cptkirk
AH senior member
- Joined
- May 1, 2013
- Messages
- 77
- Reaction score
- 27
- Member of
- NRA, RMEF
- Hunted
- USA, Canada, South Africa
Day One: Morning
Arrived in camp after 10:00 PM the night before. I met my PH, Werner and another named Francois. The next morning I woke up about 6:00 AM and went outside to watch the sun come up and see what I could hear, see, and smell. It was in the low 50's and bluebird clear which turned out to be the case in the mornings on all 10 days I was there. Heard lots of birds singing and some warthogs raising hell outside the compounds stockade type walls. About 6:30 I met Maxine, the mother of the other hunter Gary I was sharing camp with. What a character she was, 80 some years old and full of piss and vinegar. Gary popped out a few minutes later and introduced himself. About 7:00 the two PH's showed up and they explained some of the rules about the camp and what to expect. The owners wife, Ananja showed up a short time later to start making breakfast. After some eggs, warthog bacon, and blesbuck sausage and all the fixings Ananja sat down with me, my wife, and dad and went through all the details and rules about the camp and hunting. Werner took me out to the range and we checked the zero on my rifle. It survived the trip without any damage and was on zero. Werner took me out in a truck and I got my first look at the hunting area. He is the ranch manager in addition to being the number 1 PH in camp. I rode on top of the truck with Werner and we had my tracker Abram driving. Since we only had an hour or two before lunch we went out and dropped feed at numerous sites with ground level bow hides and water holes. I saw baboons, vervet monkeys, a bunch of small warthogs, one big bull Blue Wildebeest which offered no shot as he vacated the scene, a nice Kudu bull which was a year or two from being fully mature. No shots , but got a real good look and explanation of the day to day operations on the ranch.
Afternoon:
My Dad and wife wanted to come along so we opted for the truck so they could ride along. We covered many miles looking for my first victim. It was slow for the first hour or two but as it cooled off from the mid 70's we started seeing game. I saw 7 nice Gemsbuk all running, 3 nice Elands bulls all shooters with 5 cows, and 10 Kudu, 7 bulls all to young to shoot, 2 cows and a yearling from last year. It was a great day despite no shots. I saw many new things and my wife took some pictures. Lamb stew for supper, Yummy!!!!
Day Two: Morning.
Got my first shot shortly after we went out. We spotted two Common Blesbuck walking together. I took a 100 yard shot at the bigger of the two and it dropped in its tracks from a heart and lung shot. My wife and dad both saw it drop. I am not sure how many inches it is but that's not my bag anyway. Werner was excited about it and says it was a mature old bull with good sized bases and length. I compared it to some of the mounts in the lodge and horns in the salt room and it had them all beat with room to spare.
Saw some nice Sable(not on my list), numerous young Kudu bulls and cows, and my first Impalas(no shooters). Headed in for some pictures and lunch.
Afternoon:
We went out to a different area in the afternoon. A 15,000 acre parcel the was very rugged and mountainous. Werner was hoping we would get a look at some Zebras here. As it turned out we did get to see a few zebras but had no shots. One nice stallion was standing with its rear end facing us. I got the rifle on it but it ran straight away after a short time without offering a shot. Saw some nice Eland bulls and one Livingston Eland which was half again as big as the others. We drove up on top of a plateau and checked out some water holes and lakes and came across a very nice Blue Wildbeest bull that was all by himself. He piled up after about an 80 yard run from a double lung shot. The three of us tried to load him into the truck by hand, but we could not do it. Out came the winch and rollers. We saw many other nice animals including one Gold class Mountain Reedbuck( not on my list) and some Cape buffalo. Those guys look at you like you owe them money. Black death is an appropriate name for them.
Arrived in camp after 10:00 PM the night before. I met my PH, Werner and another named Francois. The next morning I woke up about 6:00 AM and went outside to watch the sun come up and see what I could hear, see, and smell. It was in the low 50's and bluebird clear which turned out to be the case in the mornings on all 10 days I was there. Heard lots of birds singing and some warthogs raising hell outside the compounds stockade type walls. About 6:30 I met Maxine, the mother of the other hunter Gary I was sharing camp with. What a character she was, 80 some years old and full of piss and vinegar. Gary popped out a few minutes later and introduced himself. About 7:00 the two PH's showed up and they explained some of the rules about the camp and what to expect. The owners wife, Ananja showed up a short time later to start making breakfast. After some eggs, warthog bacon, and blesbuck sausage and all the fixings Ananja sat down with me, my wife, and dad and went through all the details and rules about the camp and hunting. Werner took me out to the range and we checked the zero on my rifle. It survived the trip without any damage and was on zero. Werner took me out in a truck and I got my first look at the hunting area. He is the ranch manager in addition to being the number 1 PH in camp. I rode on top of the truck with Werner and we had my tracker Abram driving. Since we only had an hour or two before lunch we went out and dropped feed at numerous sites with ground level bow hides and water holes. I saw baboons, vervet monkeys, a bunch of small warthogs, one big bull Blue Wildebeest which offered no shot as he vacated the scene, a nice Kudu bull which was a year or two from being fully mature. No shots , but got a real good look and explanation of the day to day operations on the ranch.
Afternoon:
My Dad and wife wanted to come along so we opted for the truck so they could ride along. We covered many miles looking for my first victim. It was slow for the first hour or two but as it cooled off from the mid 70's we started seeing game. I saw 7 nice Gemsbuk all running, 3 nice Elands bulls all shooters with 5 cows, and 10 Kudu, 7 bulls all to young to shoot, 2 cows and a yearling from last year. It was a great day despite no shots. I saw many new things and my wife took some pictures. Lamb stew for supper, Yummy!!!!
Day Two: Morning.
Got my first shot shortly after we went out. We spotted two Common Blesbuck walking together. I took a 100 yard shot at the bigger of the two and it dropped in its tracks from a heart and lung shot. My wife and dad both saw it drop. I am not sure how many inches it is but that's not my bag anyway. Werner was excited about it and says it was a mature old bull with good sized bases and length. I compared it to some of the mounts in the lodge and horns in the salt room and it had them all beat with room to spare.
Saw some nice Sable(not on my list), numerous young Kudu bulls and cows, and my first Impalas(no shooters). Headed in for some pictures and lunch.
Afternoon:
We went out to a different area in the afternoon. A 15,000 acre parcel the was very rugged and mountainous. Werner was hoping we would get a look at some Zebras here. As it turned out we did get to see a few zebras but had no shots. One nice stallion was standing with its rear end facing us. I got the rifle on it but it ran straight away after a short time without offering a shot. Saw some nice Eland bulls and one Livingston Eland which was half again as big as the others. We drove up on top of a plateau and checked out some water holes and lakes and came across a very nice Blue Wildbeest bull that was all by himself. He piled up after about an 80 yard run from a double lung shot. The three of us tried to load him into the truck by hand, but we could not do it. Out came the winch and rollers. We saw many other nice animals including one Gold class Mountain Reedbuck( not on my list) and some Cape buffalo. Those guys look at you like you owe them money. Black death is an appropriate name for them.
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