gillie
AH senior member
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2009
- Messages
- 85
- Reaction score
- 111
- Location
- South Africa
- Media
- 35
- Hunted
- South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe
It was another “dry” afternoon. Apart from a francolin family that consisted of mom, dad and 3 young ones, nothing came in to drink. Was it to be another blank day?
Day five of five in the Erongo Mountains of Namibia. Already in the salt was a mountain zebra, springbuck, gemsbok and Damara Dik Dik, all taken on day 2 and 4 between my friend, Christo and I. I gave myself another hour before I would pack up and take the Landy back to camp. Tomorrow we will head back to South Africa and a return to the daily grind.
I read “18:03” on my watch and thought to myself that the golden hour has arrived... the last hour before dark on the last day of hunting. If something is going to happen, it needed to happen quickly as light was fading with the smog that has been filling the air the last couple of days. The first two days of hunting was stunningly clear. We arrived in Namibia in cold and clear conditions, but as the August winds and heat slowly returned, the air quality also deteriorated and decreased afternoon hunting time.
As if expecting something to be there, I turned my torso as far back as possible to the left from where I was sitting on a canvas camping chair. “Did I just imagine seeing the white mask of a gemsbok?” I blinked and true as nuts, in the dark bushes behind me, a gemsbok was standing at about 80 yards. Movement to the right of the gemsbok caught my eye and I realised that it was the warthog sow and her young that I saw at the same watering hole on day one. The warthog population took bit of a hit during the drought of 2015/2016 season and was slowly but surely on the path to recovery. These 3 little pigs were, however, on a path to my position where I was sitting under a tree with some dried out thorn bushes around me to mask some of the movement. I slowly turned forward to face the watering hole again. I could hear the pigs slowly approach my position from the rear, they turned to the right and cut some of my wind and next thing they were gone. Surely they must have taken the gemsbok with them I thought.
I slowly turned to the left again, expecting to see only empty bush. But alas, there he was. The gemsbok was unfazed and was slowly approaching the water. Ever so slowly I raised my binos to my eyes; I was sitting in a contorted position, looking at the gemsbok sideways. It was only now that I could see that it was a bull. Although it was close, with the fading light I wasn’t able to ascertain if it was a shooter or not. At least I knew it was a bull.
The bull swayed to the right, changing the direction he is ambling along to directly in my direction. “No! No! No!” I screamed at him in my mind. If he continues on this path he will either walk past within 5 yards of my position or he will follow the same path as the warthogs where he is sure to smell me. He changed direction again. He turned left and I sighed softly of relief. He was still coming closer with every step though. He now was directly over my left shoulder. I could start to turn the binos horizontally and as the binos levelled out, my heart rate jumped up. His horn bases were thick... the biggest gemsbok bull I ever had the opportunity to watch through my binos. I have hunted quite a few gemsbok for meat. I always wanted a old bull, but never got one, usually just younger bulls. Before leaving for Namibia, which we visit quite often, I told Christo I wanted a “wow” buck, I didn’t really care about the species, as long as I thought to myself “wow” when I first see it. Ok Ok, “wow” isn’t the word that I used, but you get the idea.
And this one was “wow”. As soon as I sighted the bases my heart started beating faster. I could feel my heart pounding and it almost felt like it could jump out my chest through my throat at any second. The binos went back to resting on my lap as I looked at the gemsbok with the naked eye. Damn it was close I thought to myself. It was about 15 to 20 yards from where I was sitting. It was directly between me and the water.
I closed the bolt of my CZ 375 HH Mag as the bull walked directly away from me towards the water through. The Swift A frame 300gr bullet was ready and waiting to do its job. The butt of the custom made stock was resting on my lap as I was busy fiddling with the video camera, which until now, I had to leave alone as not to attract the attention of the gemsbok as it came in. The sound of the lens cover opening did not concern the gemsbok, I found him on the screen as he was approaching the water. He “disappeared” behind a small bush but I could still see the tail as at “swish swished” away the flies. I set up the camera and the rifle pointing to a position to the right of the bull, expecting it to take a couple of steps to the right after drinking.
The bull had other ideas. He bolted away from the water without warning. Something startled him and he was heading back the same way he came to the bush where he magically appeared from in a hurry. I had to stop him. Try whistling with dry lips. A short “hey” did the trick. He stopped, looked at my position and a couple of seconds later the A frame was ripping through the air. It impacted the bulls shoulder exactly where I aimed. He was standing almost completely broadside, almost meaning I had to take a quartering shot into his chest on the front of the left shoulder. He was now running at half tilt back to the security of the thick “swarthaak”.
But something was amiss. He could not put weight on his left front hoof. He was becoming short of breath. He stopped just before crossing the dry river. The same river he crossed probably so many times before. He would not cross it again. This was taking too long. I had to put him out of his misery. I also did not want to startle him, because as anybody who hunted gemsbok before would know, they can be incredibly tough. I slowly approached and as I watched him, he went down. His head still moved. I stopped, put up the shooting sticks and delivered the coup de grace from about 80 paces away. He rolled over and died on almost the exact spot where I saw him first.
For the first time since seeing him appear from the bush, I became aware of breathing. I stood there not entirely sure if it all was a dream or not. The surrounding hills and bush were quiet. I loaded another round and approached because you never know what might happen. It would prove to be unnecessary as I unloaded and rested the rifle against a thorn tree next to the bull as there was no reaction after touching the bull’s eye.
I sent Christo a text asking for help loading. The bull was loaded at just after 20:00. While waiting in the dark for reinforcements to arrive, I could hear mountain zebra coming in for a drink, but I was in their way. It was too dark to make out anything, but I could hear their hooves on the rocks and all the different sounds they make. They scurried back to the protection of the bush as the other Landy approached through the darkness. The condition of the bull was excellent, with the “vet-derm” or the fatty colon (not sure how to describe it otherwise) being long and, well fatty!
Just three days prior, we stalked a group of about 6 or 7 zebras on the south side of one of the smaller mountains. The stalk was relatively easy compared to previous stalks I was part of. The shot was taken from 175 yards with the same rifle described earlier. The A-frame whistled through the zebra. The shot was behind the shoulder through two ribs. The sound of rocks tumbling and branches breaking gave us the idea that the zebra was down. We, however, decided not to take any chances and I stayed on the shooting sticks after reloading, as Moses was sent up the mountain to check on the status of the zebra. If he bolted, the zebra and not Moses, I would be ready to put another round into him. This too, was to be unnecessary as the first shot took out both lungs of the zebra. Peter went back to fetch the truck and I scurried up the mountain to look at my first mountain zebra since 2009, hunted in the Khommas Hochland.
Part of the motivation behind going through the trouble of travelling with a rifle, was the promise of running into a Damara Dik-Dik (DDD). As some of you would know, the DDD is only found in the north-western parts of Namibia. We didn’t really hunt for them, we decided we would stop and look at a ram if we bumped him while looking for something bigger. On the first day I made a stalk on 3 of them, but the ram eluded me and I only saw the ewe and her young. Fast forward to day 4, the day after Peter and Christo saw a “very good “ DDD ram. We, Peter and I, would go look for it, seeing that the ice has broken with my zebra and a fine Springbok ram taken by Christo. We didn’t find the nice ram, but while waiting for Peter at one of the watering holes, I sat down in the shade on a rock, adjusted the shooting sticks for “just in case”. I called Moses over where he was sitting in the sun to come and sit in the shade. I was still busy with the sticks when movement in the distance caught my eye. I knew almost immediately it was a DDD. The sticks where in position and I wanted to confirm male or female first.
Up came the binos... female... the male has to be close. We sat on an earth dam wall. There was still ample water, but a big part was dry already. The female was grazing on the far side, close to the edge of the dam and the higher grass. I couldn’t find the male. All of a sudden, from a big “wag-‘n-bietjie” bush 20 yards from our position, came another DDD running, straight towards the female. He didn’t stop to listen to Moses whistling, probably didn’t like the tune. He stopped and smelt at her, the hair on his head standing upright. I could see he is a good one. Next thing was getting the rifle ready. I loaded a solid as he started jogging back to the bush he appeared from the first time. He stopped and looked around not far away from his female. The 350 gr solid hit him in front of the chest and he made a few jumps before expiring. The moment was almost surreal as we walked over. We just arrived at the spot where he was lying, when another female bolted from the bush where he appeared from originally. Seems like the ram was quite popular with the ladies and had 2 females that he tended to.
We had a very enjoyable 5 days with Peter from Erongo Lodge. Everything ran smoothly and there was a lot of game. List of animals seen:
Springbok
Gemsbok
Koedoe
DDD
Mountain Zebra
Bat-eared fox
Black faced impalas
Aardvark
Giraffe
Steenbok
We were only the second group of South Africans trophy hunting on Erongo Lodge. Yes, the exchange rate makes it quite difficult, but the prices were still quite competitive. We saw a couple of overseas hunters on the plane to Windhoek and back, just wondering if some of them are on AH.
So here’s to a very unique area in a beautiful country which we will continue to hunt ad visit. Highlight of the trip will be a toss-up between the gemsbok and DDD. Lowlight... having to leave.
Day five of five in the Erongo Mountains of Namibia. Already in the salt was a mountain zebra, springbuck, gemsbok and Damara Dik Dik, all taken on day 2 and 4 between my friend, Christo and I. I gave myself another hour before I would pack up and take the Landy back to camp. Tomorrow we will head back to South Africa and a return to the daily grind.
I read “18:03” on my watch and thought to myself that the golden hour has arrived... the last hour before dark on the last day of hunting. If something is going to happen, it needed to happen quickly as light was fading with the smog that has been filling the air the last couple of days. The first two days of hunting was stunningly clear. We arrived in Namibia in cold and clear conditions, but as the August winds and heat slowly returned, the air quality also deteriorated and decreased afternoon hunting time.
As if expecting something to be there, I turned my torso as far back as possible to the left from where I was sitting on a canvas camping chair. “Did I just imagine seeing the white mask of a gemsbok?” I blinked and true as nuts, in the dark bushes behind me, a gemsbok was standing at about 80 yards. Movement to the right of the gemsbok caught my eye and I realised that it was the warthog sow and her young that I saw at the same watering hole on day one. The warthog population took bit of a hit during the drought of 2015/2016 season and was slowly but surely on the path to recovery. These 3 little pigs were, however, on a path to my position where I was sitting under a tree with some dried out thorn bushes around me to mask some of the movement. I slowly turned forward to face the watering hole again. I could hear the pigs slowly approach my position from the rear, they turned to the right and cut some of my wind and next thing they were gone. Surely they must have taken the gemsbok with them I thought.
I slowly turned to the left again, expecting to see only empty bush. But alas, there he was. The gemsbok was unfazed and was slowly approaching the water. Ever so slowly I raised my binos to my eyes; I was sitting in a contorted position, looking at the gemsbok sideways. It was only now that I could see that it was a bull. Although it was close, with the fading light I wasn’t able to ascertain if it was a shooter or not. At least I knew it was a bull.
The bull swayed to the right, changing the direction he is ambling along to directly in my direction. “No! No! No!” I screamed at him in my mind. If he continues on this path he will either walk past within 5 yards of my position or he will follow the same path as the warthogs where he is sure to smell me. He changed direction again. He turned left and I sighed softly of relief. He was still coming closer with every step though. He now was directly over my left shoulder. I could start to turn the binos horizontally and as the binos levelled out, my heart rate jumped up. His horn bases were thick... the biggest gemsbok bull I ever had the opportunity to watch through my binos. I have hunted quite a few gemsbok for meat. I always wanted a old bull, but never got one, usually just younger bulls. Before leaving for Namibia, which we visit quite often, I told Christo I wanted a “wow” buck, I didn’t really care about the species, as long as I thought to myself “wow” when I first see it. Ok Ok, “wow” isn’t the word that I used, but you get the idea.
And this one was “wow”. As soon as I sighted the bases my heart started beating faster. I could feel my heart pounding and it almost felt like it could jump out my chest through my throat at any second. The binos went back to resting on my lap as I looked at the gemsbok with the naked eye. Damn it was close I thought to myself. It was about 15 to 20 yards from where I was sitting. It was directly between me and the water.
I closed the bolt of my CZ 375 HH Mag as the bull walked directly away from me towards the water through. The Swift A frame 300gr bullet was ready and waiting to do its job. The butt of the custom made stock was resting on my lap as I was busy fiddling with the video camera, which until now, I had to leave alone as not to attract the attention of the gemsbok as it came in. The sound of the lens cover opening did not concern the gemsbok, I found him on the screen as he was approaching the water. He “disappeared” behind a small bush but I could still see the tail as at “swish swished” away the flies. I set up the camera and the rifle pointing to a position to the right of the bull, expecting it to take a couple of steps to the right after drinking.
The bull had other ideas. He bolted away from the water without warning. Something startled him and he was heading back the same way he came to the bush where he magically appeared from in a hurry. I had to stop him. Try whistling with dry lips. A short “hey” did the trick. He stopped, looked at my position and a couple of seconds later the A frame was ripping through the air. It impacted the bulls shoulder exactly where I aimed. He was standing almost completely broadside, almost meaning I had to take a quartering shot into his chest on the front of the left shoulder. He was now running at half tilt back to the security of the thick “swarthaak”.
But something was amiss. He could not put weight on his left front hoof. He was becoming short of breath. He stopped just before crossing the dry river. The same river he crossed probably so many times before. He would not cross it again. This was taking too long. I had to put him out of his misery. I also did not want to startle him, because as anybody who hunted gemsbok before would know, they can be incredibly tough. I slowly approached and as I watched him, he went down. His head still moved. I stopped, put up the shooting sticks and delivered the coup de grace from about 80 paces away. He rolled over and died on almost the exact spot where I saw him first.
For the first time since seeing him appear from the bush, I became aware of breathing. I stood there not entirely sure if it all was a dream or not. The surrounding hills and bush were quiet. I loaded another round and approached because you never know what might happen. It would prove to be unnecessary as I unloaded and rested the rifle against a thorn tree next to the bull as there was no reaction after touching the bull’s eye.
I sent Christo a text asking for help loading. The bull was loaded at just after 20:00. While waiting in the dark for reinforcements to arrive, I could hear mountain zebra coming in for a drink, but I was in their way. It was too dark to make out anything, but I could hear their hooves on the rocks and all the different sounds they make. They scurried back to the protection of the bush as the other Landy approached through the darkness. The condition of the bull was excellent, with the “vet-derm” or the fatty colon (not sure how to describe it otherwise) being long and, well fatty!
Just three days prior, we stalked a group of about 6 or 7 zebras on the south side of one of the smaller mountains. The stalk was relatively easy compared to previous stalks I was part of. The shot was taken from 175 yards with the same rifle described earlier. The A-frame whistled through the zebra. The shot was behind the shoulder through two ribs. The sound of rocks tumbling and branches breaking gave us the idea that the zebra was down. We, however, decided not to take any chances and I stayed on the shooting sticks after reloading, as Moses was sent up the mountain to check on the status of the zebra. If he bolted, the zebra and not Moses, I would be ready to put another round into him. This too, was to be unnecessary as the first shot took out both lungs of the zebra. Peter went back to fetch the truck and I scurried up the mountain to look at my first mountain zebra since 2009, hunted in the Khommas Hochland.
Part of the motivation behind going through the trouble of travelling with a rifle, was the promise of running into a Damara Dik-Dik (DDD). As some of you would know, the DDD is only found in the north-western parts of Namibia. We didn’t really hunt for them, we decided we would stop and look at a ram if we bumped him while looking for something bigger. On the first day I made a stalk on 3 of them, but the ram eluded me and I only saw the ewe and her young. Fast forward to day 4, the day after Peter and Christo saw a “very good “ DDD ram. We, Peter and I, would go look for it, seeing that the ice has broken with my zebra and a fine Springbok ram taken by Christo. We didn’t find the nice ram, but while waiting for Peter at one of the watering holes, I sat down in the shade on a rock, adjusted the shooting sticks for “just in case”. I called Moses over where he was sitting in the sun to come and sit in the shade. I was still busy with the sticks when movement in the distance caught my eye. I knew almost immediately it was a DDD. The sticks where in position and I wanted to confirm male or female first.
Up came the binos... female... the male has to be close. We sat on an earth dam wall. There was still ample water, but a big part was dry already. The female was grazing on the far side, close to the edge of the dam and the higher grass. I couldn’t find the male. All of a sudden, from a big “wag-‘n-bietjie” bush 20 yards from our position, came another DDD running, straight towards the female. He didn’t stop to listen to Moses whistling, probably didn’t like the tune. He stopped and smelt at her, the hair on his head standing upright. I could see he is a good one. Next thing was getting the rifle ready. I loaded a solid as he started jogging back to the bush he appeared from the first time. He stopped and looked around not far away from his female. The 350 gr solid hit him in front of the chest and he made a few jumps before expiring. The moment was almost surreal as we walked over. We just arrived at the spot where he was lying, when another female bolted from the bush where he appeared from originally. Seems like the ram was quite popular with the ladies and had 2 females that he tended to.
We had a very enjoyable 5 days with Peter from Erongo Lodge. Everything ran smoothly and there was a lot of game. List of animals seen:
Springbok
Gemsbok
Koedoe
DDD
Mountain Zebra
Bat-eared fox
Black faced impalas
Aardvark
Giraffe
Steenbok
We were only the second group of South Africans trophy hunting on Erongo Lodge. Yes, the exchange rate makes it quite difficult, but the prices were still quite competitive. We saw a couple of overseas hunters on the plane to Windhoek and back, just wondering if some of them are on AH.
So here’s to a very unique area in a beautiful country which we will continue to hunt ad visit. Highlight of the trip will be a toss-up between the gemsbok and DDD. Lowlight... having to leave.
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