Day 7
The worst day followed by the best day. We wake up, eat and head out to another farm. We hunt the morning, looking for zebra and also chasing some red hartebeest we seen while looking for zebra, but no luck. We decide to head back to a different part of the farm, and break for an early lunch. On the way, we run into the farm owner Renier. He decides to make sure we get on some animals and says he knows where the zebra are likely hiding. We eat, and head out. We also talk to him about kudu - Ronald had mentioned to me that he has some nice kudu on the property, but he's kind of particular about hunting them and doesn't let very many be hunted. Fortunately for me, Renier says absolutely we can get after the kudu as well, so off we go. We drive for a bit, seeing a few younger kudu bulls, and then Renier stops us so he and my wife can go for a walk to try and spot some zebra. No luck. Back on the truck and we continue our drive, until we come across a pair of kudu bulls. Ronald and Renier glass them and discuss - we have a shooter. I'm not shooting for inches, so I am all over it. I get lined up, making sure I am on the right animal, and pull the trigger. Yep, pull.....I hit a bit far back, but thankfully the shot is good enough to catch some lung. He runs off a bit, and slows to a stop under some trees. Renier tells me "it's okay, time for a smoke and a coke". We hang back as I don't have a clear shot and not wanting to bump the animal and have him take off. Sure enough after just a few minutes (that felt like hours), the animal is down.
Saying thanks for the beautiful animal - he was my #1 target heading over
You can see the shot, a little far back even though he was quartering. Here is the entrance on the other side
So we load him up and drop him at the shed of Renier's place, and head back out for zebra. We chased them all over the place. We'd spot them, back off in the thick stuff and try to work for a shot. Then they would take off, and they were running hard. Finally we manage to catch them as they were getting ready to cross from one block to another...they pause for a few seconds, and there is a nice stallion at the rear of the group. The wife lines him up and squeezes....just as he starts to bolt. Shot was pretty far back, and no blood. My wife is everything you could ask for in a relatively new hunter - she is patient, will only take shots where she can clearly see the vitals, and is really dedicated to making clean shots to minimize any suffering to the animal. She is very hard on herself when she thinks she made a bad shot, so I did my best to do some encouraging, as did Renier and Ronald. We turn loose the secret weapon - an old Jack Russell terrier. The dog is on the track, and we start walking. We are making progress, slowly working and come to the next block. Renier, Ronald and my wife hop back on the truck and try to get ahead of the animal, while Owen and I follow the tracks and the dog. Soon we hear barking....followed later by a shot. We make our way back to the truck and there lays a zebra! So this awesome little dog caught up to the zebra, chased it down and bayed it while my wife was able to get into position and take a shot about 150 yds out. Her second shot did the trick, and the zebra was down.
The happy girl and her stripes
The team
So the sun is heading down as we are driving back, and Renier says I have some nice waterbuck this year, would you want a waterbuck....uh, yes please! So we start back on a path that runs us through some real thick stuff where the waterbuck like to travel and are cruising along when the wife turns to Karel and says "hey is that a kudu?" (Another funny, long-running joke is that my wife couldn't keep the names of the species straight. At one point she gave up and called them all deer). Well it was my waterbuck. So I quickly get the gun up, but he's pretty covered up by the grass. Ronald and Renier help talk me through where to aim since I couldn't see the shoulder clearly, and boom. Shot felt good, we try to watch and listen as he makes his way off. Man, he's running a lot further than I would have thought....but the shot felt good. We turn the dog loose, and quickly we find a little blood. The dog runs off and within just a few minutes is barking. We follow and there lays a big bodied waterbuck. I'm estatic!
What a day! We load up the waterbuck with the zebra and start driving back to the shed. And then we proceed to test the weight capacity of the Toyota LandCruiser by adding a kudu on top of the zebra and waterbuck. Talk about load!
Sunset drive back