NAMIBIA: BOWHUNT: Namibia Bow Hunt With Eintracht Jagd Safaris July 2018

[Lee M]

This is hunt report from a trip with Pieter Delport of Eintracht Jagd Safaris. He was great to deal with and is one of the hardest working and talented owners/PH's I have met. The guy is a true hunter, stalker and tracker and enjoys the chase. The other PH's, Berger and Frikkie were also great guys. Both were fun in camp and the field, and had good hunting skills.

There were four of us on this hunt (Me, Shane (hunter101) and Billc and his son Dakota) and most of the hunting was done with stick and string. We hunted 3 different areas: the main free range area around his lodge which was over 200k acres of family and neighboring properties, a high fence 16k acre area five hours north bordering Etosha National Park, and an area 1 hour south of Windhoek that was free range/low fence and very mountainous. Each property had its uniqueness and added to the experience.

Here we go... Shane and I flew Ethiopia airlines from Wash Dulles to Windhoek (via Ethiopia). A long flight that started out with the guy sitting next to me spilling a full glass of pineapple juice on my lap. Every last ounce of that glass was on me... I was wondering what the trophy fee would be if I killed him. Ugh what a start. *Note - pack a set of clothes in your carry on . No other issues and all our gear arrived with us. I also used my United frequent flyer miles with no issue. My bow case was held at Windhoek and had to be released by the police as they thought it was a firearm, but no issues once we figured out where it was. Bill and Dakota flew SAA via Joberb and arrived an hour before us. They were missing a regular bag, but it was on the next flight so we waited about 1 hour and it arrived. The drive to the main camp was only a little over 1 hour. It was only a few hours until dark, so we unpacked, assembled and shot our bows, and had dinner.

 

[Lee M]

Day 1: We had breakfast 8ish and went out at 9 am. Shane and I went out on a local farm and set up near water trough's targeting pigs or whatever else needed a drink. We were about 1-2 miles apart. There was pig sign everywhere around the water. We also saw numerous pigs and Oryx on the drive in which was great and reminded us we were in Africa! We set up a pop up blind 27 yards away from the trough I was hunting, but with the wind swirling decided to move it closer to get a shot at one of the trails coming in from the right. Two groups of pigs totaling 10 in all came in, but they all stopped when they hit the glass wall that carried our scent downwind of us. We then had a jackal come in suddenly upwind at 10 yards to check out the water, but we didn't see him until he was on us. He didnt smell us but knew something wasn't right and started trotting away as I grabbed the bow. He passed a rock I had ranged at 22 yards as I drew back. As this happened so quickly I did not turn on my light on the single pin and there are no fiber optics on this trueglo sight. So I was looking through the sight window with no clear aiming point. I centered the jackal in the center and noticed I could just make out "unlit" circle/dot and let one rip as he continued walking away. The shot looked good with a thump heard, but it may have been a little low (I had the dial set at 22 yards and he was likely closer to 30). He ran a little over 100 yards and plopped over. Pieter gave me the fist pump and said, "first animal down". The shot turned out being about 2 inches from the bottom just behind the front leg of the animal. It was quartering away and smashed the heart. There was blood from the hit point until the spot where he lay. So much blood that I can't imagine there was any left in his body. About an hour later some pigs were coming in and stopped and sniffed the dead jackal. They also got our scent when they got to 40 yards and took off. Pieter decided to go get the jackal so any incoming pigs didn't bother him. Over at the other blind, Shane saw a few pigs but nothing big enough to shoot. We then returned to the lodge for lunch.

Around 2 pm we returned to the same spots. We moved my blind back to the original spot (farther away and downwind) so it was now 27 yards from the water. I had a few small/medium pigs come in but the wind was giving us issues. A big pig then snuck in from the left/upwind side and was at the trough before we saw him. I didn't have a window open on that side of the blind and while trying to open it he heard us and moved to the opposite side of the water trough. I had no shot. He drank and left quickly. Then an hour before dark some Oryx started moving in. First, a single worn down bull who stood there for 15 minutes motionless before deciding to bed down 50 yards away for 30 mins. He finally got up and was moving in when he stopped and walked back to where he started. Five cows and a young bull then joined him and they quickly came in to the salt lick that I ranged at 27 yards. This was exactly what I was hoping for and I thought it was a slam dunk. I pulled back and let one rip only to hear a big slap, feel my bow jerk back and then see my lighted knock hit the dirt 7 feet to the left and at a few feet in front of the animal in my sights. So what happened... I had just put on a second jacket and zipped it up to the top of my neck. The bow string/D-loop hooked on the zipper and screwed up the shot. My jacket pulled forward and the bow pulled back causing a very, very clean miss. No need to check for blood except maybe a worm below the surface. LOL. Lesson #2 -> Practice shooting in all the clothes you may be wearing!. It was only day one, so no need to shoot everything anyway . We packed up our gear and went to get Shane and head back to the lodge. When we pulled up at Shane's location a few pigs ran off from the water. Shane had numerous come in, but only 1 good shooter. This pig never gave a good shot, so Shane followed him and snuck up to approx. 20 yards. He was walking away slowly and gave a good duck and wiggle at Shane's shot, avoiding the arrow. It was still a fun opportunity. At another location nearly, Dakota had a few good spot and stalks and let an arrow fly at a pig at around 40 yards, but the arrow flew just left of the pig. We were all fighting a pretty strong and swirling wind. We all gathered back at the lodge and had a good fire, and few drinks and dinner. Pieter's wife and kids were there as well as a few teenage friends for a bday party. It was fun having them around as I have teenage boys and they make life interesting. They are a great family and we had a lot of laughs. Day 1 was in the books!

 

[Lee M]

Day 2
I went with my PH to a waterhole on a neighboring property about 10 mins down the highway, but a few miles back into the bush. We went through about 5 cattle gates on the property and all of them had a different mechanism to lock the gate. So this was now named the "gate farm". It wouldn't hold that name for long and ended up changing names 2 more times over the course of the hunt as I will explain. The waterhole was "powered" by a windmill a few hundred yards away that pumped in the water. It was not operating, so we unhooked the chain that was stopping the windmill from turning. It started to spin and when we got down the dry waterhole a few hundred yard below, the water starting to flow. I wondered if the animals would come in as it wasn't running for at least a few days? Well before we set up and climbed into the portable tree stand a big warthog tried to come in. We climbed up about 10 feet and the stand was solidly secured in the tree. PH simply climbed 5 feet higher and sat on a horizontal branch. He brought a pad, but still this couldn't have been to comfortable for the long sit. Pieter is a tough guy and does what it takes, LOL. The wind was blowing hard and swirling around, so we were not sure what would happen. To sum it up, it ended up being a crazy good day, although I did not get off a good shot. Over the course of 6-7 hours we had over 1oo pigs come in to the water. No exaggeration. Most of them stopped short due to the bad wind. While there may have been a few repeats and there were plenty of sows and small ones, it was still an incredible number to see and kept the action going all day. The wind let us down every single time. Those that came in to shooting distance were behind the branches of the tree and I couldn't get off a shot. Even when they came in from a different angle, the swirling current seemed to be their friend. We also had 40+ baboons come in as a group to around 75 yards and stop. We had to get down and scare them off. Three Oryx came in as well and if the one good bull (estimated at 36" and very thick) would have taken 2 more steps I would have had a 15 yard shot. But he too was behind the branches of the tree and when he hit the wind, took off. A big but one horned impala gave me numerous good shots, but I wasn't interested. I did get one shot off at a pig as he was bolting, but did not connect. It was a low % shot, but I needed to let one rip. We left near dark and had a plan for putting up a popup for the coming days. The blind was now renamed the "pig blind". Getting back to camp I heard that others were successful with Dakota and hunter101 both getting warthogs with their bows.

Day 3
This day was mostly getting supplies and driving 6 hours north to an area near Etosha National Park. We set up at the new camp, shot the bows, set up a popup blind and trail cameras, and I sat in one of the two permanent blinds for the last hour of light. A few Duiker and a bunch of guinea fowl visited me in the blind. We had a good dinner/fire and got ready for Day 4, which was the beginning of 4 straight days of good action... stay tuned as some arrows were released with good results.

 

[Dee S]

Ok, I'm ready for more, sounds great so far.

 

[Lee M]

Day 4
We got to the 3 blinds around 8 am and checked the trail cameras we put out. There was plenty of activity over night from 8 pm until just before sun up -> At my blind there were oryx, duiker, jackal, eland and mountain zebra. There were two big eland and one had a completely funky set of horns that went backwards and crossed each other. Also a bunch of immature eland. The mountain zebra came in a midnight and 4 am, so we were going to have to get lucky and have them come in much early to have some success. Over at the other blind which was 3/4 mile away there were many of the same kinds of animals and also some waterbuck. The two big eland also were on that camera, easily identified by the funky rack so they were moving around looking for water.

I sat all day with an hour break for lunch around 2 pm. Around noon I had a pretty nice male oryx come in from 500 yards away only to disappear in the bush and then reappear numerous times at 60-80 yards at multiple spots around my blind. I named him the ghost oryx. He had a nice V shape and was mature but not real old. My PH estimated 36". I wanted to thump him! lol I also had a group of 12 young eland come in to drink and mill about 25 yards outside my blind. There were 50 -100 guinea fowl around the blind most of the day as well as a host of many other birds. The last hour of light 6 or so duiker and 2 steenbuck came in. In the evening a waterbuck appeared at 550 yards but didn't really start moving in until just before dark. He was still 400 yards out when we left. It was a good day although no shots were fired.

My fellow hunters had some good action with hunter101 getting a 37" female oryx and Dakota setting the bar high getting a duiker and an big bull eland. He and dad were hunting in a pop up blind about 2 miles from my blind at another waterhole. He shot the eland just before dark and the shot looked good, full pass through with plenty of blood. The lighted knock made is easy to see the shot clearly. They were the last to be picked up, so we were all there to help track. We only had to go about 100 yards or so to find the eland as it was a nice double lung shot. It was the funky eland! Capwell's love the freaks, so this was perfect and will join some other nontraditional racks hanging on their walls. I is amazing how that eland travelled a few miles since last night and had hit all three of the waterholes. Another unique sight that Bill and Dakota saw was a mongoose that would hide by the water and jump up and grab doves that came in to drink. He was a true acrobat and managed to nab a few birds every night.

 

[BRICKBURN]

That's a weird one alright.

 

[Lee M]

Day 5
We all went back to the same blinds around 8 am today as there was plenty of game coming in yesterday. The trail cameras were again filled with the same species of animals, with the mountain zebra arriving a little earlier - 10 pm. Guinea's, duikers, and steenbok milled around in the morning and at around 11 am the "ghost" oryx appeared and began playing his games. He was within 150 yards of the blind for over an hour and a one point looked like he was going to cross at near 30 yards, only to move out to 70 when he crossed over between my shooting windows... Ugh. He ended up moving off again with no shot. Then at 1 pm two younger oryx came in and worked their way to the water. The one was a male with a bent back horn. We needed some camp meat and were given a good cull price, so I decided I needed to test out the bow. When he crossed my window at 25 yards I let one rip. It hit just below mid body up the back of the leg and looked good. They both ran off but made it to the bush about 120 yards away. The video camera confirmed a good shot. We decided to wait 30 mins and while we were waiting, the second oryx came back out and went to drink. We were both surprised and laughed - I guess he was thirsty and didn't miss his friend. After he finished drinking we went to find the oryx. He was dead 75 yards into the bush. We were surprised he made it that far with the double lung shot. We called for a truck and had him taken back be skinned. We got back into the blind to wait out the day. The waterbuck again appeared 500+ yards away but started moving in earlier. There were also about a dozen duiker that were running around, one real nice one, although I was not interested. It was now 15-20 mins before dark and the waterbuck was at about 200 yards. Would he get close enough? 15 mins later and he was still at 150. It was now gray outside and inside the brick blind even darker. Almost time to call it a day. I started to quietly get things together and put them in my backpack. Suddenly, I heard the clacking of hoofs of numerous animals coming up from behind the blind. It was without a doubt zebra. They sensed something was wrong and one came around the other side of the blind which was the downwind side. He made the "bay" noise stopped in his tracks and ran back around to the other side before I could draw back. Meanwhile the other had moved forward so I could now see them in the gray light. I estimated 45-50 yards based on a few closer rocks I had ranged. They were shifting around nervously and 2 moved forward enough that I thought I could get a shot out the window. I had the single pin set at 30 and drew back. The issue was that I couldn't 100% tell if i was looking thru the peep or not. Fortunately, I have a kisser button and had practiced in twilight at home. A few nights earlier I took a shot a camp well after dark at a target to show the PH's what the strobe lighted knock looks like. So, I was confident that with my kisser buried in the corner of my mouth I was good. I waited until the zebra moved enough to get a few feet of separation. They were slightly quartering to me and I guessed 33-35 yards. I steadied best I could and squeezed the release. The arrow and strobe knock were flying in what seemed like slow motion with that slight arc that gives us archers goose bumps. The arrow hit with a thud and the strobe disappeared. It was clearly a hit. But at my release the group of 6-7 all started turning to face me, either hearing some noise or maybe they could see the lighted single pin dot? So, I was concerned where the impact was. The Zebra moved back, were confused and moving in a few different directions. After a few mins one moved left in front of the blind and one to the right. They were just silhouettes at this point as all traces of daylight were gone. We waited 15 mins and called for some addition tracking help. When others arrived, we went out to the spot and found blood. We tracked it back to the bush around 150 yards and it seemed to change direction a few times. We thought we heard the group of zebras a few hundred yards in. We decided to wait and come back in the morning. It was going to be a long night for me... When we called in to see if anyone else needed to be picked up we learned that hunter101 had a similar situation with a waterbuck and would be joining me having a sleepless night. Back at camp Dakota was smiling as he had taken another pig and missed a red hartebeest.

I'll cut to the chase and let you know that in the morning we found my zebra 60 yards from where we had stopped and hunter 101's waterbuck was about 25 yards from where they stopped the previous night. No toothy critters had touched my zebra as well! When my arrow hit the angle was more than 45 degrees quartering to me. My arrow had hit the back of one lung and travelled through the full zebra (about 4.5 feet) and came out the middle/back of the opposite side of the hind quarter (middle of the butt.) The broadhead was sticking out 6 inches with 23 inches of the arrow inside the body. This explains why the knock disappeared, it was in the middle of the zebra. I can’t say enough about the VPA 3 blade broadheads performance. I will post a picture of this broadhead tomorrow. The hit of the piece of one lung would probably not have been enough, but with the good penetration there was likely other organs and arteries that were hit. I ranged the blind at 220 yards from the spot where we found the zebra.

 

[Lee M]

Day 6
The morning started with us tracking the Zebra and Waterbuck and as already updated above we found both within a few mins close to where we stopped looking the previous night. After taking pictures we drove the animals to the skinning shed, chilled out back at camp and had lunch. We headed back out around 1 pm and got into the blinds. My blind was once again flooded with guinea fowl when we arrived, well over 50 spread out around the clearing. They flew off and then started to wander back in over the course of the afternoon. A few duiker and steenbok came through and then the "ghost Oryx" poked his nose out of the bush. He appeared, left, and reappeared in different locations for the next 1-2 hours. Around 5 pm he came out around 200 yards to the right and stood there motionless watching the waterhole for 30 mins. Then another Oryx, a female, came out of the bush between him and the water and began walking in. This completely changed the situation and the male Oryx began to come in. He walked up to her and they both slowly moved in. Their path would put them crossing just behind a small tree that I ranged at 31 yards. They disappeared from my view when they passed the opening in the blind and I switched to the front window waiting for their arrival. The female crossed closer in, a perfect 25 yards, but the male was absent. Peeking out the right window, he stopped short at 50 or so yards. The female continued to the water and then a few guinea erupted for no reason and she bolted back to the right and the two oryx ran off to about 100 yards. Things calmed down and the birds and the two Oryx again moved back in. This time both Oryx came by just past the tree at an estimated 33 yards. I drew and had to waited about 10 sec for the make/female to separate (of course she was blocking him when directly in front of me). I squeezed the release and the arrow was on its way. The hit was a little low and back but fully penetrated and I could see the arrow come out the other side when the Oryx turned to run off. We found blood at the shot site as well as a little in his tracks and followed for about 100 yards. Due to the hit location and the time (30 mins until dark) we decided to not follow and wait until morning. ugh... another long night.

Over at the middle blind hunter101 saw a few oryx, another few waterbuck, some red hartebeest, a pig and two jackal. Reds were on his list but the nice male stayed out of range. The jackal picked the wrong blind to visit as he managed to arrow both. The first one was a perfect shoulder shot and went 20 yards. The second jackal came in went over and sniffed the dead one and before he could decide what to do the second arrow was on its way. The jackal turned to run and the arrow ended up giving him a Texas heart shot. He didn't run far and you could pick him up like he was being put on a rotisserie.

In the morning we started tracking the ghost oryx and fortunately the blood trail became heavy and steady. We found him, untouched by any toothy critter. The thing I like about him was his V shaped horns, but even more was the number of times we saw him and patience and luck it took to finally get him. Without the female coming in he likely would not have given me a shot.

Adding a picture below of the second pig shot by Dakota the previous day (Day 5).

 

[Ridgewalker]

What a grand hunt! This is exciting to read!
I use to hunt with a recurve which I took 7 deer and finally a compound which I took a 5 point elk with. I severed all 4 tendons in my right rotator years ago in a mountain bike endo. I haven’t bothered to try and draw a bow since, but you have me thinking I should! Exciting hunt with lots of animals coming in! Sounds like some great places to hunt!

 

[cpr0312]

Cool eland and gemsbok! Congrats on all the trophies and thanks for sharing!

 

[machinistbutler]

Nice trophies! What a thrill to get a mountain zebra with a bow!

I hunted with Pieter Delport in March and that man did everything he could to help me take great trophies. He worked so hard and I am so thankful to have hunted with him.

Looks like your hunt was as memorable. Thanks for sharing the hunt so far!

 

[Lee M]

Day 7
Took a hike in the morning and found my Oryx. Pieter, Berger and the trackers are the real deal. Although the blood trail was good there were times when it stopped (or at least was not visible) for 20-30 yards and they didn't miss a beat. Not sure how they do it. I can't really look at a single track when there are hundreds of similar tracks around and determine which is the one to follow. After getting the Oryx we took some pics and carried to the nearest grassy road/trail. It was a good thing we had a few bodies to help wit this! LOL We loaded it up in the truck and it was taken to camp. I went to the middle blind for a change of pace. Sat with PH and hunter101. We had some Oryx come in but since we had both taken at least one already we let them drink and move on.

In the evening Hunter101 went back to the middle blind and Dakota went to the far blind where I took the mountain zebra. I hunted a small watertrough that was only about 150 yards away from camp. A large warthog was seen the previous day coming in for a drink, so I figured let's give it a try. Also, this was only about 150 yards away from the border/boundary of Etosha Park and when sitting with a bow I enjoy seeing different set ups. There was a platform up in a tree and you could actually see the fence boundary of the park and there were obvious signs of animals going under the fence. (pic attached with view through the branches.) It was not uncommon for lions, hyena's etc. to cross into this 16,000 acre farm and numerous were taken in previous years that had crossed into this farm. There were no recent signs of lions that I was aware of, but it still made you think about it.. LOL Plus there were a few stray goats walking around the camp area, so I figured they were easier prey.

I had 8 pigs come in, all from under the fence. All were females and some had young piglets. They all struggled to get up high enough to be able to get a drink. I think the water level was normally higher. The day ended with no shots for me, but was still a lot of fun. In the middle brick blind hunter101 had another action packed evening and killed a red hartebeest and a warthog, both one shot kills (Sorry I can't find pics,) and Dakota got a nice duiker and two guinea fowl.

Day 8 was a long drive back to the main base camp. We took our time in the morning packing, etc. as we weren't concerned about getting back in time to hunt. On the way home we had some issues when one of the trucks transmission went out, but we simply shifted around some gear, towed it to dealer, changed some passengers around and were on our way. This is Africe - You make adjustment, adapt and move on! We stopped in Windhoek for a nice dinner and met up with Pieter's family. As I mentioned earlier they are fun to be around.

Four more hunting days and lots of action ahead!

 

[Dee S]

Great story. Still in awe of the Mt Zebra and that's a really nice Oryx bull...

 

[Nyati]

Congrats, that was a great hunt !

That eland is amazing.

 

[Lee M]

Thought I would put a picture of the broadhead I used on here as the performance of the VPA 150 grain 3 blade was outstanding. It is a solid chunk of steel so there is little chance any breakage and nothing is removable/replaceable. It can also be easily resharpened and I did this every few days by using a very fine 300/600 grit diamond file. A ceramic rod can also be used. Plenty of videos on youtube. And it is a true cut on contact tip with a longer profile. As I mentioned earlier it penetrated 2/3 the length of a zebra which is more than I could have asked.

Here are also a few pics of the main camp owned by Pieter Delport. We each had a room with two beds, tiled bathroom/shower. There was a small pool, fire pit area, outside covered patio with table, and a main lodge for meals that had two tables as well as a lounge area with couches, fireplace and a tv. A good set up.

More info on the hunt shortly. Still lots of action ahead.

 

[Lee M]

Day 9
Today we were back at main lodge. I went back to the "gate" or "pig" farm trying to focus on getting one of the many warthogs I had seen there previously. We got there in the morning and set up a popup blind 40 yards below the water trough. The water was not in the trough but ran downhill and formed a small muddy pond and that is where we set up the pop up blind. The blind was 20 yards to the close side and 30 yards across. There were two big cows, bulls that had to weigh over a ton, that were coming in and out and were likely keeping some animals from coming in. The wind was better than the last time we were at this spot but still swirling a little. We sat for about 3 hours and had about 10 pigs come in. In the early afternoon an oryx came in but bolted as soon as he came out from the bushes and saw/smelled our blind. We think we needed a few more branches to blend in the blind. We got out and put up some more natural camo. About an hour later more pigs started coming in consistently, but they are going up to the trough. A group of smaller ones came in and helped decoy in a large old male that was clearly battle tested. He had one broken off tusk and one tusk that was rounded off but very thick. He was about to leave from the trough when he spotted the group of small ones and came in for a look. He moved around to the close side of the blind for a drink and I was able to slip in an arrow into the crease behind his leg. The shot was angling forward and 1/3 up from the bottom. He grunted and bolted but only managed to go about 60 yards before piling up. I'll try to post the video (.MOV file) if I can get this site to take it. It was taken with the PH's phone. Meanwhile on another nearby ranch, hunter101 also took a nice pig. He had to get out of the blind and stalk it as it didn't want to come in to water, but that made it even more fun. There was also a nice waterbuck coming in, but he had already taken one a few days earlier. Billc also was successful shooting a cull one horn oryx with his bow from an elevated blind.

 

[Lee M]

I tried to upload the .mov file of the warthog shot video but it says the extension is not allowed. Anyone know if these can be uploaded or converted to another format that will work? thx

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

You may not upload a video directly to a post however you may embed media from the following sites: Dailymotion, Facebook, Liveleak, Metacafe, Vimeo or YouTube if posted there. Another option is to upload your video first in the Media section on AH at https://www.africahunting.com/media/ and then embed in your post here the "Share BB [GALLERY] Code:" that you will find to the right of your video in the Media section. Let me know via PM if you need any further assistance.

 

[cpr0312]

What a cool looking pig

 

[Lee M]

Warthog

• Lee M
• Aug 29, 2018

Bow shot