Day 8 – 2nd May, the day commenced as per yesterday, we headed up the telegraph line road stopping and glassing the ridges, we watched a good Kudu and saw a number of Nyala but they were not of the quality we were seeking. Through the morning we headed to the higher ridges where we had hunted the Kudu previously. We drove on further and stopped a few hundred metres from a watering hole, we headed on foot as we had watch a healthy number of Bulls here last week. I had only walk about twenty metres when I saw a face watching me through some trees between us and the watering home, I froze and grabbed Martin by the shirt. There were some Nyala bulls ahead of us, Martin looked through his glasses and whispered an unidentifiable exclamation? The sticks went up but a young Kudu bull spooked and ran taking the Nyala with him. Martin took off in a quick shuffle with me following, the Nyala had headed down the side of the ridge and we followed. We caught site of them in the thick stuff, as they quietly moved through the thickets, but no shot presented. We followed these beasts through some beautiful but thick gully country, very cool and so shaded it was almost dark. No luck so we headed back to the ute and decided on a break and lunch at the middle lodge. After lunch and mandatory short snooze, we went back to the area the best Bull from yesterday was spotted, glassing from the higher lodge veranda. After some time we headed down the road to the next ridge, as we got to the top of the road another young Kudu bull and Nyala spooked and took off to the left. Martin checked the right hand side exposed hillside with his binos and spotted a good Bull feeding, I am still not sure if it was the bull identified yesterday but we were out of the ute in a flash and setting up the in a hurry but the Bull was still obscured for a safe shot. We kept low as the closest animals were about 200m away as we did not want to disturb them. The sticks were re-positioned a couple of times, to improve the chance of a clear shot. He came out of cover but bottom two thirds of his body was still covered by a bush, I held off, he came out into the clear but was moving with some obvious agitation. They had wind of us and all three bolted, Martin swore and threw his hat down, umm guess it was the bull from yesterday. We followed the fleeing animals on the off chance they pulled up in the next valley hillside area, we walk on over the next ridge and circle back to the vehicle. We had disturbed the area enough so decide to head back to the other side of the block again. The exposed faces were quiet as the wind had increased, Martin remarked they would be heading low, they seemed a lot scarcer to the eye. It was getting late so we were driving out along the telegraph line when Martin stopped for us to check one last lower gully located at the top corner of the block. On queue we sighted a large Bull hiding out of the wind, not quite the shape we were after but very long and large ivory tips. We began a stalk to put the animal in range, the wind was straight into our faces so we were confident, the sticks went up with about two hundred yards to go, he had gone behind some medium scrub, we could still make out his body outline, we waited. Martin said shoot him when he comes out the gap to the left, he was going to go back higher to keep an eye on him. The old bull would just not come out and the light was fading quickly. It had come time to get right up close or we would miss him. We made a quiet stalk right up to the bushes, I turn the scope down to 2 power, we entered the hidden area we had last seen him but there was no sign of him, just completely disappeared. We could see Oli back up the ridge looking at us with his hands in the air. Oli had a good view of proceedings and saw the Bull go into the same bush we had walk through but had not seen where the bull had gone. The light had faded by the time we climbed back up to the ute so we headed home dodging all manner of wildlife on the way home via Martin’s dirt road short cut. It was a great day spent observing some quality Nyala, attempting a number of opportunities on good Bulls, but alas no cigar, there is always tomorrow, that’s hunting.
Day 9 - 3rd May, This morning’s weather was a little cloudy with Martin confirming there was a forecast for some showers today, we would be hunting the same area again and team Wales will also be hunting the same concession I think for a Kudu and Nyala. We all shared breakfast and headed off in tandem down the dirt short cut road to the concession. Martin hit the brakes as a Jackal ran across the road, he grab his rifle but he was through the fence and away, they don’t like them much over here . We all checked in with Heinrich and the other property manager, we went to one end of the Concession and team Wales headed the other way. As with previous days the high lodge veranda provided an excellent viewing platform of the ridges below. The wind blew up from the river valley and had us reaching for a fourth layer, particularly when it started to rain lightly, but it was only a short shower. There were a good number of animals on the open faces, some reasonable bulls, but not the one from the past two days. Each time you looked at a previous area you had already glassed, another Bull would have appeared from the thick vegetation. Martin was intently watching three bulls of interest on top of the second ridge away from us. We decided to drive the downhill road just sufficiently enough to hop out and walk to the top of the next small ridge which gave us a closer look at the area the three bulls were in. he was waiting for one to come out of the thick stuff as he thought it may be a very good Bull. Martin slowly opened the sticks as I carefully placed the rifle. Wait for him to be broadside and clear, I had a good view of him, felt steady in the sticks, I took the shot. It was a hit but he kept going into the tree line to the left, I reloaded immediately after the first shot, then took a second then a third, I had a forth shot ready but lost sight of him. Oli said he saw him go down, after a 10 minute wait, Martin sent him in to look. Oli could not find the downed bull so up we went to help find him. There was a good load of blood along the trail including some lung blood. Martin opted to give Heinrich a call to use Tikka the jack Russel to locate the bull as the cover was very thick. Heinrich arrive soon after but it had started raining, I thought to myself how will this turn out now. Tikka had some short runs but was obviously having difficulty picking up the trail. Heindrich and Martin headed off down gully while Sharyn and I retraced steps back to the blood trail. A little later Oli gave us a call to follow as Tikka had found the bull, much relief to hear that I can tell you. My first shot had been low and back, my second or third had shattered the top of the left leg, these animals are unbelievably tough, Tikka had found and bailed him for a finishing shot. Many appreciative thanks were given to Heinrich and Tikka for finding the bull. It had been an action packed two and one half days hunting, finally a beautiful old Nyala bull lay at our feet. My nerves had been tested the last couple of animals but I still had the desire and time for one more hunt.
