Mountainshadows
AH member
Well, just so everyone knows this hunt was in June of 2023. One of my good friends I worked with at the time (2022) got to talking about hunting in Africa and how he had been the year before. We had a lot of discussions over the period of a month or so and the big thing that came out to me was pricing. I have read, up to that time, Hemingway, Ruark, and Capstick and was really intrigued by hunting in Africa, but I had assumed it was always out of reach money wise. When I learned how much more reasonable it was than I thought, I began to plan and start watching more videos on hunting in Africa. That is about the time I also discovered AH and it’s wealth of knowledge.
My good friend N. had a hunt scheduled for the next year and I thought, what the hell, I’ll do it. He was scheduled to hunt with @Bos en Dal SAFARIS (whom he had hunted with the year before) in Northwest Province, SA in June of the following year (2023). This is the same friend I worked with and had had Africa hunting discussions with.
I contacted Gerrit, owner of Bos en Dal Safaris, and we discussed hunting plains game with the intent of my son coming along and doing the same. We got things locked in with my son and I having the option for hunting Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Blesbok, Warthog, and Zebra. I forgot which we had decided to hunt but were fairly open for plains game when we arrived. After making arrangements and then watching and reading more on African hunting I got fascinated with Cape Buffalo hunting (it didn’t help that I own and have read the book “Black Death”). Having everything booked and locked in for the plains game, along about January, I decided to ask Gerrit if it was possible to add a Buffalo Bull to my hunt because the itch got to be too much. Gerrit said it was pretty late for that but someone had backed out on one of theirs and I could jump on it.
My son, and my friend N. and his wife, arrived late June in Jo’berg on the same flight in the late afternoon. By the time we arrived at the lodge it was dark, and the crew had a fire going on the up-raised fire pit and a meal was being prepared for us. We were shown our rooms, and they were large and very nice, consisting of a king-size bed, desk, wardrobe, nightstands and a large adjoining bathroom. A very luxurious comforter was on the bed.
We got up early the next morning and went out to the shooting range and confirmed zero on the rifles we were to use. My son and I both were renting rifles for the trip. My son zeroed a .30-06 that was suppressed, and I checked zero on a CZ .308 and a .375 H&H (for the Buffalo). We left the shooting range with mist rising in the brush as the sun began to climb. My PH was Francois and my son left with his PH Rikus. As we drove along jumping up Ostrich and the ass end of Wildebeests running out through the brush, I became absolutely fascinated with what I was experiencing so far.
As Francois drove along we seen a herd of Blesbok off to our right about 200 yards in a larger opening. I do know I didn’t have them on my list to hunt at that time. Now, Francois, over some time it took me to learn, has a passion for game and for really nice big game animals! He started getting a little excited over the size of one of the Blesbok rams and that we could get on up aways and come back on foot through the tree line to have a better look at it. As we go further down the 2 track I’m thinking “I didn’t come to hunt Blesbok” but I’m also kind of caught up in his excitement and I didn’t say anything. After getting up the trail a quarter of a mile or so into the trees we got out and started stalking back. The Blesbok herd had crossed a tree line from the open ground they were in into another stretch of open ground that we were stalking through the trees to get onto. We got to the edge of the trees and all of the ewes had moved off down the open and the one ram was there at about 90 yards (I use Vortex HD5000 laser rangefinder binoculars) away feeding. Francois set the shooting sticks up and kept telling me he was a “big boy”. As I settle onto the sticks I’m thinking that I didn’t have Blesbok on my list to shoot. I line up with the .308 and the ram is presenting a nice easy, head down, broadside shot. I go ahead and take the shot and he drops with his back to us. His feet are kicking a little and Francois says “shoot him again”. So, I put another shot through the top of his shoulders. As we walk up to the animal, Francois is excited and exclaiming “what a big boy!”. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I just shot an animal that really wasn’t on my list to shoot (hahaha). Francois tells me this guy will make book. I had not once looked at what trophy size was for any animals in Africa before I went. Maybe because I don’t particularly trophy hunt. I just never thought about looking up what trophy sizes were. I was more fascinated with the fact that I was actually hunting in Africa I guess. Francois does not carry a tape measure, and I did not have one either but we find out later it measures right at 19 inches. Over 2 years later as it hangs in my shop, it measures 18 and 5/8 inches. Definitely a Rowland Ward animal!
At that time I’m just excited that I had dropped my first African game animal and felt even more exited that it was quite possibly an animal that made the record books (no, in all my hunting years, I have never shot a record book animal in the States). After waiting for the skinner to come and pick up the Blesbok we hunted around some more without success and then went back to the lodge for lunch. After lunch we went out again and went to a spot where we could walk up a little less than a ½ mile to a water hole and see if there was anything around it or moving. As we were walking up the 2 track that goes to the water hole, a Nyala stepped out of the bush and stood broadside to us and turned its head and just stared at us. We both stopped and pulled our binos up and looked at it. What a beautiful creature the Nyala is! All I could hear Francois whispering was “oh, what a big boy!”, “he’s a big boy!”. That fella was right at 100 yards and I’m guessing stood there for at least a full minute, if not longer. Francois asked me if I wanted to take him. I said “no, he wasn’t on my list”. Francois continued to tell me that he was a big Nyala, and guessed it was a record book Nyala. At this time I’m thinking “am I being scammed? And they are just trying to get me to shoot whatever presents itself so they can rake in the money?” (I’m sorry if I have a mistrust in society..my experiences have made me that way). I’ve already shot, on my first morning there, an animal that wasn’t on my list to hunt. So now I have the PH, whom I don’t know, asking me if I want to shoot another animal, albeit a more expensive animal, that is not on my list. Those reading have to understand that I have travelled around the world quite a bit and have spent some number of time in 3rd world countries and I know about the scam artists that abound in those societies. I’m not much of a writer because I don’t think I can get the amount of excitement that Francois has in his voice at this time. His passion, especially when presented with a trophy, is astonishing. My skeptical self is only thinking of whether or not I’m getting tricked into shooting an expensive animal that I didn’t come to hunt.
Well, that minute ticks away and all I hear is Francois saying, “what a big boy!” and I’m thinking maybe he is not trying to scam me into shooting something just because. After all, we have passed numerous game animals up that we just went on by. As that beautiful Nyala got tired of looking at us from a 100 yards away, and turned its head and stepped off into the bush, I looked at Francois and said “fuck it”. He grinned at me because he immediately knew that I wanted to go after that it. We stepped into the bush and started the stalk.
The brush was very thick and we are moving slowly with Francois in the lead with the shooting sticks and me following behind absorbing every detail. We stopped at one point about 30 yards into the brush and Francois is leaning forward to look around a large bush/shrub tree that we are standing right against. I look, and I can see through the other side of this bush, that the Nyala is right there! Practically 5 yards away! I tap Francois and point and he sees it and we pretty much freeze. After some moments the Nyala moves away. We cautiously stalked forward another 10 yards or so and he spots it feeding in a clearing. There is no way to get on it with the sticks and I move around Francois and kneel down. I’m squatted down on one knee and take aim. The Nyala isn’t more than 30-40 yards distance and is facing to my left and almost quartering away. Just as I squeeze the trigger it turns itself more away from me. I know it moved but I thought it was a pretty good shot for the vitals. The Nyala of course disappeared. We walked up and started looking for blood. Francois immediately finds some blood and then what appears to be dark green bile with the blood that would indicate a gut shot. I’m really irritated as I could of sworn it was a good shot even though it had turned away as I was pulling the trigger. We eased on through the brush trying to follow blood even though it was quite sparse. Several yards along, Francois went one way and I decided to take a jog from him so we could cover some more ground. I went around some brush and there that beautiful animal was laying, on it’s side. I hollered at Francois and he came in on the trail that it had made. It had gone ahead and hooked back towards us before it died. Francois was quite excited and I was just happy at what a great looking animal it was. We both drug it back out to the road and he called the skinner on the radio. Francois kept telling me over and over what a great Nyala it was. We got it handed over to the skinner and went out driving around looking a little more for game. I had thoughts going through my head of why am I shooting animals that aren’t on my list and wondering how much more expensive this trip was going to be. When we got back to the lodge that evening we found that Rikus (if I remember correctly) had gone down to the skinning shed and measured the Nyala. He was greatly congratulatory when we showed up over the record Nyala I had shot. Turns out it measured 28 inches! Another Rowland Ward animal and it was my first day hunting in Africa!
Now, that is hard to top for sure for day 1! The kicker was, and I didn’t say anything to anyone although it came out a few days later, it was also on my birthday! A guy couldn’t ask for a better birthday than that! Gerrit apologized and said he wish he had known it was my birthday and they would have done up something special. Well, that’s kind of why I never said anything before hand.
The rest of the hunt went very good (5 day hunt). My son connected with an Impala, a Blue Wildebeest, a Blesbok, and, even though he wanted to get an Eland he ended up getting a Nyala too.
I ended up getting an Impala early one morning and a Blue Wildebeest also. One of the days we sat in a blind for a couple of hours (I hate hunting from blinds). We didn’t see anything come into the water hole we were watching and finally decide to crawl out and go drive around looking. As we were talking, and walking, back to the pickup, we look over to the damn of the pond we were on and there was a warthog just walking up away from having watered. Francois quickly set up the sticks and within 15 seconds I had set and fired and hit that fella. He flopped on his side, on the side of the dam by the water, and managed to flip and flop right off into the water! We run around to that side of the water hole (100 yards?) and Francois sits down and starts taking off his gaters, socks, and boots. The warthog is nowhere to be seen having disappeared under the surface of the water. Francois jumps right in and starts feeling around for this sunken animal! Please bear in mind reader, this is June in South Africa and the daytime temps have been running in the low to mid 70’s (Fahrenheit) and the nights had been in the mid 30’s. That water was quite frigid but it did not stop nor dampen Francois’ excitement to find this animal, which he did and we pulled it ashore to get some good pics. In the very short time I had been around him I learned of what a great passion he has for the job he does!
The next great excitement came with my Buffalo hunt. Gerrit decided we would go to one of his concessions which also happened to be on the place that Francois lived and managed (and farmed at that time). It was roughly 6000 acres. Bos en Dal’s main place is roughly 8000 acres. This place was almost an hour drive away from the lodge and more up in the high veldt. Myself, Francois, and Gerrit went on this hunt. I remember there was a pretty good frost on everything that morning. We get to the farm and Francois had a discussion with some of his workers and they tell us of a couple of old bulls they had seen by the back fence by themselves. We meander our way on the available vehicle trails to the back side of the property, with me getting to see a Giraffe for the first time ever. When we get up higher the land breaks into very large open pastures. As we are driving by a small tree belt on the back side, we spot these two old bulls. They just stared at us as we drove past. We dropped down a small, open coulee and went around a bend and were completely out of sight of these bulls. We were a good ¾ of a mile away. We decided to make a big walk in the open and come in on the back side of the tree belt which was the way we had drove in. We got into the trees just fine and were easing through up to their location when we heard them bolt and take off running. We had got to within a 100 yards or so when they got our wind and took off. We didn’t even have eyes on them at that point. We walked from there probably a couple of miles hoping to come up on them. They ended up going down into the trees and we never did see those two old bulls again. After a whole day of scouting across most of this property we finally, that evening, dropped down in the lower ground by the home sites. There was a bunch of workers clearing some brush by one of the houses and we stopped and talked to one of them who mentioned there was a herd of buffalo below the lake dam. (Lake, pond? To me where I grew up, it was a very big pond). We drive down and park and stalk up through the trees (pretty thick stuff below this damn) below the dam. As we cross the drainage from the lake, on the downside of the dam, we see through the clearing some buff. We ease around and take up a spot about a 100 yards or so away and watch them. There were quite a few cows in the open feeding but also some in the trees. Finally a bull comes out and we watch him. Gerrit said he was a young bull and we should pass on him. We watched this herd for about 45 minutes and Gerrit and Francois both decided there was only the one bull there, the young one, and since it was getting close to dark we should just head on back to the lodge and come out again tomorrow. We walked back to the vehicle and were driving out through the trees. The herd we had been watching had moved into the trees and were right up alongside the 2 track we were using to drive out. As we are staring at these sullen, dark critters, who stare back at us with hate in their eyes, we spot a very decent bull that we had not seen before. It is very late in the evening, and probably about 45 minutes until dark. Gerrit just puts it in reverse and we back up all the way to were we had been parked before. We get out and start moving towards the herd.
Now, those workers who clearing things, were not too far from us, maybe ½ mile or so and they had a tractor with a 2 wheeled trailer in which they would haul the brush down and dump it not very far from where we were at that time. Us driving out and those workers with the tractor kind of had the buff spooked and restless. As we got back to where they were, on foot, they had moved on across the creek (the drainage from the dam). This area all below that damn was quite heavily treed and in spots fairly thick. We got into a very small opening and just across the creek, in the trees, the herd was staring at us and shifting about. Francois set up the sticks and said “there he is”. All I could see was cows and I told him so. I couldn’t pick out the bull. There was more movement in the herd and then I see the bull. At 60 yards he had turned broadside and started moving out. I said “I see him” as I got down on the scope to get a sight picture. He had started moving broadside and appeared to be going to take off and I wasn’t sure I would get a good shot when Gerrit made a grunt and that bull stopped and turned its head to look at us. I took the shot just as soon as he stopped and knew I hit good, jacked another round and shot again as he took off, still broadside. When the second shot hit him, he turned instantly and came right towards us. I had raised up from the sticks, jacking another round into the .375 at about the same time that Gerrit grabbed my shoulder and started pulling me off to the left. It didn’t take much as I was already heading that direction. The creek at this point was a pretty steep on the banks and the bull, along with a group of cows who headed right to us were channeled by a cut to come up through the bank. As we moved and the bull and cows were moving at full speed, within a second they had come up out of the cut in the bank on our side. We had all already shifted, and as that bull came up I took aim and fired my 3rd shot at 25 yards from the bull! He was practically broadside then too. When that 3rd shot hit him, it turned him away from us and he went over a slight rise in the ground and stopped. I could just barely make out the top of his back but couldn’t tell if he was facing us or still turned away. At this sudden lull in the 20 seconds of adrenaline pumping excitement I started reloading the rifle. Gerrit walked over to me (apparently, I had moved several paces away from him by that last shot) with a big smile on his face. Francois came and hugged me and shook my hand. We stood there whispering to each other then we could all tell that the bull went down. It was several minutes later when we heard the death bellow.
The excitement was awesome! Myself, having been an adrenaline junky for quite a number of years, was doing what I always do after an adrenaline dump. Standing there and absorbing it without any emotion. I think Francois and Gerrit both couldn’t understand why I wasn’t as giddy and as excited as they were. I actually was and was completely thrilled to say the least! I just don’t present it that way after an adrenaline rush. It took awhile for me to absorb it all. To this day, that was the most exciting hunt I’ve ever had! To shoot one of Africa’s Big 5 and watch it turn and come right towards you (yes, there was the creek in between) after putting 600 grains into the vitals was a rush that is hard to beat. I have a bunch of jumps out of an aircraft and I’ve been shot at on different occasions and that hunt ranked up there. No, not quite in the same realm as being shot at (nothing in life will compare that!) but an exhilarating experience none the less.
That buff hunt was midway through my 5 day hunt and it topped my birthday of starting the week with two Roland Ward book animals.
I can’t say enough about Bos en Dal Safaris and the treatment my son and I had on that trip. His PH, Rikus, was the same age as him and they were two peas in a pod. I’m writing this 2 years later and I still have those memories and they are vivid and real. The lodge of Bos en Dal is very comfortable with a very nice view from the patio and upraised fire pit. The staff, including the PH’s, are extremely accommodating and will make sure everything is right for you. I heartily recommend anyone reading this report to book a safari with them. You are treated just like family. At suppertime, you all sit down at the table, with your hats off (yes, you uncouth bastards, take your hat off to eat) and enjoy a very special meal together, just like you have been family for years!
I will make a continuation of this report to follow up on the taxidermy (and the headaches that caused) and shipment of the animals home to the States. A lot of hunting reports leave that out but it is almost as important as the trip itself. I will also make a report on my 2024 trip at Bos en Dal which was another unforgettable experience.
Give me a day or so to post some pictures please.
My good friend N. had a hunt scheduled for the next year and I thought, what the hell, I’ll do it. He was scheduled to hunt with @Bos en Dal SAFARIS (whom he had hunted with the year before) in Northwest Province, SA in June of the following year (2023). This is the same friend I worked with and had had Africa hunting discussions with.
I contacted Gerrit, owner of Bos en Dal Safaris, and we discussed hunting plains game with the intent of my son coming along and doing the same. We got things locked in with my son and I having the option for hunting Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Blesbok, Warthog, and Zebra. I forgot which we had decided to hunt but were fairly open for plains game when we arrived. After making arrangements and then watching and reading more on African hunting I got fascinated with Cape Buffalo hunting (it didn’t help that I own and have read the book “Black Death”). Having everything booked and locked in for the plains game, along about January, I decided to ask Gerrit if it was possible to add a Buffalo Bull to my hunt because the itch got to be too much. Gerrit said it was pretty late for that but someone had backed out on one of theirs and I could jump on it.
My son, and my friend N. and his wife, arrived late June in Jo’berg on the same flight in the late afternoon. By the time we arrived at the lodge it was dark, and the crew had a fire going on the up-raised fire pit and a meal was being prepared for us. We were shown our rooms, and they were large and very nice, consisting of a king-size bed, desk, wardrobe, nightstands and a large adjoining bathroom. A very luxurious comforter was on the bed.
We got up early the next morning and went out to the shooting range and confirmed zero on the rifles we were to use. My son and I both were renting rifles for the trip. My son zeroed a .30-06 that was suppressed, and I checked zero on a CZ .308 and a .375 H&H (for the Buffalo). We left the shooting range with mist rising in the brush as the sun began to climb. My PH was Francois and my son left with his PH Rikus. As we drove along jumping up Ostrich and the ass end of Wildebeests running out through the brush, I became absolutely fascinated with what I was experiencing so far.
As Francois drove along we seen a herd of Blesbok off to our right about 200 yards in a larger opening. I do know I didn’t have them on my list to hunt at that time. Now, Francois, over some time it took me to learn, has a passion for game and for really nice big game animals! He started getting a little excited over the size of one of the Blesbok rams and that we could get on up aways and come back on foot through the tree line to have a better look at it. As we go further down the 2 track I’m thinking “I didn’t come to hunt Blesbok” but I’m also kind of caught up in his excitement and I didn’t say anything. After getting up the trail a quarter of a mile or so into the trees we got out and started stalking back. The Blesbok herd had crossed a tree line from the open ground they were in into another stretch of open ground that we were stalking through the trees to get onto. We got to the edge of the trees and all of the ewes had moved off down the open and the one ram was there at about 90 yards (I use Vortex HD5000 laser rangefinder binoculars) away feeding. Francois set the shooting sticks up and kept telling me he was a “big boy”. As I settle onto the sticks I’m thinking that I didn’t have Blesbok on my list to shoot. I line up with the .308 and the ram is presenting a nice easy, head down, broadside shot. I go ahead and take the shot and he drops with his back to us. His feet are kicking a little and Francois says “shoot him again”. So, I put another shot through the top of his shoulders. As we walk up to the animal, Francois is excited and exclaiming “what a big boy!”. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I just shot an animal that really wasn’t on my list to shoot (hahaha). Francois tells me this guy will make book. I had not once looked at what trophy size was for any animals in Africa before I went. Maybe because I don’t particularly trophy hunt. I just never thought about looking up what trophy sizes were. I was more fascinated with the fact that I was actually hunting in Africa I guess. Francois does not carry a tape measure, and I did not have one either but we find out later it measures right at 19 inches. Over 2 years later as it hangs in my shop, it measures 18 and 5/8 inches. Definitely a Rowland Ward animal!
At that time I’m just excited that I had dropped my first African game animal and felt even more exited that it was quite possibly an animal that made the record books (no, in all my hunting years, I have never shot a record book animal in the States). After waiting for the skinner to come and pick up the Blesbok we hunted around some more without success and then went back to the lodge for lunch. After lunch we went out again and went to a spot where we could walk up a little less than a ½ mile to a water hole and see if there was anything around it or moving. As we were walking up the 2 track that goes to the water hole, a Nyala stepped out of the bush and stood broadside to us and turned its head and just stared at us. We both stopped and pulled our binos up and looked at it. What a beautiful creature the Nyala is! All I could hear Francois whispering was “oh, what a big boy!”, “he’s a big boy!”. That fella was right at 100 yards and I’m guessing stood there for at least a full minute, if not longer. Francois asked me if I wanted to take him. I said “no, he wasn’t on my list”. Francois continued to tell me that he was a big Nyala, and guessed it was a record book Nyala. At this time I’m thinking “am I being scammed? And they are just trying to get me to shoot whatever presents itself so they can rake in the money?” (I’m sorry if I have a mistrust in society..my experiences have made me that way). I’ve already shot, on my first morning there, an animal that wasn’t on my list to hunt. So now I have the PH, whom I don’t know, asking me if I want to shoot another animal, albeit a more expensive animal, that is not on my list. Those reading have to understand that I have travelled around the world quite a bit and have spent some number of time in 3rd world countries and I know about the scam artists that abound in those societies. I’m not much of a writer because I don’t think I can get the amount of excitement that Francois has in his voice at this time. His passion, especially when presented with a trophy, is astonishing. My skeptical self is only thinking of whether or not I’m getting tricked into shooting an expensive animal that I didn’t come to hunt.
Well, that minute ticks away and all I hear is Francois saying, “what a big boy!” and I’m thinking maybe he is not trying to scam me into shooting something just because. After all, we have passed numerous game animals up that we just went on by. As that beautiful Nyala got tired of looking at us from a 100 yards away, and turned its head and stepped off into the bush, I looked at Francois and said “fuck it”. He grinned at me because he immediately knew that I wanted to go after that it. We stepped into the bush and started the stalk.
The brush was very thick and we are moving slowly with Francois in the lead with the shooting sticks and me following behind absorbing every detail. We stopped at one point about 30 yards into the brush and Francois is leaning forward to look around a large bush/shrub tree that we are standing right against. I look, and I can see through the other side of this bush, that the Nyala is right there! Practically 5 yards away! I tap Francois and point and he sees it and we pretty much freeze. After some moments the Nyala moves away. We cautiously stalked forward another 10 yards or so and he spots it feeding in a clearing. There is no way to get on it with the sticks and I move around Francois and kneel down. I’m squatted down on one knee and take aim. The Nyala isn’t more than 30-40 yards distance and is facing to my left and almost quartering away. Just as I squeeze the trigger it turns itself more away from me. I know it moved but I thought it was a pretty good shot for the vitals. The Nyala of course disappeared. We walked up and started looking for blood. Francois immediately finds some blood and then what appears to be dark green bile with the blood that would indicate a gut shot. I’m really irritated as I could of sworn it was a good shot even though it had turned away as I was pulling the trigger. We eased on through the brush trying to follow blood even though it was quite sparse. Several yards along, Francois went one way and I decided to take a jog from him so we could cover some more ground. I went around some brush and there that beautiful animal was laying, on it’s side. I hollered at Francois and he came in on the trail that it had made. It had gone ahead and hooked back towards us before it died. Francois was quite excited and I was just happy at what a great looking animal it was. We both drug it back out to the road and he called the skinner on the radio. Francois kept telling me over and over what a great Nyala it was. We got it handed over to the skinner and went out driving around looking a little more for game. I had thoughts going through my head of why am I shooting animals that aren’t on my list and wondering how much more expensive this trip was going to be. When we got back to the lodge that evening we found that Rikus (if I remember correctly) had gone down to the skinning shed and measured the Nyala. He was greatly congratulatory when we showed up over the record Nyala I had shot. Turns out it measured 28 inches! Another Rowland Ward animal and it was my first day hunting in Africa!
Now, that is hard to top for sure for day 1! The kicker was, and I didn’t say anything to anyone although it came out a few days later, it was also on my birthday! A guy couldn’t ask for a better birthday than that! Gerrit apologized and said he wish he had known it was my birthday and they would have done up something special. Well, that’s kind of why I never said anything before hand.
The rest of the hunt went very good (5 day hunt). My son connected with an Impala, a Blue Wildebeest, a Blesbok, and, even though he wanted to get an Eland he ended up getting a Nyala too.
I ended up getting an Impala early one morning and a Blue Wildebeest also. One of the days we sat in a blind for a couple of hours (I hate hunting from blinds). We didn’t see anything come into the water hole we were watching and finally decide to crawl out and go drive around looking. As we were talking, and walking, back to the pickup, we look over to the damn of the pond we were on and there was a warthog just walking up away from having watered. Francois quickly set up the sticks and within 15 seconds I had set and fired and hit that fella. He flopped on his side, on the side of the dam by the water, and managed to flip and flop right off into the water! We run around to that side of the water hole (100 yards?) and Francois sits down and starts taking off his gaters, socks, and boots. The warthog is nowhere to be seen having disappeared under the surface of the water. Francois jumps right in and starts feeling around for this sunken animal! Please bear in mind reader, this is June in South Africa and the daytime temps have been running in the low to mid 70’s (Fahrenheit) and the nights had been in the mid 30’s. That water was quite frigid but it did not stop nor dampen Francois’ excitement to find this animal, which he did and we pulled it ashore to get some good pics. In the very short time I had been around him I learned of what a great passion he has for the job he does!
The next great excitement came with my Buffalo hunt. Gerrit decided we would go to one of his concessions which also happened to be on the place that Francois lived and managed (and farmed at that time). It was roughly 6000 acres. Bos en Dal’s main place is roughly 8000 acres. This place was almost an hour drive away from the lodge and more up in the high veldt. Myself, Francois, and Gerrit went on this hunt. I remember there was a pretty good frost on everything that morning. We get to the farm and Francois had a discussion with some of his workers and they tell us of a couple of old bulls they had seen by the back fence by themselves. We meander our way on the available vehicle trails to the back side of the property, with me getting to see a Giraffe for the first time ever. When we get up higher the land breaks into very large open pastures. As we are driving by a small tree belt on the back side, we spot these two old bulls. They just stared at us as we drove past. We dropped down a small, open coulee and went around a bend and were completely out of sight of these bulls. We were a good ¾ of a mile away. We decided to make a big walk in the open and come in on the back side of the tree belt which was the way we had drove in. We got into the trees just fine and were easing through up to their location when we heard them bolt and take off running. We had got to within a 100 yards or so when they got our wind and took off. We didn’t even have eyes on them at that point. We walked from there probably a couple of miles hoping to come up on them. They ended up going down into the trees and we never did see those two old bulls again. After a whole day of scouting across most of this property we finally, that evening, dropped down in the lower ground by the home sites. There was a bunch of workers clearing some brush by one of the houses and we stopped and talked to one of them who mentioned there was a herd of buffalo below the lake dam. (Lake, pond? To me where I grew up, it was a very big pond). We drive down and park and stalk up through the trees (pretty thick stuff below this damn) below the dam. As we cross the drainage from the lake, on the downside of the dam, we see through the clearing some buff. We ease around and take up a spot about a 100 yards or so away and watch them. There were quite a few cows in the open feeding but also some in the trees. Finally a bull comes out and we watch him. Gerrit said he was a young bull and we should pass on him. We watched this herd for about 45 minutes and Gerrit and Francois both decided there was only the one bull there, the young one, and since it was getting close to dark we should just head on back to the lodge and come out again tomorrow. We walked back to the vehicle and were driving out through the trees. The herd we had been watching had moved into the trees and were right up alongside the 2 track we were using to drive out. As we are staring at these sullen, dark critters, who stare back at us with hate in their eyes, we spot a very decent bull that we had not seen before. It is very late in the evening, and probably about 45 minutes until dark. Gerrit just puts it in reverse and we back up all the way to were we had been parked before. We get out and start moving towards the herd.
Now, those workers who clearing things, were not too far from us, maybe ½ mile or so and they had a tractor with a 2 wheeled trailer in which they would haul the brush down and dump it not very far from where we were at that time. Us driving out and those workers with the tractor kind of had the buff spooked and restless. As we got back to where they were, on foot, they had moved on across the creek (the drainage from the dam). This area all below that damn was quite heavily treed and in spots fairly thick. We got into a very small opening and just across the creek, in the trees, the herd was staring at us and shifting about. Francois set up the sticks and said “there he is”. All I could see was cows and I told him so. I couldn’t pick out the bull. There was more movement in the herd and then I see the bull. At 60 yards he had turned broadside and started moving out. I said “I see him” as I got down on the scope to get a sight picture. He had started moving broadside and appeared to be going to take off and I wasn’t sure I would get a good shot when Gerrit made a grunt and that bull stopped and turned its head to look at us. I took the shot just as soon as he stopped and knew I hit good, jacked another round and shot again as he took off, still broadside. When the second shot hit him, he turned instantly and came right towards us. I had raised up from the sticks, jacking another round into the .375 at about the same time that Gerrit grabbed my shoulder and started pulling me off to the left. It didn’t take much as I was already heading that direction. The creek at this point was a pretty steep on the banks and the bull, along with a group of cows who headed right to us were channeled by a cut to come up through the bank. As we moved and the bull and cows were moving at full speed, within a second they had come up out of the cut in the bank on our side. We had all already shifted, and as that bull came up I took aim and fired my 3rd shot at 25 yards from the bull! He was practically broadside then too. When that 3rd shot hit him, it turned him away from us and he went over a slight rise in the ground and stopped. I could just barely make out the top of his back but couldn’t tell if he was facing us or still turned away. At this sudden lull in the 20 seconds of adrenaline pumping excitement I started reloading the rifle. Gerrit walked over to me (apparently, I had moved several paces away from him by that last shot) with a big smile on his face. Francois came and hugged me and shook my hand. We stood there whispering to each other then we could all tell that the bull went down. It was several minutes later when we heard the death bellow.
The excitement was awesome! Myself, having been an adrenaline junky for quite a number of years, was doing what I always do after an adrenaline dump. Standing there and absorbing it without any emotion. I think Francois and Gerrit both couldn’t understand why I wasn’t as giddy and as excited as they were. I actually was and was completely thrilled to say the least! I just don’t present it that way after an adrenaline rush. It took awhile for me to absorb it all. To this day, that was the most exciting hunt I’ve ever had! To shoot one of Africa’s Big 5 and watch it turn and come right towards you (yes, there was the creek in between) after putting 600 grains into the vitals was a rush that is hard to beat. I have a bunch of jumps out of an aircraft and I’ve been shot at on different occasions and that hunt ranked up there. No, not quite in the same realm as being shot at (nothing in life will compare that!) but an exhilarating experience none the less.
That buff hunt was midway through my 5 day hunt and it topped my birthday of starting the week with two Roland Ward book animals.
I can’t say enough about Bos en Dal Safaris and the treatment my son and I had on that trip. His PH, Rikus, was the same age as him and they were two peas in a pod. I’m writing this 2 years later and I still have those memories and they are vivid and real. The lodge of Bos en Dal is very comfortable with a very nice view from the patio and upraised fire pit. The staff, including the PH’s, are extremely accommodating and will make sure everything is right for you. I heartily recommend anyone reading this report to book a safari with them. You are treated just like family. At suppertime, you all sit down at the table, with your hats off (yes, you uncouth bastards, take your hat off to eat) and enjoy a very special meal together, just like you have been family for years!
I will make a continuation of this report to follow up on the taxidermy (and the headaches that caused) and shipment of the animals home to the States. A lot of hunting reports leave that out but it is almost as important as the trip itself. I will also make a report on my 2024 trip at Bos en Dal which was another unforgettable experience.
Give me a day or so to post some pictures please.
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