NAMIBIA: Namibia's "Khomas Highland Hunting Safaris"

[DoubleLunger]

Don't be too hard on yourself, that one nice warthog!

That Warthog is a brute!

 

[Ridgewalker]

Fine warthog! I haven't pulled the trigger on one yet! Man am I jealous!
All your trophies are fine!

 

[Nyati]

Great piggie !

 

[DoubleLunger]

 

[Velo Dog]

View attachment 203203View attachment 203204

DAY #4:

Breakfast at 6:15 AM, as usual.
Gone off hunting by 6:45.

Around 9:00 AM, Eric stopped the bakkie at the bottom of a gradually sloping small mountain or large hill that, looked to be about 3/4 of a kilometer or so to the top.
This place was covered with dry grass and scattered with camelthorn trees plus, a few other bushy plants, here and there.
Also present in a couple of places were large, flat rocks, more or less standing on edge / protruding up from the ground, reminding me of the large flange-like scales, sticking up from the back of that dinosaur known as the stegosaurus.

Adab and myself began quietly walking up.
At the top, I happily noticed that the land was more level.
And, there was another row of those flange-like flat stones, again sticking up from the earth like scales on the back of a stegosaurus, larger than the others along our trek upwards.
These formed an irregular wall of sorts, about 1 meter or so high and about 20 meters long.
There was one substantial gap of about a meter or less through this "wall", effectively making a natural "funnel" for anything walking up or down the mountain.
The dirt through this gap was reduced to fine powder from the many hooves traversing it.
The grass on either side of it was trampled down less and less the further from it you looked.

Obviously, Adab knew this place well and no doubt he had led us to it to check for spoor.
We stopped there and Adab stared at the multitude of tracks very intently for a few seconds, then motioned for me to chamber a round.
I did so, taking care as always, to not make any more noise than necessary.
Our visit to this place, sort of triggered what I will guess was a "genetic memory", handed down from our hunter-gatherer ancestors, to both Adab and myself.
In other words, without either of us speaking verbally of it, no doubt at that moment we both felt what our ancestors must have felt, tens of thousands of years ago, when they made their bee-line to a known geographic tight spot, where animals had to pass through.
No doubt our pre-historic ancestors also stared intently at the hoof prints in such places, prior to the wheel and the written word, just exactly as Adab did now in 2017.

Anyway, quietly we walked slowly forward, following tracks that obviously had caught Adab's attention, stopping every ten or so paces, so Adab could look with his binoculars, into every shadowy tree thicket ahead and to either side of us.
After a couple hundred meters of this slow / silent creeping along, we stopped again and Adab was staring through his binos, into one particular clump of a dozen or more camelthorn trees, when I saw a leg move in there.
Up came my binos and voila, there was a herd of perhaps at least 10 blue, guldang willderbeasts, otherwise well hidden by the shade of the trees (growing close together in this case).
We were partially concealed behind some more or less shoulder high brush but obviously, they had seen our faces sticking up from our side of our thorny screen and were watching us intently, from 120 meters.
Adab very slowly set the sticks and whispered "get ready but don't shoot".
So of course, I complied, also moving very slowly plus, also now intentionally avoiding eye contact with my quarry, until doing so through my rifle's scope, as I finally settled slowly onto the sticks.
By now, they were nervously moving all around inside the thorn tree thicket, no doubt sorting out which escape route to choose.

As they suddenly shuffled somewhat apart, leaving a single bull, with no animals in front of or behind him, simultaneously Adab whispered "see big one in the middle, shoot him".
Miraculously, it was standing broadside to us so, I fired a 270 gr round nose into his shoulder.
Wildebeests exploded out of the thicket, including my animal.
The difference being that the rest thundered off to our right, disappearing briefly into a shallow valley, then up the other side and gone into the trees and brush a few hundred meters to our right front.
During which time, my animal leaped, kicked and bucked around in a semi-circle, (like a bronco in some rodeo event) for a few seconds then tipped over, back to within about 10 meters of where I had shot him in the first place.
As we then approached what looked to be a dead wildebeest, suddenly he began kicking violently but, only with his hind legs**.
Adab said "shoot him", and so I did ... directly through the top of his back, between the shoulders.
He expired.

Photos were taken and then, I sat down under a thorn tree to enjoy a bottle of water, while Adab walked down to fetch Eric and the truck.
They eventually came grinding up the mountain in low gear, and then pulled my animal into the bed of the truck, by means of their electric winch and cable, which is bolted to the roll bar.
Back at "camp", during the skinning and butchering process, I saw that my first shot had broken both shoulders**.
How in the world he managed to buck and kick about with both shoulders broken, for even the few seconds that he lasted before falling, is a mystery to me.
This bullet's jacket was among the bone fragments of the off side shoulder and the lead core was evidently in fragments, strewn about in there, as I saw two lead shards among the bone chunks and general carnage, somewhat resembling large finger nail clippings of lead.

LUNCH:

Ham and vegetable omelets, with all the regular edible accompaniments.

PH Errens, Danny and their Driver / Tracker (name of Hendricks ?) rolled in at some stage that day, sporting both an oryx and blue wildebeest.
Danny had sacked both animals, with borrowed archery tackle, while engaged in the "walk & stalk" tactic, in other words, not staked out on a water hole.
There is nothing wrong with the "stake out" tactic either but, I mention the walk & stalk as a hunt descriptor only.
Either method can keep the braai sizzling quite satisfactorily.

Coffee at 3:15 PM then, a short siesta.

After that, we all agreed with Philip that, every one of our PH's and support staff had been totally busting their boots for us so, he suggested we not hunt any more this day (Saturday) and those guys could spend the extra time not busting their boots for a change.
Good call and I used the time to catch up on my notes, trade stories with Danny and Dale, generally sit around, listening to the birds, seemingly in every tree while we spun our yarns and all three of us enjoyed a wee drop of gin & tonic.

SUPPER:
Who knows what specific foods we were served this night but, I promise you it was great, because we did not have a bad bite of food the whole time at Farm Heusis.

Off to bed, as hunting will resume after tomorrow's breakfast, as usual.

TO BE CONTINUED .....

 

[KHOMAS HIGHLAND HUNTING SAFARIS]

Velo Dog!
you have a feel for an authentic Safari, love reading this. Cant wait for the part where we set of into the Kalahari!
greetings from NAM
Philip

 

[Velo Dog]

DAY #5:

Breakfast was the usual board of fare, meat, toast, fried egg, then off to hunting we all went.

BLACK WILDEBEEST:
Around 10:30 AM, Adab tapped on the bakkie roof to have Eric stop.
We glassed a herd of 20 or 30 black wildebeest, about one kilometer from us, cavorting about in an open, place of dirt and sparse grass, nearly flat, with almost no trees or bushes in it but, this natural clearing of perhaps 20 hectares, was surrounded by thorn forest.
Thankfully it was slightly downhill from us, because Adab and Eric both took off on foot, at what I would call "power walking" LOL.
In other words, not quite jogging (but almost).
Again thankful that, I had lost weight and done quite a bit of walking in my hunting boots, pretty much every day for several months prior to this hunting trip, I was able to keep up, no worries.
However, I admit that I was breathing hard when we finally drew near enough to our objective that, Adab and Eric slowed our pace more and more, until finally Adab motioned for myself and Eric to stay hidden and wait, in a thicket of camelthorns, while he crawled forward on hands and knees for another 10 meters, to peer out between some large rocks, near the beginning of that wide, semi-flat, almost treeless veld.

After 10 or 20 seconds, he motioned for me to stay low to the ground and proceed forward to join him.
How Eric knew to stay put, I do not know but, stay put he did.
Crawling along where Adab had crawled, my right knee protested mightily (arthritis) but, no sore knee would ruin my safari plans and I made it to Adab, no worries.
The herd was averaging about 150 to 200 meters distant, with no further cover beyond our hideout and the animals.
We lingered there, not moving until suddenly, the entire herd erupted into the archetypical black wildebeest burst of jumping about and running in a circle, as if suddenly overcome with jubilance.
As they were doing this, Adab rose to a crouching posture and motions for me to follow as he scrambled swiftly about 3 or 4 meters to our right, across nearly bare ground, to a scrawny thorn bush, just a little taller than our heads.
He then stood upright behind it and set the sticks, just at the left side of this sad little thorn bush and motioned for me to chamber a round.
No words spoken, I did as instructed and also then stood upright, making ready with my rifle on the sticks.
With that, the gulldang willderbeasts all slammed on their brakes, and stared at us, the closest ones now only about 100 meters from our location.
Adab whispered "wait".

I figured we were totally busted and they would bolt any moment now.
However, I'd rather be lucky than good and they didn't spook off for a few more seconds.
Looking through my scope, I could see a couple of bulls, well within the herd that, seemed slightly thicker in the horn bases than the rest of these animals.
At that stage, they all went into another one of their wacky circular running and jumping fits but, this time when they stop as suddenly as they had started, one of the above mentioned big ones was left standing by himself, quartering toward us, at what later turned out to be 140 meters.
I let drive at his on-side shoulder but, as I pressed the trigger, he suddenly turned full on broadside and so, my 270 grainer hit him instead, behind the shoulder.
The herd then did run away but only a short distance, and then stopped, apparently to watch the one I had just shot, do the same bucking bronco moves, just as the blue wildebeest had done previously on Day #4.
Likewise, this one played out fast and was down in seconds and no second shot was required, as the heart / lungs on this specific species is a bit farther back than some other African antelopes and so, death was swift from my first shot.
My bullet exited just behind the far shoulder, leaving an exit hole, at the most, only about the size of a golf ball or a bit smaller.

Same drill as always, I sat down under a camelthorn tree with a bottle of water and the truck was fetched, animal winched in and we drove back to the fort.

LUNCH:
Cheese slices, cold cuts of sandwich meat, home made bread, mustard, mayonnaise, etc., etc.

3:15 PM, brief coffee / cup cakes, and off we all go, hunting as normal.

The first 2 or 3 days, I did not see any zebra at all.
However, according to Dietmar, the Hartmann's zebra were at that time migrating up into those mountains, from the lower desert.
And, on Day #4, I saw a few zebra, above us, on a mountain side, as we rolled along.
Now, on Day #5, likewise I was seeing a few more, here and there.

MOUNTAIN ZEBRA:
As we were bumping along a ridge top "road" (two tire tracks that went through the wilderness), Adab tapped on the bakkie roof and we stopped.
With my binoculars, I began examining the shady side of a steep mountain, to the west of and above us.
There were about 15 or more Mountain, aka: Hartmann zebra (vivid black and white stripes, all the way to their hooves), grazing part way up there.
Off to our left was a single hartebeest who, seemed to be standing there as a sentinel for them.
Off just slightly to our right and about 15 or 20 meters above the herd was what Adab said was the herd stallion.
He was standing motionless, in the shade of a thorn tree, facing in our direction, even though we were at least half a kilometer away.
Adab instructed Eric to start the bakkie and drive forward, then to stop in a low spot of our ridge road, effectively placing us behind some thick trees and out of view.

Eric stayed with the vehicle.
Adab and myself climbed down and he motioned for me to chamber a round.
I did and away we walked, neither fast or slow, just walking toward the mountain.
We stayed hidden by thorn trees until reaching the bottom of the mountain, at which time the hartebeest saw us approaching and bolted straight at the herd.
They scattered but without enthusiasm, as they remained in the area and began to settle down again.
The old stallion did not move.

At 160 meters, Adab set the sticks without speaking (back at the vehicle, we had conversation that, this animal was the one to take).
He stood above us, and quartering toward us.
Through my scope, I saw him turn his head, I suppose to check his intended route of departure, (otherwise, he had been staring at us so, he knew we were there).
And, just as he turned his head, I shot him through the on-side shoulder with a 270 grainer.
He torched forward but stumbled and rolled, over and over down the slope, until finally stopping (quite dead) on a flat spot ("bench") about 40 or 50 meters below where he had been standing.
The herd thundered off.

Adab had a radio this time and called Eric who, then brought up the truck.
It took a long time for how close we were, due to the steepness of the terrain as well as the trees, brush and large rocks here.
Eric parked the bakkie facing downhill and my zebra was winched in.
I chose to walk down to level ground before climbing in, and I covered about the same distance in about the same amount of time as the vehicle did, due to the obstacles mentioned.

Back at the skinning shed, I learned that my bullet had just missed the on-side shoulder bone but tore the heart, then exited, high up on the opposite side, leaving only a dime size hole, just a few inches behind that off-side shoulder.

SUPPER:
We were served pan seared springbock liver, as well as oryx steaks, both outstanding of course.
And, we enjoyed all the regular side dishes with supper, as well as an excellent red wine.
Life just doesn't get any better than this.



PS:
I've been battling this infernal computer off and on for years, in my frustration to post photos.
I've tried another run at it today with my zebra photo.
Crossing my fingers for luck, I'm now hitting the "Post Reply" box.
If as usual, it does not work, my son shall continue to post photos for me.
For this, I promise to buy him a multi-million dollar sailing yacht, full of gold bricks.

Ha! it not only worked (after perhaps at least 3 years of not working for me) it put up two and a tenth prints of the same photo (proving once again that computers hate me personally) but at least it sort of worked this time.

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats on the zebra!

 

[Velo Dog]

Hold the phone Joan !
This computer (in a sudden act of uncharacteristic mercy), has let me post another photo, and all in one day at that.
Anyway, here is the gulldang black wilderbeest from my above narrative.
Note:
As toad-ugly as this species is, you'd think they might taste bad.
However, the flesh of black wildebeest is very mild, not "gamey" whatsoever, neither is it especially tough to chew (unless like any game meat, if you over-cook it).
Served anywhere within medium to medium rare, this specie is very fine on the dinner plate.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I'll keep checking on you just to make sure the computer does not take total possession of your body. LOL

Great report thus far.

Gotta get me one of those Hartmann's Zebras.

 

[ack]

Wife n I are headed to Hennings end of May next year..Just want to enjoy another hunt inAfrica along with the food n people..Nice to hear about your trip,thanks..

 

[Rob404]

Love your Report so far Velo Dog, can't wait to plan my Namibia Hunt

 

[Adrian]

Your report is making my departure date all the more anticipated.
Seven days to go.......

 

[1dirthawker]

well done! u need to show me how to post photos u tech genius, u!

 

[DoubleLunger]

DAY #5:

Breakfast was the usual board of fare, meat, toast, fried egg, then off to hunting we all went.

BLACK WILDEBEEST:
Around 10:30 AM, Adab tapped on the bakkie roof to have Eric stop.
We glassed a herd of 20 or 30 black wildebeest, about one kilometer from us, cavorting about in an open, place of dirt and sparse grass, nearly flat, with almost no trees or bushes in it but, this natural clearing of perhaps 20 hectares, was surrounded by thorn forest.
Thankfully it was slightly downhill from us, because Adab and Eric both took off on foot, at what I would call "power walking" LOL.
In other words, not quite jogging (but almost).
Again thankful that, I had lost weight and done quite a bit of walking in my hunting boots, pretty much every day for several months prior to this hunting trip, I was able to keep up, no worries.
However, I admit that I was breathing hard when we finally drew near enough to our objective that, Adab and Eric slowed our pace more and more, until finally Adab motioned for myself and Eric to stay hidden and wait, in a thicket of camelthorns, while he crawled forward on hands and knees for another 10 meters, to peer out between some large rocks, near the beginning of that wide, semi-flat, almost treeless veld.

After 10 or 20 seconds, he motioned for me to stay low to the ground and proceed forward to join him.
How Eric knew to stay put, I do not know but, stay put he did.
Crawling along where Adab had crawled, my right knee protested mightily (arthritis) but, no sore knee would ruin my safari plans and I made it to Adab, no worries.
The herd was averaging about 150 to 200 meters distant, with no further cover beyond our hideout and the animals.
We lingered there, not moving until suddenly, the entire herd erupted into the archetypical black wildebeest burst of jumping about and running in a circle, as if suddenly overcome with jubilance.
As they were doing this, Adab rose to a crouching posture and motions for me to follow as he scrambled swiftly about 3 or 4 meters to our right, across nearly bare ground, to a scrawny thorn bush, just a little taller than our heads.
He then stood upright behind it and set the sticks, just at the left side of this sad little thorn bush and motioned for me to chamber a round.
No words spoken, I did as instructed and also then stood upright, making ready with my rifle on the sticks.
With that, the gulldang willderbeasts all slammed on their brakes, and stared at us, the closest ones now only about 100 meters from our location.
Adab whispered "wait".

I figured we were totally busted and they would bolt any moment now.
However, I'd rather be lucky than good and they didn't spook off for a few more seconds.
Looking through my scope, I could see a couple of bulls, well within the herd that, seemed slightly thicker in the horn bases than the rest of these animals.
At that stage, they all went into another one of their wacky circular running and jumping fits but, this time when they stop as suddenly as they had started, one of the above mentioned big ones was left standing by himself, quartering toward us, at what later turned out to be 140 meters.
I let drive at his on-side shoulder but, as I pressed the trigger, he suddenly turned full on broadside and so, my 270 grainer hit him instead, behind the shoulder.
The herd then did run away but only a short distance, and then stopped, apparently to watch the one I had just shot, do the same bucking bronco moves, just as the blue wildebeest had done previously on Day #4.
Likewise, this one played out fast and was down in seconds and no second shot was required, as the heart / lungs on this specific species is a bit farther back than some other African antelopes and so, death was swift from my first shot.
My bullet exited just behind the far shoulder, leaving an exit hole, at the most, only about the size of a golf ball or a bit smaller.

Same drill as always, I sat down under a camelthorn tree with a bottle of water and the truck was fetched, animal winched in and we drove back to the fort.

LUNCH:
Cheese slices, cold cuts of sandwich meat, home made bread, mustard, mayonnaise, etc., etc.

3:15 PM, brief coffee / cup cakes, and off we all go, hunting as normal.

The first 2 or 3 days, I did not see any zebra at all.
However, according to Dietmar, the Hartmann's zebra were at that time migrating up into those mountains, from the lower desert.
And, on Day #4, I saw a few zebra, above us, on a mountain side, as we rolled along.
Now, on Day #5, likewise I was seeing a few more, here and there.

MOUNTAIN ZEBRA:
As we were bumping along a ridge top "road" (two tire tracks that went through the wilderness), Adab tapped on the bakkie roof and we stopped.
With my binoculars, I began examining the shady side of a steep mountain, to the west of and above us.
There were about 15 or more Mountain, aka: Hartmann zebra (vivid black and white stripes, all the way to their hooves), grazing part way up there.
Off to our left was a single hartebeest who, seemed to be standing there as a sentinel for them.
Off just slightly to our right and about 15 or 20 meters above the herd was what Adab said was the herd stallion.
He was standing motionless, in the shade of a thorn tree, facing in our direction, even though we were at least half a kilometer away.
Adab instructed Eric to start the bakkie and drive forward, then to stop in a low spot of our ridge road, effectively placing us behind some thick trees and out of view.

Eric stayed with the vehicle.
Adab and myself climbed down and he motioned for me to chamber a round.
I did and away we walked, neither fast or slow, just walking toward the mountain.
We stayed hidden by thorn trees until reaching the bottom of the mountain, at which time the hartebeest saw us approaching and bolted straight at the herd.
They scattered but without enthusiasm, as they remained in the area and began to settle down again.
The old stallion did not move.

At 160 meters, Adab set the sticks without speaking (back at the vehicle, we had conversation that, this animal was the one to take).
He stood above us, and quartering toward us.
Through my scope, I saw him turn his head, I suppose to check his intended route of departure, (otherwise, he had been staring at us so, he knew we were there).
And, just as he turned his head, I shot him through the on-side shoulder with a 270 grainer.
He torched forward but stumbled and rolled, over and over down the slope, until finally stopping (quite dead) on a flat spot ("bench") about 40 or 50 meters below where he had been standing.
The herd thundered off.

Adab had a radio this time and called Eric who, then brought up the truck.
It took a long time for how close we were, due to the steepness of the terrain as well as the trees, brush and large rocks here.
Eric parked the bakkie facing downhill and my zebra was winched in.
I chose to walk down to level ground before climbing in, and I covered about the same distance in about the same amount of time as the vehicle did, due to the obstacles mentioned.

Back at the skinning shed, I learned that my bullet had just missed the on-side shoulder bone but tore the heart, then exited, high up on the opposite side, leaving only a dime size hole, just a few inches behind that off-side shoulder.

View attachment 203373

SUPPER:
We were served pan seared springbock liver, as well as oryx steaks, both outstanding of course.
And, we enjoyed all the regular side dishes with supper, as well as an excellent red wine.
Life just doesn't get any better than this.



PS:
I've been battling this infernal computer off and on for years, in my frustration to post photos.
I've tried another run at it today with my zebra photo.
Crossing my fingers for luck, I'm now hitting the "Post Reply" box.
If as usual, it does not work, my son shall continue to post photos for me.
For this, I promise to buy him a multi-million dollar sailing yacht, full of gold bricks.

Ha! it not only worked (after perhaps at least 3 years of not working for me) it put up two and a tenth prints of the same photo (proving once again that computers hate me personally) but at least it sort of worked this time.

Don't waste your money on the yatch full of gold bricks. You know I'm just going to sell it and use the money for more hunting trips for us to go on

 

[Velo Dog]

DAY #6:

6:15 am, Breakfast as usual.

6:45 AM, on the truck with Adab as my trusty PH and also Eric as our trusty Driver / Tracker and off we roll.
An hour or so later, I spot the legs of an unknown animal, in the shade of a very short, thick little tree.
It, was way up in a shallow canyon or "drainage", just below the saddle that, connected two mountains.
How my elderly, citified, white man eyes saw that animal's legs, mostly concealed by shadow, at half a kilometer distance, from my perch in the back of a moving truck, remains a mystery.
Anyway, we stop to glass it and right away Adab declares it a bull kudu.
With my 10x binos I could see it was probably a kudu but as for the gender, I could not say it was either one, just that it sort of looked like a kudu, (it's head was behind the branches).
Within perhaps less than a minute, Adab and myself found two more kudus up there, all bulls.

One looked like a real bruiser, with those loose or "shallow" curls that you sometimes see on the occasional kudu bull, giving the illusion of his horns being almost as long as the animal's body is - LOL.
Also, the original one who's legs had betrayed his hiding place, eventually walked out into the sun light.
All three of these animals finally in full view were mature bulls, sporting 3 curls per horn but, that one really was a spectacle, compared to either of his two "normal looking" comrades (they had "tighter" curls).
For all of you tape measure hunters out there, I doubt he was much more in measurement than his companions there, it's just that with the shallow curls, his horns looked as if they stuck out from his head a loooong way.

At Adab's instruction, Eric drove us a few hundred meters around to the bottom of one of those mountains and shut off the motor.
Adab and myself then began what for lack of a better descriptor, would be call a "Mount Everest Expedition", with our attempt to find my aforementioned "lair of the kudu".
Once more, I was glad I decided to cut way back on the starchy food and put many miles on my hunting shoes, well in advance of this hunting trip.
Adab was 50 years young and myself 64 but he walked uphill like a track star and I believe that I may have caused irreversible damage to the O-Zone by sucking away all the oxygen up there.
But, I made it without having to stop until reaching an elevation, slightly higher than the elevation of the saddle itself.
We had hiked up this steep mountain for an hour or more.
The mountain peak concealed our approach to said saddle and we slowed way down as we skirted around it, the breeze in our faces.
Walking very slowly, I was able to regain my air in time to cautiously peer downward, into the canyon from above.
We spent 20 or 30 minutes there, including trying 3 or 4 different vantage points to stop and scrutinize the shallow canyon below but, the 3 bulls were evidently gone.

So, we eased our way down through there, just in case they had laid down in some rocks or brush ..... no dice.
Adab figured they likely had figured us out, before we got there and bolted beyond the other peak and across the landscape to some unknown place.
And I silently figured he did not try to track them because if I sacked one, we'd have to disassemble it and carry the elk like pieces down to a level enough place for the truck.
This thought did not bother me in the slightest though, because there was kudu sign everywhere, including within a few hundred meters of the house.
So, I figured I'd get another crack at this specie before my time was up (turns out I was right).

STEINBOCK:
We made it back to the vehicle and pounded down plenty of water, and then drove onward.
When we had not rolled more than about 400 meters, a steinbock ram bolted from cover, ran uphill only a few meters and stopped to glare back at us.
Adab tapped on the roof and we stopped rolling, a short ways past him by then.
The ram bolted again but, very soon it stopped again, this time, somewhat concealed behind the brush and grass, at perhaps 30 meters behind and above us.
We quickly unhinged ourselves from the bakkie and tip-toed back in the direction we had driven from.
The ram bolted one more time but stopped in the clear, quartering toward us, at about 60 meters.
By then Adab had set the sticks and I shot this steinbock on the shoulder.
Probably due to the small target not offering much resistance, my 270 grain round nose soft just poked a .37 caliber hole going in and perhaps a US 25 cent coin size hole, if even that, going out the far side, just behind that shoulder.
I gave this cape to my old hunting mate, Dale as he had splattered his steinbock badly, by means of the .300 Winchester he shot his with at close range.
He wanted a shoulder mount and usually I prefer only Euro-Style skull mounts (being as I'm a cheap skate and all).

We made it back to camp in time for lunch (12:15 PM)
Unknown (but delicious as always) game fillets in sauce, carrot mash, roasted new potato halves with olive oil and coarse salt crust, fresh green salad, Greek vinaigrette dressing with little goat cheese (feta) cubes.

After an hour or so long cat-nap, we gathered at 3:15 PM for coffee and "velvet cupcakes" (sort of cherry-chocolate flavored and bright red colored cup cakes).
I tried to moderate my sugar intake on this trip but, it surely was not easy, as the cooks were tip-top, in all culinary styles, including sweet baked goods.

3:30 PM, I sat down at the shooting bench with the trusty Brno .375 again.
Since I had used up the few Federal / 270 grain cartridges, Philip decided to break into his stash of live factory PMP ammunition, with 300 grain round nose bullets.
These proved to be my mojo for both incredibly accurate groups, 100 and 200 meters respectfully and effectiveness on game, without ruining much edible meat - perfect combination.

3:45 PM, off we (Adab, Eric and myself) roll to hunt again.
4:30 PM, Dale's PH, Isaak ("Eee-sock"), radioed Eric, saying they had spotted two mature kudu bulls, up on some mountain, about a half hour drive from where we were at that point in time.
5:something PM, (you can't drive fast over most of the terrain in those mountains, due to the rocky ground), we arrived and these kudus were pointed out to us.
Both bulls were browsing slowly along, across a wide valley from us and high up on a mountain over there, I'd say approximately 1 kilometer, in a straight line, "as the crow flies".

Looking through his binoculars, Adab quickly determined one bull to be a mature but still a bit young and the other to be older and suitable for taking.
Eric went with us as we began our hike around to our right at first, so that these animals would not see us marching straight at them.
We made it to the bottom of the mountain, without being detected and then began our ascent, well concealed by trees, brush and very large rocks over the entire right side of this mountain.
Thankfully, the grade was not especially steep from this "side route" either (the middle of this mountain, directly in front of and below the kudus, looked very steep, when we were in the bakkie, glassing straight at them).
About 3 or 400 meters short of where we believed them to be, Adab had me chamber a round and we slowed our progress to a cautious snail's pace, stopping often to examine every kudu-like feature up ahead of us.
At that stage, everything began to look like a kudu to me, every rock a shoulder hump, every stick a horn.

About an hour and a half later, as we were engaged in one of these stops, one of the bulls appeared about 150 meters ahead, still feeding.
Although he was not "the one", he had a full head of horns and I enjoyed watching him for perhaps 5 minutes or so.
Eventually, the older one also appeared.
However, he seemed a bit nervous and began walking fast from right to left, always behind plenty of bush.
Adab set the sticks and said "wait", so I slowly placed my rifle and waited.
Suddenly, the bull we wanted turned hard right and jumped on top of a ridge of rock and dirt that, was averaging perhaps one and a half meters high, effectively placing him pretty much sky-lined.
There he froze but unfortunately, he was facing almost straight away from us, only slightly quartering to the left but again, almost not quartering.
Adab whispered "shoo-tim" so, I put my crosswires on his left side flank (gut), just immediately ahead of his left ham and torched one off.
Although the shot felt perfect, I did not hear the music of a kugel slag and the bull leaped like a giant frog, landing out of my view.

I chambered another round, dreading having only wounded but, Adab and Eric both grinning ear to ear, assured me he was down and that I had made a perfect shot, to include patting me on the back and shaking my hand vigorously.
Nonetheless, I pressed on with that live round still chambered.
As we reached the top of the little bluff which the kudu had stood upon when shot, I could then see him, perhaps 15 or 20 meters to our left front, laying in a grassy spot, apparently quite dead.
My 300 grainer had impacted exactly where I intended, and when this kudu was butchered, they found my bullet was a perfect mushroom, against the right side brisket.
It appeared that, PMP 300 grain round nose softs might be bonded core to jacket (?)

Anyway, the men walked down to get the bakkie.
It was a bit of an ordeal to get the bakkie up there but they made it, by crawling it up the left side of the mountain.
We arrived in camp too late for sundowners at the evening fire and supper was served at 8:00 PM.
Would've been dangerous to have a fire anyway, due to high wind / storm approaching and one bush fire was reported to Dietmar already, due to a lightening strike.
But it was a long way off and not blowing toward our direction.

At supper, we met 3 Frenchmen, who were there to hunt primarily Hartmann zebra and oryx.
2 of the 3 spoke perfect English and they were very fine fellows who loved to hunt as much as any of us.
We dined on oryx schnitzel, gravy, all the usual side dishes.
Danny ("DoubleLunger") reported having taken a mature male baboon, by means of his PH's Remington Model 700, .375 H&H / Leupold scope.
His PH, Errens added to Danny's "report" that, the shot was a long one and the monkey was walking, not stationary and the shot was perfect (I believe 260 meters).
After supper, one of the French chaps issued to all of us who wanted them, Cuban cigars (Partagas) and Nicaraguan Rum.

TO BE CONTINUED ....

 

[Velo Dog]

Some skulls we found in the Khomas Hochland bush and an AfricaHunting.com hat found on my skull.

 

[cpr0312]

Some more nice looking critters!

 

[rinehart0050]

Great looking kudu. Really enjoying your report

 

[brandondd24]

Loving the report! Excellent animals! Love that hartmans zebra!