiful looking animal . He was very old , about 9 yrs . Johnnie said they don't normally get much older . His horns were quite small and real beaten up . Johnnie later said that Anton had found me the wrong one as the one he wanted for me had been a lot bigger . It did not worry us , an old warrior was pretty good to me . I was to shoot anther sixteen Springbok before the trip was over and Johnnie picked put a real nice buck that we shot to be full mounted and sit in pride and place at home . But that is a whole story on its own .
We only had a couple of hours of light left so we recovered the springbok and carried on to a waterhole to sit until dark . Johnnie had mentioned a big Eland bull that was in the area and if we came across it before the trip was over I could shoot it for meat for The homestead . Now if that does not get your attention nothing will . I think it was the most attentive I had been all trip . We had seen a bit of fresh Eland sign during the trip but the only animals we had seen were in the 5000 hectares that is high fenced at Johnnies and we were not hunting in there just trying to photograph some giraffe .
No luck tonight , just heaps of guinea fowl coming and going all evening .
But what an evening ! Another stunner in Namibia .

 

[Waterguy631]

Great report I can't wait till next year.

 

[ROCKET]

Dory, you are doing an awesome Report of you hunting trip......keep going.....!!!!!

 

[johnnyblues]

Up at 430 , fire lit , kettle on , say good morning to the dogs that would camp on the couch with us most nights . Beats spending the night in a kennel . Debs decided to have a sleep in this morning so I left her to it and started getting my gear ready for the day as breakie is at 6 every morning . A minute later she is up asking for two bags in her cup of tea ? No, she said , she could not let us go hunting without her , she might miss out on something . Good girl !
630 am , truck loaded and we start heading out the gate . Zebra johnnie states ! Not today , lets hunt something else for a change . We had seen some really outstanding lady oryx while we had been here and one to go with my male would be great .We kept seeing blue wildebeest during the morning with some nice bulls . Geez they were tempting but I had oryx on the brain . Followed some tracks for a while but no luck , we were in an area where the scrub was a bit lower and at ground level you could not see to far making stalking bloody hard . Back on the truck and change areas to try and cut some fresh oryx tracks .
Coming around a corner Johnnie bangs the cab and starts pointing down the road . Whats he pointing at , buggered if I can see anything .Even debs who has become an expert at seeing game from the truck cant see anything . Johnnie whispers zebra .
Shit , where ! For anyone who has not hunted zebra in scrub and bush country and thinks that their stripes would stand out like the proverbable pair of dog nuts , think again . They blend in like you would not believe . Until the larger stallion moved I just could not see them . No one shoots animals from the truck at johnnies and that suited me good ,,,,, untilll now!
We had spent the whole trip so far starting everyday chasing zebra , And at times that was all we were doing , chase them round in circles . I had lost more blood in the thorns than is medically possible hunting these buggers and they had outsmarted us on numerous occasions . Infact I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to shot one on this trip ? This might be our only chance . Now johnnie knew how much Debbie had really wanted to take some skins home .
Then he whispers , take the big stallion . Now be honest with your self , what would you do ????
At about 200 plus yards at an uncomfortable angle , and with the adrenalin levels running at about 98 percent and the memory of missing one a few days ago , this was not as easy as it looked .
I can still see the stallion in the scope now as I write this and was amazed at the time how steady the crosshairs were on its shoulder . I cant remember squeezing the trigger , but I can remember the immense relief at the resounding whack and seeing him react with the shock of the impact . He bolted instantly into a full gallop taking the younger stallion and the mare with him on a death run for about a hundred yards before he just collapsed dead in his tracks . The other two came to an instant holt to see what had happen to their mate . At three hundred yards but side on , Johnnie instructed me to take the other younger stallion . I remember being as calm as I have ever been by now and laid the crosshairs on the base of his neck and squeezed off once more . Because of the range and the depth of field the Vortex scope has I was able to watch trough the scope as the bullet stuck him at the base of the neck . His back legs gave way instantly and he was dead before he hit the ground . The mare bolted , but she was safe , Debbie finally had her prized zebra that she had wanted so much , and I had finally shot my two Hartmann Zebra stallions that I thought would be one of the easier animals I would hunt in Africa , but had turned into the hardest .
The emotions in me and Debs while walking up to these two amazing animals are impossible to write . Before coming to Africa , I never thought I could actually shoot a zebra and feel good about it . But the more i researched hunting them the more the passion grew to hunt them , for me and for Deb .
They were amazing looking animals , one an old warrior by his scars and the other a beautiful young colt with hardly a blemish on him . Awesome !
Another radio call and half the population of Ongariwanda seemed to be on there way to help us .
There is one thing that we will never forget about the morning . After everyone arrived to help us recover the animals , Johnnies father came over to us and told us that in the morning after we had left , himself and the workers had prayed for us . They had asked that we would have good luck hunting Zebras today . Makes you think a bit really . Me and Debs thanked him , as our luck had definitely changed for the good .View attachment 45634 View attachment 45637 View attachment 45638 View attachment 45639

Love the Hartsman 's zebra.. Hoping to add one on my trip there.

 

[johnnyblues]

Anyone ever wondered how much edible meat is on a Zebra ? Check this out .View attachment 45644View attachment 45645

WOW. Great leopard bait!

 

[Ragman]

I really like your post dory. The feelings you describe and the blood you lost remind me so much of my trip to Namibia last year! Sounds like the area you hunted was very close to where I was...Omaruru was the closest town.

 

[johnnyblues]

I really like your post dory. The feelings you describe and the blood you lost remind me so much of my trip to Namibia last year! Sounds like the area you hunted was very close to where I was...Omaruru was the closest town.

Ill be near Otavi..Close I think to Omaruru

 

[bluey]

good stuff , kiwi .....keep realing off your terrific yarn ,mate .....
love your animals ....
when you say full mount ....do you mean life size ?

 

[dory]

I hope not .?
That would be a stuff up .
We have only got a wee house , and there is bugger all room as it is .

 

[dory]

Wednesday dawned calm and clear again , surprise surprise ! Not a cloud in sight . This was to be our last day hunting at Ongariwanda .
Johnnie had organized a farm in the Kalahari for us to hunt on for the last days of our trip . The plan was to hunt all day today and travel to the Kalahari tomorrow .
I still really wanted a nice female oryx to join my male so that would be target today . Had breakfast at 630 , packed the lunch boxes and loaded up the truck . We were going to stalk an area that Johnnie called the rock as it was mainly granite with a lot of grass and not a lot of scrub . Every time we had been there it would have a good size herd of oryx on it and some real nice girls amongst them .
With Anton leading we snuck up on a mob of about 20 oryx . They had no idea we were there so it was easy to check their head gear out . Not a decent female amongst them , they were nearly all young animals . Took some good video footage and left them to it . We had real problems taking some of the footage during the hunt because the sun was to bright .We couldn't tell if the video was focused or not as the screen was just to glarey to be sure . It was the same today and the camera focused on a thorn branch and not the animals for 5 minutes , Bugger . If anyone wants a real exciting 5 minute vid of a thorn branch just give me a call .
The day was flying bye again and it was almost lunch . Off to a waterhole to have a snack and a drink and see if the oryx were thirsty yet . Or maybe the eland bull which had a bent horn .
First a lone kudu female arrived and gave us some neat photos and vids . Then the pigs started to pile in . Mob after mob but nothing really big . Now I wasn't planning on shooting another pig but when a real nice male turned up I looked at Johnnie and he just smiled .I quietly loaded the rifle a clicked the safety off . All this time Debs was videoing it and doing a real good , we forgot to mention to her I was about to fire . The pig was happily quenching his first when I pulled the trigger hitting him smack between the eyes . The pig dropped and Debs leapt in the air . On real slow motion you can see the bullet hit the pig before Debs got the fright of her life , shit it was funny . We were still laughing about it over a few drinks that night . Even Deb saw the funny side . ( eventually )
The pig finally stopped kicking and we had stopped laughing when I looked out the side and here comes an even bigger pig . What!!!!
This guy had a real good set of bumper bars up front , the biggest pig we had seen all trip so far ! He came over the dam wall and down to the water . We thought the dead pig might spook him but it didn't worry him at all . This guy had to go so I clicked the safety off again and drilled him through the heart . He took off like he wasn't hit , shit he was a tough bugger . He ran 90 yrds hit a tree , got up then ran towards us again before he finally realized he was dead . Johnnie got it all on video and if you could see how much blood he lost every stride it was truly amazing .
Well , that was a nice quiet lunch break . I think we ate something , in between all the excitement .
We were soon back stalking the river bed we had hunted the first day with all the big trees in it . Man is it a beautiful place . We had not gone far when we came across a real big male oryx . Decision time ?
Man did he look good so I said to Anton he would do and the female would have to wait for another time . He had walk away so we snuck after him . Guess what was looking straight at us ? A bloody massive pig . This was so big Anton put his fingers around his wrist to compare the size of his tusks , shit he was huge .( Johnnie said later I should have shot it . Shit )
We tried to ignore him and the next pig that looked petty good too , and stayed on the oryx . We dropped into a sandy piece of the river bed and there he was looking straight at us , about 30 yrds away .
I didnt wait for the go ahead from Anton , I came straight up and fired dropping him in his tracks . While I was patting myself on the back he got up just as fast . I had not even ejected the spent shell so all hell broke loose . By the time I reloaded he was almost out of the river bed and gone . A quick snap shot dropped him again . Great ! No , he still wasnt done , he tried to get up again . I was a bit more onto it this time and had reloaded straight away . A shot to the neck and down he went again . What a tough bugger . He still was not dead , but he was going nowhere , I went to reload and realized I had no more ammo ! Shit shit shit . I had not put any new rounds in my pocket since I shot the pigs . We could hear Johnnie coming as he had herd the shots and guessed where we were . Anton bolted to the truck and grabbed me a box of ammo . One more shot to finish him for good and it was over . Two shots in the neck , two a bit high in the shoulder , but what a tough bugger , he was not going down without a fight . Another outstanding male . In the photo below you can see another oryx,s horn broken off in the top of this shoulder .
Another top day hunting came to an end and after recovering the oryx it was back to house to start packing .

 

[dory]

Woops ,

Ive downloaded the photos twice .