Lydenburg RSA
22-24 Jan 2009
Brandberg safaries

Six years is a hell of a long time ask my friend Leon that is the time he has been searching for this elusive trophy he has booked numerous hunts hunts at a number of places but the grey ghost eluded him.

Its not just to shoot a kudu but to hunt it the right way as this is not your average animal or hunt. This is one of the cleverest animals and when stalked on foot and in his territory you have a 20% chance.

This how we do it and yes a lot af people will say he is Immature but what a F£$k. We start early walking from the camp heading to the Kloofs you have to get there before the sun is up and then work this area slowly not that you can do it fast, you go through places where the baboons use walking sticks your visibility is 20m max you spent hours scanning the opposite mountains for them.

day 1

we get there right on time and see the sun come up we work very slow and scan the eastern side of the mountains as this is the most likely place to find them as they come out to bask in the sun. we see a lot of cows and young males but because the rut is not on yet so the big boys are still on their own after 4 hours we spot a nice bull about 700m away on the opposite mountain. We plan our stalk carefully and execute it to perfection only to find he has disappeared it is now midday and we find a nice tree to have a break and have Lunch.

We rest and scan while we are resting we are back on our feet at 2 o clock but no luck for the rest of the day.


Day 2
we start like we did on day one at about 11 o clock i spot 2 huge bulls moving towards the riverine we stalk and get to 180m when they got suspicious and we got caught in an opening we sat down and told Leon to get ready he was a bit out of breath and tired. we waited for him to catch his breath and the bull has turned and only gave us a frontal chest shot behind an ant heap. To make matters worse Leon got infected with a little bit of buck fewer. He took the shot and missed this was a monster and was between 56-58" we searched the area for blood but couldn't find any. We were pretty pissed of for messing up an opportunity like that but its hunting and not shopping.

i phoned for the cruiser and we started the long walk to the pickup point about 1.5km from us up the mountain but Diana smiled on us and as we came close to the top and into the opening there they stood 12 bulls all about the same size. for 1 1/2 days we have been working the kloofs and thickeds and here we walk into them on the biggest opening on the farm. i ranged them at 170m and a big bodied one was standing broadside Leon took the shot. The bullet struck just behind the shoulder and he ran off over the ridge. We got on the spoor and found him 150m further a perfect heart shot.he was delighted and he had his first kudu with all this luck it still took us 3 hours to recover this beast. he weighed 200kg after he was gutted and skinned a monster indeed.

we spend the day and half left celabrating the miles walked and sweat for the last six years although i havent pulled the trigger and he only measured 50" it rates as one of my best hunts and trophies ever and i wont hunt kudu any other way.






some bulls stil out there

Congrats, sounds like you fellas had a wonderful hunt.
Jeff

Yes, a big CONGRATS on a WONDERFUL trophy hunt!!!

This is IMHO what its all about for me!!!

YOU were successful in hunting a SPECIFIC animal under YOUR specific conditions!!!

I would be VERY proud of this TROPHY and the way you hunted him!!!

All your hard work spotting and stalking them for all those days...GREAT JOB!!!

Wonderful.

What a bunch of great memories that will provide. That young man worked HARD for a great trophy.

As I have said before the trophy is in the eye of the beholder, it need only make the person that kills it happy.

I am sure that Kudu will live much longer in that young mans heart than it would have ever lived in the wild.

A hard earned trophy and a great hunt. Congratulations.

Lekker rugstring biltong....

Great trophy congrats!!!!

I bet it was hard work getting that Kudu out of the Lydenburg mountains.

Man I miss the eastern Transvaal....

Congratulation

That's is going to be a experience of life time.

Great hunt and one hell of a body on that kudu!

if added some photos

Now that's hunting.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing, and congrats--to both of you!

Rudi,

Congratulations on guiding a friend on a perfect hunt: There where they are on foot!

Welcome to the ranks of true professionals who, even though they may do it only as a part-time career or hobby, get more pleasure from guiding a client than hunting himself. You will soon be big!

BTW, do John and I see you here at Mervilla early June? We need to cull a few very wary blesbuck with headshots! Your shooting skills with your .243 win will help a lot.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

quote:

Originally posted by Andrew McLaren:
Rudi,

Congratulations on guiding a friend on a perfect hunt: There where they are on foot!

Welcome to the ranks of true professionals who, even though they may do it only as a part-time career or hobby, get more pleasure from guiding a client than hunting himself. You will soon be big!

BTW, do John and I see you here at Mervilla early June? We need to cull a few very wary blesbuck with headshots! Your shooting skills with your .243 win will help a lot.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

Is Rudi a Professional Hunter?

quote:

Originally posted by infinito:

quote:

Originally posted by Andrew McLaren:
Rudi,

Congratulations on guiding a friend on a perfect hunt: There where they are on foot!

Welcome to the ranks of true professionals who, even though they may do it only as a part-time career or hobby, get more pleasure from guiding a client than hunting himself. You will soon be big!

BTW, do John and I see you here at Mervilla early June? We need to cull a few very wary blesbuck with headshots! Your shooting skills with your .243 win will help a lot.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

Is Rudi a Professional Hunter?

here is his nr 0827199244 his name is leon steenkamp ask him oh shit he is a sa citizen he doesn't need a ph am i a ph maybe maybe not.

if thats the reason you are asking

quote:

Originally posted by Andrew McLaren:
Rudi,

Congratulations on guiding a friend on a perfect hunt: There where they are on foot!

Welcome to the ranks of true professionals who, even though they may do it only as a part-time career or hobby, get more pleasure from guiding a client than hunting himself. You will soon be big!

BTW, do John and I see you here at Mervilla early June? We need to cull a few very wary blesbuck with headshots! Your shooting skills with your .243 win will help a lot.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

Rudi,

Comment not aimed at you but MR. McLarren.

Of course I know the guy is a South African and did not need a PH. I do not know if you did the PH course in the meantime, just that you were not one when you called me to shoot a big Kudu bull early last year. It was just Andrews comment (aimed subtly at me) about Professionals that prompted the question.

My sincere apologies if you feel it was aimed at you. Just not want perceptions to float that is not true hey?!

Oh the rutt is a great time we are just seeing more good bulls