Rider717
AH veteran
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2014
- Messages
- 175
- Reaction score
- 364
- Media
- 77
- Member of
- NRA, SCI, RMEF, DSC, IGFA
- Hunted
- South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Wyoming, South Africa, Argentina, Tanzania
Had another 75 hour layover in Johannesburg so I contacted Stephan Cloete of Lloyd safaris and he set me up on another great two day safari. This trips goals were a yellow blesbuck, caracal, and jackal. Stef was busy harvesting his crops and getting tractors unstuck from the mud so this time I hunted with Gerry Oosthuizen. They picked me up at my hotel in Sandton and we drove the 2.5 hours to Ermelo. Quick bite of dinner and to bed for an early start in the morning.
Gerry and I headed out and quickly found two promising yellows. One was slightly better than the other so we stalked him and I got a long shot on him that wounded him and he led us on a lengthy follow up but I finally closed the deal on this striking and beautiful blesbuck.
We headed back to the main lodge and I decided to go for a white blesbuck as well. I already have a common and a white but wanted a chance at getting a bigger one and there were a couple of them running in the herd. We spent most of the morning chasing two different bucks but could never get in position to get a shot. We decided to lay off them for a while and headed in for lunch.
A large caracal had been spotted and the spoor was fresh so dogs were brought in in the early afternoon to see if they could get a scent. Boy did they! Less than 10 minutes from releasing them they were on the trail and in another 25 minutes cornered a very large caracal under a rock overhang. Gerry and I ran to the edge and looking down we couldn't see anything so we hastily made our way down the slippery and steep cliff (about 15' high) and found the dogs baying a very angry and wet caracal. I quickly ran up to a few yards from the cat and put a 223 through his heart. We dragged him out and this is how he looked before we cleaned him up a bit.
After being made a bit more presentable. We made a quick measure of his skull and he may break the top 10 in SCI for caracal!
Late in the day we decided to see if we could find the whites again and we were finally able to get a stalk on the herd without spooking them. I got off a 280 yard shot and we heard the thump of the hit. He took off wih a common buck in tow and we saw him limping up a hill after a few minutes. As the herd ran away from him we followed. A follow up shot hit but didn't drop him. He began walking through a very wet and marshy area so we waited for him to clear it before continuing on. As we crested the hill he was standing on when I shot we got a surprise. The buck I shot at was lying very dead where he had been hit. There had been two whites with the common and now one was dead and the other wounded. We followed along with the wounded buck and I was able to get a finishing shot a short time later. Not sure what happened because we never saw the second buck until he started walking off and looking sick and wounded and we were convinced he was the one I shot. We finally recovered both and got some last light pictures of two very nice white blesuck. The smaller was a 15.5 incher an the larger was 16 inches and very thick.
After dinner we headed out and in a field near some sheep with lambs I was finally able to get a jackal.
Not wanting me to leave without a blesbuck slam Gerry informed me of a nice common blesbuck on the property so we spent the second day chasing a rather slippery buck around. Finally in the late afternoon we were able to belly crawl 50 yards on a hill to get within 200 yards of this common blesbuck. Not bad for 2 days in Africa!
Again, I had a great Two days with Lloyd safaris. Until next time!
Gerry and I headed out and quickly found two promising yellows. One was slightly better than the other so we stalked him and I got a long shot on him that wounded him and he led us on a lengthy follow up but I finally closed the deal on this striking and beautiful blesbuck.
We headed back to the main lodge and I decided to go for a white blesbuck as well. I already have a common and a white but wanted a chance at getting a bigger one and there were a couple of them running in the herd. We spent most of the morning chasing two different bucks but could never get in position to get a shot. We decided to lay off them for a while and headed in for lunch.
A large caracal had been spotted and the spoor was fresh so dogs were brought in in the early afternoon to see if they could get a scent. Boy did they! Less than 10 minutes from releasing them they were on the trail and in another 25 minutes cornered a very large caracal under a rock overhang. Gerry and I ran to the edge and looking down we couldn't see anything so we hastily made our way down the slippery and steep cliff (about 15' high) and found the dogs baying a very angry and wet caracal. I quickly ran up to a few yards from the cat and put a 223 through his heart. We dragged him out and this is how he looked before we cleaned him up a bit.
After being made a bit more presentable. We made a quick measure of his skull and he may break the top 10 in SCI for caracal!
Late in the day we decided to see if we could find the whites again and we were finally able to get a stalk on the herd without spooking them. I got off a 280 yard shot and we heard the thump of the hit. He took off wih a common buck in tow and we saw him limping up a hill after a few minutes. As the herd ran away from him we followed. A follow up shot hit but didn't drop him. He began walking through a very wet and marshy area so we waited for him to clear it before continuing on. As we crested the hill he was standing on when I shot we got a surprise. The buck I shot at was lying very dead where he had been hit. There had been two whites with the common and now one was dead and the other wounded. We followed along with the wounded buck and I was able to get a finishing shot a short time later. Not sure what happened because we never saw the second buck until he started walking off and looking sick and wounded and we were convinced he was the one I shot. We finally recovered both and got some last light pictures of two very nice white blesuck. The smaller was a 15.5 incher an the larger was 16 inches and very thick.
After dinner we headed out and in a field near some sheep with lambs I was finally able to get a jackal.
Not wanting me to leave without a blesbuck slam Gerry informed me of a nice common blesbuck on the property so we spent the second day chasing a rather slippery buck around. Finally in the late afternoon we were able to belly crawl 50 yards on a hill to get within 200 yards of this common blesbuck. Not bad for 2 days in Africa!
Again, I had a great Two days with Lloyd safaris. Until next time!
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