Howdy all!

Well, I am 3 days back in the U.S. and PSD has me down in the worst way! I hunted with Claude Thorburn at Farm Karagome which is a nearly 100,000 acre property situated right next to Etosha. This is my second hunt with Claude (new area though this time) and it was absolutely fabulous! The hunting was thick and hard, but I managed a nice eland, kudu, baboon, and warthog in 4 days of hunting.

The number of leopard spoor on this place is absolutely amazing. One of the other guys I was with wanted a hyena so they set out some bait and had a big tom hitting the bait almost immediately and we cut tracks routinely while in the bush. There were also a couple of lions roaming around that had left Etosha, but I never got a glimpse of them.

Anyway, here are photos of my kudu and eland.


http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a80/markpegg/karagombe3.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a80/markpegg/kudu_2005.jpg


http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a80/markpegg/eland2_2005.jpg


http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a80/markpegg/baboon_2005.jpg

Sounds like a hard hunt but a great hunt. Those are the ones that bring back the best and most vivid memories. Congratulations and post more pics of the Baboon and Wart Hog! I enjoyed them, thanks!

Welcome, and when are you going back....Nice animals..Hard hunting always makes it sweeter...

Mike

retreever,

I'm hoping to go back next year, provided I can find a buyer for the spare kidney my wife is carrying around . I fear that I am becoming single-mindedly obsessed with Mr. Spots so I'll have to deal with that issue sooner rather than later!

K

Congratulations! That looks like a fabulous eland. Old bull?
I hunted for dik dik south of Etosha last year. Some very thick bush there.. How and where was your area?
Thanks for posting!

Very nice!

Congratulations on a great hunt!

Anders,

In a lot of places we had only about 25-30 yards visibility at the very best and it was nearly impossible to walk quietly because the leaves were all off and very, very crunchy! The challenge was certainly there and that absolutely improved my perception of the quality of the hunt itself!

I put on quite a few miles for the eland and was lucky enough to not be spotted before we saw him. The shot was actually only about 30 yards so that was pretty special too. The PH figures he's 10-12 years old which would put him in the old category for sure. His rounded horn tips certainly suggest he has been around the block a time or two as do the scratches and dings on the horns. Just my kind of beast: lots of wear and tear on the chasis, but still kickin' butt!!

I saw quite a few dik-diks on this place also. I wouldn't know a trophy dik-dik from a runt (is there a difference??? ), but several had horns.

Yes I thought it would be thickets around. In the area we hunted dik dik it was not only thick, but most of it was thick of thorns. It was difficult to leave the road without beeing ripped up..

The dik dik are pretty plentiful in theese areas, but maybe not very widespread. They have been looked after for quite some years, because the were almost in the endangered categorie.

I guess the difference between a non-trophy and trophy dik dik is not big.. If you can clearly see the horns I think it has potential.. Mine measured 6,7cm on the longest horn and was pretty good. I just had to make it a fullmount:

They are neat critters. I just don't have much of a desire to hunt one .... yet .