SOUTH AFRICA: Hunt With TSALA HUNTING SAFARIS May 2022

[gillettehunter]

Day 5
Last day with Tsala. Goes by too fast. Out early. Saw a large sable. One of their breeders. Caught up to a couple of Impala trying to fight. The only problem was the fence between them. They can be so single minded. Janus wanted to break them up. Wouldn’t want them to tangle their horns in the fence. They were so focused on race other that they moved away from the truck but did it while facing each other and going up the fence line. We pushed them probably 50 yds before they separated!
Saw some cow buffalo

A few giraffes

Some Egyptian geese and a few warthogs. The Texas guys found a shooter kudu but couldn’t close the deal.
I think Janus was getting nervous. We hadn’t killed anything the past 2 days and weren’t seeing anything I really wanted. Back for lunch.

 

[gillettehunter]

After lunch I told Janus if we could find a good black Impala then I’d shoot one of them. They are a interesting color phase of Impala. So off we go. We were going to go where we had seen a particularly good ram before, but Rouan was headed that way. So we headed elsewhere. Which worked out great for us.
At a road intersection I looked up and spotted 2 black Impala Anya common. We backed up and looked. The black ram was a nontypical. One horn was normal and the other wonky. I could tell the normal horn was perhaps 17-19 inches. The other shoots off to the side. I said let’s take him. We backed up out of sight. Then the cat and mouse game began.
We started up the shoulder of the 2 track out of sight. The he walked into the bush. We moved up to try and get into position. One of the others crossed the road. We eventually set up on the tripod in the middle of the road. His curiosity killed him. He had to look at us. Around 225 yds he stopped broadside. Boom Whoop. DRT. Didn’t twitch at all. He will make an interesting mount!

I was glad to have him. This ended the hunting on day 5.
The Texas guys each got 3 animals. We shot very well. 9 kills of 1 shot each. Unfortunately that didn’t continue on our next stop. I still have another 10 days of hunting to go. More later.
Bruce

 

[Andrew62]

Andrew, it was a real pleasure having you in camp. We all had some good laughs. Wonderful atmosphere and some great animals. Had hoped to hear from you and perhaps a hunt report!
Bruce

Hey Bruce, I did in fact post a review of my hunt, not nearly as detailed as yours, but I did post one! I'm anxious to see your sable mounted, I have never seen one that color before!!! Spectacular trophy!

 

[gillettehunter]

With the hunt at an end we settled up accounts. Jo came over with Janus. Went through the charges and took payment. Payment was done similar to our “square” reader. Nice to be able to use a credit card.
Next morning we were up early and Rouan loaded us up to head to Joberg. We met a van there that took us to Kimberly where we met Willie, Carl and Willam (Willie’s son and new PH). I’ll start a new thread with details of the next 10 hunting days.
Just to be clear we had a great time at Tsala. Facilities are excellent. You’ll gain weight with the great food. The area is beautiful with some wonderful animals. Was a great place to start this hunt.
Bruce

 

[Nyati]

Congrats for a great hunt and thanks for sharing !

 

[BRICKBURN]

Tough chasing Kudu in the thick stuff.
Congrats on some interesting trophies.

 

[Angelo_orygun]

Great hunt! That Impala is fantastic!

 

[buck wild]

I'm anxious to see your sable mounted, I have never seen one that color before!!! Spectacular trophy!

An earlier quote from Bruce about his sable, "The color didn't matter to me as I was planning on a european mount."

 

[gillettehunter]

The issue is space in my home. My wife is adamant about my limits on where they can go. I lost my office space when I retired……. There were 8-9 mounts there including a Roan. I already have one sable mounted.
Those familiar with my hunts might recall Tanzania last year. 6 more mounts coming from that hunt. 11 animals taken on the hunts in RSA this year. Cost also figures into the equation….. I’d love to have them all shoulder mounted. Just physically don’t have the space. There’s another coming up in my new thread on hunting with Namaqua safaris that should be a shoulder mount but likely will become a euro……..
Bruce

 

[Andrew62]

The issue is space in my home. My wife is adamant about my limits on where they can go. I lost my office space when I retired……. There were 8-9 mounts there including a Roan. I already have one sable mounted.
Those familiar with my hunts might recall Tanzania last year. 6 more mounts coming from that hunt. 11 animals taken on the hunts in RSA this year. Cost also figures into the equation….. I’d love to have them all shoulder mounted. Just physically don’t have the space. There’s another coming up in my new thread on hunting with Namaqua safaris that should be a shoulder mount but likely will become a euro……..
Bruce

I totally get it, other than a lion rug I had done 9 years ago, it's been nearly 20 years since I have had anything mounted. Having been robbed so many times, at various homes/businesses, I no longer invite people to my place, so getting things mounted makes no sense. And, my dad is 92, he has a huge trophy collection that my mom cannot wait to throw out as soon as he dies. lol