SOUTH AFRICA: First Safari In The Eastern Cape With KMG Hunting Safaris

[Sand Rat]

Met Nick in 2019 @KMG Hunting Safaris while hunting with his older brother . He’s a fine young man and knows his stuff. Glad to see KMG is going strong after all the Covid mess. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

 

[cpr0312]

Enjoying the read! Congrats so far. Look forward to more!

 

[Uncle Sauce]

Thoroughly enjoying the adventures @Uncle Sauce! Excellent trophies so far and beautiful scenery!

Thanks Mort - more to come shortly!

 

[Uncle Sauce]

Nice mass on the impala. Too bad about the warthog. Running shots usually don't end well for me. You draw blood and you pay the trophy fee. I'd say waiting was the wiser course of action.
Bruce

Thanks Bruce for the compliment. Your experiences on running shots mimic mine!

 

[Ridgewalker]

This sounds like a grand time for sure! I’m really enjoying reading it and dreaming!

 

[PARA45]

Outstanding zebra, love the colors. Wise decision on not taking the running shot at the Kudu, and too bad you missed that Warthog. Anxiously waiting for more, so stop smoking cigars and get on the computer.

 

[Uncle Sauce]

Day 3 – Thursday

Woke up early from a restless nights sleep with dreams of giant warthogs and monster kudu. We also had a thunderstorm overnight that didn’t help out either.

We headed out in the truck and picked up the tracker and back out to the spot where we put the kudu to bed last night. We parked the truck and headed in on foot to see if we could spot them. Mist was thick and didn’t lift for a couple hours but when the sun finally broke through we couldn’t spot the kudu. We glassed awhile longer but gave up and decided to head back to the top of the hill where we had saw them the day before.

Drove back around and hopped off the truck to commence a long stalk to try and get in position. We walked about ½ mile and the last few hundred yds. we were tiptoeing as quiet as possible. I thought for sure the cows would alert the bull again but we got on top the hill in almost the same position as the day before without incident though.

The original plan was having me probably shoot off hand since the hilltop was so small and we didn’t think we would have time to get setup on the sticks .
Timba low crawled it to the left and was laying underneath a bush and was able to see the cows to the right of us this time. PH put me on the sticks as the tracker was calling out the location. One cow walked in front of us about 60 yds away and looked right at us but we didn’t move a muscle and she just kept walking. Then another cow walked by, then another. Then the PH started whispering “He’s coming”….by now I was getting pretty excited. He was getting the info from the tracker who was laying down under a small bush. The PH whispered again “He’s coming…”.
By now I’d been on the sticks for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a few minutes. PH whispered again “He’s coming”…now I start questioning if he really was coming and this was some cruel joke Nick was playing on me but right then I spotted movement in a tiny window in the brush and then knew that he was really coming. Out he came walking and quartering a little away from me and I wasn’t hesitating again. I pulled the trigger and he ran about 20 yds. but didn’t make the brush. BAM - the 300 hit hard and I heard the meat report. A beautiful kudu bull - What a magnificent animal!

Kudu with 300WM

Kudu with PH

We tried loading him but all four of us couldn't get him in the bakkie. I didn't feel like ripping the crotch out of another pair of pants so Nick calls in backup to get a truck with a winch to come out and help.

Trackers are beat after we tried but couldn’t load the kudu by hand!

Reinforcements have arrived!

From the top of kudu hill

 

[Uncle Sauce]

Outstanding zebra, love the colors. Wise decision on not taking the running shot at the Kudu, and too bad you missed that Warthog. Anxiously waiting for more, so stop smoking cigars and get on the computer.

Thanks Oscar - The cigars do get in the way of production!

 

[AZDAVE]

Sounds like you are had a grand adventure. Looking forward to the rest of the report.

 

[Pheroze]

keep it coming!

 

[PARA45]

WOW, that is a whopper of a kudu, what a stud. Congratulations on a beautiful kudu!!!!

 

[Uncle Sauce]

Met Nick in 2019 @KMG Hunting Safaris while hunting with his older brother . He’s a fine young man and knows his stuff. Glad to see KMG is going strong after all the Covid mess. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

He is great - He hunted hard! As you say - He's a great guy and super knowledgeable. Seemed liked he knew what the animals were thinking! I did get to meet his brother briefly as well, both nice guys.
I'm glad to see things picking up over there. The industry seemed to be hit pretty hard. Hope things get going full steam for them.
Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[Uncle Sauce]

Sounds like you are had a grand adventure. Looking forward to the rest of the report.

Thanks Dave - Marius told me you guys had a great time as well!

keep it coming!

Will do Pheroze! I'm getting the hang of posting everything now (I think!)

WOW, that is a whopper of a kudu, what a stud. Congratulations on a beautiful kudu!!!!

He was! Nick was not going to let up until we found this guy! Marius texted me right after we got him and congratulated me on a 'Chief of a Kudu'!

 

[BourbonTrail]

That Kudu’s neck is huge! I like the twist of the horns, adds character.

 

[Rare Breed]

Day 3 – Thursday

Woke up early from a restless nights sleep with dreams of giant warthogs and monster kudu. We also had a thunderstorm overnight that didn’t help out either.

We headed out in the truck and picked up the tracker and back out to the spot where we put the kudu to bed last night. We parked the truck and headed in on foot to see if we could spot them. Mist was thick and didn’t lift for a couple hours but when the sun finally broke through we couldn’t spot the kudu. We glassed awhile longer but gave up and decided to head back to the top of the hill where we had saw them the day before.

Drove back around and hopped off the truck to commence a long stalk to try and get in position. We walked about ½ mile and the last few hundred yds. we were tiptoeing as quiet as possible. I thought for sure the cows would alert the bull again but we got on top the hill in almost the same position as the day before without incident though.

The original plan was having me probably shoot off hand since the hilltop was so small and we didn’t think we would have time to get setup on the sticks .
Timba low crawled it to the left and was laying underneath a bush and was able to see the cows to the right of us this time. PH put me on the sticks as the tracker was calling out the location. One cow walked in front of us about 60 yds away and looked right at us but we didn’t move a muscle and she just kept walking. Then another cow walked by, then another. Then the PH started whispering “He’s coming”….by now I was getting pretty excited. He was getting the info from the tracker who was laying down under a small bush. The PH whispered again “He’s coming…”.
By now I’d been on the sticks for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a few minutes. PH whispered again “He’s coming”…now I start questioning if he really was coming and this was some cruel joke Nick was playing on me but right then I spotted movement in a tiny window in the brush and then knew that he was really coming. Out he came walking and quartering a little away from me and I wasn’t hesitating again. I pulled the trigger and he ran about 20 yds. but didn’t make the brush. BAM - the 300 hit hard and I heard the meat report. A beautiful kudu bull - What a magnificent animal!

View attachment 400964
Kudu with 300WM

View attachment 400965
Kudu with PH

View attachment 400966

We tried loading him but all four of us couldn't get him in the bakkie. I didn't feel like ripping the crotch out of another pair of pants so Nick calls in backup to get a truck with a winch to come out and help.

View attachment 400967
Trackers are beat after we tried but couldn’t load the kudu by hand!

View attachment 400968
Reinforcements have arrived!

View attachment 400969
From the top of kudu hill

Congratulations on some beautiful animals!!!

 

[Uncle Sauce]

That Kudu’s neck is huge! I like the twist of the horns, adds character.

He had definitely been eating well!

 

[Uncle Sauce]

Congratulations on some beautiful animals!!!

Thank you sir! If my safari would have ended there I think I would have been a happy man! More to come

 

[Uncle Sauce]

Enjoying the read! Congrats so far. Look forward to more!

Thanks Charles!

This sounds like a grand time for sure! I’m really enjoying reading it and dreaming!

It was a great time - Glad your enjoying it!

 

[Uncle Sauce]

Day 4 – Friday

Up early to try our hand for gemsbok and hartebeest at a property about 45 minutes away. Got to the farm and picked up the PH who manages the farm to go do some scouting.

Right off we spotted a nice gemsbok on a neighboring hillside and drove down into the valley to cut the distance. Off the truck and into the brush to see if we could get into position. We were quartering uphill through the thick brush and the PH put me on the sticks since he thought he would walk out of the brush and present an opportunity between the acacia brush. He never came out so we continued on another 50 yds. and got setup again on the sticks and waited a couple minutes before he appeared. He walked out and I didn’t waste time to let the 300 talk. He dropped like a stone in his tracks.

Gemsbok

PH called back to the farmhouse to get a side by side and help carrying him down the hill. Wasn’t too long until help arrived and got him loaded.

Hauling gemsbok

Drove around a bit searching for hartebeest and finally spotted a small herd on a hillside across from us. Drove to the bottom of a hillside to a spot well below them and off the truck to start walking. Walked about ½ mile to where they were last seen but they had migrated quite a ways below us and spotted us and took off on a dead run with us right behind them. This morphed into a fast walk / jog ordeal up the hill with me being on the sticks at least 5 times but never got a chance to pull the trigger before they were off running again.

Then they paired up with a herd of bontebuck and commenced running the other direction down the valley. Off we go again in pursuit and we used a small thicket of acacia trees to shield our movement to get within range. Up on the sticks for the last time and took the shot. Thank goodness he didn’t take off since I was out close to running out of gas by this point.

Nick & I with Red Hartebeest

Red Hartebeest

Took some photos and loaded up the hartebeest and headed to the skinning shed where Timba had just finished the gemsbok.

Gorgeous property!

After the hartebeest was skinned we headed back to the lodge property. Thought we might have a chance on a warthog we had spotted the day before but no luck after a couple hours of glassing.

After another wonderful meal by Debbie & Portia at Outspan and I headed to bed for some much needed rest.

 

[Trogon]

An enjoyable read, thanks for sharing so far, look forward to reading the rest of your story, @Uncle Sauce. You got excellent animals! Congratulations!