23 June 2014, 09:57
Ackley Improved UserNorthern Cape hunt with Wintershoek Safaris - More Photos Added
Dates: June 1 thru 14, 2014Location: Republic of South African (Northern Cape) with Wintershoek Safaris. Wintershoek Safaris owns more than 132,000 acres in four areas of the Northern Cape – that is, Wintershoek, Gamagara, Thuru, and Linksfontein. I hunted (including my wife and daughter) Gamagara (~20,000 plus acres) for 6 days and Thuru (~44,000 acres) for 4 days with one day transfer between the sites. This is my second trip to RSA with Wintershoek, and I wanted to hunt those species that I'd not harvested before.
Travel: Steve Turner - Travel with Guns (no problems with the guns, which is fantastic). Hunt booked with Johnny Vivier.
Accommodations/Food: Fantastic
Professional Hunter: John Tinley, who did a great job and one of the best in the business.
Gun: 375 H&H Ackley Improved, 250 grain TTSX Barnes, 300 gr TBBC and 300 gr GS-HV, which was more gun than needed, but I thought I might hunt a Cape buffalo, but decided not to. Also, started bow hunting with a 70# Matthews Chill-R dual cam, but most of the hunting was with the rifle.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 28-300 Zoom Lens (L IS/AF).
Game Animals sighted: The animals were very plentiful, but quite wild and difficult to approach, and many long shots were needed, including some shots over 300 yds. They had been hunted quite hard, yet many trophy-sized animals were available. The animals were more difficult to approach than in Mozambique and Tanzania, where I've also been on 10 day safaris.
We saw the following game animals: Springbuck (including black, copper, and white variants), Impala (including the black variant), Black-Wildebeest, Blue-Wildebeest, Bontebuck, Cape Buffalo, Burchell`s Zebra, Common Blesbuck (including the white variant), Mountain Reedbuck, Eland, Gemsbuck, Klipspringer (on neighbors's ranch), Kudu, Lechwe, Nyala, Ostrich, Red-Hartebeest, "Rhinosaurus", Roan, Sable, Scimitar Horned Oryx, Steenbuck, Tsessebe, Warthog, Waterbuck, and Giraffe.
Game Animals Harvested: Bontebuck, Common Blesbuck, Mountain Reedbuck, Eland, Gemsbuck, Impala, Klipspringer (taken on adjacent cattle ranch), Red-Hartebeest, Steenbuck, Tsessebe, and Waterbuck.
Comment: Hunting RSA is very cost effective, when considering accommodations and number of animals harvested. I think the best value for hunting plains game in Africa - I harvested more animals for less money than any other African safaris I've been on and the animals were larger trophies.
We saw many other species of birds and animals - see photos below, but we saw many others that I don't have photos of.
Thuru Lodge (example of accomodations). Gamagara was also very nice.
A cold front had moved through and it was cold, very cold, although it eventually warmed up a bit.
Frost in the morning...!!!IN AFRICA!!!...I thought I was hunting mule deer in Wyoming.
We were dressed like POLAR BEARS! - except we used Earth tones.
We needed a fire to keep warm...double gin & tonic also helped.
Gamagara area - looks nice but very cold.
Below FREEZING with frost on many nights! Where is global warming, when you need it?
Had to shoot this big quy at 333 yds - couldn't get closer. He was 38.5" by 39.5"...a beautiful Southern Cape Eland bull. I was told the largest ever taken at Thuru. Note the bullet hanging out the shoulder skin. It had tumbled through the eland's shoulder - it had hit a small branch just before entering, but still passed clear through the shoulder. He went down within seconds.
This is John Tinley - my 6'5" tall SCI Gold Medal PH - I know of no PH taller, which is good for spotting game. He was superb.
Countryside at Thuru - arid savannah country.
Klipspringer shot on adjacent cattle ranch by special arrangement. We saw many of these tough little animals.
Klipspringer country. We had to walk all over these rocky mountains to find them. I'm luck I didn't break a leg, but I kept up with my much younger companions. This - "keeping up" - is something that seems to become more important as you age.
My smallest, yet best trophy of the trip - a 6" by 6" steenbok - a tiny monster. He'll score very high. Puil - our tracker and driver - is holding the head.
This is the usual view a steenbok provides, after posing for 5 seconds and running before you can shoot. They jump like rabbits when they run away.
But, after you've shot one, they seem to settle down and provide nice still close-up pictures...go figure.
This nice bull gemsbok was a very pleasant surprise, a 39" by 39" plus bull, but cows grow longer horns. IMO, the bulls should be SCI-scored separately from the cows. Besides, boys don't like being second to the girls. Lighting for the photos was very difficult, just at dark with marked brightness contrast between light and shade.
Mountain reed buck. It was like hunting Coues deer in southern Arizona, and the horns are about the same size.
Mount reed buck country, although you might find anything in this area.
Red Heartebeest were also quite wild, but I finally got a good shot. He'll score high with abundant length and mass.
Some of the country around Gamagara - camel thorn tree featured with black thorn brush surrounding.
Common blesbok. They interbreed with bontebuck. I bred with the lady at far right producing the offspring between us. It was my daughter's first trip to Africa and she totally enjoyed it. Africa is special.
Tsessebe....I think I have it spelled properly. The tsessebe were not as wild as the gemsbok, blesbok, and hartebeest.
Country side at Gamagara.
Nice waterbuck - each horn nearly 30". He'll score very high.
Bontebuck...now I know how they differ from the blesbok, besides being more expensive. Beautiful animal. I plan on making a rug.
Bontebuck country at Gamagara.
My first bow kill...I'm a neophyte bow hunter, and I was shocked I hit this fellow on my first try, and my confidence grew. But, I blew a chance on a monster blue wildebeest, and I quickly came back to Earth. I need to get physically stronger and improve my shooting skills. Bow hunting is a humbling experience.
Typical bow hunting "hide" at Gamagara. Some of the laughing doves flew into our "hide" to stay with us - stupid birds. But, maybe not, they were safe from hawks, while in the blind. We didn't bother them, while they walked around under our feet. Besides they were quite entertaining and made the wait more tolerable.
Some photos of other critters at the two areas....
Black wildebeest were common, especially at Thuru, but they wouldn't let you get within 500 yds.
Kudu on the sky line.
Cape buffalo were not plentiful, but present. I didn't see anything spectacular.
Usually Gemsbok would not let you get within 300 yds...this chap let us take his photo. Of course, this occurred after I killed my bull.
Blue wildebeest were common and not so wild. I provided some special effects...makes them look more interesting.
Sable were available, if desired, but nothing spectacular.
Bat-eared fox were active during the day - apparently common in winter. They LISTEN TO THE GROUND with those huge ears for insects and the like. At my age I could use those ears, although it would look funny.
"Rhinosaurus" was common. One challenged our truck. My daughter was impressed. I acted like I wasn't scared.
Burchell's Sandgrouse.
Yellow-billed hornbills were very common.
Swallow-tailed Bee Eater.
Shaft-tailed Whydah.
Cape Sparrow.
I think these are Tractrac Chats, but LBJ seems appropriate until a definitive ID is achieved.
Golden-breasted Bunting.
Namaqua Dove.
Yellow Canary.
Marico Flycather.
Red-eyed Bulbul. He looks surprised by his reflection, but maybe he's turned-on by his reflection - a narcissistic bulbul.
Glossy Starling.
These huge and gross-appearing ground crickets were very common - apparently nothing much eats them. I wouldn't eat one either.
Our most INTERESTING sighting!! A Lagavaan or Monitor lizard - the second largest in Africa, although this particular chap needed something to eat. He was also COLD! "This is the heaviest-bodied lizard in Africa, as adult males average about 6 to 8 kg (13 to 18 lb) and females weigh from 3.2 to 5 kg (7.1 to 11.0 lb). Large mature males can attain 15 to 17 kg (33 to 37 lb). It is the second longest African lizard after the Nile monitor, Varanus albigularis reaches 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) in length, with its tail and body being of equal size. Mature specimens more typically will measure 0.85 to 1.5 meters (2 ft 9 in to 4 ft 11 in). The head and neck are the same length, and are distinct from each other.Their bulbous, convex snouts give an angular, box-like appearance. Their forked tongues are pink or bluish, and their scales are usually a mottled gray-brown with yellowish or white markings.
An intelligent lizard, several specimens have demonstrated the ability to count as high as six in an experiment conducted by Dr. John Philips at the San Diego Zoo in 1999. Philips offered varying numbers of snails, and the monitors were able to distinguish numbers whenever one was missing.
This monitor ranges in these areas: Central Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo/Zaire), Southern Africa (Namibia, Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Angola), the African Great Lakes (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania), and the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia). It is found in a variety of dry habitats, including steppes, prairies, and savannahs, but is absent from desert interiors, rainforests, and thick scrub forests.
People living with the HIV/AIDS virus in Yumbe district of Uganda have been injecting themselves with the blood of rock monitors, which they believe to be a cure for the virus. Most are discontinuing anti-retroviral therapy to pursue this anecdotal treatment. As a result, V. albigularis is reported to have become an expensive item in the Ugandan black market, selling for more than $175 each."
Giraffe in the desert...go figure. They were taller than all the vegetation.
Pigmy Falcon...lots of Sociable Weaver birds to eat.
Rock Hyrax were common.
Karoo Khorans.
A Kalihari Ferrari
All safaris must come to an end...some African sunsets. The point of light is Thuru Lodge.
An interesting effect - red on top of blue. I've not seen this before in a sunset.
