Hunt Report KZN
Hunt Dates - May 6-11, 2010
Location - KZN, Empangeni South Africa
Outfitter - Intable Ingwe Safari
PH - Dene Howes
Equipment - .375 H&H, Kahles 1.1x4X20 Helia C, Leica 8x42 Trinovids, Barnes 270 grn X bullets
Species Hunted / Taken:
Nyala
Bushbuck
Species Hunted/Not Taken:
Impala
Warthog
Species seen:
Grey Duiker
Red Duiker
Kudu
Warthog
Impala
Bushbuck
Nyala
Waterbuck
Blue Wildebeest
Burchell's Zebra
Cape Buffalo
Giraffe
Method of Hunt: Spot and stalk, stand hunting
Day 1:
Arrived Durban at the brand new King Shaka airport, the South Africans are in full swing for the upcoming World Cup, they had folks practicing meet and greet at the airport. We met Dene at the baggage claim easy transition through the SAPS desk 25 minutes later and we are on the way. Drive time from Durban to Intabe Ingwe is about 1.5 hours. We arrive at the ranch and drive through a secured gate the property looks like an upscale resort not a hunting destination. My initial thought was "this hunting should not be too hard," little did I know.
Dene takes us to our lodging, it is a single story ranch about 3000 sq ft with all modern appliances seperate bed rooms, great room, deck that runs length of the back and is complete with a pool. Dene is a one man show, he does the cooking and ph, no full time cooks, they do employ a maid who does the cleaning and daily laundry.
We go to sight in the rifles and find that my Dad's rifle had a few travel issues, we sorted that out and where ready to hunt.
Our safari car for the week was an ancient Dutch military Land Rover, we drover the farm and began to spot game. The only problem was it was not what we were looking for no Nyala bulls or Bushbuck males. I have impala on my list and see several Dene tell me there are keeps driving. Day 1 ends with nothing in the truck.






Day 2
Up early and we start the drive. See some game but again it is the girl brigade, we continue to drive nothing in the morning we go back for lunch. The afternoon brings about the same, more driving, looking, girls; until we see a large impala. We get the stalk going, manage to get close but to no avail, the sneeky guy slides into the bush and out of sight. We drive to the top of the valley to glass the first thing I spot is an impala coming up the hill, the only problem is the impala is on the back of a poacher. Now it has been a few years since I have had to go tactical but funny how old training comes back, I immediately went to the area where I had the best fields of fire , not to mention cover and concealment. I said a quick prayer that I would not have to engage anyone, I am not in Africa to hunt poachers. The poacher must have heard our vehicle for he never crested the hills and Dene's game scout saw him slip the fence. Enough excitment, we go to the cool room, procure some wart hog back strap and back to the house for beer, dinner.




Day 3
We drive the morning and early we see a nice 27" nyala bull, we walked into him on a water hole and he slipped into the bush, he was curious and slipped out about 10 minutes later and there he was broadside 20 yards, bow hunters dream. Dene looks him over and says no we can do much better, I think "better, I hope we don't regret this one later."
We change tactics and hit a water hole, we are on the sit for no more than 20 minutes and an old bushbuck shows up with a female in tow. We watch him for 10 minutes as he drinks and chases the female. He looks to be about 13" again Dene says no. The bushbuck quietly slip off just as quietly as they appeared. Not 30 minutes later 2 more female bushbuck show up, and then a great male, Dene gives me the go ahead to shoot, I slide around from my position and take a quartering away shot, the bushbuck is no more than 80 yards, I shoot and miss. "You have got to be fricking kidding me," furious is not enough to describe my feeling. This sit was blown, off to drive again.
We drive to a spot and glass and we run into a bachelor group of 5 Nyala bulls, a couple 24" guys, 2 smaller guys and then a giant steps out. Dene gives him the look over confirms he is a shooter and we start to plan. Dene studies the bull and then notices he has a broken off horn on one side, about 2 inches of the tip is missing. This bull is a 29" bull and again we pass.
The day ends with lots of driving, bad shooting and no game.


Day 3
The worm has to turn for us at some point. It is Mother's Day. I wake up at 3 am, still pissed about the miss from the previous day. I send a few quick emails, finish up a book and get dressed to hunt. We completely change tactics, today we are going to sit a water hole all day if necessary. We get to the hole at 0645 and sit until the first game sighting at 0805. We see impala, duiker, bushbuck and female nyala. Lo and behold, the previous day's bushbuck is back, he is feeding in the brush 20 yards from us, I can see him in the binocs, but everytime I try to put the scope on him I can't find a presentable shot, this goes on for 30 minutes, finally he senses us and slips away, damn him. 0940 more bushbuck, there must have been 6 to hit that water hole that morning. Female nyala everywhere, I have seen at least 8 this morning. The old 13" bushbuck steps out again, I watch this guy for a long time, look at Dene and again he shakes his head no. I continue to watch the bushbuck and then I hear Dene, very excited say shoot him now, I look up and Dene points to the right. While I had been watching the bushbuck, a great nyala bull stepped out and came to the water to drink. I look through the scope "Holy crap he is a monster." I had to shift position to get a shot clear of the brush, good sight picture squeeze if off, the bull falls in a heap, he is done, 1005. The exact same spot as the missed bushbuck. The joy had returned to the Mudville 3. The short walk around the pond and here he is, impressive. We do the obligatory pictures and take him to the skinning shed. We head off to lunch and the weight of the world has been lifted.
We hunted some more that afternoon and spotted some game but nothing else in the bag. I got my primary species and was happy, we cut out the tenderloins and had nyala tenderloin for dinner. Dene took a quick measure, the bull went 30.25".
My Dad is with me on this trip and he started out hunting for Blue Wildebeest and warthog, we saw several but none that Dene thought would be acceptable to shoot. As the day was winding to a close, we passed our waterhole again and saw a tremendous Nyala bull, Dene asks my Dad if he wants to shoot an Nyala and my Dad decides that he does. The stalk is on but the old bull gives us the slip.



Day 4
Crash Davis of Bull Durham fame once said, "don't ever f... with a streak" so back to the same water hole we went arriving at 0640. Game was pouring in early, to include another great Nyala bull. We waited and lo and behold the bushbuck were back. I finally got a clear shot at a bushbuck, 50 yards, quatering away, I get in position front shoulder sight picture squeeze the shot, the buck jumps with that classic forward lurch and off he runs, oh crap. Dene tells me no worries he is hit real hard. We walk to the spot and along the way we find a branch that had been clipped, this is not good. We find blood and also find the bullet deflected and ran through the gut. I am not happy. We walk up a little hill 30 yards from the water and there lay the bushbuck, fortunately the bullet had penetrated the liver and the animal was dead. 0820 and I finally have my spiral horns. I have to praise the 375 in this case, I don't think a lighter bullet would have procurred the trophy for me. The bushbuck is old, scarred and a magnificent trophy.
Back at the water hole we go for the afternoon sit, hot, really hot. Suprisingly though not much game, a few duikers and some bushbucks but no success.







Day 5
Last day of the hunt, my Dad has the fever for the big Nyala bull we saw the night before. We get to the stand at 0600 and are prepared to wait it out, we only have until 1030 as we are scheduled to meet some folks who work for a mission that my Dad supports. The morning starts out slow we see some impalas and duikers but not the Nyala we are looking for. The hours start sliding by and then at 0900 it was like an animal bomb exploded, we were covered up – impala, wildebeest, bushbuck, still no nyala. About 0920 a monster bushbuck shows himself, 30 yards broadside, stood for over 10 minutes, this bushbuck goes over 16 for sure, I tell my dad “that is a really good bushbuck.” He says, “if I shoot him there will be no Nyala.” Ok, I don’t think there will be Nyala anyway. 0930, Nyala appear, 3 females come in followed by a young bull, you have to understand this scene – time is ticking we have no more than an hour left there are animals everywhere – 4 nyala, 6 bushbuck – 3 trophy males, 3 females; 3 impala rams and 2 duiker all around this waterhole. The wind shifts and everything blows out, gone nothing. I look at Dene and we lament about not shooting the bushbuck, I say to Dene “we need a miracle now.” About 15 minutes later around 0950, my dad says ,“Nyala bull” both Dene and I look and sure enough walking across the other side of the water hole at 80 yards is a large Nyala bull. The bull walks out stops for about 10 seconds broadside and then continues on to the safety of the brush, I can’t believe it no shot Dene can’t believe it either. We both mutter about why didn’t you shoot, my Dad replies he didn’t think he had a good shot. I tell Dene, “is it too much to ask for another miracle.” The clock is ticking, Dene tell me he can hear the bull feeding but thinks he is moving away from us and that no way he comes to the water. The time is burning now 1010 and Dene taps me an points left, our Nyala had circled all the way around and stood 30 yards from us. I tap my Dad, “to your left,” he looks to the right, “no left” he finally turns and sees the Nyala. Dene is saying “shoot him now,” the bull is standing and looking right at us. All I can think is he is going to bolt before the shot goes off, “bam” the 375 slams a 235 grain bullet into the neck of the bull and he falls in a heap. He is done. Everyone is ecstatic, high fiving, going crazy, 1015 and we got the Nyala.




Parting Shot

We had a great hunt, the property was more than one could ask for and plenty to hunt. Dene was great host and ph, there where several instances where we could have shot animals but Dene did not encourage us to shoot them even though on most places they would have been shot to collect the trophy fees. As an example, we hunted hard for impala, there were several instances where the impala would have gone 24", nice impala rams. Dene did not encourage us to shoo them as there were some nice animals on the property and those are the ones he wanted us to bring home.

If you are looking for a place to hunt Nyala and Bushbuck, I don't know where you could find better.

wonderful hunt! great trophies!

Congrats to you and your dad on a fun trip. Great looking busbuck too.

Love those nyalas... Good shooting and very nice pics.

Mike

Congrats, on the nyalas, I don't have one yet

Good for you! Thanks for the report.

Good deal!
Congratultions on the Nyalas,and bushbuck.

Can't get enough nyala and bushbuck! Great trophies. Congratulations!

Great looking bulls and as UEG said, I cant get enough of those bushbuck either! Congrats.

Are Dene's bushbuck the Limpopo or Cape variety?

quote:

Originally posted by PostDriver:
Are Dene's bushbuck the Limpopo or Cape variety?

cape