My friend Greg (a fellow who went with me on his first safari this year) dropped this picture by this afternoon. I had never seen his trophy since I came back a few days early. He wanted to know if this was a good bull. What do ya'll think?

Looks like that bull is well over 30" spread!

George

Hey judge! that is a very good Blue Wildebeeste! what was the spread? About 30+ inches? hell of a start. great going, where was it taken?
good Hunting! Widowmaker416

Greg Howard is the hunter. It was taken at Cambridge Safaris on the Limpopo River, near Stockport in RSA. He says it measures a bit over 31", but I'll have to take his word for that... but that's not to hard, looking at the picture. NO ground shrinkage there. I've seen proudly displayed Cape Buffalo mounts with spreads that looked smaller. He's rightly proud!

Judge,



I have a 25 inch and was told it was a very large...soooo

the 30 + inch animal in pic is a slammer..A must to get an official score...



Regards,



Mike

JudgeG,

Find out who your friend's PH was if you can. I have hunted Cambridge a few times in the past and that ranch always produces some nice wildebeest, waterbuck, bushbuck and impala. The big boys cross over from Botswana and if you were lucky you could catch them headed home early in the morning.

Perry

I have a friend who owns a part of Cambridge and he invited me and 9 other guys and ladies to hunt after 1115 and I finished our Zimbabwe hunt. We had a "South Georgia" party probably supressing the distilled spirits supply for RSA for several years! There were some good times by the fire, I can promise!



I'm so dumb that I can't remember Ivan's last name (he is the resident PH. at Cambridge). I'll get his name and the "attending" P.H. for Greg and particular property he was on. Since there were 10 of us hunting at the same time, we were spread out over several properties each morning (regularly switching our 2/1 partners and ranches for variety). As I said, Greg stayed several days more than I, so I don't know which PH he was with (or on whose ranch) when he took the animal.



I'll relate what he told me:



He and his PH were in the back of the bakkie when 8 or 10 wildebeest were spotted a couple of hundred yards up ahead. The animals spooked immediately. They continued on in the truck to check the tracks in the road and to make a decision whether to begin to follow the animals. While everyone was out of the vehicle discussing the tracks, someone happened to look in the direction from which the animals came and saw the subject wildebeest watching from 100 yards or so.



As soon as the animal was spotted (or eye contact was made), the bull spun and departed at the effortless lope of the breed. The PH didn't have much a chance to see the horns, but knew the bull was special.



Scuffs and hoof marks were quickly found and tracking ensued. It was Greg's last day of his hunt and he had taken all the animals of his "package" except wildebeest so he was pretty much ready to shoot any representitive animal. As the sweaty work of walking/crawling/stooping/getting stuck, etc. began to last longer and longer, Greg started to murmer aloud that going after the 10 wildebeest traveling in the opposite direction would be easier, but, after watching the joyful intensity of the PH, he submitted to the wise counsel of experience. The PH knew the bull was exceptional.



After tracking for an hour and a couple of kilometers or so, they entered some really thick stuff, right along the Limpopo River. Grass was 4 to 8 feet high and visibility was about zero. When Greg was just about ready to suggest they go back to the bakkie, the PH spotted the bull when it crossed an old track where someone had driven a vehicle to recover a downed animal. The bull was about 40 yards from Greg and walking directly away. No shot was possible.



The same scenario kept repeating itself. The bull would show himself for 5 to 10 seconds, and then get in the thick stuff. Finally, they spotted the bull crossing a dry pan and got the shooting sticks up. Greg tried to get the animal in his scope, but the bull got to the far side of the openning and disappeared again. Greg continued to sweep his scope left and right and luckily the bull's head and neck appeared through a hole in the thick growth. The shot was over 100 yards, but Greg felt confident and squeezed off a shot from his .30/06.



The bullet hit right where Greg aimed, smashing vertibrae where the neck joins the head and the bull was dead before it hit the ground...



Greg thinks he's ready to hunt buffalo next year and I'm about ready to agree! For a "newbie" he showed great patience, endurance and accuracy. And he'll need all those on Mbogo.

BTW, Greg's gun was a .30/06 Model 77 Ultralite (is that what you call them) with the tang safety. I found the gun for him on this forum for only $300! Greg used 180 grain Winchester PowerPoint Plus loads, or whatever you call them. He took impala, zebra, gemsbuck, kudu (I think) and a few others. If anybody remembers who sold me the rifle, you did Greg right and he and I thank you! It is a m.o.a. lightweight joy to hunt with... even though it kicks pretty badly with the hard red Ruger pad.



There was one bullet "failure". Greg hit his zebra squarely on the shoulder and the bullet fragmented, penetrating bone shards and bullet fragments into only one lung. After a long trailing job, Greg shot the zebra in the other shoulder, and this time, the bullet held together, penetrating that shoulder and exiting through the ribs on the far side.



Next time, he will tote Partitions, X's, or A-Frames...

JudgeG,

Thank you. I was wondering if your friend hunted with Ivan. His last name is Bezuidenhout. He is a good PH and very good judge of trophy quality. I was an investor in that ranch until just recently. The original ranch was sold and now he is based on a smaller property down the road from the oringinal Cambridge property. Ivan is the proud owner of a Pedersoli Kodiak I had converted to 450NE#2. I took it for a test drive while hunting with him and he fell in love and made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Perry