SOUTH AFRICA: TwoTracks-KMG Hunting Safaris AH Members Group Hunt 2022

[TwoTracks]

KMG Group Hunt 2022


Outfitter: KMG Safaris, Marius Goosen - https://huntsafaris.co.za/wp/
PH: Nick N.
Tracker: Themba
Main Game: Nyala, Kudu, Bushbuck, Warthog, etc.
Hunt Area: Eastern Cape, RSA
Hunt Dates: June25-July2 (8 days)
Rifles: Tikka T3x Lite, 308win with Omega 300 Suppressor, Winchester M70, 300wm
Ammo: Hand loaded 308win 165gr Swift Scirocco, 300wm 180gr Swift Scirocco
Cases and Luggage: Rifles-Pelican 1750, Suitcase-Pelican 1615, Ammo-Pelican 1200, Backpack-MR Pop Up 28
Travel: Delta Airlines, Airlink, and City Lodge booked through Gracy Travel

This hunt report is part of the KMG Hunting Safaris AH Members Group Hunt 2022. https://www.africahunting.com/threads/new-kmg-hunting-safaris-ah-members-group-hunt-with-brickburn-in-2022.65415/

LURKERS……. Stop now, signup and go introduce yourself! Becoming a member of the AH community was a big step for me making the commitment to pursue this trip. Take the time and sign up for the forum now.

Enough waiting around. Let’s get started!

 

[Pheroze]

Off to a good start with a picture of Gypsy

 

[TwoTracks]

Travel into RSA

Pretty uneventful with little to report. Checking a rifle case in with Delta was very easy but the man at the ticket counter wanted to see my CBP4457 and the SAPS paperwork. He barely looked at the paper copies but did verify I had the forms. The evening before, I just could not get the weight of my checked bag below the 50lbs limit with the ammo case inside, so I just threw what I wanted into the Pelican Air 1615 and paid the penalty. The fee was $100 going and then on the return Delta flight, 1,600 Rands.

After landing in ATL, I rode the train to the departing terminal and found the gate. Eventually the flight boarded about an hour late. The near 16-hour flight wasn’t horrible. I was seated in Comfort Plus, which is economy with a few extra inches of leg room. The Airbus-350 was fairly quiet and had good charging ports and outlets to keep all your devices going. While over the Atlantic, we were able to see the sun rise and then set again prior to arrival in Johannesburg.

After pulling into the gate, one of the flight attendants informed the passengers that, South Africa had just lifted the indoor mask mandate earlier that day. At no point during the trip was a mask donned. Things were certainly getting back to normal.


I was met near baggage claim by Maxwell, one of Gracy’s people that assist with the rifles. After collecting baggage and clearing immigration, Maxwell passed me off to Bruce. We made our way to the SAPS office where Bruce made quick work of collecting the rifle case and verifying serial numbers. Bruce walked me over to City Lodge and left me for the night. I had dinner in the hotel restaurant and had a good night sleep.

 

[TwoTracks]

Off to a good start with a picture of Gypsy

My kids kept trying to convince me to dognap her. I couldn’t do that to brother Marius, but I did consider it.

 

[TwoTracks]

Travel to ELS

The next morning Bruce was there to assist, and it was nice having him there. The Airlink lady was trying to charge luggage fees based on the weight numbers that had already been entered into the system. I suspect the numbers were the pounds of baggage entered by Delta, but she was charging by the kilo. A quick trip to the Airlink customer service line fixed everything.

During the 90-minute Airlink flight we were able to see snow on the mountain tops and a bit of the shoreline near East London. After entering the baggage claim area, PH Nick, and PH Jeremy along with the other 4 KMG clients all made introductions and claimed luggage and rifles. Everyone piled into the Hi-Lux, and we drove an hour to camp.

After getting settled into our rooms, making introductions, the 3 rifle hunters were taken to the range. A couple of the rifles needed some fine tuning after the voyage halfway around the world. With everyone satisfied, we headed back to the lodge for dinner.

 

[TwoTracks]

Day-1 13,471 steps, 6.7 miles

Nick, Themba and I drove to an area that was known to have good Nyala. During the day, we saw zebra, giraffe, warthogs, blesbok, kudu, impala, etc. That afternoon, we were joined by one of Nick’s childhood friends and hunting buddies. Nick assured me that he was usually good luck, and we were fortunate to have him join the team. I’ll refer to him as Lucky D. That evening we saw several large Nyala bulls below our glassing point. One looked ancient, sporting heavy horns, and we made note of his location before heading back to camp.

 

[TwoTracks]

Day-2 13,999 steps, 7.4 miles

We returned to the same glassing ridge from the previous day. After not seeing anything that got our attention, it was decided to drive to a more remote location. About halfway to the remote location, the route took us right through the area we saw the large bull the previous night. We stopped the truck to glass some bushbuck ewes on a hillside in front of us. A large Nyala bull was feeding about 30 yards below the bushbuck ewes. It didn’t take Nick long to get excited and evaluate the bull as a shooter. A shot off the sticks and the bull ran about 30 yards to right. We made our way to where we last saw the bull and found him right there. I was blown away with his mass and age. He had worn his teeth down to the gums, had muscle atrophy, and likely wouldn’t have made it another 6 months. The exact type of animal we strive to take. The family who owned this farm were great and very inviting. It was very nice to meet and spend time with them.

 

[TwoTracks]

Later that afternoon, we spotted a nice bushbuck. The problem was, he was very close to the area we planned to sit for bushpigs that evening. Not wanting to mess up the area, we chose to pass on the ram.

That evening, while sitting for bushpig, we saw a spotted jenet, a white-tailed mongoose and a lone sow with a piglet.

 

[Nevada Wapati]

Keep it coming. Loving it so far.

 

[TwoTracks]

Day-3 12,594 steps, 6.0 miles

The four of us; Nick, Themba, LD, and I headed to a working cattle farm known to have kudu and bushbuck in its remote canyons. We glassed up warthog, duiker, and kudu but no shooters.

That afternoon, the four of us headed to a different working cattle farm known to have a lot of bushbuck. We spotted warthogs, kudu, bushbuck and even a caracal. The caracal was the second cat we saw during daylight hours in the previous 2 days. It wouldn’t be our last.

 

[TwoTracks]

Day-4 15,283 steps, 7.8 miles

The team headed to the same cattle farm from the previous morning. We dropped Themba off at one of the two more promising valleys before going to a different area. We left LD on a great vantage point and continued to push on. About this time, Themba spotted a promising bushbuck. Nick and I returned to Themba and set up the spotting scope. Yep, the ram was a shooter. I was able to get setup prone, take my time and make a good first shot. The ram was down and immobile but very much alive. Not wanting to go into the tall grass with a wounded bushbuck, a second shot was made. We all loaded up and drove around to the other side of the valley. Once deep into the grass, I was very glad we took the second anchoring shot. The grass and trees were much thicker than they appeared from across the valley.

The ram was an old warrior. Tons of hair loss, lots of scars, and polished horns added to his charm. A super cool ram.

 

[TwoTracks]

The pack out was another unexpected highlight. Themba had to go back to the truck to get his superhero cape. When he returned, he made the bushbuck into a backpack and strapped it on! Themba humped the white-tail sized ram out of the valley, like he was giving a kid a piggyback ride. One of my many favorite memories from the trip.

Later that evening, we sat in the bushpig blind. No pigs, but we did get a visit from a very hungry porcupine. He was very happy for Marius’ mealie corn.

 

[TwoTracks]

Day-5 11,694 steps, 5.8 miles

We headed to a large cattle farm. This giant property has produced many good kudu bulls over the years, and we hoped it would produce again. After picking up a local tracker and dropping Themba off at a high vantage point, we glassed several kudu bulls that tempted us. One bull was a shooter, but he didn’t have the shape I was after. Wondering if I had made a mistake, we watched the bull walk over the ridge with his cows. I felt uneasy with the decision for the next hour or so, until Themba spotted a good warthog. We rushed to his position, but the big boar wasn’t in sight. The boar’s buddies were there but the big guy was hidden by bushes. Eventually, he fed into an opening, presenting a very steep downhill shot. At the shot, a small dust cloud was kicked up, off the warthog. He ran about 10 yards into some brush. After driving down to the area, we quickly found him. He is a classic handsome warthog boar.

 

[TwoTracks]

While setting the warthog up for pictures, a baboon started to bark at us. We all turned to see a lone male baboon sitting on a boulder. He must have figured he had enough distance between us to not feel in danger. Photo ops quickly turned into spotting scope and range finder ops. By this time, the baboon had enough and was side hilling to our right. The shot dropped him but was a little far back. We drove around to that side of the valley and the trackers jumped out to retrieve the baboon. Something inside me was saying, I should be going over there with the trackers. About the time the trackers got within 30 yards, the baboon lifted his head and had a look of bad intentions. Apparently, trackers see a wounded baboon as good fun, because they sounded like a couple of teenagers, giggling, and teasing each other. Eventually they must have heckled each other enough to grab the baboon. About the time Themba grabbed for the tail, the baboon roared like a lion and lunged for Themba’s arm. The trackers didn’t need a lot of convincing to move out of the way for an addition rifle shot. The baboon took another solid hit in the ribs. He eventually needed a third and final shot at point blank range to end the rodeo. Baboons are tough critters.

 

[TwoTracks]

Day-6 12,571 steps, 6.4 miles

The 4 of us headed to a family run cattle farm in search of Kudu. We were very blessed to have one of the owners accompany us for the day. He is also a PH and was an enormous help. I am very grateful for his expertise and his family’s hospitality. We quickly glassed up a few younger kudu bulls, but nothing old enough quite yet. While glassing, a caracal was spotted below us sneaking around. Nick’s caracal hounds happened to only be about 5 miles away working on a different farm for a few days. The farm owner offered to go and retrieve Nick’s hounds and the houndsman, while we continued to hunt for kudu. We all loaded up and drove to a different area of the farm. As we were walking out onto a glassing point, I saw that Nick was getting excited and running back and forth searching below the ridge we are on. I tried to stay next to him, while on the boulders. He said it’s a big kudu and get ready to shoot. About 5 seconds later, I saw a wide kudu running away from us at the bottom of the valley. I took a rushed shot but made a hit. The bull disappeared into the brush as he tried to go up the far side. We glassed the far side looking for the bull. We found the bull standing in a small dark opening, clearly hit. I took a second shot, and the bull went down. We left Themba there to guide us though the super thick brush to the bull, after we drove around to the other side of the valley.

While we we’re driving to the bull, we got word that Nick’s hounds had treed the caracal. We got out of the truck and started to follow the dogs’ baying. The hounds had the cat treed over a super steep and inaccessible ravine. At the edge of the ravine, I eventually made a good shot and the cat jumped/fell down. The houndsman found a way into the ravine and he retrieved the cat. We took a bunch of pictures and transported the dogs and houndsman to the farm.

 

[TwoTracks]

While at the farm, we borrowed a few of the workers to help retrieve the kudu. Getting to the kudu proved to be challenging. The terrain was very steep, had several cliffs and was thick with vines and vegetation. Nick’s terriers did an awesome job of leading the party straight to the bull. We were able to take some great pictures amongst the creek bed. These images are etched in my mind. Having all the extra help turned a nearly impossible job of retrieving the bull into a great memory. This bull is exactly what I was holding out for, having a wide-V and nice worn tips. A beautiful old mature Eastern Cape Bull.

 

[TwoTracks]

Having two great animals for the day, we headed back to camp. Once back at the skinning shed, I got a little snoopy and dug out a few of my animals. While taking these pictures, I was blown away with how great the trip had gone so far.

 

[TwoTracks]

Day-7 9,386 steps, 4.6 miles

The 4 of us headed to a large game farm that has good numbers of black wildebeest and springbok. We picked up a local tracker and made our way onto a large flat ridge. Within 10 minutes, two nice black wildebeest were spotted. One appeared to be very old and had nice, heavy bosses. Up on the sticks, and the black is down. The old bull was the opposite of ground shrinkage. I love the old, gnarled bosses and worn tips.

 

[gillettehunter]

You are getting some very nice trophies. Congrats on a great trip so far.
Bruce

 

[TwoTracks]

After pictures of the wildebeest, we started looking a mature springbok. This proved to be a little trickier than I first thought. We could find plenty of ewes but not many rams. Then when we did find a ram, those jokers weren’t hanging around long enough for us to get a good look at them. After a few miles of chasing them around, we got our opportunity.