SOUTH AFRICA: Return Hunt With Leopard's Valley Safaris, Even Better Than The First

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Last year I had done my first Africa hunt via a Cabela's Signature Event booking. At time of booking, I didn't know where who the actual outfitter would be, but I trusted I'd be in good hands if Cabela's was doing it. That turned out to be very true. I had an amazing time last year and before I had even left the property last year, I had used my air miles to tentatively book a return trip this year. Here's my report from last year

My trip was actually back in May, I've just been too busy to fix up my overly wordy journals to a more consumable format. As I've still not completed that, my posts will be in more of a day to day format so I can do smaller editing bits at at time.

One of the great things from having been before is that I now had a more direct line of communication with Nikki & Dave as well as my PH (referred to as "B" here and in future posts). Through the year I was able to bounce ideas off them and settle in on a list of animals to pursue. One of the interesting twists was that this year my PH and I would spend some time hunting in the coastal area before actually heading to Leopard's Valley itself. The time near the coast was primarily due to my interest in hunting Blue Duiker and Caracal, but also to give me a chance to experience some of the variety of the Eastern Cape hunting.

Last year I had intended to take my Blaser R8 with me for the hunt. The combination of a delay having the rifle permit approved in advance, travelling on British Airways and having to fly through California AND London all combined to have me not travel with my own rifle. This year though, I did much more advance preparation work to ensure I could travel with my R8, it's 6.5 PRC & 30-06 barrels, as well as my suppressor. My flights were booked from Seattle to Doha to Johannesburg on Qatar Airways Q Suites so I knew travelling with my setup would be fine. Leoni and Africa Sky guest house took care of my rifle permit for me and had it to me 3 days in advance of my flight.

On day of departure I arrived at the airport right when Qatar's desks opened up. I knew it could take a bit to get rifle processed and I was right. They knew what they were doing, it was just a lengthy process. It was a total of about an hour from when I walked up to their desk to when I dropped the rifle off to TSA. After that, it was off to the lounge for a bit before my flights. The flights themselves were typical Qatar quality and they went by very quickly. Transit in Doha was a short 2 hour connection and then I arrived in Johannesburg around 4AM. My flight to PLZ was not until the next morning so I had plenty of time at Africa Sky. Gilbert was at the airport to meet me and assist me in getting the rifle. All was going very smoothly until he asked if I had already notified SA Airlink that I'd be travelling with a rifle the next day. I sheepishly admitted I was not aware they needed advance notice as I had not seen anything about it on their website. So, before we left we headed upstairs to see if anyone was staffing their desk. No one was there yet so he took me to Africa Sky to check in to my room and get some rest. During the time I was sleeping he took care of contacting SA Airlink and ensuring I was all set for my travel the next day.

After a bit of a rest and a great breakfast, Gilbert took me and another guest on a bit of a shopping trip. I had not brought enough warmer weather gear with me so we headed to Safari Outdoors to get some clothing and for me to pick up a TriggerCam. It wasn't for use on the trip, just that pricing is much better there than in the US.

Then it was back to Africa Sky to rest up a bit more, enjoy a nice dinner, and head to bed early. At the time I didn't realize how smart it was to ensure I was well rested, but the next 4 days were very busy. More on that to come in next post...

 

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Day 1 - Arrival to PLZ

My flight to PLZ was scheduled for 10:10 departure and 11:55 arrival to PLZ. Gilbert had planned to have us leave Africa Sky at 8AM to ensure we had plenty of time to deal with the rifle check in process. Unfortunately, we were delayed in departure due to another group of folks wanting to depart at 8 instead of their scheduled 8:45 time. When we made it to the counters, there were already a number of hunters in line ahead of us so we had a bit of a wait, but Gilbert stuck it out with me and took great care not only of me but also helping others in line. Eventually we got to the front of the line and were given a piece of paper with the amount owed for all my gear being over the allocated check bags weight. So we had a bit of a wait at their cashier to make payment. With all of that settled I then went to rifle inspection point and just had to sign the prepared paperwork. After that, it was saying thanks & goodbye to Gilbert, along with a generous tip, and then through security to the gate. The flight boarded quickly, and it was off to PLZ.

Upon arrival at PLZ, there was a long wait for baggage. I had 1 case for my rifle, one for ammo and 1 Pelican 1615 Air for my clothing & gear. I waited until carousel stopped and my pelican case was not there. I could see from its airtag that it was at PLZ, just not on the carousel. I then went over to wait for the firearms desk to open. After a good 10 minutes the firearm desk was still not open, but an airport rep told us to leave secure area and got to other side of the firearms desk. While walking over there the firearms agent finally showed up. There were 3 groups. 1 hunter with John X Safari, me with B, and another group of 4 hunters with an outfitter whose name I didn’t get. Though I was last to arrive, people were nice enough to let myself and the other single hunter go first and get going.

From the airport we traveled up along to the coast to Port Alfred taking the time to catch up on whats been going on for us both in the past year. We took a stop at the grocery store to get water, wine, and drinks and to pick up Mikey, our tracker. Then we headed to our base for the next few days. It was a cool 2 bedroom cottage and fully self-catering. The layout had kitchen and main room in the middle with the two bedrooms on opposite sides. After unloading the car “B” suggested we head out for a drive to check out Bushbuck. So on went the 6.5 PRC barrel & scope for the R8 and we drove over to meet Jeff and start looking. It didn’t take long. We were driving for maybe 15 minutes when they saw a ram. We stopped and watched him walk over a ridge before grabbing our gear and heading out to get a better look. We didn’t find him again but positioned ourselves on a good hill to just glass. We saw many other animals, just not any Bushbuck. Jeff told us he was going to look in another area while we stayed where we were, and Mikey was in another area. We glassed and noticed several animals milling around. “B” used this time well to try and get my game eyes working again. My eyes aren’t the best in general, and trying to pick out tan on tan is not the easiest for me. For one animal he must have explained position 6 times before I finally saw it. But all along he was patient and helpful with his descriptions.

Then we got a call that Jeff saw something and wanted the spotting scope to get a better look. We walked back to the truck and then drove over to meet him. He and “B” were looking at a ram through the spotting scope to evaluate it. We were positioned in a field with several cattle in it. From the field we were in the, then was then a gulley and then another field. The Bushbuck was in that 2nd field. We walked closer to the edge of the field we were in. B and Jeff decided it was a shooter. From there, my binos ranged 368 yards to the Bushbuck. They asked if I was comfortable with that distance or wanted to get closer. Even though I had the 6.5PRC barrel on the R8, the distance over 350 was just a bit too far for my personal comfort. So, we tried to get closer.

The gulley between us was deeper and muddier than I thought it would be. Thankfully I was in better shape than the previous year and with a couple helpful shoves from “B” when my feet slipped going uphill, we got through it pretty quickly. On the far side, we were at a disadvantage as the Bushbuck was above us on inclined ground. It took us a bit to even get it within view. We were able to very quietly, carefully, and slowly stalk up to it. We managed to get within ~90 yards of it and setup sticks. A second ram also came in to the area and I watched as they crossed. Then a mountain reedbuck to our right spooked and cause the Bushbuck to run as well. With light fading, I was thinking we were done for the day. “B” radioed Jeff to tell him we’d be coming back but Jeff said the Bushbuck hadn’t left the field. So, we double-timed it get uphill above it and then across the field before losing light. We crossed half the field and saw the buck trotting along. He slowed down and presented a decent broadside shot. “B” confirmed he was the one we were looking at and put sticks in front of me. On my shot, I saw him jump and then run towards gulley and the treeline. I reloaded but couldn’t find him again as he was blended into the shadows. “B” had us wait a bit before going to find him. As we got about 30 yards from the edge, “B” asked to take my rifle and told me to stay back. Later he explained that wounded Bushbuck have caused injuries and with it being near dark with limited visibility it was better he have the rifle and I stay back. Shortly after he got to the treeline, I heard him call out and said it was down. Though aiming for the shoulder, I pulled the shot right and ended up with a neck shot. When Jeff later saw it, he said shots like that usually don’t kill a Bushbuck. But, in this case, it did and he was down. When seeing him, I realized how we were able to stalk so close to him, he was and old guy with one eye fully gone and the eye socket healed over. We setup and took a few pictures and then loaded him up.

In another win for Apple, as we’re driving away I get a buzz on my Apple Watch and a message of “Phone left behind”. My iPhone had slipped out of my pocket while we were taking pictures and I hadn’t noticed it. We drove back to the spot and using flashlights and calling it we were able to find it within a few minutes.

The nice thing about being so close to town was that instead of cooking anything ourselves, it was easy to just pick something up or head out for dinner if we were out late. This was the first of a few nights that we took advantage of that.

 

[R.M.C.]

Great report so far, thanks for sharing. Beautiful bushbuck!!!

 

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First full Day

We were up at 7AM with plans to grab breakfast on the go and head to meet up with J. he had some guys running dogs to find caracal and had us setup to hunt blue duiker this morning. J drove us over to meet with Rob guiding us for the Blue Duiker. The area we were hunting had these large pineapple fields that had patches of trees & brush amongst them. Apparently, the Blue Duiker love these brush patches.

Rob drove us to one area where there was about a 20-25 yard clearing between two brush patches. They put the dogs in above the brush patch with the intention being they’d find and drive a Blue Duiker towards us. They explain plan is that the duiker runs across the gap and I shoot him with a 12 gauge shotgun. “They are fast and small, like a low flying duck” is how “B” described it. Rob stood behind me and said he’d push a bit on my back to let me know if the animal was a shooter or not. If no nudge, don’t shoot. If I feel him press on my back, then shoot.

We setup and waited for the dogs. Time seemed to be going slow, I could hear the dogs but had no idea on their distance. Then all of a sudden a grey blur comes speeding out of the bush to my left. Instead of being in the nearer central part of the clearing, it was on the very far side. As it was running, it tripped on something and flipped itself head over heels. I had been tracking it’s path getting ready to shoot but was thrown off when it flipped. I stopped and moved shotgun back to where it was and took a quick shot, missing. It took off and I fired a second but missed again. Then it dove back in the 2nd brush area and was gone. We tried putting dogs in to that brush to find it and drive it past me going the other way but that didn’t work. Nothing came out but dogs.

Then we drove to another area. We setup in another clearing and Rob told me this would be an easier shot since the duiker would be running almost straight towards me instead of across. We setup and waited for the dogs. Here though, nothing came out. Dogs never made sound that they were on one.

Then it was off to a third area to hunt. This one had somewhat of an inverted Y road shape. At the top were two different brush patches separated by the road. Then towards the bottom the road split with its Y shape and there were basically 3 patches. Rob again stood behind me in the lower right portion of the inverted Y and said again that the duiker would be coming straight at us, likely from 1 of 2 noticeable gaps in the brush. He was spot on, the gap on my right is where it came out. But boy was I not ready for its speed. I again fired twice and missed twice. Looking at B’s video I could see that I shot high on the first shot (apparently having forgotten Rob’s advice that since the duiker was running downhill that I should aim more at its feet than body). The second shot was way behind. Rob was kind enough to say I was “miles behind” it, with plenty more light hearted jabs at me. “So, its 2-nil, eh?” Score 2 for the Duiker and 0 for you.

They then sent the dogs in the brush on the other side of the road to see if that got any moving. We stood at the intersection of all 3 parts of the inverted Y. After a bit, “B” and I saw a duiker run across the road in to the patch the duiker I missed had come out of. Rob started walking up to its entry point with the dogs while “B” and I went back to stand where I had been when I missed. We’re looking around when all the sudden the duiker comes out again, though this time far to my right of where the other one had come out. Thankfully this one was a bit slower. “B” gave me signal to take it and I shot, finally getting it!

What an amazing experience. Having missed 4 times, that made finally getting one that much better. It was a relief and an excitement at same time. After taking some pictures we headed back to the main house for lunch. Rob’s wife Eve was there and they had prepared some food for us.

After a late lunch we went out looking for Nyala. Though we could also find them at Leopard’s Valley, we want to see what was around at the coast too. We drove to high points to see down to the river and when we saw a group, we headed down lower to get close. I was surprised at the total number of Nyala we saw. There were over 25 female Nyala we had seen from above, and in one group alone I counted 14. We also saw two young bulls. As we walked, we happened across another bull that looked very good to me, but “B” felt he could still develop some more and that we should keep moving. We went to another area where we had seen a group of females and waited for a bit to see if any bulls came out. We didn’t have the best view so we started walking around to get a different angle. We began to climb down a brushy hillside towards the field they were in. As we’re slowing going down, I look through the brush to see the females running to our right. Rob looks at me and asks if I saw the bull run by, but I hadn’t seen it. He said it must have been staying on the brush line where we weren’t able to see it from above. It was very late now so we walked back to the truck. We then drove to drop Rob off at his house. Along the way we hear tapping on the roof as Mikey saw a Nyala bull. “B” looked at it and motioned me to come over. As I’m walking over I remembered that I had taken the round out of the chamber when we got in the truck so I slowly cycled the action to load it. I was trying to be quiet but didn’t do it well enough as the sound spooked the bull. I was able to get rifle on sticks just in time to see it drop over the horizon.

After that we packed back up and headed out. Had a nice dinner at the Highlander before returning to the cottage to wait and see if we got a call around Bushpigs. When there was no call by 10PM, we called it a night.

 

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Day 2 – May 3rd

The plan was to go after Nyala again today. We first did a bit of a tour drive through town and by the beach. Then we went to meet up with J to talk about Caracal options for the day. He and “B” talked strategy for a bit while I went in to grab a quick breakfast. As I’m looking forward to a nice breakfast sandwich, we get word there was activity on the caracal. We were given info on where to go as the dogs were on the trail of one. We drove back over to meet up with Rob again to then head towards the caracal. As we’re driving on the road getting closer “B” says “I really hope this is on the left side of the road as the right side looks a bit treacherous”. Rob pulls his truck off the left side of the road and “B” seems to breathe a sigh of relief. That was short lived though as Rob then indicates we need to go through a gate on the right side of the road.

“B” was right, this was a steep hillside with a lot of brush growth, very dense. We drove down until we saw the houndsman waiting for us by the road. We got out and could hear dogs barking in the distance. We quickly got shotgun loaded and started our walk in. First was the houndsman, followed by “B” then me, and then Rob & Mikey. The dog barking is clearly getting futher away, so I figure we’re in for a walk this morning. We walked about 150 yards to where there are three other dogs who have the caracal treed. Turns out that dog was following the caracal’s trail in reverse and heading away from us and the cat. Looking up at this one tree and I see a bit of brown color standing out against the gray and green tree branch canopy. Moving a few more steps I have a very clear shot without any branches in the way. “B” handed me the shotgun and pointed to ensure I saw it. The cat was giving us a broadside view, just looking back a bit over the shoulder towards me. “B” said to be sure to aim a bit back from the head and to not shoot it in the face. I placed shotgun bead just behind the shoulder, and then shot. The caracal didn’t seem to respond at all. No movement at first, then it just rolled forward and fell to the ground, dead. The three dogs were right on top of it and it took the houndsman a few minutes to get them away and pull it out. It was much larger and longer than I had expected.

After that, Rob invited us back to the house for breakfast, which we quickly accepted. We had a very nice bacon & egg breakfast with toast and gooseberry jam. Gooseberry jam is now my favorite. After chatting for a while Rob had some stuff to do so we headed out. With the busy start and plans to be up late for Bushbuck that night, we decided to take rest of the day easy back at the cottage. Turned out there was no activity near the feeder again so we ended up not doing the Bushbuck hunt. Instead we went to the store to get steaks and sides to grill up a nice dinner and then enjoy some wine back at the cottage before a good night of rest.

 

[xbr897]

Day 3

Today started out with heading back over to Rob’s property to look for Nyala. Had the 30-06 barrel on the R8 again today. Upon arrival we first drove to one area where one of his guys had noted there was a nice Nyala bull. We waited there and saw 3 Nyala females, but no bulls. Then we went to an overlook place that we had been the day before. Where we had seen plentiful Nyala the day before, there was now nothing. We glassed for a bit but didn’t see anything.

From there, we decided to go meet up with J on a different property to look for a common duiker. We drove about for a bit before spotting one. He was a bit far away and grazing under a tree so “B” and I set off for a stalk. We were able to close to within ~130 yards before he became more aware of us. There was a nicely placed ridge about 15 yards ahead of us so we crawled up to that. I was able to use my bino pack as a rest and shoot prone from the ridge. The duiker was angling away from me and even though I felt I had a good rest & alignment, I shot to the right in a clean miss. He ran for about 50-60 yards and then stopped. I lined up for a second try and made sure I held steady. This time I fired and connected better, though still a bit low. I quickly reloaded but after running about 30 yards he was down. After Mikey cleaned him, we headed back to town for lunch.

We grabbed a light lunch and then headed back to our lodging for a few hours rest. “B” dropped me off while he got things squared away. When he came back, he was talking on the phone. He let me know to get dressed back up and ready to go and he had lined up “the promise land”. He had worked with another PH working with Leopard’s Valley, to get me access to a property that is apparently very selective. So off we went.

The other PS, A was there to meet us upon arrive and drove us to meet the property owners. They were incredibly welcoming and friendly to me. After quick discussion on directions, we were off. We drove up a hill to an overlook area. From there we were able to see at least 5 nice looking bulls. A then directed us to another overlook area. There, I counted at least 6 very nice Nyala bulls along with some cows and other animals. The distance was over 300 and I stated my comfort was ~250 so we walked down a hillside to get closer. We were able to get to a hair under 250 yards. “A” and “B” looked at the bulls and picked a good one based on age & size. There was one really great one, but he was a bit young and would develop even more, so I was very intentional to stay clear of him. I setup on the stick on the one I was directed to and waited for a good shot. He was walking away and only presenting a quartering shot so I had to wait a bit. When he finally turned broadside, I took the shot and completely missed. I think I did not account for the extra distance he put between us as he was walking away for so long while I was waiting for a shot. When then hiked down to look around and ensure it was a clean miss. After all 4 of us looking for a good bit with no blood signs anywhere, we had confidence it was a clean miss.

On the way out there was one other area “A” wanted to go look. In there we thought we saw a nice Nyala bull but needed to get closer. We again stalked up on it, closing to around 200 yards and confirming he was a good one. He was not presenting a good shot, again mostly just walking away from us. Finally, he gave us a decent enough quartering away shot that “B” advised me to take if I was comfortable. Sadly, again my first shot was to the right and in front. I cycled rifle and re-acquired him. He stopped after a bit of a run and gave a very nice broadside shot. I took it slower this time and squeezed off my shot. On this one I heard a very solid impact and was confident I hit in the shoulder area as I was aiming, but he still took off running hard to my right. “B” asked for the rifle to take the shot with him running, but “A” stated he wouldn’t run far and would be down. The Nyala did manage to make it to a section of bushes, we saw him enter and stand for just a bit, but then lost sight of him. We approached the front and didn’t see him, but as we circled around the patch we saw him laying on his side with eyes open. I walked up with my rifle trained on it but it didn’t move at all. “A” then threw a rock to see it if was still alive. The first rock missed, with “B” taking the time to call “A” a cricketeer for his throwing skills. No movement from the Nyala though. The second rock did hit it and again it didn’t respond. We dragged it out and setup for pics. We didn’t have much time though as we still had to head to meet J for bushpig.

We left with just about an hour to go before the feeder kicked off. We had at least 30 minutes of driving and then had to get in and setup. We made it just in time, getting settled into a seated position in some cover with view of the feeder area. The feeder kicked off and a faint light turned on. If the pigs came in, the light would go on bright intensity. The low light though did give us just enough to know where to look and to be able to see a bit. We sat for about an hour and 30 minutes after the feeder had gone off. Nothing came in though. I did at least get to sit under an awesome night sky without any light pollution or strong light sources. With the full moon it was a cool sky and I took a few pictures. Even without seeing a bushpig, it was a cool night and good hunt experience.

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats and thanks for sharing!

 

[xbr897]

Day 4 - Travel Day

This brought an end to our time at the coast. We wrapped up all details with folks there and then headed out on our drive to Leopard's Valley. Along the way we stopped at African Wildlife Artistry, the taxidermist I would be using. They did a great job last year on dip & pack and this year I decided to have them do the full mounting for my animals.

I really enjoyed getting to see their examples of mounts they'd done and ability to had an in person discussion around ideas for my mounts. I'm still trying to decide between a half-mount for my Nyala or just a shoulder pedestal, as I really want to display the coat coloraation on it. Being able to see examples of both in person was just awesome. I'm very glad to be using them for my mounts and will share more posts once I have them in hand.

The best part of the day though was getting back to Leopard's Valley. You know that feeing of returnign to somewhere you just feel comfortable and welcome? That was it as soon as we turned on to the dirt road to Leopards. Seeing Dave & Nikki again just brought a smile to my face. They are just awesome people and I was glad to have chance to spend more days in their care. They even had recalled one of the wines I had liked last year (and which we had killed a number of bottles of last year), and ensure they were well stocked on it this year.

It was also great to see the new lodge/dining area. Dave was in process of building it last year and it really came together well for a comfortable gathering place and dining area. The bar was well stocked too.

While the food I'd had up to then had been good, it's hard to beat the home cooked care and attention put in to the food at Leopard's. I may have over-eaten a bit that night.

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Day 5
Put the 6.5 PRC barrel on the R8 for this day’s hunt. We headed to hunt a nearby property about an hour’s drive away. It was where I had shot my first African animal the previous year. We arrived and picked up our tracker Mike. Our goal today was warthog, as it was the one animal on my list from lasty year that I didn't get. There was one area where Mike had seen a nice one, so we headed there first. We didn’t see much there though, so we kept driving. We came to another area to sit and glass. One warthog was seen that had tusks but it disappeared in to the grass before we could really see what it looked like. We sat for about 45 minutes waiting for it to peek back out. It never did. We drove around a bit more, and did a couple walks to see if we could find more. But there wasn’t much to be seen. SO, we took a break for lunch.

After a nice lunch of steak and sausage, we headed back towards a dry water hole area. As we drove up we could see at least 40 warthogs running around, with one or two nice ones in there. We kept driving to get out of range of them. In doing so, we saw two more groups of warthogs running along. We parked with the intent of walking back but Mike had seen a warthog in the brush to our right, so we headed out after that. We walked for a good 5 minutes without me seeing anything. “B” & Mike apparently had some glances of it, but from what I could see I was wondering why we weren’t headed back to the much larger group that we had seen. We kept pressing on for this one.

We finally got to a place where “B” told me to be ready to shoot. I flicked the R8s safety to firing position and had rifle in ready position. We then saw a sow run past an opening. “B” told me to be ready for him to come behind them. Sure enough, he popped right in to the opening. I level sights on front shoulder and fired. I didn’t see impacts but “B” asked me to pass rifle to him quickly. He later stated he was worried because he saw I hit well back of the shoulder, I did not lead the warthog as he was on the move. We then saw him pop up running away from us. “B” put another round in to him but that still did not stop him. “B” then handed rifle back to me. The warthog moved to our right and came near top of berm where “B” told me to put him down. I lined up but this time shot too high and hit at top of the back. “B” and Mike told me they saw the dust fly off from when I hit it. We kept moving to close the ground and get to the berm he was on. I could then see him a bit further along but slowed. I lined up yet another shot and then had a perfect neck shot that put him down for good. Of course, “B” had to comment “Why didn’t you do that on the first shot?”. The interesting thing for me in this was that all shots were offhand, no sticks involved. Other than shotgun hunting, it’d been well over 30 years since I’ve shot offhand at game. I wasn’t thrilled it took 4 shots to get him down, but I was glad he was finally down.

We then took our time getting pics and even some drone footage. Then they guys were guessimating weight of the warthog. “B” and Mike were around 55-60kg, but Mikey was guessing 80kg. We drove to the skinning shed and as they started to which up the pig it was clear it was a pretty good sized one. He weighed out at a hair 85kg full weight.

After that, we were done for the day. We just headed back to Leopard’s Valley for more great food and company.

 

[sproutp2003]

Thank you for sharing. I love reading all of these hunting reports.

 

[xbr897]

Day 6 – Sick Day
Not sure what caused it, but I woke up around 2AM with extreme stomach pains. From there on, I could not sleep for more than a few mins. Pains were so bad I was doubling over. By 5AM they had subsided but we decided I should just take the day to rest and make sure they didn't come back. After as busy as the first 5 days had been, it was much appreciated rest and by dinner time I was back to about 95%. Have two move hunting days to get the last animal on my list for this trip - Steenbok. Should be easy, right?

 

[ILDRHNTR]

Great report! Thank you for sharing. Sounds like you were very very busy those first few days. Can’t wait to hear the rest.

 

[xbr897]

Day 7 - Steenbok strike out

I'd like to have a long write up here about an active day, but it was pretty quiet. We went all around an area in which B had seen a nice Steenbok just a week and a half before. We saw a number of them, just all females or ones at or below the ears. We were intent on finding a really good one. That said, there were only two that were in contention this day. We knew there was another property about 45 minutes away that has always been a good Steenbok area so we had that option for my last day. Today was a great day seeing more of the property at Leopard's Valley itself, and the reminders of the are where I shot my Kudu and Sable the previous year. Even without taking any animals today, still a great day and better than being in the office at work.

 

[xbr897]

Day 8 - What a day!

Ok, to spoil the surprise - it was an awesome day today. We headed over to a property about an hour away that was also incredibly different in terrain. It was very void of brush/trees, with just occasional patches but mostly wide open spaces. It made it easy to see animals, but hard to get close enough to see if they were good ones. We did a number of stalks just to get to have good view on the Steenbok, one stalk had us walking for a bit over a mile to stay out of its view and come around behind it. However, none were what we were looking for. It was still enjoyable to be out there seeing so many animals. We saw a group of about 7 Gemsbok in one area, one really nice one that "B" came back for the following week and his client was able to take it. But, alas, no Steenbok for me on this trip. I had a great day, just didn't shoot anything. Will have to plan for it next year...