After a short heatwave of a few days, it seemed like the Kudu bulls had lost interest in the cows. We had seen a Kudu bull the previous evening at last light. The 2+" of ivory caught my eyes, but light faded fast and something just didn't seem right of where the ivory was sitting. It was more relatable to a younger bull that hadn't fully formed yet. As I sat at the lodge in the evening, I recalled a bull that we had seen around two years earlier through a spotting scope with one horn fully forming the figure of 8, but the right side still pointing in an outward direction. A-Typical.
My head PH, Nick, had shot a behemoth of a Kudu bull, also a-typical, roughly two years before we laid eyes on this bull, so no doubt the prodigy of the original bull.
We headed out first thing in the morning and scanned the opposite ridge where I had seen him feeding. We only say a group of around 6 cows feeding in the vicinity. After roughly 15 minutes of glassing, with the ground still soaking with dew, a Bushbuck was barking continuously. Less than 2 minutes later, the Vervet Monkeys started chattering. Zero doubt that the Bushbuck had scented a Caracal, and the Monkeys had laid eyes upon it in the undergrowth.
I quickly confirmed with my hunter if he was interested in getting the hounds onto it, and he was 100% in. After phoning the hounds man, we learned that he was actually in the very next valley to where we were hunting. We informed him to get the hounds in the bottom of the valley asap. Seeing him running over the crest of the mountain in his unmistakeable orange coveralls with a pack of hounds in tow was a sight to behold.
Less than 5 minutes into the valley, the hounds started giving tongue, and treed the cat roughly half a mile from where we had first heard the Bushbuck bark. Unbelievable experience to see everything unfold in front of us, from hearing the Bushbuck bark, to the confirmation from the monkeys to the final product.
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