Boela
AH enthusiast
- Joined
- May 11, 2015
- Messages
- 282
- Reaction score
- 775
- Location
- Richards Bay
- Media
- 30
- Articles
- 3
- Member of
- Zululand Hunters & Conservation Association, South African Hunters Association, PHASA
- Hunted
- South Africa, England, Wales, Austria, Swaziland, US: Idaho, Alaska
During 2015 I was visiting some friends in the Northern Cape when the inevitable happened – hunting became the topic of discussion. I mentioned that I would absolutely love to hunt a Barbary Sheep, and so it happened… a friend that has a friend that has a friend and 3 phone calls later, an early 2016 hunt was booked!
26 April 2016 saw myself and two friends depart 19:00 in the evening to our destination, 1280 km from home, for a 4 and a half day self-hunt. Driving throughout the night as only eager hunters can do, we arrived at our destination on the 27th, 09:30am quite stiff and blurry eyed to say the least.
After the meet and greet with the farm owner, we quickly freshened up and got our rifles and gear ready for a shooting range session. Thereafter it was a quick lunch and with high spirits we set off at 14:00 with a farm hand in tow to a vantage point not too far from the homestead.
The farm owner explained the lie of the land and more or less where we would find the farm boundaries of the low fenced, 4500ha sheep farm – this then made the Barbary free range and with their excellent sight and the sparse vegetation, quite a challenge to hunt - never mind coming into an acceptable shooting range. It is to be mentioned that we Zululand boys are accustomed to 80m shots in heavy bush. Most definitely not 300m shots where the highest brush is maybe 30cm high.
We said our farewells to the land owner as we would only see him again when we depart, and with that, we started our first hunting session. At first it was quite easy going – only rocks to compete with and without the vast amounts of acacia trees and thorns that rip into everything as we are accustomed too. So too was the lack of ticks quickly noted, how easy could we get it? Wrong, very wrong!
We quickly learned that the constant walking on and over rocks was punishing on our knees and ankles as we were accustomed to sandy, flat soil. Even our hips started taking a beating. We constantly had to stop and glass the area, we all know the remarkable eyesight that a Barbary has, and if we wanted any chance of closing in on a Barbary, we would have to see them first. And so we continued, down a hill, up the next, check this valley, check that valley, clocking km’s without noticing it.
We were just about to go down a hill again when we stopped and sat down to catch our breath. It was then that we noticed a small group of Barbary’s on the top of a hill, two hills away from us, soaking up the last rays of the afternoon sun. There was a lower hill between us and them, that would make the possibility of a stalk quite reasonable. We ranged them at 874m from where we sat and were we also quite confident that all 4 animals were mature rams. It was at this point in time that I asked the farm hand what the chances are of us reaching the group before the sun sets and if he thinks that we should pursue them. I then probably got the most remarkable comment I have ever received in my hunting career- he merrily answered: “Sir, who am I to deny you the stalk if our dear Lord placed these mountain goats at our feet?”
Well, with that I quickly put my back pack back on and made sure that my Mod70 .30-06 is fully loaded. The farm hand and I left my two friends where they were, giving them a grand stand view as the stalk unfolded.
We took all the advantage we could that the lay of the land offered to us, the wind was steady in our faces and were we closing in on our quarry quite fast. We skirted round the low lying hill in front of us which hid us completely until we reached the foot of the hill on top of which the sheep were browsing on. We stalked another 300m or so to the right of where we reached the foot of the hill in order to get the wind directly in our face, whereupon we inched our way to the top.
10m from the summit, the farm hand sat down allowing me to sneak forward and see if they were where we last saw them . Indeed, there they were! Browsing directly away from us, I watched them for not even two minutes before they started moving to their right and became obscured one of the very few 2m high bushes growing on the top of the hill. I fully took advantage of the couple of second of grace given to me and I quickly moved another 5m forward and sat down behind a fairly sized rock, hiding at least half of my torso. I opened my rifles bi-pod and as I sat the rifle down, the first animal came out from behind the bush. I ranged the bush at 220m at with that, I settled in for the shot.
Slowly – very, very slowly the lead animal stepped clear of the bush and with the little light that dusk was still willing to give up, I could just about make out the scopes reticle for a confident shot. The cross hear settled nicely on the rams left shoulder and with a deep breath that I exhaled half way, pressure building on the trigger, I took a neat, crisp shot. The ram dropped in its tracks! I chambered a fresh round as quick as possible and then settled in to take a follow up shot if needed. After 5min and with no movement from the ram, I started to make my way over to where he lay.
I was quite moved at the sight of the old Ram. At my feet lay a beautiful 29” ram with thick bases and a golden brown coat, the hair round his chest and front legs long and thick.
I was, and still am, very grateful for the opportunity to have hunted such a magnificent animal.
26 April 2016 saw myself and two friends depart 19:00 in the evening to our destination, 1280 km from home, for a 4 and a half day self-hunt. Driving throughout the night as only eager hunters can do, we arrived at our destination on the 27th, 09:30am quite stiff and blurry eyed to say the least.
After the meet and greet with the farm owner, we quickly freshened up and got our rifles and gear ready for a shooting range session. Thereafter it was a quick lunch and with high spirits we set off at 14:00 with a farm hand in tow to a vantage point not too far from the homestead.
The farm owner explained the lie of the land and more or less where we would find the farm boundaries of the low fenced, 4500ha sheep farm – this then made the Barbary free range and with their excellent sight and the sparse vegetation, quite a challenge to hunt - never mind coming into an acceptable shooting range. It is to be mentioned that we Zululand boys are accustomed to 80m shots in heavy bush. Most definitely not 300m shots where the highest brush is maybe 30cm high.
We said our farewells to the land owner as we would only see him again when we depart, and with that, we started our first hunting session. At first it was quite easy going – only rocks to compete with and without the vast amounts of acacia trees and thorns that rip into everything as we are accustomed too. So too was the lack of ticks quickly noted, how easy could we get it? Wrong, very wrong!
We quickly learned that the constant walking on and over rocks was punishing on our knees and ankles as we were accustomed to sandy, flat soil. Even our hips started taking a beating. We constantly had to stop and glass the area, we all know the remarkable eyesight that a Barbary has, and if we wanted any chance of closing in on a Barbary, we would have to see them first. And so we continued, down a hill, up the next, check this valley, check that valley, clocking km’s without noticing it.
We were just about to go down a hill again when we stopped and sat down to catch our breath. It was then that we noticed a small group of Barbary’s on the top of a hill, two hills away from us, soaking up the last rays of the afternoon sun. There was a lower hill between us and them, that would make the possibility of a stalk quite reasonable. We ranged them at 874m from where we sat and were we also quite confident that all 4 animals were mature rams. It was at this point in time that I asked the farm hand what the chances are of us reaching the group before the sun sets and if he thinks that we should pursue them. I then probably got the most remarkable comment I have ever received in my hunting career- he merrily answered: “Sir, who am I to deny you the stalk if our dear Lord placed these mountain goats at our feet?”
Well, with that I quickly put my back pack back on and made sure that my Mod70 .30-06 is fully loaded. The farm hand and I left my two friends where they were, giving them a grand stand view as the stalk unfolded.
We took all the advantage we could that the lay of the land offered to us, the wind was steady in our faces and were we closing in on our quarry quite fast. We skirted round the low lying hill in front of us which hid us completely until we reached the foot of the hill on top of which the sheep were browsing on. We stalked another 300m or so to the right of where we reached the foot of the hill in order to get the wind directly in our face, whereupon we inched our way to the top.
10m from the summit, the farm hand sat down allowing me to sneak forward and see if they were where we last saw them . Indeed, there they were! Browsing directly away from us, I watched them for not even two minutes before they started moving to their right and became obscured one of the very few 2m high bushes growing on the top of the hill. I fully took advantage of the couple of second of grace given to me and I quickly moved another 5m forward and sat down behind a fairly sized rock, hiding at least half of my torso. I opened my rifles bi-pod and as I sat the rifle down, the first animal came out from behind the bush. I ranged the bush at 220m at with that, I settled in for the shot.
Slowly – very, very slowly the lead animal stepped clear of the bush and with the little light that dusk was still willing to give up, I could just about make out the scopes reticle for a confident shot. The cross hear settled nicely on the rams left shoulder and with a deep breath that I exhaled half way, pressure building on the trigger, I took a neat, crisp shot. The ram dropped in its tracks! I chambered a fresh round as quick as possible and then settled in to take a follow up shot if needed. After 5min and with no movement from the ram, I started to make my way over to where he lay.
I was quite moved at the sight of the old Ram. At my feet lay a beautiful 29” ram with thick bases and a golden brown coat, the hair round his chest and front legs long and thick.
I was, and still am, very grateful for the opportunity to have hunted such a magnificent animal.
