bowfishoholic
AH veteran
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2014
- Messages
- 114
- Reaction score
- 151
- Location
- Thornfield MO
- Media
- 41
- Member of
- NWTF
- Hunted
- US, South Africa
This was our 3rd trip to South Africa. The first 9 days would be in the bushveldt with Limcroma Safaris, where we hunted the first time. The second 5 days would be in the highveldt with Pawprint Safaris. By this time our plains game list was getting pretty small and most of the animals are harder to get with the bow, we didn't want to use a rifle.
We started out our archery hunt at Limcroma Safaris in the bushveldt. We stayed at the new couples/family lodge, Sable Valley lodge.
The lodge is deep in the concession, but a gorgeous place. Nice and roomy lodge and large spacious chalets. Anke was our cook who went out of her way to make us comfortable. We had wild game every night including - springbok, bushbok, sable, gemsbok, hartebeast and roan, nyala, eland and cape buffalo, sable and gemsbok, and impala, wildebeast and kudu. After dinner we had drinks by the fire.
Day 1: We went out in the evening to shoot a zebra. We had zebra at around 33 yds, but no good shot was available.
Day 2: Today was my husband's birthday. I surprised him with a Tactacam for his bow after breakfast.
Guillaume was our bowhunting PH. We started out looking for a Zebra. The zebra showed up, but would not quite cooperate. We broke the ice by shooting a birthday impala.
Day 3: Out for zebra again. We sat by a pond today and saw kudu, warthogs, Waterbuck, wildebeest and Gemsbok. The gemsbok came in while Dave was taking pics of the red sunset.
Day 4: Sat for Zebra again. We saw wildebeest and kudu. Right at sunset we heard clicking and a huge eland came in and fed 20 yards away. While he was eating we heard clicking again and a second eland showed up.
Day 5: Dave sat in a blind for Zebra in the morning. Dozens of blue and gold wildebeest showed up. The zebra showed up and spent the morning dancing around the wildebeest. Just before noon, Dave got his shot on the zebra. Lucky, our tracker started following the blood and was quite excited at the blood trail on both sides. Just then we saw a big white heap under the trees about 50 yards away. We took the zebra to Hannes for skinning. Back to the lodge for lunch. We sat in a blind for Gemsbok in the afternoon. Anita shot a Gemsbok 2 inches ahead of crease on shoulder and the broadhead broke off in the bone. Lucky tracked the Gemsbok, but it appeared to join back with the herd.
Day 6: Thursday Dave sat in a treestand early for bushbok. He saw bushbuck, kudu and duiker. We headed to the blind where I shot the gemsbok to try and get another shot on him after lunch. But Dave shot a Golden Wildebeest. Lucky tracked it and Guillaume shot it twice with a rifle. A couple of warthogs entertained Anita while they looked for the wildebeest. We had a front coming in now and the wind would not be right for this area for the rest of the hunt.
Day 7: Time to concentrate on our bushbok. Dave sat in the treestand early, then later on in the day. He saw a huge bushbuck and 2 other ones.
Midday we sat in the blind until lunch. We saw babboons several times, then saw a golden wildebeest, a baby kudu, and mongoose.
Day 8: Dave tried the treestand early, then stalked bushbuck, he saw a female. Later we sat in the blind. The golden wildebeest came in and 7 warthogs. Guillaume made plans to sit in a popup blind in the evening, where bushbok fed in the afternoon. The front came in and it was quite windy and the bushbok were afraid to come near the blowing blind.
Day 9: One more day for bushbuck, but no luck again.
Anita went to the Crocodile River for catfishing with some other couples.
Later in the evening, I joined a group that went to see Cape Buffalo and Rhinoceros at a nearby concession. We got very close to both and got some great pics and videos. Headed back to the lodge to begin packing for the second part of our hunt.
Dave came back and had a young bushbok in front of the blind, but unfortunately he wasn't a shooter yet. He did get some great video.
Day 10: We headed to Thabazimbi, where we met our driver Francous, who took us to Brits to meet Pawprint Safaris.
We arrived at Brits and met Johan. Pawprint was a quieter place, but we had a great time with Johan. He really made our hunt quite enjoyable.
We stayed at the Balule Bush Lodge. We were the only hunters there. We sighted in our bows and met with Pieter to discuss our plans.
Day 11: We headed to Lichtenburg at the Reitpan Safari concession for our sable. When we headed to the blind, we saw the majestic sables. We spent the morning waiting in the blind. Just before lunchtime, the sables headed our way. The first one came in and passed the blind and kept snorting at us. The rest finally came in. I had the Tactacam out of the blind window and my phone app came in pretty handy. I kept taking videos, but the sable were very slow at coming in. After about a half hour, they finally made their way in front of us. Dave got a perfect double lung and clipped the top of the heart. We even got the entire event on video, right to him falling down.
Headed back to Balule Lodge and ate our lunches. Claudius made venison tails for dinner.
Day 12: Johan took us to Chameleon Market for souveniers. He helped negotiate and set the sellers straight when they told tall tales about their products. We had a quick coffee with Johan's family, where we had a great time. Headed back to Balule Lodge for lunch. We went to see Pawprint's new bowhunting concession.
We sat on the water with hopes for a bushbok. The blind was set up with a nightlight for hunting. We were at least hoping for a critter to try our night archery skills. The only thing that came in was a big eland.
Day 13: We spent the day at the bowhunt concession. Really cool blinds with lights for night hunting. Many are dual with one side elevated and the other side ground level with tinted windows for viewing. Water and feed in front of the blinds.
Eland and kudu came in the morning.
Saw waterbuck, zebra, impala, blesbuck, ostriches, Livingston Eland, Eland, kudu, nyala, monkeys, wildebeest in the afternoon. Pieter joined us for dinner.
Day 14: Our final day in South Africa. Time to pack and pay up.
Met with Pieter after breakfast. Packed and took walk around property.
Saw several herds of blesbok, including a white one, 9 hartebeast, 4 impala, a kudu, and a nyala.
It is hard to decide which hunt was better. We had a great time at both. The PH definetely makes the difference, and Johan was the perfect PH for us.
We learned our lesson from our 2nd hunt with Pawprint in 2014. If you have problems, don't keep it to yourself, let your PH or outfitter know what is going on. My husband had always read "Don't guide the guide", but he should have confronted Pieter about the problems we had at camp with our cook and PH.
Definitely didn't have problems this hunt. It was A++.
We started out our archery hunt at Limcroma Safaris in the bushveldt. We stayed at the new couples/family lodge, Sable Valley lodge.
The lodge is deep in the concession, but a gorgeous place. Nice and roomy lodge and large spacious chalets. Anke was our cook who went out of her way to make us comfortable. We had wild game every night including - springbok, bushbok, sable, gemsbok, hartebeast and roan, nyala, eland and cape buffalo, sable and gemsbok, and impala, wildebeast and kudu. After dinner we had drinks by the fire.
Day 1: We went out in the evening to shoot a zebra. We had zebra at around 33 yds, but no good shot was available.
Day 2: Today was my husband's birthday. I surprised him with a Tactacam for his bow after breakfast.
Guillaume was our bowhunting PH. We started out looking for a Zebra. The zebra showed up, but would not quite cooperate. We broke the ice by shooting a birthday impala.
Day 3: Out for zebra again. We sat by a pond today and saw kudu, warthogs, Waterbuck, wildebeest and Gemsbok. The gemsbok came in while Dave was taking pics of the red sunset.
Day 4: Sat for Zebra again. We saw wildebeest and kudu. Right at sunset we heard clicking and a huge eland came in and fed 20 yards away. While he was eating we heard clicking again and a second eland showed up.
Day 5: Dave sat in a blind for Zebra in the morning. Dozens of blue and gold wildebeest showed up. The zebra showed up and spent the morning dancing around the wildebeest. Just before noon, Dave got his shot on the zebra. Lucky, our tracker started following the blood and was quite excited at the blood trail on both sides. Just then we saw a big white heap under the trees about 50 yards away. We took the zebra to Hannes for skinning. Back to the lodge for lunch. We sat in a blind for Gemsbok in the afternoon. Anita shot a Gemsbok 2 inches ahead of crease on shoulder and the broadhead broke off in the bone. Lucky tracked the Gemsbok, but it appeared to join back with the herd.
Day 6: Thursday Dave sat in a treestand early for bushbok. He saw bushbuck, kudu and duiker. We headed to the blind where I shot the gemsbok to try and get another shot on him after lunch. But Dave shot a Golden Wildebeest. Lucky tracked it and Guillaume shot it twice with a rifle. A couple of warthogs entertained Anita while they looked for the wildebeest. We had a front coming in now and the wind would not be right for this area for the rest of the hunt.
Day 7: Time to concentrate on our bushbok. Dave sat in the treestand early, then later on in the day. He saw a huge bushbuck and 2 other ones.
Midday we sat in the blind until lunch. We saw babboons several times, then saw a golden wildebeest, a baby kudu, and mongoose.
Day 8: Dave tried the treestand early, then stalked bushbuck, he saw a female. Later we sat in the blind. The golden wildebeest came in and 7 warthogs. Guillaume made plans to sit in a popup blind in the evening, where bushbok fed in the afternoon. The front came in and it was quite windy and the bushbok were afraid to come near the blowing blind.
Day 9: One more day for bushbuck, but no luck again.
Anita went to the Crocodile River for catfishing with some other couples.
Later in the evening, I joined a group that went to see Cape Buffalo and Rhinoceros at a nearby concession. We got very close to both and got some great pics and videos. Headed back to the lodge to begin packing for the second part of our hunt.
Dave came back and had a young bushbok in front of the blind, but unfortunately he wasn't a shooter yet. He did get some great video.
Day 10: We headed to Thabazimbi, where we met our driver Francous, who took us to Brits to meet Pawprint Safaris.
We arrived at Brits and met Johan. Pawprint was a quieter place, but we had a great time with Johan. He really made our hunt quite enjoyable.
We stayed at the Balule Bush Lodge. We were the only hunters there. We sighted in our bows and met with Pieter to discuss our plans.
Day 11: We headed to Lichtenburg at the Reitpan Safari concession for our sable. When we headed to the blind, we saw the majestic sables. We spent the morning waiting in the blind. Just before lunchtime, the sables headed our way. The first one came in and passed the blind and kept snorting at us. The rest finally came in. I had the Tactacam out of the blind window and my phone app came in pretty handy. I kept taking videos, but the sable were very slow at coming in. After about a half hour, they finally made their way in front of us. Dave got a perfect double lung and clipped the top of the heart. We even got the entire event on video, right to him falling down.
Headed back to Balule Lodge and ate our lunches. Claudius made venison tails for dinner.
Day 12: Johan took us to Chameleon Market for souveniers. He helped negotiate and set the sellers straight when they told tall tales about their products. We had a quick coffee with Johan's family, where we had a great time. Headed back to Balule Lodge for lunch. We went to see Pawprint's new bowhunting concession.
We sat on the water with hopes for a bushbok. The blind was set up with a nightlight for hunting. We were at least hoping for a critter to try our night archery skills. The only thing that came in was a big eland.
Day 13: We spent the day at the bowhunt concession. Really cool blinds with lights for night hunting. Many are dual with one side elevated and the other side ground level with tinted windows for viewing. Water and feed in front of the blinds.
Eland and kudu came in the morning.
Saw waterbuck, zebra, impala, blesbuck, ostriches, Livingston Eland, Eland, kudu, nyala, monkeys, wildebeest in the afternoon. Pieter joined us for dinner.
Day 14: Our final day in South Africa. Time to pack and pay up.
Met with Pieter after breakfast. Packed and took walk around property.
Saw several herds of blesbok, including a white one, 9 hartebeast, 4 impala, a kudu, and a nyala.
It is hard to decide which hunt was better. We had a great time at both. The PH definetely makes the difference, and Johan was the perfect PH for us.
We learned our lesson from our 2nd hunt with Pawprint in 2014. If you have problems, don't keep it to yourself, let your PH or outfitter know what is going on. My husband had always read "Don't guide the guide", but he should have confronted Pieter about the problems we had at camp with our cook and PH.
Definitely didn't have problems this hunt. It was A++.
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