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

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

Here is a list and reference guide to what I’ve used or what now works for me on this type of plains game Safari with night hunting in blinds and a Hippo hunt. I hope it helps anyone that may be planning a similar Safari or just uncertain of what to bring. Note that I bring the smallest bags, cases, and gear necessary to get maximum function and comfort. This means I roll up and compress everything I pack and I don’t want large cases for gear annd equipment that I’ll need help with. If I need to, I’ll pack my stuff on my wheeled gun case and put on my backpack and wheel my gear as far as necessary.


Packing and gear notes:

Two rifle case: aluminum, rifles lay flat, wheeled, 4 latches, rod bars that lock it in with two keyed alike locks, trimmed custom foam so both rifles fit with bolts in and cannot shift, rub, or move. It also has a hinged luggage flap to put my gear on and carry it all together. With the right angle it rolls very balanced and smooth with my Pelican gear case and carry on stacked on.

I’ve been on several Safaris and I’m trying to pack as light as possible but I’m also careful not to leave out anything critical. Laundry is done daily, so I pack 2 change of clothes in my carry on. On the flight I wear pants, T-shirt, with a light long sleeve pullover that I also wear in camp in the evening, my hunting boots which are comfortable, and my baseball cap. In my backpack I bring 1 extra pair of socks, underwear, and t-shirt to use to shower at the airport during my first layover -in this case it was after being on the plane for 16 hours SFO to Dubai. This trip I checked my carry on and just kept my essentials to include shave kit/medicine, noise cancelling headphones, and RF Bino’s. Noise cancelling headphones that plug in for movies, music, audiobooks, or just to silence the baby crying behind me, worked out great! I see people wear a bean bag style neck pillow - I have an inflatable one that rolls up and packs away nicely and I also brought a memory foam pad to sit on about 2 1/2” thick and very helpful on this long flight. It rolls up to about 4” in diameter and also fits in my back back -this I’ll never fly without on a long flight.


1. Hiking boots (Timberland: White Ledge Mid Waterproof Hiking Boot ). Easy to break in, waterproof, heal with a great sole. I buy a new pair, break them in, and wear them through the airport and on the plane (take them off while flying) and I leave them for any of the staff who can fit them. They are about $100/pair. I wear Merrell slides at camp and on the plane ride home. I also had some boot gators made too and they are from the same local gal that makes his.

2. Shorts - Camo or Tan just above the knees, but long enough to have a secondary zipper pocket on each side. Good place to put you phone/camera, extra small flashlight, asthma inhaler, or whatever else you need. I don’t wear PH style shorter shorts because I like extra pockets.

3. Pants - In the late afternoon or evening hunting I wear these tactical style pants. I try to post a link. Great fit and are made with “ripstop polyester fabric, which is breathable, scratch-resistant, abrasion-resistant, durable, wrinkle-resistant, and fade-resistant; they are also very comfortable and stretchy.” Holding up to the thorns well. I like the extra pockets.

4. Base layers and jacket. If you are not hunting nights, a light jacket will do for most mornings. It gets cold at night, especially sitting in a blind. I’ll wear a short sleeve hunting shirt (outfitter provided or similar) with shorts or pants during the day. At night I wear a long sleeve fitted T-Shirt cotton blend, and bring a camo fleece long sleeve pull over. Warm and quiet. *My Kuiu waterproof rain jacket fits well, is flexible, and warm, but too loud! I would not wear it in a blind hunting at night…

5. Hats and gloves: I wear a baseball cap that my outfitter supplied. It is an amazing fit for an adjustable ball cap and not the style I normally wear. I wear a FlexFit at home fishing or hunting. At night I wear a camo fleece beanie fits snug, goes over my ears if I need it for the occasional nuisance mosquito -rare, keeps my head nice and warm on those long cold nights in the blind. Light camo gloves with snug fitted trigger fingers work out well. I have a light neck gaiter too.

6. Day pack. I switched to a small collapsible day bag/small camo duffle, that will fold up when not in use. It has a large enough middle compartment, with a zipper and a flap, to hold my fleece pullover, pants, a couple boxes of ammo, bottle of water, and on each end has small zippered compartments to hold gloves, beanie, neck gator and on the other end headlamp, snack bars, batteries, extra pair of glasses. This bag stays in the truck or will work as a rest for my rifle.

6.1 - I carry my RF Bino’s in an Alaska guide pack. My Bino’s are not just Range Finders, but they have DOPE for my Nightforce scopes and both the rifles I use on Safari. Otherwise, I probably would bring a smaller lighter type of Bino’s and trust my PH for ranging distance. Each thier own… That said, this Bino pack is large enough to function well for me as a day pack, but not too big or bulky. Not only does it carry my Bino’s, it has lanyards for them, it has 4 small zippered compartments. This is enough room for an extra magazine (my rifles have magazines - SAKO and TIKKA), batteries, extra small flashlight, power bar/energy bar, adjustment tool for scopes, leatherman/utility tool, scope cleaning/lense cleaning tool, lighter, band-aids, asthma inhaler.

7. Miscellaneous: I have prescription reading glasses that transition to dark in the sun and light or clear at night or darker conditions. I also have a pair of prescription sunglasses that I need for distance. I bring 2 of each. In a pinch I could get by on just the transition glasses, but I appreciate prescription sunglasses because I wear them more. If you have hayfever or even seasonal allergies, bring a couple different types of allergy medicine and one with a decongestant. I also bring a nasal spray that works well for me. I had a tough time with allergies the first two days -itchy and watering eyes, sneezing, post nasal drip! Not fun when you are trying to get set up on a shot, in a blind where you need to be quite, or on a long walk and feeling miserable. Better now with the right medication. Eye drops also help.

I didn’t need my external battery power pack because there was ample opportunity to charge my phone which I use as a camera. Not bringing it next trip -if I go on this type of Safari again. I brought extra chargers and adapters for US to SA plugs.

I’ll post pictures of everything I brought and how I pack for the first time Safari planners as soon as I can upload pictures…