SOUTH AFRICA: Two Weeks With Tootabi Hunting Safaris The Time Of My Life

[buchnerl]

 

[Wildside Outdoors]

Day 3:

We awoke early the next morning and packed the truck. Breakfast was ordered at the hotel and then we drove to the University where we were to pick up Loodt’s better half. (And she is much better looking and better company than he, I might add) J

Once we were all in, it was on the road again, with only one stop: The Gariep Dam. Loodt had provided me with several options along different routes that would be possible places to stretch our legs and take some pictures, and the Gariep Dam was my choice.

 

[Wildside Outdoors]

This stop worked out perfectly as it was a good midpoint in our trip and allowed us to play around with our cameras and lenses a lot. I found out that Loodt is as bad of a picture nut as I am! Loodt was also able to provide an abundance of knowledge about the Dam and its working parts and allowed me to take way more pictures than I probably should have.

We finally arrived at the lodge later that afternoon, in time for a meal and a quick ride over the property. Loodt had previously had some bushpigs on bait, but the bait hadn’t been replenished so we were going to wait around until just after dark and observe with hopes for a possible hunt later.

I was so impressed with the landscape around the lodge. The Tootabi Valley sits within a beautiful mountain chain of thick cover with open farm/game land. When atop the mountains, you can literally see for miles and the lodge sits just off of the Addo Elephant National Park, providing some very scenic views.

 

[Wildside Outdoors]

Day 4:

Lammie arrived early Thursday morning as a stand-in for Loodt to attend his uncle’s funeral and we instantly hit it off. He brought with him Attie, who is by far the most polite and humor-filled tracker I’ve met yet.

The plan was to get an early start for waterbuck on a neighboring concession in hopes that a mature bull would visit the watering hole. Instantly we began seeing animals as we drove to the highest point possible. Lots of waterbuck littered the hillsides, along with blesbok, kudu, impala and the occasional springbok and lechwe. As we topped the hill we drove into a group of hartebeest and watched them run off the hillside. We hid the truck among the brush and Lammie and I headed off toward the blind. Half way to the blind we spotted zebra hidden among the trees. They had already spotted us so we angled past them in hopes of them holding their ground and not running – no such luck. As they took off, a large group of springbok ran from the waterhole. Now that we had successfully bumped everything away from the water (crap), we quietly slid into the blind.

I believe both Lammie and I were in high hopes of seeing waterbuck as many had been on the other side of the mountain and feeding our direction when we drove past. Surely they would feed over the top and come to water. Unfortunately we waited several hours and there was not a single animal that came to the water hole. Due to the inactivity, we decided to try our luck at spot and stalk, so back to the truck for a quick lunch and then off to look for a monster waterbuck.

I was really picky about the waterbuck that I wanted; he needed to have that wow factor. We must have glassed 20 different bulls when we finally found a bull among 19 cows. This was sure to be our boy. As we drove to a location that we could glass from, we quickly realized that this bull had exactly what we were looking for. His length was approaching that 30 inch mark, with good curves and shape to his horns. The bull was bedded in the shade under a large tree and was surrounded by cows both standing and bedded. In order to get within bow range we would have to cross a very large valley and move through an extremely thick and very steep hillside without alarming any of the animals. To make matters worse, once on the hillside, we could not use any point of reference to ensure we were on the correct path and if we missed our mark, that gig was up.

Crossing the valley was simple enough, but was we worked up the hillside, maneuvering was nearly impossible. The only way to advance was to shrink to a low stoop and use the available game trails that were worn deeply into the mud.

We overshot our mark upon the first ascent, but caught our mistake early and moved back down the hill as a lateral move wasn’t possible. The second time we hit it perfect and made it to within 60 yards. There was still some brush that would allow me to move to within approximately 40 yards of the bull, but my problem wasn’t the bull, it was the large number of cows that were scattered over the hillside. The many eyes prevented us from moving further, so it was a waiting game to see what the waterbuck had in mind.

Our wind was good, at least for a while, then suddenly I felt the chill on my neck and then the snort from a cow. At her snort, all of the waterbuck rose to their feet. We arose just enough to investigate and then all of the waterbuck took off. As I watched in disappointment, I noticed the bull went off to the left more than the others and I was pretty sure he stopped just out of sight. Attie said for us to go find another one, but I said I could move around and get in range if he stopped over the hill. I quickly took off with the team along with me. Many of the cows had ran out and stopped and were now watching me, but I tried to parallel them and move on toward the bull. I kept stopping and looking over the rise with disappointment. At the last point when I rose to look over the hill, I finally gave up and glanced back to see the waterbuck standing broadside. I quickly made a panic shot through both shoulders and he took off. 200 yards later, he was down! What a monster!

 

[Wildside Outdoors]

After finishing the skinning and quartering of the waterbuck and a quick lunch, we decided to go back out after Blesbok. Lammie was familiar with the land and said that it had some absolute giants. I will have to say that up to this point, most of the ranch goats looked relatively the same, but I was willing to take his word for it. Blesbok were one of those animals that I really didn’t mind what I shot it with as I wanted more the collection of the species than anything else, but felt as if it were going to be a spot and stalk with the large herd numbers, a rifle was almost essential, so I might as well hunt for a true giant.

Driving through the ravine, we quickly spotted blesbok in good numbers. There were a large number of females spread out through the hills and several good representative males along the way. We finally spotted one that showed good length and the light, almost white, color from the proper age and wear of his horns. Closer inspection revealed that he was a very good specimen, but Lammie said we would keep looking as he thought we could do better. Before long Lammie stopped the truck abruptly and said monster. Even I could see the horns from several hundred yards and they looked ivory from the base to the tip. The bull had good mass, but exceptional length and was by far the best blesbok we had seen yet. Lammie and Attie confirmed that he was our boy and off we went.

The wind was a little tricky as it was switching from a cross wind to nearly a wrong wind, but the steep hillside that we had to make our ascent would help with that. Zebra were proving to make our stalk more difficult as they stood out in the open overlooking our path, while the blesbok were somewhat hidden among the sparse vegetation and bushes. We managed to make it through the open ground by staying low and moving very slowly and now had good bush cover to move within position of the herd. I do not believe a single blesbok spotted us as we crawled on all fours to our final point. The last bush would place me about 100 yards from the herd which would work perfectly for my .375. I had to remain sitting for the shot and there wasn’t enough frontal cover or room to use the shooting sticks so I would have to shoot off handed or use one of the very small branches of the bush to help steady me. The ram was standing behind a ewe but clearly was much larger in body and horn than any other blesbok. Finally he moved forward and I raised the rifle and found my mark.

I was shocked that once I settled from the recoil he was in a steady run. Lammie quickly said that I missed him and I said there was no way, with great confidence. He quickly smiled and confirmed that he was only testing how sure I was of the shot and that it had went down. Although I knew I had hit him, I will admit that I completely lost him in the large mass of blesbok running in all directions and was unable to follow his path. Attie walked us straight to him where I was very pleased! 16 ¾ inches of ram!

 

[Wildside Outdoors]

What a day it had been! We had taken two phenomenal animals and there was still some good daylight left. In some ways, I wish we had called it a day at that point, but I can never quit. Loodt had told us about an absolute monster of a nyala that no hunters had been able to take at this point that was roaming his dad’s property. He had been in the same location after many younger bulls had displaced him and had even incurred one injury that had nearly killed him. No harm in going to take a look, right? At a bare minimum I had hoped to see some nyala and if we found the big one, hopefully have a place to begin looking the next day.

Lady Luck can sometimes be a real witch, but not today. As soon as we entered the valley we spotted him. We were able to give him a good look-over from the truck and you could clearly see the age he had on him. Much of his abdominal hair had already been rubbed or fallen out. He was absolutely beautiful with a strong lyre shape and heavily worn ivory tips. Lammie decided the best route was to continue driving up the valley and come in from the back side that way the nyala would feel the threat had passed. There was a cross-wind regardless of the direction we chose, so that wasn’t to play a factor.

Once out of sight, we quickly gathered our things and the pursuit was on. When we worked our way back around to where the nyala had been, he had moved further down the hill and into the open which would make our stalk a lot more difficult. I hoped the cattle in the foreground would help hide my advance and possibly cover some of the noise from the dried grass. This reminded me of stalking Kansas whitetails with the amount of livestock and cattle fences, and just like whitetails, the nyala seemed to use areas where the fence was gone to travel through. Now these are small fences i.e. cattle fences, that any wild animal can easily scoot over, but so long as he wasn’t alarmed, we might could predict his movement. Sure enough, he moved exactly as we thought he would.

I finally made it to the opening in the fence and was only 65 yards away, but there was no cover and I was simply hiding behind the fence post. The nyala knew something was up as he continually watched my direction and I sat/laid/or some other weird position for nearly 40 minutes waiting on him to move further and into cover so that I could use the embankment he was currently on to hide my quick approach.

By this time it was starting to get late and the light was beginning to fade. This hunt was going to have to change pace in a hurry if it were to be successful. The bull then began to move off of the high point and finally made his way into the low spot. I quickly moved onto a cattle path so that I could get into position before he made it out of bow range. My plan was simple, make it to the brink of the hill, draw and raise up and shoot. It worked flawlessly, except for when I raised up, there was no nyala???? He had made it into a very thick group of bushes that seemed to only be passible by one trail that went straight through the center. I was not going to follow him in there, so I used the creek to parallel and found another opening that he would have to walk through, if he hadn’t already. Like so often happens, the nyala was a step ahead of us, or his sixth sense kicked in and I heard the branches crack as he ran out the way he had entered. Quickly judging his route we hurried back to the embankment, anticipating that he would circle wide around it and we would be able to see the direction that he left. (Almost correct) He had actually stopped to see what the intruder was about 40 yards from where I stopped. I quickly judged the yardage and shot. It was good, but a touch back: about 5 inches behind the shoulder to be exact. With the clear knowledge of something having just whacked him in his side, he took off at a speed that would have made a thoroughbred proud, only that with this speed, he failed to see the fence in front of him. He hit the cattle fence and was knocked sideways from the bounce. When he got back to his feet he actually began running parallel to my position. Feeling the pain, he slowed and then stopped briefly at about 50 yards. I quickly put another arrow in him and he took off again into another bunch of brush. The death growl then came and we advanced to him. Once we got to him, he was still kicking and rolled back over on his stomach – here is where my redneck kicked in. We could have absolutely backed off and let him die, but with the fading light and the animal inside of 10 yards, I was not about to let him suffer any longer. The second shot had been good, at the back of the rib cage and exiting out the shoulder, but I put another arrow directly in his shoulder and he was out in seconds.

Now to address my earlier comment about wishing I had called it a day. In the back of my mind I wished I had taken him in one shot, and perhaps the next day I would have. Perhaps not, but now we will never know. The other reasoning was that my camera had went dead on the last picture I had taken of some young Nyala just prior to finding this guy. So now all we had was Lammie’s small camera with a minimal flash and the light was gone. Oh well, PICTURE TIME ANYWAY!

What an absolutely beautiful animal! Lammie said that he agreed with Loodt in that it was the nicest Nyala they had on their properties and I would be hard-pressed to find another one that big. I was well pleased as he had a tremendous mane, a beautiful coat and oh what horns!

 

[Warbird782]

What a day! I need to hear more...for those that do not know there are many more trophies coming.

 

[enysse]

Congrats, some more outstanding trophies....especially with a bow and arrow!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Congrats, some more outstanding trophies....especially with a bow and arrow!

Without a doubt.

 

[gillettehunter]

That Nyala is a great trophy. The mass makes them "seem" shorter than what they are. Truely a fine bull. Congrats on using a bow...... Bruce

 

[Wildside Outdoors]

Day 5:

With 7 animals in 4 days, we were well ahead of schedule. (Technically 3 days if you count the travel day). So today we decided to try for an animal that nearly always proves difficult, the eland. I had debated adding this animal to my list as I had taken an absolute snorter in Botswana last year, but I had such an amazing time in pursuit that it ended up finishing as my favorite African animal to my credit. Oddly enough, it was one animal that I had shot with a gun on that trip and originally started out just as a “collection of the species” animal. Somewhere between when I left for Botswana and returned home, they had become my favorite.

Deep down inside I really wanted this animal with a bow, but I had told myself that I would let the individual animal and terrain decide. With such an extensive list I honestly couldn’t afford to spend several days in pursuit of a single species – I will leave that for the next trip when I strictly bowhunt for a much smaller group of animals with probably 3 new species. Although the most special trophies are so often the ones most difficulty earned, for now, it was about feeding this African hunger that had grown inside of me. I was absolutely dedicated to the fact that anything shot with a rifle had to be a tremendous trophy and the fact that I had already taken my main 3 trophies with a bow, I was very well satisfied at this point.

The concession was absolutely huge. As we drove up one hill to glass, we were over-looking a beautiful dammed lake. I could literally see for miles and except for straight behind us a couple miles toward a town, everything the eye could see was huntable.

 

[enysse]

I hope someone can make the pictures just show up, my computer absolutely hates these jpg files.

 

[Wildside Outdoors]

I hope someone can make the pictures just show up, my computer absolutely hates these jpg files.

Sorry Eric, I can't seem to get them to convert with my Nikon, but my phone pictures seem to do fine????? It does take away from it, but hey, I'm trying!!

 

[Wildside Outdoors]

We saw various animals from our perch that included impala, wildebeest and waterbuck, but no eland. From the next hill we were able to spot some eland well on the other side of the water in the more open area which would make bowhunting nearly impossible. We drove around the lake which, to my surprise, maintained a hippo population. Then across train tracks and finally to the river feeding down from the dam. This had been about a 20 minute drive, only to find out that we couldn’t cross the river at the selected spot. Luckily we were able to find another crossing and began our ride up from there. Parking the truck well away from the eland we set out on foot with me packing the .375. The first eland we saw were cows and we waited for them to move around the hill so that we could continue our approach and hopefully find a big mature blue bull. Luckily there was a very rock road that we were able to route straight to the top of the hill for a nice overlook of the hillside and valley below.

We attempted to overshoot the cows as there were obviously no bulls with them, but in hopes they were close by wanted to check the area thoroughly. As we approached the top, we could see several waterbuck cows on a rim outcropping below us, then a tint of sandy orange that we knew were eland. A quick look revealed that it was a herd of bulls. Using the steep hillside to our advantage, we moved closer to examine each animal. There were a couple of definite shooter bulls in the group of about 9 total with a couple of really long horned individuals that just didn’t quite have the age yet. Loodt let me decide which of the bulls I wanted as he had begun to appreciate my judgment in the field. I told him I wanted the older bull with the dark color and long dewlap. The horns weren’t quite as long as the other, but this bull was my trophy and the one that I feel any hunter should shoot.

It was a little tricky moving into position as the drop off in front of us was very steep and we had to get just to the edge to see and to be within range. The waterbuck that were past the eland had a direct line of sight at us so we crawled on all fours across the jagged rocks to get into position. Once we had picked our spot we were faced with another dilemma: to shoot the little available brush or to risk spooking the animals trying to put up the sticks and if successful in getting the sticks, risk them running as I raise up to them. This is where I improvised. I asked Loodt for the sticks so that I might have just a bit of a substance as to steady myself and I put the legs together as if they were a monopod. Finding an opening in the bush in front of me I pushed the sticks through and slowly raised to just barely clear the bush. The sticks were placed at a strong angle toward me and to my right, but all that I desired was a little relief from the weight of the gun, although I think I could have shot off-handed very well. Picking out my big boy I took the shot. The shot was perfect, about a third of the way up and dead center of the shoulder, but so much for the big gun knocking them down! My bull took off in a hard run and I quickly picked him out hearing Loodt say not to shoot the wrong one. The second shot was excellent as well; straight through the heart, yet he did not slow down. A third shot next to my second one didn’t seem to do the trick either, although I think it must have slowed him down more than I realized as I began to pull the trigger for the fourth shot he turned to fall. The fourth shot was a clean miss, but I already had too much weight on the trigger when he turned, so all I could do is watch my crosshairs fall in front of him as I shot.

My Eland was now down and man what an eland! He was absolutely huge – Probably 350 lbs heavier than my first, although not as long in the horn, but boy was he massive!

The Boddington Pose.......................

Notice the first shot in the right shoulder, then the 2nd and third below that next to each other. (second shot must have caught a wrinkle as it created an extra mark as well.

The skinning job..... We actually used a guerny for 4 of us to pack his hind quarters back up the hill to where we could get the truck to, as there was no way we were going to get the truck to where he was laying. Then he was packed out in quarters. Thanks Attie for packing that heavy head and cape!!!

 

[stug]

Great looking eland. They sure are big and tough.

 

[dobber]

dang, thats some work, what a great animal

 

[Warbird782]

The body on that guy is massive!

 

[Royal27]

Glad you had such a great time Jason. We still need to catch up on the phone at some point!

 

[enysse]

WOW, thanks for all the detailed pictures!!!! That is really nice eland. You have a sharp eye! Congrats!!!!!

 

[Wildside Outdoors]

I’m sure everyone has heard the phrase “time flies when you’re having fun”. Well this was no different, only it was a lot of work as well. I can only say we packed out pieces of the eland at a time and when we were finished it was well into the afternoon.

The drive back to the lodge was quite enjoyable, but we weren’t ready to call it a day just yet. Loodt had obliged a local congregation with the promise of a warthog and had asked me if I would like to fulfill the order. Of course I’m not going to turn down the chance to shoot something, so we went out behind the lodge in search of pigs. The first ones we found were all young males that would soon make nice trophies and then we found a couple of trophy pigs. None of these were on the menu as we were looking for an adult sow. Later we walked right into a group of three and had I honestly should have gotten the shot, but I took extra time to check the background and then she quickly disappeared over the hill. No worries though as within 150 yards we found 3 more females. After a careful stalk we were about 100 yards from them and I went for the quick headshot so as to keep from damaging meat. My ego will be forever scarred as I missed clean – I forgot to allow for the POI vs POA. Oh well!

Unfortunately we were unable to find any more warthogs on that property so we went to an area that Loodt called the Kitchen. (Simply because dinner is always served there, no matter what is on the menu). From our point we could see many warthogs and picked out a group on which to advance. For a little extra range and flat shooting, Loodt let me borrow his 308 and the stalk was on. We kept ourselves on one side of the fence row that took a path straight toward the sows. Just before reaching our point, we saw a massive kudu in front of us. For an EC kudu, this guy was a giant, and free range at that! Great spread and good length at 50+ inches. No I didn’t shoot, but don’t think for a minute that if I hadn’t taken a kudu already that our main entrée would have switched from hog to kudu! He actually watched us up to the point we had selected for the shot. Two sows were approximately 130-150 yards out. Loodt said to take whichever one I wanted, so I selected the one facing us with her head down and shot. This time the pig hit the ground and the kudu quickly disappeared over the ridge.