SOUTH AFRICA: Two Brothers And Two Double Rifles

VertigoBE

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Belgium, Scotland, Slovenia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, England, France
This adventure started right around the moment it was time to return back home from my latest adventure. In November of 2022, I had spent a wonderful 18 or 19 days hunting in Zimbabwe, with Mapassa Safaris, taking a majestic, old elephant bull. While waiting for my final flight back home, in Johannesburg airport, I had the pleasure of having a beer with AH member @Frederik, who came over to the airport, to listen to my stories.

As these things usually go, I wanted to make plans to get back to Africa as soon as possible. However the Zimbabwe trip had been a financially heavy one, the reasons for having booked it explained in my hunting report, so I was trying to figure out ways of getting to Africa more often and much cheaper.

I had made a cross on hunting locally in Belgium, much preferring the good weather, plentiful species and numbers of games of Africa. However, how to hunt Africa as if you are a local? The concept of a “short hunt”. It must be travel-friendly, budget-friendly, be able to leave at a short notice. The idea being that one could go to Africa multiple times perhaps per year. With AirBelgium back in 2022 and 2023, offering direct flights from Brussels to Johannesburg, after work, you would climb into the airplane around 20:00 on a Wednesday evening and arrive in Jo-Burg around 9:00 in the morning. Using Henry’s VIP services to get through the official stuff quickly, be in the bakkie by 10:00, 3-4hrs drive and be ready to hunt around 14:00-15:00. Two full days of hunting, then on Sunday evening around 20:00, again on the plane, being back at the office for the endless stream of Teams video meetings, by 10:00. That was the idea at least and what I’m still looking to try to refine.

A second goal I had, for my next trip to Africa, was to take my younger brother with me. As I have said before, everyone should at least do one “One Day I will …” each year. Life can be shorter than one thinks. One of my “One Day’s” was to take my younger brother on his first hunting safari. Spend a few days hunting and having fun together, before we each pick up our lives as fathers, and husbands again and the responsibilities of work come knocking.

So we made our plans to leave in November of 2023, and I contacted @Frederik, to see if he knew of any good places where a “last hunt of the season” deal could be found. He was enthusiastic about getting these two Belgian brothers into his country, especially as his roots are traced back to Belgium as well! He suggested a few places that he knew and in the end, we chose to go to @HENRY GRIFFITHS SAFARIS. Contact was made, deposits wired and we were on. We were going to be hunting on their North Western Province property, next to Schweizer-Reneke, about 5hrs drive from Johannesburg airport. It consisted mainly of Kalahari thornbush with some big open plains, about 25000 acres (10000 hectares) large.

My wife was pregnant at the time of our second (we did not know yet when the booking was made) and she was expected to give birth somewhere end of January. In October we received the bad news that my wife was over stressed, there was a risk of a premature birth, and we had to call our trip off. I would not be able to live with myself, had I been on the other side of the world, while my wife went into labour prematurely. So looking at agenda’s, between my brother and I only 12 months later would make sense, so November of 2024 it was! Luckily @Frederik and @HENRY GRIFFITHS SAFARIS were very understanding of the situation.

Fast forward a few months, and I had bought a .500NE double rifle from a French knife maker, but could not get it to regulate. Reloading is not very common in Belgium, and I have certainly never done it. So I asked @Frederik, if he or one of his colleagues from BASA could help out to find a load that would regulate correctly in my .500NE. One of his friends is a big reloader and made 5 four-round loadings, with incremental numbers of grains of powder, shooting the Spoor Bullet Company bonded bullets.

As my brother also never had shot anything above his .300WM bolt action rifle, @Frederik proposed to organize a small BASA-like big bore shoot on one of the days there. He would bring his fine-tuned custom CZ550 in 458 Lott, I would bring the .500NE as well as my Heym 88b with the .375H&H barrels on their maiden voyage. We were all game and getting pumped about our week together. (In the end, we booked for a trip with 6 full hunting days).

The day of departure came, we kissed our family’s goodbye and made our way to the check-in desk of Qatar Airways, as AirBelgium had gone bankrupt a few months before. So no longer a real “short-hunt”, as we would be traveling about 18 hours from Brussels over Doha to Johannesburg. The people at both the Brussels airport, as well as in Doha, from Qatar Airways, were very helpful, and even friendly. I cannot ever remember an airline representative wishing me “Good hunting”, with a smile to go! Very happy with this airline.

As usual, I had booked the VIP service from Henry @Riflepermits in order to speed through the customs procedures, and to have just a little extra piece of mind, with all these rifles and paperwork. All was in order, and soon we were climbing aboard @Frederik ‘s bakkie with a mouthful of biltong! It was great to finally be back in Africa, and back to hunting (after a 2 year hiatus for me).

We drove about six hours to get to @HENRY GRIFFITHS SAFARIS North-Western Province game farm. Before we arrived, we passed along many other game farms, where we could observe herds of different species, impala, springbok, oryx, red hartebeest, etc. My brother’s face, who saw his first African animals, was lighting up each time and the excitement was building! Upon arrival at the game farm, we saw huge herds of blesbok, blue wildebeest, roan, eland, kudu, springbok, red hartebeest and a lonely, old sable. There was so much game there, and lots of little calves as well. However, the weather had worsened, with much-needed rain approaching. As I was already in my hunting clothes since I had left home about 30 hours before, I was ready to rock and roll as soon as my rifle and ammo were out of their prisons. Everyone grabbed their gear and we went out to quickly test the rifles. Unfortunately, the altitude did a number on our rifles and we had to re-zero my brothers’ Sauer 202 in 300WM. Also, my Heym in 375H&H was not printing groups as it should.

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By the time we were finished, the first splats were falling and we made our way back to camp. We waited out the rain, but no more luck, the darkness fell and the hunting would be for the next day. We checked with an updated price list for the year what would be on the menu, and the high priorities for my brother would be blue wildebeest, impala, blesbok, oryx and springbok. I would be on the lookout for blue wildebeest, red hartebeest, oryx and springbok, and then something worthy of my .500NE. For the organization of the next few days, I explained to Henry that my brother would always be on point and get first right of refusal. Only if he was not interested, while I was, would my rifle go on the sticks.

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DAY 1
We got up at 4:00 in the morning, to be ready to leave at 4:30. While we were having coffee, the wind was still stormy with the occasional rain mixed it, which meant that the hunting would not be very good.

We did a little drive around, but with everything being very restless, we decided to quickly go back to the gun range, and try the test rounds for the .500NE, so we would be ready with the double rifle. We started off with a milder loading and already those were printing much better than the reloaded ammo I had gotten from the previous owner. After multiple shots, we came to the following recipe that produced less than 1 inch groups at 30m: Spoor Bullet Company softs of 570 grains, over 95 grains of Vihtavuori N540, with Federal 215 primers, cased with Norma cases. The measured speed was 2160fps. Surprisingly hot for this old double rifle, but if it works, who are we to question it!

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More waiting ensued, until the storm outside would die down. Around 14:00 it had gotten sufficiently cleared up that we grabbed our gear and started on a drive in the direction of the wind, the goal being to then walk with our noses into the wind and hopefully catch something unawares. Not even 10 minutes into the drive, the bakkie stopped as a lonely red hartebeest bull was spotted. We dismounted and gave chase. This was in the more overgrown area, so we ducked from cover to cover to try to catch up with the grazing red hartebeest. When the sticks came up, we were at about 160meters from an old bull and I let the Heym loose. With the red hartebeest slightly quartering too, and me not being a 100% confident yet of where the bullet would land, I compensated too much to middle of mass, shooting through the back of the rib cage into the offside back leg, breaking the bone. Luckily this meant that the animal couldn’t run too fast, so we quickly ran after it where I tried place a second and eventually a third round into the bull to get him to expire quicker.

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The first game of the hunt was in the salt! Thick bases, and an old hartebeest, we were all happy with the result. Although admittedly, with the current loading of this rifle, the distance had been pushing it a bit. We drove back with it to the skinning shed, but by the time we dropped it off, the next rains were there, and we had to stop the hunting again. Around 16:00 it started to clear up again and this time the sun managed to break through the cloud cover. As the sun would be setting by about 19:00, we had to make the most out of it. We tracked through the brush, following the spoor of a herd of blue wildebeest, until we came up to the edge of the brush with a vast plain behind it. There was a herd of blue wildebeest grazing right in front of us, and actually starting to make its way back into the bush in our direction. The herd in front of us consisted of female’s, calves and young males, but far behind them we could see a few bosses of older males. In the golden light of the sun we studied the slow movements intensely for about an hour, but by 18:00 we new we had to start to make a move. The sun was clearly in her last sprint to the horizon, and these wildebeest were not cooperating by getting closer. There would not be time for a second stalk, so we went in bold.

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The group of older bulls we were trying to get to, was behind the herd in front us, just behind a small depression about 400m from us, so they could not quite see us. With Henry in the lead, then my brother, then @Frederik and finally myself, we made a bee-line directly towards the bulls. The herd of younger animals in front of us, spooked, but as we seemed to not be threatening towards them, they ran off, but did not seem too spooked. Meanwhile the group of bulls came more and more into sight, so in order to approach a bit more until we could get to the next depression, Henry put up his sticks in the air, in a giant V. This to simulate an oryx of course. With everyone nice in line, we managed to get another few 100 meters closer. We made it just to the last depression in the terrain before the bulls and Henry motioned for us to get belly down. We were going to crawl the last 100m to the bulls. Luckily we had the sun in our back as well so this helped.

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We crawled for about 100 meters, then the pressure started to weigh on us. We were about 80 meters away from the bulls and Henry and @Frederik started to discuss which one looked like the oldest. Finally their minds made up, they motioned for my brother to get off his knees and ready on the sticks. There was a little bit of discussing which one they had singled out, and a shot rang out. Immediate good bucking was the result and my brother had his first African animal! After all the crawling and waiting and suspense, this was a perfect story for his first trophy! And it was a dandy of blue wildebeest. We measured it afterwards to be 27 ¼ inches wide! With the sun now properly setting, we quickly had the customary photoshoot, and off we went to the skinning shed again, smiles all around.

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That evening, we opened up our box of cigars, had a whisky and even baptized my brother for his first African animal, as is the custom in Europe. I’ve been privileged to have been present for my brother’s first Scottish stag, first Belgian wild boar and now first African game. It was late when we got to bed that evening.

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DAY 2

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We got out of bed nice and early again and we were on the road by around 5:00. With the weather looking to be a lot better, we expected quite a few numbers of animals to be going towards the plains, in order to heat up a bit after a few days of stormy weather. We were going to have a sit under one of those large camelthorn acacia trees as camouflage, and see what would wander in our direction. It was not long before a big herd of blesbok with a few nice males were being spotted. On this property, the blesbok genetics are of exceptional quality. We saw dozen’s of Rowland Ward viable blesbok on the property. When a herd would be passing by, it was deciding which horns were the whitest, which ones looked the biggest. Before long, my brother was on the sticks and starting to single one out.



His shot rang out, a good hit once again, and after a small run, the blesbok collapsed. Walking up to it, my brother could not contain his excitement. Old, white and worn down horns, with his normally brown coat also turning silvery. His longest horn later measured 17 5/8 inch long. All the necessary pictures were taken and then we drove back to camp for breakfast. Yesterday’s festivities and the lack of sleep had rendered us quite hungry, and a breakfast of wildebeest liver, onion’s and garlic would be most welcome!

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After having a hearty meal, we went out for a drive to the property next door, also belonging to the same owner, which contained a bit more exotic species. Colour variations and camels even. The latter were there, only because the owners’ wife is fond of them for some reason.

Anyway, we would go and have a look, not really for hunting, but rather Henry wanted to go check up on some of the buffalo there. We just enjoyed being in the sun, getting heated up ourselves, while we were studying the different characteristics of the buffalo in front of us. We spotted a few old cow’s and tried to find out if they had any dependent calves with them. There were at least two, who clearly had their best days behind them, but with one it was not clear if its calf was old enough to be independent. The other one, also had a calf around it, but it looked to be older. She was in particular bad shape. Ribs showing, hair loss, growths on its belly and between its front legs. Although she had difficulty keeping up with the herd, each time they would stop, she would be shuffling to get to the middle, well protected by the other buffalo. It made it hard to be able to follow up with her.

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With the sun reaching its high point, we decided to abandon for now and return to camp for lunch and a siesta. After we had rested a bit, Henry came back to tell us that the one cow that had the younger calf, was not okay to take just yet. The calf was too young and still dependent.

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DAY 3

We got up at 3:15 and we were walking to the tree blind already by 3:30. It was windy, it was cold, not much was said. Due to it being overcast and very windy, we saw no animals for the first 3 hours of sitting there in the freezing wind. Henry and Frederik were secretly cursing us Belgians under their breath I’m sure. A group of female eland did make its way slowly to us, with one female who spotted us and walked in a circle around our blind. She was only about 10m away, but since she could only smell us, but not figure out what we were, she just slowly walked away again.

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After this fun moment, it was calm again and we could not see any animals in the vicinity. Another hour or so, and then we would retreat to hot coffee and a fireplace. Suddenly Henry leapt from his chair. With bino’s in hand, he strode a few paces forward and looked into the tree branches. We were all up, understanding that there was something special there, when the word came. Black mamba.

As is the case for most tourists, we were more trying to get close to have a look and a picture, than worrying about the danger of a black mamba slithering around above our heads. It was only a small one, 100-120cm perhaps, but Henry wouldn’t have it around and it was quickly dispatched.

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After this bit of excitement, we hurried back to camp to get the shivers out of our legs and hands. The weather stayed bad, and it took some time before we got out of camp again. Luckily the weather had cleared up quite a bit and, soon enough we were again striding through the bush. We walked straight from camp into the first direction that seemed interesting. With the sun breaking through, by around 9:00 we started to see tails whipping through small holes in the vegetation. We had stumbled upon a group of wildebeest. We started following them as they were gently grazing away from us. Frederik stepped in front and started talking in hushed tones with Henry. Straight in front of us, Henry had identified a black faced, big bossed blue wildebeest with worn tips. From what I heard afterwards, he was checking for approval with Frederik, who nodded his agreement. The sticks came up, and I put my Heym 375H&H carefully on it.

The bull was facing to the right, almost fully broadside, gently grazing and then taking a few steps. It was not difficult to pick him out. He was about 80 meters or so from us, completely unaware. I took my time, picking a spot just on the shoulder. There were still a few other wildebeest behind him anyway, so there was no shot just yet. A few moments later, he stood clear and 350grains of lead were sent on their way. A good hit, the bull took off running to the right, reconsidered and turned back to flee towards the left with the rest of the herd. Two hedgerows further and we could just see him tip over, legs kicking. Upon arrival, I marveled at the thick bases, exactly what I prefer. Not a huge width, but very thick.

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While we were busy making pictures, we noticed a few warthogs running by in the distance, and we quickly grabbed our gear, to see if Diana would smile again upon us in such a short time. However, no such luck, and we called the truck to come from camp, to pick up the wildebeest. We would continue on and try to follow the tracks of some giraffe, impala and oryx to see if we could catch up.

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This proved to be more complicated than we thought, and it seemed that they were always a step ahead. The weather also started to turn again, overcast, with thunder and lightning in the distance. While moving through the bush, we all suddenly all felt our heart stop. Just as we were trying to get through some vegetation, just at our feet, 3 buffalo bull’s sprang up from their rest, looked at us, and ran off! Henry and I who were in the vanguard of our little group, could have touched them with the end of his shooting sticks and I with the end of my barrel! Talk about getting a dose of adrenaline going. None of us was prepared for this encounter, all rifles were slung and we were not ready, nor even able to react in case one of them would have turned our way. We had a little scare, but it soon turned to laughter.

On we went, but with thunder clouds gathering again, we decided to get back to camp.

DAY 4

After having found a regulating load for my .500NE double rifle the day before, I told Henry about wanting to find something that would be worthy of shooting with this rifle. Perhaps a blue wildebeest, or an eland or buffalo cull, anything that would make it a nice challenge to try to get in close, and shoot with the iron sights, that would be fun to do.

The decision was made to start walking from camp and have a look around what would be possible to approach. After a short ride to get ahead of the wind, where we passed a big Eland bull, we dismounted and started walking in the direction of the eland bull. We were about 1.5km away at this point, starting from the edge of the property and walking in the general direction of the eland, or whatever else would be possible. With the heat still very much present, and lots of herds of animals hiding in the bush trying to find some shade, we had to be extra quiet. Our sight was limited to inwards of 100 meters most times. We snaked trough the brush, so quiet that often Henry would forget we were still behind him. Suddenly we all froze, we saw some impala horns through the brush and the bino’s started to come into action. We could not quite see the size of the group, and could not make out if we were looking at the vanguard or the stragglers. There were also oryx, blue wildebeest and even some hartebeest mixed in the group.

The plan was to get in front of the group, as a decent impala ram had been spotted. We snuck from a hedgerow of acacia to the next, trying to get in front. But we underestimated the size of the herd and with so many eyes, ears and noses all around us, we got spotted and the whole herd took off. We just stayed motionless, with the hope of being able to make a second stalk on them a bit later. It took a good while for the whole group to stampede past us. There were many hundred’s of animals part of the group. Mostly females, calves and young male’s.

We picked ourselves up again and continued with the stalk, the tracking now made easy, due to all the hundreds of prints we could follow. About a half an hour later, with the bush having calmed down and us stalking silently, Henry froze. So did we all. A few seconds later, he motioned for us to get behind some more cover and turned around. Eland he said, just ahead about 100m away. They were in a gully in the shade of some surrounding trees. The gully had only two entries, on opposite sides and we were just about looking into one entry. In front of us was a white sandy bowl, with hardly a blade of grass to hide behind, with at the end the gully. We could only see horn tips, so we had no choice but to get on our hands and knees and crawl forward. Frederik and my brother would stay behind, while Henry and I would try to close in. To our left there was another rise in the terrain, like a low dune. We started to crawl forward.

On the .500NE no sling was mounted, as I could not trust the sling mounts. Crawling with a rifle then becomes complicated, and can only be done by putting it in the dirt every step. From the long crawl for my brothers’ blue wildebeest, I had learned that it was best to crawl with the buttstock first, in order to avoid getting dirt into the barrels. However, now I had to do this with the rifle loaded as well, relying only on the safety. This also meant that with us crawling straight away from my brother and Frederik, that those loaded barrels were pointed straight backwards, something I corrected as soon as I could by putting the rifle at an angle. Still another thing to worry about. For these kinds of missions, where you have to be loaded up at the beginning of the stalk, but there are lots of awkward positions to take, is where a cocking safety like with a Blaser S2 or a Krieghoff double rifle would be ideal. But for now, I would need to rely on the 100 year old safety.

After about 30m of very silent, very slow and methodical creeping forward, checking through the binocular’s if the eland had not moved, I saw Henry starting to turn his face slowly to the left. We were at the middle of a crest of dune’s (for lack of a better term) and we came into sight of the herd of impala, blue wildebeest, oryx and hartebeest that we had chased away an hour or two before. They were grazing in the field next to us and could spot us any time. Although I didn’t dare lift my head up to have a look, I understood from Henry’s reactions that it was all or nothing now. So as fast as possible, while still making the least amount of movement, we tried to get through the crest and leave it behind. We must have been successful doing so, as we reached a point about 25m from the entrance of the gully. Henry started to observe them through the binoculars and slowly started to put his sticks up right, while he was still on his knees. Without needing to get an explanation, I had moved directly behind him and had put one foot down already, kneeling on only one leg now. However, the group of eland bulls had grown restless, as the herd to our left started to get agitated. Likely the herd was now able to smell us, although they could not see us. While I was starting to get up to the sticks, one of the bulls turned back and looked straight at us. Henry said to go ahead and take him, but by the time I was upright (I had to be upright, as the terrain was still hiding their bodies when in the kneeling position) they had started to gently trot off. No shot could be taken, and we were obliged to observe their behinds in detail. A stalk that failed in its target, but a great experience nevertheless. I will not forget the burning sand under my hands, small rocks cutting into my hands, the stillness of the hot midday air.

With that stalk over, we pursued the eland a bit more, but they and the larger herd had had enough and all ran for the plains. So far for that plan. We decided to get back to camp and think about our next plan. Henry suggested we go looking again for the buffalo cow with the bumps. Her calf was old enough to be able to survive on its own.

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We geared up, my brother would take my Heym in .375H&H and I the .500NE. Frederik would be carrying his 458Lott and Henry his own .375H&H bolt action. We were more than prepared! Arriving on the other property, it did not take us long to find the buffalo herd again. The old buffalo cow was spotted quickly and I suggested we drive a but further away to stalk into the herd. The tension was rising a bit, because even though these were buffalo on a game farm, they were still buffalo. And for my brother it would be his first DG hunt. After the many campfire stories, we all had our anticipations.

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After a short stalk, we caught up with the herd and spotted the buffalo cow quickly. Her calf was eating grass in the neighbourhood, confirming definitively that it would survive without its’ mother. We tried to get the first approach going, but with us away from the truck, their reactions were much more vigilant. With the herd consisting of about 50 animals, there were many eyes and ears directed to us.

As soon as we would get within 70m of them, they would start to move away again. We could see the cow clearly struggling to keep up with the herd, each time they moved. Once, her calf even ran back to go get her, before the two rejoined the herd. However, as soon as the herd would stop, she would move into the middle, where it would be impossible to take a shot. A crafty, old cow for sure. We played this game of hide and seek a dozen more times, but with the sun setting, we had to give up.

Another great experience, as I too had never hunted buffalo before. I had seen buffalo rearing during my first safari in South Africa, about 3 years before and had since then developed a bit of an uninterest for the species. Even though we were on a gaming farm, so the animal obviously could not run off, it was still a good bit of sport, trying to outsmart that old lady and put her out of her suffering.

That evening, as we had not had much success yet with the herds of plains game, trying to get one shooting from the tree blind, I made the lovely suggestion to do it the proper European way. Arrive at the blind a good 1 to 1.5hrs before sunrise. That seemed like a good idea at the dinner table, so that’s what we did. So when is sunrise in North-Western province in November? At about 5:00…
 
DAY 5
The next morning, as my brother already had shot a blesbok, we decided to split our forces. My brother and Henry would be going chasing oryx or impala or anything else really, while Frederik and I would be starting the day in the blind. So Frederik and I had another early rise to get to the blind, but despite getting a few times on the sticks, the weather was still giving the jitters to the animals, who did not want to cooperate.

By 9:00 or 10:00 we called it a day and with the Henry and my brother approaching we saw some big smiles. My brother and Henry had managed to sneak up on a waterback and take a shot, although they almost lost it. All over the game farm there were holes dug out, I presume to test the soil for any traces of precious stones. As diamonds had been found there before. As my brother had shot his waterbuck, it had run a few meters straight in one of those holes and it took them some time to find it again and then winch it out. Anyhow, the waterbuck got his wash in the pool at the bottom of the pit and my brother was ecstatic.

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We returned to camp for some late breakfast and tried to come up with something interesting to do with my .500NE. Well, said Henry, that old buffalo cow is maybe still walking around on the other farm, perhaps we should give her a try again. That sounded a bit more exhilarating to do than just sitting around a cup of coffee, so we loaded up our rifles. This time my brother would take my Heym in 375H&H, I would be carrying my .500NE double, Frederik had his trusty 458Lott in his hands and Henry had his .375H&H bolt action with him. We piled in the truck, had the short drive to the other game farm, and started looking around for the herd.

We spotted them soon enough, confirmed the old cow was still breathing and then drove a block or two away in order to stalk back to them. With the temperature rising now to the midday peak, the wind died and the bush become so much more quiet. Very softly we tried to stalk closer, hiding behind every bit of brush we could and without making any sound possible. We got to within about 80meters and Henry and Frederik started observing with the bino’s. The old cow was spotted quickly, but the herd had become restless, perhaps they had smelled us anyway, and she was moving to the back of the herd. No possible way for us to have a shot. What a crafty old lady. With us trying to get closer moving only one inch at a time, we did get noticed and saw 40 pairs of eyes focusing on us. The herd bull, a big +40inch bull pushed his way through to the front and started putting his nose up in the air. It looked like they weren’t sure of us yet, and whether we were a threat or not. With us continually trying to get closer however, they made up their mind and started to walk away. This time however, we could see the old cow starting to trail the herd and we quickly pressed on the chase.

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The herd was moving away relatively slowly, behind a hedge row that was separating them from us. We were moving parallel in a fast walk, Henry up front, then I, Frederik and finally my brother handling a camera. We almost had to break in to a little jog from time to time in order to catch up. One hole in the hedge row came up, we could just see the tail end of the herd and incidentally the tail end of the old cow pass by. On we pressed, the herd none the wiser that they were being shadowed. A 100m further another hole came up, and before we even got there, I got this tingly feeling in my hands. As if they could already foresee that some action was about to happen. I switched my rifle in my hands and started getting ready for the sticks. There! Henry threw up the sticks, I was immediately on them. The old cow came into view, clearly in difficulty as well to keep up with the herd. I heard Henry over my shoulder make some noise in order to stop her. She looked to us and my .500NE spoke for the first time with me in anger. 570grains of Spoor Bullet Company soft was on the way. The cow was flattened upon impact. No more resistance whatsoever. As I saw that my first shot had had effect, I came off the sticks, broke open my double rifle and reloaded the primary barrel with a new round of 500NE. We heard a short death bellow and that was that.

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The tension broken, we started to recount what went through our minds. Henry lasered the distance at 68m from shooting sticks to buffalo cow. Not too bad for a .500NE with iron sights. While we were standing around, watching the cow, suddenly we saw the herd trotting back to look what was going on. They milled around the cow, when suddenly they all turned their noses in our direction and started trotting towards us. Looks like shooting grandma was not too appreciated by all her offspring. Henry’s voice sounded a bit more stressed when he said we had to run back to the truck. Suddenly everything became serious again and we all ran as fast as we could back in the general direction of the truck, while looking over our shoulder. Luckily the herd gave up after about 100m of following us and we stopped for a breather. For a second time we broke out in a bit of laughter and Henry called over the truck to us in order to get some drinks in us. We had been at it for about 2hrs in the blazing sun and a good drink was welcome by now.

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After a quarter of an hour, we loaded up and drove back to where the old cow was lying. It was quite a surprise that we found her breathing! What we thought was a great shot taking out the lungs, was actually a spine shot immobilizing the old lady. So I quickly went over to her with my double rifle, to give her finally a coup de grâce. Shouldering the rifle, then “click”. That’s not right…

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Breaking open the rifle, there are indeed two rounds in there, one with what looks like a light strike. I put it aside, load again and finally put a round in the cow. The silence returns and now I can truly thank this grand old lady for the hunt. We discover that she has no more teeth left. As in only gums remaining. She was truly on her final days.

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The Spoor Bullet Company bullet did it's job very well:

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With a waterbuck and a buffalo cow in the salt, we went on another walk in the bush around camp, but no further shot’s were taken. We returned to camp for whiskey and cigars. Plans were made for the next day to visit a neighbouring farm for oryx.
 
DAY 6

After our previous days of getting up at indecent hours, we decided to take it easy and get up around 5 am. Then we took the drive over to a neighbouring farm where lived the most kind and friendly old married couple. On the drive into their property we already spotted a group of blue wildebeest. But first we had to go and say hello to the couple. They were so happy to have visitors, we just had to go and have a coffee with them on their porch and eat some rusks (traditional dried out bread) that she had baked just for our arrival. We spent a few minutes chit chatting about where we were from and what our plans were for the day.



Frederik had said that maybe he could be interested in hunting an animal himself as well and since my brother and I both had already shot a blue wildebeest, we would first do a stalk on that group of blue wildebeest that we saw when driving in.



As Frederik has been a PH in a former life, Henry gave the lead of our little group over to him and we were on our way. As we knew where the blue wildebeest were, we found them rapidly and our final approach started. When they came into view, Henry and Frederik started whispering trying to decide which was the biggest one of them. There were a few that would be getting close to Rowland Ward. Once the decision was made, it was a very simple sticks, rifle and shot from Frederik’s 458 Lott using a Trijicon SRO red dot sight. That bull didn’t make any additional steps. We took some pictures all together and then brought the blue wildebeest back to the old couple’s house, so one of the trackers could start taking it back to the lodge. That way the meat would not spoil in the rising heat. Once this business was finished, we set out again to see what else would cross our path.

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We started with a proper tour of the property, which had very dense vegetation. Game abound, impala, springbok, until we suddenly saw some long black horns glistening in the morning sun. Oryx!

As usual, my brother would go first, and we started sneaking through the bush. There was a group of about 8 gemsbok slowly feeding and warming up in the sun. When we were about 80meters away and found a small hole through the brush that would allow for a shot, the sticks went up.

My brother gently put his Sauer on the sticks and Frederik and Henry started discussing and looking which one was the bull and looked okay to take. Once their mind was made up, my brother made short work of the situation, sending a single .300WM Norma Oryx on its way. Getting there, the oryx was stone dead and we were all with big smiles. A very proper bull oryx, one of the dream animals of my brother!

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It was still early, but the sun was heating things up rapidly, so once we loaded the bull in the back of the truck, we started emptying waterbottles on him, in order to aid with cooling. As my brother definitely wanted a shoulder mount for this trophy, it was best if we returned as soon as possible to the skinning shed, so the risk of hairloss would be minimized. We said our goodbye’s to the couple and started on the 1hr drive back.

We dropped off the oryx, checked in with Frederik’s blue wildebeest bull and then had some quick breakfast. As we still had some time available, before it would get too hot, Frederik and I decided to go back to the blind in the plain, to try once more for a good blesbok. I would be taking my brothers’ rifle, his Sauer 202 in .300WM, to give me a little more range. In the afternoon we would take it easy and fun, holding a “BASA-shoot” on Henry’s gun range.

After having arrived in the blind and once things calmed down again, due to the good weather we saw little groups of various species making their way onto the plains. They were however keeping their distance the blind, remaining at least 400m away. Too far for any shots, despite some nice dandies of blesbok mingling around. Those bone white horns of the older fella’s stand out very well in the sun.

At one point, we saw a herd of blesbok starting to approach from the front right at an angle where we would not have a shot. They were still far out, but would pass to our right side, and we should have shot by shooting behind us. The only thing is that we would not have any cover at all. We decided to be bold, just sit in the shadow, but in full view once they passed the blind. This worked like a charm because once Frederik had identified a good one, it was an easy shot, just inside 200m. I finally got a blesbok of my own, it too would be Rowland Ward, we would find out later. I was very happy with this result.

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Getting back to the camp, we had a short lunch and some rest before we gathered around 14:00 to setup the shooting range.

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I had brought plenty of .500NE rounds that did not regulate in my rifle that I wanted to shoot. Also had the .375 Heym where I counted of shooting most of my munition, as I did not expect to hunt with it again this trip. Frederik had brought a nice .375H&H bolt action for the festivities, as well as a bunch of munition for his .458 Lott. We would be trying it all.

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Frederik had also brought with him several full size buffalo targets and would be setting up the range as if it were a real competition for the four of us. One supported shot from sticks from 100m, then another one unsupported from the same distance. Then a short run to 50m, for two more shots on the same target, another run to 25m, 2 more shots. After this we would run to this first target, and take two more shots to second target that was about 25m away. We would all be timed, and points would be deducted for anything outside the bull’s eye.

We had a lot of fun the four of us, everyone got to shoot Frederik’s 458 Lott, which despite its low weight was actually not that difficult to shoot. That Trijicon SRO mounted instead of the rear sight blades does make it such a natural thing to shoot. When I came back to Belgium I bought a use .458WM CZ550 to duplicate his build. (it is under way as we speak ) Also the .500NE we all tried to run the full range with, including Henry. I also did a run with the .375H&H Heym, while my brother went with Frederik’s scoped bolt action .375. At some point I’ll try to edit some videos of us together, so everyone can see how much fun it was. “Addicted to Recoil” as one of Frederik’s shirts says.

In the first 4 runs, Henry, Frederik and I did the competition with the iron sighted .500NE, while my brother used the scoped .375H&H. One thing became clear. An experienced PH, an ex-PH and current BASA crack shot and an amateur from Belgium. All three of us could not compete on points with my brother who used the scoped .375H&H despite him having the least amount of experience shooting big bores! Very interesting piece of data.

DAY 7

Finally the last day had started, and we decided to just walk in the bush, and see if we could get close enough to something, to use the iron sighted .500NE. It was some of the best weather of our trip so far and we did about 22km that day. We had a few stalks on oryx and on blue wildebeest, but in the end the only game that was killed, was a puffadder that we found on our path and that succumbed to Henry’s 9mm.

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DAY 8 - Departure


On the day of departure, before going to the airport, we just had to make a stop at a local gun store, because the famous Pierre van der Walt was working there. We had a chat, he is a most gracious and friendly character, immediately giving me some tips for reloading my .500NE. I also bought one of his books there and had it duly signed.

In the aftermath, I remember this trip mostly as how unstressful hunting can be. Just a few friends hanging out and having fun. Thank you @Frederik for having been present and organized this. Having been able to share my first African hunt together with my brother and you is a very fond memory.

V.

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Loved reading the report @VertigoBE you forgot the exciting sighting of the aardwolf on your brothers wildebeest stalk on his first african animal.
The whole stalk was very special and rewarding after km's through the bush and the difficult long stalk in the open to the wildebeest bulls.

Also, on the first stalks out of camp how we bumped that nice dagga buffalo bull.
I think we had an overload of experiences as we didn't sleep much but tried to spend as much time as possible on our feet with rifles.

@HENRY GRIFFITHS SAFARIS is like a Jack Russel he won't stop hunting untill you tell him too if you really want to go all out.

We had good long hours around the fire not so good cold hours waiting for the sun :LOL:
It was all good and rewarding in the end we must surely do it again.
But first my short visit to Belgium later this year.

OH BTW I'm still not selling my 375 H&H Musgrave to your brother, it fitted him like a glove and he handled it like a pro.
 
Loved reading the report @VertigoBE you forgot the exciting sighting of the aardwolf on your brothers wildebeest stalk on his first african animal.
The whole stalk was very special and rewarding after km's through the bush and the difficult long stalk in the open to the wildebeest bulls.

Also, on the first stalks out of camp how we bumped that nice dagga buffalo bull.
I think we had an overload of experiences as we didn't sleep much but tried to spend as much time as possible on our feet with rifles.

@HENRY GRIFFITHS SAFARIS is like a Jack Russel he won't stop hunting untill you tell him too if you really want to go all out.

We had good long hours around the fire not so good cold hours waiting for the sun :LOL:
It was all good and rewarding in the end we must surely do it again.
But first my short visit to Belgium later this year.

OH BTW I'm still not selling my 375 H&H Musgrave to your brother, it fitted him like a glove and he handled it like a pro.
Indeed there were many more moments I forgot to write about. I think we averaged around 4hrs of sleep each night.
 
Congrats, you guys had a great time, and that´s what hunting is about :D Cheers:
 
Good to hear you were drinking whiskey with an E. I can guess where the cigars came from. Cig-Art ? Fabulous shop, we were back there in January.
 
Good to hear you were drinking whiskey with an E. I can guess where the cigars came from. Cig-Art ? Fabulous shop, we were back there in January.

Indeed, very helpful shop assistant as well.
 
Congrats on a fantastic time afield. :D Beers:

@Frederik , I’ll be in your neck of the woods next year. Don’t know if we’ll have time for a beer this go around, but you never know.
 
Congratulations!!! It is always very rewarding to get a load for your double that shoots well. Ans making a trip with your brother is priceless. I am still trying to get one of my brothers or sons to come with us on a safari. Spotting a aardwolf is a SPECIAL occurrence. thank you for sharing your adventure.
 

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Hi gents we have very little openings left for 2025 if anyone is interested in a last minute hunt!

here are the dates,

17-25 June
25-31 July
1-28 Sept
7-31 October

Shoot me a message ASAP to book your spot 2026 is also filling up fast! will start posting 2026 dates soon!
Hello! I’m new… from Texas!
schwerpunkt88 wrote on Robmill70's profile.
Morning Rob, Any feeling for how the 300 H&H shoots? How's the barrel condition?
 
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