I hunted with Limpopo Valley Hunting Safaris again this year, but we hunted both their land in Limpopo and another property in the Free State.

Day One: I traveled from Seoul to JoBurg and was picked up at the Airport by the sister of a friend for two days shopping and visiting friends just south of the city. I visited M. Gordon Footwear and picked up a pair of Courtneys for the trip. M. Gordon has an excellent selection of boots and is very friendly, I highly recommend his shop if you are looking for some Courtneys in JoBurg. The Courtneys fit excellent (but I have wide feet) and I was able to wear them from start to finish of the trip without issue. We did some other shopping for SA friends here in Seoul and then headed South to spend the weekend with her parents.

Day Two: A relaxing day with Father's Day lunch at the Spur

Day Three: Jaco, my PH, picked me up around lunch time and we headed off to the Free State to begin hunting. The property we hunted in the Free State was Hunter's Safaris run by Deon and Tersa Cilliers. Deon runs a large Lion Park in addition to his hunting land. He maintains ~200 lions for hunting, from cubs to fully grown lions. He is also interested in conservation and protecton of species and to this end has four tigers and a family of wild dogs on his property (neither for hunting). After sighting in this years rifle, a Gibbs .30-06, we drove the property to get a feel for the land and distribution of game. During this evening we saw Kudu, Eland, Springbok, Wildebeest, Ostrich, Russian Boar, Blesbok, Waterbuck, Impala, Zebra, and Jackal. Free State hunting is definitely different from the Bushveld. Here you can see the boks from a mile or so, the problem is getting close to them; in the bushveld you can get close to the boks if you can see them.

Day Four: Today saw us on the track of Black Wildebeest, Springbok and Caracal. I loaded the magaine with 180gr SPs and off we went. We found some Black Wildebeest early in the day and stalked as close as we could. We estimated the range at about 250meters and took the shot on a nice bull. Unfortunately the shot was a complete miss and when we walked to the spot to ensure he wasn't wounded we discovered that with dead ground the range was closer to 400meters. A range finder is a definite must next time I hunt the Free State! When I reloaded the magazine, I noticed the box had a picture of a Kudo on it and asked Jaco why he bought me Kudu bullets when we weren't hunting Kudu. Obviously, this is why I missed. While tracking the herd we spotted a bachelor group of four big bulls and began an approach on them. We drove for about two kilometers and began the stalk on foot. We got to within 200meters and ran out of cover. The only bush we could hide behind didn't offer a shop of the biggest bull, so the only choice we had was to leopard crawl a few meters to the right, stand up in the open and take the shot before they spooked. It was a quick shot and went off without a hitch, hitting the bull squarely behind the shoulder. He ran about 75 meters and expired.





When I reloaded the magaine after this shot I realized that I had actually reloaded after the miss with 168gr SPs! I don't brag about shooting, but it just goes to prove that bullet placement is better than bullet weight. When we recovered the bullet all that was left was about 75grs of lead. A poor shot with that bullet would have lead to a long follow up.

After our success with the Black Wildebeest, we were after Springbok. We found some a few hours later and followed/stalked them for about an hour when a shot presented itself as a nice ram fed in a clearing below us. I took the shot at ~175yds and am told it looked like someone grabbed the Springbok and threw him backwards. Johan, our Free State PH, complained that I killed him too fast, as the hair on his spine didn't stand up for good pictures. We carried the Springbok to the road and waited for Johan to go get the truck.



As we waited at the road, Deon pulled up in his truck and told me he had a nice Caracal on the back for me. When I walked around the back of the truck, I found two lions sleeping while they were being transported to the Lion Hunting Camp in preparation for hunting this fall. In accorance with the law, Deon releases his Lion onto a thousand hectare hunting camp at least six months prior to hunting where they have to catch their own food and live without direct human contact. As the lions were still moving I told Deon to go drive on and do it quickly! After dinne that evening we went out after Caracal. Shortly after leaving the lodge we saw an Aardwolf, which was very nice. After driving about an hour we found a Caracal in a dry stream bed on our way back to the lodge and quickly dispacted him. We hung him in a tree by his feet so as to take pictures the next morning. That evening I was glad be got the Caracal the first night out and when I woke up the next morning, I was very glad. The weather turned cold and I really wouldn't have enjoyed being on the truck in the predawn cold.



Day Five: The cold wind served to make all the boks vanish and we didn't see anything until we found some Blesbok in a valley below us. After stalking and leopard crawling for about 500meters we were in position for a long 250meter shot at the end of a streambed. The wind was howling and I forgot to account for wind drift, hitting the dirt in front of the Blesbok. After I missed, I told Johan and Jaco to pick a number and I'd give them an excuse as to why I missed. I thought the rifle's barrel had a left hand twist and it actully had a right hand twist, cheap South African PMP ammunition, the wind blows differently in the southern hemisphere, the rotation of the earh actually sped up for a millisecond moving the Blesbok out of the way while the bullet was in flight.....in the end however it was my fault. I don't get to shoot during the year here in Korea and simply forgot to account for the wind over 250meters. We then went to the mountains in search of Mountain Reedbuck and were only able to locate a small ram way up on the hillside. The weather by this time was so cold we couldn't even hold our binoculars steady while glassing the hillside. This afternoon the third and forth lions were delivered from the zoo in Blom. They were out cold in the transport boxes, and I wasn't sticking around inside their enclosure to see them wake up. We did hear them that night though as the explored their new home and growled.

Day Six: Today saw us after Blesbok again. We decided to forgo Mountain Reedbuck this morning because the wind and cold was even worse than yesterday and didn't think we'd see any as they would have laid up from the wind. As we left the lodge we spotted the Blesbok herd from yesterday at the end of the road sheltering from the wind. They bolted and we followed, locating them in the same valley I shot the Springbok in. A short stalk put us in shotting position on a ridge shotting from the prone. A shot at 175meters yielded a wide shot braodsiding the Blesbok in front of the front lets and tearing the lungs. This time I adjusted for the wind, just not enough. A followup shot a few minutes later, the Blesbok didn't run, finished him at about the same distance. The finishing shot was difficult as I had to shoot over the back of anohter Blesbok to hit the wounded one.



I told Jaco that I had completed two of three errors in hunting Africa; I'd completely missed an animal, I'd wounded and recovered an animal, and now I only had to face wounding and not recovering an animal; which is my worst fear. That afternoon I announced that I wanted to hunt Springbok again, but my finger was too cold to pull the trigger and Jaco would have to do the shooting. Jaco has lived in SA for most of his life and hadn't taken a Sringbok yet. After a short stalk to a termite mound we got Jaco's Springbok capturing the whole thing on video for him. We were laughing after the shot because Jaco was shaking from buck fever!



Day Seven: A travel day from the Free State up to Limpopo with a stop on the way to pick up Jaco's new apprentice PH, Ludik. After arriving at the lodge late in the evening; Jaco's mother, Auntie Issie, informed us that we had to shoot a Kudu and some Ginuea Fowl for the pot.

Day Eight: Ludik and I set off in search of Kudu early in the morning and Jaco checks on the farm after being away for a week. Jaco also wants me to put Ludik though his paces as a foreign client. He did very well, but neglected to tell me some things because I've been there before. I told him that he should always tell the client to look out for loose rocks in rocky terrain, check to make sure I'm not pointing a rifle at his back while walking around, ensure my scope isn't set on 9x in the bush, and to ensure there is water available for the client; on the plus side, he did point out the spoor to me, show me where Kudu had been feeding on the bush, generally keep me informed about the plan. He'll make a fine full PH in a year or so, he knows the boks and the terrain; he just needs to learn how to hand hold clients until he knows them well enough to trust them. About two hours later we get a quick shot on a Kudu from about 20meters putting it down and in the cooler, now we just have to find eight Ginuea Fowl. Let me tell you, finding and shotting ginuea fowl is easy. Getting them accepted by Auntie Issie for cooking is hard. We took about 20 Ginuea Fowl to find eight acceptable ones. At one point Auntie Issie told us we had to open our eyes before we shot! I did get to meet and feed Neal, the pet orphaned Wildebeest calf though!



Day Nine: All day was spent trying to fill the pot for Guniea Fowl.

Day Ten: Jaco and I spent three hours tracking Hartebeest in poor wind, spooking them three times before we gave up for the morning. On the way back to camp we had the most exciting time of the trip when the brakes on the old Land Cruiser went out. We were traveling towards a T intersection where we could turn left or right. Jaco did an amazing job of controlling the cruiser and bringing it to a stop with all four tires still on the ground, client, PH, and trackers still in the back and no soiled trousers. At one point I ducked inside the hunting rack because I really thought we were going to roll the cruiser. All of us almost saw the color of adrenaline; for those of you who don't know, the color of adrenaline is brown! One of the metallic break lines was broken, all we can figure is that a rock took it out sometime during the drive. In the afternoon we walked the river looking for Impala and Warthog. Last night at dinner Jaco guaranteed a better Impala and Warthog then I took two years ago. Ludik and I will constantly remind him of this for the rest of the trip. On the was back to the lodge we saw my Bushbuck in the Alfalfa field. I passed on this Bushbuck last year because even though his horns were large, he was still small in the body and needed some time to pass his genes along. He looks like a much better trophy this year. Jaco tells me that he has chased all the other Bushbuck out of the river and he has to go; who am I to argue.

Day Eleven: Today saw us again stalking a mixed herd of Hartebeest and Zebra for about 2.5 hours in favorable wind. We hadn't seen them yet today and the spoor was confusing because they were calmly walking and browsing, so we just continued into the wind. Eventually I saw a Duiker to our right and raised the rifle to check him out in the scope. As I looked at him I noticed something in the scrub that looked like Hartebeest horns to me. I signaled Jaco to come back and he shook his head wispering "Duiker". I told him to look left of the Duiker in the scrub. After a quick look though his binoculars, the sticks went up and we took a nice Hartebeest bull at about 70meters. The bull was laying down quartering away and the shot I intended to put into his ribs went though the neck breaking it.



Jaco was impressed that I saw the Hartebeest and is happy that he is down. However, the road is about 500meters away and if I had shot him in the ribs he would have run away from us towards the road. Jaco pulls his handheld radio off of his belt to call Ludik to bring the truck when he discovers that the antenna has gone missing sometime during the 2.5 hour stalk. About an hour later he returns with Ludik, the truck, and a wheel barrow to get the Hartebeest to the road. The resulting wheelbarrow course though the bushveld is highly intertaining and now I know everyone of the Afrikaans swear words. I've got it on video, but have promised not to let anyone see it except close friends of Jaco and I. Long story short, the wheelbarrow is in poor repair, the Hartebeest is much bigger than the wheelbarrow and the bush is thick. I think you can imagine the scene. In the evening we are in the river in search of that big Bushbuck. When we get about 50meters from the Lodge, Ludik walking in the back with the video cameras sees him in the open to our right. A very quick shot from the sticks and he is down where he stood. Ludik was still zooming the camera in when I shot. I think the whole episode took about five seconds. He ended up dropping about 100meters from where I passed up a shot on him last year.



Tonight we begin driving the neighboring potato fields in search of crop raiding bushpig. We fail to see bushpigs, but do see an African Wildcat and four of the big Bushbabies about six feet way from us climbing around in a tree.

Day Twelve: Today was spent in the river in search of Impala and Warthog. "Jaco, you guaranteed...." We did solve the mystery of the disappearing Warthog from last night. His burrow was close to where we had seen him and we were able to watch him back into his burrow for the night. We didn't catch it on video, but I did catch it in my brain. We saw lots of Impala and Warthog, but none good enough.

Day Thirteen: Today we spent some time in a blind waiting for Warthog, but the wind was swirling and after about three hours we gave up and went in for lunch. In the evening we found a nice Warthog sow in the Alfalfa field at about 200meters. I told Jaco I was up for the shot as the range didn't bother me and there was just enough light left for the shot. Unfortunately, we think I spined here and before I could reacquire her in the poor light, she exited the field and was into the bush.

Day Fourteen: This morning we gathered the trackers and began tracking the Warthog. Johanus is an amazing tracker. He would wave his magic twig at the ground, mumble something in Afrikaans and off we would go in a new direction. We were unable to find the Warthog and elected to erect a blind in the middle of the Alfalfa field and sit for her. While Johanus and Pietrus build the blind Jaco, Ludik, and I drive to town for the game auction. The game auction was interesting and actually funny. After the bidding ended on the two trophy Sable half of the people got up and left. After the auction we return to the field and spot another nice sow at about 150meters. She quickly falls to a single shot.



She ran for about 50 meters, but even I could follow the spoor the shot hit the right shoulder, nicked the bone, exited the right shoulder and left a hole about 5cm in her right chest wall. There was so much blood, we opted for the shot of her head resting on the rock. We spend the rest of the afternoon/early evening in the blind seeing some warthog, ostrich, and impala; but not the warthog we are looking for.

Day Fifteen: All Bloody day in the blind waiting for that Warthog. Towards the end of the day we were all getting a little 'blind fever' as the blind was so small we couldn't stand or stretch out our legs.



Jaco spent most of the afternoon trying to convince me to shoot a female ostrich. He doesn't like the fact that hey spend all day in his Alfalfa field, but his mother won't let him shoot them. But if a client wants to shoot an ostrich, that's another thing. Last year I took the Duiker that used to visit her garden in the morning, so I'm not about to push my luck with her this year. After all, she is the chef! We headed into town for dinner and excitement at BushVeld Fest 2008 in Alldays. We had a great time with live local music. I was probably the only client in attendance, the PHs that we met had left their clients at home and had to leave early to go hunting with them again. We were supposed to spend the entire day at BushVeld Fest, but our responsibility to the wounded Warthog Sow put us in the blind all day. My Cheetahs did beat Jaco's Lions in the Currie Cup rugby match while we were in the blind though. We finally made it home around 3AM and went to sleep with only Francolin hunting for the next afternoon.

Day Sixteen: Today we go out after Swanson Francolin for the Caracal mount. Jaco has assured me that the Francolin will be easy all week. Unfortunatly, he forgot to tell the Francolin this. We finally find one and pop it into the freezer.

Day Seventeen: 35 hours of travel from the Lodge to my apartment in Seoul.

Hunting in shorts in Limpopo was much more comfortable than the trousers I've worn on previous hunts, but slightly more bloody...


Jaco has talked me into Leopard next year if he can secure a CITES permit in time. I'm already looking forward to it. I took my father with me two years ago, so next year it is my mother's turn. She'll spend six days on a horse safari in Botswana and then join us for a week or so at the lodge.

Colin

Great report, thanks for sharing.
You got some great animals. (I love that caracal and bushbuck!)

I agree, the caracal and bushbuck are outstanding! Very nice report and pix.

Wow! That's a fantastic Bushbuck!

That is one slammer of a bushbuck and great job on the caracal.

quote:

Originally posted by lengleng:
Great report, thanks for sharing.
You got some great animals. (I love that caracal and bushbuck!)

Absolutely!

quote:

Originally posted by 450/400:
Wow! That's a fantastic Bushbuck!

What he said!!!!

Damn nice bushbuck, that hartebeest doesn't look too shabby either.

Super bushbuck! Great report

Today's great report day, very well done.

Very nice report. Wonderful bushbuck and great luck on the caracal!

Thanks for your comments. Fellow hunters are my Record Book. Several friends here thought the bushbuck was actually a Nyala. They requested copies of the picture to send to their friends in SA.

Colin

Great! White blesbok and caracal is something I will focus on next time `round.. Congrats on a great hunt and thanks for sharing!
I have to add up on what the others say.. That`s one fantastic bushbuck!! Do you know what it tapes?

I have no idea what the Bushbuck tapes at. I'm sure that my PH taped it so he would know, I'll ask him and see if he remembers.

Colin

Congrats on a great hunt...

I enjoyed your story and pics...thanks for sharing!!!