Tim Blackwell
AH fanatic
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2011
- Messages
- 853
- Reaction score
- 2,612
- Location
- South Australia
- Website
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- Media
- 313
- Member of
- Australian Deer Association, Australian Association of Wildlife Artists
- Hunted
- Australia, New Zealand, Namibia, South Africa
DAY 2
After finally having a half reasonable sleep (I always struggle the first few nights on safari) we arose to a freezing cold morning and hit the road at daybreak. Marius had grabbed the dog bowls from outside to give Flex & Rigby some water, but found them both frozen solid! The thermometer in the Cruiser told us it was minus 7 degrees. I was glad I bought a jacket!
Warming up....![ROFL :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/twitter/twemoji@14.0.2/assets/72x72/1f923.png)
Reaching the sheep property, we slowly worked our way higher and higher in the cruiser. The aim was to start from the top and hunt our way down, glassing for sheep feeding their way back up. As we got higher, the vegetation thinned and the country became an incredible array of sheer rock. Marius had said this was as close to a Pakistani or Mongolian mountain hunt as you’d get without going there, and now I could see why! We glassed for a fair while without seeing any form of life, then mid-morning a large mob of sheep, maybe 30 strong was found feeding their way up the mountain from the lower vegetated slopes. There appeared to be two good rams present, with one having a much better mane than the other, so he became our target.
We backed out and circled our way around the top of the mountain, coming in down a steep ravine that the sheep appeared to be feeding into. Alas, just as we neared the edge, an unseen reedbuck spooked and changed the direction of the mob, so we headed back past our original location to start again. We could now see the ram at 300 metres as the group slowly spread around the base of the bluffs we were in. Slithering around through the rocks to our left, we eventually worked our way into position amongst some boulders, like a sniper in the watch tower high above the sheep. It was a pretty cramped spot, so I had to pass my rifle across to Marius before squeezing past the tracker and sliding into position myself, settling over my bipod for a steep downhill shot.
I could see one ram standing broadside below, but could not see the other which had bedded in some bushes to our right. Luckily, Marius and the tracker could see him and they spent some time closely examining each to make sure we took the right one. Both were impressive in the horn department, but it was determined that the one standing was luckily the one with the long mane that we were after, so I settled in for the shot at 220 metres. Just as I flicked off the safety, the ram walked a few steps to the right, a couple more and he’d disappear behind a the rock wall in front of me. Happily, he stopped again so I settled on mid-shoulder to allow for the angle and fired.
At the shot I lost the ram as the mob scattered, but I knew the shot was good and Marius thought he saw the ram down in some bushes. Zig-zagging our way down the steep face, Marius increased his lead on me and commenced the search. As he started glassing the area I got a little concerned. I caught up and he said “I found a little blood over here”. But he couldn’t hold it in and I knew he was full of shit when he started grinning. I turned around and the stone-dead sheep was right behind me. A beautiful big ram with heavy bases and wide horns, tips curling right in. And a spectacular mane, exactly what I was after. My bullet had completely vapourised the top of his heart and aorta before exiting low on the opposite shoulder. Perfect!
Lloyd caped him out for a half body mount, so I have a few options there when it comes to the mount. What a successful day and a half. We loaded up the Cruiser and headed back to the main lodge, making it around 4pm so we were ready and waiting with a coldie in hand as the others rolled in from their day's hunt. I was stoked to find that they we all on the board with beautiful kudu, bushbuck , blesbok and impala in the salt.
After finally having a half reasonable sleep (I always struggle the first few nights on safari) we arose to a freezing cold morning and hit the road at daybreak. Marius had grabbed the dog bowls from outside to give Flex & Rigby some water, but found them both frozen solid! The thermometer in the Cruiser told us it was minus 7 degrees. I was glad I bought a jacket!
Warming up....
![ROFL :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/twitter/twemoji@14.0.2/assets/72x72/1f923.png)
Reaching the sheep property, we slowly worked our way higher and higher in the cruiser. The aim was to start from the top and hunt our way down, glassing for sheep feeding their way back up. As we got higher, the vegetation thinned and the country became an incredible array of sheer rock. Marius had said this was as close to a Pakistani or Mongolian mountain hunt as you’d get without going there, and now I could see why! We glassed for a fair while without seeing any form of life, then mid-morning a large mob of sheep, maybe 30 strong was found feeding their way up the mountain from the lower vegetated slopes. There appeared to be two good rams present, with one having a much better mane than the other, so he became our target.
We backed out and circled our way around the top of the mountain, coming in down a steep ravine that the sheep appeared to be feeding into. Alas, just as we neared the edge, an unseen reedbuck spooked and changed the direction of the mob, so we headed back past our original location to start again. We could now see the ram at 300 metres as the group slowly spread around the base of the bluffs we were in. Slithering around through the rocks to our left, we eventually worked our way into position amongst some boulders, like a sniper in the watch tower high above the sheep. It was a pretty cramped spot, so I had to pass my rifle across to Marius before squeezing past the tracker and sliding into position myself, settling over my bipod for a steep downhill shot.
I could see one ram standing broadside below, but could not see the other which had bedded in some bushes to our right. Luckily, Marius and the tracker could see him and they spent some time closely examining each to make sure we took the right one. Both were impressive in the horn department, but it was determined that the one standing was luckily the one with the long mane that we were after, so I settled in for the shot at 220 metres. Just as I flicked off the safety, the ram walked a few steps to the right, a couple more and he’d disappear behind a the rock wall in front of me. Happily, he stopped again so I settled on mid-shoulder to allow for the angle and fired.
At the shot I lost the ram as the mob scattered, but I knew the shot was good and Marius thought he saw the ram down in some bushes. Zig-zagging our way down the steep face, Marius increased his lead on me and commenced the search. As he started glassing the area I got a little concerned. I caught up and he said “I found a little blood over here”. But he couldn’t hold it in and I knew he was full of shit when he started grinning. I turned around and the stone-dead sheep was right behind me. A beautiful big ram with heavy bases and wide horns, tips curling right in. And a spectacular mane, exactly what I was after. My bullet had completely vapourised the top of his heart and aorta before exiting low on the opposite shoulder. Perfect!
Lloyd caped him out for a half body mount, so I have a few options there when it comes to the mount. What a successful day and a half. We loaded up the Cruiser and headed back to the main lodge, making it around 4pm so we were ready and waiting with a coldie in hand as the others rolled in from their day's hunt. I was stoked to find that they we all on the board with beautiful kudu, bushbuck , blesbok and impala in the salt.
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