Chasing the Tiny 10 - the journey begins

[Green Chile]

Nice job! Glad to see the R8 going to good use!

Just the beginning of the .416 speaking my friend. This is a T10 focused hunt but with a lot of .416 activity.

 

[Hunt anything]

Sounds like a good time. It’s going to be interesting to hear about the problems with the police.

Great nyala, definitely one of my favorites along with bushbuck!

 

[Pablo]

Great report so far, looking forward to the rest of your adventures. Nyala are absolutely gorgeous. It was the last animal I shot on my recent trip, and it nearly made me sad to see such a beautiful critter down. I'm durned sure going to treat him right when he is mounted.

 

[Green Chile]

Ok, so I got a little mixed up in my notes with the order of things. That doesn’t matter really to anyone but the first day of red duiker calling and the nyala were on different days. I’m writing these hunt updates in between client calls and got my notes mixed up a bit. This post will clear that up and bring in some other animals and experiences from day 1 and 2.

So we did the nyala on the first full day but while driving around we saw a pretty good steenbok that was on my list. I have seen many steenbok before but always while hunting buff, etc. This time I was prepared and looking for a good one. The 22 Hornet did a great job and exited the small antelope. Each of these T10 are quite beautiful and intriguing in their own ways. When you are focused on them, it's interesting how the other large PG just are passing by and then you see a T10, glowing like a little jewel among the riff raff!

 

[Green Chile]

So the 2nd full day was the red duiker calling mentioned above and the following experiences. On the way to call red duiker we were driving on a dirt road among houses on the edge of town (Louis Trichardt). As we came around a corner, Dieter said did you see that? I said no...and then he stops the truck and points...there is a caracal standing beside the road. Dieter says I've lived here all my life and never seen one in this area. I said that's the first one I've seen in the wild. It was beautiful standing there so still for a moment. You're used to seeing videos of them jumping 10 feet into the air to pull birds down but just standing there in a suburban area was outrageous.

After calling the red duiker without success, we changed directions and drove up further into the mountains to call klippies. This was a hunt I had been wanting to do for some time. Klipspringers are a really special animal and unlike anything else in the world. I don't think they have any close relatives. They have the most beautiful eyes and I've always loved how they stand on the tips of their hooves looking down at you with their head cocked sideways.

This area we drove back into was fairly remote and undeveloped. In fact, the landowner was building a road into the back part of his land. This road climbed up into the mountains and back behind them. We would climb a little and call for awhile then keep climbing up and up.

This was probably the hardest physical day of the hunts being up in the loose rocks and cliffs. We thought we would find a target soon but we kept climbing and didn't bring any water with us. We spent hours looking for them and were all surprised by finding none. This place should have definitely turned up a few klippies but not on this day. Still it was a great day calling up in the mountains! It was a real hunt not just shooting. Good times.

Here are a few photos of the area and the sets we called from. Due to longer distances, I was borrowing Dieter's suppressed 243.

 

[TOBY458]

So the 2nd full day was the red duiker calling mentioned above and the following experiences. On the way to call red duiker we were driving on a dirt road among houses on the edge of town (Louis Trichardt). As we came around a corner, Dieter said did you see that? I said no...and then he stops the truck and points...there is a caracal standing beside the road. Dieter says I've lived here all my life and never seen one in this area. I said that's the first one I've seen in the wild. It was beautiful standing there so still for a moment. You're used to seeing videos of them jumping 10 feet into the air to pull birds down but just standing there in a suburban area was outrageous.

After calling the red duiker without success, we changed directions and drove up further into the mountains to call klippies. This was a hunt I had been wanting to do for some time. Klipspringers are a really special animal and unlike anything else in the world. I don't think they have any close relatives. They have the most beautiful eyes and I've always loved how they stand on the tips of their hooves looking down at you with their head cocked sideways.

View attachment 643802

This area we drove back into was fairly remote and undeveloped. In fact, the landowner was building a road into the back part of his land. This road climbed up into the mountains and back behind them. We would climb a little and call for awhile then keep climbing up and up.

This was probably the hardest physical day of the hunts being up in the loose rocks and cliffs. We thought we would find a target soon but we kept climbing and didn't bring any water with us. We spent hours looking for them and were all surprised by finding none. This place should have definitely turned up a few klippies but not on this day. Still it was a great day calling up in the mountains! It was a real hunt not just shooting. Good times.

Here are a few photos of the area and the sets we called from. Due to longer distances, I was borrowing Dieter's suppressed 243.

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View attachment 643806

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I can only imagine that @Bob Nelson 35Whelen would tell you that your lack of success on that day was due to your choice of using a 243! Great report so far!

 

[Green Chile]

I'm not really a user of the .243 in particular but the 22 Hornet and 416 barrels were not going to work for this application. I could have brought a 3rd barrel and probably should have done so. That's one of the lessons learned as you transition among so many different types of hunting for a T10 specific trip. Nothing really covers all ofd the applications. Yes you could use a 257 Wby or 300 win mag for all of it but on the close shots you would have little steenboks and duikers raining down in pieces.

 

[Hunt anything]

When I first saw the mountains I was going to be hunting klipspringer in I definitely thought I had bitten off a lot more than I could chew!! It took 2 1/2 days to get a pretty good ram. This was in Limpopo also near Thabazimbi..

 

[Green Chile]

When I first saw the mountains I was going to be hunting klipspringer in I definitely thought I had bitten off a lot more than I could chew!! It took 2 1/2 days to get a pretty good ram. This was in Limpopo also near Thabazimbi..

Dieter had a klippie hunt with an older gentleman in this same area end very quickly on the first or second set of calling. It was almost at the bottom of the mountain. In comparison, we found mountains that we didn't even know were there on this day of calling. At one point, I asked Dieter where did the other guy get his...Dieter pointed way down the mountain and said down there where we parked the truck!

 

[TOBY458]

I'm not really a user of the .243 in particular but the 22 Hornet and 416 barrels were not going to work for this application. I could have brought a 3rd barrel and probably should have done so. That's one of the lessons learned as you transition among so many different types of hunting for a T10 specific trip. Nothing really covers all ofd the applications. Yes you could use a 257 Wby or 300 win mag for all of it but on the close shots you would have little steenboks and duikers raining down in pieces.

Just trying to get a rise out of Bob. I would think the 243 would do a lot of damage as well on those smaller animals. Even a 223 would probably be pretty tough on them, unless you use a really tough bullet, like a TSX.

 

[Gemsbok45]

I like hunting at night for the little critters but Bushbuck should be hunting during the day. You made the right call whatever your motivation. Now if you have shot a bushbuck at night your choice.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

3 grand is a lot for Sharpe's. Time and $ are big factors in how you approach taking the T10. There is nowhere you can get all of them in one location. Some places are higher cost than others but more convenient since you are there. In this case, trophy fees were 2500 for Sharpe's grysbok and 2300 for red duiker. There is almost no place in Limpopo where you could get both of those at any cost but you can here...for some cost.

If you think that’s a lot, start shopping Suni prices in RSA. $7-10k (trophy fee, doesn’t include daily rates) is the pricing I was quoted by 5 or 7 different outfitters over the last 2 years. For that amount of money I’ll go to Mozambique.

$3k on a Sharpe’s is a lot. I think mine was like $450 or $500 in Zim granted I was DG hunting and paying a much higher daily rate.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I can only imagine that @Bob Nelson 35Whelen would tell you that your lack of success on that day was due to your choice of using a 243! Great report so far!

@TOBY458
Longer distance with a 243 is anything longer than the barrel.
If your barrel is 22" in a 243 that's what you restrict your shots to. No that's not 22" from the barrel that's at the muzzle. That cartridge should not be allowed out in any hunting field
Bob

 

[Sabre]

One thing of note when going through OR Tambo airport in Joburg...the panhandlers and "shoe shiners" are getting much more aggressive in their tactics. When you go through security screening to go downstairs to Skylink domestic gates, you will find them just past security. They will try to detain you sounding official to get $20 out of you. This time I just said no thanks and kept walking BUT he tried to stop me and said, "Don't do that!" to stop me so I would talk to him. I looked at him and said stop...then moved past him. Don't let them get you as they have nothing to offer and are just looking for money. Move past them to get to your gate. The flight to Polokwane is about 1 hour and was uneventful.

Yes, it feels insane to me that they let the fake workers run around the airport like they do. I had so many try and get me to talk to them and use crazy official sounding things and just insane level pestering.

They like to stand near the departures TV screens and obnoxiously pester trying to get you to accept their fake official help even when you don't need it or want it, thinking they can then extort you for a tip.

I also had one follow me for quite a ways. First he was offering a "shoe shine" while I was in shoes that you wouldn't ever shine. When I didn't stop and said no, he started following me telling me he was an airport official and I had to let him disinfect my shoes because it was the law. After many times of saying no and walking, I eventually told him to get the f**k away from me and that finally did the trick.

 

[Sabre]

@Green Chile - Do you plan on posting about those sidetrack topics you mentioned in this thread, or are you creating separate threads for them?