BourbonTrail
AH legend
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2021
- Messages
- 2,391
- Reaction score
- 7,515
- Media
- 15
- Hunted
- USA (AZ, KY, MO, NM, VA), RSA
That is the furriest bongo I have ever seen
Congratulations Bruce!
![Wink ;) ;)](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/twitter/twemoji@14.0.2/assets/72x72/1f609.png)
Wow, wow, wow!!! Congrats!!! What a hawg!View attachment 562869
A couple of feet from where he died.
View attachment 562807
Me during the tracking. Look closely and you’ll see how wet my shirt is.
Awesome!!!!We are going back to the machan that we sat in the first night. We have a broken horn Sitatunga on camera there. C says that there has been 2 additional Sitatungas on camera there in the last couple of weeks. We leave camp slightly later than normal and find a large tree across the road. Probably pushing 2 ft in diameter. So they break out the chain saw and get to work. Almost an hour to clear the road enough for us to get through.
We get to the machan and the wind is right. Great news. We eat our normal baguette dinner and settle in. The frogs, insects and birds are so loud. At 7:30 which is an hour after dark I see the lights on the motion sensor go off. I quietly pick up the rifle and turn on the Pulsar thermal attachment and start to look for an animal. C quietly tells me its a Sitatunga and asks if I can see him. I locate him and reply yes to C. I turn up the magnification slightly and can see a large Sitatunga drinking the salt water. He is facing directly to me. I have my arms and rifle braced rock solid. The crosshair is centered between his horns between his shoulders. C whispers, "wait for him to turn". I wait and wait and wait for seemed like an eternity, but was probably less than 2 min. C repeated again to wait for him to turn. My finger is on the trigger and I have probably 1 lb of pressure on in. I'm chanting in my mind, squeeze the trigger. Don't jerk the trigger.
Finally his head comes up and he steps back. He turns so he is quartering to me. I complete the trigger squeeze. Boom and he goes down where he stands. I immediately chamber another round and get back on him. He is laying still on the ground...... I have my Sitatunga!!!!!!!
We put our shoes on ad head down to check him out. On the way C shows me a trail cam picture and says I think this is the one we just killed. It's the big one that Perry had been chasing. In fact they later told me that they had been hunting this particular animal for 3 years. Last year the other PH and part owner sat for him for 40 nights. When we get close he moves and C says immediately to shoot him again. Apparently they had one get up last year and disappear never to be seen again. I shoot him in the chest and finish him.
He wasn't going anywhere as my first shot entered just in front of the shoulder and traveled lengthwise. I can only think of 3 other animals I have killed in the last 10 years that have had me as excited as this one. We loaded him up and headed back. The pygmies sang as we traveled. Truly a surreal moment. I'll show some pics of my trophy.
Bruce
That animal looks big from every angleView attachment 562871
Photo angles make a difference in how big an animal looks……
CONGRATULATIONS Bruce! That is a truly magnificent trophy to be proud of.View attachment 562871
Photo angles make a difference in how big an animal looks……