SOUTH AFRICA: KAROO WILD Safaris Plains Game Hunt Report

[GeoffB]

Introduction – This Hunt Report is a long time coming
This is my hunt report from my first African safari in 2018 with @KAROO WILD Safaris. I had typed up a large majority of this hunt report when I first returned home from Africa in 2018. I had taken over 1200 images and many pages of notes about this trip at the end of each days hunting so I just had to edit the images, format the paragraphs and post the report up.
But not long after my return from Africa my health was deteriorating quickly for some unknown reason. After many doctors’ visits and hospital tests I was diagnosed with a stage three lymphoma cancer. So finishing this report was put on hold for quite a while.

I had a bunch of medical tests, some surgery then a whole bunch of chemotherapy. During this whole time I was focusing on my second trip to Africa. Like those who had travelled to Africa before me I had become so addicted to Africa on my first trip I just had to go back. I had also booked my second African hunt for the following year in 2019 before I left the lodge at Karoo Wild Safari’s in 2018. It was actually this dream of going back to Africa plus the support of my family that helped me pull through the cancer treatment.

Fast forward to today as I post this report up I am in a much better place. I am not one hundred percent but my health is vastly improved, my head is clearer and best of all I’m still here. I did make the second trip to Africa just six weeks after my last round of chemotherapy in 2019. My second trip did not disappoint me either, but I will explain more about that in another report. So grab a coffee or a beer and we will get this one started. It’s a long story.

My First Warthog – Old Grandpa Hog fell to the Sako .270 win with 150gr bullet

South Africa – Karoo Wild Safari’s Plains Game Hunt
Outfitter - Karoo Wild Safaris
Location - Eastern Cape, South Africa
Type of Hunt – Plains Game Hunt
Safari Owners – Victor and Lindsay Watson
PH’s - Victor Watson and Arnold Claasen
Hunting Dates – September 2018 (12 days)
Firearm - I borrowed three of Victor’s guns during my safari.
* Brno .243 Win for the small antelope.
* Sako .270 Win for most of the small and medium size plains game.
* .375 Ruger for the larger plains game.

Overview - This was my first trip to Africa fulfilling a lifelong dream since my hunting buddy Chris and I dreamt of hunting Africa in the 8th grade at school 39 years ago.
Best of all for this African adventure my buddy Chris joined me and we travelled together with our wives to experience the African bush.

We booked two separate PH’s with the plan to each hunt 1 on 1. We caught up each evening at the lodge to share our stories and swap picture of our days hunting. Often if we had phone service on a mountain top we would be messaging family members back home with images and messages explaining the highlights of the hunting with them as well.
We both hunted some favourite African species on our wish list then added a few more when they presented.
I will let Chris tell you about his hunt in his own report but we did manage to hunt together on a few occasions.
Chris’s report can be seen here:
https://www.africahunting.com/threa...n-cape-hunting-with-karoo-wild-safaris.45781/

Before the Hunt - This hunt all started when my hunting buddy Chris came to me with all of his research on African hunting and said we need to stop talking about hunting Africa and just book a hunt. Chris has been trying to get me to go to Africa for years. I had never made it a priority using my three kids and a busy job I felt I could not leave, as an excuse. I suppose I was waiting for that perfect day to arrive. But Chris just kept researching and researching over and over. He would email me the links to the various hunt reports and outfitters to drool over. We often talked about it over the years so we knew a lot about our favorite animals and the area that was best to go to for our first African hunt. We discussed it with our wives and my wife said we should just stop talking about it and book a hunt. So we booked 12 days of hunting with Victor and Lindsay Watson at Karoo Wild Safaris in the Eastern Cape 18 month’s out. Chris had also talked to a guy that lived near him who had hunted with Victor at Karoo Wild just the previous year. After discussing the other non-hunting activities that Africa could offer both of the wives decided to come along with us and be part of our trip. Both wives have been a big part of our hunting lives for the last 30 plus years and were looking forward to the experience.

On our way to Africa - After waiting 18 months the time came to farewell our family members and headed off on our first trip to Africa. We had a number of flights to get from my home in Brisbane, Australia to Port Elizabeth in South Africa. One of these was the long haul flight of 14 hours from Sydney, Australia to Johannesburg. Chris had found and booked us some premium economy seats at the cattle class price with Qantas Airways. The wider seats, longer leg room of the premium economy seats and line skipping at the boarding gate was a real treat for a pair of working class folks like us.

We landed in Johannesburg to some very heavy rain in the early evening. We stayed overnight in the City Lodge Hotel in the Johannesburg airport precinct so we could easily hop on our next flight the following morning to Port Elizabeth.
As we had not taken any of our own rifles with us so we were through South African immigration and out into the airport arrival area very quickly and off up the ramp to the City Lodge Hotel. The City Lodge was clean and comfortable for our overnight stay. Breaking up our trip with an overnight stay, warm meal, shower and a rest really helped break up the journey and left us felling refreshed for the next part of our journey to the hunting camp. Little did I know that soon after our arrival we would be hunting the grey ghost of the African bush the mighty Kudu - More on that later.

City Lodge Check-in

 

[GeoffB]

Day 1 – Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth to Haaspoort Lodge in the Eastern Cape
The next morning we flew out to Port Elizabeth and arrived around 10:30am.

Victor and his wife Lindsay greeted us on arrival at Port Elizabeth airport and in no time we had the two pickup trucks (Bakkie) loaded up with our luggage. Before we knew it we were driving the hour and a half by road into the Eastern Cape. It was still raining and soon we turned off the sealed roads and hit the soggy dirt roads leading to the Haaspoort Lodge our home for the next 12 nights.

One of the first things that created memories for me was the little vervet monkeys pouring across the road periodically everywhere we went on the way to the lodge. By stark contrast it is usually emu’s and kangaroos crossing the roads back home. The Roo’s and Emu’s being a little more solid to hit with the vehicle than the little vervet monkeys.

Emu’s on the side of the road back home

Kangaroos on the road is Australia drinking from the puddles of water after rain – That speed sign is in Kilometers per hour (110km = 68 mph).

We finally made it to the entrance to the property

The turnoff to the lodge

Meeting the crew - On arrival at the lodge we were greeted by all of the camp staff and our trackers and skinners for the trip. Chris was being guided by PH Arnold and tracker/skinner Siya. I was being guided by PH and Safari owner Victor Watson and our tracker/skinner was Mitchell. It turned out that both Chris and I had the privilege of hunting with both PH’s and trackers over the course of our safari. My wife was going to accompany me on a few hunts and hang around camp and read a bunch of books she had uploaded onto her Kindle reader. Chris’s wife was travelling from the lodge to Port Elizabeth to Cape Town with Victor’s wife Lindsay for a 4-day tour of the area then return to enjoy camp life. The wives also travelled to Graaff-Reinet and Port Elizabeth to check out the shops and indulge in some shopping and taste the local cuisine.

The Karoo Wild Lodge is nestled in the Winterhoek Mountains and is very picturesque. We all stayed in thatched ensuite chalets complete with bathrooms, free-standing baths, indoor and outdoor showers with outdoor table and chairs on timber decks overlooking the country side. Each chalet has king size beds, tea and coffee facilities and Wi-Fi internet access throughout the lodge area. Very fancy and not what I am use to in a hunting camp.

The Chalet

Comfortable Bed

View from the bed into the surrounding mountains

This is what our camp back in Australia looks like. Usually a luxurious table and chairs setting near the camp fire.

Lunch Time
After we had placed our luggage in the chalet we headed over to the dining room for lunch and to taste some home-made Kudu burgers.
“Wow”, is all I can say for my first taste of African meats. The burgers back home will never taste the same.
Victors wife Lindsay and kitchen staff Francis and Landi had rustled up these burgers for our lunch and they were awesome.

While we are all sitting around getting acquainted Victor asks if we are keen to head out to the rifle range to check the rifles and then go hunting for the afternoon. We had a few hours up our sleeve before dark so if you guys are keen let do that.

“Mate” I said to Victor “Is the pope a catholic”, “Is a pig’s arse pork”? Yes, please.

Victor looked a bit perplexed at my comments. Then Chris and I looked at each other and almost sounded like twins replying at the same time – “Yeah mate, sounds like a good plan”!
Victor got the Aussie slang and said we could all meet him at the bakkie in 15 minutes. So we got changed from our travel clothes into some hunting clothes, grabbed a jacket and binoculars and in less than 15 minutes we were off to check the rifles and get some hunting under way.
The rain had eased a little and the sun made a brief appearance but there were more showers on the way. The temperature was cool for us Aussies at 13 C (55F) at midday.

Looks like more rain is on the way

We drove up the slippery dirt roads to Victor’s rifle range and got acquainted with the rifles we would be using for the trip. The country side was green from all the rain.

Chris on the range

The Karoo Wild Guns
Chris was borrowing Victors CZ in 7 X 64 and I was borrowing his Sako .270 win. The irony in using Victors Sako in .270 was that I have its almost identical twin sister of this rifle back at home that I have been using for the last 30 plus years. So it felt very familiar and handled the same as my own rifle. The only difference was the scopes and mounts and that I had just had my metalwork on my rifle re-finished in the satin black Cerakote.

Victor’s Sako .270

My own Sako .270 back home

Calibers and Bullets
Both guns were running PMP Pro Am rounds. The 7 X 64 was using was throwing 160gr PMP bullets and the .270 I was using was running 150gr PMP bullets. Victor spoke highly of these rounds and said they worked well on plains game. Good enough for me. I had also seen a lot of animals on his web site taken with this combination. So I figured it worked well for past clients. Chris ended up using the 7 X 64 on everything including his eland, Waterbuck and Zebra as well but changed up to the 160gr Nosler Accubond hand loads assembled by Victor for these three bigger plains game animals.

Victor said the blue box PMP has the better quality bullets in them for plains game.

Victor also had us both have a shot of his .375 Ruger and his Brno .243 win as there was a chance that we would use these guns during the hunt on both large and small antelope during the hunt.

The .243 was running 100gr PMP bullets and hand loaded CNC turned brass solids for the tiny antelope to prevent cape damage. Having both bullet types available was a nice option to have. Victor had worked up his hand loaded brass solids to get them to shoot the same point of aim as the factory PMP rounds. Very nice.

All rifles were in good condition and shot well. We only adjusted one rifle by a 12.5mm (1/2 inch) and all of them were spot on ready for the hunt.

Off a hunting we will go
The ground was wet and slippery from the rains. There were puddles of water lying around everywhere. The whole country side was starting to green up. I had visions of a dusty and dry Africa. But rain or not we were off hunting and I could not care less about the rain. It could snow and it would not wipe the smile from my face (note to self – be careful what we say and ask for).

Victor, Chris, PH Arnold, myself, Mitchell and Siya were all in Victors Bakkie slipping and sliding along the muddy property tracks.

We hadn’t gone far up this rocky dirt track when Victor stopped and pointed out some Kudu cows on the left hand side of the track.

The sight of my first African antelope – Kudu cow.

After more African game viewing I was thinking to myself how exciting this was. Almost every turn and every second bush has an animal of some type darting for cover or standing there wondering what was intruding into their countryside. We turned right onto a less used dirt track to an area where Victor said he had seen some good Kudu bulls earlier the week before.

It wasn’t long before Mitchell was banging on the roof talking to Victor through his open window in their Afrikaans language. Victor said to Chris there is a Steenbuck over to the left near some bushes about 150 yards away. So within seconds Victor and Chris were out of the bakkie with Chris on the shooting sticks lined up on the little antelope walking slowly through the low lying ground bushes. I snapped off an image to capture the moment below. Just moments later Chris and Victor moved a little to the right to get a better angle on the shot and the Steenbuck took off full throttle to the right and into a shallow ditch and was gone.

PH Victor and Chris hunting Steenbuck

They glassed and waited but he never showed himself again. So we were back in the Bakkie again bouncing up the dirt track again.
Victor pulled over to the edge of the track. He said we should all get out and go for a walk. So we all hopped out and started to walk and glass the mountainous countryside for game.

Chris, Arnold and Victor glassing for game

We then started to walk uphill a little to a fence line. I was thinking to myself that this was different. There was two PH’s, two hunters and two trackers all wandering up a dirt track in the open. But Victor assured me that this would work. The plan was to spot and then stalk in on our target with just the hunter, PH and tracker. This spot and stalk method was similar to how we hunt deer back home but without the PH and tracker.

After a little walking both Victor and Arnold got excited as they had found a bunch of Kudu that had a nice Kudu bull.
Victor then said “yeah, nice bull” “Distance is 423 yards” he said taking a reading from his Leica bino’s.

Victor said to Chris. "Quickly would you like the shot". Chris declined as it was too long a shot for the first shot in Africa. I took up the challenge as Arnold said that that rifle had a bullet drop dial on the scope and he could just dial it in.
I had taken some longer shots before with bullet drop dials on the scope on deer size game back home out to 450 yards. I preferred to get closer but my PH said it was a nice Kudu bull. So I was up for it.

Arnold, Mitchell and I had left the other guys behind and we were crouching low, going from bush to bush we stalked up the hill a little closer to the Kudu. The Kudu bull plus two other younger bulls and the cows they had with them had moved along the side of the hill near the crest. They did not seem all that bothered by us and only one cow and a younger bull had seen us at this stage. Arnold ranged the distance at 380 yards through his bino’s. Up went the shooting sticks and I was now pointing the rifle at my first African animal. Arnold quickly re-adjusted the scope for the new distance and said aim straight at the bull vitals. Whispering I confirmed with Arnold that I was aiming at the correct bull. The Kudu was standing almost directly side on facing to the left now with his head turned looking towards our direction. Arnold whispered the spot where I should aim just level with the left shoulder aiming to a point on the off side shoulder. The adrenaline was starting to flow through me and I suddenly had the shakes. But I got my head in the correct space and took a big deep breath in and carefully held my aim on the spot and slowly squeezed the shot off. All of this happened in a matter of seconds. But while I was aiming it felt like time was slowing down as all I could hear was my heart beating in my ears.

I heard the crack from the shot and the thud of the bullet hitting my Kudu. Losing sight of the Kudu with the shot I quickly looked in the general direction and reloaded the rifle on the sticks. Just like a startled deer my Kudu jumped and stumbled, fell over and regained his footing and took off over the hill out of sight with the rest of the kudu’s running after him. Quickly Arnold said we need to get to the crest and take another shot if we need to. He asked how I felt the shot went. I said that my shot felt good. I made the rifle safe and up the hill we went as fast as we could. The second tracker Siya had run up behind and joined Arnold and myself as we crested the hill. I pulled out my camera and took this image below while I grabbed a brief breath of air. These guys were at the end of the hunting season and were mountain fit. Me I was glad I was a bit behind them as I was sucking in air like a steam train.

Cresting the top of the hill looking for my kudu

We crested the top edge of the hill with Mitchell and Siya getting straight onto some blood and kudu tracks. The ground was still wet and soft from all of the rain so the tracks were deep and easy to follow. I sucked it up and double timed my steps and eventually caught up with them.

My Kudu Bull Tracks

My Kudu had heavy feet here in the soft soil

We stopped over the crest of the hill with Mitchel and Siya still tracking my Kudu.

Siya found a good splatter of blood on the ground with chunky lung bits.

Arnold, Mitchel and Siya were slightly in front of me all looking through their bino’s searching for my Kudu down the hill. We were still high up and Arnold said we had the height advantage.
All of a sudden Arnold and Mitchell almost at the same time pointed at the Kudu and turned to me to get ready for a finishing shot. Out went the shooting sticks again and I found my Kudu in the scope. He had made it to the bottom of the hill and was standing still with a really wobbly set of boots on swaying back and forth on the spot about 75 yards away. I lined up took another deep breath in and readied for the shot. I was wobbling a bit and my breath was still deep from the combination of the hunt and the recent hill climb. Arnold came close to me and cupped my shooting elbow in his hands and leaned into me. Suddenly I became steady as a rock and was able to take my second shot with precise aim.
Crack went the shot and thud went the bullet into my Kudu.
This time he dropped like a sack of potatoes on the spot. His legs were briefly in the air like a dead cockroach after a good squirt of bug spray. I quickly reloaded again in case he needed another shot. Arnold was now looking through his bino’s again and said he was down. The shot was good and he was down and out for the count. I unloaded and shouldered my rifle and looked through my own bino’s at my Kudu. He finally lay still. Finally the relief started to flow through me. I thanked Arnold for steadying my elbow. I thought that was a really neat trick he used to steady my elbow. Mitchell and Siya erupted into applause and smiles all round. They shook my hand and congratulated me. Overall they seemed were very happy for me. “Congratulations Sir” they said. I was pumped. I had my Kudu on the ground. What made me laugh was I found out a short time later when Victor and Chris joined us Victor said that part of the reason the trackers were happy because they did not have to carry the Kudu out of the mountains. He fell onto an old unused track where we could drive the bakkie to and pick him up.

The image below is one that I took directly after I took my final shot and my Kudu was down. It looks a lot further in the image but was about 75 yards. The guys are just starting to climb down to greet my Kudu. He fell onto an old dirt track at the bottom of the hill.

My Kudu where he fell on the track – Siya, Arnold and Mitchel look on

The Bulge of my bullet just noticeable under the skin

Mitchel then walked off back over the hill to get the bakkie and drive it down around the mountain and come in along the track to pick up my Kudu. We set up the Kudu for photos.

My Shot Placement

It was starting to spit with rain again and it was getting dark. But it was not the first time I had been rained on while hunting. But this hunt was special for me realising one of my life long dreams of hunting Africa and taking one of my favourite African animals the mighty Kudu.

My first African animal – Kudu Bull

Nice and wide

Loading the Kudu into the bakkie was a group effort. The failing light meant the movement was a bit blurred.

We headed back to the Lodge full of excitement and dropped my Kudu off at the skinning shed. Mitchel and Siya got straight to work on caping my Kudu for a pedestal mount. It did not take these seasoned skinners long to complete the job and have the cape in the salt. We caught up with the girls back at the lodge and relaxed in the dining area with celebratory drinks.

We stayed in the Lapa tonight as more rain was falling

Victor presented me with Karoo Wild Safaris Kudu cap – Something you only receive once you have taken a Kudu at Karoo Wild Safaris.

Tonight we dined on delicious Lamb shanks

After a delicious meal and some excellent South African wines we turned in for the night. After such an exciting day I was looking forward to what the next day was going to offer.

 

[GeoffB]

Day 2
We were up at 6am to a light breakfast and coffee. Today Chris was with PH Arnold and tracker Siya hunting and looking for Impala. Victor, Mitchell and I went in a different direction on the same property doing the same. We were also looking for other plains game that I had on my wish list. We talked about each of our countries and some of the similarities that we had like cricket and rugby and the fact that we both talked in degrees Celsius and kilometers in distance. I also mentioned to Victor that I was not chasing record book trophies. I was interested in the whole African experience and was happy to take representative trophies. Just driving down the road had my senses on high alert. There were all types of African animals and birdlife of all sizes darting here and there.

We slowed down as we entered an area that had 1.8m to 2.2m (6 to 8 foot) high thorn bush in all directions. There were slightly open pockets of open area in some places. We stopped and Mitchell climbed into the back of the bakkie. We slowly drove down a track until what seemed like only a few minutes later when Mitchell tapped on the roof and very quietly explained to Victor in Afrikaans that there was some impala over to our right on the side of the hill. Victor and Mitchell came up with a plan to drop Victor and myself off next to some tall thorn bushes ahead of us and Mitchell would continue driving the bakkie down along the track. This was to keep the Impala’s attention on the bakkie while we hunted in on them to see if there was a good ram in the group. This worked well and suddenly a good ram was walking down the hill about 125 yards from us. I was on the shooting sticks and waiting for the ram to appear. As the impala walked into a gap in the thorn bush in front of us he stopped and sniffed the cow in front of him. I quickly squeezed the shot off.
I completely missed, shooting over his back. The 150gr bullet busted a rock on the hillside into pieces behind him in a cloud of rock shards flying in all directions. The shot was like a starting gun at a marathon run with impala running everywhere. Whoops!!.

Oh well. I was kicking myself at missing the shot. We looked around that area and then walked downhill a little more stopping now and then to glass for more impala. We spotted more impala ewes and young rams and I managed a few images of them running away. I had my camera swung around to my back on a wide strap ready to take images as they presented.

Victor then noticed another group of Impala way over on another ridge top several hundred yards away from us on the other side of a thick patch of thorn bush.
So off we went pushing through the dense thorn bush in front of us. I had my first thorn bush experience pushing through the spiky foliage. My uncovered hands came out the worst.
The thorn bush thicket eventually opened up into long rolling hills with low bushes now in front of us.

Eastern Cape - Impala and plains game country

It took us some time to stalk over towards the impala on the far hillside. All of sudden Mitchell spotted an impala ram all by himself just down in the gully below us. He had already seen us and nervously started to move off. Victor looked at him through his bino’s then commented that that was the same ram that I had taken a shot at previously. Distance 302 yards. Onto the sticks I went again but I was wobbling like a blade of grass in a hurricane. Today for some reason I could not hold still enough to even consider taking a shot at that distance. So I passed on taking the shot. I told Victor I was a wobbling mess today. “It’s ok” he re-assured me we will get another chance. He commended me on not rushing the shot if I was not ready.

The impala kept trotting and we were following him again waiting briefly hiding behind clumps of low lying bushes so as not to alarm him. Once the ram was out of sight and over the ridge in front of us Victor said we had to hurry as he would likely stop and over the hill and be waiting to see if we were following him. So it was time for a bit of knees to chest to keep up with the ram.

Mitchell split off to the left hand side with a two-way radio to put some space between us and hopefully get the rams attention as we came over the next ridge. Victor said that we should slow down and catch our breath and get prepared for a shot.

As we crested the ridge the ram was at 242 yards and completely side on in the shade of some small trees. We had collapsed the shooting sticks to sitting height. Victor suggested this may help with the longer shots to get a better rest. I moved and sat down in slow motion and got set up for the shot. Using my knee to support my free elbow I took a deep breath took careful aim and squeezed the shot off. The shot went high over his shoulder just barely missing him. Missed again.

We jumped up again and the impala ran like a bolt of lightning up over the next hill and down the other side and joined a larger group of impala that we were originally spotted. We were still stalking from bush to bush and glassing them with our binoculars. The Impala were now walking single file up the opposite hillside. Victor said we should try to stalk to a larger clump of green bushes “down there”, pointing half way to the bottom of the gully in front of us and try for a shot before the ram makes it over the next ridge. Victor said “While we could see the ram we still had a chance”. So true.

Once we were at the big clump of bushes I was sitting again. Set up ready to shoot from the sticks and calming my nerves. Victor looked for the ram amongst the mob of impala. Mitchell came over the two-way radio and said our ram was just coming out of the rocky gulley below us. He had been in there the whole time waiting us out. I followed the ram through the scope and then he stopped and turned to look back at our direction. We were ready, but he was partially obscured by a small tree and some bushes around it.
Range 311 yards. Victor talked me through where to aim.
I took my time waiting for him to move a little to the right.
When he did we were ready. I held my breath and carefully squeezed the shot.
Bang went the shot, I heard the thump of the bullet hitting my target and the impala just dropped on the spot. It was another dropped sack of potato’s moment as my Impala hit the deck.

Victor said excitedly that I had dropped him but to quickly reload in case he needed another shot.
I reloaded on the sticks but the ram was not moving but was also partially blocked by some bushes.
I could only see his small parts of him through the bushes where he fell. After a few minutes waiting for movement we were confident that he was down. We stood up, made the gun safe and were on the move again towards the ram.
We double timed it down the hill with knees to chest again through the gully and up the other side of the hill towards the ram. We moved in slowly and found the ram still in the same spot amongst some thorn bush. Victor suggested we shoot him again. So I placed a second insurance shot into my ram. He did not move at the shot and the hunt was over.
I was relieved he was down. We did not want to risk him escaping wounded into the super thick thorn bush that was only 20 yards away. Phew!! I finally got my Impala. I thanked my PH and the tracker and the patience they had shown to me on this hunt. I felt relieved and was glad that I had not wounded and lost the ram. I looked at the time and we had been hunting this impala for nearly two and a half hours. Victor called Mitchell on the two-way radio and he walked all the way back to the Bakkie and drove it over multiple hills across dirt tracks to within 600 yards of my impala on the other side of the gully.

Impala Ram where he fell beside some bushes

Victor and Mitchell setting up the Impala for the photo

We took the shot from next to this green tree - 311 yards. It looks a long way on wide angle

My Impala

Victor and Me with my Impala Ram

Nice and even

Time for a magic blue carpet ride
One of the cool things these guys use is a recovery canvas or what I named the “Magic Blue Carpet”.
To those of you that have hunted Africa before you know about this. This was the first time I have seen this cool piece of recovery gear. It is a piece of thick canvas material with a piece of carpet base sewn to the base for sliding across the rocks, bushes, grass etc. with webbing straps around the perimeter in various locations for carrying. In this case Victors canvas was blue in colour.
They simply lay the animal on the canvas and use it as an aid to recover the animals from the mountains, flats or anywhere you need to move from point A to B.

Preparing for the magic blue carpet ride out of mountains

Magic blue carpet ride out of the bush for my Impala

The boys carrying my Impala out. I was bringing up the rear with the rifle, shooting sticks and pack

We made it back to the Bakkie and loaded up my impala. The breeze was cool and I had put my jacket back on. I’m not used to this cold yet. Victor made us all a nice hot cup of coffee on the tailgate of the bakkie and we fueled up on some morning tea. It’s such a hunting type of thing to do. Well it is for me at least. I have done this a thousand times back home.

While we were standing around the back of the Bakki drinking our coffee and talking all things hunting we heard a faint shot off in the distance. Victor’s phone buzzed a minute later with a message from Arnold telling Victor that my buddy Chris had also been successful in taking an impala ram. Wow how good is that. Chris had his impala as well. An animal we had both admired and had been on our wish list for a long time.

Chris with his Impala - Taken with the CZ in 7 X 64

We arranged to meet up with the guys at the skinning shed were we were going to drop off my impala. We unloaded my ram at the skinning shed and Chris, Arnold and Siya had beaten us to the shed and was already working on Chris’s impala removing the cape for a shoulder mount. This was my first visit of many to the skinning shed. It’s such a cool place to hang out at while on safari.

Unloading my Impala at the skinning shed

When I walked in low and behold there was my Kudu carcass hanging from the night before about to be prepared for the cold room. The temperatures were very cold so the meat was in a good environment. So I took the opportunity to check the carcass out and get a photo next to it. I’m 190cm tall (6’ 3”) and I’m impressed at their size. The biggest animal I hang in the cold room back home is a red deer and these Kudu are much larger. Tasty as well.

My Impala in the skinning shed about to be unzipped for a shoulder mount

After spending a bit of time in the skinning shed checking things out, I asked Victor if we could go back to his rifle range and check the sighting on the Sako .270. I had missed a couple of shots now and was worried that I may have unintentionally knocked the scope out.
I don’t remember knocking it but wanted to make sure. He said that was a good idea.
So off we went back to the rifle range.
Three shots later confirmed the gun was shooting well. It was just me that was off. So no more excuses for the shooting from now on.
After a few shots at the rifle range we headed back to the lodge for some lunch.

Back at the range checking the sight in of the .270

Day 2 - Afternoon Hunt for Springbuck
After lunch we relaxed a bit around the camp until mid-afternoon when Victor, Mitchell and I drove to another area on Victor’s property to look for some Springbuck and the first of my tiny ten the little Steenbuck.

It was still overcast but the rain had stopped. We drove along a dirt track in Victors Bakkie to a fairly open area and pulled up every now and then to glass for Springbuck and Steenbuck. By now I had seen quite a few Steenbuck both ewes and small rams. Victor and I got out on foot leaving Mitchell back at the bakkie. We pushed through some thorn bush onto the edge of a massive open plains area almost totally devoid of any trees. Victor saying, he could see some springbuck over from our position. Wow!, at this point I was wondering how we are going to get close to these guys. They had to be close to 800 yards away and the ground cover was no higher than my shoelaces. But it was cool to see my first South African springbuck through my bino’s.

Victor said we could walk back through the thorn bush and along it until we were level with the mob then stalk out along a small row of thorn bush that jutted out into the plain and see if we could get closer. I was looking at the small row of bushes through my bino’s. Ok that sounds like a plan. Well after 15 minutes of brisk walking that seemed to work out well and now we were within 350 yards of the Springbuck.

Victor glassing for Springbuck way off in the distance

So we waited. Victor said that they were feeding towards us. We were standing on the edge of the bushes with Victor glassing the country side and me enjoying my second afternoon in Africa. After only about 10 minutes Victor suddenly got all excited and whispered to me.

“There is a nice copper springbuck ram that was walking near us to the left through the bushes”.

As I looked in his direction he was pointing to my left. I slowly turned my bino’s so as to not create any sudden movements and saw the ram through the bushes walking and feeding towards our position. We had not seen him as he was mostly obscured by the small row of bushes to our left. So I quietly feed a cartridge into the chamber, closed the bolt and slowly moved onto the shooting sticks ready to take a shot. Victor had now moved to my left and he indicated that we needed to move slightly to the right and reposition the sticks for the shot. The ram was walking slowly left to right with some springbuck ewes. I found the ram easy as he was had a larger body size and had the best horns. I confirmed the animal with Victor and took the shot as he momentarily paused at just 105 yards away. The .270 absolutely smashed him at the shot. He did not move a muscle.
Yep, you guessed it, another falling sack of potatoes moment.

Yes! I said at a medium voice. I fist pumped the air. I had my Copper Springbuck.
What a beautiful animal. Smaller than I thought they would be.
The 150gr bullet had passed completely through above the shoulder on the opposite side leaving quite a large exit hole. Victor said it could be easily sewn up by the taxidermist. I raised my eyebrows in disbelief but he assured me it would not be a problem. Victor called up Mitchell on the two-way radio to come over to us and give us a hand.

Mitchell and Victor set up my springbuck for a photo

My first smell of the Springbuck Kandy floss scent emitted from the scent pocket on the back of my springbuck

My Copper Springbuck

After the photo session was complete Victor and Mitchell carried my copper back to the bakkie.
I grabbed this photo of the boys hauling my copper out

Springbuck Taxidermy Ideas
One of the things I wanted to do was try and take the four springbuck colour phases – Common, Copper, Black and White that were available in the Eastern Cape area. I had an idea of having a large African map shape profile cut from a nice piece of timber then positioning each of the four springbuck on that map of Africa for my trophy room back home. I am open for ideas if anyone has something they would like to share.

Something like this example below - maybe with all of the springbuck in a left and right facing wall pedestal pose so more of their body is visible

Well I was excited now as I have one springbuck down and three other colour phases to go. Victor was confident he could help me to achieve this goal during this trip. He also said we could hunt Kalahari springbuck in future hunts as well to add to the shield.

We drove the springbuck back to the skinning shed and Mitchell finished caping my springbuck out and had him in the salt. Then once Mitchell had finished we drove back to the same area of the property to look for Steenbuck. The day was getting late and these little antelopes were out in force. It was both fun and frustrating at the same time trying to get close enough to get a look at them. There was not a lot of cover to hide behind and we were busted on many stalks that sent them running off darting through the African bush. We hunted Steenbuck until dark but did not find a respectable trophy worth taking.

Glassing for Steenbuck on the flats in the late afternoon

We also saw Spring Hares, Mongoose, Common duiker and Meerkats while hunting for Steenbuck.
So we then headed back to the lodge on dark for drinks with Chris and the girls to celebrate our first full day of hunting just as the fire was getting started.

Chris had been hunting for Kudu with Arnold for the afternoon but had not seen any respectable bulls worth taking. We all enjoyed a night of beer, fine wine, delicious meals and good company that saw us off to bed a bit late but happy with our achievements so far.

A fitting meal to finish the day and a new favorite game meat

 

[BenKK]

Geoff, thank you for sharing your adventures! Glad you are doing better and I look forward to following this story and your 2019 trip as well.

 

[Andrew Short]

Happy to hear you’re doing well post lymphoma!
Congratulations on a fantastic trip and excellent report!

 

[AZDAVE]

Have hunted the Eastern cape a couple times and your report and pictures are a welcome sight.

So glad you are on the recovery side of your treatment and have health returning!!!

 

[gillettehunter]

Great writing. Nice to have a hunt report even if the hunt was a couple ofyears ago. Looking forward to the rest of you report. Nice Pics by the way!
Bruce

 

[Justhunt]

Great report, keep it coming. Glad you are doing better.

 

[GeoffB]

Day 3
Up early again today with a light breakfast and the obligatory heart starter coffee. This morning I am off chasing Steenbuck again. There was a solid frost on the ground this morning and I was shivering like a wet puppy. Africa is certainly a lot colder than I thought it would be. More layers I kept saying to myself. More layers. Back in Australia it never gets very cold where I live. Maybe the temperatures would drop to 10 C (50 F) on the coldest morning of the year for just a couple of hours. Chris on the other hand lives almost at the top of our country since he moved there a few years ago for his work and it rarely gets below 22 C (70 F) up there. Most days it sits around 33 C (90 F) with 70-80 percent humidity and very tropical. So the cold was giving us a hiding. More Chris than myself but I was certainly feeling it as well.

After the last mouthful of coffee was down we were back in Victors Bakkie heading across the property and on the grassy flats travelling through the rows of thorn bushes looking for the little Steenbuck again. These little guys were out feeding on the flats in the early morning sun. There were a lot more about this morning and they were not as cautious as they were the previous evening. Maybe a night of feeding and a belly full of food made them more sedate. As the sun rose it started to melt the frost and small pockets of steam rose from the grass in the morning sun. The day looked like it was going to be awesome as there was not a cloud in the sky with beautiful blue skies as far as we could see.

There are Steenbuck around here somewhere -.270 Win case for comparison

After an hour or so of hunting on foot and passing up ram after ram for being too small Mitchell got all excited when he found a nice Steenbuck. He was feeding head down only 80 yards ahead of us just on the crest of a slight rise on the flat amongst some low lying rocks and low ground bushes. We were in a good position and he had not seen us.
Victor whispered to me that it was a big Steenbuck while looking through his bino’s.
That’s Ok with me.
I had been carrying Victor’s Brno .243 loaded with brass solids. I hardly had time to think as the little antelope was feeding away from us. Victor telling me to shoot behind the shoulder so as not to damage the cape.
I was on the shooting sticks, quickly closed the bolt and took the shot.
At the shot this little guy leapt about 60 cm (two feet) into the air and hit the deck in an inward spiral motion and laid still. Then it was all over and I had my Steenbuck. Victor and Mitchell congratulated me on taking a fine Steenbuck. We walked over to him. Boy, I thought to myself these guys are small. I have seen larger hares (similar to jackrabbits) back home.

He looked a lot bigger in the scope

My Steenbuck – The first of the tiny ten for me - His horns went straight up like Mr Martian’s Antennas

He must have been a good trophy because this was the only time Victor ever pulled out a measuring tape. To me he was just another beautiful African animal. I was happy to start my tiny ten with him and I started with a good one.
I mentioned to Mitchell that I would mount him as a life size mount. So with that we field dressed him and carried him back to the bakkie and we drove him back to the skinning shed.
Mitchell went to work on him. We then headed back to the lodge for some morning tea and a top myself up with some more coffee.
Shortly after morning tea Mitchell returned to the lodge after getting my Steenbuck cape into the salt ready for some more hunting. I am amazed as to how fast these guys can skin and prepare animals. They get a lot of practice during the season and I caught myself a number of times marveling at how fast and precise their cuts are. These guys are a large part of the success of a safari in the way they can prepare animals for their clients.
Victor certainly had a couple of assets in his staff that is Mitchell and Siya. True professionals.

So while getting into the bakkie again Victor suggested we try the flats where we had hunted the copper springbuck and Steenbuck earlier. He had seen some Common Springbuck in that area. This would be Springbuck number two for my Springbuck shield idea.
We arrived at our spot and Victor, Mitchell and myself were on foot on the flats again stalking between the rows of thorn bushes looking for springbuck. We walked passed the area that I had taken my Steenbuck just a few hours earlier and over a hilly rise and down onto the flat below.

Over the back of the flat rose steeply into a mountain with a rock slide and sparse vegetation half way towards the top where an old fence line ran. Victor had seen small groups of Springbuck earlier in this area this morning when we were hunting Steenbuck.

There was a mostly dry water course in front of us so we climbed down into it. There were a few pools of water amongst the rocks in the water course and the sandy bottom was still soft from the recent rains. We were walking down the middle of the water course stopping every now and then to walk up to the edge and glass for Springbuck.

Victor in front in the water course

We startled a small group of young Eland cows in front of us and I was amazed how quiet they were as they moved off. We were only 45 yards from them at one point.

Eland Cow

We slowly stalked onto a small group of Springbuck only to have the light wind spoil our chances. Fortunately, there were not any quality rams in that group. The second stalk we just got busted by some fringe animals as we tried to get a better look for a good ram. Having them run full speed away from us and springing high into the air was just another one of those African experiences I will always remember.

We had been hunting them for a few hours now and the clear blue skies were making for a hot hunt. Yep, I was complaining to myself in the morning how cold it was and now I had peeled off some layers and was soaking up some sunshine. Victor then decided to change tactics and asked Mitchell to take the two-way radio and walk up along the sunny side of a ridgeline towards the left hand side of a larger group of springbuck that looked to have a few good rams in it at the base of a mountain.

This was so we could walk back up the hill and position ourselves amongst an elevated rocky outcrop overlooking the flat and set up for a shot as they went past. We were hoping that this group of springbuck would be focused on Mitchell and naturally walk slowly away from him down the edge of the ravine to the area below the group of rocks where we were set up.
We had the shooting sticks collapse two thirds of the way down sitting on a rock pointing the .270 downhill at about 30 degrees.

This was the view from the hill and our shooting position

Well Victor’s tactic worked perfectly. The only issue was that there was about 25 to 30 Common Springbuck that literally stopped in a tight group below us making it difficult to get a clear shot at the best ram. I was loaded and on the sticks following the springbuck who had now stopped to look back up at Mitchell to our left. Victor and I confirmed the ram I was to shoot and we waited for a clear shot.
The ram then moved a little uphill to the rear, seemingly to get a better look at Mitchell up the rise to our left. This required us to make a small move with the shooting sticks to take the shot.
Victor said the ram is 228 yards taking a reading from his rang finding Leica binoculars. I moved a little to the right sliding off the edge of the rock to settle into a comfortable shooting position. This seemed a good idea at the time but I managed to sit on and drive a bunch of very sharp thorns that I had not seen through my pants and into my backside.
Victor whispers to me at the exact same time “There is the shot, can you see him”, “Yes” I said.
“Shoot him” Victor whispered in excitement.
So I ignored the pain and carefully positioned the crosshairs on my ram and squeezed the shot off. The 150gr bullet dropped him on the spot with the rest of the springbuck exploding in all directions. The excitement of taking my springbuck and tears from the thorns driven into me was a unique experience. I literally had to lift myself from the thorns.

This is an image of the thorns my backside had made friends with while hunting Springbuck - .270 Win round for comparison

Wow, drew blood twice with that shot looking back at a couple of blood stains on the white tips of the thorns. Victor congratulated me and was on the two way radio to asking Mitchell to join us.
I was too embarrassed to mention the thorns to him secretly rubbing my backside when they were not looking. Mitchell later commented that I must have scratched myself on some thorns as he saw the small spots of blood on my pants.

Where the mob of Springbuck stopped – I took this image after the shot

We climbed down from the hill and walked down to see my springbuck. What a beauty he was with nicely shaped horns and a colourful cape with some battle scars on his nose.

My Common Springbuck where he fell

Mitchell and Victor setting up my ram for a photo

Me and my Common Springbuck

Plenty of fighting scars on his nose

Looking back to where we were sitting on the hill

After the photos we field dressed the ram and waited for Mitchell to drive the bakkie as close as we could so we did not have to carry the ram too far.

We loaded him up and headed back to the skinning shed. Mitchell finish removing the cape from my ram. Victor and I drove back to the lodge for a late lunch.

Day 3 – Afternoon Hunt – More Springbuck
After we had finished lunch we drove back to the flats again looking for Black Springbuck. I had not seen any of these anytime we had been hunting but Victor said there was a group of them in an area over the back of his farm. So after a half hour of driving through the flats at the back of the farm we were on foot again looking for Black Springbuck. The area was flat and open again with small scattered clumps of low lying trees and thorn bushes. There was a lot of open country between some of the thorn bushes that I thought would make difficult for a close stalk.

Springbuck Country

They had to be around here somewhere - Springbuck tracks everywhere in the soft soil

We glassed and moved a few times then suddenly we located the springbuck. This time Victor had Mitchell walk a wide circle around towards them to try and push them our way. We decided after this morning’s effort that we would try our luck with Mitchell as a decoy again. I had taken the Brno .243 this time for this hunt leaving the .270 back in the bakkie. The two previous shots from the .270 had smashed these reasonably small animals leaving decent exit holes that I thought would need a lot of thread to stich up. So I was keen to make less of a hole size with the .243 for the taxidermist to sew up. I had loaded the 100gr PMP soft points into the Brno’s magazine.

Victor and I were moving from tree to tree and thorn bush to thorn bush to get closer to the mob of black springbuck. We reached an area on the edge of some bushes overlooking a large open flat area with the black springbuck about 450 yards away standing out in the open. This was the first time I had a good look at these dark chocolate brown coloured animals. They were all standing together looking at Mitchell slowly walking towards them from our right hand side at 900 yards away. As Mitchell walked a little closer he paused and the group of springbuck suddenly became nervous and started to walk at a fast pace around behind us.
Victor and I moved quickly around the edge of some thorn bushes and set the sticks up for a shot. I was loaded and on the shooting sticks looking at a mass of springbuck walking from right to left through the scope. Victor was carefully assessing the quality of a few rams and in true Victor style he gave me my instructions.
“See this tree just in front of us at 115 yards, with the thick green bush on the right side”, Victor said.
“Yes” I whispered back looking at this area through the scope.
“They are going to walk past that tree and we will get a shot”. “Get ready.” He said.
I loved every part of this hunt and I have never been more ready. I started to try and slow my breathing ready for the shot.

Victor was to my left again just behind me and I was deeper in the edge of the bush shooting through a gap in the foliage.
A bunch of ewes started to walk past the tree walking right to left. Some did little excited jumps while others simply walked past. Victor was in a better position to see what was going on.
Victor then whispered to me.
“There are five ewes then the six one is a good ram. We will take this one.”
So I was aiming to the left side of the tree as the springbok ewes started to walk past. I was counting in my head, one, two, three, four, five, …….
“Here he comes”, said Victor excitingly at me.
I waited for him to show. Where is he I asked myself? I waited, my heart was thumping. Suddenly he was there and he stopped and stood in full side on view. Wow he looked nice.
I found his shoulder in the scope and took the shot.
My shot was good and my springbuck exploded into the air then landed heavily, running off with his wobbly boots on for about 20 yards and collapsed almost upright.
The little 100gr .243 bullet had done the job.
We wandered over while the remaining springbuck ran and sprung off in all directions to look at my prize. Another beautiful African animal and my third springbuck towards my Springbuck shield.
He had collapsed like we had set him up for a photo.

My Black Springbuck where he fell

We took photos in the afternoon sun

My Black Springbuck

Mitchell started to field dress my ram

We loaded the springbuck into the bakkie and started to drive back across the field. While driving towards the track we came in on we suddenly drove into a soft muddy patch of grasses. The bakkie started to spin the wheels in four-wheel drive and next we knew we were down to the differentials front and rear in the mud. We tried the usual forward and rear momentum by changing gears quickly but we only succeeded in digging the bakkie deeper in the mud. Interestingly if we had driven 4 yards to the left or right we would have missed the soft mud totally. It was just a soggy patch in the paddock from the recent rains.

Bogged

Victor was worried that this bothered me. I simple said that I had lost count the number of times I had been bogged or had to change a flat tire while hunting over the last 35 years. I told him that I was not worried about it at all. It will just become another part of the story while hunting in Africa. I was hoping he would pull out the coffee pot but he said we should get the bakkie out first as dark would soon be upon us. I agreed and we got to work.

Victor managed to call one of the guys from the nearby farm on his phone to drive another bakkie out to meet us with the view to pulling us out the way we drove into the mud.

This did not work as we were too deep in the mud and the second bakkie in four-wheel drive did not have enough traction spinning its wheels on the grass with its road tires. So the next plan was to drive the second bakkie over to an area across the farm and loaded up with some rocks. We then wedged these front and rear of all four wheels and in between until we had a bed of rocks to slowly drive out of the bog. The last part of our recovery was full noise on the throttle to clear the bog back onto hard ground.

We all looked like we had just come from a mud wrestling competition as we were all covered in mud. But we got the bakkie out.

After we had finished playing in the mud we drove back to the skinning shed and dropped off my black springbuck. We had not heard from Chris, Arnold and tracker Siya all day. They were off hunting for Kudu for the day. Victor said the area they were hunting in had poor phone reception.
So we had to sit and wait for them to return.

As dark was approaching Victor and I headed back to the lodge to celebrate the days hunting with a couple of beers. I was just realising I had had an exceptional day in the field. Taking a nice Steenbuck, two colour phases of Springbuck and we got stuck in the mud and still made it back to the lodge in time for sunset drinks around the fire.

A short time later just after dark my hunting buddy Chris and PH Arnold returned after a big day of hunting. Chris walked into the lodge with a big smile on his face. A grin on his face the Cheshire cat would have been proud of. He had just taken a nice Kudu bull right on sunset. His kudu monkey was off his back.

Chris and his Kudu. Well done mate

So the drinks flowed that night as we celebrated the evening with more fine food and drinks. Victor presented Chris with his Kudu cap.

We turned in late that night looking forward to what the next day would bring us.
Living the dream in Africa.

To Be Continued...

 

[Jörg Krüger]

Glad you had a great time. Very nice way of writing your hunt report.

 

[GeoffB]

Day 4
Up at 5am this morning for another light breakfast and a couple of heart starter coffee’s. Today we packed a small bag of clothes because we were driving a number of hours to another hunting property in the Camdeboo mountains of the Eastern Cape. The plan was to spend three or four days there chasing some larger plains game that Chris and I had on our wish list. Chris’s wife and Victor’s wife would be going on a road trip and indulging in tourist things to Cape Town and back while we were away hunting. My wife had decided to join me for the hunting at the new property.

On our way to a new hunting spot

As we got closer to our destination there was some white stuff on the mountain tops

On arrival at the new property we threw our bags into our rooms at the lodge and got ready for a hunt. We walked out to the bakkie to find Victor and Mitchell ready to go hunting. Chris and Arnold and tracker Siya took off in one direction in Arnold’s bakkie while Victor, Mitchell and my wife and I went in another direction. We had also picked up another tracker from the new property called Donovan. Mitchell and Donovan were on the back of the bakkie and we were off into the mountains. This new property was massive with in excess of 182 square kilometers (45,000 acres) of hunting land to cover. What was more spectacular for us was the 1890 meters (6,200 foot) high mountains covered in snow over towards the back of the property.
In Australia we typically never hunt in the snow or hunt on mountains higher than 1000 meters (3280 feet) so this was completely new for us. The week before they had a large snowfall all over the property down to the lower levels around the lodge. I could not believe it. There was snow in the mountains in Africa. No wonder it was so cold.

The property manager’s wife took these images below the week before our arrival. (Credit to Kitty Viljoen for the two images below)

After a half hour journey through the property on a dirt track away from the lodge in Victors bakkie one of the trackers tapped on the roof. A short discussion in Afrikaans had Victor and I out on foot after Eland with new tracker Donovan. The first hunting steps at the new property.

The air was a lot colder at this new property so my wife chose to stay in the comfort of the bakkie reading a book on her kindle reader while we legged it on foot in the cold mountain air. Mitchell stayed with the bakkie as well and was on the two-way radio relaying what he could see from his position.
I had now changed guns and was using Victors .375 Ruger. A great caliber for Eland. We moved quickly along a side track and then we started to make our way through the bush towards the location of the eland. The bush was moderately thick and we started climbing uphill a little.
Ahead of me was a sizable set of mountains on the left and right with the snow covered tops in the background.

There are Eland up in those mountains. The snow had melted a lot but it was still chilly

We slowed and suddenly Donavan was pointing to an area a third of the way up the mountain on the right hand side at some Eland. I can still remember seeing them slowly walking along a trail towards the left of our position. Off we went again moving as quickly as we could to get into a better position. We finally stopped and I had my first good look at an Eland bull through my bino’s. Wow they are such an awesome sight to behold. I could hardly hear them moving. Just the younger animals clipping the rocks with their hooves.

The Eland were walking along this animal trail at the arrows below

As I was admiring the mob of Eland trying to figure out myself what a good bull looked like, Victor leans over to me and whispers. “395 yards, let’s get closer”.
Good idea I thought nodding in agreement with him.
There was probably between 15 to 20 Eland of all age groups moving right to left up above us on the side of the mountains. The problem was they had the height advantage and our movements were slow and sure to give our position away. So we were somewhat pinned down.

Victor got onto the two-way radio whispering quietly to Mitchell in the bakkie. He had a better view from where the bakkie was parked a long way behind us at the base of another mountain. He had been watching us this entire time through his binoculars and relaying our stalk to my wife. Mitchell then said that the bigger bulls had gone around the mountain ridge and down the other side and were now along the flat heading towards the creek over to our left hand side.

So we started to move down the mountain to cross the creek to our left hand side to hopefully and get to a position above them. I was excited and looking forward to getting a look at one of the bigger bulls. We were moving as fast as we could. Looking back at this statement I now know this was wishful thinking.
We were trying to outpace Eland through the mountains. Not a chance.
The move their massive frames like clouds on a spin drift of wind.
But at the time I was keen to get a look at the bigger bulls. The mountains on this property were steep and high. The tops of every mountain had snow on them and the air was very cold for this little Aussies.

Once we reached the creek. It was about 6 meters (20 feet) across with smooth river rocks of various sizes above and below the water. The water was flowing quite fast with a roar and the water was crystal clear. The melting snow on the mountains was feeding the creek with a significant volume of mountain water leaving the water to rush down the creek. We found a safe place to cross on some boulders and stepped from bolder to bolder safely to the other side.
Sorry I do not have an images of the creek. I was making sure I made it across safely without falling into the icy water.
We climbed out of the creek bed using exposed tree roots sticking out of the river bank to aid our climb and started to make our way across the flat to the base of the mountain.

The look of the mountain in front of us as we exited the creek. The Eland were half way up.

My wife and Mitchell had now repositioned the bakkie and reported that the herd of Eland had moved half way up the mountain and were settling down amongst the thickest stand of trees in the shade. I don’t know why they needed the shade it was freezing cold and still only mid-morning.

Donovan the tracker with us was talking to Victor in Afrikaans and they came up with a plan for us to walk around to the left side of the mountain and have Mitchell bring the bakkie to that position. Then we would four wheel drive up the opposite side of the mountain in low range on one of the property maintenance track to a flat spot half way up the mountain where we could then walk and climb to a vantage point above the Eland for a better look. I was excited at this idea and I love it when these guys come up with a good plan.
So after a half hour of walking away from the Eland we found Mitchell, my wife and the bakkie. We all jumped in and drove up and around some very steep rocky tracks up to a flat area up the mountain and we just parked the Bakkie. We got out and started our stalk around to a position that I will call the vantage point.

Victor and Donovan in the mountains looking for Eland. Donavan confirming the position of the Eland with Mitchell on the two-way radio

We were half way up the mountain and near the edge of a steep drop off glassing for the Eland somewhere below us. Victor was glassing and moving closer to the edge. He then signaled to me and pointed. I looked through my bino’s in the direction he indicated and finally I started to pick up the Eland below us scattered in amongst the trees and shaded area on the side of the mountain. I could not believe how well they blended into the bush below us. We moved to our left a little to a better vantage point next to a tree. I got the .375 ready to shoot downhill while I was leaning against the tree.

My Eland was standing under the shade of a tree at the yellow arrow

Victor leaned over to me and said “The biggest bull is 278 yards”
"He has a good brush on his head". "Big dewlap"
"Nice bull. You ready?"
I raised my eyebrows. “You ok with that distance?” I whispered.
Victor said "The .375 will smash him."
“Just shoot him behind the shoulder into the lung area”.
“You have been shooting well” Victor said to me.
So my PH had confidence in my ability at least. Maybe he had forgotten about the impala.
I was set up ready to take the shot and we went through the shot placement with him again.
We discussed the angle of the shot, all the time I was looking through the scope at the Eland.
I was confident I could take the shot. So all I had to do was wait for the shot to present.

My Eland had his body facing towards us his head facing a bit to the right with just his neck sticking out from a bunch of trees.
But I was shooting down to him between 15 to 20 degrees downhill. So I had to drive the bullet in from above when he turned.

So I was set up ready for the shot but he my bull was not in a good position for a shot yet.
After ten to fifteen minutes my eyes started to go fuzzy from looking through the scope all the time.
I relaxed a bit and started to look around to rest my eyes and my concentration.
A half hour passed and the Eland had not moved. All of the others had bedded down for the day as well.

At the forty five minute mark my Eland reversed into the tree line, turned and walked into some thicker trees behind him.
All I could see was his bottom of his legs silhouetted in the sunlight behind him.
You cheeky bugger, I thought to myself.
We waited another five minutes then he walked back out to his original spot about five minutes after that.
I still did not have a clear shot. So we waited some more. Then he slowly walked back into the trees again.
At just over one hour and fifteen minutes of waiting him out, he slowly walked back out of the trees again and turned three quarters sideways and stood still.

His head was facing towards 4 o’clock and his rear end was winking back to 10 o’clock.
Victor said quietly but with a level of excitement. “There is your shot"
"Take your time and take the shot."
Victor confirmed the spot to shoot at again because now I could see this massive animal in the scope.
I had a perfect rest leaning against a tree my hand on a small knot on the tree separating the gun from the tree.

This is a mock-up of the shot I took at my Eland with the .375 Ruger

I carefully squeezed the trigger and sent the shot on its way.
Oops! I forgot to hold on tight to the rifle.
The .375 Ruger had bucked and smacked my fingers on the trigger guard.

But this was not a problem as the shot was already at the target smashing into the front of the Eland’s shoulder at the base of the neck. The big South African made Frontier Spartan bullet ploughing through his vitals causing massive internal damage. These bullets are an all copper hollow point bullet similar to the Barnes TSX.

My Eland is now like a tree that has been cut with a chainsaw falling in slow motion.
He never moved forward or back and just toppled over sideways with stiff legs and laid still.

Yippee!! I thought to myself, another sack of potatoes moment.
Victor said to quickly reload and get ready to shoot again. I was already doing this.
“Geez you smashed him”, said Victor.
I was still leaning on the tree ready to take a second shot.

We waited for a few more minutes with the scope aimed at my Eland.
Then Victor said “Yeah, he is finished”.
I started to shake with excitement. I kept looking at my Eland thinking is he going to get up. It was only later that we saw what the bullet had done to his vitals. He was never getting up.

We made the gun safe and worked out a plan to get down to my Eland. The terrain was steep and had numerous rock slides and thorn bush clumps at the bottom of the rock slide to impale yourself on should you slip. Victor was on the two-way radio to Mitchell asking him to drive my wife and himself back down the mountain in the Bakkie and travel around to an area about 600 yards from where the Eland had fallen at the base of the mountain below us.

So down the mountain we went to check out my Eland

It took us about 10 minutes to climb down to my Eland. There were patches of snow on the ground scattered between the rocks. I had to climb up a little out of a rocky gully at the bottom to finally reached my Eland.
Wow, like holy crap, these animals are massive.

Where my Eland had fallen was in quite a steep location and taken out a few small trees on his way down. He hadn’t quite settled from sliding down the hill when we first arrived. Victor was on the two-way radio calling the property manager to try and arrange some more hands to get my Eland out of the mountains.

My Eland where he fell

Nice Brush on his head

Looking back up to the tree where I took the shot from

I hear someone coming up through the bush and to my delight it turned out to be my wife. She had climbed up with Mitchell to be part of the post shot experience.

With four of us pushing as hard as we could on the side of the Eland’s body we only managed to position a few big rocks on the downside of his body to stop him from sliding further down the hill. It wasn’t until the four of us tried to move him that I realised it was useless to try and move this massive body into a better position for a photo.

My Wife, Victor, Donovan and Mitchell all part of the post hunt experience

My wife and I creating memories

After few photos of my prize Mitchell and Donovan decided that the best thing to do was to cape him out on the side of the mountain. The helpers had to finish another job on the farm before they could lend a hand so they were going to be a while. So Mitchell and Donovan got to work. What a massive job it was to unzip my Eland for a pedestal mount and recover the meat. These guys worked tirelessly until it was done.
Just as my skinners were removing the head I could hear a tractor coming to the base of the mountain below us. My wife and I started to walked back down the mountain towards the bakkie. We passed at least 15 to 20 guys with all of the necessary equipment they needed to cut the Eland into quarters and recover all of the meat. The tractor was towing a large trailer behind it ready to be loaded up.
I thought that Victor had asked for a couple more guys. Not a whole football team.
But hey if you got to haul a big animal like that out of the mountains, then many hands make for light work. No magic blue carpet ride for this big guy. Just pure man power.
My wife and I continued back down the mountain and waited back at the bakkie with Victor for the trackers/skinners to return with my caped out Eland. A little while later they emerged from the bush with my Eland cape on their shoulders. The weight of the cape and head required both guys to haul it off the mountain.

Donovan and Mitchell hauling Eland out of the mountains

Hauling Eland

Ready to head back to the skinning shed to finish the job off

We headed back to the skinning shed so Mitchell could finish caping out my Eland. We then travelled back to the lodge to have some lunch. I was looking forward to an afternoon of hunting.

To Be Continued...

 

[KAROO WILD Safaris]

@GeoffB - thank you for your detailed report. Bringing back some earlier hunting memories we've shared and loving every word of it. I remember you kept a daily journal and it just shows how useful this is to remember the small details in particular, many of which I've forgotten.

 

[GeoffB]

Day 4 - Afternoon Hunt
After lunch we headed back into the mountains to look for Blue Wildebeest and Gemsbok. Two of the classic African plains game animals. We had left Mitchell back at the skinning shed to finish removing the cape from my Eland. We had picked up Donovan again to give us a hand should we need it. Donovan knew the property well and directed us up another of the property tracks into the mountains where he had previously seen Wildebeest and Gemsbuck. Ironically as we started our journey through the bush tracks a large group of Blue Wildebeest ran across the road in front of us.
I managed to capture a photo of the last two.

Blue Wildebeest Crossing the Road

We drove for quite a while up a steep property track zig zagging our way into the mountains. We parked the bakkie and started hunting on foot across the side of the mountain. We were glassing up down and into gullies and along the hillsides looking for potential trophies. We saw Zebra, Waterbuck cows and a group of young Kudu bulls and cows. They were walking along some animal pathways worn into the side of the mountains.

Hunting in the mountains again this afternoon

We had not been hunting for long when suddenly tracker Donovan motioned for us to drop down low as he had seen something. Donovan and Victor were whispering and pointing down in front of them with me crouched down directly behind them. Victor was glassing down the hill through a bunch of bushes in front of us. Victor turned to me and whispered that there were some Blue Wildebeest down below us in some thick bush. I waited and then Victor motioned to me to come closer to the bushes in front of us. Duck walking low and slowly I reached the bushes in front of us and slowly stood up half way and started to slowly glass through a hole in the bushes in the general direction of the Wildebeest. All I could see was bushes, I looked and looked but I could not find them. Victor must have seen the puzzled look on my face so he whispered the location of them through a hole in the bushes.
Oh there they are. Silly me.
They are behind the bushes and well camouflaged. Just an obscured set of black shapes. They had seen us already and were looking in our direction. Then without a noise they moved off over the hill.
“Quick” said Victor “Let’s get to the ridge and see if they stop”. “The last one was a nice bull”.
You could see a bull I thought to myself.
I could not even tell what species they were as the bush was so thick. I just saw animal shapes through the bushes.

So it was a quick decent down the hill between thorn bushes and rocks about 160 yards towards the edge of the ridge. We slowed down and gathered our breath and both Victor and Donovan who were in front squatted down as they approached the edge of our lookout next to some bushes. They both slowly raised their bodies up while looking through their binoculars. Then like well choreographed dancers they both stopped and then quickly squatted again. They motioned to me to come quickly. Victor grabbed the shooting sticks from Donovan and set them up motioning for me to get ready. I quickly fed a round into the .375 Ruger as I placed the gun onto the sticks.
“The fourth one from the right”.
“Take the shot when you are ready”, Said Victor.

This was the first time I got to have a good look at a Blue Wildebeest. I found the bull easily as he was larger than the others around him. He was in a mob of about twenty animals all looking up at us looking like they were about to run for cover.
My shot was going to be downhill again at approx. 180 yards angling in through the ribs on front left side to the off side shoulder of my Wildebeest.
I held my breath took careful aim and this time I remembered to hold a little tighter to the .375 Ruger.
I squeezed the shot off.
I lost sight of my Wildebeest as the gun fired. I heard the thump of the bullet hitting my target.

The shot was like a starting gun at a running race for the mob of Wildebeest. I quickly reloaded the gun on the sticks and was back looking through the scope trying to find my bull.
The mob had exploded in a every direction momentarily. They re-grouped almost as quickly as they startled and they raced off down to our left and over the hill in a cloud of stampeding hooves and dust. The dust was thick and I could hardly see anything. Let alone a shot struggling Wildebeest.
Victor looked at me with a worried look on his face.
“How was your shot”? He asked me.
“It was good”, I told him.
“Where did you aim” he asked me. So I told him that I had aimed at the off side shoulder angling through the ribs from the front side.
“Didn’t you hear the thump” I asked him.
Neither Victor nor Donovan had heard my bullet hit.

I had made the gun safe again and we had our knees to chest again running downhill again through the rocks and bushes as quickly as we could. We stopped at a spot just below and to the left of where the Wildebeest were standing when I took the shot.

Now the herd of Wildebeest were running flat out below us now at over 700 maybe 800 yards away towards the bottom of the mountain on a tree covered flat below us.
We were all standing atop of the ridge side by side looking for my wildebeest through our binoculars.
There seemed to be nothing slowing down, nothing that looked wounded. None of them had their wobbly boots on. Quite the opposite they had their Flash Gordon boots on still running like crazy leaving a good cloud of dust lingering in the air behind them.

The herd of Wildebeest were down on the flat there somewhere below. Still running.

Oh boy, Oh boy, I thought the shot was good. I started to panic a bit.
I was sure I had heard a good thud as my bullet hit my target.
Victor asked Donovan to walk back up where the Wildebeest were standing when I took the shot to look for some blood.
Donovan was up there in a flash with his head down slowly looking for any sign on the ground.
Then about 30 seconds later an eruption of Afrikaans back at us confirmed that he had found some blood on a small rock amongst hundreds of rocks scattered everywhere on the ground.
We walked up to Donovan and looked at the little rock that he had in his hand.

“Wow” is that blood I thought to myself. I almost needed my reading glasses to see it.
There was a small spot of blood about 3mm (1/8 inch) is size on this little rock.
“How the hell did you see that” I asked him looking down at the hundreds of similar size rocks at our feet.
He just smiled and started tracking the wildebeest tracks and looking for more blood.
I had to hold the rock at an angle to see that it was actually blood that was wet in the afternoon sun it was so small.
I whipped out my phone and took a few photos of the tracking event about to happen.

Wildebeest Tracks where they started to run from

We found some blood amongst the fresh tracks

Only 10 yards later Donovan found a good single splatter of blood on a rock.
We did not have to be a CSI investigator to see that bit of blood splatter it was much larger.
As Horatio Kane would say on CSI Miami – “We have vertical blood splatter there my friends”.
Victor turned to me and said that this was a good sign.
I was just worried about losing a wounded animal. Blood sign started to make me feel a little better.

A good splatter of blood on a rock

Both Victor and Donovan were ahead of me. I was trying to keep up but also looking at what they were seeing. Approximately 50 yards later they found some chunky lung bits. At this point we were walking down and around the hill we had started on.
I was quite happy to see some chunky lung blood. Things were looking good to find my Wildebeest.

Another good splatter of blood on a rock

Both Victor and Donovan were now about 30 yards in front of me with their heads down tracking the Wildebeest. I was thinking that he should be running low on blood by now with all the blood on the ground we had seen.
When I looked up at the guys ahead of me, I suddenly saw my Wildebeest just lying there just over to the right of them.
I yelled out and pointed. “He is over there”.
And low and behold, there he was. Dead as a door nail. Lights out. Just lying there to the right of my position behind a small thorn bush.

My Blue Wildebeest Where He Fell

“Yes” I said to myself with a little fist pump in the air.
I got my Blue Wildebeest. Phew!!. I was thankful that we found him and he really had not gone too far.
On recollection of the events he was already down when we were looking at the mob of wildebeest running away down the hill and across the flat. He had travelled about 70 yards downhill and around before he collapsed just out of sight behind a bunch of thorn bush and low lying trees between us.

I walked down with Victor and Donovan and take in the sight of my Wildebeest. Donovan got on the two-way radio to one of the farm hands asking for a help to get him out of the mountains.

My wildebeest where he fell

As we were close to one of the mountain tracks the guys said they would bring a tractor towing a trailer with a few extra guys to help get him off the mountain.

We set up my Wildebeest for some photos.
My shot had landed a few inches back from my intended position but close to where I wanted it to go. He had beautiful skin markings and would make a lovely mount for my trophy room back in Australia.

Shot Placement –The .375 leaves a good size exit hole letting plenty of blood out to make the follow up easier.

My Blue Wildebeest in the afternoon sun

A short time later the tractor with a trailer and a bunch of guys showed up to recover my Wildebeest

This Wildebeest was getting a brown magic carpet ride onto the back of the trailer. The guys got upset when I lined up to help lift him onto the back of the trailer. They insisted that it was their job to load the animals. So I picked up my camera and took some images of him being loaded onto the trailer.

All hands were needed to lift him onto the trailer

The sun was setting and my day of hunting was complete.
We drove back down the mountain and picked up Mitchell. He accompanied the guys taking my Wildebeest back to the skinning shed, so it was time for us to head back to the lodge. We arrived back at the lodge and sat near the fire to warm up a bit as the temperature was falling faster than the sun was.

I celebrated with my first beer for the day

I was reflecting on what an awesome day I had hunting the mountains of the Eastern Cape.
My wife commented on the silly grin I had on my face.

We caught up with Chris and Arnold back at the lodge. They were beaming with smiles all round from a successful day of hunting. Chris had taken a cracking big Waterbuck 79cm (31”) long early in the afternoon with the 7 X 64. This turned out to be his best trophy of his trip.

Chris and his Waterbuck

We dinned of Eland steaks on the braai (BBQ) topped up with a few drinks that night.
Sometime in the evening when the drinks had run out we turned in for the night. It was a chilly night but we had an electric blanket and a cozy bed to pass the night away.

There is more of this hunt to come....

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats and thanks for sharing thus far!

 

[Jörg Krüger]

Just absolutely love it. Congrats

 

[TucsonFX4]

This is an amazing report!

 

[Nyati]

Congrats for a great hunt, and thanks for sharing !

 

[Tom Leoni]

Great report, Geoff. Victor and Lindsay are top-notch people and hunting there has been a life-changing experience. Cheers!

 

[GeoffB]

Day 5
The next morning we were up early well before sunrise. A few heart starter coffee’s had me firing on all cylinders again ready for another day of hunting. Today’s plan was like the previous day, was to travel back into the mountains looking for plains game.
We were looking for both large and small plains game today. I was keen on a Gemsbuck and the little rock hopping Klipspringer in the mountain areas today. We travelled though the flats away from the lodge and started to climb up into the mountains again up the steep property tracks in the Bakkie.

We stopped the bakkie about two thirds the way up the mountain today, hopped out and started walking up through the thorn bush and mountain vegetation. Today’s crew consisted of Victor and myself plus new tracker Michael. Tracker/skinner Mitchell stayed back with the Bakkie on the two-way radio in case we needed him to come and pick us up. The morning temperature was well below freezing and my hands were burning from the cold. I had gloves but me being a rookie in the cold never warmed my hands up before putting them into the gloves. There were little patches of snow scattered around on the ground and a light breeze had my eyes watering and me shivering like a wet puppy again.

The snow was slowly melting in the mountains from the recent cold snap

We walked and glassed for a short amount of time. Then we started to walk around to the western side of the mountains following an old vehicle track cut into the side of the mountain. The temperature dropped as the western side was sheltered from the sun by the mountain tops above us. There were Waterbuck, Zebra, Wildebeest and all sorts of assorted smaller plains game in the mountains moving around everywhere. I found this absolutely amazing as I had always had visions of a flat hot Africa. The mountains of the Eastern Cape of South Africa was certainly filling my mind with beautiful memories.

We found some fresh tracks and dropping in a small area where it looked like the animals had bedded down overnight. We started to slow our pace down and look longer and deeper into the bush without binoculars.

Victor and Michael doing their thing in the cold mountain air

We glassed and glassed with our binoculars when suddenly Victor crouched down just over from us and whispered that he had found a nice solitary Gemsbuck bull down below us. Victor, Michael and myself got down low and moved carefully forward to a better location using some bushes as cover. Victor had another look at the Gemsbuck and then quickly set the sticks up indicating for me to get ready and take the shot. I was on the sticks and had the .375 Ruger loaded in quick time looking through the scope at my Gemsbuck bull. Wow, I was momentarily marveling at how striking their grey coat and black and white facial marking were. His front end was solid like he had been doing weights at the gym with his rear end tapering down to his tail. Lovely long horns.

I was thinking to myself that he looked like a big trophy. I really had no idea. I was relying on my PH to asses my trophy. I lined up on his shoulder aiming at a point just behind the opposite shoulder on the far side at the angle we were on.
I squeezed the shot off.
It felt like my best shot yet. I thought I had squeezed the shot off at the perfect moment as I held steady on his shoulder.
The .375 Ruger bucked and the thump of the big .375 caliber Spartan bullet echoed through the mountains as it hit my trophy below us.
I quickly reloaded and was back on the sticks again. Much to my surprise my Gemsbuck just walked off in defiance into some thick bushes just in front of where he was standing.
He had walked away as if nothing had happened.

We repositioned ourselves ready for him to re-appear in a gap in the bushes to the left. He did not show. Maybe he fell over in the bushes I was thinking.
Victor asked me where I had aimed.
I told him. Victor said “Ok”, “let’s see if we can find him”.
We were walking, stopping briefly and looking for him when all of a sudden Victor said, "He is over there" pointing further to our left down the mountain side.
He was walking at a moderate pace out into an open area now towards the bottom of a rocky ravine.
Victor ranged him at 192 yards. He walked across a little rocky creek, stopped almost side on. He was now facing the opposite direction.
He turned his head back up to take a look at us.
I was ready for him. Boom went the .375 again.
Thud went the bullet again.
My Gemsbuck started to struggle. He wobbled and swayed but still stood defiantly. I’m thinking to myself that this one was born without vital organs or a nervous system.

Victor said my shot was low through the top of his leg.
’Yes” Victor said, “they can be tough”, "You need to aim a little higher"
I quickly reloaded again and held for my third shot on his shoulder.
I held my breath, calmed myself and squeezed the shot off.
Boom went the .375 for the last time.
My Gemsbuck toppled over and slid into the little rocky stream of water flowing from all the melting snow up behind him in the mountains and laid still.
Victor and Michael were off racing down the hill towards my Gemsbuck.

I took this image below on my phone of Victor and Michael heading down to my Gemsbuck. The image does not show how steep the mountain side is, but it was steep enough to make sure you placed each footstep with care.

My Gemsbuck had fallen where the yellow arrow is pointing

I caught up with the guys and took in the sight of my Gemsbuck bull.

My Gemsbuck where he fell looking down the valley below

Victor called Mitchell on the two way radio to come up and join us.
He drove the bakkie up close to where we were and helped set my Gemsbuck up for the photos.

Mitchell (L) and Michael (R) positioning my trophy for the photos

My Gemsbuck Bull in the mountains at approx. 975 meters (3200 feet) of elevation

After the photos were taken I was evaluating my shots. The first shot was a on the shoulder shot from the opposite side. The bulge of the bullet is visible in the photo below at arrow (1) behind the shoulder. My second (2) shot was in line with the shoulder but low. The third (3) and final shot was on the shoulder.

The four of us managed to carry the Gemsbuck back uphill and get him loaded into the bakkie.
Victor said that we we would drive back down the mountain and drop him at the skinning shed so Mitchell could remove his cape for a pedestal mount.
On the way Victor mentioned that Chris had been successful in slipping a 160gr bullet from his CZ in 7 X 64 between a Zebra’s ribs while we were taking the photos of my Gemsbuck. Arnold had messaged Victor with the news.

Chris and his Zebra

The plan was to meet up with Chris and the guys at the skinning shed. But Chris had already dropped his Zebra off leaving Siya to start work on it. Both Arnold and Chris headed back into the mountains looking for Gemsbuck as well. Arnold had seen a group of them while hunting Zebra. So they were going to take their chance while they could.
On arrival the skinning shed it was a hive of activity. Siya was already skinning Chris’s Zebra for a flat skin rug while Michael and Mitchell unloaded my Gemsbuck and got to work on him.

Mitchell working on my Gemsbuck

We left the guys to finish caping out our trophies and drove back to the lodge for some morning tea.
I caught up with my wife and we had some morning tea with more coffee of course.

While we were relaxing at the lodge Victors phone buzzed with an image of Chris's Gemsbuck in the mountains.

Chris with his Mountain Gemsbuck

The plan after this was to rest up a bit until after lunch when we would travel up to the top of the mountains in search of the little Klipspringer. The next episode of my quest for the tiny ten.

To Be Continued...

 

[GeoffB]

Day 5 – Afternoon Hunt
After we had refueled we were back in the bakkie along the flats for an afternoon of hunting.
There was game crossing the road everywhere, monkeys, warthog, wildebeest, red hartebeest.

Warthog

Red Hartebeest

We drove along the flats for a while until we could see the mountains ahead. Our destination for Klipspringer hunting.

We started to climb up another narrow mountain track in the bakkie. The idea was to get as far up the track as the snow would allow us to go. Then we could start hunting for Klipspringer that lived amongst the mountain rocks.

Climbing Higher and Higher

Klipspringer Country - At 1890 meters high (6,200 foot high) in elevation

We bumped into a pair of Mountain Reedbuck

Mitchell and Victor glassing for Klipspringer

We hunted along a steep gorge area I had named the Lost World. It was almost a vertical drop on one side that rose to a steep grassy area on the other side and reminded me of a scene from the movie Jurassic Park. We saw a number of Klipspringer both males and females but nothing excited my PH.

The Lost World – A beautiful area to hunt

Hunting along the edge working our way back to the Bakkie

We hunted until last light and then started our decent back down the mountains back to the lodge.

On arrival at the lodge Chris and Arnold relayed a terrific hunt they had on Eland during the afternoon. Chris taking his Eland in a steep section of the mountainside with a single shot from the 7 X 64. The 160gr Nosler Accubond doing the job. The guys managed to set the Eland up for a photo on the edge of a very steep drop-off behind him.

Chris and his Eland

That night we sat outside around the fire pit while another bunch of steaks cooked on the braai for dinner.

We also go a visit from the farmer’s pet donkey who dropped in on us. He ate a couple of apples that Victor gave him, said hello and wandered off.

After a fairly quiet night we turned in looking forward to hunting Klipspringer again in the morning.

To Be Continued...