Nyati
AH ambassador
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2011
- Messages
- 15,828
- Reaction score
- 70,735
- Location
- Madrid, Spain
- Media
- 145
- Articles
- 1
- Member of
- RFEC, RFETO
- Hunted
- Spain, Finland, RSA ( KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo, North West, Northern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga)
I left Madrid on August 8th, for my fifth African hunt, we were a group of seven, of which two were observers, Five Spaniards and two Russians. As Iberia canceled its JHB route, we chose to fly with Swiss, via Zurich, as Switzerland is hassle free when flying with guns. All you have to do is give advance warning to the airline.
We had a smooth but long flight, arrived JHB on the 9th, two of our PH s, Eksteen Prinsloo and Friki were waiting for us, we collected our guns from the SAPS office without any problems, and were on our way to Elandsbosch Safaris in the Limpopo Province, near Steenbokpan for 8 days of hunting.
I had told Gerhardo Steenekamp, our outfitter, that on this trip I wanted to collect an Eland and a Bushbuck and they had to be mature animals, I had all the time to look for them. Then, if the opportunity presented, I would also like to shoot a hyena, baboon, jackal, and any large warthog I could set my sights on.
The editor of Armas Internacional magazine, a longtime friend and hunting partner was in the party, and he brought a Merkel Helix in 9,3x62 for testing, which I used to take my animals. Scopes were an Aimpoint Hunter 30mm, and Leupold RX 2-7x33, with illuminated reticle, also 30mm tube. Ammunition used, RWS EVO 296gr which performed flawlessly.
Day One
We set out to hunt Vergulde Helm property, which was supposed to have very nice Eland. It is a large property, and unusual in the area, because its center is made of rocky low hills, with boulders of all sizes, where the eland just love to be. It has all the animals you expect to see in the area.
The day was cold, when we set out, -3 C, around 15C at noon, and very windy. I was hunting with Eksteen. We cruised the area on the bakkie until we saw tracks of a group with a large male, heading for the hills, and we followed on foot, it was hard going, but we managed to get quite close, as their dropping were still wet. After 2.5 hours we got a glimpse of them just before they disappeared at the top of a hill, and there was a very nice male. We completely lost the track on stony ground, so back to the bakkie for another search.
During the stalk we saw some interesting animals, a klipspringer, an African Wild Cat, and a mamba, which would not pose for a picture. It still puzzles me, what was the mamba doing in this cold weather?
We found tracks of a lone bull, and went after, only to lose them after about 1.5 hours.
Lunch in the field, and back to work in the afternoon, following the same procedure. We were unsuccessful, until sundown, when we jumped a group of Eland, but they were too fast and lost themselves in heavy brush.
Day Two
Today we are hunting Moos Pan property, again lousy hunting weather, cold and windy
It is a typical bushveld farm, same tactics as yesterday, driving around, and then stalking in the heavy brush where the eland are hiding, as we can see tracks and droppings, but they elude us. We found a poacher s noose, which we took, and not far away a pair of pliers on the ground, maybe we had just scared him?
It was only at sunset when we saw a group of eland, and later a large lone male. It is hard to understand how such large animals can be so fast and completely disappear in the bush in seconds. Who is it that said elands are just big fat cows?
All that time, I had been hunting alone with my PH, without any tracker or observer, so as to make the less possible noise.
According to my PH, we had been walking about 10 Km a day. Just a stroll!
Day Three
It is now warmer, with less wind but it changes direction constantly.
For a change we went for Bushbuck, at Serengeti farm. A well-known property, where high ranking politicians used to take their holidays. It is not so well kept nowadays.
I will elaborate further about bushbuck hunting later on, as it is an interesting topic.
That morning we did see many females, and a few bucks, but not what we were looking for.
After lunch we went back for eland, and saw 11 males, unfortunately, all young fellows.
Day Four
We are back on eland, hunting Aurora, a large property, more than 5.000ha, with the usual animals of the area plus buffalo, rhino, sable, tsessebe, a lion breeding project, and enclosure with young specimens of cats, leopard, both spotted and black, caracal, African cat, and tiger!
It is extremely well kept and has a non-hunting area separated by a fence.
We spend there the whole day and follow the usual routine, on the bakkie looking for tracks, then on foot through the bush.
They are extremely elusive during the day but we manage to see a very nice bull as the sun was setting.
Eksteen was getting worried that we still had not gotten my eland, but I reassured him there was no hurry, it just had to be the right one.
Day Five
Back to Aurora, we were definitely going after the big bull we had seen yesterday.
We talked with Carl, the head PH on the property, whom I know since 2008, and he told us that he had seen this old bull feed in a certain area where he would take us.
On the way we passed the buffalo herd, and a cow was giving birth, we stopped, and the bulls made a line staring and snorting at us, we got the bakkie going, and the leader and two other males actually chased us for a while. An interesting experience.
We reached the feeding area and decided to wait for the eland, we stood around 100m from the clearing, but did not build a blind, we just stood inside some bushed with trees behind us to break our outline, put up the sticks, and waited.
Our camouflage was good, as two gemsbok passed within 10m of us and didn t bolt. Next a small herd of blue wildebeest came, and started grazing, and finally, Eksteen whispered eland, he heard them coming, later explaining to me they make a distinctive noise with their hooves.
And there I was with my rifle on the sticks, watching as one, two, three eland passed in front of my scope, then, that s the one, whispered E, no doubt, even an amateur like myself could see it was a really old bull, then came more eland , three kudu bulls were playing their pranks, a few more gemsbok also came around, and I was trying to center my crosshairs on the bull amid all the confusion. When I thought I had a clear shot, someone would move into the line of fire. I don t know how long I waited, but it seemed like an eternity, until I finally had an opening and pressed the trigger.
Extreme confusion, as all the animals run in different directions, but E was smiling, calling å µood shot? We could see blood, light red and frothy, a lung shot. E tried to track it but it was nearly impossible with all the tracks made by the other animals, so we called Carl, and his Jack Russell Terrier. That wonderful dog made it easy and found the eland about 80m away, deep in the bush.
Next Bushbuck
We had a smooth but long flight, arrived JHB on the 9th, two of our PH s, Eksteen Prinsloo and Friki were waiting for us, we collected our guns from the SAPS office without any problems, and were on our way to Elandsbosch Safaris in the Limpopo Province, near Steenbokpan for 8 days of hunting.
I had told Gerhardo Steenekamp, our outfitter, that on this trip I wanted to collect an Eland and a Bushbuck and they had to be mature animals, I had all the time to look for them. Then, if the opportunity presented, I would also like to shoot a hyena, baboon, jackal, and any large warthog I could set my sights on.
The editor of Armas Internacional magazine, a longtime friend and hunting partner was in the party, and he brought a Merkel Helix in 9,3x62 for testing, which I used to take my animals. Scopes were an Aimpoint Hunter 30mm, and Leupold RX 2-7x33, with illuminated reticle, also 30mm tube. Ammunition used, RWS EVO 296gr which performed flawlessly.
Day One
We set out to hunt Vergulde Helm property, which was supposed to have very nice Eland. It is a large property, and unusual in the area, because its center is made of rocky low hills, with boulders of all sizes, where the eland just love to be. It has all the animals you expect to see in the area.
The day was cold, when we set out, -3 C, around 15C at noon, and very windy. I was hunting with Eksteen. We cruised the area on the bakkie until we saw tracks of a group with a large male, heading for the hills, and we followed on foot, it was hard going, but we managed to get quite close, as their dropping were still wet. After 2.5 hours we got a glimpse of them just before they disappeared at the top of a hill, and there was a very nice male. We completely lost the track on stony ground, so back to the bakkie for another search.
During the stalk we saw some interesting animals, a klipspringer, an African Wild Cat, and a mamba, which would not pose for a picture. It still puzzles me, what was the mamba doing in this cold weather?
We found tracks of a lone bull, and went after, only to lose them after about 1.5 hours.
Lunch in the field, and back to work in the afternoon, following the same procedure. We were unsuccessful, until sundown, when we jumped a group of Eland, but they were too fast and lost themselves in heavy brush.
Day Two
Today we are hunting Moos Pan property, again lousy hunting weather, cold and windy
It is a typical bushveld farm, same tactics as yesterday, driving around, and then stalking in the heavy brush where the eland are hiding, as we can see tracks and droppings, but they elude us. We found a poacher s noose, which we took, and not far away a pair of pliers on the ground, maybe we had just scared him?
It was only at sunset when we saw a group of eland, and later a large lone male. It is hard to understand how such large animals can be so fast and completely disappear in the bush in seconds. Who is it that said elands are just big fat cows?
All that time, I had been hunting alone with my PH, without any tracker or observer, so as to make the less possible noise.
According to my PH, we had been walking about 10 Km a day. Just a stroll!
Day Three
It is now warmer, with less wind but it changes direction constantly.
For a change we went for Bushbuck, at Serengeti farm. A well-known property, where high ranking politicians used to take their holidays. It is not so well kept nowadays.
I will elaborate further about bushbuck hunting later on, as it is an interesting topic.
That morning we did see many females, and a few bucks, but not what we were looking for.
After lunch we went back for eland, and saw 11 males, unfortunately, all young fellows.
Day Four
We are back on eland, hunting Aurora, a large property, more than 5.000ha, with the usual animals of the area plus buffalo, rhino, sable, tsessebe, a lion breeding project, and enclosure with young specimens of cats, leopard, both spotted and black, caracal, African cat, and tiger!
It is extremely well kept and has a non-hunting area separated by a fence.
We spend there the whole day and follow the usual routine, on the bakkie looking for tracks, then on foot through the bush.
They are extremely elusive during the day but we manage to see a very nice bull as the sun was setting.
Eksteen was getting worried that we still had not gotten my eland, but I reassured him there was no hurry, it just had to be the right one.
Day Five
Back to Aurora, we were definitely going after the big bull we had seen yesterday.
We talked with Carl, the head PH on the property, whom I know since 2008, and he told us that he had seen this old bull feed in a certain area where he would take us.
On the way we passed the buffalo herd, and a cow was giving birth, we stopped, and the bulls made a line staring and snorting at us, we got the bakkie going, and the leader and two other males actually chased us for a while. An interesting experience.
We reached the feeding area and decided to wait for the eland, we stood around 100m from the clearing, but did not build a blind, we just stood inside some bushed with trees behind us to break our outline, put up the sticks, and waited.
Our camouflage was good, as two gemsbok passed within 10m of us and didn t bolt. Next a small herd of blue wildebeest came, and started grazing, and finally, Eksteen whispered eland, he heard them coming, later explaining to me they make a distinctive noise with their hooves.
And there I was with my rifle on the sticks, watching as one, two, three eland passed in front of my scope, then, that s the one, whispered E, no doubt, even an amateur like myself could see it was a really old bull, then came more eland , three kudu bulls were playing their pranks, a few more gemsbok also came around, and I was trying to center my crosshairs on the bull amid all the confusion. When I thought I had a clear shot, someone would move into the line of fire. I don t know how long I waited, but it seemed like an eternity, until I finally had an opening and pressed the trigger.
Extreme confusion, as all the animals run in different directions, but E was smiling, calling å µood shot? We could see blood, light red and frothy, a lung shot. E tried to track it but it was nearly impossible with all the tracks made by the other animals, so we called Carl, and his Jack Russell Terrier. That wonderful dog made it easy and found the eland about 80m away, deep in the bush.
Next Bushbuck
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maybe pm me so it doesnt interrupt the thread.
