SOUTH AFRICA: Back To The East Cape 2 Outfitters Hunting Report

[BRICKBURN]

Deb's trophy room is going to be very impressive with all those Rowland trophies in it.

Congrats to you both.

 

[cpr0312]

Nice trophies! Great gemsbok, congrats on all and thanks for sharing!

 

[Sand Rat]

Great trip so far Bob! Look forward to reading about the rest of it. Deb has really taken some awesome animals.

 

[Nyati]

The two of you are doing quite well !

Keep it up.

 

[Bobpuckett]

Well it's day 5 and we're up early and packed, we go up to the lodge to have Breakfast and after breakfast we decide we have a little time to kill so it's back out to the flats to look one more time for my Sable we see several 3 in one group and then just up the hill we see a loner he's a nice black Bull heavy bases but the horns we figured would only go 36 or 37 inches not the one I'm looking for so we call it quite's about noon and head back to load up and head out for Rusty's which is about an hour drive from Huntershill Safaris. And yes Rusty is my friend and PH but he also has his own Safari Company Father & Son Safaris and for the remainder of my hunt I will be hunting with Father & Son Safaris. We arrive at Rusty's and get settled in and meet Tristan Rusty's 4 month old Son, yep you figured it out "Rusty doesn't hunt all the time!" So this evening it's catch up time with Jami that we haven't seen sense 2014 when we made our 4th trip to the East Cape for their Wedding!

So after an afternoon of visiting with friends getting to Know Tristan we have dinner and a few drinks. Well it's early to bed as the next day we have a 2 1/2 hour drive to the Klipspringer area and it's on the road at 5:00 am.

 

[johnnyblues]

Excellent. Love the black wildebeest.

 

[Scott Slough]

That is a stone cold killer you are married to!

 

[Bobpuckett]

Well folks it's 4:00 am of the 5th day, a quick breakfast and a half pot of coffee and Rusty and I hit the road at 5:00 am sharp Deb decides to stay back and get some rest from the first part of our hunting that or she's feeling sorry for me and going to let me shoot something "hard to say just not knowing " so it's a 2 1/2 hour drive and we reach the farm right on time 7:30 we pull into the drive way of the farm and Rusty gets out and goes up to the house a few minutes later he comes back with a piece of paper in his hand and I ask him what's that a written permission slip to hunt the farm? He laughs and say's it's better then that it's a map of all the roads and where to look for the best Klipspringers! well we head out and go through several cattle gates when we pull in to this hilly area and Rusty stops and grabs his Glasses looking up the hill from the gate stands our first one, Rusty looks at me and says 340 yards and he's a nice one but it's only 8:00 am it's still early lets look around and see what else we can spot. Now I didn't know that "lets look around a little" translated in to 5 miles of climbing ridges and hill in 4 hours on foot to see what all we could find but that's what we did. So off we go Rusty, myself and my tracker Olejohn Oh yeah and the 243 Akley Improved , now if I could have found this Akley guy after the first mile of carrying this rifle I would have shot him in the foot! it had a 26" bull barrel on a Mauser Action with a suppressor, a 5.5-22 Nightforce Scope and a Bi-pod it weighed in at over 20 pounds. so Now for what really happened this fist picture is what you normally get to see.

But after the first mile this is what is really happening.

Now look closely yes that is Olejohn carrying the rifle for me now look closely or should I say behind Olejohn Yes that little Old Fart behind him is me struggling just to get up the Steep hill. Well Olejuhn and Rusty are already at the top of the first hill waiting for me to catch up, when I finally make it there Rusty is laughing and said smile Bobby as he takes a picture so I do!!!

And this is just the first hill. Well we set and do some glassing and calling to see what we can get to come out and see what all the noise is about.

Well it wasn't but just a minute when one comes running out to check us out, it may not have been as big as the first one we seen but it was a hole lot closer just 100 yards. I get setup, get my cross-hair on him and YEP! off he goes never to be seen again. So we head back, well on the way back to the truck Rusty is talking to Olejohn and he looks around at me and say's no sense in going all the way down to the truck that hill over there is where we seen the first Klipspringer so we'll just cut across this saddle sneak around the other side and look over the ridge and see if we can see him, and that is what we did, so 2 miles later we are sneaking a peek over the ridge and guess what the little bugger ain't there! we look, we call, we glass and nothing so now we're headed back and I'm Dog tired and about a half mile further Rusty looks at me and say's there is one more place I want us to look and he pointed to the Highest peak yet, I look at him and say Look Rusty I'm thinking maybe I don't want one that bad but he would have none of that and off we go as we get to the spot Rusty wants to check out he looks over and Drops down real fast and starts waving like a mad man for me to get the rifle and come on, so I did. I get up there and get setup as I look there are 3 of them 2 females standing on the rocks looking at us and 1 down lower watching us. I ask Rusty witch one the one behind the rock and he said yes Shoot! Well all you could see of him was the head, neck and shoulder but that was enough I take a bead on that shoulder and squeeze it off Klipspringer down. Rusty starts slapping me on the back and say's I don't believe it, here we have this long range rifle range finder even a cheat sheet for ranges all setup for 300 to 400 yard shots and here he is where he shouldn't have been in the first place in the shade on a cold morning at 40 yards! Heck we could have brought the other rifle it only weighs 7 pounds.

Now for those that have never hunted Klipspringer on the Eastern Cape Take a look at the shape of their hoofs, they run on the tips of them to just bounce all over the bluffs and rocky areas.

So its now 12:00 pm and my klipspringer is in the salt after just a half day of hunting and we had allowed for 3 days of hunting, so we load up and head back to Rusty's.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I like the salute Bob
Congrats on surviving your PH's humour

 

[Red Leg]

Jeeez - that's a crew-served weapon. An M-60 and belt of ammo wouldn't weigh much more.

 

[LivingTheDream]

What a cool trophy! Congratulations!!!

 

[Bobpuckett]

Thanks Everyone have no doubt with all the aches and pains from all the climbing we've been doing I was having a blast!

 

[Bobpuckett]

Well we get back to Rusty's place that afternoon with a 4+ inch K;ipspringer in the salt and there's still a few hours of daylight left so Rusty say's let's go do some calling for Duiker there was one earlier this year I was trying to get with a Bow and I couldn't get him to step out of the brush, he's an Old Bugger and a really nice one. so we're off again. We park and make a small hike to a low ridge and set and glass for a while, we see Springbok, Mountain Reedbuck and Warthogs but no Duiker so Rusty pulls out the call and goes to work after several minutes of calling and glassing we still don't see him. It's getting late and it's time to head back for dinner. Over dinner we're setting there talking and Jami ask me, Bobby if you see a meat Bull Kudu would you shoot it for me? we could use the meat, I've been asking Rusty to shoot one but he's been so busy. Well to tell the truth it didn't take much arm twisting to get me to say yes. and to top that off a local farmer called and ask if at all possible could Deb and I shoot a Springbok or two for them they would like the meat but would like it to be a head or neck shot only as they would not want to waste any meat. So I talk it over with Rusty and the next morning we're up at 7:00 am yeah I got a little extra rest this time we have some coffee and head out to look for kudu. About a mile down the road we stop and get out to stalk a ridge where we had seen one the evening before while calling Duiker, Rusty has Olejohn take the truck down the road where he would pick us up. with Radio in hand we head out and about 30 minutes later Olejohn calls and say's there is a Bull on the hillside so we head that way, when I see something over in that direction but down in the brush I ask Rusty what is that Warthogs? he said no Duiker. well we get over there and sure enough there is a Bull on the hillside but it's no meat bull it's a Trophy and not what we're looking for it would go 50" + and that's a Good Eastern Cape Greater Kudu. So Rusty said lets see what those Duiker look like he gets me setup on the sticks and starts calling it doesn't take a minute when a Duiker steps out in to a small opening in the brush Rusty looks and say's take him but before I could get on him he was gone. Rusty keeps calling and a second Duiker steps in to the same spot but this one is a female Rusty looks around and said watch that spot down there that is where he will come out and starts calling again and not even 30 seconds and he runs out and stops looking around to see where the call it coming from Rusty say's take him and I tighten up on the trigger the 300 goes off it jumps and runs I ask Rusty did I miss and he said no, he got on the radio and told Olejohn to bring Spud the Jack Russel and we head down the slope. It turns out Spud wasn't needed because not 30 yards away lay the Duiker. well it's picture time and and back to the house.

Turns out to be a really nice old bugger, 5 10/16 on the right and 5 9/16 on the left another Gold Medal Ram. well we take him back to the skinning shed and get him on salt and continue to hunt Kudu with no luck so it's back to the house for some Castle and Dinner and we call day 6 to an end.

 

[Clayton]

Man you're doing all the good & look like you're having fun too. Congrats!

 

[Bobpuckett]

Well It's Sunday Morning and day 7 I know some people don't like to hunt on Sundays but the way I see it the Good Lord wants us to eat everyday so we're up at 7:00 AM having coffee and we're off again for Springbok and Kudu. We spot several groups of springbok's but they all seem to be a bit skid-ish this morning. we finally spot a group up on the hill that is standing there watching us I get setup Rusty ranges him at just over 200 yards I zero in and squeeze off a round and he drops in his tracks. Rusty headed over to get it when he stops and looks around, I know it was only 200 or so yards he looks up and see him and we head that way. When I look him over he was shot in the neck about 6 inches lower then were I was aiming, Rusty turns around and ranges the truck Hmmm I must have picked up a bush in front of him it was 323 yards still a good shot.

So we load him up and keep looking for another one. We spot another bunch and Deb and Rusty put on a stalk but they get busted. When they take off, but when they do they spook some Kudu up on the hill and Rysty and Deb come beating feet back to the truck he say's jump in we've got Kudu we get over there and I get the bi-pods down and I zeroed in on him rusty say's when you have him take him and I squeeze off a round and the Kudu drops in his tracks. It's picture time He may not be a monster but he's a trophy to me.

Rusty say's this is a good example of conservation through hunting... Not all animals have the genetics we look for and this is a good old kudu bull that did not have what it takes to be a trophy only 42" so we took this bull for the table! Well he still gets a place of honor on my wall. I had a flat skin rug made of the Springbok and a skull mount of the Kudu. Rusty and Olejohn drag him down to the truck, Rusty gets up in the truck to pull and Olejohn and I put a Pole under him to lift with and the 3 of us load him into the truck and head back to the house.

 

[mcdowelr]

Great Hunt! Enjoying the stories, keep em coming!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Nothing like a tasty Kudu.

 

[jeff]

Spectacular trophies! Love that black and blue and the lechwe is awesome. I dream of a black like that with the big cracked bosses!!

 

[Bobpuckett]

Well that evening over some Castles Rusty and I start talking about Deb's last Springbok the Kalahari Springbok, Rusty tells me that if I wish he has a friend only 30 minutes away that has some Nice Kalahari and he show's me a picture of one that was taken there that went over 17" so I say sure why not it'll put the cap on Deb's Springbok Slam giving her all 5 Springbok as she had already taken her Common back in 2013. Now Day 8 we were suppose to head for Port Alfred to hunt some of my tiny ten a Bushpig and Deb a Bushbuck so we decided to put Port Alfred off til Tuesday and take Deb after her Kalahari. So the next Morning we're up having breakfast and coffee and we head out for a farm just south of Cradock, We get there and start scouting around and there are a lot of nice ones even the females had good horns well we spotted one that looked to be pretty nice and the stalk is on. well we stalk him for about a mile when we step out of a dry creek bed and they were gone no where to be seen so we continue in the direction they were headed but still no springbok Rusty was glassing some small valley to see if they had gone that way when I looked around and Whispered Rusty behind us! Them buggers had started to circle around us but had not winded us yet so the stalks back on Deb and Rusty move out to get setup and Olejohn and myself stay put to keep from getting busted. Well Rusty and Deb got setup but they were bunched to tight for a shot so now the wait is on they set there for 45 minutes wait for a shot when they finally spread out a bit and Deb tightens up on the trigger of the 243 and her Final Springbok is down. So now it's Picture time.

not a 17 inch'r but 14 3/4 ain't bad either. So we get him loaded up and Deb's Springbok slam is done. We get back to Rusty's and get it Skinned out and on salt and the meat went to the local farmer who had ask us to shoot him a couple of Springbok. That afternoon Rusty had said to me that tonight you and I are going to go out and see if we can spot a Caracal now I've always wanted one of those cats and even more sense I had gotten my Bobcat last December I figured they would make a fine pair of mounts. so that evening we get the spot light setup on the truck and head out after dark. Well after an hour or so of driving and spotting we catch a set of eyes high up the bluff just below the ridge Rusty glasses it and said get the rifle its a Caracal so I take aim and shoot hear the smack of the bullet and the cat drops only a few seconds later from about the same spot we see it moving again Rusty yells shoot it again but before I could get on it it was gone so we keep spot lighting the hill when I said to Rusty up on the ridge I thought I saw it he said no that's just a star but he looks anyway and yells get the gun get the gun it's a cat! so I sight in once more pull the trigger and hear the smack again rusty smiles at me and said good shot it wouldn't surprise me to find 2 cats up there. I looked at that Bluff and I ask Rusty who the hell is going to go up there and get them? Rusty laughs and say's here hold the spot light up there and I'll be right back and away he went, I still think he's 3/4 Mountain Goat. well it wasn't long and he was back down with 1 cat a female he said she had dropped right where I shot her he also found the blood and hair of the other cat but it was to dark to track it so we'll come back in the morning with Spud and Coco and see if we can find it.

The next morning we head back with the dogs while the girls are getting thing packed to head for Port Alfred.

It didn't take long and Spud had found the 2nd cat just 30 yards from where I had shot it. When we got back down I ask Rusty how far was those shots? so he ranged them and said you got the female at 219 yards the Tom was at 251 Yards.

Talking to a couple of local farmers they said they had never seen 2 cats taken on the same hill so close together, they normally hunt alone not in pairs only thing we can figure is that the female must have been in heat and the Tom was following her. It was his eyes we had seen leaving the spot where I had shot her he had come close to check her out and was leaving when we saw him.

So we get back to the house load everything up including the capes and horns to be dropped off at the Taxidermist on our way through Cradock in route to Port Alfred.

 

[gillettehunter]

Nice looking cats. Have you got something special figured out on how to display them? You and your wife are having a fantastic hunt. Congrats! Bruce