The hunt took place in North Central Namibia on a 40k acre property as well as a neighboring property when the hartebeest decided to ignore the property line. Hartebeest was the primary goal with wildebeest #2 then baboon and finally a big warthog. We spent the first 2 days surveying and sitting on waterholes with little action. I shot an Oryx for camp meat the evening of day two. The PH and decided to switch to Wildebeest for day three and the tracker was adamant that he could put me on one. The cool mornings made for enjoyable drives checking for tracks. I have hunted this property enough to be able to ID most of the species but the number of tracks always amazes me and then the tracker says this is a good one, let's go. I look and say I will take your word for it. I checked my pack for water and off we went. The winding paths and unchanging look of the bush mesmerizes me as I concentrate on looking for game and staying out of reach of the ever present thorns. We followed the tracks for a couple hours and I saw the tracker give the slow down sign. We eased along for another hour when the first snort and galloping hooves reached our ears. We immediately picked up the pace and Willem the tracker gave us a thumbs up. He had em, and he was sure we would find them again. Another hour passed and the bush opened up a bit. We paused for a drink and prepped to carry on. Willem cocked his head and pointed to his ear. I listened intently and you could hear their vocalizations. We had moved forward 40-50 yards when we picked up the first movement. I got on the sticks and we quietly discussed what I could and couldn't see, which wasn't much, as the herd milled around. A loud snort alerted us to look to the right and the bull stepped into the open. Willem said "that one" and I settled the crosshairs and sent it. A resounding thump came back and the bull bucked, spun a couple times and disappeared to the right as I worked the bolt. We soon found blood and after a short follow up saw the bull wobbling at 30 yards. A quick finisher and it was done. We gave the bull his last bite and took some pics.
The next day started like the previous except this time the quarry was hartebeest. We started at a waterhole and again things were slow. The PH attributed it to the almost full moon. We piled in the Land Cruiser and went looking for tracks. It was around 10am before Willem found a track he liked well enough to begin our walk. Little did I know it would be 4:15pm before I pulled the trigger. We walked and walked and walked and I marveled at how two people, tracker and PH, could wordlessly decipher one animal's spoor. Our first bump came after 2.5 hrs and I never saw the bull. Willem dropped to the ground. Rolf and I knelt. Rolf slid to our right and laid flat. He spent a minute glassing before motioning to me to crawl towards him. I barely made a move when the bull took off. We jumped up and resumed our pursuit. Another hour passed and we needed to restock our water supply so we headed for the Toyota and refilled our bottles and quickly got back on the track. Another hour of fast walking following a running track and Willem slowed considerably. The bull was back to feeding. We meandered thru the bush passing through very thick thorn scrub and eventually coming into more broken terrain. We stopped for a water break and Willem and Rolf talked for a minute. We had taken only a few steps when the bull jumped out of his bed and bolted to our left. I stepped in that direction, rifle partially raised, but I only saw his hind quarters. We moved forward to the last spot we saw him and picked up the track. We had only moved a few yards when Willem stopped and pointed. I stepped up a couple yards, rested the gun on his shoulder and searched for the target. The height of African game is always a bit deceiving to me. I finally recognized the long neck and horns of the bull looking right at us. I dropped the crosshairs to the middle of his chest and squeezed off the shot. Again I was pleased to hear the solid whack of the impact. He disappeared before I could fire a back up. We picked up blood immediately and followed for 30 yards and there he was tottering but facing away. The PH asked me to shoot him in the neck as the bull looked back. I made that shot and the bull dropped dead. Again we honored him with his last bite. I was grateful for the determined effort put out by the PH and the tracker. It was a true pleasure to watch them work.
The pressure was off and my next couple days were relaxed and productive. I shot a baboon, a jackal and then a warthog and oryx for meat.
Rifle was a Tika 595 in .308 shooting Federal 180gr soft points.
