joker2400
AH veteran
A report on our excellent hunt with Reon and Elmay van Tonder of African Barefoot Safaris in the Limpopo in May of last year.
In May 2016 I came across a special offer from African Barefoot Safaris. I had seen a few hunt reports with them and the seemed like an excellent outfit. They offer an exclusive camp which is something that I hadn’t experienced before, so I was keen on this part. After some messaging back and for with excellent responsiveness my dad and I reserved some dates over the dark of the moon in May 2017. Probably a bit early for a great bowhunt, but will be fun regardless.
We flew Chicago to Joburg via Heathrow on British Airways. A long route to be sure, but we arrive in Joburg at 0700.
This gets us to camp in time to settle in and hunt the afternoon. It feels spectacular to be back in an african hide. The movement is slow and the temps high this afternoon. We see a jackal in the distance and some small warthogs early on. A good size boar comes in, but just for a minute, never offering a shot. About 45 minutes before dark a decent impala cruises into the water and presents a good quartering away shot. The arrow zips through him and he runs 10 yards before expiring. An excellent start to the trip.
That evening a thunderstorm rolled through bringing with is much cooler temps and poor winds. We did not see much on Day 2 due to strong, swirling winds and a general lack of animal movement.
Days 3 dawned with better winds and a promise of warmer days. I was hunting a blind dubbed Pig’s Paradise. The animals were moving early with a couple of impala filtering through. The winds still hadn’t quite settled and things slowed down until around noon when a large group of kudu moved in. A mature male was one of the 1st to the water. As I looked at him an debated whether or not to shoot I noticed movement deeper in the bush and was able to identify another bull hanging back. I could not yet tell how big he was but decided to wait. He moved in close enough over the next 15-20 minutes for me to establish that he was the mature bull I had come for, with the perfect shape to his horns. He circled around to the left and then made a beeline to the water/feed. Presenting a perfectly broadside shot at 20 yards. I took that shot and kudu exploded everywhere. A short 100 yard track and he was mine.
I switched blinds for the evening and saw a couple of immature kudu and waterbuck.
The next day I am off to a new blind hopeful for a large impala, warthog, or duiker. The morning stays fairly slow, but around noon a group of warthogs comes in with an exceptional sow. I decide to take her. Instantly I know my shot was too far back. It looked like liver, but may have got the lungs. Reon comes out to take up the track. 100 yards in the dog kicks up the sow as she had laid down in some rocks. We are off on the trail, about 200 yards in she lays down and we move in to finish her. As we close within 20 yards she gets up and charges us. The dog turns her in time and we back up a bit. When she gets clear I put 2 more arrows into her and she expires.
The next morning I try for duiker but it is slow and I only see one impala. In the afternoon we go to a different ranch where they have a big duiker coming into water as well as a very large warthog. On the way out we scare off a troop of 25+ baboons. After an hour in the blind the troop returns. I really want to shoot the big bull baboon, but decide to hold off in hopes of getting my duiker or the big warthog. Alas, the baboons are the biggest excitement of the afternoon.
The next day is fairly uneventful
The next day I move back to the blind I shot my impala out of the 1st night. It isn’t long and a good sized blue wildebeest moves in. I decide to take him. He runs just 70 yards before piling up. Later that morning I find out my dad has finally shot something, harvesting a very nice waterbuck.
I spend the afternoon back in the blind. Just before dark the nice warthog boar I had been looking for shows up. He takes awhile to work his way into a good spot for a shot and I take my shot with the last bit of responsible shooting light I had. Once the tracker and dog arrives we get on the trail. We come across some reasonably fresh leopard tracks, likely a female. It gets dark before we find the boar, but we remain confident we will find him in the morning.
After an excellent dinner we load up for a night hunt on a Lucerne farm along the Palala river. We have a great time and take a 3 legged jackal, 2 steenbuck, a duiker, and a bushbuck.
In the morning we get a call from the tracker who had gone out early to look for the warthog. He had found him as he was driving up to the blind. He had run a large circle and died 10 yards from the road to the blind, but hadn’t seen him the night before due to the darkness.
I spend the next several days hunting for a duiker with my bow. I have no luck with that but take another impala.
My dad took a warthog and 3 impala that I don't have pictures of.
After 12 days of great hunting Reon drops us off in Joburg and we head up to Zimababwe to watch some water go over a cliff. We stayed at the wonderful A’zambezi River Lodge and relaxed before the long flight home.
In May 2016 I came across a special offer from African Barefoot Safaris. I had seen a few hunt reports with them and the seemed like an excellent outfit. They offer an exclusive camp which is something that I hadn’t experienced before, so I was keen on this part. After some messaging back and for with excellent responsiveness my dad and I reserved some dates over the dark of the moon in May 2017. Probably a bit early for a great bowhunt, but will be fun regardless.
We flew Chicago to Joburg via Heathrow on British Airways. A long route to be sure, but we arrive in Joburg at 0700.
This gets us to camp in time to settle in and hunt the afternoon. It feels spectacular to be back in an african hide. The movement is slow and the temps high this afternoon. We see a jackal in the distance and some small warthogs early on. A good size boar comes in, but just for a minute, never offering a shot. About 45 minutes before dark a decent impala cruises into the water and presents a good quartering away shot. The arrow zips through him and he runs 10 yards before expiring. An excellent start to the trip.
That evening a thunderstorm rolled through bringing with is much cooler temps and poor winds. We did not see much on Day 2 due to strong, swirling winds and a general lack of animal movement.
Days 3 dawned with better winds and a promise of warmer days. I was hunting a blind dubbed Pig’s Paradise. The animals were moving early with a couple of impala filtering through. The winds still hadn’t quite settled and things slowed down until around noon when a large group of kudu moved in. A mature male was one of the 1st to the water. As I looked at him an debated whether or not to shoot I noticed movement deeper in the bush and was able to identify another bull hanging back. I could not yet tell how big he was but decided to wait. He moved in close enough over the next 15-20 minutes for me to establish that he was the mature bull I had come for, with the perfect shape to his horns. He circled around to the left and then made a beeline to the water/feed. Presenting a perfectly broadside shot at 20 yards. I took that shot and kudu exploded everywhere. A short 100 yard track and he was mine.
I switched blinds for the evening and saw a couple of immature kudu and waterbuck.
The next day I am off to a new blind hopeful for a large impala, warthog, or duiker. The morning stays fairly slow, but around noon a group of warthogs comes in with an exceptional sow. I decide to take her. Instantly I know my shot was too far back. It looked like liver, but may have got the lungs. Reon comes out to take up the track. 100 yards in the dog kicks up the sow as she had laid down in some rocks. We are off on the trail, about 200 yards in she lays down and we move in to finish her. As we close within 20 yards she gets up and charges us. The dog turns her in time and we back up a bit. When she gets clear I put 2 more arrows into her and she expires.
The next morning I try for duiker but it is slow and I only see one impala. In the afternoon we go to a different ranch where they have a big duiker coming into water as well as a very large warthog. On the way out we scare off a troop of 25+ baboons. After an hour in the blind the troop returns. I really want to shoot the big bull baboon, but decide to hold off in hopes of getting my duiker or the big warthog. Alas, the baboons are the biggest excitement of the afternoon.
The next day is fairly uneventful
The next day I move back to the blind I shot my impala out of the 1st night. It isn’t long and a good sized blue wildebeest moves in. I decide to take him. He runs just 70 yards before piling up. Later that morning I find out my dad has finally shot something, harvesting a very nice waterbuck.
I spend the afternoon back in the blind. Just before dark the nice warthog boar I had been looking for shows up. He takes awhile to work his way into a good spot for a shot and I take my shot with the last bit of responsible shooting light I had. Once the tracker and dog arrives we get on the trail. We come across some reasonably fresh leopard tracks, likely a female. It gets dark before we find the boar, but we remain confident we will find him in the morning.
After an excellent dinner we load up for a night hunt on a Lucerne farm along the Palala river. We have a great time and take a 3 legged jackal, 2 steenbuck, a duiker, and a bushbuck.
In the morning we get a call from the tracker who had gone out early to look for the warthog. He had found him as he was driving up to the blind. He had run a large circle and died 10 yards from the road to the blind, but hadn’t seen him the night before due to the darkness.
I spend the next several days hunting for a duiker with my bow. I have no luck with that but take another impala.
My dad took a warthog and 3 impala that I don't have pictures of.
After 12 days of great hunting Reon drops us off in Joburg and we head up to Zimababwe to watch some water go over a cliff. We stayed at the wonderful A’zambezi River Lodge and relaxed before the long flight home.
Attachments
-
20170512_131446_zpshvxgdsut.jpg -
20170512_180753_zps8ryfjq64.jpg -
20170514_142833_zpszztqsoa8.jpg -
20170516_131526_zpscomtnqil.jpg -
20170519_080042_zpspeagbyik.jpg -
20170519_1322440_zpscsagkw0o.jpg -
20170520_075903_zpsyilm725w.jpg -
20170520_080154_zpso7rogzyj.jpg -
20170520_080439_zpsl2hunzor.jpg -
20170520_080906_zpszv6jbilj.jpg -
20170520_081019_zps69ujtpcl.jpg -
20170520_083944_zpsttpltlov.jpg -
20170521_153729_zpsjdx3nafa.jpg -
20170523_164708_zpsnbmknccu.jpg -
20170523_174605_zpswofz2acm.jpg -
20170524_094619_zpsgpawrmup.jpg -
20170524_095726_zpsb5anvm4l.jpg -
20170525_092248_zpsa3e1r7ac.jpg -
DSC03481_zpspsa85yrk.jpg -
DSC03595_zpsdegvwg5q.jpg
Last edited by a moderator:
