I posted these on the European Forum originally, but I thought I would follow up Chris's by adding my pictures as well. I am hoping Roger will post his pictures when he gets a moment as he also took some very nice animals.

Anyway for the first couple of days of the hunt I seemed to have no luck; everybody else had taken nice animals, but my PH kept on saying “too small†to everything we saw..Finally we chanced on this waterbuck on the third day and I took him with a broadside shot which was a little high due to brush ect and he ran about 150 yards before falling over.



This pig gave me the biggest scare of my trip. We stalked in pretty close (20m) in thick bush and I hit him with a quartering shot in through near side front shoulder and out through the off side ribs. He jumped in the air and did a 180 degree turn before hitting the after burners. There was no blood on the ground where he stood and it took several minutes of tracking by the PH to find the first specks about 80m along the trail; then there was nothing more and he also lost the track too. I was sure I had cocked the shot up, but after 45 minutes more of searching we finally found him stone dead about 200m further way. I can understand him running as he knew he was being stalked, but was trying to slink away; the lack of blood trail is more baffling however.




The Kudu was taken after a good stalk which resulted in me taking a 170m shot from the sitting position using my sticks. He was constantly moving as he followed the Kudu cows about; obviously love was on his mind. The shot was a broadside through the heart/lungs and he went about 30 yards with a hell of a blood trail. He measures aprrox 53†and to say both the PH and I were chuffed is an understatement!



We chased around after Gemsbok for nearly three days over two blocks of property before we nailed this one. To say they were skittish and elusive would not be doing them justice. We finally managed to stalk down wind and cut off a small group that was crossing our front in thick bush about 80 yards away. Most of the time all that was visible was legs or bums moving through the thorn scrub. This one paused for that last fatal look back and received a quartering shot that went from the near side ribs out through the offside shoulder again taken standing using my sticks.


The zebra was another animal that proved elusive and skittish and this mare was taken after a nice stalk on to a small party in thick brush. She dropped to the shot after receiving a broadside shot through the heart and lungs again taken off sticks at around 70m.



This wildebeest as taken on the last morning of the hunt in a stalk and shot virtually identical to the Kudu except it was quartering away from me. Again complete penetration with the Barnes X 286grn bullets and a massive blood trail for about 50m. As he was still moving his head as we approached I put another bullet in him to finish him off quickly, but it was not really needed.



Finally in the last ten minutes of light of the last day we came across this old Warthog. I head shot him from around 60 paces again using my sticks. This was the only animal I recovered a bullet from and it was found lodged in his spine. It had lost 3 of its 4 petals and I suppose could be classed as a “failure†but it did drop him where he stood first though…I think I could go back to Africa and hunt just warhogs they are that much fun to stalk.



So all in all I was pretty lucky and I had a great hunt. My CZ550 in 9.3x62mm worked flawlessly and seems to fit me like a glove. It was scoped with a Meopta 4x32mm and that turned out to be a perfect choice; I never felt under or over scoped and it just plain worked. I was toying with replacing it with a “better quality†S&B 4x36mm but now I am not so sure.

Regards,

Pete

Pete,
Great looking trophies! Thanks for sharing!

Pete,

Congratulations on your safari and some fine trophies.

Nice going Pete, congratulations! How long are those horns on your waterbuck!?

That is a very nice Zebra and a beautiful mane.

congrats Pete and welcome back home.

Pete,

Congratulations, a great bunch of trophies.

Regards,

Terry

Pete,
Nice report and photos. Congratulations on a great trip.

Phil

No luck, Eh ? Congratulations!

Congratulations! That is a unique-looking waterbuck, what is the spread on him? It sounds like the fixed-power 4x scope was just about perfect. Thanks for posting.

Congrats!!!!
Great stories and great trophies.
Go for the S&B 4x36 ...you will not regret it!!
L

Very good pictures. Another successful hunt!

Congratulation on your trip Pete. Great pictures. That's an unusually wide, and interesting Waterbuck!

Thanks for the pictures. These are all great animals. Really liked the Kudu and Warthog. Who was the PH you hunted with?

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!! Fun ain't it?

Good Show, Pete, Outstanding!
The water buck is going to be quite the conversation piece, big and wide.

Congratulations Pete..good work!

Pete,

Well done! Glad to see some folks from the modern UK venturing forth to Africa.

Regards,

Mark

Congratulations on a great hunt. Thats a neat looking waterbuck.

Super critters Pete.
We had great luck with the 9.3 x 62 also...I had to buy son a CZ when we got home. Now we have two!

Pete

Congratulations on a nice hunt.Where did you hunt ? the sand and trees look very familiar.

The 9,3 x 62 makes for an excellent bush caliber, what velocity do you get with the 286gr BX ?
Cheers

Thanks everybody for the kind words.

The lodge we stayed at was called Landalani and the hunt was run/organised by Jim (JJ) Hack who posts here now and again.

The bush on the ranch is very thick for the most part and quite a few of the animals in these pictures had to be loaded on the 4x4 and moved to more open ground for the pictures.

With regards the Waterbuck, I have to confess I don't remember the exact length of the horns, but I recall the spread was 33". The genetics for this particular shape must be present on the ranch as we saw two other heads of similar shape/size in the skinning shed which had been taken before we turned up.


I have yet to run my loads over a chrono, but I am guessing they will be at around the 2350fps mark. My CZ550 has a very long throat and a magazine to match and hence my COL is 3.45"

In fact,I am glad the Barnes X grouperd well, as I had trouble seating conventional bullets far enough out to be near the lands.

regards,

Pete

Pete, it was great meeting you. I am already planning how I can go on safari #2. Next time wildebeeste will be 1st on my list

Roger

Roger,

Glad you called by to post! It was a pleasure sharing the Lodge with you and Serena...How about posting a few of your pictures too? If your not sure how, email them to me with any comments, and I will be happy to put them up on your behalf.

I am off deer stalking this coming weekend, but it will seem pretty tame after our trip..

Best wishes and send my regards to Serena,

Pete

Thanks for the pictures Pete. Tell us more whenever you can.

Pete - fantastic.

Pete,

Nice photos and a great hunt



Hamdeni

Pete,

Congratulations on a great hunt. Thanks for the pictures.

quote:

Congratulations!

Doesn't it make the experience sweeter when using your own handloaded ammo?

Hallo Pete

Very nise trophy's.

I will keep an eye out for you on your next trip, we will have to go for more than just one pint.

Wimpie

Hello Pete,

Very impressive bag, only quality, congratulations.

I cannot stop marvel at your unusual Waterbuck.

Wimpie,

I wish we'd had a bit more time too, but it was a very enjoyable way to spend my final afternoon in Joburg...

Jean,

The waterbuck really was a lucky fluke and is more meorable to me for breaking my slow start to the hunt!

Regards,

Pete

Can never say enough good stuff about the 9.3.

Great trophies, worth waiting for.

I too had a VERY slow start on my last PG hunt. 5 days with no animals. I made up for it later and they all seemed more satisfying as I worked that much harder for them.

Mike

Great photos and a hell of a nice Waterbuck. Congratulations on a fine hunt.

Just Great !!!!
Congrats !

Congrats! Beautiful animals! I hope I am half as successful as you were when I go.

Riodot

Why do I get the little red X's in a box, instead of pictures?

Dave

No pictures

Use photobucket

Hog Killer

Thats strange as the pictures are showing here OK..sometimes if you right click on the red X and then click "show image" it will open the problem picture in a sperate window..

Man ... great pics and beautiful trophies. Congratulations!

Just zings my "no trip to Africa this year" nerve. My problem. Oh well.