ArmyAV8tor
AH enthusiast
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2018
- Messages
- 253
- Reaction score
- 857
- Location
- Pennsylvania
- Media
- 22
- Member of
- NRA/SCI/RGS
- Hunted
- Germany, Holland, Namibia, Honduras
Departed Dulles via Ethiopian on June 1. No guns since I was traveling with my wife and 84 y/o mother. The trip was really about showing Mom what I have been raving about for years, Africa in all its wild splendor. The trip laid out this way. Arrive June 2 at Ritter Safaris - Woltemade. Relax for a day and then hit Mt. Etjo Safari Lodge for two days and nights for some game viewing. Back to Ritter's for 6 hunting days and then head north to the Caprivi / Zambezi Region for a week on the Kavango / Cuando / Chobe Rivers, see Vic Falls and then back to Ritters for a couple days rest and then home. Amazing experience and to be able to take my Mom along and see her face was a highlight of my life. We had a leisurely first day getting reacquainted and letting Mom get over the jet lag but then my PH Rolf Ritter suggested we go sit a waterhole in the afternoon. Was I ever glad I did....we were watching a couple bat eared foxes when Rolf touched my arm and pointed. A leopard was scratching a tree, rubbing and spraying and generally having a good time. I felt so lucky!
Maybe 20 minutes later, Rolf touches my arm and points...guess what, another Leopard. This one checks out the tree and starts walking right toward us. I am afraid to take the pics since I know he will hear the shutter or my heart beating and bolt but somehow he pretends we aren't even there.
I tell Rolf I could go home right now and the trip would be a success.
Anyhow..now to hunting. My priority for the trip was an Eland and then Springbok, Crown Duiker, and any good trophy Warthog.
Day 1 - Got an early start before dawn and was glad I had packed the long johns and gloves. Checked some waterholes for Eland tracks and some open areas for duiker. We saw some steenbok, oryx, roan, zebra, blue wildebeast and a nice kudu bull who still needed a couple years but the PH was excited because he has been seeing a good number of bulls in this class which made him happy as it appears they are recovering nicely from the rabies devastation of a few years back. We saw a about five bulls in the six days which will be very nice in the near future. The afternoon of Day 1 found the PH, his head tracker Willem, and I checking waterholes again where we got on some tracks which we followed for a couple hours ending with us getting good look at 21 Eland. Not a big bull among them but it gave me hope.
Day 2 was a repeat. Go early looking for duiker and checking waterholes for Eland tracks. No duikers.....lots of Eland tracks which we followed until I was an inch shorter from wearing the soles off my shoes. Just how does an Eland walk so far so fast? We saw a good duiker ram late in the afternoon along a two-track. I got a good rest and was waiting for the go ahead from Rolf. I took a peek to see if Rolf had made a decision and when I looked back in the scope, the duiker "ducked".
Day 3 started with some trepidation since I hadn't fired a shot yet and only had one legit chance. We went early again for duiker and to check waterholes for Eland tracks. We saw another shooter duiker and set up to wait for him to clear some high grass. The PH was sure he would come around to the water so I was on the rest watching the duiker's silhouette in the grass when he suddenly spooked and ran. We have no idea what put him on the run. We spent the rest of the morning tracking eland without getting even a glimpse. We returned to the lodge for a lunch and rest and my Mom put the pressure on with a "Didn't you shoot anything yet" comment. We met up about 3pm for strategy session for the afternoon and the tracker Willem was pleading his case with the PH that he knew a spot frequented by springbok that he wanted to take me to and put on a stalk. We weren't out of the camp for 20 minutes and Willem put his hand out to stop me. The sticks went up and I got settled in but couldn't see enough to shoot at. The springbok moved off about 50 yds and we followed as Willem maneuvered to get a better line. Up went the sticks, I found the quartering to shoulder in the cross hair and touched off the 8 x 68 Mauser. A clap on the back from Willem confirmed what I thought I saw in the scope and after a short tracking job I had my first Springbok. We celebrated in typical German fashion with a toast to the animal and a schnapps.
Day 4 - Back to the task at hand.....find a good duiker in the morning and then get after the Eland. Unfortunately, the Duiker's and the Eland hadn't read the script. We saw one duiker early but he was small. Spent the remainder of the morning checking waterholes and stalking for Eland to no avail. We decided to try a different area where Willem had said he saw a unusual Duiker with one very long horn and one shorter horn. I told the PH I was ok with that as I had a similar Gemsbok trophy on the wall at home with one long horn and one broken off. I am grateful to be able to hunt Africa at all so size doesn't really matter to me. Things were pretty slow and we only saw a couple groups of female warthogs with young ones. Willem asked me if I would shoot a trophy Warthog if 1 showed up and I told him I would. He said get ready, because he is coming to the waterhole. I got ready and in a couple seconds, the old boar exited the bush and paused for a second to survey his surroundings. That's all I needed and we had potential schnitzel on the ground.
Day 5 - Dedicated Eland day. Trying an adjacent property that has proved very successful in the past. We left camp at 5:15 am to ensure we were in place well before daylight watch a waterhole. Nothing! That is relative because there is never nothing around water in Africa. The amazing amount of birdlife and critters that visit water always keeps me occupied and alert. Doves, guineas, francolin, jackals, mongoose, "Go Away" birds, hawks, falcons, etc, etc, etc. We hopped in the Land Cruiser about 10 am to search the road network for tracks and Willem located a good one a half hour later. From then until 3:30 pm we followed that Eland with Willem in the lead and the PH and I trailing by 25 or 30 yds to give the tracker some space to work and keep down the noise. We bumped the Eland one time in that hours long trek when a couple Gemsbok off to the side spooked and ran putting the Eland on the run as well. We sat another waterhole that evening and saw 13 more Eland but no bulls. We were entertained by a jackal that came to the waterhole and chased some guinea fowl around until they flew up on the water tank which was about 10' high. He made two attempts with a running start to climb the side of that tank coming inches short of success. We were very late getting back and everybody in camp was quite hungry but were quickly silenced with a great meal of German meats and cheeses, hearty bread, the liver and heart from my springbok and a couple of Tafel Lagers.
Day 6 - Last day and I decided to focus on the Duiker and save the Eland for a return trip. I felt my chances were much better because we had seen several good Duikers in different locations around the property. We were out before light. I absolutely love listening to the world wake up when I go hunting. There is nothing like hearing the first birds and seeing the first movement of game which in this case was a very nice steenbok. Soon after, another one of those Kudu bulls I mentioned earlier joined the show. They remind me of Olympic athletes with their rippling shoulder muscles and huge necks. They walk up to six foot high fence like it is the bar in the high jump, shrug and jump over without a thought. No sweat! Had to run back to the lodge to get swabbed for the Corona Virus test we needed to get into Botswana so we decided to eat a little lunch and head out early for the afternoon/evening hunt to focus on the unusual one long, one short horn Duiker we had seen previously. We weren't in the stand long when it showed up. I got the rifle ready and waited for the PH to give me the thumbs up when he said "it's a female." Ok so now the hunt is really close to over and I'm a little down. Just off to the right, the largest Steenbok I have ever seen slipped out of the bush and fed right to us. I almost changed my mind and shot but decided to wait it out. Rolf and I were whispering about just how big this Steenbok was when a shooter Duiker appeared just beyond the Steenbok but moving around behind us. We just couldn't get turned around quick enough without spooking him and he disappeared. There was probably 10 minutes of shooting light left when a second Duiker emerged form the grass. Rolf took a quick look and said take him. I pushed the safety forward, pulled the set trigger on the Mauser, could a deep breath and settled the crosshair. With a slight touch on the forward trigger, the scope filled with orange from the muzzle blast but my ears reported the "whap" of the bullet and I was sure we had our Duiker. The PH confirmed he was down. We gave him his "last bite" in accordance with the German hunting tradition to honor the animal, took some pictures and loaded up the cruiser to head in and celebrate again. We toasted with Jagermeister and Kloster Broder, both fine toasting spirits. Tomorrow it's off to northern and eastern Namibia to experience more of God's wonderful creation and share that experience with my family.
Maybe 20 minutes later, Rolf touches my arm and points...guess what, another Leopard. This one checks out the tree and starts walking right toward us. I am afraid to take the pics since I know he will hear the shutter or my heart beating and bolt but somehow he pretends we aren't even there.
Anyhow..now to hunting. My priority for the trip was an Eland and then Springbok, Crown Duiker, and any good trophy Warthog.
Day 1 - Got an early start before dawn and was glad I had packed the long johns and gloves. Checked some waterholes for Eland tracks and some open areas for duiker. We saw some steenbok, oryx, roan, zebra, blue wildebeast and a nice kudu bull who still needed a couple years but the PH was excited because he has been seeing a good number of bulls in this class which made him happy as it appears they are recovering nicely from the rabies devastation of a few years back. We saw a about five bulls in the six days which will be very nice in the near future. The afternoon of Day 1 found the PH, his head tracker Willem, and I checking waterholes again where we got on some tracks which we followed for a couple hours ending with us getting good look at 21 Eland. Not a big bull among them but it gave me hope.
Day 2 was a repeat. Go early looking for duiker and checking waterholes for Eland tracks. No duikers.....lots of Eland tracks which we followed until I was an inch shorter from wearing the soles off my shoes. Just how does an Eland walk so far so fast? We saw a good duiker ram late in the afternoon along a two-track. I got a good rest and was waiting for the go ahead from Rolf. I took a peek to see if Rolf had made a decision and when I looked back in the scope, the duiker "ducked".
Day 3 started with some trepidation since I hadn't fired a shot yet and only had one legit chance. We went early again for duiker and to check waterholes for Eland tracks. We saw another shooter duiker and set up to wait for him to clear some high grass. The PH was sure he would come around to the water so I was on the rest watching the duiker's silhouette in the grass when he suddenly spooked and ran. We have no idea what put him on the run. We spent the rest of the morning tracking eland without getting even a glimpse. We returned to the lodge for a lunch and rest and my Mom put the pressure on with a "Didn't you shoot anything yet" comment. We met up about 3pm for strategy session for the afternoon and the tracker Willem was pleading his case with the PH that he knew a spot frequented by springbok that he wanted to take me to and put on a stalk. We weren't out of the camp for 20 minutes and Willem put his hand out to stop me. The sticks went up and I got settled in but couldn't see enough to shoot at. The springbok moved off about 50 yds and we followed as Willem maneuvered to get a better line. Up went the sticks, I found the quartering to shoulder in the cross hair and touched off the 8 x 68 Mauser. A clap on the back from Willem confirmed what I thought I saw in the scope and after a short tracking job I had my first Springbok. We celebrated in typical German fashion with a toast to the animal and a schnapps.
Day 4 - Back to the task at hand.....find a good duiker in the morning and then get after the Eland. Unfortunately, the Duiker's and the Eland hadn't read the script. We saw one duiker early but he was small. Spent the remainder of the morning checking waterholes and stalking for Eland to no avail. We decided to try a different area where Willem had said he saw a unusual Duiker with one very long horn and one shorter horn. I told the PH I was ok with that as I had a similar Gemsbok trophy on the wall at home with one long horn and one broken off. I am grateful to be able to hunt Africa at all so size doesn't really matter to me. Things were pretty slow and we only saw a couple groups of female warthogs with young ones. Willem asked me if I would shoot a trophy Warthog if 1 showed up and I told him I would. He said get ready, because he is coming to the waterhole. I got ready and in a couple seconds, the old boar exited the bush and paused for a second to survey his surroundings. That's all I needed and we had potential schnitzel on the ground.
Day 5 - Dedicated Eland day. Trying an adjacent property that has proved very successful in the past. We left camp at 5:15 am to ensure we were in place well before daylight watch a waterhole. Nothing! That is relative because there is never nothing around water in Africa. The amazing amount of birdlife and critters that visit water always keeps me occupied and alert. Doves, guineas, francolin, jackals, mongoose, "Go Away" birds, hawks, falcons, etc, etc, etc. We hopped in the Land Cruiser about 10 am to search the road network for tracks and Willem located a good one a half hour later. From then until 3:30 pm we followed that Eland with Willem in the lead and the PH and I trailing by 25 or 30 yds to give the tracker some space to work and keep down the noise. We bumped the Eland one time in that hours long trek when a couple Gemsbok off to the side spooked and ran putting the Eland on the run as well. We sat another waterhole that evening and saw 13 more Eland but no bulls. We were entertained by a jackal that came to the waterhole and chased some guinea fowl around until they flew up on the water tank which was about 10' high. He made two attempts with a running start to climb the side of that tank coming inches short of success. We were very late getting back and everybody in camp was quite hungry but were quickly silenced with a great meal of German meats and cheeses, hearty bread, the liver and heart from my springbok and a couple of Tafel Lagers.
Day 6 - Last day and I decided to focus on the Duiker and save the Eland for a return trip. I felt my chances were much better because we had seen several good Duikers in different locations around the property. We were out before light. I absolutely love listening to the world wake up when I go hunting. There is nothing like hearing the first birds and seeing the first movement of game which in this case was a very nice steenbok. Soon after, another one of those Kudu bulls I mentioned earlier joined the show. They remind me of Olympic athletes with their rippling shoulder muscles and huge necks. They walk up to six foot high fence like it is the bar in the high jump, shrug and jump over without a thought. No sweat! Had to run back to the lodge to get swabbed for the Corona Virus test we needed to get into Botswana so we decided to eat a little lunch and head out early for the afternoon/evening hunt to focus on the unusual one long, one short horn Duiker we had seen previously. We weren't in the stand long when it showed up. I got the rifle ready and waited for the PH to give me the thumbs up when he said "it's a female." Ok so now the hunt is really close to over and I'm a little down. Just off to the right, the largest Steenbok I have ever seen slipped out of the bush and fed right to us. I almost changed my mind and shot but decided to wait it out. Rolf and I were whispering about just how big this Steenbok was when a shooter Duiker appeared just beyond the Steenbok but moving around behind us. We just couldn't get turned around quick enough without spooking him and he disappeared. There was probably 10 minutes of shooting light left when a second Duiker emerged form the grass. Rolf took a quick look and said take him. I pushed the safety forward, pulled the set trigger on the Mauser, could a deep breath and settled the crosshair. With a slight touch on the forward trigger, the scope filled with orange from the muzzle blast but my ears reported the "whap" of the bullet and I was sure we had our Duiker. The PH confirmed he was down. We gave him his "last bite" in accordance with the German hunting tradition to honor the animal, took some pictures and loaded up the cruiser to head in and celebrate again. We toasted with Jagermeister and Kloster Broder, both fine toasting spirits. Tomorrow it's off to northern and eastern Namibia to experience more of God's wonderful creation and share that experience with my family.
