SOUTH AFRICA: Huntershill Safaris April/May 2019 Plains Game Safari

[buck wild]

nice report

 

[TXhunter65]

Day 5:

Spent the morning chasing Zebra, we'd set up a couple times attempting to ambush them as they came toward us only to have them go a different direction. After searching for some time we came upon a small herd of 12 or so grazing on the open plain. At about 300 yards we could tell they were beginning to question our presents so we quickly set up for the shot. The stallion, second from the left, was in the clear broad side and at the recoil I could hear the impact and saw dirt fly on the opposite side. They took off and Jason said, "under, I think you've shot just under him". Confused I said, "What!". I watched through the scope as the stallion broke from the herd and they quickly rejoined him, five seconds later he stumbled and fell. The bullet had passed through both lungs impacting the ground just past him.

That afternoon Mark and I paired back up to chase his red hartebeest and my springbok. We drove around till sunset, I watched Mark and Lloyd go on numerous stalks for red's but no luck. We did find one large group and we dropped Mark and Lloyd off below them. We circled around behind and I waited while Mark's tracker attempted to walk up the mountain to persuade them to head in Marks direction. They took off but decided a different path was more appealing. While waiting I was glassing higher on the mountain and caught movement closer to me through the bush. One large bull had circled back and was going the opposite way of the herd climbing higher on the mountain...I smiled wondering how many times he'd slipped out the back door before.

We headed back to the lodge for a warm shower and delicious meal.

 

[TXhunter65]

Day 6:
Slept in this morning. Left about 08:00 for Queenstown, I'd had SCI send me a few Bell Family Blue Bags prior to the trip. They were kind enough to put 20 backpacks, 15 or so toboggan caps, 2 soccer balls, and 2 hand pumps in before they shipped them. We brought a few things with us to include but wanted to buy the bulk while in Africa. We purchased enough school supplies, clothes, medical supplies, toys, candy, and toiletries to fill the bags. After a morning full of shopping we headed back to the lodge for lunch and to get ready for the afternoon hunt.

This afternoon my tracker Henry was assigned a separate tasked so we picked up a young up and comer, I believe he was about 12. It was back to the river bottom to chase warthogs and springbok. Not long after entering the property we saw two hogs grazing, stalked to within about 50 yards but could never get a good look at their tusks with the tall grass. They eventually feed off into the bush. Jason said neither of their bodies looked to be mature boars. After passing back and forth along the river we decided to head over to look for hogs and fallow deer.

After being on the property for a while we spotted a very nice fallow buck with a large group of does. We gave chase for a while but could never get a clear shot. As we drove across the property our tracker spotted a chocolate fallow stag and we took after him. He crossed a dry stream bed and popped out about 200 yards from us on the other side under a small tree. I quickly readied for the shot and he dropped in his tracks. We crossed the stream bed and quickly took photos as light was fading fast. Then came the task of dragging him down and back up the steep banks to get him to the truck.

He wasn't as large as the first fallow we saw but Jason promised we'd come back to chase the "moose" another day. Arriving back near the lodge we dropped our young tracker and as a reward for spotting the fallow Jason got out removed the head and gave the stag to the young man and his family. They were excited and came out with knives singing the whole way.

Mark had luck as well as him and Lloyd scored on a nice red hartebeest at 287 yards:

Afterward we retired to the lodge for a shower, dinner, and drinks around the bar before a good nights sleep.

 

[Bullthrower338]

Sigmund Freud called it "warthog envy" I believe...................FWB

That is some funny shit!

 

[flatwater bill]

That is a heck of a fallow deer................nice pajama donkey, too. Everyone should hunt a zebra or two. They are not as easy as some think, and the hides make great ottoman or recliner covers. Nothing screams "Africa" when one enters the trophy room like a zebra skin.....well done..........FWB

 

[Bobpuckett]

Awesome Report thanks for Sharing. Congrats on your trophies! Hope Jason and Lloyd Took good care of you guys.

 

[Cam Moon]

I too am impressed with that fallow.... and very nice coloring. It sounds like an awesome time and makes me really want to go back.
Reading this I thought you were going to shoot the Red you saw and thought that would be funny as hell!!! Mark and Lloyd are doing all the walking and sweating as you and Jason let out a lazy yawn and you squeeze the trigger!

 

[TXhunter65]

That is a heck of a fallow deer................nice pajama donkey, too. Everyone should hunt a zebra or two. They are not as easy as some think, and the hides make great ottoman or recliner covers. Nothing screams "Africa" when one enters the trophy room like a zebra skin.....well done..........FWB

Yeah, fortunately for me most of my miles walking were put in along the river searching for warthog and not in the mountains.

 

[TXhunter65]

Day 7:
After breakfast we headed out for warthog again. We drove back to the river property and quickly spotted a group grazing, there was one nice boar in the group. We got as close as possible with the wind we had, somewhat cross but also somewhat towards them. I took a shot at 230 yards and I believe shot just over his back. Afterward we continued on and decided to walk along the river bed for a couple hours. We walked up on several, but all young. We called for Henry to come pick us up and headed back for lunch.

After lunch we hit the river again and walked most of the evening but never got a shot. Seen several hogs but they either saw us or winded us and it never came together. We decided to go back and see if we could locate the large fallow buck we'd seen the evening before but it also wasn't to be.

Some day's it all comes together and some day's it doesn't, but your in Africa, in the sand, sweating, breathing in the land and smelling the history, what could ever be better.

Mark, was more fortunate and connected on a nice axis that morning:

Time for a shower, a wonderful meal, and some rest. Max prepared springbok hash, nyala steak, rice, mixed vegetables in a cream sauce, with macaroni salad and a lemon tart dessert.

 

[TXhunter65]

Day 8:
We spent the morning visiting a school not far from the lodge in Molteno. The school was associated with a church on the northwest side of town. We met with several ladies who ran the school and taught the children. The children were divided into three buildings, four classrooms. One building was recently built by one of the teachers (Annie) husband for the kindergarten class. She told us the company who shipped the windmills had donated some wood from the large crates used during shipping and her husband had worked with a few other men on weekends to build a classroom for the youngest students. First grade was located in a separate building in its own classroom while 2nd-6th was in another classroom in the same building. The fourth classroom was connected to the church and was for students being taught solely in Afrikaans. Each students desk in the 1st-6th grade classrooms were partitioned off for privacy and Annie informed us the system they used for teaching the children was one that allowed them to move at their own pace. This allowed them to provide the level of assistance each child needed so they could accomplish the objectives set for them allowing those who needed less assistance to move forward.

Several of the teachers also told us they had gone to school in the church when they were young, the priest had started the school so the children could remain in town and not have to go far away for school. We both enjoyed our time touring the school and church very much, all the teachers and staff were very kind to allow us to interrupt their day to show us around and share their history.

Second-sixth grade classes.

Kindergarten class.

Kindergarten building made from shipping crates.

View from the school buildings across the courtyard toward the church.

Students learning in Afrikaans.

That evening we headed back for warthog and instead got on a group of springbok, as usual they detected our presence before we'd liked and began to leave the country. For some reason three males broke from the group and stopped about 300 yards and looked back giving Jason just enough time to tell me which one to target. The first shot was low in his chest cavity, but lethal. We hurried closer as he trotted a few yards and fired a second shot as we weren't sure at the time where the first shot had hit.

As the afternoon was still early we headed back out to see if we could find the larger fallow buck again. We came on a large group of chocolate does with a young stag but no sign of big boy. We saw a few other smaller groups but all were does and fawns or young stags. Jason stopped and grabbed his binos as he stared off high in the distance and spotted a group of three mountain reedbuck. He said he thought one of them was a nice male but we'd have to try to get closer to tell and asked if I was interested since I hadn't planned on hunting a mountain reedbuck. I of course agreed so we struck out. As we approached the base of the steep cliff they were on they climbed higher. Once we'd gotten to about 200 yards we stopped and found them again up the mountain. The two females were out of sight in the brush. The male was standing half covered half uncovered by brush staring straight at us. Unfortunately there was a large bush directly behind his head and it was camouflaging his horns and neither of us could tell how long he was or what his hooks looked like at the top. It felt like we stared at each other for 20 minutes but I'm sure in reality it was only 3 or 4. Jason wanted him to move his head just slightly so he could get some idea of his size. After what felt like an eternity Jason finally said, he's not going to move, I'm not sure about his horn length but his body appears to be that of a mature male, if you're comfortable and have a clear shot take him. The first shot hit him and he climbed about fifteen yards further up the mountain and stopped, the second shot dropped him. Given the steepness of the cliff Jason recommend that we let Henry retrieve him to a lower somewhat flatter elevation.

When Henry reached him he started yelling in Afrikaans and Jason said, "If Henry's yelling he's big". When he got down to us Jason told me he was one of, if not the biggest mountain reedbuck he'd seen. I of course, having no reference to compare was oblivious but extremely excited none the less.

Jason later told me his longest horn measured 7 7/8" long. I'm still not sure the significance of that but I think he's beautiful.

No luck for my buddy Mark today.

 

[BRICKBURN]

You got some very nice trophies.
Congratulations.

FYI,
6 7/8 is Rowland Ward minimum. Hell of a Mtn Reedbuck.

 

[Nyati]

Congrats, nice trophies.

You will just have to come back for your warthog !

 

[cpr0312]

Enjoyed the report, some nice trophies!

 

[TXhunter65]

Day 9:

Left the lodge @04:15 headed back southeast for bushbuck. We hunted the hard all day, put in several miles walking in some very thick country, and saw six very nice rams but we never saw any of them for more than a couple seconds. We did spot another large kudu with two females about 1600 yards down a transmission line...little too far for pictures though, at least with my cameras.

The majority of the property inside the circle is where we hunted. It was extremely thick in a lot of places, makes for great bushbuck habitat, but makes them hard to see as well! It was a beautiful place but as with most of mother nature's beautiful places they can be daunting and make you feel small and insignificant.

We headed back to the lodge and arrived for diner around 20:45. As we drove through the gate Jason said, "well I guess we can go chase after Mr. Warthog again tomorrow", to which I replied, "I think I'm gonna leave Mr. Warthog right where he's is, why don't we go chase after Mr. Sable tomorrow!". After a quick bite and a shower it was off to bed. I was beat from the day, looking forward to tomorrow, but also dreading it because it would be my last in the bush...at least on this trip.

Mark had been busy this day jogging the mountains for a nice waterbuck and was lucky enough for his sweat equity to pay off:

 

[CBH Australia]

Nice report,
Those warthogs have me worried! my first trip will be PG cull hunt and warthog are on the menu. Actually they are one of the coolest looking animals.
I told a mate who is a trophy hunter I was going to do this and he said he wants to when he can. He wants X, Y and Z but a Warthog is a given that's not negotiable!
DG is out of reach but that would be my dream.

 

[One Day...]

Great hunt and great report Jeff.
Congratulations!
My own warthog at Huntershill was purely a random accident. We bumped him while coming back to the lodge on the first morning of the first day.
I missed him a first time and we thought we had lost him, but he actually ran half a circle and I got another shot at him a minute or so later.
Not two ways about it, now you have to go back to Africa. I am so happy you had a great time

 

[TXhunter65]

Thank you to everyone for your kind words!

@Nyati I'll definitely have to return to settle up with Mr. Warthog!

@CBH Australia You never know with warthog....terrain and vegetation seem to have played a big role in my lack of success along with my my miss! I know a lot of people who've been successful on their first safari, I'm just not one of them!

 

[TXhunter65]

Great hunt and great report Jeff.
Congratulations!
My own warthog at Huntershill was purely a random accident. We bumped him while coming back to the lodge on the first morning of the first day.
I missed him a first time and we thought we had lost him, but he actually ran half a circle and I got another shot at him a minute or so later.
Not two ways about it, now you have to go back to Africa. I am so happy you had a great time

View attachment 286436

Pascal,

We had a wonderful time. We greatly enjoyed Jason and Lloyd along with all the PH's we visited with in the lodge. There are many good people at Huntershill. The food was wonderful. I also appreciated the fact Greg spent the amount of time he did personally interacting with the guest. I also appreciate the amount of time you spent corresponding with me prior to and during the hunt.

Got one day left to report on...then its time to start planning the next trip! I feel my wife is wanting to head the other direction from the states and visit with some Kiwi's, looks like this one is going to turn into a family vacation...I'm sure I'll get to spend some time chasing a stag and maybe a couple more critters so I'm good with it!

 

[TXhunter65]

Day 10:

Breakfast was a delicious bacon, sausage, onion, tomato, and cheese omelet. Afterward we headed out about 07:15 to look for a mature sable. We'd been driving around for a while when we spotted a small group with two or three bulls. We glassed them from a distance but decided two were not old enough and the oldest of the group flared pretty wide but was very unsymmetrical. So we continued on. We later came to a large cliff and decided to get close to the edge to see what was in the valley. There were a group of females with one male but after glassing him for a while bedded under a small bush he still had some brown in his coat and wasn't fully mature. While glassing the group I noticed a lone bull about a mile away making his way toward them, but he too was not mature.

We continued on and drove up to a high spot to glass. When we arrived we spotted a couple bulls well over a mile away; however, they had spotted us and had already begun heading in a different direction. We watched them as they fled over a ridge in a saddle between two large hills. We drove as close as we could to the saddle and Jason and I headed up to where they'd crossed over. As we neared the crest we slowly made our way as we peaked over we could see the large arching horns, so we got as low as possible and slowly moved forward. Luckily once they'd crossed over the saddle they'd begun to feed on the opposite hillside. We glassed them just long enough to determine they were mature, and which one I was to shoot. Jason gave the instructions, raised the sticks, and said, "160 yards" they were broad side and unaware of our presence. One shot later and he went about 15 yards and crashed to earth.

After lunch Mark, Jason, Lloyd, and I walked over to Greg's house and had the pleasure of viewing his trophy room which was amazing, animals from all over the world with some incredible trophies. I took many pictures but wont post them or list specific species on this forum as I did not ask Greg's permission and I know some hunters prefer theirs not be shared publicly, but I can say it was something any hunter would love to behold.

After leaving the trophy room we headed over to the skinning shed to take some pictures with our trophies:

My trophies minus the zebra of course.

Marks trophies minus the warthog.

After snapping a few pictures it was off to the chopper! We each rode around for about 20 minutes and had the option to shoot baboons or warthogs. I saw a few baboons but was enjoying the ride so much I never picked up the gun. Mark however spotted a nice warthog and took advantage of the shotgun!

After dinner and drinks it was off to bed one last time.

 

[TXhunter65]

Addition to Day 8:

Before lunch we went to observe the feeding of the predators on the property.

It was a truly unique experience getting this close to these creatures. Thank goodness for fences and electricity!