SOUTH AFRICA: Second And So Far BEST Safari With KMG Hunting Safaris

[AZDAVE]

@mdwest That Oribi is a stunner, Marius exceeded himself on this trip.

Another night hunt was on my plate. The Genet has given me fits of either not seeing one the whole safari, or I passed because I was looking for a serval or civiet. I got some warmer gear on as I expect to be out for several hours to all night trying to get one of these guys in the salt. This is one where the hunting gods smiled and we had been out for about 15 minutes when a large male sprinted across the road in front of the bakkie, looks like he is headed up a tree but after closer observation he is behind the tree on the ground headed up the hill. A quick shot and the little bugger is down. Get back to the lodge and my wife gives me a funny look and asks "Are you done?" She is used to me going out on night hunts and showing back up at 2-4 in the morning waking her up.

 

[TERMINATOR]

@mdwest That Oribi is a stunner, Marius exceeded himself on this trip.

Another night hunt was on my plate. The Genet has given me fits of either not seeing one the whole safari, or I passed because I was looking for a serval or civiet. I got some warmer gear on as I expect to be out for several hours to all night trying to get one of these guys in the salt. This is one where the hunting gods smiled and we had been out for about 15 minutes when a large male sprinted across the road in front of the bakkie, looks like he is headed up a tree but after closer observation he is behind the tree on the ground headed up the hill. A quick shot and the little bugger is down. Get back to the lodge and my wife gives me a funny look and asks "Are you done?" She is used to me going out on night hunts and showing back up at 2-4 in the morning waking her up.View attachment 482761

Very cool. Congrats on a great hunt

 

[AZDAVE]

I saved my two favorite stalks for last. I showed up for last years Val rehbok hunt in good shape expecting a fair bit of climbing and the vallie/Marius deliver on my expectations. So this year I was in better shape expecting Marius to find a way to incorporate some steep uphill on one of the hunts, or my wife paid him extra to make sure I got to climb a few cliffs. Not sure which and neither of them will admit to anything

The copper springbok is the last we need for the slam. My wife has shot all of the others and is looking forward to this one. A couple hours drive to the area with some very nice springbok and the hunt is on. A lot of glassing and a nice copper is spotted and a plan is worked for a stalk. We get to about 250yards and it is down onto the belly for a low crawl session. My wife is a veteran and this isn't the first time she has low crawled, and springbok seem to have great fun at making her crawl. Marius get her to within 210 yards and sets up his rifle for her to take a shot (A couple problems occur that I had never trained her on and is my final observations will bring up) she has to move the rifle a bit to one side and it tips off the bipod and falls on its side, so we are at the not sure if it will hit where expected. So he passes his rifle back to me and I hand him my little howa, (My wife has shot it but very little) I tell her where to hold based on yardage and she fires. Misses right in front of the ram. (Final observation on wind drift, I messed up and didn't account for the wind when I gave her where to hold) . So everyone is now a bit bummed. My wife gets up and basically says I shouldn't have tried the low crawl as her back is now screaming. She then says we didn't come this far to leave it on the mountain so go shoot it. we walk back up to the bakkie and have a quick snack and some water and back to the bino's. A shooter is spotted and is about a mile away on the opposite side of a steep sided canyon, (Remember my observation on Marius finding a way to get me climbing) a plan is made and off we go down and up and up. Stop right before we get top to let the heart rate come back down. Have Marius's jacket on the ridge and have a nice 190 yard shot just waiting for the smaller rams and ewes to clear for a shot. As usual the heard takes off and the rams are just having fun chasing each other around. Up goes the small set of bipod sticks and tracking to get a shot and they are running towards us. They go right and start down a goat path the takes them to the valley floor. Hop up and try to get in position for a shot. I now almost fall getting up when one foot slides out. (Yes I left cool points and several bad words on the mountain) We now scramble back to rim and look down to get a shot. Look and look and look and when we finally see them they are like a kilometer down the valley. Marius and I just look at each other and the unspoken comment of how the heck did they get there that fast?

Plan D- Climb back to the top and circle down the backside to get in a nice position above them for a shot. The plan almost works, as we get in place and find the shooter they take off , not sure if they smelled us or ???? The now start up the goat path on the opposite side valley. When they get level with us it is 345 yards across. I setup for a shot and knew the drops out to 300. So I am doing the mental math on the drop. Let one go and Marius said it went right over his back. (Final observations will address this one too) they take off and heard up through a couple bowls and are making a big circle headed back to where they were to start our stalk. So go to Plan E and head back over the ridgeline and haul a$$ back up the hill to try and get there before they do. Get into position and see that they have picked up another bunch of mixed common and copper's. So it is now a waiting game as they are splitting with most going down to the valley floor and several headed our direction. Wind is in our faces and we are above about 250 ft higer up the mountian than the trail the are following. The good news is a copper that is even better than the one we have been after is in the small group headed our way. Patience is called for and give me time to get heart rate for climbs back down. I get a nice broad side shot presented at 250 and know the exact hold and fire. Yea again a bit high ( back to wind observations) and for some reason they spring towards us and 167 yards the scond shot is a perfect heart shot. The only hard one is instead of coming up the trail he takes off straight down hill. I have to walk back and pickup my hat and then go down to meet Marius where the ram dropped. I know he is a good ram but when I get there there is no ground shrinkage, he is the biggest springbok I have seen period. Now we have the you grab the legs and I get the horns and up we go, several stops to switch horns and rear leg carry position and we have him back at the top a bit before the bakkie with my much better half and the tracker get there with the truck. to say this one was earned with a fair bit of sweat is an understatement.

 

[AZDAVE]

Now for my favorite stalk of the trip. The last animal on my wifes list is a black impala. We hunted a farm close to where she got her golden wildebeest for a day and spotted two shooters and had a good idea where their home range was. The biggest had a large harem of ews and the oldest one was running with a younger black ram. The first day no shots were possible due to wind or now way to get into a reasonable range. The second day we went to look for the two rams in the area we had seen them before and couldn't find them. So check on the bigger ram and try and work a way to get close. The wind was good but the hillside above the water pan was full of zebra, eland, and blesbok. Several attempts were made with no shot opportunity. But bumped them a couple times so back out and let things cool down, have lunch on the tailgate and go back and look for the two rams on the opposite side of the farm. Sevearl glassing points some driving around and they are located walking up the road beside a fence. Wind was good so a nice long slow stalk behind them and on sticks several times and they just melted into the THICK bush in this area. Back in the truck and check the area and hope to spot them again. We were about to give up and back to try for the ram with his harem when the tracker spots them off the road headed towards water. Drive till we get the wind correct and start off at an angle to try and head them off. About a 1/2 hour into a slow methodical movement through the bush and Marius stops mid step and eases back, pointing at a small row of 10 ft high 10ft round trees, and says they are right there. Sticks go out VERY slowly and he position my wife on the sticks even slower. Well a broad side shot is taken at 40 yards. Hammers both shoulders, top of heart and both lungs. It lunges about 10 yards to the right and piles up out of sight in a bush. Now I know that impala can jump but the next thing we see it the younger ram jump right over the top of that small tree line and keep going like his butt is on fire. The fact he went over was something but to clear the width also was impressive. The dogs get turned out to make sure it is down or to bay it if still moving. Rigby finds it straight off and then check the rest of the area, Flex works a bit slower but start barking that it is down and gypsy is learning from them both. We get setup for pictures and back to the skinning shed to get him caped and ready to head back to the lodge. However those of you that have hunted with Marius in this area might have had the honor of being taken to the Milkshake shop. Well that was the stop on the way back to the lodge

 

[TERMINATOR]

I saved my two favorite stalks for last. I showed up for last years Val rehbok hunt in good shape expecting a fair bit of climbing and the vallie/Marius deliver on my expectations. So this year I was in better shape expecting Marius to find a way to incorporate some steep uphill on one of the hunts, or my wife paid him extra to make sure I got to climb a few cliffs. Not sure which and neither of them will admit to anything

The copper springbok is the last we need for the slam. My wife has shot all of the others and is looking forward to this one. A couple hours drive to the area with some very nice springbok and the hunt is on. A lot of glassing and a nice copper is spotted and a plan is worked for a stalk. We get to about 250yards and it is down onto the belly for a low crawl session. My wife is a veteran and this isn't the first time she has low crawled, and springbok seem to have great fun at making her crawl. Marius get her to within 210 yards and sets up his rifle for her to take a shot (A couple problems occur that I had never trained her on and is my final observations will bring up) she has to move the rifle a bit to one side and it tips off the bipod and falls on its side, so we are at the not sure if it will hit where expected. So he passes his rifle back to me and I hand him my little howa, (My wife has shot it but very little) I tell her where to hold based on yardage and she fires. Misses right in front of the ram. (Final observation on wind drift, I messed up and didn't account for the wind when I gave her where to hold) . So everyone is now a bit bummed. My wife gets up and basically says I shouldn't have tried the low crawl as her back is now screaming. She then says we didn't come this far to leave it on the mountain so go shoot it. we walk back up to the bakkie and have a quick snack and some water and back to the bino's. A shooter is spotted and is about a mile away on the opposite side of a steep sided canyon, (Remember my observation on Marius finding a way to get me climbing) a plan is made and off we go down and up and up. Stop right before we get top to let the heart rate come back down. Have Marius's jacket on the ridge and have a nice 190 yard shot just waiting for the smaller rams and ewes to clear for a shot. As usual the heard takes off and the rams are just having fun chasing each other around. Up goes the small set of bipod sticks and tracking to get a shot and they are running towards us. They go right and start down a goat path the takes them to the valley floor. Hop up and try to get in position for a shot. I now almost fall getting up when one foot slides out. (Yes I left cool points and several bad words on the mountain) We now scramble back to rim and look down to get a shot. Look and look and look and when we finally see them they are like a kilometer down the valley. Marius and I just look at each other and the unspoken comment of how the heck did they get there that fast?

Plan D- Climb back to the top and circle down the backside to get in a nice position above them for a shot. The plan almost works, as we get in place and find the shooter they take off , not sure if they smelled us or ???? The now start up the goat path on the opposite side valley. When they get level with us it is 345 yards across. I setup for a shot and knew the drops out to 300. So I am doing the mental math on the drop. Let one go and Marius said it went right over his back. (Final observations will address this one too) they take off and heard up through a couple bowls and are making a big circle headed back to where they were to start our stalk. So go to Plan E and head back over the ridgeline and haul a$$ back up the hill to try and get there before they do. Get into position and see that they have picked up another bunch of mixed common and copper's. So it is now a waiting game as they are splitting with most going down to the valley floor and several headed our direction. Wind is in our faces and we are above about 250 ft higer up the mountian than the trail the are following. The good news is a copper that is even better than the one we have been after is in the small group headed our way. Patience is called for and give me time to get heart rate for climbs back down. I get a nice broad side shot presented at 250 and know the exact hold and fire. Yea again a bit high ( back to wind observations) and for some reason they spring towards us and 167 yards the scond shot is a perfect heart shot. The only hard one is instead of coming up the trail he takes off straight down hill. I have to walk back and pickup my hat and then go down to meet Marius where the ram dropped. I know he is a good ram but when I get there there is no ground shrinkage, he is the biggest springbok I have seen period. Now we have the you grab the legs and I get the horns and up we go, several stops to switch horns and rear leg carry position and we have him back at the top a bit before the bakkie with my much better half and the tracker get there with the truck. to say this one was earned with a fair bit of sweat is an understatement.View attachment 482774

Well tht was an adventure for sure.

Congrats on a hard earned Springbok!

 

[TERMINATOR]

Now for my favorite stalk of the trip. The last animal on my wifes list is a black impala. We hunted a farm close to where she got her golden wildebeest for a day and spotted two shooters and had a good idea where their home range was. The biggest had a large harem of ews and the oldest one was running with a younger black ram. The first day no shots were possible due to wind or now way to get into a reasonable range. The second day we went to look for the two rams in the area we had seen them before and couldn't find them. So check on the bigger ram and try and work a way to get close. The wind was good but the hillside above the water pan was full of zebra, eland, and blesbok. Several attempts were made with no shot opportunity. But bumped them a couple times so back out and let things cool down, have lunch on the tailgate and go back and look for the two rams on the opposite side of the farm. Sevearl glassing points some driving around and they are located walking up the road beside a fence. Wind was good so a nice long slow stalk behind them and on sticks several times and they just melted into the THICK bush in this area. Back in the truck and check the area and hope to spot them again. We were about to give up and back to try for the ram with his harem when the tracker spots them off the road headed towards water. Drive till we get the wind correct and start off at an angle to try and head them off. About a 1/2 hour into a slow methodical movement through the bush and Marius stops mid step and eases back, pointing at a small row of 10 ft high 10ft round trees, and says they are right there. Sticks go out VERY slowly and he position my wife on the sticks even slower. Well a broad side shot is taken at 40 yards. Hammers both shoulders, top of heart and both lungs. It lunges about 10 yards to the right and piles up out of sight in a bush. Now I know that impala can jump but the next thing we see it the younger ram jump right over the top of that small tree line and keep going like his butt is on fire. The fact he went over was something but to clear the width also was impressive. The dogs get turned out to make sure it is down or to bay it if still moving. Rigby finds it straight off and then check the rest of the area, Flex works a bit slower but start barking that it is down and gypsy is learning from them both. We get setup for pictures and back to the skinning shed to get him caped and ready to head back to the lodge. However those of you that have hunted with Marius in this area might have had the honor of being taken to the Milkshake shop. Well that was the stop on the way back to the lodge


View attachment 482781

Beautiful Animal! Congrats to your wife!

 

[AZDAVE]

Final observation for this safari.
1. Marius EXCEEDED our expectations and gave us the best trip with him so far!!! (What Next???)
2. All the hiking and mountain biking before the trip made the hard day easier and more rewarding.
3. The people that are now doing the gun stuff in Joberg and PE were super efficient, the airlines outside of our staggered start were on time and smooth as you can expect.
4. Rifles and shooting.
a. The Howa shot very well and I was very please with the 120GMX we doidn't recover any but the consistently went in at 6.5 MM and exited at about 1/2 inch. The only animal that didn't drop within 10 yards was the springbok and it went down hill about 250yards.
b. I need to incorporate teaching my wife shooting of a bipod and moving a rifle correctly what one is attached.
c. I have shot so many different rifles that I quickly adjust to different safteys etc. Need to incorporate many different rifles into my wife's shooting to be comfortable with picking up any rifle in camp and shoot it well.
d. Her rifles all have a good hunting scope, but she mentioned that she didnt know how to adjust the parallax on Marius scope, and didn't know how to adjust a scope with target style turrets. So I need to teach her and or get her enrolled in one of the long range courses that cover all aspects of precision shooting.
e. WIND!!!!! On the springbok day the winds were 20-25 MPH with gusts to 35ish. I totally blew it on making wind calls. I ran my ballistics program and the shot my wife took was with a direct cross wind and the bullet passed 3-6 inched in front. On my down hill shot the wind was directly in my face coming up the slope and I didn't adjust for the lift and missed what should have been a chip shot! i know better but just forgot in the focus on getting the ram in range.
f. DROP I had drops memorized out to 300 with the Howa 6.5 grendel. Should have had them to 500 so my guess was a MOA to much and shot high..
g. Scopes are mechanical devices and will fail, Mr Murphy defiantly caused my wife some problems, need to consider a spare scope on future trips.

5. Lodge was excellent, food was outstanding and all the equipment was in top shape. My gratitude and respect to everyone associated with KMG and giving us a memorable trip.


As we bring this trip to a close with a awesome sunset before we headed out the next morning. I close my eyes and listen for the sounds and take a deep breath to smell Africa till the next time.

 

[Nyati]

Congrats for a great hunt, and thanks for sharing !

 

[shootist~]

Kudoos on the gutsy and apparently brilliant choice on taking a 6.5 Grendel to Africa. An excellent solution for keeping pelt damage low while being "enough gun" for the animals on your list.

And another great story - thanks for allowing us to follow along!

 

[TERMINATOR]

Final observation for this safari.
1. Marius EXCEEDED our expectations and gave us the best trip with him so far!!! (What Next???)
2. All the hiking and mountain biking before the trip made the hard day easier and more rewarding.
3. The people that are now doing the gun stuff in Joberg and PE were super efficient, the airlines outside of our staggered start were on time and smooth as you can expect.
4. Rifles and shooting.
a. The Howa shot very well and I was very please with the 120GMX we doidn't recover any but the consistently went in at 6.5 MM and exited at about 1/2 inch. The only animal that didn't drop within 10 yards was the springbok and it went down hill about 250yards.
b. I need to incorporate teaching my wife shooting of a bipod and moving a rifle correctly what one is attached.
c. I have shot so many different rifles that I quickly adjust to different safteys etc. Need to incorporate many different rifles into my wife's shooting to be comfortable with picking up any rifle in camp and shoot it well.
d. Her rifles all have a good hunting scope, but she mentioned that she didnt know how to adjust the parallax on Marius scope, and didn't know how to adjust a scope with target style turrets. So I need to teach her and or get her enrolled in one of the long range courses that cover all aspects of precision shooting.
e. WIND!!!!! On the springbok day the winds were 20-25 MPH with gusts to 35ish. I totally blew it on making wind calls. I ran my ballistics program and the shot my wife took was with a direct cross wind and the bullet passed 3-6 inched in front. On my down hill shot the wind was directly in my face coming up the slope and I didn't adjust for the lift and missed what should have been a chip shot! i know better but just forgot in the focus on getting the ram in range.
f. DROP I had drops memorized out to 300 with the Howa 6.5 grendel. Should have had them to 500 so my guess was a MOA to much and shot high..
g. Scopes are mechanical devices and will fail, Mr Murphy defiantly caused my wife some problems, need to consider a spare scope on future trips.

5. Lodge was excellent, food was outstanding and all the equipment was in top shape. My gratitude and respect to everyone associated with KMG and giving us a memorable trip.


As we bring this trip to a close with a awesome sunset before we headed out the next morning. I close my eyes and listen for the sounds and take a deep breath to smell Africa till the next time.
View attachment 482784

Why memorize

3x5 Index Card covered with clear shipping tape to make it waterproof (I don’t have access to a laminator)

Run your ballistics table with your load for a median elevation and temp for where you will be hunting +/- 2000 ft elevation and +/- 20 degrees F)

Zero @ 200 yards. Everything inside 200 is point blank hold with any good plains game cartridge. Past 200 look at the card

Distance down the left w Drop at Distance next to it and drifts for 5,10,15, 20 mph straight crosswinds

Range the distance, guestimate the wind and know the hold and ready to shoot in 5 seconds

I make one before every hunt for every rifle

Way, way better than try to memorize all this and recall in a hurry under pressure

I carry the card in a zipped pocket but some people tape it to the stock (on the side opposite of where your cheek sits)

Way better than trusting your memory

 

[TERMINATOR]

Why memorize

3x5 Index Card covered with clear shipping tape to make it waterproof (I don’t have access to a laminator)

Run your ballistics table with your load for a median elevation and temp for where you will be hunting +/- 2000 ft elevation and +/- 20 degrees F)

Zero @ 200 yards. Everything inside 200 is point blank hold with any good plains game cartridge. Past 200 look at the card

Distance down the left w Drop at Distance next to it and drifts for 5,10,15, 20 mph straight crosswinds

Range the distance, guestimate the wind and know the hold and ready to shoot in 5 seconds

I make one before every hunt for every rifle

Way, way better than try to memorize all this and recall in a hurry under pressure

I carry the card in a zipped pocket but some people tape it to the stock (on the side opposite of where your cheek sits)

Way better than trusting your memory

View attachment 482786

@AZDAVE

And the fact that I look at the card reminds me to account for wind drift…

 

[TERMINATOR]

Now for my favorite stalk of the trip. The last animal on my wifes list is a black impala. We hunted a farm close to where she got her golden wildebeest for a day and spotted two shooters and had a good idea where their home range was. The biggest had a large harem of ews and the oldest one was running with a younger black ram. The first day no shots were possible due to wind or now way to get into a reasonable range. The second day we went to look for the two rams in the area we had seen them before and couldn't find them. So check on the bigger ram and try and work a way to get close. The wind was good but the hillside above the water pan was full of zebra, eland, and blesbok. Several attempts were made with no shot opportunity. But bumped them a couple times so back out and let things cool down, have lunch on the tailgate and go back and look for the two rams on the opposite side of the farm. Sevearl glassing points some driving around and they are located walking up the road beside a fence. Wind was good so a nice long slow stalk behind them and on sticks several times and they just melted into the THICK bush in this area. Back in the truck and check the area and hope to spot them again. We were about to give up and back to try for the ram with his harem when the tracker spots them off the road headed towards water. Drive till we get the wind correct and start off at an angle to try and head them off. About a 1/2 hour into a slow methodical movement through the bush and Marius stops mid step and eases back, pointing at a small row of 10 ft high 10ft round trees, and says they are right there. Sticks go out VERY slowly and he position my wife on the sticks even slower. Well a broad side shot is taken at 40 yards. Hammers both shoulders, top of heart and both lungs. It lunges about 10 yards to the right and piles up out of sight in a bush. Now I know that impala can jump but the next thing we see it the younger ram jump right over the top of that small tree line and keep going like his butt is on fire. The fact he went over was something but to clear the width also was impressive. The dogs get turned out to make sure it is down or to bay it if still moving. Rigby finds it straight off and then check the rest of the area, Flex works a bit slower but start barking that it is down and gypsy is learning from them both. We get setup for pictures and back to the skinning shed to get him caped and ready to head back to the lodge. However those of you that have hunted with Marius in this area might have had the honor of being taken to the Milkshake shop. Well that was the stop on the way back to the lodge


View attachment 482781

@KMG Hunting Safaris

Black Impala is probably on my list for 2024 now…

 

[IronRanger]

Great read, excellent recovery from from the Delta issue at the start.

 

[gillettehunter]

Very nice black Impala and I love your copper Springbok. I enjoyed your report.
Another option for drops and wind is a good laser rangefinder. I have my ballistic profile in mine. Pre program wind or change it while setting up to shoot. Mine accounts for elevation, temperature and shooting angle.
Bruce.

 

[AZDAVE]

@TERMINATOR the funny thing is that I did make a drop and drift chart but it was safely tucked away in my range box at home. Forgot to grab it with all the hectic month before we left for Africa.

 

[shotgungibbs]

Great hunt, great story, and great animals! I am very happy for you and your wife!

 

[Nevada Wapati]

Great hunt, trophies and memories for you. I'm looking forward to making my own with KGM next year.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Well done. You got some very nice trophies with very memorable hunts attached.
Thanks for writing the tale.

 

[Randy Bo]

Congratulations to you and your wife.
Thank You for taking us along.

 

[cpr0312]

Congratulations and thanks for sharing with us!