We left Edmonton on June 1st in the afternoon and flew to Toronto, Paris then to Johanesburg. It took around 23 hours to fly and it sucked. We spent the night there and did some shopping at the local flea market and picked up one of my friends comming from Utah. We then flew south to a city called Blofontein. and took a charter plane out to our camp an hour away.
The area we hunted was about 65 000 acres. This area has not been hunted for about 5 years and the PH (proffesional hunter) changed us to hunt here instead of his usual area because of the game quality and the number of different species. The only downfall of this area is that we were hunting the smaller cape Kudu and the warthogs were not as big or as plentiful. Threre were many more species here though which in the end it worked out better. All of our trophies were considered Gold standard (record book) or very close to it. The PH even paid out of his pocket to get the extra flight so we could make it into this area. The area is tougher to hunt than most due to the hills (which they call mountains)
and the very open terrain in the plains area of the hunting concession.
We flew into the camp early morning and sighted in our guns and had something to eat. We were hunting by early afternoon. I was shooting my Blaser rifle, 7mm STW with 160 gr Barnes XLC coated bullets. It did the job on all the animals just fine. Out of the 63 animals only 2 were wounded and lost so we all shot well. I was luck to have all my animals go down in less than 100 yards. If you wound something you still pay and that was always in the back of my mind.

This was a few of the first animals I saw in the early afternoon. They take 5 cape buffalo off of this concession every year. All make the record book. A couple of the guys had a bull charge them and they almost had to shoot it. It was within 20 yards of them and they would have had to shoot if it was closer than 15 yards.

I have so much I could tell you all but it would take forever to get it all out. We started to see animals after 5 min. of leaving the 5 star acommadations we were staying in. I didn't even feel like I was hunting for the first little while because I was too busy taking pictures of everything instead of being on hunting mode. Our PH probably thought we were nuts trying to stop to take pictures and I think we overloaded him on the questions for sure. We ran into a small group of Girafes early into the hunt and I will get those pictures up later. We saw a bunch of awesome animals but could not stalk into range of some and others it was just too early to shoot yet. My dad was hunting with me and he ended up taking a very big gold medal Blue wilderbeest which I got on my personal handycam video. I'll post pictures later as well on all of his critters.

The next day I was getting trigger happy of course by now. The group had a half dozen critters down and thought it was my turn. I was getting frustrated because my PH was tring to stalk animal to under 150 yards before letting me shoot. I told him I was comfortable out to 400 yards and possibly more if I had to if I had a good rest. He laughed at that but learned very quickly. After a bunch of blown stalks and on another one for a Common Blesbuck we got to within 240 yards of a 16 1/4 inch Blesbuck. 16 1/2 is record book. I could see this was going to be another blown opportunity because the animal had seen us and we were caught in the open. My PH wanted to go closer but I said no and put my shooting sticks down. I shot him on a fast walk a little further back through the liver and posibly part of the lung. He troted 10 yards and turned broadside and I drilled him through the shoulder. One thing I will say is that all these animals are extremely tough and I found them tougher to drop than most whitetails I have shot. All the vitals sit way lower than ours here. It was hard to remember to aim lower than I was used to.

There were herds of these critters all over the open plains.

We had horrible weather and it was extremely windy for the first half of our hunt with some showers and cold. This is unlikely for this time of year but of course it had to happen when I was there. We were close to lunch time and so we went to have a BarBQue. This is what the African people do a lot of. We had a small fire which we made inside an old abandoned house because of the weather and grilled marinated meat and had a bunch of other good food along with wine if we wanted but we never tried. At lunch we watched a large open plateu which had springbuck, blesbuck and eland. After luch we stalked out to a small rock Island on the edge of it and my dad made a great 302 yard shot on his blesbuck which was record book at 16 1/2 inches. I had him aim 6 inches off of where he was to hit because of the wind and it still hit in front of the shoulder but killed the animal instantly. While we were sitting there the animals where running around and my PH saw a very nice respectable springbuck at 346 yards. He was suprised again when I said I was going to take the shot because he thought there was no way in heck it could be done. I aimed 2 feet to the right at the hip of the animal due to the wind and punched a hole in the front of the shoulder putting it down instantly

While sitting on the rock Island on the dge of the big open plain my PH had asked if we wanted a Common Blesbuck or a white one because there was a nice white one but it was a further shot and it was not in our package of animals. After we loaded my springbuckwe were driving along and we drove past a white blesbuck. This was the same one we had seen earlier. I was not planning on hunting them but I thought they were really neat looking. This was not much of a hunt I must admit but sometimes you just have to take what you are given. The only rule we were given was that we were not to shoot off of or close to the vehicles. They did not want the animals to become scared and hide at the sight of a truck driving by. We made a short stalk to a small bush and I shot the white Blesbuck at 306 yards. One shot right in the shoulder. This time the shot was directly into the wind so I'm glad I didn't have to figure out wind drift on that one. The horns measures 16" and it is the same as the common Blesbuck in that a 16.5" makes a gold medal record book animal so I was very happy with that.

My dad got his spring buck shortly after this and it made for a six animal afternoon. It is not typically like this but it does happen and we were luck to have good quality animals and it all worked out well. Believe it or not there were 3 days we did not even fire a shot.
After this day they all came together and I find it hard to remember which experience I had on what day. We saw so many cool things, animals, birds and hiked litterally miles every day it is hard to remember it all. I think the next day after our six animal day my dad got his Gemsbuck. we chased and stalked over many mountains other species but we didn't have much luck untill the evening. I almost had a big Red Hartebeeste early in the morning but he got away when he winded us at 120 yards while I watched him standing behind a bush with just his horns hanging out. I really wanted a big one of this species and just before dark I had a chance. We were starting to head home when we drove past a small canyon that came up on top to theopen plains. It was bushy and we had to hurry because we saw a small herd of 4 Red Hartebeeste comming up the draw. We ran for a few hundred yards and waited. We started to stalk towards them and got caught in the open again with them at 120 yards. The bulls gave us a good look from the front but my PH needed to see the horns from the side before he could pick out the best one. They were all big but one was better than the rest. The saw us and then smelt us and started to run in front of us and across at about 110 yards he then could tell the 3rd one was the biggest. I fired the first round and herd a good thwack but it didn't phase him and it ended up I hit him in front of his hip. I knew that it would be too far back when I pulled the trigger because I remembered I didn't follow through with the shot and tried to hurry things too much. I put another shell in and within about 3-4 second cranked out another one hitting him higher in the shoulder and he came skidding to a halt without a kick. My PH was impressed by now and I guess usually doesn't have hunters shoot running game but I guess with all the bush pushes and running coyote practice this was a sinch.
This was a very good animal which made the gold medal standings in the record book.




After about the 4th day I felt like I had a great hunt already and was just taking things in and enjoying the time spent there. My dad had shot a few other trophies including a big eland at 40 yard which trotted it's way towards us as we were stalking along the top of a mountain flat. We got it on film as well which is awesome footage. The bull was 38 inches and 35 makes the book so I think It will be one of the biggest taken for the year.
We had not seen much for trophy sized Kudu and this was one of the things that was disapointing but I was lucky one evening to get one of the nicest of the 3 of which our group shot. We drove up a small canyon which was thicker bush in the bottom of the canyon. This is where the kudu hang out. We went up the canyon and came back down and found a big kudu bull standing on the face of the hill at the opening to the canyon. Kudu usually hang tight when they are not prssured and we must have driven within 50 yards of him when we first went up the canyon. We made a short stalk up over a hill and got a 100 yard shot off. I fired 2 more times and my dad got off 2 shots. I was so mad after it happened because at the shots we thought we blew it. The kudu didn't flinch or slow down and I thought my chance for a kudu was gone. I didn't know how I would have blown such an easy shot. There was a Kudu cow that was still standing 50 yards from where the bull was so we thought we would sit there and wait while the PH and tracker went around to look and check for blood before it got too dark. We sat there waiting for a couple min. and then decided to go look for the tracker. I caught some movement up the hill and saw the PH and tracker and they motioned me to come here and said good job. I thought they were pulling my leg but they had found my bull 80 yards from the first shot where I hit him perfectly low right through the front shoulder. My dad had also hit it in the hind let as it was runing away. This isn't a big Greater Kudu like I wanted but it is a better than average Cape Kudu which generally have great colors. The spread of the horns is rare as well and makes it a very good trophy.

We had the camera man with us a few times and we were lucky to get a bunch of good footage. One of the animals was a Impala of mine which should have been my dads. My dad had first crack at him and missed the shot at 100 yards. He had a new perscription for his glasses he had on and things were not what they should have been. Aftert he shot we spent the next 2 hours tracking and following the herd of about 30 animals and we climbed a big hill overlooking the herd and I made a good 126 yard shot. Th Impala were breeding when we were there and the sounds these small animals make is amazingly loud.

My dad also ended up getting his on video as well and shot a good one.
One of the critters that I didn't know much about but I really wanted after I saw them was a steenbuck. Usually they hang out in pairs of a male and female and are pretty nocturnal. You jump them up when walking and find them in the morning or late evening. I made an easy shot at 60 yards on mine. The horns are small at 4.5" but it makes the gold medal standings and into the record book at that. My dad got one the same size as well and a couple others were taken one measured as big as six inches and one at 5.5".



I really wanted a black wilderbeeste but found out they are tought to hunt. I spent about 3 hours each day chasing and stalking for 3 or four days to finally get mine. They are crazy beast that you would think were on speed. They are like kids that never hold still. If spooked they will run 1000 yards and before they stop will run around in a circle and buck and snort and horn eachother. I finally found a herd bedded down and it took us 45 min. to figure out the best one and get it to stand up, turn broadside and hold still long enough to shoot. I got it all on camera and made a great shot at 312 yards low in the shoulder and breaking it. I reloaded and hit it on the run at about 420 yards and it still ran 50 yards more before going down. They are amazing looking animals. I don't think the picture of the face shows you well but there is a bunch of long hair that come out like a mowhawk from the bridge in the nose strait out. I think they are cool looking.



By this time I had shot a bunch of animals and so had my dad and everyone else. We had the camera man again and I didn't have much left on my list to shoot. I really like the long distance shooting and I said that because we had the camera guy and wanted some good footage that if we saw a decent springbuck I would take another one. We found a good buck later in the day and ranged him at 368 yards. I shot just high on the first shot and the Ram ran 20 yards and was looking around and wondered what was going on. I shot perfect and had a quarter away shot and hit it right behind the shoulder and angled out in front of the off side. The springbuck whirled around and ran 10 yards to go down. They are neeat crittes a little smaller than an antelope. For about 2 min. after the animal dies the hair on the rear end stands up like porcupine quills. One of the guys got pictures of his like that but I misssed out. We have some video footage of one doing this with the females around. I think they call it Pronking.
Here is springbuck #2




At the end of the day We found a couple of blue wilderbeeste. They was a communication problem with my PH not being very clear and I ended up shooting the wrong one. I shot the one on the right and the big one was the one on the left. No big deal. Mine still scored 27.5" and 28.5" maked the record book but the other one was the biggest the PH had seen in many years and scored him at about 32". OUCH.!!!!!



I shot my zebra on the second last day. My wife really wanted me to shoot one for a rug for the downstairs floor and of course I thought why not. The hunt isn't all that exciting. We hunted a neighbors ranch of 5000 acres and it only took us 2 hours to find the only 2 zebras on the small concession. The owner wanted to exterminate the last 2 zebras so my friend and I were helping him out. We blew a couple stalks on them and the were headed to a small group of high hills. Zebras are really really spooky believe it or not and hard to shoot because they are very wary. We tried to cut throught the pass of big hills in hopes that we could catch them comming around the far side. We barely got through the pass when the came around the bend aon the trtt. I gave my friend the first go and he shot 2 times to put his down at 270 yards. Usually with one down the other one would stop. It finally slowed down and stoped at 398 yards with a very steep quarter away shot. I had a good rest and at he shot I hit it perfect. I hit it at the back of the ribs and the bullets came out low on the far shoulder. I still can not believe it didn't go down. It ran 200+ yards back to the other dead one and ran closer to me at 200 yards where I put another through te shoulder and after another 20 yards I put one more into the front shoulder to finally bring it down . Tough animals but they are ver nice pretty beasts for sure and will make a great rug.


The day before the zebra is when I got my Gemsbuck. My dad had his already and we spent some time up in the hills looking for mine. We found some fresh tracks near a waterhole early in the morning and knew there were some near by. It tokk us all morning looking for them and did not find them. Later we tried the other side of the mountain. We found some deep valleys and I spotted a single old gemsbuck from about 600 yards away. We made a stalk and got to within 260 yards. The horns were big and we thought it might make the record book but found out after it only had 39 3/4 " horns and it needs 40" to make the book. It did not matter because it was still a great trophy. We watched it for5 min. for it to come out from behind a bush. I wa so excited I started to shake. I droped it with one shot into the high shoulder and it was all done.






I cut and pasted this from another web site so I hope it all makes sense because I did not proof read it.
I had a great trip and plan to go back in a few years if my wife will let me. Our group of 6 shot 63 animals and a lot of them were suposedly record book animals from what I was told. I was disapointed in the nuber and quality of the Kudu and warthogs but we were hunting an our plane ride west of Bloemfontein out in the mountain area. I guess the kudu are more in the Limpopo. All of our Kudu were the Cape Kudu but I guess it just gives me a reason tohead ther next. My kudu was 46 1/2 inches so it wasn't all that bad. My dad got some good animals as well including a 38 inch Eland which Iwas told was big. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Thanks for all those who have answered questions and posted pictures. What a dream finally fullfilled.

Congrats on a great hunt. I enjoyed your pics and hunt report as well. LDK

Pretty nice pics, clear and crisp.

Nice report! Thanks for sharing.

Nube, Very nice report. That Impala is really nice. There is so much to take in on your first hunt. Well as a matter of fact there is always alot to take in when your in Africa.

Great story and great shooting.

quote:

and will make a great rug

I will NOT put one of those things on MY head!
Great report and pictures!
Peter.

Congradulations on a great hunt. Have you started planning your next trip? I started planning my second trip on the plane ride home.

Yes I have planned on going back. I hope to go again in 3-4 years and try this PH's other camp in the Limpopo and try for a half dozen more trophies like Bushbuck, Nyala, Waterbuck. I need to upgrade on my Kudu and impala and of course I need the Warthog and baboon. After that I may start to think Buffalo.