Trek for the Tiny Ten

[AZDAVE]

Just finished the tiny 10, so looking forward to reading the rest of your adventures with the little guys.

 

[uplander01]

I'm 5 in, and I gotta say,...I dang near get more spun up hunting those little devils than some of the bigger stuff.

 

[Hank2211]

2. Cape Grysbok, Eastern Cape, June 30, 2014

As things turned out, I didn’t get a chance at another of the Tiny Ten for three more years and three more safaris. But then I got two on one(ish) hunt.

I was hunting the Eastern Cape for a few days before heading to the Northern Cape, looking principally for Cape kudu and nyala. But a Cape grysbok was on the list. On my first night in camp (Bluecliff Safaris), with the hunt scheduled to start the next day, we went out to look around. John Tinley, again my PH, had a spotlight and thought we were in a good area. He wasn’t wrong - we saw a number of grysbok, but none he could positively identify as male before they ran off . . . until one decided to watch us for a moment too long. I had been looking through the scope at any eyes John found with the flashlight, ready to shoot if he gave me the word. You really don’t get much time as a rule, so you can’t wait for the OK to try to find the grysbok. This isn’t an animal that is blinded by light and just sits there.

On this occasion, John said “shoot” and I did, within less than a second, at what seemed like 75 yards or so. I was using a .300 Win Mag so I lost the sight picture in the recoil. To my relief John said he was down. It took us a few minutes to find him - things always look different from different vantage points in the dark - but there he was.

The Cape grysbok is, as I noted, in the same genus as the steenbok. Unlike the steenbok though, which is sandy brown with some white, the grysboks have a reddish coat interspaced with white hairs, giving them a “grizzled” appearance. The nose area and the ears will typically be whiteish.

Cape grysbok have a pretty limited range - the coastal areas of the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape, so the very southern tip of South Africa. The Cape grysbok stands about 21” tall at the shoulder, and weighs in the area of 20 lbs, so a bit smaller than the steenbok. Only the males have horns, and they’re typically in the area of 3” or so. The world record in the SCI book is about 13”, which is, of course, the length of both horns plus the width of the bases, so probably about 5” horns.

I have to believe that most of the animals in the record book were 'lucky shots.' By that I mean the hunter didn't go out to get a record book specimen - but rather, went out for a grysbok and ended up with a record book specimen. Having said that, I might be doing someone out there a dis-service - there may well be someone who has had the patience (and spotting/quick shooting ability) to look over multiple specimens until they found a record book example . . . but given how these are shot, that seems unlikely in the extreme to me. Happy to be proved wrong though!

Like the steenbok the Cape grysbok are listed as of ‘least concern’ by the IUCN. That doesn’t mean they’re easy to find. Some people have managed to shoot one during daylight hours, but they’re mainly nocturnal, so unless you’re prepared to hunt at night with a flashlight, and with a PH who can make pretty much an instant assessment of whether the eyes are a shootable specimen, you could be waiting a long time for one of these little guys.

Apologies for the face. My kids made me promise . . .

 

[Green Chile]

That's a nice Cape grysbok. I will be chasing them in 2 weeks along with blue duiker and klippie in Eastern Cape.

 

[Moe324]

That's a nice Cape grysbok. I will be chasing them in 2 weeks along with blue duiker and klippie in Eastern Cape.

What else is on your list? That area is really good for Caracal with dogs. Did you hunt vallies already?

 

[Hunt anything]

@Green Chile , if you don’t mind me asking but what’s the trophy fee for the cape grysbok? I was quoted $3,500 last year.

 

[Green Chile]

Yes, also caracal with dogs is on the list. We will see what time is left as this is a very quick trip of just 1 week. I didn't think I was going this year but I'm getting in at the end of season. We also are trying to scrape up an oribi permit but quotas are always low. I'm borrowing guns on this trip and will only have a .223 and shotgun most likely so that's not a good rig for the long distance vallies.

 

[Green Chile]

@Green Chile , if you don’t mind me asking but what’s the trophy fee for the cape grysbok? I was quoted $3,500 last year.

1900 USD

 

[Hunt anything]

1900 USD

Looking forward to the report when you get back!

 

[Green Chile]

Thanks...one of my favorite parts of each hunt is reporting back on lessons learned, etc.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Enjoying this report. My first was also a Steenbok on my first Safari.

At this point, I’ve successfully hunted 8 of the 10. I’m heading to Coutada 11 in Mozambique in 2026 to chase Suni & Red Duiker. If the star align I’d like to also take another Blue Duiker. This time with my .375 Pre64 Super Grade, so I can say I’ve hunted all 10 with a single rifle. Tried for the Blue in 2023 with a rifle but rain spoiled the plans, so we switched to a shotgun and dogs.

 

[PeteG]

Here's another one of the fun little guys that we get here. Sharpe's Grysbok.
This one is exceptional.
the little 17HMR does fine work on these small guys.

 

[Green Chile]

Here's another one of the fun little guys that we get here. Sharpe's Grysbok.
This one is exceptional.
the little 17HMR does fine work on these small guys.

View attachment 724586

Look at the mass on that little dude. He's perfect.

 

[Acopperdawg]

I would love to collect the tiny ten. I have a Steinbok and an ancient common duiker I shot in Namibia. As an aside, I find it fascinating what people decide to shoot these things with, and opinions vary widely. Some like a big bore with solids, some like the little guys like at .22 or .17, some use shotguns. Its an awesome side conversation I think.

 

[Firebird]

Do a title search for “caliber for tiny ten” and you will find multiple lengthy discussions

 

[ru4elk]

Add a Mountain Reedbuck and Vaal Rhebok and make it the "Tiny 12". Have 8 and will hopefully add Suni and Red Duiker in 26. Starting hunting them in 22 and have become obsessed! Very fun to hunt and can be quite a challenge. Calibers can vary with shots ranging from 10-350 yards.

 

[Hank2211]

4. Klipspringer, Northwest province, July 23, 2012

Not sure how I made a mistake on the timing of my animals, but I did. Probably because it was a long time ago . . .

In any event, I was hunting a Wintershoek property in 2012 called Gamagara, mostly because I wanted a tsessebe, and they had them there. We were not having any luck finding and then getting close to a shootable tsessebe, so decided we needed a change of pace. My PH (the one and only John Tinley) recommended we try for a klipspringer on another Northern Cape Wintershoek property some few hours drive away in a much more mountainous area.

I still wasn’t completely sold on the Tiny Ten at this point, but agreed we needed a change of scenery for a bit, with the chance that our luck would change when we returned.

We drove a couple of hours to this new property and as advertised, it was quite mountainous. At this point I didn’t actually know very much about klipspringers, other than I didn’t have one and I was always interested in new and different animals.

There is only one species of klipspringer, with the Latin name of Oreotragus, having absolutely noting to do with the cookie, but rather meaning “beautiful goat.” It is beautiful, but I don’t think it remotely resembles a goat, in size or appearance. In Afrikaans, the name means “rock jumper” which makes more sense, since the animal lives on rocky hill or mountain sides, and seems to easily jump from rock to rock, rather than simply walking from one to the other.

The klipspringer (or more commonly, “klippie”) has two features which readily distinguish it from any of the other Tiny Ten. Firstly, the fur on its coat. The hairs are hollow rather than solid which give the klippie more insulation in the cold. One downside to this type of hair is that it tends to be more fragile than ‘normal’ hair, and more easily damaged by a high velocity bullet. Secondly, its hooves are not hard but quite soft, allowing it to attach itself more firmly to slick rocks, and it tends to stand and move around on “tip toes” rather than on its entire hoof.

Klippies are about medium size for the Tiny Ten. They range from about 17” to 23” at the shoulder and weigh from about 20-40 lbs. I’ve never seen one which I’d guess was in the 40 lb range, so those must be outliers. Thirty pounds would be more common, I expect. Horns are only found on the male and run from about 3 to 3.5 inches. No real tufts of hair to cover the horns, so they’re fairly easy to estimate.

Hunting klipspringers isn’t terribly difficult - you just go to suitable habitat (along the west coast of southern Africa to the southern tip, and then upwards from about KZN north to the Horn of Africa) and glass. Except . . . they blend in really well with their surroundings and if they’ve spotted you, they tend to freeze. They’re territorial and monogamous, so if you see a female, the male should be reasonably close by. Equally, if you scared the male away, give it time and come back, and it will likely have come back to its normal territory.

We arrived at the property before mid-day and began walking along the bottom of some rocky slopes. It wasn’t long before John spotted what he said was a small group of klippies some 500 yards or so away. We used the cover we had to close the distance to about 150 yards - or so he said. I hadn’t seen them yet. John got me settled between some rocks, sitting down, and pointed me in the right direction. To our mutual frustration, I couldn’t see anything. I finally put the rifle down and picked up the binos.

When I finally spotted the group, I still couldn’t see the male John wanted me to shoot. These antelope do a superb job of blending into their surroundings. The klippie finally moved, and I saw him. Now I had to find him again in my scope. Again, lots of frustration, but I eventually got him in my sights, and took the shot. Down.

We recovered him, guts hanging out, after a very steep walk uphill through some very rocky terrain. You use what you have, but a .300 Win Mag isn’t the best choice for these little guys.

He was a beautiful specimen. I hope his wife remarried.

Oh. FWIW, when we got back to Gamagara, we found a tsessebe and shot him that same afternoon. Change of scenery never hurts.

 

[hornhunter!]

Excellent write ups! Makes me want to book another hunt and continue on to complete my Tiny Ten!

 

[Hank2211]

OK. First, some administration. In trying to get as much of this done as I could before heading out to pay my penance for hunting (travel with my wife), I not only miscounted, but got the kleppie out of order. Second, this is the last instalment until early December because I will be in Peru as the travel companion.

3. Blue Duiker, Eastern Cape, July 3, 2014

Blue duiker are among the smallest antelope in Africa, perhaps second only to the royal antelope of West Africa.

The blue duiker is a creature of the bush, and it has a broad distribution, pretty much wherever suitable habitat can be found from central Africa south, although in southern Africa it tends to be found only along the east coast of South Africa into Mozambique.

There are (at least?) three principal methods to hunt these animals. The first method, like any hunt, is to come upon a blue duiker by accident and get off a shot. I’m not aware of anyone who has successfully done this, but would love to hear if it’s happened. Apart from being so small that they’re easily hidden in the thick cover they tend to favor, blue duiker are also extremely secretive and skittish. This isn’t really a practical method of hunting them.

The second method involves setting up a bait site in areas frequented by blue duiker. I’ve seen videos of this method and it has one big advantage over other methods. Using this method you might just have the time to judge the horns on a male, or at least judge whether the duiker actually is a male.

I used the third method to hunt a blue duiker. That’s to position yourself in a likely spot, and have someone let some trained dogs loose in the bush, with the hope (prayer?) that the dogs will drive the duiker towards you. The downside to this method is that even if you’re successful in having the duiker actually come in your general direction, it will generally be coming at speed, so practically speaking, this method only works with a shotgun.

On this beautiful day, we were, I was told, well-positioned on Adrian Ford’s incredibly beautiful property along the Indian Ocean coast of the Eastern Cape. Adrian and a farm worker joined us for the hunt. The farm worker’s job was to take two dogs some distance from us and let them loose in the bush. The dogs were then supposed to sniff out a blue duiker and scare it in our direction. We were standing in a glen-like spot in the middle of the bush. I had a 12 gauge shotgun, and just about enough room to swing it without shooting either Adrian or John Tinley. Depending on the direction from which the duiker came. They were to be as alert as I was, not just to help in spotting the thing, but to get out of the way so that I could get a shot without hitting either one of them. I assumed that a few pellets wouldn’t actually constitute ‘hitting’, so I agreed to what seemed like a completely hare-brained plan.

View from Adrian Ford's ranch towards the Indian Ocean - dolphins, sandy beaches and no human beings for miles.

I admit I was more than a bit nervous. I hadn’t seen a blue duiker other than in books, and I wasn’t at all sure that I would be able to hit one if it did decide to come into our little glen. And then we heard a dog bark. Adrian said “pay attention - he’s on something.” And then . . . nothing. Not a sound. After a few minutes, Adrian said the dogs might have lost it, but stand still anyway. Not ten seconds later he says “there”! My first thought was “what . . where” and then I saw what looked like a large rat streaking by me. I took a shot but the thing kept moving. I can’t say that a shotgun at five feet is a lot better than a rifle, or at least not by much. I had no idea if I’d hit it, but I knew if I had, it wasn’t a serious wound since the thing didn’t seem to have slowed down at all.

I asked if anyone thought I’d hit it, but no one could say for sure. We looked around but saw no blood. And then our little dogs showed up. They didn’t seem to be in any hurry and weren't following anything. Adrian thought I probably missed it, but we let the dog keep looking. After about ten minutes, we decided it was a miss, and started to move back towards the truck to try a different location. And then we heard it. The sound of a duiker in distress. And one dog heard it to - and ran back into the bushes.

It didn’t take long - all we had to do was follow the dog - and John found the duiker laid up in a very think bush. He crawled in and grabbed it by the head, dragged it out, and broke its neck.

A careful inspection showed that I had broken one leg and it had one pellet in the back of its head. Not much, but enough. We were all very pleased to have found it and put it out of its misery after we’d essentially given up.

Adrian Ford on the right and Tinley on the left. This gives you an idea of how think the bush was.

 

[Hunt anything]

That Adrian Ford property could be the prettiest piece of land I’ve hunted. Took a bushbuck and bushpig there years ago.
Congratulations.