SOUTH AFRICA: Waterberg SA Safari - Progress

[Frederik]

The 243 is working great.

 

[enysse]

Excellent! I like the .243 too! You have a beautiful trophy room.

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

Day 4:

Morning started with a Warthog at 320 yards just inside the gate of an area we intended to look for Steenbok. I love warthog hunting and couldn’t pass it up. One quartering away shot behind the shoulder with the .243 sent him scrambling for 50 yards until he ran out of steam. After dropping him off we decided to look for Copper and Yellow Blesbok. I have a common and white, so these will complete my slam.

While glassing for Blesbok with the land owner, my PH Henk leaned over and said they have a couple nice Roans here. I said where? Henk says, they should be just on the other side of this ridge, but possibly in the open field beyond it. Then I remind Henk that I only have that .243 available, not the .375 H&H. We take a look at 2 nice Roan, and as luck would have it, the bigger of the two is closest to us at 275 yards. We decide to take him with the .243, but I want to be closer. We close the gap to a little over 220 yards. The shot is quartering away. I have a 200 yard zero. At 220 yards, slightly quartering means I need to aim at the opposite front leg. Shot off and the Roan is hit solid. Single lung shot has him run about 50 yards and lay down square on all four. Henk says blood in the nose. We close to within 60 yards and I punch one through the shoulder for a heart and lung shot and it’s quickly over.

Beautiful Roan with secondary growth. Nice and wide. Everything I could want in a majestic, old mature Roan.

With larger animals, including this Roan and broadside shots, the 80 grain Barnes TTSX passed all the way through with a small exit wound. At 3250 the bullets are punching through either rib or between, losing their pedals in the lungs and/or heart and passing through with very small exit holes. I’ll post pictures as soon as I can get them to upload.

More to come…

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

Day 4.1:

Drop off Roan to skinners and ask them to save the heart and lungs.

Back out for Blesbok. We get into the area where there are significant heards of animals to include: Gemsbok, Impala, Red Hartebeest, Zebra, Springbok, Blesbok, Black Wildebeest, Wildebeest, and Lechwe, so we start glassing. The area is considered Savanah hills. Glassing from the truck, Lechwe are spotted near a small tree on a ridge and there appears to be 10 or so and 2-3 are shooters. We decide to close from 600 yards to 400 yards and they start moving. We stop and dismount. Lechwe join another 8 or so 150 yards away. We get to the uphill side of the ridge and cut them off. They push back by the tree. Still around 400 yards. We stop and glass from 400 yards. They settle and we find the big bull.

I want to get closer, but as we do, they stir and push up. After some time they settle and we slowly get to the uphill advantage at 310 yards. Set up and get a rest on my small pack. Henk says Range is 309, I dial for it on the Nightforce -my DOPE for the .243 is in my Zeiss RF Bino's. A little bit of movement until the big bull stops. Keep him in the scope the whole time. Let first shot off and a good hit. Henk tells me great shot! The shot sends the small heard away from the tree and down, but not away from us. The big lechwe slowly walks toward the others and at about 20 yards he is still up, blood runs down from the hole, near the leg, and blood is in his nose. Henk, says to send another just above the blood spot but still behind the shoulder. Same side is showing, he takes a minute or two to get broadside. Angle is not much different. I Get a good rest, check bubble, rifle not canted, I send the 2nd shot. A good shot and he rears up and turns 180. He takes several steps, shakes his head, and goes down. Henk likes the shot, but thought the first was low. We get there, it wasn’t low and both bullets passed though.

An exceptional mature bull with a great set of horns and likely 7-8 years old. Absolutely beautiful and I share my appreciation with Henk and the landowner who brings the truck over. After a couple pictures and we are back to the skinning shed. I request the heart and lungs. Both lungs are shot as well as the heart…

After lunch and a little celebration, we head back out for Blesbok…

More to come..

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

Day 4.2:

Copper Blesbok - After a lot of effort, closest we could get was 369 yards. Get a good rest. Shot is flat, broadside to slightly quarter, one shot and he’s down.

Yellow Blesbok - same scenario with the better part of the afternoon trying to get closer than 300 yards. The one shot kill was quartering to us at 327 yards and ended up going into the front of the shoulder passing through the heart stopping in the opposite shoulder. Blesbok bucked, took a few steps and went down.

Both are beautiful examples of mature rams with amazing colorations and nice horns!

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

Day 5: Bushpig out of the night blind. 50 yards downhill straight through the top of the spine as the boar was facing us.

Day 6: Scouting for Hippo on a special mountain concession with two streams coming together to form a lazy meandering river that goes on for miles. There are many good sized pools that are covered or partially covered in rush, reeds, and tall grass that allow at least 7 known Hippo to hide in or disappear into. No daytime sightings yet.

Night 6: Set up a couple calls on a chicken and goat farm for Serval. One Jackal came to 110 yards and took one from the .243 in left ribs and had a significant exit hole on the right side.

**We saw a nice Steenbok while driving to check cameras on a badger blind, but didn’t have time to set up on it. We’ll try tomorrow afternoon.

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

Day: 7

Sighted in my Sako .375H&H and got my desired zero. Good group at 100 yards. Set the zero stop on the NF and ready to go. Windage zero was still good from my last Safari 2 years ago.

Early and long stalk (2 miles in thick bushveld that is typical to the Waterberg) on the Steenbok. Took the .375 in the event I have to shoot through bush. Saw him at 60 yards but we pushed him a bit, so we’ll wait.

After lunch we baited two different areas/concessions for Honey Badger. Confirmed one area has one on trail cam and the other shows tracks. Also saw more Bushpig tracks and on trail cams.

Packed up and headed out early for the night hippo hunt. The hippo are coming to grassy areas to feed near the edge of the river at night, but are very cautious and easy to spook. Once you bump them, you may not see them again for a few days or in the same area.

We saw a nice bull and a cow come out of the water at the dam and were feeding across the river. They were feeding 100 yards across from our blind and not far from the waters edge. We watched them for 1/2 the night until they returned to the water. They stayed on the other side of the river in the water and did not come to our side. Cold night in a blind, but exiting watching through the FLIR.

2:30am we return to camp. Back up at 6:00am.


Day 8:

Plan is to sit in the blind again this evening and wait for the Hippo to exit the water near our blind. The shot will likely be close and on land, not in the water. There will also be the option of a .500 double depending on how close the shot is.

After lunch we intend to head to Bullseye to discuss mounting choices for animals taken so far.

1. Genet
2. Duiker
3. Porcupine
4. Barbary Ram/Aoudad
5. Copper Blesbok
6. Yellow Blesbok
7. Roan
8. Lechwe
9. Warthog
10. Jackal
11. Bushpig

And options for other animals if we are fortunate enough to take them:

• Hippo
• Badger
• Steenbok
• Serval
• Civet
• Big Kudu