NAMIBIA: BOWHUNT: Bowhunt In Namibia

[Dee S]

I don't know where to begin or how to dissect the trip into manageable sections for reading? I think I'll just start with the basics for now, still too many pictures and videos to edit and go through. As far as editing the pictures, I will tell you up front, when possible, I prefer to edit out as much blood as I can when posting on the internet.

The basics for this thread today; the who, what, when, how, and where of my trip, along with my primary goals.

With who? The incredible PH - Pieter Delport and his Eintracht Jagd Safaris based about an hours drive east of Windhoek.

What I hunted; Number one on my list, a Hartmann's Zebra, then a Burchell's Zebra, an Oryx, a Red Hartebeest, a Springbuck, a baboon, a jackal, and optional animal - a second Hartmanns's zebra, a second Burchell's, a Kudu, and/or a Blesbuck

When; Based around the dark moon of September, 2019, which was the 28th -
Duration - 15 days in country with 12 dedicated hunting days

How; Primary bow - Bowtech RPM360 Backup bow - Bowtech Assassin Arrows - GrizzlyStik Primary Broadheads - 200 grain Cutthroat single bevel Backup Broadheads - 125 grain GrizzlyStik Massai single bevel and 125 grain SlickTrick RazorTricks *regardless of the broadhead used, all arrows weigh approximately 657 grains and have an FOC of 22%, +/- 1%

Where; As the drought in Namibia has affected the area that is and around Pieter's main property, he had to improvise and overcome, which meant hunting three completely different areas in order to harvest the animals on my list. This was a nice bonus for me, as I got to see and experience a much larger and broader area of the country than I normally would have had we hunted Pieter's family owned land exclusively. Pieter basically looked at my wish list and determined the areas to hunt that would maximize our chance of success, and that's how it unfolded.

Primary Goals;
1. To enjoy the trip, no matter what.
2. To harvest a Hartmann's Zebra with my bow.
3. To focus on old, mature males.

THE HUNT:

We started the hunt focusing on the Hartmann's on a piece of property in the Otavi area, near Etosha Park. Here we saw an abundance of Oryx, Eland, Duiker, and Hartmann's. While there, we also saw, in lesser numbers; Kudu, Red Hartebeest, baboon, Blesbuck, Blackface Impala, Springbuck, and warthog. A hyena was in the area and we heard it making it's call at dusk. That was awesome and chilling all at the same time. Also had a carical in visual range one evening.
At this location I was able to harvest my first African animals. I took three Oryx, keeping one and the others were counted as culls in order to help reduce their numbers. Duiker was not on my list, but Pieter advised me to take this particular Duiker as it was an exceptional speciman. As it turns out, it may be #6 for a Duiker taken with a bow in Namibia?
And obviously, I was extremely fortunate to harvest not one, but two Hartmann's zebra. The first was on old stallion that was running by himself. He was beat up, covered in scars, and his left ear was about bitten off from fighting. He'll be a pedastal shoulder mount. Then the following evening, their reputation for coming in at last light is warranted, a bachelor group of stallions came in and presented another shot. So I was blessed to harvest two Hartmann's with my bow and the second will be a rug.
There was a lot of history that had transpired at this property over the last hundred years and it was quite interesting to listen to. One of the neat facts, for a Texan, was the fact that that over the years, they had harvested around 18 lions off this property, with at least one taken from a ground blind that we frequently hunted.
This concludes the first location and the basics of the hunt there.

 

[cpr0312]

Looks like a great start to the hunt! Look forward to the next two installments!

 

[AZDAVE]

That diker is huge, congratz! looking forward to the rest of the adventure

 

[Dee S]

The first portion of the hunt had taken place approximately 240 miles north/northeast of Windhoek and we now headed to an area approximately 25 miles west of Windhoek for the second portion of the hunt, to an area known as the Khomas Hochland region. The lodge and it's accommodations were, in my opinion, 5 star. Although I wouldn't really know as I'm not wealthy enough, nor travel enough, to make that a factual statement. I will just say, it was an incredible lodge and hope to one day return there.
This area was a backup to our Hartmann's zebra hunt, just in case we had struck out at the first location. This property also had a lot of baboon since it was more mountainous and rocky and it also might have a suitable warthog as well.
The blind we hunted from was the finest bow blind setup I've ever hunted from. A pit blind that was approximately 10' x 10' on the interior with at least an 8' ceiling.
We had a large herd of Hartmann's zebra come in one afternoon, probably around 4PM, but they got down wind of us and never came in. Pieter had the old burning dung technique going, but they still caught enough of our scent to just hang back at 100 yards. Still pretty awesome to see such a larger herd in broad daylight.
The baboons came in from behind us, with the scouts coming first. A scout almost stuck his head inside the blind, and I think he actually would have, had he not seen the video camera sitting on the ledge by the 'viewing' window. He sounded the alarm and that was that, no baboons.
We did have a really old warthog come in, straight in, to the water. He almost ducked the string, those dudes are fast! Arrow did the trick and he ran about 80 yards. He doesn't have the longest of tusks, but he's a trophy to me and what I was looking for, an old, mature male. Pieter estimated him to be 12 years of age. Just imagine, in 12 years, how many times do you think he has had to escape death by jackal, caracal, or leopard?
We left that location with not only the warthog, but also with a lot of good memories and probably a few pounds heavier.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Excellent first (I believe you said) Africa adventure!
Although I have a fine duiker, I would have taken that one without a thought! All fine trophies! That warthog would have had long tusks, but like most in rough rocky country, they break them off. Still one old boy for sure!

 

[Dee S]

For the third and final portion of the hunt, we were going to be hunting an area approximately 40 miles to the SE of Windhoek. This area is either a part of, or very near to the edge of, the Kalahari desert. While there were mountains and small hills they call 'koppe' in the vicinity, the land we hunted was very flat. There were open areas of several hundred acres or more that were nothing but bare dirt with a few scatted camel thorn trees. Amazingly, these open areas were full of plains game whenever we were passing through them. Pieter said that when the rains come, these open, flat, barren areas will be lush, green fields with grasses two to three feet tall. It was very hard to imagine that and I asked him to send me pictures once that occurs, which should be in January and February. This property, as all of the others, was low fenced, and as we say in Texas, all behind one fence. Meaning the only fence, if the fence was actually intact, was the one surrounding the property. I think the smallest place we hunted was 16,000 acres? The property was loaded with plains game. We had giraffe in small groups scattered around and some actually walked past the blind. There were ostrich, herds of black wildebeest, blue wildebeest, eland, oryx, kudu, burchells zebra, blesbuck, springbuck, both common impala and black faced impala, baboon, waterbuck, and I'm probably forgetting a couple of others. It was amazing to sit at a blind and have up to six species of game out at the same time, often with herds of eland numbering up to 60 with up to 30 blue wildebeest, and another dozen red hartebeest, and throw in two dozen waterbuck, all at the same time. This was the only place, and only at one blind, that had a trough that they would occasionally put a supplemental feed into, something they call 'lick' for the animals. The only animals that ate this lick were waterbuck and eland, the others showed it no attention. The water and salt was what brought them in to a central location.
I digress from the hunt details.
At this location, we were after a Burchell's zebra, hopefully a mature stallion to go along with my Hartmann's for a duel pedestal mount. Also, a red hartebeest, possibly a baboon, a blesbuck, and by now I had entertained the idea of taking either a kudu bull or an old mature waterbuck bull. I was leaving my options open for what presented itself.
We had a beautiful young Burchells stallion come in around mid-day early in the hunt and I opted to pass on taking him, something I told Pieter I would probably regret later. I was able to harvest an old, mature Red Hartebeest and an hour later had a Blesbuck at twenty yards broadside. Just as I released, he turned, arrow passed right by him. Great video of a clean miss, oh well, it happens. The young stallion returned another day, again mid-day, and this time I did not hesitate and he was in the salt as they say there. Due to his size, we opted to go with a rug and would hold out for a mature stallion. I was about to come to full draw on an old, broken horn waterbuck when that zebra stepped out and that was my last opportunity on a waterbuck. That's okay, the zebra was a higher priority and I have no regrets.
We were hunting out of pop up blinds at this property and while the animals pretty much ignored the blinds, the baboons weren't having any part of them. Eyes of an eagle they have and my hunt ended without me harvesting one. Again, no regrets in that regard. Also, I had thought it would be a simple task to shoot a jackal, or two, while there but we only saw one, on the last day, and there were too many animals out at the time and it never came close. I had hoped to harvest a second Burchell's, a mature stallion, for that pedestal mount and we did see many of them. But the other animals seemed to keep the zebra run off from the water. The zebra would come in after the other animals had gathered, but by then, we'd have over fifty animals milling around and the blue wildebeest, which I grew to hate, would drop their horns and charge the zebra, driving them back into the brush and out of range. Very frustrating.
Here are some pictures from this location.

 

[CAustin]

Good looking trophies sir!

 

[gillettehunter]

Some nice trophies and a great hunt with good memories I'm sure. Thanks for sharing and congrats.
Bruce

 

[Dee S]

Thanks everyone, it was a great trip, and I have to thank everyone on this website for their support, advice, input, and guidance. This is a great website for those planning a trip to Africa, or elsewhere. From novice to world weary travelers, people can post here, whether to learn, share, or brag without fear of being ostracized or ridiculed by a fellow hunter and that's a blessing in and of itself.
Thanks again AH.com and it's great membership

 

[BRICKBURN]

You certainly had a good tour of the countryside.
Congratulations on your success.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Awesome adventure! WOW is that ever dry country! Not a blade of grass!

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Wow! Excellent report, trophies and trip. You did well!

 

[Buffalo1]

Great adventure, super recording of events and some fantastic trophies. Thanks for sharing Dee

 

[Lee M]

Sounds like you had a successful hunt. The bow killed mountain Zebra club doesn’t have a lot of members. Congrats!!!

 

[Bos en Dal SAFARIS]

Congratulations on a very successful first trip, and some very good trophies you hunted

 

[cls]

Congrats on a very successful safari, thanks for the report

 

[RBurg44]

Man you had a great hunt! If ya got some more pics of lodging and what not post them up! Those drone shots are kool too! Not one but 2 hartmanns with a bow! So awesome.

 

[machinistbutler]

Beautiful pictures! Glad you had a great experience. Pieter Delport is as good as it gets as far as I am concerned.

I cannot wait to return to that wonderful country!

Thanks so much for sharing.

Craig

 

[Dee S]

Pieter's home and lodges. Main lodge on the left, courtyard, with guest rooms in the back ground, just behind the pool.

 

[Dee S]

Aerial view from behind the lodge in the mountains. Spectacular views and incredible facilities. The area just below the lodge would be filled with water during a normal year of rainfall.