SOUTH AFRICA: BOWHUNT: Matswani Safaris Aug/Sept 2016

[Lrntolive]

Your slow Africa hunt still sounds better than my elk hunt this year. Keep it coming.

 

[50by50]

Day 7

Day seven began with me sleeping right up to the alarm clock! I barely had time to shower and eat before it was time to go. At breakfast KP told me he’d been in touch with an old police buddy who farms some cattle a couple hours away from us. His buddy told KP that the land he runs the cows on has wild game on it and he’s seen an exceptional nyala. He even set up and then sat in a blind that night and got a picture of the bull coming in to water. He looks super impressive to me. Really long with flaring tips. Awesome bull!

So that was our plan for the evening. The morning was spent on a blind that I can’t even remember right now….. obviously not much happened.

We made it to KP’s friend’s leased ranch around 2pm and got into the blind. It was a long wait in a hot blind and that old bull was incredibly wary and smart. Eventually animals started coming in and it wasn’t long before a lone nyala bull came in. Not our guy. Then another, and suddenly there was a bachelor herd of 6 or 7 bulls filtering out of the brush and into water. A couple, one in particular, looked awfully good to me but KP shook his head and said the big boy wasn’t with them. We knew this was his posse so were keeping a sharp eye out.

And there he was! Hanging back from the herd, he could tell something was wrong, and wouldn’t come closer than 90 yards. We could see his head and shoulders moving through the brush and man did he look good! Big flaring tips and a dark body with bulk and great conditioning considering the severe drought they’re in. We watched him hold up while the other, younger and less experienced, bulls came in to water. After watering, the bulls snacked on the pellets we’d put out, and then began feeding straight away from us in a super leisurely pace. I kept thinking this was when the patriarch would come in to water. No leopards here. But instead, he made a wide circle around the water, joined his buddies briefly in the brush and then turned and disappeared.

45 minutes later and with 20 minutes of light and no sign of the bull, KP radio’d his buddy who told us it sounded like the Nyala was heading toward a different watering tank. After a brief conversation in Afrikaans, KP radio’d the tracker and a few minutes later the truck rolled up and we piled in.

During the wild ride as we raced the sun, KP translated the conversation and told me we were going to drive up to the water tank and see if we could cut the Nyala off. He said Nyala aren’t as spooky as a lot of animals and tend to hide and hole up rather than run pell mell when lightly threatened. KP’s buddy was driving while KP, our tracker, and I sat in the high rise seat in the back.

Did I already mention this is the wild west? When we got to the other water tank the light was fading fast. I could still just see my pins… but no Nyala bull. And then there he was! On the other side of the water, inside the brush, was our big bull. He was standing stock still, looking straight at us from about 30 yards. I don’t know how we missed seeing him at first. When he realized the jig was up he spooked and started moving and when he stopped briefly to look back, I almost had a shot standing in the bed of the truck. One measly branch, that would definitely have deflected my arrow, kept me from touching one off.

When he’d disappeared, we slowly moved the truck up and around to see if we could intercept him without spooking him to the next county and catch him holding tight in a spot I could sneak an arrow through.

After a bit of driving we came up over a small rise and there he was- standing broadside at 20 yards, up against some brush. Everything happened so fast. The truck stopped as I drew, sighted and released in the span of a couple seconds and the Nyala bull dropped.

I really had no idea where I’d hit him as I was having a hard time seeing my top pin but he was so close, I took the shot. I ended up hitting him in the spine so a follow up shot was required.

The whole thing was a little unconventional, but I was super excited and a little overwhelmed. We'd been working for this for 5 days, not including a bunch of days from my previous 2 trips, so I felt the bull was well earned- even if I did shoot it from the back of a truck!

Man- the monkey was off my back and it felt good! My wish list was 28 inches and this bull taped 27 ½ inches! I love when the tips flare out on kudu, nyala, and bushbuck, and his tips were definitely flaring. We took pictures, loaded him up, and headed for home. A relieved PH and a happy hunter. Finally, something for the skinning shed!

Here’s a picture of KP and me with the bull (I think KP may have been more excited than me!):

 

[kathy]

Yes it is slow now but you had a hell of a good start, I don't let it bother me when I have a few days not putting a animal in the salt. my last trip it was day 4 before I ever got a shot. by day 12 I had 15 animals in the salt. all bow kills. Forrest

 

[gillettehunter]

That is a dang nice Nyala. It'll take some doing to top it. Congrats. I think you earned him too. Sometimes it just how it happens. Bruce

 

[buck wild]

Small world as I hunted with your PH KP one day on my trip last year. We killed a mnt reedbuck on one of his areas that went #11 SCI.

 

[Bhfs300]

Hi 50by50
You have a great Nyala! I wish mine was that big but I only had a day left in my hunt.
Another look at one of Dennis's mounts.
This one is mine! I think it is the best mount I have.

 

[mrpoindexter]

Small world as I hunted with your PH KP one day on my trip last year. We killed a mnt reedbuck on one of his areas that went #11 SCI.

Very small world. I met KP when I was at Greatland with John Henry Keyser. I got my Nyala from that same elevated blind over the water hole in the dry river bed you were at on day 3. It was a bit of deja vu seeing your photo there. I actually got my entire spiral slam on that ranch although only one of them from that blind. Nice flare and white tips on that Nyala, by the way.

KP was fun to hang out with and I am sure you and he had a great time.

 

[mrpoindexter]

Double Deja Vu. I am almost positive those baboons from day 4 are in the exact spot I shot my Cape Buff. I will have to go back and check the video. Your hunt report is bringing back such great memories for me.

 

[50by50]

Small world as I hunted with your PH KP one day on my trip last year. We killed a mnt reedbuck on one of his areas that went #11 SCI.

That's awesome buck wild! He's a good guy! And we saw a great reedbuck the day I shot my kudu. Not #11 though!

 

[50by50]

Very small world. I met KP when I was at Greatland with John Henry Keyser. I got my Nyala from that same elevated blind over the water hole in the dry river bed you were at on day 3. It was a bit of deja vu seeing your photo there. I actually got my entire spiral slam on that ranch although only one of them from that blind. Nice flare and white tips on that Nyala, by the way.

KP was fun to hang out with and I am sure you and he had a great time.

Mrpoindexter! That's awesome man! That ranch was cool. Wish a big bushbuck would have come in. Would love to see your animals. They on here?

 

[50by50]

View attachment 160985 Hi 50by50
You have a great Nyala! I wish mine was that big but I only had a day left in my hunt.
Another look at one of Dennis's mounts.
This one is mine! I think it is the best mount I have.

That's a gorgeous mount Bhfs300!!

 

[cpr0312]

Very nice Nyala!

 

[mrpoindexter]

Mrpoindexter! That's awesome man! That ranch was cool. Wish a big bushbuck would have come in. Would love to see your animals. They on here?

I posted my hunt report and finished it up last week. It is here:

http://www.africahunting.com/thread...th-greatland-safaris-john-henry-keyser.31424/

I got the second level inner circle spiral horn slam there in one trip - bushbuck, Nyala, kudu and eland, but only the Nyala from the blind you hunted. The other three were from a pit blind. The baboons in the buckets looks very much like the ranch next door where I got my buff. Will have to watch my video because those trees behind them look very familiar.

 

[kathy]

Beautiful Nyala bull , now were back on a roll. Forrest

 

[50by50]

DAY 8

Day eight and I was finally sleeping. I slept until my alarm went off at 5:30am. At breakfast KP was as optimistic as ever and told me we were going to sit a blind they’d set up over some water where they’d gotten some good animals on trail camera. One of the other PH’s or drivers had gone out and checked trail cameras and brought back a picture of a great kudu bull. They had also seen a really big warthog on the water. KP didn’t show me the kudu picture, and looking back, I think it was because he didn’t want to get my hopes up. He did make a big deal about the warthog so I thought that’s what we were after with the possibility of a bunch of other stuff- especially a good kudu. He later told me he and the other PH’s knew that kudu was a monster but he had only been seen on the trail camera one time. We later found out the owner of the ranch didn’t even know he had a kudu of that caliber on his ranch. They don’t call kudu the gray ghost of Africa for nothing. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Here’s the trail camera pictures of the big warthog I thought we were after. I snapped them with my phone from KP’s laptop. Not as big as my other two but beautiful shape to his tusks and he was mister consistent- coming in at about the same time the last 3 days in a row.

There’s just something about warthogs that gets my blood pumping. I felt more adrenaline drawing back on those than I did the nyala, bushbuck and impala up to this point.

I like how the picture above shows the extra tooth under the gums. And then there’s another 2 inches inside the gums. To find 1 warthog of this caliber is lucky and in my opinion to find 3 in one trip is win-the lottery-lucky.

KP said we were going to sit the entire day in the blind. We got there about 8am as it wasn’t as far from the lodge and got into the popup blind they’d erected when they saw what was on the trail camera. It was located 20 yards from water but because of a screen of trees, I only had a shot if the animals drank from the near side of the waterhole. There were some feeding bins as well but there were 9 small trees in the way so shots were very limited.

I think the blind was set up by some of the trackers who were thinking more of wind, than of shooting lanes with a bow and for some reason it didn’t cross my mind to improve my shot windows. We jumped in the blind and got set up for a long day in the blind. I had my phone and i-pod fully charged with plenty of games and good audio books, so I was set.

At least I thought I was set. Some days were hotter than others as September is springtime in Africa, and day eight was a scorcher. By 10:30am I knew we were in trouble. By 12:30pm I was stifling with temperatures easily over 95 and possibly 100 degrees. It was so hot KP kept dumping water bottles over himself to try to cool down. Inside those blinds there’s zero air movement so the thought of dumping water on me was not appealing but it was fun to watch KP gasp for a minute after the ice cold water drenched him! Gratefully around 12:30 I had to go to the bathroom so snuck out of the blind and into the glorious air flow and worked my way 50 or 60 yards into the bushveld behind the blind to go. It was 5 minutes of bliss and then back into the blind I went.

We did have animals coming in throughout the day. Baboons, monkeys, kudu, blue wildebeest, impala, mountain reedbuck, bushbuck, and a really good klipspringer with a female. I was very tempted to shoot both the mountain reedbuck and especially the klipspringer. I think the klipspringer is awesome. But I like big warthogs better and didn’t want to ruin my chances so didn’t take the bow down.

Around 2pm some kudu bulls came in and one was quite nice. Here’s a picture that was pulled from my camera or gopro… might have been a trail camera pic… I can’t remember. It was definitely this bull though. Every day I put the GoPro up about 5 yards from the water and I never got a kill shot with it! It either died from me turning it off and on and playing around before the animal I wanted came in, or things happened too fast for me to turn it on.

KP whispered he was a good one and could possibly go 54 inches. Obviously a great bull, I looked long and hard at him and although I liked his spread and his mass, he just wasn’t what I knew I was after, so I passed.

Poor KP couldn’t believe it. Here we’d been working so hard for the spiral horns, and I was passing on a bull most of his clients would shoot without hesitation.

The bull had no idea we were there and hung out with his buddies and some blue wildebeest for at least 20 minutes, parading in front of us at 20 yards with perfect broadside shots, and every now and then KP would let out a little sigh, look at me, and shake his head, but I held strong!

I was just sitting there in that blind trying to keep my mind off how mind blowing HOT I was and hoping 5:30pm would come quickly (that’s when the warthog was regularly coming in to water) when suddenly it was 5pm and kudu cows and calves were coming in. That perked me up as there were young kudu in the trail camera pictures with the warthog. By 5:30pm the boar hadn’t showed up and I was beginning to wonder. By 6pm still no warthog but I had a good feeling the long wait was going to pay off. Suddenly the kudu cow’s heads came up and they were all looking to the right of our blind. I was peeking through the one slit I had to look through and was craning my head to see what they were checking out but couldn’t see anything.

After holding perfectly still for maybe 20 seconds, the kudu went back to feeding and 30 seconds later a jaw dropper kudu stepped out of the brush and trees. KP turned to me and just his expression got my adrenaline pumping into overdrive. He motioned for me to grab my bow and whispered “you’re going to shoot this kudu”.

One glance and he didn’t have to tell me twice. Everything about this kudu was big. He dwarfed the cows and the other bulls gave him a wide berth. His horns were heavy and long! There was no question this bull was a shooter. For a couple seconds I was hammered by buck fever and I had to sit back and breathe and collect myself before I slowly and carefully got my bow down and stood up.

He came in hesitantly at first and I might have had a shot but I didn’t take it. After a bit he was more comfortable and started checking out the cows. He was constantly moving so I didn’t have a shot and at one point I thought he was leaving but he was just saying hi to a cow that was out in the brush. A minute later he was back to the water but he went to the side with brush in the way so I still didn’t have a shot!

I was still pretty amped and trying to keep from shaking. Having an animal that big and old and smart at 20 yards and not having a shot is torture! I was standing to the side of the shooting window trying to be ready but not seen. The bull eventually finished drinking and walked around the waterhole and stopped broadside at 30 yards!

KP told me to shoot and got ready to film it but I could see what I thought was a small limb covering his vitals. He only paused for maybe 10 seconds and then started walking again and I realized it was a shadow not a branch! Missed a great opportunity but as the bull was walking to the feed bins I figured I would still get a shot.

I reached down and carefully entered the code on my cell phone and turned the GoPro on. I got some awesome footage of the bull but after 4 minutes and no shot, I turned it off. This happened again with 4 minutes of footage and no shot presented. I was trying to conserve battery but eventually realized when the shot came I wasn’t going to take the time to turn the GoPro on again so just left it running. It finally died after 5 minutes of awesome footage with the bull feeding right below my camera but offering no shot.

Here are a few screenshots of the bull from right before the GoPro died. These were the angles I had and with a bow they aren’t shots you want to take.

This bull had a really long mane. You can see it well in this picture. Every African outfitter I’ve ever spoken to says a big kudu is anything over 52” in horn length. A kudu with horns exceeding 53 7/8” makes their record book (Roland Ward). How long would you guess this bull is? That question kept going through my mind but I was doing my best to shut it out so I wouldn’t get more nervous!

It was killing me being this close and not getting a shot! I was starting to worry the bull would suddenly turn and silently disappear into the brush, never to be seen again. On three separate occasions, the bull would turn broadside, to threaten another kudu from coming to his pellets, or to reposition at the feed, and I would draw the bow only to let it back down after not having a shot. For a couple of those minutes the bull was standing at 20 yards perfectly broadside with a 10-inch tree centered directly over his vitals. It was agonizing! And any small sound would have been heard so we were barely breathing as we crouched 20 yards away in our little popup blind.

By the time the GoPro died, we had been waiting at least 15 minutes for a shot. The bull suddenly turned and walked to the white feeder that you can see behind him in the above picture.

At first he was facing straight away from us and then he turned and was facing straight on to us. Geez… my nerves were so on edge I started having this crazy urge to shout and see how bad I could scare everything on the water hole!

And then suddenly the bull turned broadside. There was a tree trunk covering his body from about 5 inches behind the shoulder and there was a younger kudu bull standing at the black bin, the big boy had just vacated. The young bull’s horns were covering the big boy’s vitals when his head was in the feed. It was a risky shot and way sketchy, but after waiting almost 20 minutes for any kind of a shot, I couldn’t help myself. I whispered to KP I was going to shoot, drew my bow, waited for the young kudu to lift his head and sent my arrow slithering just 6 inches past the young bull’s nose and just three inches to the left of the tree and smack!

I’ll tell you the rest tomorrow. Sorry guys! Gotta run to dinner at the in-laws.

 

[mrpoindexter]

Man, this is why I DVR all the new TV shows and don't watch them until the season is over.

 

[cpr0312]

Me waiting on the next installment! Thats a great looking kudu.......... waiting to hear the rest

 

[gillettehunter]

Great looking bull. Congrats. Your patience and persistance has paid off very well indeed. Well done. Bruce

 

[kathy]

AWESOME, that is a huge Kudu bull.
On my Last trip to Namibia I had on carheart brush pants, when a big kudu bull came in I started shaking , my pants were making a lot of noise , the PH said you need to be quiet he will here you, nothing I could do but sit down and wait for an eternity ,seemed like. 20 minutes A Heart shot and bull on the ground. if you could bottle that feeling and sell it you would be a wealthy person. Forrest

 

[50by50]

END OF DAY 8/ DAY 9

Sorry I’ve taken so long to continue this. This has turned out quite a bit longer than anticipated and next hunt I won’t be so long winded!

Last time I wrote about threading the needle on that big bull.

So here’s the rest… I hit him! But when he jumped and started to run off, I saw the arrow sticking out and it looked low and kind of wobbling downward. So no pass through at 20 yards? What stopped the arrow and was the shot really as low as it looked when he ran?

As I replayed the shot in my head, I suddenly realized in the excitement I had put the 20-yard pin on the bull but he was at 27 yards, at least, after he moved to the white feed bin! I was sick and devastated. I kept replaying it in my mind and kept asking myself why I made such a rookie mistake? Why didn’t I wait for a better shot? Why didn’t I take one last range reading? Why didn’t I take that little extra time to ensure a great shot?

As we got out of the blind to take a look, KP radio'd Daniel, our tracker. We went 25 yards and no blood. KP held us up and we waited for Daniel. When he arrived we went 50 yards and no blood. At 75 yards and still no blood I was starting to feel physically ill. And then the tracks turned and went straight up hill. This is a REALLY bad sign. As you all know, when a wounded animal goes up hill it’s a good bet he’s not hit hard.

This grown man was about to sit in the trail and cry like a baby when KP found a drop of darkened dirt in the track and, after touching it, held up a finger with blood on its tip. Finally. And from there the blood trail got heavier, until we had a consistent and easy to follow track. But it was still heading uphill. At this point I was vacillating between cautious optimism and open depression. We followed it ¼ mile and then KP held us up and said he didn’t want to push the bull and that we should back out, let him bed up, and come back in the morning. With any luck the bull would be dead but at least we wouldn’t be dealing with a bull whose adrenaline was pumping.

I reluctantly agreed and we made our way back to the truck. It was a long dinner and longer night with very little sleep. Gratefully I had a fantastic PH who lifted my spirits with his complete assurance we would get this bull. His confidence was very settling and I began to piggy back off this until by morning I was feeling pretty confident as well.

We ate a hurried breakfast, gathered a couple additional trackers from the skinning shed on our way out, and headed to the ranch. One of KP’s good friends, and fellow PH, Phan, answered the call for help and, along with his excellent tracker, met us out there. So between them and the owner of the ranch, we had quite the entourage heading up to the water hole.

When we got to where we left off the night before, we split up. The 3 trackers, KP and myself continued on the blood trail while Phan went up higher on the mountain to be our spotter.

The blood trail was strong and we were easily following it when suddenly Phan’s excited voice came over the radio. He’d jumped the kudu on top of the mountain and he was coming toward us! We got set and sure enough we could hear him coming down through the rocks. KP was carrying his rifle while I had my bow, so when the bull stopped in the brush at 120 yards, KP fired but the bullet didn’t make it through all the brush. The bull continued down.

We left our blood trail and picked up the new trail and he had reopened his wound which was bleeding freely, so the track was easy to follow. We jumped him in the thick stuff two more times and I got a good look at him the second time. He was limping bad and going slow, but still on the move. He moved down into the low country and when Phan joined us, he said he’d had a shot at the kudu and both times he was about to squeeze the trigger, the bull had moved out of sight.

We kept at it and the blood trail began to ease and we were finding big clots every once in a while. Finally, the blood stopped entirely but the trackers kept going.

I couldn’t see a trace of what they were following but every time my confidence began to flag and I was on the verge of believing they were off the trail entirely, they would find a tiny drop of blood or a smear on a low hanging twig, and my confidence would be restored. Their skill was quite incredible, actually.

After several hours, KP came to me and said “Matt, I would normally never suggest this, but because this is a huge bull, I think we should consider calling in a helicopter”. Really?! Fantastic idea! I had been feeling pretty low but the idea of bringing in a helicopter to help us track the wounded kudu, as wild west as it sounded, brought back hope. And at that point, I didn’t really care about all your judging eyes!

After a few phone calls, KP had one on the way and within 30 minutes the smallest helicopter you’ve ever seen, landed in the field we’d driven out to. After a short powwow, the pilot asked me if I wanted to grab my rifle and jump in with him but when he found out I weighed 200 lbs, he withdrew his offer saying he couldn’t take up that much weight and I didn’t look that fat. Well, at least there was that…

So I hung out with the guys while the helicopter began to make huge swaths in the air, looking for our bull. He found plenty of kudu, including some mature bulls, but every time he came over the radio to tell us, he confirmed it wasn’t our bull. After about an hour, the pilot radio’d and asked if the trackers could get back on the track so he could get a line on the kudu’s route. It was big country with small rolling hills and super thick bush. Luckily the bush didn’t have leaves yet, so the pilot could see into them.

It was interesting watching the pilot maneuver his helicopter. He was clearing the trees by what seemed like only 10 feet and skimmed along making big turns with occasional stops to hover as he checked something out.

We were all on pins and needles, especially me and the 2 PH’s. Someone had dropped a tailgate and pulled out a cooler and we were all grabbing a bite and getting a drink when 30 minutes later the radio suddenly came to static life and our pilot was speaking fast in Afrikaans.

It was pure mayhem as everyone threw food on the ground and made a mad dash for vehicles. KP threw the cooler in and slammed the tailgate and 3 trucks took off on the dirt track (the owner had joined us for this bit of fun).

We had an idea where the helicopter was and it wasn’t long before we could see it hovering 70 feet in the air. Our dirt road took us within 500 yards of where he was so we stopped and he said he would try to push the bull toward us.

We piled out and Phan handed me his rifle. I threw him a thanks and ran down a trail toward where the helicopter was hovering and moving back and forth. Suddenly we saw the bull. He pulled up at about 150 yards and KP tried a shot through some heavy brush that got deflected. The Kudu turned and went deeper into the brush. I ran down toward where he had disappeared, thinking the others were behind me.

The helicopter suddenly turned and flew off almost straight away from me. Within seconds it was gone from sight although I could still hear it. As I turned to make my way back to the trucks, I saw KP’s buddy roar by with the owner of the ranch. As I was sprinting toward the road, KP whipped past in his truck as well, leaving me alone and far behind with just the settling dust and the diminishing sound of the helicopter to keep me company.

What the?!

Obviously KP thought I was with Phan. With nothing else to do, I slung the rifle across my back, and started hoofing it after them. When the track took a big turn I left it and continued across the bush after the faint sound of the helicopter. As I was making my way, running then walking, the silence was suddenly split with 4 or 5 sharp staccato shots, a pause, and 2 more, followed by a much heavier boom. Two more booms, a long pause and another boom followed by silence and I knew I had missed my own damn party.

I could still hear the helicopter so had a bearing and as I was traversing a small hill with lots of rocks on top, I looked up and rooting around the rocks was a bushpig! I stopped and stared, surprised to see it in the middle of the day. It had no idea I was there. Bushpig have never really been on the menu for me, although I imagined at some point I would hunt them over bait at night.

So with that in mind, I continued walking toward him. When I was within 40 yards he became aware of my presence, turned and started to run. I stood and watched him go for a 2 or 3 seconds before being overcome with an overwhelming desire to have my own party. So I shot him

I stopped long enough to snap this picture with my phone. Super unique looking animals… wonder what my wife will say when I pick up the shoulder mount for this guy!

Luckily there was a game trail 20 feet from where he dropped, and thinking I would follow it to a better landmark, I started down it. Within 5 minutes it crossed the dirt track, which I turned and followed.

The helicopter was gone so I was walking along following the tire tracks and it took me another 10 or 12 minutes to catch up with the fetchers that had left me.

It was a rather sheepish group of PH’s, ranch owner, and trackers that greeted me as I walked up on this:

We loaded the bull and moved to the field we’d met the helicopter at for our photo shoot.

KP and Phan told me at one point this was a 60-inch bull. One horn measured 58 ½ inches and the other horn measured 59 ¼ inches. He was old, mature, and perfect!