SOUTH AFRICA: BOWHUNT: My Bow Hunt With 4 Aces Outfitters 2022

[Dee S]

That bull would stick around and nothing would come in, so Heinrich stepped out of the blind, the door is located at the back, and began to toss rocks over the blind in an attempt to run the bull off. It took several rocks to be tossed before he finally got spooked enough to trot off. He didn't go far though and ended up hanging out under a tree for an hour or so. During this time, other animals began to come in. Some came all the way in for a drink or a bite of alfalfa, while others stayed back and eventually walked away without coming in.
Some critter cam pics.

 

[Dee S]

About the time that I was taking all of the the pictures I just posted above, Heinrich whispered to me, "there's a lone impala female coming it, do you want to shoot her?" I looked to my right and could barely see her standing there. I put the camera down and grabbed the Assassin with the Easton arrows and SlickTrick heads. By the time I got set to draw, I looked out and she was at 9 or 10 yards. I drew, settled the pin, and pulled the release. Good entry and complete pass through with the arrow stopping in the water behind where she had been standing. She ran about 80 yards and left a solid blood trail for us to follow.
I think the picture of the buffalo staring at me from across the pond was taken about 45 seconds before I shot the impala.
We gave her a few minutes, then quietly exited the blind, and yes, Heinrich was prepared with the rifle. Luckily for us all, the buff had had enough, he turned and trotted away, giving us no problems.
One of the hunters arriving in camp was after a buffalo and he'd return back to this blind three days later with his daughter and Adam just to hunt this buffalo. He did manage to take it with his bow and it measured 45".

Heinrich did well on this one, he got the shot on film of the impala.

 

[Dee S]

Pictures were taken, the truck was called, and the impala was taken back to the skinning shed. We got back in the blind and settled in and let the silence resume.
We had more animals start to come in and we could see a group of springbok rams off in the distance feeding in the field. Heinrich could tell that there was a black ram that was a shooter and if they did come it, I could take him.
Hours went by and we assumed they'd never head our way, so we continued to watch through the binoculars and waited for sunset, fully expecting to head back with just the impala for the day.
Fortunately we had animals coming in and out so we had some activity to watch.

Our roan from the morning session returned and hit the salt lick.

a small herd of golden wildebeest came in for a bite

and a young black impala ram

 

[Dee S]

Then, with about an hour of light left, that herd of springbok rams turned and started our way. I got ready with the Solution and told Heinrich to just tell me which one to shoot, regardless of the color. There were about ten of them and he again said we'd go for the black ram. There were other animals in front of us, probably a dozen in all, and we weren't sure how the springbok would react once they got close, but they just kept on walking and we were starting to believe that we just may have a shot after all.
At about 30 yards, Heinrich whispered to me, "don't shoot the black one, the common to his left and in front is the biggest of the group" so I switched my attention to him.
He swung around to my left and came in and was now quartering to me just a bit heading for the salt block. I drew, settled the pin, and pulled the release. The arrow hit just a little a bit back than I had hoped. The group blasted off in the direction from which they had come, heading back across the open field, and after about 75 yards they slowed to a walk and went back to feeding. Our ram had run around the nearest tree, then circled back and started following after the herd. At about a hundred yards, he was slowing down and we could easily see that he was bleeding well, so that was a relief. I was watching him closely when he suddenly just laid down. The grass was knee high but we couldn't see his head or horns, so we waited 30 minutes and got out to go after him. He had left a solid blood trail and we found him where I had lost sight of him.
My first springbok and he's a nice trophy in my book.
Funny side note, the broadhead I used on this ram broke off of the arrow when it hit the rocks. We found the arrow right away, but there was no ferrule or broadhead. I looked around for about two minutes then quit looking for it. Heinrich continued the search and I told him to forget about it, stop looking, it's no big deal if we don't find it. He said, "Yeah, but aren't those heads like $25 each?" I replied, "Yep, closer to $30 with tax and shipping, but hey, that was my practice head, the red coloring had pretty much worn off from being shot into my target back home. I had sharpened it for the trip, used it yesterday on my Kudu bull since I knew it flew straight and true, then I sharpened it again last night when I got back to my room, and now today I just took a nice Springbok ram with it. I'd say I've gotten my moneys worth out of it, so let it go."

If you go back and look at the arrow sticking out of the kudu bull, you can see the broadhead has lost most of the red coloring from being shot so much into my cube back home. Great heads, highly recommend them.

He's not a world record, but I was very pleased and thankful for the quick recovery. Heinrich called for the truck and we headed back to the lodge with about twenty minutes of daylight left. Another great day at 4Aces. What a way to start the hunt. Hunt the first half day, take two animals. Then two more on the first full day. Longest shot was this ram at 14 yards.
To be honest, I was a bit worried that night lying in bed. Me being on a limited budget and I already had four animals down with another ten and half days left to hunt. I conveyed my concerns to Bill the next morning over coffee and he said, "don't worry about it, you got a credit card right?"

And I released the arrow before Heinrich had time to start recording. Oh well, he's in the salt and that's what matters the most.

 

[Dee S]

DAY 3 at 4Aces started off with another beautiful cloudless sky in South Africa. Morning temps still in the 30's and this Texas boy was loving it.
We have a full camp now and more PH's have arrived in camp. Now to sort out the hunters, the blinds, transportation, and gear.
As I was new to all of these people, I refrained from taking pictures, not knowing how people would react to a stranger taking their picture.
You'll have to settle for the trucks being loaded.

 

[Dee S]

Day 3 has dawned and I'm excited to see what Africa provides today.
Over coffee I find that I've been assigned a different PH. I guess Heinrich had had enough of me and asked for a trade? Just joking, they had hunters that were going after buffalo and Heinrich was more experienced, so he would be guiding for them.
I would be hunting with a young man that goes by SP. Turns out, he's on his way to becoming a great PH and it was my pleasure to share the blind with him.
We were going to another piece of property nearby and we were targeting the color phased Blesbok and Springbok.
Adam has a high number of every color, from common, white, copper, and yellow blesbok to common, white, black, copper springbok, and I may be leaving out a color or two? but I know he has those and I saw lots of them as we were driving the properties.

Pictures of another well setup and built bow blind. Again, we never had issues with the wind ruining our hunt. As you can see in the pictures, the gunk on top of the water is being blown directly towards the blind. The breeze was pretty much in our face the whole time. The blind was roomy and the animals paid it no attention at all.
Ignore the feeder, it goes off for a few seconds at 5 PM for the two bush pigs that live in this section. It was cool to see them, my first time viewing bush pigs. And they are off limits, pictures only.

 

[Dee S]

Okay, I wish I had a great story to tell on this one, one that I could be proud of, but I honestly can't do that.
It was a slow morning, a herd of roan had come in and were making themselves at home when we suddenly see white animals moving towards us through the brush. SP glasses them and says "springbok," probably 20-30 in the group. None of them were trophy quality but I could take a cull, and I wanted to, if there was one in the group that SP could classify as a cull.
Then SP whispers that there are a couple of Blesbok behind them and they are coming in as well. The biggest of the group was a copper male. Up until this point, a copper blesbok was not on my hit list, but SP said it was a good one and I could hear Bill's words in my head, "you got a credit card don't ya?" I told SP I'd take the shot.

This is where I screwed up. He came in on the far side of the water, roughly 24 yards, and was quartering to me. I was over confident, still riding the emotional high of four animals down, and I was thinking I was Ted Nugent or something. Anyway, I let the arrow fly from the Solution and it hit him a bit high. Instead of going into the chest cavity, the arrow hit the neck bone. I'm not sure why it didn't break his neck and drop him in his tracks, but it didn't and he out of sight in seconds.
Long story short on this deal, I told SP we'd never get within bow range in this open pasture where he had to run to and I asked him if I could use a rifle to end it quickly. We were able to get within 300 yards, and we were very lucky to get that close, and with one shot I dropped him with SP's 22-250. Not my proudest moment, but we had him down and that was the main thing. Lesson learned for me the hard way.
He's a dandy in my book and my first blesbok. He will be going on the wall. I hope to return and get a yellow, white, and common.

 

[Dee S]

After my screw up and getting that resolved, we opted to get back in the blind and see if I could redeem myself on the next shot.
A herd of roan stopped by for a drink and a bite of hay.
Then there is a herd of Sable in this pasture and the old, and I mean old, bull is off limits for anything other than pictures. I'll post a couple down below. I wouldn't even know how to begin to describe his measurements.
And the two bush pigs came out just before 5 for their evening snack. It was cool to see them up close and personal, especially in daylight, but I guess they know they are safe.
The truck came to pick us up and I had to go back to the room and look myself in the mirror. Well, it's always an ugly view, but especially so after that arrogant shot I made.

 

[Dee S]

Day 4
We were blessed with the great weather, another cool morning and clear skies in Kimberley.

SP and I decided to return to the same blind as yesterday in hopes that the springbok and/or blesbok would come in for water. There was a really nice yellow blesbok for sure in that group, so that was our plan.
On the way to the blind, a pretty nice Steenbuck stood up out of the knee high grass. I grabbed the Assassin and knocked an arrow. I was able to get within bow range and made a good enough shot and I had my first Steenbuck heading back to the skinning shed.
They told me it's a pretty good one, so I'll have him mounted along with a Duiker I took in Namibia a couple of years ago. They'll look good side by side on the same mount.

 

[Dee S]

After the Steenbuck, they dropped us off at the blind and the springbok and blesbok never appeared.
We had our fare share of Kudu, Roan, Sable, an occasional warthog, and our two pigs at dinner time came back.
A couple better pics of the old sable.

and our boar pig posed in the sunlight

 

[Jörg Krüger]

That old Sable is a real stunner.

 

[BenKK]

Wow! That sable!

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Great Safari and that Sable is incredible!

HH

 

[buck wild]

I figured that one horned Roan would have made the cull list also I understand why the sable is off limits but did you say the bushpig were also?

 

[Nyati]

@Dee S , those pics are bringing a lot of memories, as I´ve hunted three times with Adam, in his property in NC and in other provinces.

In three weeks I will be leaving for Kimberley again, and then on to Mpumalanga.

You have done quite well, and I look forward to the rest of your story

 

[Angelo_orygun]

That Sable is something else! Thanks for sharing your hunt!!

Lodge looks very nice as well.

 

[Dee S]

That old sable bull was something to see for sure. I saw several sable bulls on the property and they, at least to me, were all trophy quality animals. Having said that, I am not an expert at judging them, so they all look good to my eyes.

The broken horn Roan would probably be a cull on another property, but I don't think Adam had roan on the cull list, male or female.

Nyati, this was obviously my first hunt with Adam and I hope it's not my last. Adam has a HUGE selection of animals and a couple I had never even heard of before. (pictures to come shortly)
I want to return to Africa to hunt the color phase springbok and blesbok, along with a black gnu, and toss in a bushbuck on the list. There are a lot of places that have them, but it's going to be tough to find one that can beat the prices and setup that Adam has there at 4Aces. If nothing else, just the long list of available species and color phases, and in large quantities to boot.
His tip & pack services are onsite and I was very pleased with those prices, so he got my business for that as well.

And the bush pigs are off limits. They are trying to get the numbers high enough to allow for hunting, but I'd say they are years away from that. I don't that area and terrain is conducive to a bush pig?

 

[Dee S]

Day 5
Spoiler alert, no animals presented a shot, but we saw a lot of animals. The smaller animals we were after didn't need to come to the pond as they were drinking out of a puddles that were behind the pond dam.
I would have taken any color phased springbok from this blind and there is a large herd that frequents this pond, but they did not show up on this particular day.

Adam has every color phase for all the springbok, impala, and blesbok on his properties. Many I did not even know existed until my arrival there.

Enjoy the view for day 5.....

 

[Dee S]

Day 6

We headed back to the Refrigerator blind and we were still after those color phase Springbok.
Driving to the blind, we passed several herds of springbok, impala, and in smaller numbers, blesbok. All colors, all sizes, many shooter rams. The herds could have been anywhere from 25 to a group all the way to 75 or more in a group. He has a lot of springbok and impala, they just weren't coming to the water holes.
But you're not going to poke a hole in one from the lodge, so we had to play the waiting game in the blind and hope they'd come in.

Today was another non-shooting day with the bow, but I did see an animal I had never heard of before, well, at least this 'hair' phase. I'll show that picture and the story that goes with it next.

Pictures of our visitors on Day 6

 

[Dee S]

Day 6 and the odd animal of the trip

Okay, so I'm in the blind with SP and we're just watching for something to shoot. I think I was reading an Oregon Files book on my iPhone while SP was fixing his hair or something. Relax SP, I'm kidding.
I can only read one chapter at a time, then I put the phone down and look outside. So after finishing a chapter, I set the phone down, and peer out the window. I see a lone blesbok walking in and he's about 75 yards out. I whisper to SP, "hey, we have a blesbok coming in." SP looks outside and said "yes Sir, it's a wooly blesbok."
Now, I look at him and ask him, with a bewildered face, "say what? A what blesbok?" He replies, "its a wooly blesbok" and I think at that point I looked at him and said, "you're bullshitting me, what the hell is a wooly blesbok? There's no such thing, you're making that up!"
He starts laughing and said "no Sir, there is such a thing" and he pulls out his price list and shows me that there is a wooly blesbok on the price list.
The wooly blesbok is now at the water and I take another look. Sure enough, that rascal is wooly like a sheep.
To this day, I give him crap about "you and you're damn wooly blesbok!"

Here he is, THE wooly blesbok