SOUTH AFRICA: Hunt Kubusi Safaris 2016

[enysse]

Very nice cape buffalo!

 

[jasyblood]

Very nice cape buffalo!

Thanks Eric!

 

[jasyblood]

Thanks for the update, some great trophies! Damn fine buff! Congrats to all

Thanks Reedy!!

 

[lcq]

Very nice trophies and congrads on the hunt. Looks like Tuskers is new because I only know Glen Boyd and Kubusi. I know Dion, Jeremy I don't. Was Henny there?

 

[jasyblood]

Very nice trophies and congrads on the hunt. Looks like Tuskers is new because I only know Glen Boyd and Kubusi. I know Dion, Jeremy I don't. Was Henny there?

Thanks! I think this is the second year for Tuskers Lodge. We went to Glen Boyd on the next to last day to do a little duck hunting and stop by the taxidermist but I don't know how much they use it as a lodge anymore if at all. I did not meet Henny or Dion. Jeremy does not work full time for Kubusi. He and Andrew were hired because we were hunting dangerous game. When did you hunt there?

 

[gillettehunter]

I like the "look" of your buffalo. Great shape. Sounds like you had a good hunt to get him. Bruce

 

[jasyblood]

I like the "look" of your buffalo. Great shape. Sounds like you had a good hunt to get him. Bruce

Thanks Bruce!

 

[lcq]

Thanks! I think this is the second year for Tuskers Lodge. We went to Glen Boyd on the next to last day to do a little duck hunting and stop by the taxidermist but I don't know how much they use it as a lodge anymore if at all. I did not meet Henny or Dion. Jeremy does not work full time for Kubusi. He and Andrew were hired because we were hunting dangerous game. When did you hunt there?

May 2014. Tuskers must have just been commissioned after I left

 

[rinehart0050]

Congrats on your buff! Awesome!

 

[jasyblood]

Congrats on your buff! Awesome!

Thanks @rinehart0050 !!

 

[Jfet]

I’ve been a member on AH for a few years now but have not contributed much and I’ve decided that I need to change that….I figured that I would start with a hunting report from my latest trip to Africa……

I am thinking you need to correct this

You need to write more often

Wonderful story

 

[jasyblood]

I am thinking you need to correct this

You need to write more often

Wonderful story

Thanks @Jfet ! I do plan on contributing more. I have a roe deer hunt in Hungary coming up in a few weeks and I'll definitely get you guys a report when i get back!

 

[Jfet]

Thanks @Jfet ! I do plan on contributing more. I have a roe deer hunt in Hungary coming up in a few weeks and I'll definitely get you guys a report when i get back!

Yes you better! By that time I will be on football practice field in Texas with a bunch of teenage boys. I'll need something to maintain my sanity.

 

[Sand Rat]

Great hunt report, I really like the horn shape on your nayala!

 

[Nyati]

Congrats for a great hunt and some very nice trophies.

Thanks for sharing !

 

[jasyblood]

Friday May 20th – We get on the road about 6:00 to go to a different place to hunt buffalo. Today it’s a smaller group than yesterday, so Andrew, Justin, Stacy, Justin’s dad and I cram into the truck. It shouldn’t be too uncomfortable because it’s only a 90 minute drive….or so we think…..

Andrew has never hunted this property, so as we get close to where were going, he calls the landowner but gets no answer. A few minutes later, we turn off on the road we think we should be on and hit a guard shack. When Andrew asks guard if “X” farm is on this road, he looks a little confused and finally says yes but it is quite a ways down the road but not exactly sure how far….this should’ve been our first clue that something wasn’t right. The guard let us through the gate we drove and drove and drove some more and finally spotted a guy in a truck sitting on the side of the road. We pulled over and asked him the same question that we asked the guard and he had the same confused look and said you guys are a long ways from there and gave us directions. We turned around and headed back the way we came, went through the guard shack again and headed to where we thought we were supposed to be going.

Finally, the farm owner calls Andrew back to see why we’re not there yet and Andrew explains what happened and that we should be there in a few minutes. Then, after a little more discussion, they both realize that we’re heading to the wrong farm altogether!! As it turns out, the plans had changed and no one notified us and we were now about 2-1/2 hours from where we should have been! We get back on the correct road and settle in for the long drive.

Now for a funny coincidence….I mentioned in the beginning of this report that while we were talking to outfitters at DSC about booking a buffalo hunt, we had pretty much settled on one outfitter before we changed our minds and decided to do the hunt with Kubusi instead. Well, on our short drive to the correct farm, Andrew mentions the name of the owner and I knew it sounded familiar but I couldn’t quite figure out how I knew it. Then, I ask the name of the farm and it hits me…this is the same guy that we had planned on going with in the first place. I guess it is a small world, especially in the hunting community.

After 3 hours and many stops/delays for road construction, we finally make it to the right place. We meet with the owner and he assigns us a tracker and we were hunting within 15 minutes of arriving. It is now 11:30 and we’re going to need a little luck and cooperation from the buffalo to make this happen. The tracker directs us towards the back part of the property and says this is usually where the buffalo are in the middle of the day. The area we head to is thick bush with small clearings here and there and there are animals everywhere.

We finally park the truck and Andrew, Justin and the tracker head off to see if they can spot the heard. About an hour later, they radio that they’ve found the heard and asked us to move the truck about a mile further down the road. We oblige and we continue to wait….about 45 minutes later, our regular tracker(who stayed with us) spots something, gets out of the truck and heads for a clearing and motions for me to come with him. We get to the clearing and we can see the heard of buffalo and radio Andrew to let him know where they are but he already knows exactly where they are and is right behind them. In a few minutes, they disappear back into the bush and we wait some more. About 10 minutes later, we hear something that might be a shot but the wind is blowing so hard we can’t tell for sure. Just a few seconds later, Andrew calls us on the radio and tells us where they are and we need to get there quickly. Justin had shot a buff and the rest of the heard had initially run off but were now back and not very happy! We hauled ass to their location and when we arrived the heard of about 40 buffalo had surrounded their fallen buddy and some were hooking/pushing him to try to get him back up. That was quite a sight to see. We eased the truck towards the heard and they reluctantly started moving off and Justin moved up to put a shot in the spine to make sure he was done.

We spent about 30 minutes taking pics and waiting for the truck to arrive to load the bull. It was now about 3:00 and we decided to see if we could get on a gemsbok before we had to head back to Tuskers.

We drove a few miles down the road and spotted 5 gems grazing on the side of a hill off in the distance and determined that one of them was a definite shooter. We drove around them and then up the hill so we could come in on top of them. By the time we got there, they had moved about 500 yards to our right so we had to hoof it across a small valley and up another hill to get in front of them. We crawled up to the edge of the cliff and they were right below us about 150 yards but at a pretty extreme angle. I didn’t take this into consideration when I took the shot and the bullet went right over his back…another rookie move. The whole group took off to the right and I figured the hunt was over, but I was wrong. They ran another 400-500 yards and then slowed up and stopped and a little while later, they were grazing again so we decided to slide off the cliff to see if we could stalk them from the bottom. After a long stalk and getting pinned down forever in the middle of a large clearing by a group of lechwe, the gems actually started making their way back to us. When they got within 200 yards, I took the shot (not a good one) and the group ran toward us. As they ran by, I put one more in the bull and he fell a short distance later. The first time I had hunted Africa in 2014, I had passed on a stellar gemsbok at 20 yards while we were stalking blue wildebeest and it has haunted me(and my PH who still bitches about it) ever since. I was very glad to get that monkey off my back and I’m glad I waited….this one was quite a bit better.

The rest of our group arrived quickly so we could get some pictures before it got dark. After that, we ran back to the main camp to get him skinned so we could get on the road. When we arrived, one of the skinners handed Justin his bullet from his buffalo. He had shot it square in the chest and they found the bullet in the right hip and it had mushroomed perfectly. He had used my CZ and my hand loads and to say that I was impressed at the performance of the Barnes TSX is an understatement!


The owner was nice enough to supply us with several beers while we waited and we were serenaded by a few lions as we watched the sun set.

It was a long and bittersweet ride back to the lodge because the gems was the last animal on my list but I kept telling myself that I still had two days left and surely I could find something else to hunt before I went home.

We arrive back at camp around 8:30 and swap stories with the rest of our group, have a late dinner and stay up late drinking with everyone because tomorrow, they all go home except for Justin, Stacy and I.

I’ve got one more installment and hope to get that to you guys tomorrow.

 

[cpr0312]

Nice buff and gemsbuck, and great sunset pic!!!

 

[jasyblood]

Great hunt report, I really like the horn shape on your nayala!

Thanks @Sand Rat! I don't think I could've found a more perfect nyala for my taste. I really like the ones that narrow up at the top over the wide ones, but they are all beautiful!

 

[cpr0312]

I would second what Sand Rat said, nice shape! And yes they are all beautiful!

 

[jasyblood]

Saturday May 21st – This morning we get up around 6:00 and bid farewell to the rest of our group who was head back to East London to catch their flight home. After saying our goodbyes, we load up and headed to a property right on the Indian Ocean to hunt warthog and anything else we bumped into.

After seeing lots of pigs, just none we wanted to go after, we broke for lunch and headed for Port Alfred for lunch. While eating lunch, we ran into a taxidermist that had a shop in town and he invited us to stop by for a tour on our way back to hunt. We stop and take a quick tour on our way out of town and then back to hunting.

About 3:00, we see a large pig that’s almost solid white, off in the distance and move in for a closer look. When we get closer, we realize that it’s a big sow and neither Justin nor I were interested. Stacy spoke up and said she’d like to hunt this pig so she and Andrew headed off to see if they could get in shooting distance. We were sitting on top of hill, so we could see the whole hunt unfold. They got about 150 yards from the saw and Andrew got Stacy on the bipod. She took the shot, rolled the pig and it never moved a muscle. Nice tusks on that sow!!

After getting pictures, we headed to the shed and ran into these!

We felt very privileged to see these two HUGE white rhino bulls at one time. After taking a few quick pics of them, we could tell they were getting agitated so we decided that we better move off before we get a horn through the truck door…lol.


We dropped the pig off and head back out again. Not far out of camp, we bumped into a heard for giant blesbuck(17”-18”) and Stacy decided the needed one. After several blown stalks by a herd of zebra that wouldn’t stay out of way, it started to get dark and we headed back to Tuskers.

Tonight we had gemsbok for dinner and as always, it was excellent. We had a new group of hunters in camp with us now, so we visited with them for a while and crashed around 1:00am.


Sunday May 22nd – We sleep in a little later this morning and get on the road around 8:00. We’re going to another lodge/property that Kubusi uses called Glen Boyd. It’s just a short 30-40 minute drive and the focus today is ducks/geese. Let me just say, I’m not a duck hunter and I could really care less but it’s Justin’s and Stacy’s passion and since I’m the one that dragged them all the way over here, I figured I’d set back and let them have their fun. As soon as we pull through camp, we see a small dam that has several teal on it and Justin and Stacy got in position and smoked a drake and hen red bill.

We then moved to a larger dam that had Egyptian geese on it and they shot another pair.

We did this several times over the next few hours until they got their fill. It was getting close to lunch so we decided we better start heading back. On the way, we stopped at another taxidermist to look at their work and then got back to camp around 1:00.

After lunch, we packed a little, and Justin and I started drinking around 2:00. Sometime around 4:30 Andrew and Stacy decided they were going to go out one last time to see if he could get her on a blesbuck and Justin tagged along. I stayed in camp and packed the rest of my bags/drank and around dark, they returned without a blesbuck.

As always, the last night in camp is a little depressing. I’ve been on numerous vacations and when the last day comes, I’m usually ready to get back home for a few days but Africa is different…I’m never ready to leave. After dinner, we hang out with the ‘new group’ and bs until around 2:00am.

The next morning, Andrew gets us to the airport with a few hours to spare and hangs out with us until we get through security. Now, it’s time for the long journey home.

Until next time, good by Africa!

In conclusion:

When I started planning this trip in Dec 2014, I thought there was no way it could be as good as the first, but I was wrong. While the “wonder and awe” of hunting in Africa was not as intense as the first time, getting to experience it with my family and friends and seeing their reactions was just as satisfying!

I would highly recommend Kubusi Safaris to any hunter. Both lodges we stayed at were in good order with Tuskers being much nicer and the staff at both locations took great care of us.

All the PH’s were top notch and I wouldn’t hesitate to hunt with any of them again.

The quality of the animals we hunted was excellent and most of the properties we hunted were low fence.

My only real complaint about the whole trip was the lack of communication and contact from Ed on the front end. Please don’t think I’m trying to deter anyone from using him or Kubusi, just letting you guys know our experience.

A few things I learned on this trip:

When traveling with 6 hunters/rifles to Jo’burg, get your rifle permits sorted before you leave home…trust me.

They don’t sell beer at gas stations in SA. WTH is up with that??

.375H&H is more than enough gun for a Cape Buffalo…but after hanging out on AH for 2 years, you .404 Jeffery guys have brainwashed me and I now have to buy one of those. Y’all suck!

When your buddy and PH leave you in the truck and say “we’ll be right back” don’t believe them…they’re lying. Make sure you pack a book or something.

Baboons can take some lead. Make sure you have extra ammo…with you… and not in the truck with the buddy you left two hours ago.

Never ride in the back of the truck with a tracker that just got his driver’s license two days before your hunt started.

If you’re traveling from East London back to Jo’burg with ammo, they make you remove the ammo from your checked bag and check it separately….why, because they can. Not a big deal unless they check the rest of your luggage all the way through to the final destination. If they did, when you get to Jo’burg, you have to check the ammo as a 3rd bag and Delta tries to jack you for an extra fee.


Anyway, that's the end of the tale. I hope you guys enjoyed the report as much as I enjoyed telling it!


Thanks,

Jason Y