NAMIBIA: Erongo Lodge 2015 Hunt Report

[Trap123]

Hope to be able to give a glowing report on my leopard hunt. This has been a dream for so many years for me. Leopard hunting being what it is i am keeping my fingers crossed!

we were checking the leopard baits periodically while I was there whenever we happened to be fairly close to one and one bait was getting hit fairly regular by what they said was a very large tom.
as a matter of fact my Taxidermist is over there hunting him right now but I haven't heard if he has had any success just yet.

 

[johnnyblues]

we were checking the leopard baits periodically while I was there whenever we happened to be fairly close to one and one bait was getting hit fairly regular by what they said was a very large tom.
as a matter of fact my Taxidermist is over there hunting him right now but I haven't heard if he has had any success just yet.

That's great. I think you were fairly close to where I will be hunting. I think you said you had a 3 hour drive from Windhoek, I ll have a 4 hour drive. Some fairly recent trail cam pics. I had them posted before.....

 

[Trap123]

That's great. I think you were fairly close to where I will be hunting. I think you said you had a 3 hour drive from Windhoek, I ll have a 4 hour drive. Some fairly recent trail cam pics. I had them posted before.....

man those pictures get my blood pumping I can't imagine what they do to you when you look at them.
who are you hunting with and just out of curiosity what are you using for a rifle?

 

[johnnyblues]

I am going to use my 300 wsm with 180 gr Nosler Partition ammo hopefully on the cat. I plan on bringing my 375 Ruger also maybe if we get lucky early I want to hunt eland,kudu,hartebees, Hartsmann zebra, and if successful on the cat I want to hunt steenbok to mount with the cat. As far as pictures i could not be more excited when I look at them. That's just a few they sent me.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Everyone goes on about shooting practice all the time.
I think we all need to add a session or two with adrenaline IV's and see if we can still shoot.
The range at home is nothing like actual hunting in Africa.
If we did not get "wound up" why would you go.

Glad you got to witness the "magic"

As bluey said: "let your fingers dance ,cob."

 

[johnnyblues]

man those pictures get my blood pumping I can't imagine what they do to you when you look at them.
who are you hunting with and just out of curiosity what are you using for a rifle?

Sorry you asked who I was hunting with...Schoenfeld Safaris, there other area run by their son Okapunja safaris.

 

[Trap123]

Everyone goes on about shooting practice all the time.
I think we all need to add a session or two with adrenaline IV's and see if we can still shoot.
The range at home is nothing like actual hunting in Africa.
If we did not get "wound up" why would you go.

Glad you got to witness the "magic"

As bluey said: "let your fingers dance ,cob."

you are so right I thought I had done everything possible to prepare myself including hundreds of rounds off the sticks shooting from different positions and even running around to make myself breathe heavy and make my heart pound but there is absolutely no way that I know of to prepare for the adrenaline rush except experience you are so right I thought I had done everything possible to prepare myself including hundreds of thrones of the sticks shooting from different positions and even running around to make myself breathe heavy and make my heart pound but there is absolutely no way that I know of to prepare for the adrenaline rush except experience

 

[Trap123]

DAY 4

please forgive me if I get a bit melancholy here for a moment.
I am willing to bet that most of you here feel the same way as I do in that we place a great deal of responsibility on ourselves to the animals that we love to hunt and that we owe them as quick clean and painless a death as is humanly possible.

the fact that I was failing miserably in this responsibility even though the eventual outcome was positive was weighing on me greatly and in short I did something I have never done before in my life...........
I had given up.......................(insert dramatic pause)................ and decided on a course of action


I intended to tell Peter that we should continue to hunt as normal but I would lock up my rifle and pick up the camera instead because I did not want to continue wounding these animals and cause undue suffering but if he could get me within 50 yards for a close up photo I would still pay the trophy fee for that animal as I felt it was unfair for him to suffer financially for my inability to perform.

so the day started normally with breakfast at 7 o'clock and as my wife headed back to the bungalow to gear up for the days activities I said to Peter let's have one more cup of coffee and started the conversation like this.



I have never experienced this before and I do not know how to fix it in the short time we have so.........

he must have seen the extent to which this was bothering me and been giving it a lot of thought himself and maybe he knew what was coming so he held up his hand and stopped me.
He said to me" this is all new to you the animals are different the environment is different and our hunting style is different than what you are used to everything is foreign to you but I have been watching how you handle your rifle and I can see that it is no stranger to you......I am not worried. I know how to fix this.I believe you just need to make one good shot so go get your gear and let's go.

and with that he sent me back to the bungalow all charged up and looking for trouble

we hop into the truck and drive a ways and then hike to a koppie overlooking a waterhole a mere 60 yards distant. we tucked in behind some rocks which also provided as solid a rest as you could ever ask for. in short he had placed me in the position that if anything came in I almost could not fail.

we sat for a while watching some Oryx and Springbok in the distance and after a while 2 warthogs came in to drink. warthogs were not on my list as I understood it to be a humongous pain in the ass to import them back to the United States so I decided not to shoot( a decision I would later regret as one of them was very very nice)
after a while we catch a glimpse of movement in the bush and spot a solitary Oryx bull slowly heading in our direction.And he was a good one!

now after close study of anatomy and shot placement charts it seemed to me that the Oryx had the smallest margin of error of anything I was hunting due to the relatively small vital zone as compared to its body size, and after reading many hunting stories that involved oryx and also having conversations with Peter and some people at home that have hunted there before it almost seemed to me that the toughness and tenacity of this particular animal was unbelievable.

so I thought to myself if you are going to go into the bush and pick a fight you might as well pick a fight with the toughest mother f***** around.


after a few minutes he slowly begins to approach the water hole and I get on the rifle.
. through the scope looking at that animal you can just see the raw power in it.

as he approached the water hole he was quartering towards me and I didn't like the angle so I held off.
(I needed this shot to be perfect) and then he stepped behind a bush and out of view but due to the lay of the land he could only come back out the same way he went in so I stayed on the rifle and just waited.

it seemed like forever and while the excitement level was still very high I felt in complete control,and for the first time in a few days I felt completely confident.

after what seems like an eternity he took 2 steps from out behind of the bush and stopped completely broad side.
I let out half a breath,steadied the crosshairs and squeezed the trigger.

At the shot he held his front leg up and started turning it around in circles bucking and I knew it was a solid shot.
he then limped just out of sight behind some bushes and a moment later we heard him fall.
in reality it was all over in just a few seconds and just like that.......I'M BACK IN THE GAME!!!

 

[johnnyblues]

Fabulous! I applaud what you "were' going to do. Solely on your integrity. It shows character and respect for the great beasts we hunt. I m also happy your PH saw your pain and never gave up on you. I too have limited experience shooting off sticks and as a friend told me, don't waste too much ammo practicing off sticks because when the time comes to shoot off sticks in Africa you will need to get your head right....Experience he said you have. Your nerves are now settled and your confidence renewed .

 

[dory]

DAY 4

please forgive me if I get a bit melancholy here for a moment.
I am willing to bet that most of you here feel the same way as I do in that we place a great deal of responsibility on ourselves to the animals that we love to hunt and that we owe them as quick clean and painless a death as is humanly possible.

the fact that I was failing miserably in this responsibility even though the eventual outcome was positive was weighing on me greatly and in short I did something I have never done before in my life...........
I had given up.......................(insert dramatic pause)................ and decided on a course of action


I intended to tell Peter that we should continue to hunt as normal but I would lock up my rifle and pick up the camera instead because I did not want to continue wounding these animals and cause undue suffering but if he could get me within 50 yards for a close up photo I would still pay the trophy fee for that animal as I felt it was unfair for him to suffer financially for my inability to perform.

so the day started normally with breakfast at 7 o'clock and as my wife headed back to the bungalow to gear up for the days activities I said to Peter let's have one more cup of coffee and started the conversation like this.



I have never experienced this before and I do not know how to fix it in the short time we have so.........

he must have seen the extent to which this was bothering me and been giving it a lot of thought himself and maybe he knew what was coming so he held up his hand and stopped me.
He said to me" this is all new to you the animals are different the environment is different and our hunting style is different than what you are used to everything is foreign to you but I have been watching how you handle your rifle and I can see that it is no stranger to you......I am not worried. I know how to fix this.I believe you just need to make one good shot so go get your gear and let's go.

and with that he sent me back to the bungalow all charged up and looking for trouble

we hop into the truck and drive a ways and then hike to a koppie overlooking a waterhole a mere 60 yards distant. we tucked in behind some rocks which also provided as solid a rest as you could ever ask for. in short he had placed me in the position that if anything came in I almost could not fail.

we sat for a while watching some Oryx and Springbok in the distance and after a while 2 warthogs came in to drink. warthogs were not on my list as I understood it to be a humongous pain in the ass to import them back to the United States so I decided not to shoot( a decision I would later regret as one of them was very very nice)
after a while we catch a glimpse of movement in the bush and spot a solitary Oryx bull slowly heading in our direction.And he was a good one!

now after close study of anatomy and shot placement charts it seemed to me that the Oryx had the smallest margin of error of anything I was hunting due to the relatively small vital zone as compared to its body size, and after reading many hunting stories that involved oryx and also having conversations with Peter and some people at home that have hunted there before it almost seemed to me that the toughness and tenacity of this particular animal was unbelievable.

so I thought to myself if you are going to go into the bush and pick a fight you might as well pick a fight with the toughest mother f***** around.


after a few minutes he slowly begins to approach the water hole and I get on the rifle.
. through the scope looking at that animal you can just see the raw power in it.

as he approached the water hole he was quartering towards me and I didn't like the angle so I held off.
(I needed this shot to be perfect) and then he stepped behind a bush and out of view but due to the lay of the land he could only come back out the same way he went in so I stayed on the rifle and just waited.

it seemed like forever and while the excitement level was still very high I felt in complete control,and for the first time in a few days I felt completely confident.

after what seems like an eternity he took 2 steps from out behind of the bush and stopped completely broad side.
I let out half a breath,steadied the crosshairs and squeezed the trigger.

At the shot he held his front leg up and started turning it around in circles bucking and I knew it was a solid shot.
he then limped just out of sight behind some bushes and a moment later we heard him fall.
in reality it was all over in just a few seconds and just like that.......I'M BACK IN THE GAME!!!

Good to see you back in action .
You had me worried for a minute , imagine if you had hung your rife up .
You would have nightmares for the rest of your life !
Nice oryx and great shot .
All the game you line up on are now in deep shit !

 

[bluey]

game on ,,,,,,,,,

 

[gillettehunter]

Good job getting it all together. Just wouldn't be hunting if you didn't get excited. Nice trophies. Congrats

 

[Riksa]

Thanks for the brutally honest report. It's easy to write only the good (and not he bad), but this gives everyone a more realistic picture of a hunt. I'll bet that almost everyone is familiar with the events and feelings you describe in your post, but there are few that are willing to admit them and even less willing to do it publicly. Great report and hope you will have a blast from now on! This is hunting...

 

[Trap123]

That's great. I think you were fairly close to where I will be hunting. I think you said you had a 3 hour drive from Windhoek, I ll have a 4 hour drive. Some fairly recent trail cam pics. I had them posted before.....

it looks as if you will only be about 50 miles north of where I was I'm pretty sure we drove through that area on our way to Etosha National Park.Its some beautful

 

[Trap123]

DAY 5

the day began as usual with a breakfast at 7 and a little more light hearted conversation over coffee before we headed off

Andreas was to act as our pH again today because we were planning to give the wife a break from hunting and spend the next few days touring Etosha National Park and Peter still had to finish up his paperwork


we were on the hunt for kudu and klipspringer. these two animals were at the very top of my list and we've been looking for them every day with no luck and now that everything else on my list was in the salt it was time to concentrate on them.

we spent a couple of hours driving around glassing the mountain sides with no luck so we decided to go sit at a water hole for an hour or so to see if a kudu bull might be thirsty.

after about an hour with nothing moving we decided to move on and slowly make our way back to the lodge for lunch.

the next mountain side we glass Andreas spotted a lone male klipspringer, it took me a few minutes to find him and I finally had my first look at one, and what an odd and unique little animal they are, now I really really wanted one.
we drove on out of sight and parked the truck and tried to sneak back and get into position for a shot which is not easy as the base of the mountains are choked with acacia bushes.
we finally find an opening and up goes the sticks but just as I peered through the scope off he goes flying up the side of the mountain and out of my life forever.

back to the truck and on to the next mountain we stopped and glass again and holy cow the side of that mountain seems to be crawling with klipspringers and the best part is they haven't seen us yet.
so we slipped out of the truck and maneuvered to a break in the bush that gave us a clear line of sight and they still haven't seen us.
i range them at a hundred and sixty five yards and really wanted to get closer especially remembering my earlier problems but after some consideration there was really no way to close the distance undetected so I decided to have faith in my renewed confidence and preparation and give it a shot.

so up go the sticks Andreas is watching one particular male with the binoculars and says he is ready so I study the crosshairs and squeeze the trigger.
and the klipspringer hops behind a bush.
my wife was standing off my left shoulder and says she saw it drop behind the bush but Andreas standing on my right shoulder didn't see that and says he's not sure if I hit him or not. at the recoil I lost the sight picture and the shot felt pretty good but even still I couldn't be positive but what we all saw was a male klipspringer shoot from behind the bush up the side of the mountain another 40 yards or so.
after some discussion my wife seemed sure she saw it fall and Andreas thought maybe i missed but still wasnt sure so after a couple of minutes we decided to take a shot on this klipspringer that shot up the side of the mountain. I figured a man could do worse than have two klipspringers in his collection.
so back on the sticks I go and study the crosshairs on this one and pull the trigger
there was no doubt on that shot as that crazy little animal fell right there.
my wife and I stayed at the bottom of the mountain while Andreas climbed up to recover the animal and we were to direct him with hand signals to the spot if he needed.
well he really didn't need it and within 10 minutes he walked right up to the downed animal and picked it up and started carrying it back down the mountain,
after walking about 50 yards back down the mountain he stopped and put his hands on his hips and right away I knew what was going on. yep you guessed it there are two.should have trusted the wifes eyes I guess.......they would later prove to be very valueable
sorry I have no pictures of them because by the time we got them back down it was very hot and Andreas seemed very concerned about the hair slipping in the Sun so we made a mad dash back to the lodge to get them in the shade.

one of them I think was pretty average but a nice trophy and the other one was huge but only had one horn.

I came out of that morning thinking man a guy could really get addicted to hunting these things.



the afternoon was spent pretty much just driving around leisurely glassing the side of mountains looking for kudu and then we dropped into a hidden Valley that I haven't seen yet that was a very very thick and came across some very nice specimens of Damara Dik Dik.......maybe next time.

we had no kudu sightings all afternoon and made our way back to the lodge for dinner and to pack for our next couple of days at Etosha National Park

 

[johnnyblues]

Congrats on the klipspringer. Wish you had a photo. Expensive little trophy I must say.

 

[Trap123]

DAYS 6-9
Etosha National Park

Just some random pictures from the park

 

[Arctic97]

I have hunted up a Peter's a couple of times. Beautiful area. Andreas has since passed away, from cancer I believe. He drove my six month pregnant daughter and I around in that "anti-Christ" of a Land Rover hitting every rock possible. Great memories.

 

[JES Adventures]

@Trap 123, thanks for sharing your experiences, I was in the same boat recently. You hunt for years, practice and know your weapon then when you get there, "the wheels fall off"!

I appreicate your honesty and integrity, its tough for a lot of folks to admit they're not perfect - especially on a public forum such as this.

My hats off to you, you are a true Sportsman.

 

[Trap123]

I have hunted up a Peter's a couple of times. Beautiful area. Andreas has since passed away, from cancer I believe. He drove my six month pregnant daughter and I around in that "anti-Christ" of a Land Rover hitting every rock possible. Great memories.

Sorry to hear Andreas has passed. I think he was starting to get sick while we were there.As far as the Land Rover.....I'm not sure if he was driving it or it was driving him.