SOUTH AFRICA: First Time To The Eastern Cape!

[PARA45]

Anxiously waiting for your hunt report.

 

[kevin masters]

Okay so I've got a little time let's get started. So we left Lexington Ky on June
29th with the final destination of East London. We got to the airport early had a few drinks
to calm the jitters. uneventful flight to Atlanta short layover, ate at TGIF would not recommend,lol.
long ass horrible flight to JBurg. Then overnight at city lodge. Which I would highly recommend!
It was clean and comfortable and very convenient. We had a nice meal at the hotel restaurant again some drinks and then off to bed for a very early flight to East London. That flight went smooth and
we met our PH Lloyd at the king phalo airport. We had breakfast in town and then a short drive to KMG. We stopped by Lloyd's house on the way to pick up a few things and got to meet Lloyd's dad which was nice. When we got to camp we settled in and kind of checked every thing out. after that
it was time to sight in rifles. we got to the range and Lloyd asked if I wanted to go first, I said I can embarrass myself first as well as last so I got on the bench. I was shooting Lloyds 270 with suppressor
and it was sweet! ( I am now in the process of getting a suppressor, lol)
Now just to preface I am 52 and have never had good eyesight. So took my first shot, Nick was on the spotting scope and said windage was perfect 1 1/2" low. Shot again wobbled the hole. so
we're discussing the low and nick asked for the gun. he looks through the scope and says oh my
you can see through that? I had the magnification all the way up and the focus dialed way down.
I said yes I'm old guy's lol. they discussed it and decided the way I had the scope dialed up was causing the issue so we took it two clicks past a hundred yard and that put the next one in the crosshairs.
That was my best shooting of the trip
We checked out the property that afternoon, had a nice dinner and just relaxed trying to shake the jet lag.
There were two other hunters in camp two young guy's from Texas. Super guys and a pleasure to share
camp with. Matt and Sam very good guys who also brought bourbon so we were well stocked
with a bottle of Elijah craig toasted and angels envy. They brought Weller antique and Eagle rare!

 

[kevin masters]

Morning came early on our first hunting day. I was targeting nyala and waterbuck. fairly short list so I was confident we could get it done. We hunted on the property where the lodge is located that morning and it is crazy steep and wild. very thick and a lot different than what I expected.
We found a vantage point and glassed. Knowing it was kind of useless for me I did any way out of a sense of obligation. We checked several areas with minimal success. We were looking for a new vantage when we jumped a really nice Nyala. We jumped out of the truck maneuvered a very short distance and the sticks went up. I got on the gun and got settled. then I made a monumental mistake. I panned the scop up to look at the horns. I have never had a problem with buck fever or whatever you want to call it but I started shaking and just could not gain my composure. It was very steep where we were standing and my footing was not the best. I pulled back down on his shoulder and started thinking about being low at the range. I should have just got off the sticks but I didn't and took a very poor shot. I knew the minute I squeezed the trigger I shot right over his back. I had just missed my most coveted animal at 100 yards with no one to blame but myself. Well that can be pretty tough to shake but I knew I had to.
I was apologizing to Lloyd and my tracker Sevae. Really embarrassed and to be honest very unsure I have hunted all my life and never pulled anything like that. So we looked for waterbuck in the afternoon and saw plenty but the reoccurring line was we can do better, just not quite what we're looking for. Back to the lodge for a wonderful meal some cold beer(no kill no bourbon) and off to bed for another early morning.
Wednesday we started out looking for waterbuck and just like the day before we saw plenty but not what Lloyd wanted. we looked at a bunch through the spotting scop most of which I was saying looks good to me and Lloyd would say he's not the one.
In the afternoon is when things got interesting. We were hunting huge low fenced farms which was refreshing and we got a call from a farm owner saying his hounds man had seen us next door and he had a caracal treed that was to big for his hounds to handle, would we come shoot it.
Well we obliged and it was one of the coolest experiences I've had. we rushed to where they said they were and when we jumped out of the truck I could here the dogs baying! We had no sooner found them than the cat jumped out of the tree and was like greased lightning! the hounds man sent the dogs with a few commands and it was on. the dogs took off and I was just kinda standing there when Lloyd says hes coming back. The cat jumped right back in the same tree and was climbing.
Lloyd handed me the rifle and asked if I had a clear shot I said yes he said shoot and the cat hit the ground!
We had bourbon that night!!! The camp is kind of a local hang out and every one was very excited and congratulatory over the caracal! now ones in the salt thank you lord!

 

[Rem280]

Amazing report! Wonder if that Nyala was the same one I shot around on that property the other month? LOL! Amazing cat!

 

[Firebird]

Monster cat! Congratulations