Marius,

Beautiful trophies there but those Bushbuck are special!

One of these days I'll get one with two horns.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
Marius,

Beautiful trophies there but those Bushbuck are special!

One of these days I'll get one with two horns.

We have plenty of those two horned Bushbuck running around...

Find some good cattle pastures, and you'll have a good chance of finding a good Warthog in the area. The 300 Ultra Mag found its mark, and Vince bagged himself a very nice hog!

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Save some for us!

Look forward to catching up and hunting with you guys end of next month and I trust that you have stocked the bass pond as you promised me you would!!

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quote:

Originally posted by Charlie64:
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Save some for us!

Look forward to catching up and hunting with you guys end of next month and I trust that you have stocked the bass pond as you promised me you would!!

.

The tilapia is in and should be settled. We just waiting for the Bass. Hopefully they will be in by the time you get here. If not, we'll make a plan.

We took the tracks of a bachelor group of bulls early in the morning. Our tracker spotted the Cape Buffalo bull lying down a mere 80 yards from us. After dropping to our hands and knees, we lined up a small bush between us and the Buff, and managed to crawl to 55 yards. The bull was lying broadside. I could see a few other bulls around him, but the dewlap and roman nose on this particular bull drew my attention. After sitting for approximately 2 hours, we had a younger bull feeding towards us. The wind wasn't great, and I was worried that he would catch the scent. The younger bull turned and fed back towards the group. The group of bulls got up for a stretch, and this old bull had already shown me what I needed to see. As they say, the rest was history.

What's better than a Cape Buffalo bull? Two bulls! After success on the first bull, the buffalo went missing for the next day and a half. On departure day, we had roughly 3 hours before we needed to depart with a cut off time in mind. I sent trackers in opposite directions with us checking other areas. The previous day, we had found two tracks which we followed for a few miles, but never caught up to them. The trackers which I had sent to this area, found two lone bulls in the general vicinity of where we left them. We were radioed, to inform us that they had found two lone bulls and managed to close the deal on this big bossed bull.

When the warm days rolls in, you better know that you are in for a tough time on the spiral horns. Took us roughly 3-4 days to finally find a good bull. Leaving before sunrise, we had a short 3-minute drive to the hunting area which runs as a cattle ranch. As we could just start making out shapes, we noticed some Kudu cows moving back to cover only to spot this bull right at the back following his mob of cows. We got our hunter onto the sticks quickly and the bull stopped long enough to offer a shot. When the going gets tough, its all hands on deck with us. Since one hunter in camp had already tagged out, and the other PH hunting with the rest of the family group, we were a total of 3 PH's and 3 trackers covering areas to spot a mature bull. Very proud of the men that form the cogs of this outfit.

The ghosts of darkness always promises for an exciting evening. Bushpigs are one of the most underrated hunts Africa has to offer. They are cunning animals and getting a successful bait going takes time and patience. When that white head breaks the darkness, they can bring on a serious bout of buck fever.
We often hear hunters mentioning that they are not interested in Bushpigs because they shoot many pigs back home. Bushpigs are not a feral species. They are a species in their own and worthy of its own place in any hunter's display room.

We got the call that the hounds were chasing and moved to the area. By the time we got to the hounds the cat had already climbed. While trying to find an opening for the 22 Hornet for a clean shot, the Caracal decided that it had seen enough and decided to jump with a pack of roughly 12 hounds on its tail. Roughly a minute later, we could year the distinctive barking from one of the lead hounds, confirming that the Caracal had treed again. This time, much deeper and closer to the bottom of the valley in the thick undergrowth. This time around, we moved slowly, not to make the cat nervous. We found a perfect window to the vitals and the little 45gr'er found it mark.

In the pursuit of claiming sustainability in our conservation through hunting model, it is paramount to do one's utmost best in taking animals closer to being past their prime than the alternative. We can fully appreciate that every animal on safari simply cannot tick this box, but it needs to be extremely high on the aim of each outfit. This responsibility should not lie with the hunter, but rather with your Professional Hunter. Here is a great Nyala bull where one can clearly see the indentations just below the spine showing body condition in decline. I will leave this post with a great quote by Aristotle: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is then not an act, but a habit.” This quote can be applied so well to our hunting model which in return will mean that we will have generations that will still get to hunt and enjoy Africa.

Ivory for days! Lovely old Kudu bull with roughly 7" of ivory down the side. Not something you see everyday.

Some good patience and quick thinking paid dividends on this pig. As hunter and PH were on their way back for lunch, they spotted this boar next to the road about 300 yards from the gate to our base camp. This is the beauty of hunting low fenced areas. Things can happen very quickly. The long grass offered a bit of a challenge in seeing the pig firstly, and then identifying the correct Warthog. Great, old Warthog boar with a face only a mother can love. What they lack for in looks, they make up for in smoked cheese grillers.

Poor man's Buffalo, the Blue Wildebeest. No doubt the toughest of the lot. Beautiful old bull and with teeth like that, this is what hunting should be about.

Beautiful Common Reedbuck for our hunter. After spending a few days scouting around and only finding immature rams which we deemed still too soft at the bases, we found this ram by himself. After stalking him, we noticed an extremely nice Kudu bull standing in the shade watching us closely. If he ran, it would probably be all over. We managed to use the darkness offered by the riverine to close the gap to a mere 160 yards from this ram. Finding a small clearance, we got a prone shot which is always first prize.

Common Reedbuck offer some of the best table fare Africa has to offer.

Simply magnificent Kudu bull for our hunter. We are very blessed to hunt some incredible terrain, and what I believe some of the best areas available in the Eastern Cape. We offer both free range as well as managed area hunts. Exceptional animals require exceptional circumstances and that was no different with a great shot on this bull.

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/R0gGtsqx/IMG-20230705-WA0011(1).jpg[/img]

Very high standard Marius and well done

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Very high standard Marius and well done

Thank you, Andrew.

This Bushbuck had it all! Dark coat, thick bases, length and maturity. While scouting for Kudu, PH Nick sat on a ridge overlooking a big valley when he noticed something out of place. The outline shape of a Bushbuck ram had him signalling to his tracker to bring the huntress closer. A quick setup on the bipods at a steepish angle below, and the shot found its mark on this stunning ram. By the time recovery had happened, the Eastern Cape was showing off with her colors, resulting in one of my all time favorite photos.

This Nyala bull was walked and stalked by bow. A couple of close calls for a few days before it all came together. It is unbelievable how these animals simply have an extra sense to realise that something is inside their personal zone. All the elements can be in your favour with a strong wind in your face, zero movement, using the shade with camouflage and they still manage to pick you out.

Lechwe are such strikingly beautiful animals. Here our huntress connected on this old bull in one of our areas. Notice the rounded tips on this bull. Being one of the ringed antelope, first thing to look for are for solid bases, void of any white, flaky appearances. After this has been confirmed, look for a nice sweep with good length.

Our huntress getting it done with this beautiful Bushpig boar!

A photo with a difference. What was a first for us, this bull was hunted the previous day. After the shot, it had just enough to make it to the river edge, before tipping over into the rapids. The strong current washed the bull down river before it got caught in some debris. Our PH swam to the bull by getting a 50 yards head start upstream and tied the bull to the nearest tree as there was simply no way to retrieve the bull in darkness. First thing in the morning, the crew headed out to recover the bull. Some improvisation was needed for the photo of this soaking bull but a beautiful Kudu non the less.

A superb Common Duiker taken in one of our free range areas. The Common or Brown Bush Duiker are part of the notorious Tiny 10 Slam. Many hunters don't get drawn by the pursuit of these members of the little ones. They are extremely fun and challenging to hunt.

We managed to find this herd of bulls early in the morning. After double timing it to try and close the distance, we were just too late as they ventured into the thickets. We stayed roughly 100 yards behind them to hopefully catch them crossing an open area, but they simply moved into thicker brush. No doubt looking for a place to lie down for the morning. Roughly 40 minutes before dark, we managed to find a lone bull. One of the blessings of the Eastern Cape is having the hills/mountains as a vantage point. We saw the lone bull feeding in a narrow strip and closed the distance as quickly and quietly as possible. Leaving a scout on the hillside with a radio, he carefully guided us to within 50 yards of where we thought the bull would appear in a small opening, only for the bull to turn around and feed in the opposite direction. As we started to relocate to try and find another angle, the bull turned around again, feeding back to the original opening, making us scurry to get back into position. The bull offered us a slightly quartering shot and our hunter placed the 340gr Rhino into his shoulder. The bull made it to the thickest patch in the area, and we could hear him in there, making the follow up a hairy experience. We were extremely pleased to find the expired bull where e collapsed next to a tree. A simply magnificent bull.

We are incredibly blessed to be surrounded by low fenced cattle ranches that allows us to hunt these great areas! Our hunter here with this old Warthog boar he took on a recent hunt with us. These cattle ranches mixed and bordered by vast unused government allows for some great hunting with ever producing quality.

A Wonderful Klipspringer from the Eastern Cape. These are such incredible little creatures, and always great fun to hunt in challenging terrain. After a slow morning with quite a few rams seen, a few failed stalks, we managed to get onto this ram after hearing their call below. Fortunately, we were able to locate the ram lying down, before we could be identified. We managed to get a backpack down, and get our hunter to lie prone for the shot. This ram shows great secondary growth.

Dagga Boy

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Dagga Boy

Thank you.

Cape Grysbuck, which are mainly nocturnal, are another one of the notorious Tiny 10 slam. We hunted an excellent area with an extremely high population, and as expected, mostly females showed themselves earlier in the evening. We passed over roughly 20 females before finally seeing a ram around 22:00. How these animals can disappear with seemingly little vegetation must be one of the great mysteries of hunting Cape Grysbuck. After admitting defeat on the ram, we checked another location within the general hunting area, and spotted another excellent ram, once again disappearing into thin air. We were only on day 1 of a 10 day hunt, and after already being successful on the Klipspringer, we decided to call it a night at 01:00.

The next evening, we proceeded back to the area and spotted this great ram within 10 minutes after dark.

Nice Hartebeest bull in some wide open country. Had to use the terrain to get to a half decent distance from him.

That buffalo is nice! Lots of great trophies pictured.

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
That buffalo is nice! Lots of great trophies pictured.

Appreciate your comments sir. Thank you.

Ask many locals what's their favorite table fare, and this one will be high on everyone's list. Mountain Reedbuck can offer a challenging hunt in big terrain with little cover. Certainly not nearly as skittish as Vaal Rhebuck, these guys are normally found a few 100 feet below where the Vaalies start. Many legends have them as not mixing due to fighting, and its told than these fights end up in mortality of at least one. Personally, I have never seen this, and have found them in relative close proximity, but don't doubt the legends of the old tales.

On a personal note, I think that I will remember this hunt for a very long time. While hunting for Vaal Rhebuck, spotted a pair of horns sticking out of the long grass. After pulling out the Spotting Scope, we noticed that what we first thought was a Vaalie, was indeed a Steenbuck. We had brought the 22 Hornet along for such an occasion and decided to try our hand in getting to within an acceptable range for the small caliber. Although deadly at much further ranges, I felt that 60 yards was where I was still comfortable with the Hornet. Before starting the stalk, I noticed a rocky outcrop above where the ram was lying down and thought that this could be a perfect spot to set up from. We made a large loop to get around the ram and make it to the rocky outcrop. Once we arrived there roughly 25min later, it became apparent that the spot where we wanted to get to was a little bit further from the ram than anticipated. Approaching from behind, the ram was still lying in the same spot and facing in the opposite direction to our stalk. We had a steady wind which assisted with the noise as well.

We managed to crawl/crouch walk to around 58 yards.

I was happy that we could see enough of the ram's body to take a shot at him, while he was still lying down. I had opened the sticks while still lying on my stomach, with the Steenbuck ram still unaware. As I signaled to our hunter to get up onto the shooting sticks, the ram swiveled his head around looking straight at us. I whispered that we will need to take the shot from a prone position and relatively soon. The hunter was already half way to prone so simply had to raise the rifle. The little 45gr bullet found it mark with a perfect shot in the crease of the shoulder. The ram trotted for roughly 25 yards before lying down. A great stalk on a beautiful Steenbuck ram and to do it with the little Hornet was just the icing on the cake.

After 3 unsuccessful days of hunting Vaal Rhebuck, we knew that this was our final chance before relocating to base camp for Kudu and Bushbuck. As we were slowly making our way back to camp in order to collect our gear for the drive home, we came around a corner to spot a group of Vaal Rhebuck roughly 800 yards away. It did not surprise me that they were already locked onto us. I grabbed the Spotting Scope inside my truck and rested it on my truck's window to have a quick glance in order to see if there was anything of interest. We noticed this ram with the group and decided that we will make a play at him. It took us roughly 30 minutes to drive a big loop to get around and above them. Once we left the truck, it took us roughly another 45 minutes of walking to try and get into a position for a shot. The group of Vaal Rhebuck had seen this play before and got us to relocate another 3 times. A few warning shots along the way, we managed to get this ram with the last round in our possession, at 250 yards exactly. Incredible scenes at arguably Africa's toughest plains game animals.

This big bodied Bushbuck ram was hunted in one of our free range areas. This ram has a peculiar shape to his horns with incredible mass. Bushbuck are one of the spiral horned antelope, but there was almost zero spiral to this individual animal. Straight horns, but with incredible mass, this was simply a behemoth in his own right. Added a close up of the ram's horns to show the great mass he held all the way to the top, as well as the extraordinary shape.

As we proceeded to make our way to what felt like Mount Everest, I picked up a Kudu bull on a drop off, at the end of of a valley at almost a 1000 yards away. The bull was sunning/feeding but definitely motivated at moving to his bedding area. As the saying goes, never leave fish to find fish. We turned around, and headed in the direction of the bull. Getting some height would be paramount to any chance at success. We climbed the opposite hill, losing sight of the bull for roughly 45 minutes. Once at the top, we slowly moved all along the edge, peering down into the valley, unbeknown whether the bull had descended or whether he was still hanging around the edge. We ran into a troop of Baboons at first, but the got out of the way. We sat down for 10 minutes and used the time to scan to try and pick up any type of movement. Quite a few Waterbuck cows, Kudu cows, and even another good Kudu bull. The second bull spotted was certainly a nice bull, but I had seen something on the first bull that made me want to sit an extra few minutes. All of the animals were unaware of our presence. After roughly 30 minutes of glassing, we decided to move a little bit closer to where we had seen the first bull. As we got up, there was a disturbance below, with the unmistaken sounds of stones rolling from something running on the opposite hill. I quickly got the hunter prone while scanning for the movement. The bull that we had seen, must have picked up the movement, and got nervous. Our height advantage meant that we could keep eyes on him. Range across the valley was a comfortable 220 yards. Once our hunter picked him up and followed him through the scope, I got the bull to stop. A single shot was all that was needed. Notice the beautiful warn down Ivory tip on the bull's left horn. Not the deepest bull, but he ticked all of the boxes. Old age, great shape and one that will make most hunters proud.

Last day of our 10 day safari had us looking for a Common Duiker. Common Duiker are known to have a relatively small home range, and I had seen two large rams in one of our free range areas the previous year. Since the free range areas are only open during June and July, I knew that chances were good that they would still be around, unless a predator got involved. The order of the day again was to try and get close with the little Hornet. From roughly 500 yards away, I saw this ram feeding and confirmed that he was a very good ram through the Spotting Scope. Leaving my tracker to keep and eye on him, I had him guide us in with the radio. Once we were only 70 or so yards away, we realized that it was going to be quite tough to see him in the long grass. He would need to to step into a patch with openings among the shrub. Even after being explained exactly where he was via certain beacons, we still could not identify him.

A small movement caught my eye just as we had decided to break for lunch and come back in the afternoon, only to see the ram eating on one of the more open clearings roughly 80 yards away.

We proceeded to crawl with shooting sticks in order to try and close the distance, keeping a single bush between us and the ram. Once we got to the only shrub that was in the clearing, I managed to get a range on the ram at 62 yards. I opened the shooting sticks from a lying down position, without being noticed and duly explained to our hunter until he could see the outline of the ram. After getting him onto his haunches, we waited for the ram to turn his head while he was feeding, giving us just enough time to move into a shooting position. Once the hunter stood up, he had already settled the rifle onto the shooting sticks when the ram noticed the movement. Duiker will often freeze, giving you enough time to get a shot off. The little Hornet barked and we watched the ram go down.

With some great secondary growth to this ram, and quite a few teeth missing, we could not be happier in taking this superb specimen.

What grand old trophies! Never seen a bushbuck like that before!