25 June Day 6 The Hunt Continues
Two days left on the Safari. Would we find a Tiger, would we find a Ram and would he be old enough to shoot? We know they are around as we saw a decent one close up on the night drive we had last night. I am enjoying the challenge of targeting a Duiker, although if a baboon or warthog gets in our way, we will attempt to take one of those also. Another beautiful sunrise as we depart the lodge.
We are hunting again on the Mpunzi lodge property and drive into one of the deep valleys and park the bakkie on a crisp clear morning with little wind. We hike the 2 track for 400 yards or so and then cut up another 2 track up a steep hill. Louw has only one gear and walks and climbs at the same speed, no matter how flat or steep it is! We cut to our left through the bush and head downhill and pop onto a high bank overlooking an area he had pushed out. We are hoping to catch a Tiger prowling around in the early morning, maybe crossing the opening or coming out to feed. We try to remain as still as possible, with no wind our movements will be easy to spot and any sounds will travel well. Michelle is taunted by some bird life and is able to grab a good shot of one of the birds.
Where are you Gray Duiker? We sit and watch patiently and are rewarded with some Kudu females as they cross the bottom to our right and skirt the opening. At least something is moving this morning! It is amazing how they can disappear into the bush, one instant they are there then poof, they vanish. There are a lot of Kudu on the property. After the kudu disappear, I see a glossy starling hopping around and then mongoose appears, stops for a moment and moves on. What is that reddish color on the ground? I zoom in with the binos and a grisly scene appears. We watch the opening for about an hour without anything showing, head back to the bakkie and drive to the murder scene.
A young Kudu calf has been taken down by some Jackals during the night. We had driven through this area on our night drive so we were pretty sure this had happened since then.
We drive to another area on the farm and head down a track that parallels the opposite hillside. There won’t be any close shots here, 200 yards or better if we see one! We turn left off the road and down 50 yards through the bush and come to a cliff face that gives us a great vantage point. Louw and I whisper back and forth at the animals we begin to spot. Louw finds two bushbuck females and I spot a Kudu bull up on the opposite slope also catching some rays. Louw points out a couple monkeys milling around searching for breakfast. I spot a Kudu bull that has just stepped out into the bottom to my left, I point him out to Louw and tell him he needs another year or two. Nice deep curls but his tips are pointing straight back and haven’t come forward yet. Louw smiles, he has been teaching me how to judge animals during the week. Michelle keeps herself occupied with her camera as “us boys” patiently watch the hillside across from us.
We repeat this maneuver many times, hike back up to the 2 track, hang a left, walk another hundred yards or so, cut back down to the cliff face to scan another portion of the hill. I am really enjoying this type of hunting. We ease down to edge, find a comfortable position and just watch.
We spend all morning working our way up the valley, seeing various other animals including some eland but the Tiger remains elusive. We head back to Louw’s house, drop Lindile and Michelle off and we head to the lodge for some lunch. Michelle wants to walk back to the lodge and try and capture her target of the week, the Glossy Starling. She comes back with some great photos!
Graham and Nicole prepare some lunch for us and we dig in. Graham has been gone a good portion of the week hunting with his Father. We all assume our positions after lunch, me writing, Michelle napping and Louw attending to business on his phone. Of course, either Rugby or Cricket is on the TV. These guys like their sports! Two o’clock is here and I’m ready to go! I know concentrating on a Gray Duiker is difficult but I’m enjoying the hunt immensely. Sooner or later I will get a chance at one. We are down to the last day and half of hunting, but if I don’t succeed on this trip it will be on my next trip. Louw has been working his tail off trying to find us one. We have searched every nook and cranny on the farm, they are there but we haven’t been in the right place at the right time. Oh yes, there will be another trip to Africa!
Louw says we are going to hunt his brother’s place down the road. He had seen a couple duiker there about a month ago and wants to give the spot a try. The farm we are heading to is a working farm with Angora Goats and sheep.
We drive through the pastures and through a gate or two and park the bakkie. It has really warmed up, the sun feels great but a bit of breeze still has a cool bite. We head downhill and cut onto a 2 track that enters into some dense bush. There is animal sign but I wonder if it’s goat or sheep until I spot some larger tracks, I’m guessing Kudu. We head along this track for a good 15 minutes of walking, hook a right and head downhill and come to a cliff edge. The view is spectacular (not sure why my Mrs didn’t snap a pic…to be fair we have perched ourselves on many overlooks over the past week), we can see for literally miles. Below the cliff face is a dry stream bed cloaked in thick bush as the hill climbs on the opposite side the bush is thinner, allowing some good views looking down into the area. Another two track splits the hillside running parallel to the hill. Above the road are patches of thick bush you can’t see into with some fairly clear areas around them. This looks great I think to myself as we begin to scan the area for sign of a Tiger.
We aren’t there five minutes when Michelle and I hear some rocks clatter and we see two small dark forms breaking from thick cover and racing down the hill as we look up and to our right. I get Louw’s attention as he is intently scanning to his left. He tells me to get ready as they two speedsters hit the two track and race along from right to left. I laugh to myself as I watch them through the scope, there is no way anyone is going to hit one of these animals doing Mach 2 at over a hundred yards. Louw says they are females fighting over territory. He tells me to be ready as we may see a Ram follow. The two females disappear down the road, I hope one of the girls comes back with a suitor in tow.
We wait and wait, the shadows growing longer. Louw spots a Kudu in the thick bush to the left and a few minutes later says he saw a bushbuck moving through the cover. I give Michelle my Zeiss HT’s to look through and she quietly announces there is a big brown spot over the top of the hill to the left. Louw puts up his binos and Michelle hands me back mine. We both scan and in unison turn to her, it’s just a cow! This isn’t the first time if you have been reading along. I hand her back the binos and she says there is an animal on the other side of the low cattle fence and he just hopped over towards us. Louw scans and says bushbuck, I’m on him with the crosshairs. A dark chocolate almost black bushbuck with beautiful white splashes, and with good horns. We watch him move his way down the hill and back into some thick bush. No call from Louw to shoot, I have already taken two bushbuck this trip and we are concentrating on a Tiger.
A few minutes later Louw says a duiker is moving across the top of the hill and to get ready. I try to find the little antelope but can only catch a glimpse before he disappears into a thicket directly across from us. We are all locked in now, the animals are starting to move as the shadows are now growing very long. Two duikers come out at the bottom of the thicket and Louw tells me to take the one on the left when I can get a shot, the other is a female. These small antelope don’t stay still very long but he hesitates behind a fairly open bush, broadside to me. Louw tells me not to shoot him in the shoulder but just behind. I think I can slip a bullet in there, looks pretty clear. Louw tells me he is 170 meters away and aim mid body. I can’t see any horns but trust Louw, he hasn’t let me down.
I exhale and squeeze the trigger on the small shape and am rewarded with the resounding sound of a solid hit, thwack. I rack the bolt without taking my eyes off the scope, I am comfortable with the rifle now that I’ve been using it for the past six days. The duiker squirts forward behind a thick bush, I can just make out his outline and Louw tells me to shoot again as he’s probably hit. I let another shot go into the thick bush and the Duiker runs across a small opening and into another thicket. How the heck did he run, the shot felt great and we heard the hit of the bullet?
Louw says let’s give him some time. A few minutes pass by and we think he is probably down for good in the thicket when Michelle announce he just crossed back over to the big thicket where we originally shot at him. Louw says he also saw him, what the heck! We continue to wait, with a female in the area, we hope he comes back out. I’m thinking to myself, what the heck just happened? After two days, I finally get a chance at the elusive Tiger and somehow I blow it. Louw calls Lindile on the walkie-talkie and tells him to bring the dogs.
A minute or two passes and Louw says he see’s movement and tells me there is a duiker moving down the hill to where the female had originally been before I took a shot. I get the rifle pointed back to the bottom right of the big thicket and see a duiker step out, no doubt about the sex as I can clearly see his horns. His nose is to the ground as he moves down through the opening. He must have scented the female and is tracking her. He is facing downhill, slightly towards me as he walks into the clear, he hesitates for a moment and I take the shot on the point of his shoulder and see him step forward as the trigger breaks. I see the hit and he spins and heads to my left uphill. The shot is low and has opened him up. I tell Louw what I saw and Michelle confirms as she is watching through the binoculars. We lose sight of the duiker as he heads up into the thicket. He won’t go far in this condition.
We can now see Lindile on the road towards the head of the valley to our right and Louw tells him to hold up. Louw tells us to keep watch across the valley, he is going to head back and get the bakkie. He tells us when we see the bakkie to climb down the hill and come up to meet him on the other side. He points to a slight break in the rocks and I tell him we will sort it out. He leaves us in a hurry as we are quickly losing the sun. I still have the rifle on the sticks as we continue to watch the opposite hillside.
We see the bakkie at the head of the valley and begin working our way through the rocks and down the steep hillside. The ground is very loose and we use the animal trails paralleling the hill as switchbacks to reduce the angle. We make our way down without incident and climb the other side to the two track. Louw is there with the bakkie but things look much different from ground level. I turn and look back towards the big rocks we were standing upon and say we need to head up the hill and to our right. You can see the large rocks we were on at the top of this picture taken from the two track on the opposite side.
We climb up the hill about 30 yards to the bottom of the thicket and begin to cast about, the dogs jump a duiker and Lindile puts him down with his knife to the base of his head. No need to put another 300 Win Mag into him.
We continue searching for the first duiker we shot at to make sure we didn’t have a second duiker down in this thick bush. Louw points to the bush where I had taken the first shot, a thick branch about an 1 and half in diameter is shattered and hanging. That was the resounding thwack we heard. We continued searching along the path the first duiker took but there was no sign of a hit. I was relieved there wasn’t a wounded duiker and also satisfied with finding the source of the hit.
A couple pictures, they are very dark as the sun had set behind us.
Getting ready for Louw to do his second job as a cameraman!
We get back in the bakkie and I tell Louw we are done hunting. We have had a great week and harvested most of the animals on my list and then some. I was so satisfied with the past two days of hunting the duiker I felt it was time to give some time back to my wife. I asked Louw about going to either Addo or a private game reserve tomorrow, he said he would see what he could arrange.
We head up out of the valley and start heading back up through the pastures and Michelle is able to get a good picture of her nemesis, the Glossy Starling.
We also encounter some Springbok and Impala as we drive toward the gate. Louw tells us about the first animal his wife Michelle took her in this very spot, an Impala if I remember correctly. We get back to the lodge, have a few drinks and enjoy a wonderful dinner!
Michelle tells us about the Impala hunt with Louw and we have a great evening. We are booked in the morning for the Pumba animal reserve outside of Grahamstown. We invite RBF to come with us, she had been chasing Ostrich with Marius during the day and had twisted her ankle and was hobbling a bit, her Father Mike would try to find a bushbuck with Marius while we enjoyed Pumba.
This is the end of the hunting portion of our trip, thank you to all that haven't injured themselves by falling asleep while reading about the wonderful Safari we experienced with our new friends Mike and Nikita as well as our gracious KMG hosts. Well done Louw, Marius, their wonderful families and the entire KMG crew!
I plan on posting about the gear we used as we did not use any camo. We wanted to have clothes that would also work around Victoria Falls without drawing any undue attention. I will also add in some Victoria Falls thoughts, who we used for excursions and a couple of pictures for people interested in taking Marius up on the Combo Hunt as we did.
Edge and Michelle
