SOUTH AFRICA: Hunting With Vos & Co - Lion, Sable & Plains Game May 2023

[hoguer]

The one paragraph summary of my hunt with Chris Vosloo and Vos & Co Safaris for those not wanting to go through the entire hunt report:

Both my girlfriend and I had an extremely enjoyable trip with Chris on hunts in the Kalahari for plains game on a 45,000-acre property, as well as a lion and plains game hunt near Ganyesa on a 7,000-acre property. Chris was extremely responsive, engaging and most importantly professional. If you are considering a hunt with Vos and Co, I would recommend him without hesitation.

https://www.vosandco.com/

To start, here are some of the details.

The Hunter
Im a 34-year-old firefighter who has been lucky enough to say this is my 3rd trip to Africa on hunting safari. I have hunted Namibia and Zimbabwe in prior years, and this is my first hunt in South Africa. This trip I brought my 29-year-old girlfriend as an observer and she ended up taking her very first game animal on the hunt. She is well traveled and had joined me on a hunt in Spain earlier in the year for red stag.

The Rifle
The rifle I brought along with me was my Dakota Arms M76 Safari Grade in .416 Rigby, sporting a Swarovski Z8i in 1-8 and a Vos & Co sling.
The rifle was fed with my own hand loads, a potent mix of Norma brass and 110gr of H4831SC that sends a Woodleigh Bullets 340gr Weldcore down range at a nice and even 2700fps. A soft core bullet was specifically requested by Chris for my lion hunt and performed flawlessly on my lion.

The Route
Being a California native, our trip began in San Francisco with Qatar Air flight QR783 that departed at 1600 on May the 10th and arrived in Doha at 1740 on the 11th.
We then had a brief layover and then departed at 1955 on QR1365 from DOH-JNB that brought us into SA at 0335. We cleared customs and transferred our luggage and my rifle over to AirLink for our final leg to Kimberly on flight 4Z0724 that departed at 0915. Our layover in Joburg was comfortable, and a hot meal and comfortable chair was easy to find I in the airport.
In retrospect, I wish we would have spent the extra money and flown with Delta from SFO-ATL-JNB and saved our backs and sanity at least 12 hours of travel time.
Travel was all booked with Jennifer with Travel Express. I have used Jennifer with great success on all of my international hunts and she has saved my ass on more than one occasion and earned a long-term client in me.

Next, we can move on to the hunt.

 

[hoguer]

The Back Story
I was first introduced to Chris Vosloo and his company Vos & Co after finding the exceptional leather work he sells online while looking for a quality ammo pouch, leather gaiters and sling for my 2022 cape buffalo hunt. Chris and I stayed in touch after I purchased the items I had been looking for and I enjoyed following his social media accounts that showcased his hunts.

It took a hunt in Zimbabwe for free range cape buffalo to really spur an interest in heading to South Africa to check a lion off my bucket list.

After years of hunting North America on my own, and a few international trips under my belt I had come to the sad reality that free range lion was out of my price range, and it would have to remain a “dream” for me forever.

One evening while talking over dinner with my Zimbabwe PH Simon Dzingai who is a seasoned, second-generation dangerous game PH about chasing the Big 5, I learned that the spot-and-stalk hunting of free range lion simply doesn’t exist in modern trophy hunting. The typical lion hunt takes place over bait and you can spend several weeks checking cameras and simply hoping a big male comes in during your hunt.

The thought of hunting any animal over bait has never been high on my list as a method of taking, and had already turned me off of the opportunity to go after leopard as a high priority in my lifetime hit list of dream animals. As we talked about his past hunts, the ever-increasing prices of the big 5 and the realization that the opportunity to hunt lion spot-and-stalk in South Africa became more and more tempting.

Upon returning home I began scanning AfricaHunting for reputable outfitters in SA for the potential hunt and Chris was one of the many who submitted a proposal at my request, even though he did not have a large presence on the forums.

I spoke to several outfitters, and after extensive consideration I ended up booking a lion hunt package with Vos & Co that included an observer, daily fees and the trophy fee on a lion of the class I was looking for. I wired a deposit over, and before I could blink I was well on my way to planning the hunt!

During one of the many phone conversations I had with Chris after booking the hunt, he mentioned that he is an active donor to several SCI chapters in the US and this year one of the many hunts he was kind enough to provide was an all-inclusive trophy sable hunt to the Bay Area chapter in California. I had yet to take a sable on my hunts, so I took advantage of the opportunity and placed the winning bid on the auction and extend my hunt and trophy list before I had even booked my flights. Talk about an upgrade!

Once the hunt was updated and flights were booked, Chris was more than helpful ensuring I had all the proper paperwork completed long before the hunt dates arrived and made sure the process was as painless as possible.

The Hunt
Upon arrival in Johannesburg, I was greeted by a rifle permit concierge that Chris had arranged and they made sure the import paperwork was completed prior to my arrival and the inspection process for my rifle permit was painless. This service cost $150usd and I paid the gal who handled my paperwork directly.

After the short plane ride over to Kimberly that seemed to be loaded with American hunters, we arrived mid-morning and after walking into the airport immediately spotted Chris in the small crowd of outfitters waiting for clients. I was the lucky guy whose rifle case was at the top of the heap of cases the airline had loaded onto a flatbed and had my name called up to verify my rifle paperwork was in order with last inspection. I believe the man charged $30usd for this final service, and Chris had walked me through all of these small checkpoints over the phone prior to arrival so I was not surprised.

After over a year of emails, text messages and phone calls I was finally able to shake hands with the man who would be taking my girlfriend and I on our adventure for the next 10 days! What a relief!

We loaded everything up into his 2019 model Toyota Hilux crew cab, and started the 4-hour road trip from the airport to the hunting ground where we would start the trip chasing sable.

Waiting for the final flight to Kimberly

0450 coffee while waiting in OR Tambo for our next flight

A massive plate of breakfast for the both of us, the eggs benne was the winner for favorite plate. Both coffees and meals cost under $14 usd total

Part of the 4 hour drive to the first hunting grounds. These bird nests were a common site, but none the less impressive.

We made it!

 

[VertigoBE]

Thanks for sharing so far, looking forward to the rest!

It was your girlfriend’s first African animal, or first big game animal full stop?

Also love the choice of rifle , very nice these Dakota’s

 

[hoguer]

Thanks for sharing so far, looking forward to the rest!

It was your girlfriend’s first African animal, or first big game animal full stop?

Also love the choice of rifle , very nice these Dakota’s

It was her first big game animal, full stop! lll be sure to cover that day in detail as I work through the hunt report.

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats and thanks for sharing!

 

[Nyati]

That terminal showing the Kimberly flight brings back memories !

 

[TucsonFX4]

Great start! I look forward to the remainder.

 

[PARA45]

Keep it coming and thank you for sharing your adventure with us.

 

[ILDRHNTR]

Very good start. You have me hooked and wanting more. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

 

[hoguer]

Arrival day at the Kalahari Property

Chris, like many outfitters in South Africa, has contracts with landowners that have the property and animals we were going to be hunting. The first property that he refers to as the Kalahari property for his bookings is a beautiful 45,000 acre ranch that is used exclusively as a game farm and has the animal numbers to show for it.

Upon arrival, we were welcomed with a cocktail waiting for us that was a mixture of orange juice and sherry and a late lunch ready to eat in the dining room. Chicken schnitzel, potato wedges, apple and cucumber salad and carrots were a welcome change from airplane food. After eating our fill and enjoying a cup of coffee we moved into our very large and comfortable room, opened our luggage did a quick inventory of all of our gear then took the rifle to the sight in range to check zero. I have yet to travel to a foreign country and have a rifle lose zero thanks to quality rings, cases from SKB and my rifle being stored in of a Marsupial case inside of the hard case, but we all know the peace of mind achieved after punching some paper at camp.

With dusk a few hours away and fatigue setting in from over 48 hours of travel time, the easy decision to go for a game drive with a few beers was made and we jumped in the back of the Hilux for a trip around the property.

As I said in the opening summary, my girlfriend has never been to Africa, let alone been on safari, so I was eager to see what her reaction would be to seeing such a wide variety of game and the huge populations that I have come to appreciate on my past hunts in Africa. From the top of the safari seat, we passed herds of waterbuck, springbok of every color, kudu, roan, sable, blesbok, ostrich, steenbok and quite a few bat eared foxes. Every direction you looked, you could see healthy herds of game fading off into the darkness and we saw more than one quality sable bull, so we were both excited for the hunt to come.

We headed back to camp where we were introduced to several other hunters from the USA and Canada who had returned from successful evening hunts and we of course grabbed a cocktail and headed to the skinning shed to admire their trophies.

Dinner consisted of braised ox tail, pork chops, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, and a dessert that I cannot for the life of me remember then a night cap around the fire as we listened to the tales of the days hunt from the other clients at camp.

We then headed back to our room early to get some rest in preparation for the morning hunt to come.

The very comfortable Hilux that we enjoyed while hunting with Chris

A few of the gorgeous Vos & Co items that we had waiting for us in our room! Check out that Cull Belt!

A quick trip to the range

No more traveling, blue skies and a beer in hand means the hunt is getting close fast!

Waterbuck on the lookout

The obligatory selfie

Sunset coming in fast

Some of the lodge from the courtyard

More of the lodge, exterior hallways leading to our room.

An awesome carved cape buffalo scull in the lodge trophy room

The view from the back door to our room

The fire

 

[hoguer]

Day One of the Hunt

We woke early to enjoy a breakfast that consisted of fried eggs, bacon, bread, mixed fruit and a few cups of coffee and juice to prepare us for the day ahead. The tracker working with us for this portion of the hunt is an employee of the ranch, a man with constant smiles by the name of Pulki (sorry on spelling! Pronounced Pull-Key). Chris said he has worked with for many years, and he is an excellent tracker. We mounted up and set off with the game plan well established that we have plenty of time to find the “right” sable to fill my tag so we were not in a rush.

Almost immediately, a half mile behind the main lodge along the air strip on the property, we spotted a group of male sable grazing in a fairly open area, allowing us easy glassing from the top of the Hilux. Would our plan to wait for the right animal already be out of the window 10 minutes into day one?? We pulled up our binoculars and began dissecting each bull. We found at least 3 that were mature “shooters” but I wasn’t ready to pull the trigger so we carried on. On the way towards the back of the property we came across a herd of nearly 15 giraffe, and Chris was able to drive up to within 20 yards of the group, giving us an up close and personal chance to see them. Chris informed us that there were over 60 giraffe on the property, and by the time we left at the end of the hunt we never saw another group of giraffe. This really helped me become aware of the fact that, even though this is a high fence ranch, when you have 45,000 acres to hunt and stark differences in landscape and elevations, even animals as large as giraffe can be hard to find.

We continued on to glass from several different areas, passing huge herds of springbok, dozens of roan and waterbuck and even got within 15 yards of a nyala bull. Finally, we reached a high point that gave us a glimpse of another herd of sable on a hillside over a mile away so the decision to dismount and get closer for a better view was made.

We started walking and made it within probably 300 yards of the sable, and saw 2 nice bulls in the group, but still nothing that made my jaw drop. We turned around and started walking back in the direction of the truck when we noticed a lone sable on a hillside and several hundred yards to our left, slowly walking away and disappearing. We quickly adjusted out route and chose a path that both Chris and Pulki thought would give us the best chance at intercepting the animal, expecting the lone animal we saw to be the last of a larger group that had already disappeared around the ridge.

As we walked, we had the constant threat of exposure due to the large populations of springbok in the area that we would bump, and this route was causing the same problem. We had to move slowly and hope to “push” the flighty animals without blowing them out of the are in the direction of our targeted prey.

During the stalk, we crested a small hill and came upon another herd of probably 75-100 springbok at under 100 yards that had yet to spot us and Chris pulled up his binos and I could see with my naked eye the ram that he had noticed as he turned and asked “do you want to shoot a nice springbok?”

I pulled up my binos and took a closer look at the ram and the decision was easy: we are now springbok hunting.

Chris setup the shooting sticks and I steadied the 416, picking the ram out of the group in my crosshairs as he slowly grazed with his herd. Chris whispered to wait until he stopped before shooting, as the herd still had no idea we were there, and the moment he did I squeezed the trigger and the 340gr Woodleigh knocked the ram off of his feet and he never got back up.

Springbok Down!

As we approached the ram, the sad realization came over us that after the bullet had exited the ram, it had taken out another springbok behind it, a large female. I was confused because from my point of view I had a clear shot, but Pulki said he heard the bullet ricochet after firing so we concluded it must have been a unfortunate bonus animal. That can be the harsh reality of hunting any animal in dense herds within close proximity to each other.

On a positive note, the shot had caused the herd of sable we had been stalking to run around the hill back in our direction and gave us a chance to look at them again, and as expected there was more than the single animal we had seen disappear over the hill. Unfortunately, nothing in that group was as large as the bulls we had seen earlier in the day so we decided to get my springbok back to the truck and head back to the lodge for lunch.

Lunch consisted of a dish called bobotie, a casserol made with ground meat and egg, topped with banana and coconut flakes and a side of yellow rice.

One of the other PHs dogs in the morning before the hunt

Loading up

A nyala bull we passed on the way out

Red sand and a cloudy sunrise

Springbok down

Heading back to the truck

one and a half springbok (oops)

After a nice mid-day nap, the afternoon hunt played out very similar to the morning.

We covered miles on the roads in the property, stopping to glass multiple additional herds of sable and still didn’t see an animal I was ready to pull the trigger for on the first day. We had plenty of mature bulls with secondary growth, but I wanted to give it all the time I could to make sure that when that animal came, I was content we had done all the due diligence we could and I was confident that the animal I shot was the “right” one, even if it meant revisiting some of the bulls we had already passed on.

We then headed back to camp to enjoy a delicious dinner of sable tenderloin, hake fish in a cream sauce, braised springbok, potatoes, caramelized onion and egg quiche, a garden salad and for dessert a chocolate cake.

Marsupial rifle cases are an awesome piece of gear

Heading back to camp for the evening

Appetizer time

Many of these were consumed over the coming days

If You Know, You Know

 

[Inline6]

Great report so far looking forward to the rest.

Thanks for sharing the experience!

 

[Rare Breed]

Arrival day at the Kalahari Property

Chris, like many outfitters in South Africa, has contracts with landowners that have the property and animals we were going to be hunting. The first property that he refers to as the Kalahari property for his bookings is a beautiful 45,000 acre ranch that is used exclusively as a game farm and has the animal numbers to show for it.

Upon arrival, we were welcomed with a cocktail waiting for us that was a mixture of orange juice and sherry and a late lunch ready to eat in the dining room. Chicken schnitzel, potato wedges, apple and cucumber salad and carrots were a welcome change from airplane food. After eating our fill and enjoying a cup of coffee we moved into our very large and comfortable room, opened our luggage did a quick inventory of all of our gear then took the rifle to the sight in range to check zero. I have yet to travel to a foreign country and have a rifle lose zero thanks to quality rings, cases from SKB and my rifle being stored in of a Marsupial case inside of the hard case, but we all know the peace of mind achieved after punching some paper at camp.

With dusk a few hours away and fatigue setting in from over 48 hours of travel time, the easy decision to go for a game drive with a few beers was made and we jumped in the back of the Hilux for a trip around the property.

As I said in the opening summary, my girlfriend has never been to Africa, let alone been on safari, so I was eager to see what her reaction would be to seeing such a wide variety of game and the huge populations that I have come to appreciate on my past hunts in Africa. From the top of the safari seat, we passed herds of waterbuck, springbok of every color, kudu, roan, sable, blesbok, ostrich, steenbok and quite a few bat eared foxes. Every direction you looked, you could see healthy herds of game fading off into the darkness and we saw more than one quality sable bull, so we were both excited for the hunt to come.

We headed back to camp where we were introduced to several other hunters from the USA and Canada who had returned from successful evening hunts and we of course grabbed a cocktail and headed to the skinning shed to admire their trophies.

Dinner consisted of braised ox tail, pork chops, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, and a dessert that I cannot for the life of me remember then a night cap around the fire as we listened to the tales of the days hunt from the other clients at camp.

We then headed back to our room early to get some rest in preparation for the morning hunt to come.

The very comfortable Hilux that we enjoyed while hunting with Chris

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A few of the gorgeous Vos & Co items that we had waiting for us in our room! Check out that Cull Belt!

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A quick trip to the range

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No more traveling, blue skies and a beer in hand means the hunt is getting close fast!

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Waterbuck on the lookout

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The obligatory selfie

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Sunset coming in fast

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Some of the lodge from the courtyard

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More of the lodge, exterior hallways leading to our room.

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An awesome carved cape buffalo scull in the lodge trophy room

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The view from the back door to our room

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The fire

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Great pictures and write up!!!

 

[JES Adventures]

Thanks for a great report, I really appreciate all the photos. CONGRATS to your girlfriend on her first African animal, so special. It appears she embraced the full experience as she looks at home by the fire, in the bakkie and holding the Jack Russel. Wishing y'all many more Safaris together.

 

[hoguer]

Thanks for a great report, I really appreciate all the photos. CONGRATS to your girlfriend on her first African animal, so special. It appears she embraced the full experience as she looks at home by the fire, in the bakkie and holding the Jack Russel. Wishing y'all many more Safaris together.

Still chipping away at it! It’s hard to put everything in one long post.

 

[hoguer]

Day Two of the Hunt

The morning of day 3 had us attempting to locate another bull in the far corner of the property that Chris had seen on previous hunts but never connected with. We awoke pre-dawn, enjoyed a hot breakfast and headed out. After arriving in the area he had last seen the bull, we quickly located him with another smaller bull as they grazed in a thick, brushy creek bottom. The morning wind was blowing in our face as we dismounted the Hilux and started stalking up the creek bottom to close the distance for a better look.
As always happens, the view from above the brush versus walking amongst it is very different, and we were almost caught by surprise when we suddenly found ourselves within 30 yards of a pair of sable horns sticking up over a bush and nothing else visible.
The wind had remained in our favor, and the bull had no idea we were there. As he fed, we watched as the head dropped and rose again several times and I was setup on the sticks waiting for him to clear the bush to take a better look at him and possibly pull the trigger. Several minutes passed that felt like hours, and finally the bull stepped out and turned his head straight at us, still chewing grass.
His horns were thick, worn and had great secondary growth but the left horn kicked out juuuuussst enough that it was obvious he wasn’t quite symmetrical. Both Chris and I saw it at the same time, and I remained frozen but my tiny head shake back and forth was easy for Chris to interpret and we watched as this beautiful bull walked away into the tick cover.

This awesome stalk had made for an exciting start to the day, and with the morning still in our favor we had a quick discussion and decided to hurry back towards the herd close to the lodge to spend some more time checking out the bigger bulls in the group. We jumped back in the truck and hauled down the dirt roads, hoping to re locate the bulls while they were still enjoying the cool morning air.

Sunrise

As we neared the area we had last seen the herd, they were easily spotted in a large open area, probably 800 yards away. We parked the truck out of sight and took off on foot to position ourselves at the back side of the only hill nearby and used the cover to help us close the distance. The fun of taking a 416 Rigby on a plains game hunt is that it forces you to close the distance on every animal you hunt, since the 340gr soda can the rifle shoots doesn’t have the best BC and falls out of the sky like a meteor.

We slowly positioned ourselves at the ridge of the hill, in a place where we could get back on our binos and re assess the mature bulls in the herd. It was instantly obvious that there were two stand out bulls, but they were nearly constantly moving and it took some time to make out the best of them. After singling one out and trying to catch a look at him from every possible angle as he fed and moved his head, I decided that the big bull was a trophy I would be happy with trying to bring back to America with me, so we began closing the distance for a good shooting position.

As we reached the edge of our cover, we found a flat place to set up the shooting sticks and I ranged the bull at just over 200 yards away. I raised my rifle, adjusted my elevation turret to the 200 yard zero, and waited for Chris to reconfirm that we were on the correct bull. A few whispers back and forth and I knew I had my animal in my sites. I am proud to say that I shoot a lot of long range rifle back home, even at a competitive level, but being on sticks with a 416 Rigby and a stud of a sable in my sites, it took me forever to get my heart rate back down and go through my pre shot mental check list. I held the crosshairs as still as I could, and squeezed the trigger.
The crack of the rifle was met with an authoritative thud, and I knew the shot had made solid contact. The bull raised up onto his hind legs and turn and ran with the herd. I cycled my rifle and followed him in the scope, and he gave us one last stop before disappearing into the thick brush. I sent another round at him, this one not giving me the same reassuring sound of an impact as the first one, and he disappeared into the brush.

I looked at Chris and told him I felt good on the first shot, but have no clue where my second shot went. The excitement and adrenalin of pulling the trigger on a gorgeous trophy mixed with the dread of not watching him drop in his tracks swept over me. We bee lined directly towards where he was standing when I took the first shot, and Pulki immediately found large amounts of blood. I joined him and took one look at the first track and instantly knew it was a lung shot. We began following his trail into the brush and as soon as we made it to the other side, we could see the herd on a far ridge line, stopped and staring back at us. Binos went up and we confirmed the number in the group was 1 less than when we found them, so we kept walking along the blood trail.

Not 30 yards into the next field, the large black and white body of my sable became obvious as we moved closer.
My sable was down for the count!

As we approached, you could clearly see a large exit wound from my first shot, and not until we moved him for photos did we notice where my second shot had landed… a near miss on his rump, barely catching the top of his hind quarters.
What a terrible shot, I know.
But thank God the first shot had done its job and started the countdown on his blood supply.
Had I not grazed him with the second shot, we all agreed he would have likely died where he had stopped. I just gave him a little more motivation to run with that slap on the ass.

We took some pictures and Chris called in the truck full of skinners to help us load my bull up then we followed them back to camp for some well-deserved rest time and celebration.

Preparing for the shot

Rifle stowed, ready to try to go find a blood trail. Stressed.

The Trophy. Well Worn.

Mass and symmetry

My hunting companion

The boom stick

Skinners

A few roan on the way back to the lodge. The property was LOADED with them

Chris putting in extra work for the glamour pics haha

The afternoon hunt had zero pressure. I talked to Chris about some potential additional animals including a black springbok, waterbuck and maybe an impala but emphasized the fact that I was not here for a killing spree or in a rush to do everything in one day so lets play each additional animal by ear. He agreed and we spent the afternoon driving the property and glassing tons of animals.

I didn’t pull the trigger again that day, and I wasn’t the least bit upset by it.

2 days hunting, and 2 beautiful trophies. All is good in the world.


The evening brought us an unexpected surprise. While i stayed up to enjoy a few extra drinks with the remaining hunters from Canada, my girlfriend headed back to the room to get some extra sleep. Suddenly i noticed my phone had about 20 missed calls and 10000 text messages:
There was a mother and baby rhino feeding just outside of our bedroom doors!
We all walked back to the room and snuck a few pics of these dinosaurs while we could!
What an experience!

 

[jacques smith]

Fun ride so far—— keep it up

 

[jacques smith]

Windhoek

 

[hoguer]

??

 

[hoguer]

Sorry for the pause! life has been insanely busy these days but ill have some more storytelling commencing soon