Odds of arrowing these animals in limpopo

[bruceb]

For all those of you that have replied to this thread, who did you hunt with when you saw blesbuk and heartebeest?

 

[joker2400]

Ugh. Not the story I am getting from my chosen PH. I have chosen this PH because he is highly regarded and I am good friends with his American contact. Maybe he just does not have a lot of those animals?

He should still be able to make a plan for you if those animals are important to you. If he doesn’t have many on his main property, he should be able to work his contacts to find a property that has a good chance of success for you.

 

[C.W. Richter]

red hartebeest in Namibia were always in herds, out in the open (far away.) we had to crawl in small, grassy drainage ditches to get within 225 yds of 'em. gemsbok came within 10 yds of a blind, set up on a pinchpoint between kopjes, en route to water. never saw blesbuck in the areas where the aforementioned occur, but had them blow plenty of whitetail hunts in TX (while sitting in a blind!) they make quite the alert call once spooked!!! on a stocked game farm, they should all come to water on schedule.

 

[mrpoindexter]

Your outfitter is in Marken. I am not that familiar with the area. I know there are a TON of blesbok at a concession named Buffelspoor just north of Thabazimbi and next to the Marakele National Park. Still, it is probably a 2 hour drive each way and the last few miles of the road to the concession is not the worst road in the world, but it is the worst road I have ever personally been on. Still, there are likely to be concessions around your outfitter that have a lot of animals that you are looking for if you explain how important those are for you.

On the other side, unless you have a big hole on a checklist you are wanting to complete, it is often best to just take what Africa offers. Sometimes an animal of opportunity is a great thing.

Now, I was just in South Africa this last August. It was the worst blind hunting I have had there for no other reason than the weather. They had a lot of rain so there was plenty to eat everywhere and lots of water standing in various places that kept a lot of animals away from watering holes. Also, a cold front came in and the animals don't move around as much when it is windy. It actually was snowing or supposed to snow in some parts of the country when I was there (I think in Jeffreys' Bay). Still, I got 6 animals in 7 days.

I would think all those animals would be high probability as long as your outfitter has a decent population on their property and they have trail cameras at the waterholes to see where animals are coming in and when. I cannot imagine any successful bow hunting outfit that wouldn't be doing that so it will boil down to how big their herds are and how many trophy animals are left by the time you get there in that season.

Good luck!