- Joined
- Mar 5, 2019
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- 929
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- Southwestern Ohio
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- Hunted
- Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, SA; KY, OH, IN, WI, AL, KS, ND, TX-USA
Spent the last week (March 22 thru 30) hunting with @Hogpatrol (Dale) for primarily cull animals at Jakkalskuil Safaris properties in the Northern Cape, South Africa, owned and managed by Kobus De Villiers. Kobus and Dale are good friends and have known eachother for a number of years. Backstory is I met Dale a couple years ago while we were hunting the same camp in the Eastern Cape and have kept in touch since. Anyone that has met and knows Dale, find him just a super all-around guy, whatever the topic. He's given me plenty of hunting and shooting advice.
We flew to Kimberly after a fishing trip to Angola, then a drive of a couple hours to the main ranch near Petrusville. Spent some time before rain started checking rifle zero's, I used a couple camp and PH rifles:
Sako .243 Winchester
Howa .243 Winchester
BRNO ZKK 600 in .30-06
.222 Remington for night hunting
Plus Dale shared his rifles, very generous to say the least.
Got settled into the main camp bunkhouse, that had several suites and plenty of room, plus we had a main area to meet for braai and dinner. Every morning for breakfast and lunch at the main house if not heading out too early. The hospitality of Kobus and his family I can't say enough about, I felt like part of the family. The meals were outstanding! A photo of the camp in a large grove of big eucalyptus trees:
First morning we traveled by Land Cruiser to a number of huge pastures looking for springbuck and especially warthogs, of which there were many. Dale scored first on a warthog.
Later in the morning, I was able to bag a springbuck.
Unfortunately we had some periods of very heavy downpours and storms for the first few days which did affect our hunting plans somewhat, but with 8 hunting days, in the end, it didn't matter. Temperatures were generally not terribly hot, and evenings cooled off to pleasant levels. Even had a day or two of jacket weather in the morning.
The topography was interesting in that it appeared very flat but with shallow drainage gulleys that warthogs could be in and not very visible with knee high bushes and grass.
Many buttes present, which reminded me of our western states.
I had to ask the question about other trophy animals available to add, and not being able to control that urge, asked about a couple animals initially (Blue Wildebeest, possibly a really nice springbuck), not a problem! We drove to another area and spent a half day looking at some wildebeest but none were considered worthy pursuing. Spent the afternoon trying for springbuck and each of us had success before strong storms shut us down.
One afternoon we had the opportunity to hunt a huge pasture for common blesbuck to cull, I counted myself fortunate to have one move into range with the BRNO .30-06 at 250 yards and oblige by standing broadside. This rifle was sighted in with handloads of Hornady 165 grain SST and was very accurate. By the time I left, I developed a real appreciation for this cartridge, having never hunted with it before.
We flew to Kimberly after a fishing trip to Angola, then a drive of a couple hours to the main ranch near Petrusville. Spent some time before rain started checking rifle zero's, I used a couple camp and PH rifles:
Sako .243 Winchester
Howa .243 Winchester
BRNO ZKK 600 in .30-06
.222 Remington for night hunting
Plus Dale shared his rifles, very generous to say the least.
Got settled into the main camp bunkhouse, that had several suites and plenty of room, plus we had a main area to meet for braai and dinner. Every morning for breakfast and lunch at the main house if not heading out too early. The hospitality of Kobus and his family I can't say enough about, I felt like part of the family. The meals were outstanding! A photo of the camp in a large grove of big eucalyptus trees:
First morning we traveled by Land Cruiser to a number of huge pastures looking for springbuck and especially warthogs, of which there were many. Dale scored first on a warthog.
Later in the morning, I was able to bag a springbuck.
Unfortunately we had some periods of very heavy downpours and storms for the first few days which did affect our hunting plans somewhat, but with 8 hunting days, in the end, it didn't matter. Temperatures were generally not terribly hot, and evenings cooled off to pleasant levels. Even had a day or two of jacket weather in the morning.
The topography was interesting in that it appeared very flat but with shallow drainage gulleys that warthogs could be in and not very visible with knee high bushes and grass.
Many buttes present, which reminded me of our western states.
I had to ask the question about other trophy animals available to add, and not being able to control that urge, asked about a couple animals initially (Blue Wildebeest, possibly a really nice springbuck), not a problem! We drove to another area and spent a half day looking at some wildebeest but none were considered worthy pursuing. Spent the afternoon trying for springbuck and each of us had success before strong storms shut us down.
One afternoon we had the opportunity to hunt a huge pasture for common blesbuck to cull, I counted myself fortunate to have one move into range with the BRNO .30-06 at 250 yards and oblige by standing broadside. This rifle was sighted in with handloads of Hornady 165 grain SST and was very accurate. By the time I left, I developed a real appreciation for this cartridge, having never hunted with it before.
