SOUTH AFRICA: RSA Hunt May 2015

[gillettehunter]

I have put off doing this for a while. Trying to make time and it just is tough. I type too slow. Like 15 words/min.... So you get what I sent to friends and family. A journal of sorts. Some of the info is elementary, but none of my family has ever been to Africa. I hope you enjoy.
We started off for 3 days at Vic Falls and then flew back to jo-berg.

My one bag was directed into the fragile area so it took a little extra time
to find it. Gerhard ( pronounced Herrod) met us as we came out. Then
back to Africa sky guest house where all was fine with our big bags and
firearms. Then off to Angasii guest lodge. Got in around 8 PM. Good to be
at our hunting destination. Nice lodge. First night we were in a smaller building
and moved into the larger one the next day. Wood floors.
Room for a fireplace and eating area just outside. Pleasant for the most
part.
I saw 1 mosquito the whole trip. I think MaryAnn saw 3. Not bad. My Ph got
into a bed of ticks. I didn't get bit to my knowledge. We had soaked
our clothes in permethrin prior to the trip. Seemed to of kept the
ticks off.
King sized bed for MaryAnn and I. The PH's started out upstairs and
moved downstairs to get away from the heat.
Day 1 of the hunt.
To preface this part I had done a fair amount of preparation. Brought my
Dakota Arms 7 mm mag. Reloaded some 160 gr nosler AB's (accubonds). Found
a fast load with acceptable accuracy. About 3040 feet per second. Shot
around 450 rounds of ammo in several rifles in the 6 weeks prior to the trip. Also had the
rifle and shooting sticks in the kitchen the last 2 weeks and dry fired at
targets out the window (often some pronghorn there). So I felt pretty confident.
Kirsten had bought a 30-06 in a Savage to take. Got her some 180 gr
AB's from Cabelas. I had 50 rds and she had 60. All in all we were
ready.
Breakfast was not a big deal. Usually just had a granola type of
cereal with yogurt instead of milk. Eat and run most AM's. Sack
lunches were provided with enough to feed 2 people. Sometimes they
did....... Dinner after we got back often later than we liked....
At 8 AM we headed to the shooting range. Mine was fine and only used 4
rds to get it checked from a rest and the sticks. Kirsten used about
10 rds. Then we started to hunt. All together in the AM to get us all
ready to go. Angasii had a lot of hunting pressure. With that and the
proximity to the full moon we saw a few Impala and not much else.
I say not much else, but we always saw birds. Lots of hornbills.

Also we
saw a lot of rock and ring necked doves. We also would see 100-200
francolin grouse every day. All over the place.

Lunch and then off to another property about 45 min away. Went to look
at a sable. Went in and saw one bull. About 40 in. Not quite big
enough. Coert ( pronounced Kurt more or less) was Kirstien's guide.he
had a driver from the farm spook some Kudu while we looked at the
sable. He was not happy. Left that farm and went to another. LOTS of
heavy brush. Saw Impala, Zebra, and not a lot else.

No shots taken.
Still we were in Africaa..... Beautiful sunset and back for dinner.
Off to bed.
Several nights didn't sleep as well as I should of. Thatch roofs
harbor spiders and sometimes other critters. Mice? Lizards were around at
camp.

Had them wake me about half of the nights with the rustling in
the roof. One night they got into the sugar/ tea packets in the room. I
took to putting them outside the room. No door to the restroom, just a
curtain. Water had a little of the moss smell to it. I couldn't drink
it....
Hunt day 2
All of us went our separate ways the next AM. Gerhard headed out and
got about 45 miles down the road. We saw a kudu bull along a fence
line. Most of the ranches we hunted had game fences around them. The
warthogs go under them. The kudu and eland go over. Saw Impala go
through. Next to the fence the farmer( we would call them a rancher
here) usually has a cleared road to drive down the fence line to check
the fence. Look for breaks or evidence of poaching...... Anyway here
was a 43-45 inch Kudu bull trotting down the fence line. Gerhard saw
that and thought about it.... Drove a couple miles and turned
around.... Drove back past our lodge to another property to hunt. He
said I just got this feeling. You just gotta trust me. So we drove
about 100 miles for nothing that AM and then got to our property late.
My list of animals included Vaal Rhebuck, reedbuck, Black Wilderbeast,
Sable and a big Kudu if we saw one. Gerhard didn't have Vaal Rhebuck
and a mountain Reedbuck was substituted. I wasn't going to shoot that
one until I saw them. More on that later. Also had room in the budget
to upgrade a trophy I had taken on a prior hunt. Either a gemsbuck, Nyala or
Bushbuck.
Gerhard felt that a big Kudu would be the toughest so that was what we
started on. He felt that with the rut starting, the big Bulls would come
down from the hills to the cows and water on the lowlands on that
property. The owner thought we should hunt a Gemsbuck first as he had a
number of them. Hunted that property 2 full days and never saw a
Gemsbuck. That day I saw only 5 kudu. 3 Bulls and 2 cows. All were
separate sightings.... all single animals. Lots of Impala and warthogs and giraffes. Never have seen so many giraffes on one property.

I
didn't fire a shot. Kirsten wounded a blue Wilderbeast on the Angassi
property. They followed it the rest of the day....
MaryAnn got to go to Pilansburg with a local photographer named Nicko.
They saw a lot of animals. Got lots of great pics. Made a great day for
her.
Day 3 of hunting.
Went back to the same property early. Was there before shooting light.
Probably the only day that we did that. Saw less animals than the
first day there. Less Kudu anyway. Which was what we were looking for.
So we left at lunch time and went back to Angasii to eat. Then off to
a property near where Gerhard lives. The owner is a long time friend.
As we entered the gate a Impala took off that Gerhard estimated to be
26 inches take off never gave us a shot even if we wanted to take him.
The fields were blue buffalo grass. The animals loved it. Drove to the
edge of the trees and field and there was a small herd of Mountain
Reedbuck. The ram was right at Rowland Ward book size. Handsome little
antelope. He was gone by the time I decided to go ahead and keep him
on my animal list...... At the owners house there was nice herd on
Nyala . Good thing I didn't shoot the Reedbuck. They were his "pets".
After checking in we drove around the edge of the field. Spooked a
small group of kudu so we took a short walk and decided to come back
later to a small " hide" or blind there. Went across the road to the rest
of the property. Saw some kudu cows, Impala and a Steinbuck.

Back to
get into the hide.
Spooked 3 kudu driving into the blind. Got into the blind and waited.
30 min later we started seeing kudu come out. 2 cows and a calf. Then
a 50 inch bull. Shortly after out comes a bull closer to us. Gerhard
saws to wait and let him look. He got right in front of us and stops.
Gerhard gave me the green light to shoot. The bull walks past some
trees and I pull the trigger. He drops in his tracks! Just collapses.
High shoulder shot put him right down. Gerhard was rather comical. He had told me to leave my muzzle break on. When I shot he was not expecting it. He told me I could shoot, but the Kudu was still walking so he thought I'd wait for him to stop. Only 75 yards so no big deal to me.... With the blast he lost sight of the Kudu and said where did he go? I said down in his tracks. He said the chamber another round. I told him I already had. .... Walked up and put one through
the heart as he was still breathing....... 56 1/2 on the long side
and about 53 on the short side. Nice bull. Best we saw the whole
trip..... Finally my first animal of the trip on day 3.

He has a huge body. Took 6 of us to load him. I have seen only about 6 dead Kudu, but this one was much bigger bodied than any I had seen before. Kirsten chased her wounded Wilderbeast around all day. MaryAnn was
back to Pilansburg. More great photos. They look really good.

Kirsten and I don't have real good firm dates on the animals she
killed. I think she may have gotten her Nyala on the evening of day 3.
Beautiful shape and colors. Around 27 inches or so. Very nice trophy.
So on day 4 Gerhard and I headed off to a farm that had not been hunted
for over 3 yrs. Perhaps some poaching, but no regular hunting. I was
hoping to see a couple of monster animals there.... I should explain
about houses on hunting "farms" in africa. They have game fences around
them and a front gate. Some, such as this one, had a gatekeeper with a
key that lives at the front entrance. From the entrance you drive in a
ways to the farmers home. Often a mile in. I guess to help avoid theft
and be more centrally located on the property. This property was about
10,000 acres or 15 1/2 sq miles. The house was 2 1/2 miles in from the
pavement.
Driving down the lane we saw a jackal. They are Africa's version of a
coyote. Also a few Impala. We picked up a guide and started driving the
property. About 600 cows on it had it overgrazed in many places. Not as
many animals as we had hoped. We were really looking for a Reedbuck.
Looking for prime habitat and where to hunt them. So we looked by the
dried up river. Also if we were to see any other really large animals
they could be on the menu to... Lots of Impala, but no monsters.

These 2 rams wanted to fight. The only problem was the fence between them....More
More Kudu than I had seen in the first 3 days. A few Wart hogs, Waterbuck and
eland. Lots of Zebra. There are about 100 on this property and I easily
could of taken 5 that day. Usually a tough animal to get a shot at. Just
not on my list. A little too much like a horse. Also saw some Blesbuck
and a good Steinbuck. That night we spotlighted part of the property
looking for a reedbuck. Found some females. No Rams. Also saw porcupine,
steinbuck, hartebeast, genet and jackal. No shots fired.
Kirsten had been taken to the farm where I got my Kudu and got a nice
Impala. Older with good mass.
MaryAnn had a string of disappointments. Part of her daily fees was to
include a driver to take her to one of two parks that were close by.
The first 2 days were great with a fellow photographer taking her out.
Weekend, so he was off work. Out of the next 5 she hunted 1 1/2 days
with me and was stood up 3 of the others. Very disappointing. Whoever
was to come would say yes and then not show. Didn't make for the best
of trips in that aspect. Seemed like Gerhard would find out that AM and
start to call to try and find someone to take her. Seems like that part
was not well organized. It rather ticked me off as The observer day sees were not cheap at all....
Day 5 we decided to look some for a Sable. Drove to a property a little
over a hour away. Had Cape buffalo as well as sable. Were advised to not
get off of the truck if buffalo tracks were seen..... Got there late and
the animals were in the brush. Drove around the bottom of the property
and looked at a couple of waterholes. A few Impala were about it. This
property was about 8000 acres. We were told that after they were done
breeding they would release the sable bulls into this area.
Driving the roads we found a herd of buffalo. They didn't seem happy to
be disturbed. Would not of been fun to of been on the ground at that
point.... We found another waterhole that was a concrete trough.
Gerhard and the 2 trackers(one from the farm) went to look for tracks.
So I got out too. MaryAnn stayed in the truck a few minutes and then
decide to get out. She apparently hooked the heel of a shoe on the rail
as she got out and fell. The ground was 3-4 inch size ROUGH cobbles.
Not the sand we usually saw. Hit the ground hips first and the her head
and neck hit. Had a cut on her head about 3/4 inch long that bled a
bit. In fact when she washed her hair for the rest of the week it bled.
Nasty bump on her head too. Her belt line all around her back went a
dark purple. Just a very nasty bruise and fall. Later she tells me she
might of had a concussion. Something I didn't even consider......
After getting Maryann settled we went to the top of the property and
found that it went up on a mountain that was very rugged. As we wound
around looking for Sable we found a beautiful Mtn Reedbuck and 3
females. Gerhard said he was of Rowland Ward quality so I shot him as he
walked into the brush. Knowing they are a small animal and that the
bullet would penetrate forward I took the shot hitting him in the hindquarter and put him right down,
although he did require a finisher. Beautiful little antelope. Probably
only 50-60 lbs or so. His long side is 7 1/2 inches and does indeed make
the Roland Ward trophy book.

From there we went back to Angasii. Left MaryAnn there and went to
another property to look for a Sable. I failed to realize that with
MaryAnn possibly having a concussion I should of stayed there. Just went
right over my head. That is one of the things I regret on this trip.
Should of stayed there while she recovered some.
The new property was about 2500 acres. Part of it had burned a few yrs
prior and it was very green with secondary growth. That had the animals
attracted to it. Saw 2 different groups of Buffalo. They seemed to be
in a bad temper so we left them alone. The first sable we saw looked
very good.Right at 42 inches according to Gerhard and the others. Looked
over some other sable and decided the first was the one to take. Went
back to the draw he had been feeding in and started to look for him.
After 20 min we found him feeding perhaps 250 yards from where we had originally
spotted him. Stalked another couple of hundred yards and got to perhaps
150 yards of him. Got on the sticks and when he turned broadside I
fired. Hit and he spun in a circle as I chambered a fresh cartridge. I
asked Herrod if I should shoot again and he said yes so I hit him
again. He dropped at the shot.
The first shot was a lung shot and was a fatal shot. The second was a
high shoulder shot that dropped him instantly.... Sable are so
beautiful. He is 42 1/2 inches and is very nice.

On getting back to Angasii I found that Kirsten had taken a lovely Kudu
bull. Older with great mass, but short. She was thrilled.
MaryAnn seems to be fine, no thanks to me. Thanks the good Lord for
that. Thus ends day 5. Half way through the hunt. I'll upload this and continue on.

 

[CAustin]

Great looking sable bull sir!

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats and thanks for sharing! Some nice trophies, love the shape of the kudu!

 

[gillettehunter]

Hunting day 6
This begins my longest stretch of hunting in Africa with no shots
fired. Went 3 days. In Zim or some other places its common. Usually not the case in RSA. Maybe I'm jinxed just a little bit... Still you see new country, animals and people.
The PH's did what I had asked them not to do prior to the trip. Stayed up
late drinking. Woke me at 1:50 AM. Gerhard was still in bed at 6AM
which is when he told me we would leave. I took a minute to tell them
that this was not acceptable and shouldn't happen again..... He didn't like the thought
of a glass of water in his face in bed, which was my threat if it did.... A few drinks are fine, but I'm there to HUNT. They can party when I'm gone. I like to socialize too, but I don't let interfere with my hunting!
We then drove to where Gerhard was staying. Picked up his dog and a few
supplies. The Dog's name is Chobe. Many PH's in Africa use a dog to help
recover wounded animals. Many use a Jack Russel. Not Gerhard. His dog is
rather large. Probably 50-60 lbs... Very good tempered and pretty well
trained. We drove back to the property that had not been hunted for 3
yrs to try and find a reedbuck. We walked a area with the dog hoping to
spook up a bedded animal. Then we drove through the high grass in the
field to try and do the same. We saw a total of 3 females. Just not a
very efficient way to hunt them.
That night the local taxidermist Coppie joined us. He had a better
spotlight and seemed to of done more spotlighting. We saw 7 hartebeast,
including one pretty good one, a genet, lots of Steinbuck and 1
porcupine. About 13-15 seperate Reedbuck were found. Some as many as 3
different times. We saw one male. It appeared he had 1 horn only... Got
off the truck and went into the bush with a handheld flashlight after
him. Unfortunately Chobe came along too. Between Gerhard shouting at
Chobe and 3 men in the brush the Reedbuck vacated the area. Not likely
one we would of taken anyway. Saw the eyes of another in the brush and
it was thought to possibly be a male, but we couldn't get close enough
for a look. Reedbuck took more work to find on this hunt than any other animal. With the dry conditions they were in prime habitat near water. We we not most of the time.....
On the AM of day 7 I found Kirsten's PH suggesting she hunt a Waterbuck
instead of an Eland. Pissed me off as I thought about it. They quoted
her a package with an Eland. Now they were having trouble finding a
place for her to hunt one. Eland was her top animal just like Sable was
mine. I stepped in and told them that was not going to be acceptable. I made it clear they needed to make a plan that worked!
Gerhard told me he had a place, the other PH just had to call.
Day 7 we went to Frogfontein. This is a property that Gerhard takes local
meat hunters to. He has a very good relationship the owner and knows the
property very well. The owners had supposidly seen 7 different Reedbuck males the
week before.... Gerhard also hunt Blue Wilderbeast there. We saw a number
of them including a couple of bulls in the 28-28 1/2 inch sizes. He told
me there was a monster on the property that he would like to hunt himself.
Around 32 inches. I told him I would shoot if we could find him. Never
did. Saw giraffe, Zebra, hartebeast, Impala and Blesbuck. Not a single
Reedbuck. We got out and walked a couple of sections of reeds around the
ponds. That night we looked diligently and then spotlighted some late. We
just couldn't find any. I liked the property although it was a bit
smaller than some we hunted before. They had a great place for BBQ's under a huge umbrella tree.

Kirsten had a day of days. They got her on a huge Eland that afternoon and
got him. Then they went spotlighting with Coppie to his place for a
porcupine. His father owns property next to a mine. They have agriculture and animals come through a fence to eat. So they thin them down spotlighting regularly. They found a Waterbuck and told her to shoot it at N/C.
Turned out to be huge. Mine at home is 28 1/2 and is considered to be
good. A 30 incher isvery good. Like a 30 inch mule deer. This
one was 33 inches. One of the biggest that PH will ever help a client
get.... MaryAnn didn't get out and was less thrilled with her day. Bad
when your expecting someone to come get you. You stay close and go
no-where so you don't miss them. Can't even go to the lodge for
internet..

Day 8 the long drive
So we try for Back Wilderbeast (bw from here on) today. Gerhard says to
be ready at 5:30AM. We left before 6...Off we go to a farm 3 1/2 hrs away. Bad road work in
one of the cities along the way. After about 2 hrs Gerhard gets that
feeling again and we switch farms to go to. The new one is 5 hours total one way. He
says we must kill a wb because of the diesel we're burning.... When we
arrive it is a much more open area that we were hunting. We sign papers
and go hunting at 11AM or so. MaryAnn came along and like me was ready to
ride outside. I may not of mentioned that we were hunting in a Toyota
with a hunting rack. 2 seats set up in the back so you can see better.
Padded and nice to be outside. We had left the Limpopo providence ( think
State) and now were in the Northwest providence. This ranch had been in
the family since 1908. The hunting part has also been used for movie
sets. Very little trophy hunting had been done there recently. The lady
who owns it has never married. Appears to be about 60. Very pleasent
lady. The hunting area is about 12000 acres. They have it surrounded by a
buffer of cattle farms to help reduce poaching. She owns close to 20,000
acres total and also has a small diamond mine on it!
As we drove around we saw Blesbuck, ostridge, hartebeast, springbuck,

gemsbuck and finally bw.

We make a stalk, but run out of cover way
short. BW have very good eye sight and are quick to leave. We eventually
wound up in a blind while MaryAnn and the trackers/guide drove around
trying to get the bw's to come close enought for us to shoot. A group of
females came close. One large herd stopped at about 450 yds. I had
forgotten my laser rangefinder so we were not exact on distance. We also
had a strong crosswind of 10-15 mph. At approx 450 yds bullet drift
would be about 12-18 inches. I refused to take the shot. Just not
comfortable. If you draw blood then you pay the trophy fee whether the
animal is recovered or not. Wilderbeast's are known for absorbing lead
and being hard to kill. One of the local jokes is that they run faster
on 3 legs than 4....
We went all over the ranch and passed on some tempting Gemsbuck near
the end of the day.

How long do you think the horns of the cow on the right side are? Made a stalk at very last light. Got so
bad we were using my rifle scope to try and judge trophy quality. Too dark for the
bino's. Left without a shot. Arrived at Angasii at midnight. Very long
day for all of us.
On days 9 and 10 MaryAnn had a great time in Pilansburg. Got to go
back with her photographer guide. She wound up seeing the big 5. Her
leopard sighting was iffy, just the tail and partial outline. She has
some outstanding photo's from the trip. Just wish some of the other
days guides would of shown up for her.
Hunt day 9. MaryAnn is off to Pilansburg with the local photographer
for the last 2 days. Sha had a good time there. Has some amazing
photo's.
Gerhard and I left around 5:30. Back to the chase for a Black
Wilderbeast (bw from here on). We headed to the ranch that was 3 1/2 hrs
away. Part way there Gerhard changes his mind. Just has that feeling and
back to the ranch that is 5 hrs away. Now that we know where it is its only 4 3/4 hrs away. I am feeling
a little blue/low/depressed. No shots in 3 days. Plus Kirsten has just taken a 33
inch waterbuck. Maybe I was just a little jealous.
When we arrived the owner comes out with a breakfast "snack". It
essentially was 2 pancakes with cheese melted in the middle.
Interesting and extremely kind of her. We picked up the ranch guide and
headed out. At the first big opening there was a small group of bw.
Just what we wanted. You can usually get closer to a small group. Big
bunches always have a nervous animal that leaves and takes the rest
with them.
The first group is all females and small males. I spot another small
herd way across the opening with what looks like a good bull. After
Gerhard starts to leave I point out the other herd and ask him to look
at the bull to the right hand side. He says it looks good and that we
need to get closer. We drive till there are no more trees. After a
careful look Gerhard says we need to take this bull. We estimate him to
be close to 400 yds away. The wind is almost at our back so virtually a
non-factor. I ask if we can get any closer. We drive 25 yards closer. In
so doing we get the herd to start to move off. They go about as far as
we do. So its now or never.
My 7mm has been shooting well and I get set VERY solid. Aim 2 inches
over his back and wait for him to get clear. The other animals clear
out and I squeeze the trigger. At the shot I hear a whap of the bullet
impacting. All of the bw's take off at a fast run kicking up a cloud of dust. I'm following
through the scope hoping to get another shot in when the ranch hand
says he's down. The fellow from the ranch was the only one to see him
fall..... So we had him take a line and direct the truck to where the
bw should be. No luck. eventually Gerrard has the driver take the truck
back to where I fired from. Then he and the tracker look for where the
herd was when I shot. Eventually they found blood and were able to
follow it a ways. Then they lost the blood trail.
At the end of the blood trail Gerhard was probably 400 yds from me and
800 from the farm hand. He called us over to them. I found my bull as I
headed their way. The farm hand was WAY off on where he thought he was and the tall grass hid him well... He is a very nice bull. Rowland Ward record book
minimum is 23 7/8.

At the farm they measured him at 30.7. He has eye
lashes 1 1/2 inches long. Also a funny patch of hair almost 2 inches
long just above the nose. Funny critters. The shot was through both
lungs. He then ran a couple of hundred yards. He was dead and just
didn't know it. He died on his feet and fell while still running.
The ranch sent out a recovery truck. We then received a message that
the ranch "manager" had showed up and wanted to hunt with us. When we went to pick him up saw some of the local ground squirls. A little different from ours.

We picked him up and headed out. Very fortunate to get him to go. he does most
of the culling to keep the population in balance. He culls about 200
bw's a year. Plus other animals as needed.
We went looking for a long Gemsbuck. We saw a couple of groups, but
nothing huge. Spooked a small group and made a loop to try and get ahead
of them. No luck. Lots of animals to see tho. As we were driving down a
trail I caught the flick of a tail and stopped the truck telling them I
had seen a Gemsbuck tail move. As we looked with the bino's we could see
a small male. Then a very long female walked through a opening. Gerhard
immediately told me to get down for a stalk.
We bailed off of the truck and headed towards the herd. We saw some
spook as they saw the truck and we moved with them trying to get a
shot. A male showed up, but was not what we were looking for. After
walking perhaps 400 yards the long female walked into view and stopped
broadside at about 175 yards. Gerhard said to shoot. I did immediately
and dropped her on the spot. Gerhard has decided he likes my high
shoulder shot as they drop in their tracks. No tracking necessary.....
Her horns are right at 40 inches making her a great Gemsbuck. She is
just beautiful!

I was very happy with that upgrade. I have a 36 inch
male at home. Makes her a RW animal also. After the ranch truck picked her up we took a
quick drive to see if we might find a big warthog. None appeared, so we
went back to the headquarters to fill out the paperwork and then headed
home. Got back to Angasii at 1 AM.... late Gerhard says to sleep late
and leave at 8AM.
Day 10 last day of the hunt
I couldn't sleep in and got up moving slowly. We did leave at 7:30.
Decided to go try for a cull eland bull. I have never shot a eland. This
one had his ear lost from ticks and thus a shoulder mount was
impossible. I don't have room/desire for a shoulder mounted Eland. The
trophy/cull fee was $300 compared to a trophy fee normally $2800. I
would be happy to leather wrap just the horns. He was said to be quite
large and old. The farm he was on was about 3 hrs away. So off we go.
Could not believe all of the warthogs along the side of the road as we
drove there and back. Must of seen at least 25 different GROUPS of pigs.
Next to the ranch house was a very impressive/expensive pen/cage. I
commented to Gerhard about it and then we saw why as the ranch co-owner
walked over to us with a Bengal tiger pacing her in the pen! Need to be
high and well built to keep a tiger in.

They run a big cat rescue
operation and have 4 lions and 2 tigers. Quite the place.
The daughter, Savannah took us around. Savannah is about 20 yrs old and
was a cute redhead. Large hat to try to keep from burning. Had to ask
questions to get her to talk. A bit shy. Quite a ways from town and
decided to not go to college to take care of the farm.
Turns out they only have about 17 eland on the place. We were late due
to the late night before and long drive. Driving near some of the water
holes and greener open areas we saw several groups of eland, including
a cow missing her ear. Just not our bull. At about 2:15 Gerhard got a
phone call that changed things up. The owner of a farm with a pond and
close to 200 Reedbuck called to say we could hunt that evening if we
wanted to. Savannah told us she had chores beginning at 4 so our
hunting would end then. We chose to leave to try and get my Reedbuck.
Gerhard drove the fastest he did the whole trip. Around 75 MPH on 2 lane
roads. Got to the farmers house with only 20 min of shooting light or so.
Headed out with the owner Alan on the truck. He said we wanted a old ram
with worn down teeth. Said we'd have to get close and ask him to open
his mouth so we could see if they were worn down enough. 10 min down the
road I got my first real look at a Reedbuck. Found a nice ram in a field
by himself. Alan said he was too young and was one of his breeding rams
so off we went. Got to his 10 acre pond finally. Reedbuck all around it. Dozens of them!
After perhaps 5-6 females we found a big ram. Alan said we could take
him. A single high shoulder shot dropped him in his tracks. 15 inches
long makes him a RW quality animal. Nice trophy that not everyone has.

Alan the asked if we would like to look for a few min to see if we could
find a waterbuck bull. He has one that is killing some of his other
bulls. N/C We spotlighted for a while, but had no luck finding him.
Nice dinner that night and a great sendoff b-fast. Hated to go. Kirsten
said she wanted to be adopted and stay... Back to the airport and back
home.
One side note. My record on rifles with airlines remains. Rifle made it
to Atlanta and cleared customs with it. Took it to the rifle drop off
and had it there 3 1/2 hrs before our flight. Got to Denver and had a
phone message from Delta that one of our bags had not got on our
flight. Rifles of course. My average is around 40% of the time my rifle
is not there on time. Delta was much better than United. They got it to
Gillette by 5PM the following day. Nice to get it back.
Thus ended one of our great adventures. Not perfect in any sense of the
word. We got some good trophies. Better than average. I hunted probably
10 properties in 2 Providences. Got to see some beautiful country with
good guides. With my bad knee it was more of a "diesel" safari, but it
was still a lot of fun. We spent far more time driving than what I thought we would.
I still do not have my animals back in country. There is a thread about it from a couple of months back. My taxidermist was in Africa last month and tells me they should be shipped" soon". Whenever that will be. After 16 months I hope the capes are still in good shape. Bruce

 

[gillettehunter]

Thanks for the kind words on the sable and Kudu. They represent a bit of work as you well know.... Bruce

 

[rinehart0050]

Thanks for sharing this report @gillettehunter! I really like all of your photos. Congrats on your trophies.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I like blow by blow reports.
They tend to be more honest and let you know what is really going on.
Conflicts always happen, it is how they are resolved that makes the difference.

You got some very nice trophies Bruce.

Keep it coming...

 

[Wheels]

Thanks for sharing your report. Very detailed.

Sorry everything didn't work out for your wife the way you wanted.

All the best on your next trip. Look forward to hearing about Zambia.

 

[Nyati]

Congrats on your adventure, even if it wasn´t exactly as you planned, but that´s hunting !

Nice trophies, and thanks for sharing.

 

[gillettehunter]

Yes about Zambia. My wife gave me a notebook computer to take along. I hope to be able to load pics and do some posts while there...... Bruce