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- USA, Botswana, RSA(Limpopo x 5, Eastern Cape x 2, Northern Cape x 1, Northwest x 3), Hungary, Serbia, Zimbabwe
Hello All,
I’ve been a member on AH for a few years now but have not contributed much and I’ve decided that I need to change that….I figured that I would start with a hunting report from my latest trip to Africa……
To preface, this was my second safari and like most, I started planning this one about 2 minutes into my first safari. I knew immediately that I would be obsessed with trying to get back and relive the sights, sounds and emotions of hunting Africa….I just had no idea how obsessed I’d be…
Now, on to this trip….
After my return from my first trip, I of course had to tell all my friends and family about how great the trip was and that everyone should do it ONCE (hahaha…suckers!). As always happens, I had several people tell me that when I planned the next trip over, let them know and they would “see what they could do”…yeah right, I’ve heard that before and they always back out when it comes time to book. About two weeks later I set a tentative date (May 2016) and notified everyone that I had spoken to and to my surprise, 6 of about 20 people said to get them some details.
Now that I had an idea of how many were interested, I had to start looking for a trip/outfitter that could accommodate our wants/needs and budgets. I pretty much knew that it would have to be South Africa because of budgets and time constraints for some of the people that wanted to go, so that part was easy. So, in Dec 2014(Wow it doesn’t seem that long ago) I started my search in earnest. I checked with numerous outfitters online and on AH and just couldn’t quite find what I was looking for (to please everyone). Then in Jan 2015, we made our annual trip to DSC and bumped into Ed at EAI Outdoors(who books for Kubusi Safaris). I had spoken to him on several occasions at DSC and the Hunters Extravaganza (local hunting show), but honestly, I had never considered using them and I’m really not sure why?? After talking with him for a while, we decided to give him a shot and gave him a brief overview of what animals everyone wanted to hunt and budgets/time frames and he said he would email me a quote in a few days and give us a call.
A few days later, we received a quote and it was very attractive. I also did as much research on them as I could (mostly on this forum) and most of what I found was positive. Me and my buddy (Justin) and his wife (Stacy), who had both gone on the first safari with me, discussed it and decided that we would give them a shot and then ran the idea out to the rest of the group. Again, to my surprise, everyone said they were in and sent deposits. So, the group would consist of me, my dad, my brother (who had never hunted), Justin and Stacy, Justin’s dad and a buddy named Isacc.
Fast-forward to Jan 2016 – We again attended the DSC show and could not believe some of the prices we were seeing on buffalo hunts in SA! Justin and I spoke to several outfitters about making a 2nd trip to Africa in 2016 just to hunt buffalo….I didn’t really need to spend the money or time, but damn I couldn’t pass up the prices I was seeing. We discussed it more over dinner that night and decided we were going to do it. We went back to the show the next morning and talked to the same outfitters again and settled on the one we wanted to hunt with. We told him that our plans were to make a second trip back for the buff and he asked why we just didn’t add 2 or 3 days to our original trip and come hunt with him after we were done hunting plainsgame. Damn, why didn’t we think of that??? As it turned out, he was only about 1-1/2 hours away from where we were going to hunt and said he’d come pick us up and drop us off at the airport for the flight home. What a deal, right?! Well, we walked over to run all this by Ed to make sure it was cool if another outfitter picked us up from their lodge. He said that would not be a problem but asked why we didn’t just hunt buff with him. He said he would beat the deal that we were offered if we’d consider it. Long story short, we decided to hunt buff with Ed too and respectfully declined with the outfitter we had been talking to…more on that later.
So now, I would be hunting nyala, gemsbok, springbok, bushbuck, black wildebeest and CAPE BUFFALO!!! May can’t get here fast enough!
In between Jan 2016 and May 2016, Ed and I would occasionally communicate through email (usually prompted by me). Communication is one area I thought his operation could be improved. On my first safari, the booking agent sent us several packets that had all kinds of helpful info and answered most of the questions we had as well as the itinerary from the day we landed until the day we got back on the plane. I did get an itinerary from Ed but it changed several times right up until we landed in East London and that was a little frustrating. One thing that really blew my mind was he calls me at 7:00PM the night before we fly out to go over packing instructions and tips on how to get through the various airports and miscellaneous other tidbits of info . Strike 1 for Ed…this should have all been communicated weeks before along with the invitation letter from the outfitter that I had to request twice. All in all, not a deal killer, just frustrating and room for improvement.
Fast forward again to May 12th, 2016 – After countless emails/phone calls to Ed @ EAI, airlines, travel agents and to everyone in our group, our departure day had arrived! Everyone arrived at the airport on time (minor miracle) and everything went extremely smoothly with all our flights and connections. We arrive in SA, grab our luggage and head out to the SAPS office to grab our guns. On the way, we ran into Mr. X and Maurice from the Afton House who came along to help with getting the guns cleared. It took us a while because there were so many of us, but there were no problems and we were out in about an hour.
We arrived at Afton, visited with Annelise for a while and then had a great steak dinner. After dinner, my PH from my first safari stopped by to visit and had a few beers with us before we went to bed. It was good to see him and since I hunted with him in 2014, he has moved on to a different profession. I should mention that Afton is not the guest house that Ed recommends. I’m sure that the place that he uses is nice but Annelise will always have my business anytime I stay in Johannesburg….but that’s for another story.
We wake up early, have breakfast then back to the airport for our flight to East London. Mr. X meets us at the curb and directs us through the airport. He immediately gets us to the front of the line at the check in counter, helps us get our guns checked in and drops us off at security all in about 45 minutes. That guy is worth his weight in gold. The flight is to EL was short and uneventful.
We arrive in EL at 11:30AM, grab our luggage and as soon as we leave the luggage area, our PH’s are there to meet us. After introductions, they walk us over to the gun counter so we can start the process of retrieving our guns. While this process was going on, we all figured out which PH we’d be hunting with and kind of split up into groups. While talking to my PH (Andrew), he tells me something that was not part of the itinerary that I had received from Ed. He tells me that Justin, Stacy and I would be hunting with him and that we’d be heading to Tuskers Lodge and the rest of the group would be heading to Kubusi Lodge to hunt for 4-5 days and then meet back up with us….wait…what…WTF!? Why would you take a group that booked together and then split them up and not tell them until they are standing in the airport in EL?? I had several email conversations with Ed about wanting to hunt with my dad/brother a few times, so he knew that we didn’t want to be split up…Strike 2 for Ed. Andrew can immediately tell that I’m not cool with what he just told me and said not to worry and he would take care of it. He stepped away from the group and had a short phone conversation with someone. Two minutes later, he came back and said all was well and that we’d all go to Kubusi for 3-4 days and then all move to Tuskers for the balance of the trip….score 1 for Andrew. We all headed out to the trucks and packed away our luggage and guns and then off to Kubusi.
It was a beautiful 2 hour drive with lots of game seen along the way. I was a bit surprised at the lack of high fencing. On my previous safari we had hunted Limpopo and everything we saw there was high fenced. I was also surprised at the difference in terrain from Limpopo and knew that it was gonna be hard on a fat boy like myself…lol. We arrived at Kubisi at 3:00, had a late lunch, squared away our rooms, sighted in our guns and then drank a few beers and made a plan for the next few days. After a late dinner (impala stew) and a lot more beer, it was time to head to bed for good night’s sleep.
Kubusi Lodge is an older lodge but everything was in good working order and it was set in a beautiful location
Sunday May 15th – Today our hunt begins and for Justin, Stacy and I, bushbuck is on the menu. We get up around 5:30; have a quick breakfast and then a 45 minute drive to the property that we’ll be hunting for the day. We stop to say hello to the landowner and pick his brain on where he’s been seeing big bushbuck. We also find out that we are the first people to hunt this property this year which gets us pretty excited. The property is beautiful; deep valleys that are so thick with vegetation that I wondered how we’d actually see the animals. We cruise around for a few hours seeing lots of game but only small BB rams and ewes. Sometime after lunch, we cruised by an area where the landowner said he’d been seeing a nice ram and sure enough, he was out grazing in a little thicket. We had determined that morning that Justin would be up first, so they made a plan and off they went. About 45 minutes later, we hear the shot and can tell it’s a hit. Andrew calls us on the radio and off we go to see the first animal of the trip.
After taking a lot of pics and dropping of the ram and tracker at the skinning shed, we head out to look for a ram for me. About 4:30, we pull into an area where 3 valleys come together and start glassing. It doesn’t take long before we start seeing bushbuck. About 10 minutes go by and Andrew spots a nice one at about 500 yards and jumps off the truck and we start our way down the valley to close the distance. We get to about 200 yards and sit down on the steep valley wall, get the sticks set up and he points out the area where the bb should be on the opposite valley wall. About 10 seconds later, it steps out into a clearing and stops…I squeeze the trigger and it drops. Then a few seconds later it’s up (??) and moves to our left about 30 yards and stops again. I put the crosshairs in the same place as before and squeeze the trigger and he tumbles down the side of the valley about 50 yards and is down for good. When we get to the animal, we’re confused that we can only find one entry but two exit wounds. After closer inspection, we can tell that there were two entrance wounds but they were so close together that we didn’t see them at first. After pics, we headed to the skinning shed and while we waited, we chatted with the landowner and his family then back to Kubusi for dinner (eland steaks), beer and lots of stories around the fire.
Monday May 16th – Up at 5:30 again, another quick breakfast then off for an hour drive to hunt nyala and warthog on a different property. This was the hunt that I had been dreaming of for almost 2 years! We pulled into the property about 7:00 and picked up a second tracker and then a 10-15 minute drive up to the first spot to glass the mountain sides for nyala. We parked the truck walked to the edge of a cliff and started glassing. This went on for about 10 minutes with all of us glassing distant mountain sides straining our eyes to find a needle in a haystack. Then, tracker #2 tapped Andrew on the should and pointed directly below us about 50 yards…there stood the mostly beautiful nyala I had ever seen, glowing is the small patch of sunlight that he was standing in…then he turned his head slightly and the sun hit his horns and OMG….I knew this was the one I wanted!! I turned and looked at Andrew and his eyes were as big as mine! I knew then that this was a nice animal. As I looked back down at him, the ewe that he was with came out into the clearing and then they both took 2 steps and disappeared below us. We stepped away from the edge and made a plan…we would leave tracker #1 there with a radio and drive all the way around to the opposite mountain side and see if we could get a shot from there. We jumped in the truck for one of the scariest rides in my life. Every time we’d come to a switch back, we’d hit the brakes, turn the wheel and pray and I’d swear that we were going to slide off the mountain. We finally made it to the bottom and then repeated the whole thing again on the way back up the other side. We finally came to a stop about 400 yards from where we guessed the nyala would be. Me, Andrew and tracker # 2 got out of the truck and started easing our way closer. We finally got to within about 200 yards and checked with tracker #1 on the radio. He said that they had moved down to the valley floor and closer to where we were. We found a good vantage point, sat the gun up on the bipod and began to glass. About 5 minutes later the ewe popped out in a clearing just below us at 150 yards. I got on the gun and waited for the big bull to step out and about 10 seconds later he did. I got the crosshairs on his shoulder and just as I was touching the trigger, a young nyala bull came out of nowhere and ran the ewe away from us and of course, my bull was in hot pursuit. DAMN IT(and a few other choice words)!!!!! Andrew calmed me down the best he could and we began glassing again to try to figure out where he went. This went on for almost two hours and then I heard the radio crackle. It was tracker #1 and he had spotted him back on the same side of the valley as earlier that morning. We grabbed the rifle and bailed off the side of the mountain and made our way down to the bottom. After a little bit Andrew spotted him in a thicket about 250 yards from us and got me on the sticks. He pointed out a small gap in the thick bush and told me that he would most likely pass though there. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, the ewe stepped into the gap and I knew the bull should be right behind her. My heart was now pounding out of my chest……The bull finally stepped into the gap and Andrew whistled and the animal paused just long enough for me to settle the crosshairs and squeeze. He dropped out of sight and me and Andy high-fived and look back and he’s standing up…WTH…not again!?!? I get the crosshairs back on him as he moves back to the right and I shoot again and then he’s gone. Andy is concerned because he didn’t hear the 2nd bullet hit but I’m 100% positive (kinda) that I did hear it. We sat there for about 2 minutes and never saw him so we decided to send tracker #2 back to the truck to get the dog to send in to make sure he’s down. About 15 minutes later I can hear someone coming down the trail behind me and I turn and look and it’s my buddy Justin…lol I forgot we left them in the truck several hours ago. Tracker # 2 is with him along with the dog and off they go to hopefully find a dead nyala. From our vantage point, we can see him the entire time as he and the dog head towards the spot where we last saw the animal. My stomach is full of knots by this point and of course all kinds of bad things are running through my mind….he finally reaches the “spot” and gives us the thumbs up…relief!!!!
After a long picture session, we now have to figure out how to get this animal back to a road which would be no easy task. Then Andrew remembered that he saw some guys off in the distance, that were working in an alfalfa field, as we were sliding the truck down the mountain earlier that morning. He left us and the trackers with the animal and took off to recruit the guys in the field to give us a hand hauling it up the mountain. About 45 minutes later, help arrived and they had it to the top in no time at all.
We dropped the animal and both trackers off at the skinning shed and went to lunch at a local restaurant. After lunch, we went back and picked the trackers up again and off to look for warthog for Justin. We went to a different property than we hunted that morning and pulled up to a good glassing spot where we could see several waterholes. We sat there a good hour watching small boars and sows come to water and mostly bs’ing. We also see lots of other game including several nice waterbuck. While we sit there, Andrew tells us about a giant kudu that he’d seen in the area the last few years. He said that he figured it to be at least 56” but probably longer and described him as have a coat that was almost white….and you can guess what happens next. I’m watching a group of kudu cows milling around about 700-800 yards out and I look away for a split second and look back, a giant kudu is standing right behind them and he is almost white. I stare at him in awe for about 10 seconds and then I turn to Andrew and say “Hey, there’s the bull you’ve been talking about”. I direct him to where the bull is standing and he confirms that it’s him. Now, kudu is not on the menu this time but when one sees a kudu like that, especially in the East Cape and not behind a high fence, you have to go after him. I’m about to tell Andy that I want him and then I hear Stacy from the back seat say “I want that kudu, Andy”…damn it, she beat me to it. Andy calls the landowner to confirm that he’s fine with us hunting kudu and the price and off they go to try to get a shot at this truly grey ghost. I stay with the truck and watch them as they follow the group of kudu over the ridge. About an hour later, I see them come back over the ridge and you could tell by their body language that no shot had been taken. They finally make it back to the truck and said that soon after they went over the ridge, the kudu had given them the slip and not seen again. We drive around for another hour or so hoping to find them again but no luck.
About 5:00, we head back to the skinning shed to pick up my nyala horns and hide and head back to camp. We have kudu steaks tonight along with lots of beer and more stories from the group and everyone is having the time of their lives.
So far, here’s a list of what everyone has gotten and the end of day 2:
Me – bushbuck, nyala
Justin – bushbuck
Dad – impala, warthog
Brother – impala, warthog
Justin’s dad – impala
Isacc – impala, blesbuck
To Be Continued...
I’ve been a member on AH for a few years now but have not contributed much and I’ve decided that I need to change that….I figured that I would start with a hunting report from my latest trip to Africa……
To preface, this was my second safari and like most, I started planning this one about 2 minutes into my first safari. I knew immediately that I would be obsessed with trying to get back and relive the sights, sounds and emotions of hunting Africa….I just had no idea how obsessed I’d be…
Now, on to this trip….
After my return from my first trip, I of course had to tell all my friends and family about how great the trip was and that everyone should do it ONCE (hahaha…suckers!). As always happens, I had several people tell me that when I planned the next trip over, let them know and they would “see what they could do”…yeah right, I’ve heard that before and they always back out when it comes time to book. About two weeks later I set a tentative date (May 2016) and notified everyone that I had spoken to and to my surprise, 6 of about 20 people said to get them some details.
Now that I had an idea of how many were interested, I had to start looking for a trip/outfitter that could accommodate our wants/needs and budgets. I pretty much knew that it would have to be South Africa because of budgets and time constraints for some of the people that wanted to go, so that part was easy. So, in Dec 2014(Wow it doesn’t seem that long ago) I started my search in earnest. I checked with numerous outfitters online and on AH and just couldn’t quite find what I was looking for (to please everyone). Then in Jan 2015, we made our annual trip to DSC and bumped into Ed at EAI Outdoors(who books for Kubusi Safaris). I had spoken to him on several occasions at DSC and the Hunters Extravaganza (local hunting show), but honestly, I had never considered using them and I’m really not sure why?? After talking with him for a while, we decided to give him a shot and gave him a brief overview of what animals everyone wanted to hunt and budgets/time frames and he said he would email me a quote in a few days and give us a call.
A few days later, we received a quote and it was very attractive. I also did as much research on them as I could (mostly on this forum) and most of what I found was positive. Me and my buddy (Justin) and his wife (Stacy), who had both gone on the first safari with me, discussed it and decided that we would give them a shot and then ran the idea out to the rest of the group. Again, to my surprise, everyone said they were in and sent deposits. So, the group would consist of me, my dad, my brother (who had never hunted), Justin and Stacy, Justin’s dad and a buddy named Isacc.
Fast-forward to Jan 2016 – We again attended the DSC show and could not believe some of the prices we were seeing on buffalo hunts in SA! Justin and I spoke to several outfitters about making a 2nd trip to Africa in 2016 just to hunt buffalo….I didn’t really need to spend the money or time, but damn I couldn’t pass up the prices I was seeing. We discussed it more over dinner that night and decided we were going to do it. We went back to the show the next morning and talked to the same outfitters again and settled on the one we wanted to hunt with. We told him that our plans were to make a second trip back for the buff and he asked why we just didn’t add 2 or 3 days to our original trip and come hunt with him after we were done hunting plainsgame. Damn, why didn’t we think of that??? As it turned out, he was only about 1-1/2 hours away from where we were going to hunt and said he’d come pick us up and drop us off at the airport for the flight home. What a deal, right?! Well, we walked over to run all this by Ed to make sure it was cool if another outfitter picked us up from their lodge. He said that would not be a problem but asked why we didn’t just hunt buff with him. He said he would beat the deal that we were offered if we’d consider it. Long story short, we decided to hunt buff with Ed too and respectfully declined with the outfitter we had been talking to…more on that later.
So now, I would be hunting nyala, gemsbok, springbok, bushbuck, black wildebeest and CAPE BUFFALO!!! May can’t get here fast enough!
In between Jan 2016 and May 2016, Ed and I would occasionally communicate through email (usually prompted by me). Communication is one area I thought his operation could be improved. On my first safari, the booking agent sent us several packets that had all kinds of helpful info and answered most of the questions we had as well as the itinerary from the day we landed until the day we got back on the plane. I did get an itinerary from Ed but it changed several times right up until we landed in East London and that was a little frustrating. One thing that really blew my mind was he calls me at 7:00PM the night before we fly out to go over packing instructions and tips on how to get through the various airports and miscellaneous other tidbits of info . Strike 1 for Ed…this should have all been communicated weeks before along with the invitation letter from the outfitter that I had to request twice. All in all, not a deal killer, just frustrating and room for improvement.
Fast forward again to May 12th, 2016 – After countless emails/phone calls to Ed @ EAI, airlines, travel agents and to everyone in our group, our departure day had arrived! Everyone arrived at the airport on time (minor miracle) and everything went extremely smoothly with all our flights and connections. We arrive in SA, grab our luggage and head out to the SAPS office to grab our guns. On the way, we ran into Mr. X and Maurice from the Afton House who came along to help with getting the guns cleared. It took us a while because there were so many of us, but there were no problems and we were out in about an hour.
We arrived at Afton, visited with Annelise for a while and then had a great steak dinner. After dinner, my PH from my first safari stopped by to visit and had a few beers with us before we went to bed. It was good to see him and since I hunted with him in 2014, he has moved on to a different profession. I should mention that Afton is not the guest house that Ed recommends. I’m sure that the place that he uses is nice but Annelise will always have my business anytime I stay in Johannesburg….but that’s for another story.
We wake up early, have breakfast then back to the airport for our flight to East London. Mr. X meets us at the curb and directs us through the airport. He immediately gets us to the front of the line at the check in counter, helps us get our guns checked in and drops us off at security all in about 45 minutes. That guy is worth his weight in gold. The flight is to EL was short and uneventful.
We arrive in EL at 11:30AM, grab our luggage and as soon as we leave the luggage area, our PH’s are there to meet us. After introductions, they walk us over to the gun counter so we can start the process of retrieving our guns. While this process was going on, we all figured out which PH we’d be hunting with and kind of split up into groups. While talking to my PH (Andrew), he tells me something that was not part of the itinerary that I had received from Ed. He tells me that Justin, Stacy and I would be hunting with him and that we’d be heading to Tuskers Lodge and the rest of the group would be heading to Kubusi Lodge to hunt for 4-5 days and then meet back up with us….wait…what…WTF!? Why would you take a group that booked together and then split them up and not tell them until they are standing in the airport in EL?? I had several email conversations with Ed about wanting to hunt with my dad/brother a few times, so he knew that we didn’t want to be split up…Strike 2 for Ed. Andrew can immediately tell that I’m not cool with what he just told me and said not to worry and he would take care of it. He stepped away from the group and had a short phone conversation with someone. Two minutes later, he came back and said all was well and that we’d all go to Kubusi for 3-4 days and then all move to Tuskers for the balance of the trip….score 1 for Andrew. We all headed out to the trucks and packed away our luggage and guns and then off to Kubusi.
It was a beautiful 2 hour drive with lots of game seen along the way. I was a bit surprised at the lack of high fencing. On my previous safari we had hunted Limpopo and everything we saw there was high fenced. I was also surprised at the difference in terrain from Limpopo and knew that it was gonna be hard on a fat boy like myself…lol. We arrived at Kubisi at 3:00, had a late lunch, squared away our rooms, sighted in our guns and then drank a few beers and made a plan for the next few days. After a late dinner (impala stew) and a lot more beer, it was time to head to bed for good night’s sleep.
Kubusi Lodge is an older lodge but everything was in good working order and it was set in a beautiful location
Sunday May 15th – Today our hunt begins and for Justin, Stacy and I, bushbuck is on the menu. We get up around 5:30; have a quick breakfast and then a 45 minute drive to the property that we’ll be hunting for the day. We stop to say hello to the landowner and pick his brain on where he’s been seeing big bushbuck. We also find out that we are the first people to hunt this property this year which gets us pretty excited. The property is beautiful; deep valleys that are so thick with vegetation that I wondered how we’d actually see the animals. We cruise around for a few hours seeing lots of game but only small BB rams and ewes. Sometime after lunch, we cruised by an area where the landowner said he’d been seeing a nice ram and sure enough, he was out grazing in a little thicket. We had determined that morning that Justin would be up first, so they made a plan and off they went. About 45 minutes later, we hear the shot and can tell it’s a hit. Andrew calls us on the radio and off we go to see the first animal of the trip.
After taking a lot of pics and dropping of the ram and tracker at the skinning shed, we head out to look for a ram for me. About 4:30, we pull into an area where 3 valleys come together and start glassing. It doesn’t take long before we start seeing bushbuck. About 10 minutes go by and Andrew spots a nice one at about 500 yards and jumps off the truck and we start our way down the valley to close the distance. We get to about 200 yards and sit down on the steep valley wall, get the sticks set up and he points out the area where the bb should be on the opposite valley wall. About 10 seconds later, it steps out into a clearing and stops…I squeeze the trigger and it drops. Then a few seconds later it’s up (??) and moves to our left about 30 yards and stops again. I put the crosshairs in the same place as before and squeeze the trigger and he tumbles down the side of the valley about 50 yards and is down for good. When we get to the animal, we’re confused that we can only find one entry but two exit wounds. After closer inspection, we can tell that there were two entrance wounds but they were so close together that we didn’t see them at first. After pics, we headed to the skinning shed and while we waited, we chatted with the landowner and his family then back to Kubusi for dinner (eland steaks), beer and lots of stories around the fire.
Monday May 16th – Up at 5:30 again, another quick breakfast then off for an hour drive to hunt nyala and warthog on a different property. This was the hunt that I had been dreaming of for almost 2 years! We pulled into the property about 7:00 and picked up a second tracker and then a 10-15 minute drive up to the first spot to glass the mountain sides for nyala. We parked the truck walked to the edge of a cliff and started glassing. This went on for about 10 minutes with all of us glassing distant mountain sides straining our eyes to find a needle in a haystack. Then, tracker #2 tapped Andrew on the should and pointed directly below us about 50 yards…there stood the mostly beautiful nyala I had ever seen, glowing is the small patch of sunlight that he was standing in…then he turned his head slightly and the sun hit his horns and OMG….I knew this was the one I wanted!! I turned and looked at Andrew and his eyes were as big as mine! I knew then that this was a nice animal. As I looked back down at him, the ewe that he was with came out into the clearing and then they both took 2 steps and disappeared below us. We stepped away from the edge and made a plan…we would leave tracker #1 there with a radio and drive all the way around to the opposite mountain side and see if we could get a shot from there. We jumped in the truck for one of the scariest rides in my life. Every time we’d come to a switch back, we’d hit the brakes, turn the wheel and pray and I’d swear that we were going to slide off the mountain. We finally made it to the bottom and then repeated the whole thing again on the way back up the other side. We finally came to a stop about 400 yards from where we guessed the nyala would be. Me, Andrew and tracker # 2 got out of the truck and started easing our way closer. We finally got to within about 200 yards and checked with tracker #1 on the radio. He said that they had moved down to the valley floor and closer to where we were. We found a good vantage point, sat the gun up on the bipod and began to glass. About 5 minutes later the ewe popped out in a clearing just below us at 150 yards. I got on the gun and waited for the big bull to step out and about 10 seconds later he did. I got the crosshairs on his shoulder and just as I was touching the trigger, a young nyala bull came out of nowhere and ran the ewe away from us and of course, my bull was in hot pursuit. DAMN IT(and a few other choice words)!!!!! Andrew calmed me down the best he could and we began glassing again to try to figure out where he went. This went on for almost two hours and then I heard the radio crackle. It was tracker #1 and he had spotted him back on the same side of the valley as earlier that morning. We grabbed the rifle and bailed off the side of the mountain and made our way down to the bottom. After a little bit Andrew spotted him in a thicket about 250 yards from us and got me on the sticks. He pointed out a small gap in the thick bush and told me that he would most likely pass though there. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, the ewe stepped into the gap and I knew the bull should be right behind her. My heart was now pounding out of my chest……The bull finally stepped into the gap and Andrew whistled and the animal paused just long enough for me to settle the crosshairs and squeeze. He dropped out of sight and me and Andy high-fived and look back and he’s standing up…WTH…not again!?!? I get the crosshairs back on him as he moves back to the right and I shoot again and then he’s gone. Andy is concerned because he didn’t hear the 2nd bullet hit but I’m 100% positive (kinda) that I did hear it. We sat there for about 2 minutes and never saw him so we decided to send tracker #2 back to the truck to get the dog to send in to make sure he’s down. About 15 minutes later I can hear someone coming down the trail behind me and I turn and look and it’s my buddy Justin…lol I forgot we left them in the truck several hours ago. Tracker # 2 is with him along with the dog and off they go to hopefully find a dead nyala. From our vantage point, we can see him the entire time as he and the dog head towards the spot where we last saw the animal. My stomach is full of knots by this point and of course all kinds of bad things are running through my mind….he finally reaches the “spot” and gives us the thumbs up…relief!!!!
After a long picture session, we now have to figure out how to get this animal back to a road which would be no easy task. Then Andrew remembered that he saw some guys off in the distance, that were working in an alfalfa field, as we were sliding the truck down the mountain earlier that morning. He left us and the trackers with the animal and took off to recruit the guys in the field to give us a hand hauling it up the mountain. About 45 minutes later, help arrived and they had it to the top in no time at all.
We dropped the animal and both trackers off at the skinning shed and went to lunch at a local restaurant. After lunch, we went back and picked the trackers up again and off to look for warthog for Justin. We went to a different property than we hunted that morning and pulled up to a good glassing spot where we could see several waterholes. We sat there a good hour watching small boars and sows come to water and mostly bs’ing. We also see lots of other game including several nice waterbuck. While we sit there, Andrew tells us about a giant kudu that he’d seen in the area the last few years. He said that he figured it to be at least 56” but probably longer and described him as have a coat that was almost white….and you can guess what happens next. I’m watching a group of kudu cows milling around about 700-800 yards out and I look away for a split second and look back, a giant kudu is standing right behind them and he is almost white. I stare at him in awe for about 10 seconds and then I turn to Andrew and say “Hey, there’s the bull you’ve been talking about”. I direct him to where the bull is standing and he confirms that it’s him. Now, kudu is not on the menu this time but when one sees a kudu like that, especially in the East Cape and not behind a high fence, you have to go after him. I’m about to tell Andy that I want him and then I hear Stacy from the back seat say “I want that kudu, Andy”…damn it, she beat me to it. Andy calls the landowner to confirm that he’s fine with us hunting kudu and the price and off they go to try to get a shot at this truly grey ghost. I stay with the truck and watch them as they follow the group of kudu over the ridge. About an hour later, I see them come back over the ridge and you could tell by their body language that no shot had been taken. They finally make it back to the truck and said that soon after they went over the ridge, the kudu had given them the slip and not seen again. We drive around for another hour or so hoping to find them again but no luck.
About 5:00, we head back to the skinning shed to pick up my nyala horns and hide and head back to camp. We have kudu steaks tonight along with lots of beer and more stories from the group and everyone is having the time of their lives.
So far, here’s a list of what everyone has gotten and the end of day 2:
Me – bushbuck, nyala
Justin – bushbuck
Dad – impala, warthog
Brother – impala, warthog
Justin’s dad – impala
Isacc – impala, blesbuck
To Be Continued...
