SOUTH AFRICA: First Time Safari With Grandfather At Ditholo Safaris

[aaronjo2324]

OUTFIT
Outfitter/PH

• Ian Tolmay

Trackers

• Mike
• Jacob

Location

• Limpopo

GEAR
Rifle

• Thompson Center Venture .300 Win Mag
• Vortex Viper HST 6-24x50
• Handloaded Barnes 175 gr LRX
• Pelican 1750 Gun Case

Binoculars

• Swarovski 10x42 SLC
• Alaska Guide Creations Kodiak Cub Max

Clothing

• Under Armour Heat Gear base layer (tan color)
• Magellan Laguna Madre Shirt (moss color)
• Prana Zioneer Pants (brown) - too thin for Africa thorn brush. Stopped wearing after a couple days
• Wrangler Five Star Denim Stretch Pants (camel color) – perfect amount of thickness for brush and enough stretch to hike around in

Boots

• Filson Merrell MQM Trail Runner Hiking Boots

PREFACE

There I was sitting on a 16 hour flight in the middle of 26 hours of total travel wondering what the next week had in store for me and how I got to be in this position of traveling to Africa. It’s surreal. So much work went into getting to this point and its finally here.

In February of 2020, I was at a Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet in Eagle, CO. I didn’t really have a plan to buy anything. This was my first RMEF banquet so I was excited to see what it was all about. I arrive and notice a booth setup for an outfitter out of Africa. I start thumbing through the pamphlet of auction items and notice that there will be a 7 day Africa hunt going up for auction. I went to the booth to see what the hunt would include. I spoke to the owner and PH of Ditholo Safaris – Ian Tolmay. He had a thick South African accent and was straight forward, not a salesman at all. About a year before at the Denver Sportsman’s Expo, I had talked with a bunch of African outfitters and at times, it felt like a high pressure used car sale. Ian’s straightforward demeanor was something that I liked. He told me that the hunt that would be going up for auction would be a 2 person all inclusive hunt and the animals on the list would be one sable, one blue wildebeest, two impalas, and two warthogs. We would also be able to add additional animals from the price list. I knew that I wanted to bid on this hunt if it was the right price. The sable would make everything worth it. I had a price in mind going into the auction and told myself that I would stay at or below that number. When the bidding started, there were only two of us that were going back and forth with the bids. When the auction closed, I had won. I was going to Africa. This was a dream of mine since I was a kid. I knew there was only one person that I was going to ask to go as the second hunter for this trip – my grandfather. He was the one who first took me hunting and set me off on the right foot to be successful as a hunter. He was 71 at the time and wouldn’t have too many more years of hunting left. This would be perfect to have hunting come full circle – he helped me start hunting and now I get to be the one that takes him to Africa to hunt. I talked to him and he was very excited about going. I told him that he could have an impala and warthog and to start thinking about the list and see if there was something he would like to add on.

I had originally wanted to go in October of 2020. But this little thing called COVID-19 happened. The craziness of it kicked off only a couple weeks after purchasing the hunt. October 2020 was out of the question. Eventually South Africa started opening up again and I talked with Ian and we planned on October 1, 2021 for the date of the hunt. October would be the beginning of spring in South Africa.

Flying to SA would be a long day of travel any which way that you go. My travels would be especially long. I live in Denver, CO and have a nice big airport next to me with daily flights to Newark. However, since my grandpa was going with me, I would be flying out of the El Paso, TX airport to Houston, TX then to Newark, NJ, then to Johannesburg. This would entail a 10 hour drive each way in addition to the flying. I drive down on Wednesday and we fly out on Friday. The total length of travel starting from El Paso to Johannesburg is 26 hours. This was going to be a long long long day of travel. I won’t make any of you re-live my experience what its like to travel for that long. Eventually we make it to Johannesburg. We exit and immediately meet up with Ian and the @riflepermits.com people. It was simple to get the guns. They had our pre-approved permit, we open the gun cases, we verify serial numbers, and away we go. The property that we would be staying at and hunting was a couple hours north of Johannesburg near Modimolle. We make the drive and arrive. Its late and we are exhausted from traveling. When we get to the property, its amazing. There are 5 chalets, a lodge, and a fire pit in the middle. There is already a fire going and Ian’s family helps us unload and get our bags into our rooms. We get something to drink and snack on food around the fire. We ask Ian what time we should be up in the morning and I said it looked like sunrise was at 5:45 and I figured we’d head out around 5. Ian says “Here is what I tell people - This is vacation. This isn’t survival camp. Be ready to leave around 7:00.”

With my grandpa now 73 years old having had knee replacements, nerve damage, torn shoulders, bad back, everything under the sun, Ian tailored this hunt to fit that for us. There wouldn’t be long walks or stalks on game. Everything was going to have to be taken from or close to the truck. I knew I had plenty of years to come back to Africa hunt with long walks and stalks. This one was about being able to experience Africa with my grandpa and have him be there for all of the animals that I was going to harvest. There are plenty of opinions of what “hunting” is, some say shooting from the truck isn’t hunting. Being from the west I could make the argument that sitting in a tree stand near a feeder or waterhole isn’t “hunting”. But that’s not the case - Hunting is what you make of it. You are outdoors, pursuing game, creating memories, having new experiences, and doing what you love. That’s hunting. I’ve hunted deer 7 miles back in the wilderness in Colorado and now hunted Africa mainly from a truck. Do I think one is more legitimate that the other? No. Does one mean more than the other? No. Will I go back to experience hunting in a different way in Africa? Absolutely. Will any of those animals be better trophies in my book than these one? No, they’ll be different trophies - these are trophies because I got to experience them with my grandpa. I won’t have any other African trophies that will ever fit that. Sorry for this whole disclaimer in this whole paragraph. It drives me crazy at times on forums that some individuals claim that there is only one way to hunt, one definition of a trophy, etc. Like shooting game at long range: that anything over 300 yards isn’t “hunting”, its “shooting”. Alright, the animal is at 299 yards, now its “hunting” but one yard further its “shooting”. Or insert any yardage where a line is drawn. Between hunting New Mexico, Colorado, and now Africa I’ve harvested 32 big game animals. Some were big, some were small, some were close, some were far (I sound like Dr Suess now). I’ve killed a 180 inch deer with an open sight muzzleloader above treeline in Colorado, 36 inch oryx bull at 67 yards spot and stalk in New Mexico, barbary sheep at 670 yards from cliffs in New Mexico, now a kudu at sub 50 yards from the truck on an African safari. Is any one animal more legitimate in my book? Nope. Each one was unique, each one created a memory, each one I enjoyed. Its simple in my book, if you don’t like someone else’s style of hunting, then don’t do it….. but also, don’t diminish their accomplishment or memory because its not something that fits your definition. ALRIGHT, now that all that is out of the way, if you would like to continue reading, now is the fun part of the hunt. If not, then move along with your life and scroll to the next hunting report that suits what you want to read about.

 

[aaronjo2324]

Day 1

I slept amazing after arriving. Waking up, I had no jetlag at all. I think the sheer amount of travel had me exhausted. I wake up around 6:15 and head to the lodge. Ian and my grandpa are already awake and Ian is making coffee. I snack on some cookies and have a water to drink. Ian tells us that we’ll start out making sure that our rifles were still on. We go and grab our rifles and go to his 100 yard shooting target behind the lodge. My grandpa is up first. He shoots 3 shots and he’s 3 inches high at 100 yards – pretty typical sight-in elevation when hunting out west. Ian tells us to adjust to be no more than 1 inch high at 100. We get my grandpa’s .300 Win Mag adjusted to 1 inch high at 100. I notice something though. He’s not shooting Barnes bullets like usual. I ask what bullets that he brough and he said “150 gr Remington bullets”. I asked him why he didn’t bring his 180 gr Barnes TTSX bullets and he said that Ian’s hunt information pamphlet said to bring 60 bullets and he only had 40 Barnes but had 60 of the Remington Core Lokts. I promptly tell my grandpa that he can use my 175 gr Barnes LRX bullets for the hunt. Luckily, I had also brought a .300 Win Mag. I’m sure Remington Core Lokts have killed a lot of animals around the world but I wasn’t going to chance anything on a lightweight bullet on an African hunt. I trust heavy copper bullets…..and 150 grains out of 300 Win Mag is extremely fast and Core Lokts already open up fast. I put one of my bullets in his gun and shoot at 100 yards. Its dead-on at 100 now. I shoot my gun and put 3 bullets within an inch at 100. We’re ready to go for the hunt.

Pretty soon after shooting the rifles, the trackers and housekeepers arrive. We are introduced to our two trackers for the hunt – Mike and Jacob. We make introductions and Ian tells us to load up, we’re headed out to hunt impala. This first drive in Africa was amazing. Everything you see in pictures, videos, or dream about is right in front of you – an assortment of African animals, big, small, in herds, alone. Everything. We see blue wildebeest, impala, blesbok, red hartebeest, zebra, waterbuck, King’s wildebeest, golden wildebeest. Then from a distance I see a giraffe. I’ve seen then in zoos but seeing one out here was different. We drive closer and there are actually 2. They watch us and go back to feeding. All I’m thinking is – “wow, I’m really in Africa”. We drive quite a few roads looking for an impala but nothing that Ian wants us to go after. At 10 am, we head back to the lodge for brunch. After finishing up there, its about 11 am. We’ll have an hour to hunt before everything beds down mid-day. We start driving and find a herd of about 10 impala. Mike and Ian tell us “get ready”. I told my grandpa that he could shoot first. The impala are in some thick brush and we are trying to get an angle to shoot the ram in the group. The impala finally gives my grandpa a shot. He’s quartered away standing still. Just as my grandpa shoots, the impala starts walking. I didn’t hear a hit and the impala took off like it wasn’t hurt at all. We go to where the impala was standing and start looking for blood. There isn’t any to be found. Then Mike and Jacob start following the tracks. The herd split into two after the shot. Each of them took a path following the tracks. After about 100 yards, I hear one of them start whistling and I hear Ian saying “uh oh, uh oh, uh oh”. There was blood. It was two very very small drops. We continue following the tracks and can’t find anymore blood. We head back to the Land Cruiser to try to find the impala herd. We see them and the ram isn’t hurt at all. He must have been grazed by the bullet. We never get a shot at them again. The rules are that if you draw blood, that’s the same as killing the animal. Impala is over for my grandpa. Ian explains that even though it just grazed him that flies or other insects will get into an open wound and eventually it will kill the animal. Both me and my grandpa were pretty somber. First animal and its lost.

We head back to the chalets to rest. Ian tells us to be ready to go at 3:00. We get some rest and before we know it, 3:00 rolls around. We head out and about 10 minutes into hunting we see a lone impala ram. Ian says it’s a good ram and then Mike and Jacob tell me to get ready. The impala is walking parallel to us but there is so much vegetation. After some maneuvering I finally have a shot. Its not a very big opening, but its probably the best I’m going to get in this brush. Its about a 4” x 4” opening right into the impala’s shoulder at about 100 yards. I get the crosshairs settled on him and squeeze the trigger. The impala drops immediately and then gets back up. After what happened that morning it seems like an eternity that he’s running. In reality, it was probably less than 2 seconds. He runs about 10-20 yards starts spinning in a circle and then is finally down for good. I’ve got my first African animal. Upon walking up to it, the first thing that I think is – wow, impalas are much smaller body-wise than I thought. I check out where the shot was and it was perfect.

That wrapped up day 1 of hunting.

 

[aaronjo2324]

Day 2

We get up and have the same routine as the day before – coffee and cookies for breakfast and head out at 7. Today we would be after a blue wildebeest. This was actually the quickest hunt for any of the animals. Ian has a great selection of wildebeest. There are blue wildebeest, golden wildebeest, King’s wildebeest, and white wildebeest. We head out along the main road and take a side road and come up on a mixed herd of wildebeest. There were a few King’s wildebeest, a couple golden wildebeest, and a lone blue wildebeest. They were about 120-150 yards away just feeding. Mike and Jacob ask me if I can see the blue wildebeest. I confirm that I can and they tell me to get ready. I get the crosshairs on the wildebeest and he moves behind a bush. He’s just feeding and doesn’t really care about our presence. I have the crosshairs waiting for him as he comes out from the other side. He steps out and the front half of his body of clear of the brush. I squeeze the trigger and through the scope I see him drop. As you know, when hunting some moments that are short seem much longer. I remember see him drop, dropping the gun down and breathing a sigh of relief. I had heard that wildebeest are tough animals and a “poor man’s buffalo” due to how many shots they can take. I had so much relief that he dropped on the spot. This seemed like it took forever breathing this sigh of relief almost like slow motion. The next thing I remember is hearing Ian, Mike, and Jacob saying “reload reload reload!”. I snap out of my relief, put another bullet in the chamber, and get the scope back up on the wildebeest. I stay waiting there. After a few minutes of making sure that he was down for good, we walk up to the wildebeest. Ian explains to me that wildebeest - 1. rarely drop on the spot dead and 2. If they do drop on the spot, that usually they will hop back up on their feet within a couple minutes and will take off running. Now everything made sense of them telling me to reload immediately. When we walk up to see where the shot was, Ian points at the entrance hole and tells me “well they don’t get up and run when you shoot them there”. It was perfectly square in the center of his shoulder. After taking pictures, loading the wildebeest up, and taking him to the skinning shed we head out looking for a warthog. It was day 2 and we still hadn’t seen a warthog. We seen everything else except a warthog. I figured that these little pigs would be one of the easiest animals to hunt, but I was wrong.

That afternoon Ian planned for us to go to a different property to look for warthogs. There was a big dirt tank there and it was more open terrain for us to see warthogs. He said we would find a nice shade tree and set up the chairs, have some cool drinks, and wait for a warthog to come in. He also said that there were big kudu there and we would take one if the opportunity presented itself. We arrive at the other property and upon driving up to the dirt tank, I see 3 warthogs running off. Ian tells me “kudu bull”. I had completely missed him looking at the warthogs. They blend in so well to this bushveld vegetation. His horns are in the overhanging brush and we don’t get a good look at him. Like kudu do, he vanished into the brush. We make a loop around the waterhole and get out of the Land Cruiser to try to see him in the thick brush. We find him again and there were actually 2 kudu bulls. They spook from the brush and head to a more open area. We get a good look at both of them. They both looked big to me and Ian said that one was ALMOST there for being big enough but that we could do better. I ask Ian how you know when its big enough and he told me that I’ll hear it in his voice, Mike’s voice, and Jacob’s voice. There won’t be a doubt when it a big kudu bull. We head back to the dirt tank and the wind wasn’t cooperative for the warthogs. It would be blowing directly into the thick brush that they would be coming from. We decided to drive around the property to see if we could spook one up. It was midday so they wouldn’t be out and about. We see what Ian told us was sow with a young warthog - all I saw were the butts running straight away. They were also much smaller than I expected them to be. I started to think that my idea of warthogs being easy to hunt was naïve.

That evening we head to yet another property in search of these warthogs. This was very open terrain with short grass and would allow us to see the warthogs easily. We end up seeing three warthogs feeding out in the open. The terrain, vegetation, and wind was perfect. They were probably 500 yards from the truck with no idea that we were there. We hop off the Land Cruiser and head in for a stalk. Ian and Mike are in front then me and then my grandpa. We have enough bushes to cover our approach and we would be at about 120-150 yards from the warthogs to shoot. When we get to about 150 yards from the warthogs I see my grandpa pointing at something to our right only 75 yards away. It was a lone warthog. He had come out of the brush, saw us, then took off. No chance for a shot. Luckily the other 3 warthogs still were unaware of our presence. We get to a spot where we could put the binoculars on them to see if they were ones that we wanted to shoot. A quick look and it was a sow and two immature warthogs. We stayed there for a few minutes and then the wind shifted and they were gone. We head towards where the Nylriver crosses the property. And we get stuck in the mud. Mike and Jacob said they had just taken out the tow straps/slings that morning. We had a winch but it wasn’t long enough. Ian makes a call to Soli who works on the ranch to grab the slings and bring them on the little utility vehicle that’s used around property. Mike and Jacob set out on foot to meet Soli at the nearest fence to guide Soli to where we were at. Me, Ian, and my Grandpa hang out at the Land Cruiser for an hour or two and I wasn’t in the least bit upset. It was a gorgeous sunset, in Africa, hunting, and spending time with my grandpa. It was surreal soaking it all in. Eventually we see a distant light of the utility vehicle. We set up the slings to the winch and in a couple of minutes we are out of there and headed back to camp.

 

[aaronjo2324]

Day 3

Today was the day for sable. This was the entire reason that I purchased this hunt. I thought sable were absolutely gorgeous and an amazing trophy. We head out to hunt the part of the property that had much thicker brush. We drive the roads and see lots of animals but not any sable. We go more towards the open area of the property and we finally see what we’re looking for. A jet black sable with long horns that sweep back. He was a couple hundred yards from the Land Cruiser walking parallel to us. We hop out of the back of the truck, grab the sticks, and start the stalk. It was wide open terrain. We were trying to walk fast parallel to him to catch up for a broadside shot. We finally get parallel with him and get the sticks set up for a shot. He turns and starts walking away. I have the crosshairs on him, but no shot. I’m just waiting for him to turn broadside or even just quartered away. Ian is next to me telling me to be patient and not to shoot until he turns. The place that he decided to turn was right behind a bush. I didn’t have a shot. We walk briskly to catch up. We see him again in the brush, I get set up on the sticks, but he is walking away. This happens 4 times. I’ve had this sable in my crosshairs 5 times and I was always looking at his butt. He isn’t spooked, he just doesn’t want anything to do with us. He heads for a real thick area of vegetation and Ian tells us we’ll hop in the Land Cruiser and try to cut him off on the other side. By the time we get to the Land Cruiser and make the loop, we see his tracks in the road - he has crossed the road and gone deeper into the thick vegetation. We drop off Mike and Jacob to follow the tracks and we head in the Land Cruiser to wait to where he should be pushed to. As we’re driving, I see him off the drivers side. I just see the white and black of his face. I tap frantically on the window for Ian to stop. He stops, we get out the sticks, I get set up, and he’s walking away again. The brush is too thick to stalk him. 6 times in the crosshairs. We continue down the road the way he is headed and wait down an open lane that I can see for a couple hundred yards. He’s has to come out of the brush here with Mike and Jacob walking through the brush. We wait there probably 20 minutes. We see monkeys and impala being spooked out of the brush but no sable. We see Mike and Jacob come out of the brush and they’re as confused as we are. The sable seems like he disappeared. We go back to the last place we saw him on the hoof where I had the crosshairs on him. Mike and Jacob pick up the tracks and we wait for them to radio us which way that he headed. While we’re waiting Ian tells me “I’ve never seen a sable with wings until maybe now” A couple minutes later Mike and Jacob call Ian on the radio and said the sable double backed on his tracks. The same place where we saw the tracks on the road is the exact same place he went back to where we were stalking him this morning. We head that way in the Land Cruiser and find him again. He’s finally broadside at about 200 yards and he’s just walking slowly. I get set up and Ian says to wait for him to stop. He’s not stopping. He’s about 20 yards from being out of sight due to the brush. Ian says “shoot him on the walk” I get the crosshairs on him and get ready to shoot. He finally stops. I have buck fever for the first time since being a teenager. Instead of focusing on a specific spot on the sable that I want to shoot, I’m focused on the sable as a whole. I pull the trigger and immediately knew that it was a bad shot. As I’m writing this, I can still picture the sight picture and where the crosshairs were when I pulled the trigger. It was too far back. After the shot, we hear the hit and he hunches. It was a gut shot. Mike and Jacob are motioning to each other that it was far back and making a hunching motion. I tell Ian right away that it wasn’t a good shot, it was too far back. Everything is going through my head. It was the animal that I wanted most, I hit it back, probably won’t find blood, he was headed into the hills with lots of rock and tracking would be tough or almost impossible. We get to the spot where I shot and we see tracks but no blood. I look up towards the direction that he went and he’s down maybe 100 yards away on the hill in between some big rocks. He’s not dead yet but he wasn’t going anywhere. After he didn’t move for a couple minutes we head up there. I see the entry hole – exactly like I thought, middle of the body. All I’m thinking is – how is this sable dead? I look on the other side at the exit hole and see bubbles coming from it. It turns out that I had gotten lucky and hit the very back of the offside lung. I didn’t realize it, but the sable was slightly quartered away when I shot. I got very very lucky with him. I was so caught up in thinking that I had put a bad shot on him and that we were going to lose him that I hadn’t even taken a moment to realize that I was able to hunt and harvest this beautiful antelope. I didn’t have the walk up to him to truly appreciate the moment. It finally settled in that I harvested what I came here for. I was able to appreciate the old smart bull who tried everything to give us the slip that morning.

We get the sable loaded up, move him to a better spot to take pictures, and take him to the skinning shed. I decided to go with them to see them break down the sable at the shed and my grandpa went into town with Ian to get supplies to repair a pipe leak. I was really wanting to know where that bullet hit and how I got lucky. Watching Mike and Jacob dress the sable, I saw the lungs and liver when they pulled everything out. I had hit mainly liver and then the very top of the offside lung. The bullet was less than ½ inch from completely missing the lung. It was luck that it wasn’t a lost animal or an all day tracking job. I knew that I still had a kudu and warthog on my list and I needed to make sure to stay calm and focus with the shots. I hadn’t had any issues with that on the impala or wildebeest, but seeing a kudu, I knew it was a very real possibility to get buck fever again and forget the fundamentals of aiming and focusing on a specific spot on the animal versus the entire animal itself.

That afternoon we had planned on fixing the pipe leak and going after warthogs again at the dirt tank. Pipe leak gets fixed in no time and we head to the other property. Coming into the gate, Ian tells me to be ready because one of his previous clients killed a big kudu bull only a couple hundred yards onto the property and that you never know when you’ll see them. We head a ways onto the property without any kudu to be seen. There was an open area with brush around it that we drove through trying to kick up a warthog. We were unscuccessful but we did see a herd (?) of 17 mongoose running through the open area. That was neat to see. I expected them to be much bigger and not to travel in herds. Without our warthog drive being successful we head in the direction of the water hole. We’re driving and Ian stops abruptly. Mike and Ian are behind me and whisper “kudu bulls”. I’m trying to find them and then realize that I’m looking too far. They’re less than 50 yards ahead in the brush. I can’t hear Ian since I was on the passenger side of the truck. I didn’t know if they were big enough to shoot. I ask Mike and Jacob “do I shoot?” and they said “front one, wait for him to clear the brush”. I wait and he took one step forward and I shoot. The shot feels great and I don’t remember hearing it hit. He doesn’t flinch, jumps a fence and runs straight across the front of the Land Cruiser towards some thick brush. When he crossed in front of us, I saw the entrance hole. I convinced myself that the bullet hole was too high on his shoulder. We hear him running through the brush and then silence. Everything had happened so incredibly fast I didn’t have time to think about it. Ian says “that kudu didn’t go far”. I wasn’t sure. I told myself that I hit him high and him running through the brush sure sounded like it was far away. I was telling myself that an animal shot at 50 yards with a 300 Win Mag and 3500+ ft lbs of energy shouldn’t have gone anywhere. Ian tells my grandpa “he shot it right through the f#$^#*g liver”. I had a brief moment of panic. But then realized that Ian was joking with my grandpa. Since the first night at being at camp, my grandpa and Ian had talked about their favorite meal – liver. Ian promised my grandpa that he would make him his secret recipe of kudu liver when I killed one. This is all my grandpa had talked about at dinner – eating liver. We hop out of the Land Cruiser where Jacob thinks he dropped and we start combing the brush. Then Jacob tells Ian something and Ian says “look right over there”. It was the kudu bull. I had only imagined it in my head that the shot was too high. It was perfect. 1/3rd up the shoulder and double lung. I had thought the sable was the prettiest animal that I was going to take on this hunt but I was wrong. Everything about that kudu was amazing. The spiral horns, the cape, the scars that he had from fighting. Every single thing was beautiful. Ian tells me that this is a very old bull. He said the bulls usually fully mature at 8 years old but that this one was much older. He had us look down the spiral of the horn and how it aligns directly with their eyes so that they can see where the point of their horns are when fighting. I was in disbelief. Unlike the sable, I got to soak this one in. We get the kudu loaded, take pictures, and head back to camp. My grandpa and Ian were excited about this one. They were finally going to get to have liver the next night.

 

[aaronjo2324]

Day 4

Day 3 was action packed. I got a sable and a kudu the same day. The pressure seemed like it was off for me on day 4 and I could breathe again without being on the edge of my seat the whole time. I still wanted a warthog, but a warthog isn’t the same as knowing you’re looking for a sable or kudu. This morning we were back after warthogs. These little pigs were tough to hunt. We head out to the same area where we got stuck in the mud and we don’t see any warthogs. We head back towards camp and we had just arrived when Ian gets a phone call from the guy that he leases land to for running cattle on it. Ian comes running back to the Land Cruiser and says “hold on tight. I have f*&@(*g cape buffalo on my property” We tore out of there on headed towards his other property. We arrive and see a guy walking with a rifle and you could tell had just come down from an adrenaline rush. They were talking in Afrikaans so I wasn’t sure what was going on. We head back towards where he came from and see the buffalo. I ask the guy what happened and he said that he knew he didn’t have cattle in that pasture and saw tracks and cow patties everywhere he went to go look for them and while walking through the brush he came upon a herd of buffalo at 60 yards. All that he had was his .308 that he brough in case he saw a warthog. He was expecting to come up on cattle and comes up close to Cape Buffalo with only a .308 in hand. Ian promptly gets on the phone and calls the neighboring landowner. The landowner hires someone with a helicopter to come in to push them back onto his property. It was cool to see. They landed the helicopter right next to us, cut a hole in the fence, and chased the buffalo back. We left pretty soon after they took off but we could hear the helicopter into the evening trying to chase them back.

We head back to camp to eat brunch and rest. Ian said that evening we would try to get my grandpa a zebra. I had noticed that the zebra were probably the most wary animals that I had seen thus far. We had seen them the previous days but they were always at a distance and seemed spooked for no reason at all. Similar to the warthogs, I thought zebra would be easy to hunt. When I invited my grandpa on the hunt and he said he wanted to add a zebra, all I thought was “what’s cool about hunting a zebra? It’s a striped horse”. I was dead wrong about zebra. I didn’t realize they were always on alert, would spook for any reason, or no reason at all, and they cover ground fast. We set out and eventually spot 3 zebra. It was a stallion, mare, and young zebra. We try to get my grandpa a shot from the Land Cruiser but they are too skittish. We have Jacob drop us off and try for a short stalk. We get to about 150 yards from them and the stallion is broadside. My grandpa has a good rest on the sticks but there is a branch about 100 yards away covering the vitals. The zebra spook and are off again. We try to cut them off and end up spooking up a warthog at less than 20 yards. He’s running straight away, no shot opportunity. We think we’ve lost the zebra so we call Jacob to come pick us up. As we’re walking towards the Land Cruiser Mike says “zebra! zebra!”. I look up and see them running straight towards us. They had looped around us and the Land Cruiser spooked them back towards us. They run to about 20 yards before veering off. They never stopped for a shot. We hop back into the Land Cruiser and head off towards them. We catch up and are about 150 yards from them. They are walking straight away and the stallion is in the back. They all stop and we wait for the stallion to turn broadside. We wait for what seems like forever and then the stallion finally turns enough for a hard quartering away shot. Ian tells my grandpa to shoot right behind the ribs. By grandpa shoots and the shot is perfect and right into the vitals. The zebra starts walking away and is doing the drunk walk – head low, swaying back and forth, coughing up blood, looking like he is about to drop. Then all of a sudden, you could see the shot of adrenaline hit him. He takes off running like he isn’t even hit. He runs a couple hundred yards and finally stops broadside. My grandpa puts another shot in him and he’s down.

Interesting thing about this zebra was Mike and Jacob found the first bullet lodged in the neck and this is what it looked like. This was the first Barnes that I’ve seen that didn’t expand. The entrance wound was about a 3 inch entrance wound almost as if it split the hide then entered from that quartering away shot. The bullet was also curved. Just overall weird. Not sure if anyone else has had this happen on hard quartering away shots? Also, thank goodness that my grandpa hadn't used the Core Lokts. I'm convinced that they wouldn't have penetrated like the Barnes did to reach the important stuff on the zebra.

 

[aaronjo2324]

Day 5

Back after those darn warthogs. Luckily this morning when Mike and Jacob were driving to camp, they saw 2 warthogs. We went to look for those. No luck. Not a warthog in sight. I was almost convinced that we may not get a single warthog, let alone 2 warthogs. Ian, Mike, and Jacob weren’t concerned though so I relaxed a bit. We head back to where we spooked that warthog while stalking the zebra. In almost the exact same place as the warthog was yesterday, we see a flash through the grass. It’s a warthog and it’s the same boar from yesterday. We cut across and got through the brush where we could see the warthog. He was about 150 yards and trotting away. It was a quartered away shot. Both me and my grandpa get the guns up and I had just started to put pressure on the trigger when I heard my grandpa’s shot. The 73 year old man with torn shoulders had gotten his gun up, found the warthog, and steadied the gun faster than me at 30 years old…. Don’t doubt those old guys and what years of experience brings. After he shot, the warthog spun and then fell. It was a great shot. We got up to the warthog and it was missing a tusk. As it turned out, the bullet entered the warthog’s neck and when it exited, it took out the offside tusk. Luckily Ian, Mike, and Jacob found the 3 missing pieces and the tusk was put back together. I was relieved that we had at least gotten one warthog. I felt lucky that we got one. Now the pressure was on me to close out the safari with another one.

That evening we went back to the property where I got the kudu. It’s the afternoon so we park under a shade tree in the Land Cruiser waiting for warthogs to come in to drink at the dirt tank. After a few minutes a sow with 2 young warthogs come in to drink. Then a boar comes over the top of the berm. Me, Ian, and Mike get out of the Land Cruiser to get closer. We had to move fast so I told my grandpa to wait in the Land Cruiser and he’ll get to see everything from that vantage point. We sneak closer to the water hole and I should have about a 75 yard shot at the warthog when we come around the big bush. Then at the edge of the water hole about 20 yards from us a blesbok that we didn’t see bedded stands up and ruins the stalk. All we see is the boar running off through the brush. We decide to take a drive around to some of the more open areas to try to find some different ones. We come to a big open area and Ian stops. I thought we had stopped to look at the kudu that were 100 yards from the truck. Then I hear Mike and Jacob say “warthog” and were pointing at about 10 o’clock from the truck. I stand up and I can see them. Its 3 warthogs feeding. Ian tells me to shoot the one on the left. I get the gun up and he says “about 200 meters”. Everything in Africa was so close due to the brush that I left my rangefinder at camp so I could use that pocket for my digital camera. Ian told me to take my time that they didn’t know we were there. I had a good rest and started to zoom up my scope. For the first time I took my scope off of 6x power. I zoomed up until I felt comfortable. When I had the crosshairs on the warthog he just seemed further than 220 yards. I thought it was closer to 275 yards. The .300 Win Mag with the 175 LRX bullets is pretty flat shooting. Being zeroed at 100, at 300 yards it would be 8 inches of drop. I held on the top 1/3rd of his body and squeezed the trigger. The shot felt great. Immediately I hear Ian say “miss” and I could see the dust from the bullet that got kicked up behind the warthog. I was so pissed at myself. These things had been the hardest thing to hunt. They’re small, they’re skittish, and always running away. A nice calm shot with a good rest and I missed. Then I hear Mike and Jacob pointing and talking in their native language. I didn’t know what they were saying but it wasn’t about me missing….. I asked them “did I get it?” and Jacob said “Yes yes. He is dead” with Mike nodding in agreement. Ian says that he didn’t hear the shot hit and saw the dust and thought it was a miss. We drive up to the warthog and I was in disbelief. He had huge tusks (in my first time to Africa opinion). I didn’t expect to get one like that. I would have been happy with any boar warthog at that point. Ian said that it was by far the biggest that they had killed that year. We took pictures and then headed back to camp. That was the end of the safari…..or so I thought.

 

[Nyati]

Great hunt so far

 

[aaronjo2324]

Day 6

We had taken all the animals on the list we weren’t flying out until the next day. Today was going to be relaxing. In the morning we take off in the Land Cruiser and check out some drinkers and just make a few loops to check out Ian’s white wildebeest and King’s wildebeest. They were checking to see if the females were pregnant. I guess he can tell from their bellies, I sure couldn’t. Good news, everything we saw was pregnant. We eat brunch, rest, then in the afternoon we head into Mookgopong to go pick up a truck that Ian had taken in for maintenance.

On the way back my grandpa asks Ian the price for an impala, they come to an agreement, and my grandpa was going to try to get an impala for redemption on wounding that one on the first day. Back at camp my grandpa unpacks his rifle, I unpack a handful of bullets for him, and we take off in search of an impala for him. We spot some and they offered some shots through tighter openings in the brush similar to my impala. But after the 1st impala that was wounded, my grandpa wasn’t taking any chances. It needed to be in the wide open and broadside. Eventually we come across 3 impala together. Two females and a ram. The ram is about 100 yards away in tall grass. He’s quartered away and slowly walking. I was convinced that my grandpa wasn’t going to shoot. Then I hear the gun go off and hear the bullet hit. The impala run off towards the left. Me, Ian, and Jacob hop out to start tracking it. Mike was helping my Grandpa get down from the back of the Land Cruiser. They were a little ways behind us. I hear Jacob tell Ian something in another language, by that time they had caught up with us. Ian grabs my grandpa by the shoulders quickly and Jacob grabs me by the shoulders and pulls my back and whispers to start recording. Ian tells my grandpa that the impala is straight ahead and to get ready to shoot again. He has my grandpa by the shoulders trying to point him where the impala is at and my grandpa is searching frantically with his eyes. Then out of the corner of his eye he must have seen me recording. He tells Ian “THE DAMN THING IS DEAD RIGHT BEHIND ME ISN’T IT?” and everyone starts laughing. It was under a tree less than 5 feet behind them. We all laughed and my grandpa wasn’t that entertained. Ian told him in almost 20 years of being a PH and doing that countless times that not a single person has every put it together that its right behind them and my grandpa was the first. Now that finally wrapped up the safari. A great fitting end to it.

 

[cls]

Congratulations to you and your grandpa on a successful safari. Thanks for the report

 

[Rare Breed]

OUTFIT
Outfitter/PH

• Ian Tolmay

Trackers

• Mike
• Jacob

Location

• Limpopo

GEAR
Rifle

• Thompson Center Venture .300 Win Mag
• Vortex Viper HST 6-24x50
• Handloaded Barnes 175 gr LRX
• Pelican 1750 Gun Case

Binoculars

• Swarovski 10x42 SLC
• Alaska Guide Creations Kodiak Cub Max

Clothing

• Under Armour Heat Gear base layer (tan color)
• Magellan Laguna Madre Shirt (moss color)
• Prana Zioneer Pants (brown) - too thin for Africa thorn brush. Stopped wearing after a couple days
• Wrangler Five Star Denim Stretch Pants (camel color) – perfect amount of thickness for brush and enough stretch to hike around in

Boots

• Filson Merrell MQM Trail Runner Hiking Boots

PREFACE

There I was sitting on a 16 hour flight in the middle of 26 hours of total travel wondering what the next week had in store for me and how I got to be in this position of traveling to Africa. It’s surreal. So much work went into getting to this point and its finally here.

In February of 2020, I was at a Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet in Eagle, CO. I didn’t really have a plan to buy anything. This was my first RMEF banquet so I was excited to see what it was all about. I arrive and notice a booth setup for an outfitter out of Africa. I start thumbing through the pamphlet of auction items and notice that there will be a 7 day Africa hunt going up for auction. I went to the booth to see what the hunt would include. I spoke to the owner and PH of Ditholo Safaris – Ian Tolmay. He had a thick South African accent and was straight forward, not a salesman at all. About a year before at the Denver Sportsman’s Expo, I had talked with a bunch of African outfitters and at times, it felt like a high pressure used car sale. Ian’s straightforward demeanor was something that I liked. He told me that the hunt that would be going up for auction would be a 2 person all inclusive hunt and the animals on the list would be one sable, one blue wildebeest, two impalas, and two warthogs. We would also be able to add additional animals from the price list. I knew that I wanted to bid on this hunt if it was the right price. The sable would make everything worth it. I had a price in mind going into the auction and told myself that I would stay at or below that number. When the bidding started, there were only two of us that were going back and forth with the bids. When the auction closed, I had won. I was going to Africa. This was a dream of mine since I was a kid. I knew there was only one person that I was going to ask to go as the second hunter for this trip – my grandfather. He was the one who first took me hunting and set me off on the right foot to be successful as a hunter. He was 71 at the time and wouldn’t have too many more years of hunting left. This would be perfect to have hunting come full circle – he helped me start hunting and now I get to be the one that takes him to Africa to hunt. I talked to him and he was very excited about going. I told him that he could have an impala and warthog and to start thinking about the list and see if there was something he would like to add on.

I had originally wanted to go in October of 2020. But this little thing called COVID-19 happened. The craziness of it kicked off only a couple weeks after purchasing the hunt. October 2020 was out of the question. Eventually South Africa started opening up again and I talked with Ian and we planned on October 1, 2021 for the date of the hunt. October would be the beginning of spring in South Africa.

Flying to SA would be a long day of travel any which way that you go. My travels would be especially long. I live in Denver, CO and have a nice big airport next to me with daily flights to Newark. However, since my grandpa was going with me, I would be flying out of the El Paso, TX airport to Houston, TX then to Newark, NJ, then to Johannesburg. This would entail a 10 hour drive each way in addition to the flying. I drive down on Wednesday and we fly out on Friday. The total length of travel starting from El Paso to Johannesburg is 26 hours. This was going to be a long long long day of travel. I won’t make any of you re-live my experience what its like to travel for that long. Eventually we make it to Johannesburg. We exit and immediately meet up with Ian and the @riflepermits.com people. It was simple to get the guns. They had our pre-approved permit, we open the gun cases, we verify serial numbers, and away we go. The property that we would be staying at and hunting was a couple hours north of Johannesburg near Modimolle. We make the drive and arrive. Its late and we are exhausted from traveling. When we get to the property, its amazing. There are 5 chalets, a lodge, and a fire pit in the middle. There is already a fire going and Ian’s family helps us unload and get our bags into our rooms. We get something to drink and snack on food around the fire. We ask Ian what time we should be up in the morning and I said it looked like sunrise was at 5:45 and I figured we’d head out around 5. Ian says “Here is what I tell people - This is vacation. This isn’t survival camp. Be ready to leave around 7:00.”

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With my grandpa now 73 years old having had knee replacements, nerve damage, torn shoulders, bad back, everything under the sun, Ian tailored this hunt to fit that for us. There wouldn’t be long walks or stalks on game. Everything was going to have to be taken from or close to the truck. I knew I had plenty of years to come back to Africa hunt with long walks and stalks. This one was about being able to experience Africa with my grandpa and have him be there for all of the animals that I was going to harvest. There are plenty of opinions of what “hunting” is, some say shooting from the truck isn’t hunting. Being from the west I could make the argument that sitting in a tree stand near a feeder or waterhole isn’t “hunting”. But that’s not the case - Hunting is what you make of it. You are outdoors, pursuing game, creating memories, having new experiences, and doing what you love. That’s hunting. I’ve hunted deer 7 miles back in the wilderness in Colorado and now hunted Africa mainly from a truck. Do I think one is more legitimate that the other? No. Does one mean more than the other? No. Will I go back to experience hunting in a different way in Africa? Absolutely. Will any of those animals be better trophies in my book than these one? No, they’ll be different trophies - these are trophies because I got to experience them with my grandpa. I won’t have any other African trophies that will ever fit that. Sorry for this whole disclaimer in this whole paragraph. It drives me crazy at times on forums that some individuals claim that there is only one way to hunt, one definition of a trophy, etc. Like shooting game at long range: that anything over 300 yards isn’t “hunting”, its “shooting”. Alright, the animal is at 299 yards, now its “hunting” but one yard further its “shooting”. Or insert any yardage where a line is drawn. Between hunting New Mexico, Colorado, and now Africa I’ve harvested 32 big game animals. Some were big, some were small, some were close, some were far (I sound like Dr Suess now). I’ve killed a 180 inch deer with an open sight muzzleloader above treeline in Colorado, 36 inch oryx bull at 67 yards spot and stalk in New Mexico, barbary sheep at 670 yards from cliffs in New Mexico, now a kudu at sub 50 yards from the truck on an African safari. Is any one animal more legitimate in my book? Nope. Each one was unique, each one created a memory, each one I enjoyed. Its simple in my book, if you don’t like someone else’s style of hunting, then don’t do it….. but also, don’t diminish their accomplishment or memory because its not something that fits your definition. ALRIGHT, now that all that is out of the way, if you would like to continue reading, now is the fun part of the hunt. If not, then move along with your life and scroll to the next hunting report that suits what you want to read about.

+1 on your thinking!!! Hunting is by your definition and no one else...never listen to anyone's definition of hunting...you do what fits you. awesome making memories with your grandfather...nothing can ever duplicate or replace that experience.

 

[375Fox]

Congratulations and thanks for the well written story. Also, no need for discussion at start about what is real hunting. You won’t find much besides positive comments on hunt reports here, the arguments are usually left for other threads.

 

[aaronjo2324]

Congratulations and thanks for the well written story. Also, no need for discussion at start about what is real hunting. You won’t find much besides positive comments on hunt reports here, the arguments are usually left for other threads.

Thank you for the info. I had seen plenty of discussion in other threads, good to know that its not in the hunting reports section

 

[gillettehunter]

Congrats on taking your grandfather. I tried to get my dad to go. He decided he was too old........... Wish he'd of gone. Nice animals. That pig of yours is exceptional. Well done.
Bruce

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats and thanks for sharing! Its awesome that you were able to take your grandpa along also!!!

 

[Trogon]

I really enjoyed your hunt story, thanks for sharing it. Best part for me was reading about taking your grandfather, that was a great thing to do. Excellent looking animals. Congrats!

 

[buck wild]

Kudos for Kudus

 

[BRICKBURN]

Well done.
Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

 

[MAdcox]

Congratulations on a great hunt with your grandfather. Family hunts are the best!

I had a similar experience as your Barnes. On my first trip I shot the Kudu in my avatar at a strong quartering to me shot and hit right on the point of his shoulder. It smeared the tip closed and the bullet tumbled, coming to rest in his off side flank. Penetrated heart and lungs and he only went about 30 yards. But it sure wasn't what I expected when we recovered the bullet.

165 grain Barnes TSX- 300WSM
Left is from my Kudu; Right is perfect performance recovered from my Blue Wildebeest.
Neither animal went 30 yards.

 

[smokepole]

My son took me the first time to Africa. Best thing hunting wise that ever happened. Been back 3 more times. Congrats on TROPHIES but the memories will last a lifetime. Take him again. Good report and good luck to bot of you.

 

[VertigoBE]

Congratulations to you and your grandfather on a great hunt! Very well done!