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I got some help resizing some pictures. Sorry they are not in order. These are from Loodt's incredible Karroo area!
We arrived in the afternoon and went out for a Lechwe and common springbuck. The springbuck was a challenge... After what I thought was decent hit, it just kept running and we chased it around and amongst a large group of them. Finally it was out with only a couple others around and getting dark soon.... Loodt and I went after it on foot and made our way towards it with a rise between us as we hunkered over and did the bent walk/run thing for a log ways. We spotted him pretty far off yet and Loodt said it is a very long shot but it might be our only chance. I turned my adjustable turret up all the way but it only goes to 350 yards (I'll have to work on that but thought it was enough for Africa)... I was on the shooting sticks and held best I could right above his back. It hit a bit far back but dropped him with a big hole through his middle. Loodt patted me on the back and said "you can shoot old man!". It was 524 yards and I can tell you it was all luck that I hit it. The first shot had only grazed a leg and the chest, an inch and a half higher would have been a heart shot.
The next day I was completely off my game and hit nothing all day. We were hunting Vaal rhebok and Klipspringer and Loodt put me onto them but I missed cleanly. In spite of that I felt it was a great day! We saw a lot of everything and the scenery was breathtaking!
We only had the afternoon mentioned above, 2 full days which I got nothing on the first, and a morning then needed to be coming out of the veld by noon on the final day. That first morning, we drove through a big gate into the high fenced property.... And we put on 121 kilometers on one road through the property before we drove out another gate and never got close to a fence the whole day! In fact it was well after dark before we got out. It was Loodt's first time getting in that deep and we were actually conserving food and water the last few hours just in case. We did make it back for a great feast at the lodge, albeit a bit late. If it had been just Loodt and I, we would have slept out there to be in the best klipspringer area at first light. I literally takes half the day to get in that far! This is truly free range hunting even though it is high fenced. At one point, the herds of both black and blue wildebeest, blesbuck, red hartebeest and a few zebra we running around like it was the Serengeti Plain! Literally hundreds of them!
The second morning we got started earlier and drove in before the sun came up. right away we saw 4 nice Kudu bulls in the headlights. Then just as it was getting light I caught a shimmer of light on a horn and as we turned the corner, there was a Sable standing there! My day was made and the sun was not up yet!
As we got into the Klipspringer area we stopped often to glass and I spotted a pair on a rock way up top. The stalk was on and took a long time... We actually got to the top and thought they were got but as Loodt peaked over they were 20 yards away! But ran off as I was trying to get the gun up for a shot... Then an eagle swooped down and was trying to get them! The eluded the eagle as they had done to us by running through and behind the big rocks. That was to be our only Klipspringer opportunity for the day and all we say of Vaal rhebok was white flags.
Went a bit nuts towards the end of the second day after we got out of the primary Klipspringer and Vaal Rheebok area.
Shot a Black Wildebeest, and a cull one, then a blesbuck and as we were coming out of that area we spotted a big old red hartebeest way down in a valley. I shot and hit low in the chest and thought it was a good hit but it was running and then hit in the gut, and just as he was about to disappear behind a bush I got another one in the right spot low on the shoulder and he dropped beside the big bush. 320 yards away down in the rocks so the work was cut out until just after dark. After photos I took all the gear and went to get the truck while Loodt and the two tracker carried him up the hill with Ann shining a flashlight for them. We had a good load on the bakki and headed back for a brie.
The next morning we headed out to a just go in a kilometer or so and glass for Vaal Rhebok one more time, only saw females but saw some incredible waterbuck. I'll try to follow up with pics of them in another post.
There is an incredible population of bontebuck there and I wanted to have a look so we cut out when the sun was well up and went there. Couldn't resist taking one once I saw them!
Then I really wanted a white springbuck so we dedicated the rest of the morning to that. In this area they are specifically breeding for them and they are mixed in with commons so very hard to find and then find a good male. There are some very nice black ones running around in there as well. I thought it would be a small area but boy was I mistaken! it went on forever and I never did see the back fence. We would spot a couple white critters from miles off and get there only to discover it had been white blesbuck. Then we found white female springbuck but no male. Finally we were down to deciding if we turn right where there were 3 white dots near a few sparse bushes or turning left and going after two that had just gone over the horizon. We were going to go left as the other were trotting around looking uneasy when they settled down ad we decided to make a long stalk trying to keep the few bushed between us and them. Trouble was the commons were spread out and could see us so we had to move carefully. We got to 280 yards and it was now or never as it was already noon. I managed to vindicate myself after missing the Vaalies and Klippies and dropped him with a perfect shot off the sticks. It was to be my last critter for an outstanding 3 weeks of two safaris (if you did not catch it, we were with Spear for two weeks prior)! I was blessed with 21 critters total in about 16 1/2 day hunting.
We arrived in the afternoon and went out for a Lechwe and common springbuck. The springbuck was a challenge... After what I thought was decent hit, it just kept running and we chased it around and amongst a large group of them. Finally it was out with only a couple others around and getting dark soon.... Loodt and I went after it on foot and made our way towards it with a rise between us as we hunkered over and did the bent walk/run thing for a log ways. We spotted him pretty far off yet and Loodt said it is a very long shot but it might be our only chance. I turned my adjustable turret up all the way but it only goes to 350 yards (I'll have to work on that but thought it was enough for Africa)... I was on the shooting sticks and held best I could right above his back. It hit a bit far back but dropped him with a big hole through his middle. Loodt patted me on the back and said "you can shoot old man!". It was 524 yards and I can tell you it was all luck that I hit it. The first shot had only grazed a leg and the chest, an inch and a half higher would have been a heart shot.
The next day I was completely off my game and hit nothing all day. We were hunting Vaal rhebok and Klipspringer and Loodt put me onto them but I missed cleanly. In spite of that I felt it was a great day! We saw a lot of everything and the scenery was breathtaking!
We only had the afternoon mentioned above, 2 full days which I got nothing on the first, and a morning then needed to be coming out of the veld by noon on the final day. That first morning, we drove through a big gate into the high fenced property.... And we put on 121 kilometers on one road through the property before we drove out another gate and never got close to a fence the whole day! In fact it was well after dark before we got out. It was Loodt's first time getting in that deep and we were actually conserving food and water the last few hours just in case. We did make it back for a great feast at the lodge, albeit a bit late. If it had been just Loodt and I, we would have slept out there to be in the best klipspringer area at first light. I literally takes half the day to get in that far! This is truly free range hunting even though it is high fenced. At one point, the herds of both black and blue wildebeest, blesbuck, red hartebeest and a few zebra we running around like it was the Serengeti Plain! Literally hundreds of them!
The second morning we got started earlier and drove in before the sun came up. right away we saw 4 nice Kudu bulls in the headlights. Then just as it was getting light I caught a shimmer of light on a horn and as we turned the corner, there was a Sable standing there! My day was made and the sun was not up yet!
As we got into the Klipspringer area we stopped often to glass and I spotted a pair on a rock way up top. The stalk was on and took a long time... We actually got to the top and thought they were got but as Loodt peaked over they were 20 yards away! But ran off as I was trying to get the gun up for a shot... Then an eagle swooped down and was trying to get them! The eluded the eagle as they had done to us by running through and behind the big rocks. That was to be our only Klipspringer opportunity for the day and all we say of Vaal rhebok was white flags.
Went a bit nuts towards the end of the second day after we got out of the primary Klipspringer and Vaal Rheebok area.
Shot a Black Wildebeest, and a cull one, then a blesbuck and as we were coming out of that area we spotted a big old red hartebeest way down in a valley. I shot and hit low in the chest and thought it was a good hit but it was running and then hit in the gut, and just as he was about to disappear behind a bush I got another one in the right spot low on the shoulder and he dropped beside the big bush. 320 yards away down in the rocks so the work was cut out until just after dark. After photos I took all the gear and went to get the truck while Loodt and the two tracker carried him up the hill with Ann shining a flashlight for them. We had a good load on the bakki and headed back for a brie.
The next morning we headed out to a just go in a kilometer or so and glass for Vaal Rhebok one more time, only saw females but saw some incredible waterbuck. I'll try to follow up with pics of them in another post.
There is an incredible population of bontebuck there and I wanted to have a look so we cut out when the sun was well up and went there. Couldn't resist taking one once I saw them!
Then I really wanted a white springbuck so we dedicated the rest of the morning to that. In this area they are specifically breeding for them and they are mixed in with commons so very hard to find and then find a good male. There are some very nice black ones running around in there as well. I thought it would be a small area but boy was I mistaken! it went on forever and I never did see the back fence. We would spot a couple white critters from miles off and get there only to discover it had been white blesbuck. Then we found white female springbuck but no male. Finally we were down to deciding if we turn right where there were 3 white dots near a few sparse bushes or turning left and going after two that had just gone over the horizon. We were going to go left as the other were trotting around looking uneasy when they settled down ad we decided to make a long stalk trying to keep the few bushed between us and them. Trouble was the commons were spread out and could see us so we had to move carefully. We got to 280 yards and it was now or never as it was already noon. I managed to vindicate myself after missing the Vaalies and Klippies and dropped him with a perfect shot off the sticks. It was to be my last critter for an outstanding 3 weeks of two safaris (if you did not catch it, we were with Spear for two weeks prior)! I was blessed with 21 critters total in about 16 1/2 day hunting.
