Plains game with Hannes du Plessis at Bergzicht Game Lodge. As I mentioned we had a great trip for our first time to Africa.

We took three rifles; A Ruger MKII 270 win., Win. M-70 30.06, Win. M-70 375 H&H. We used Federal ammo 150 gn. Nosler Partions in the 270, 180 gn Nosler's in the 06 and 260 accubonds in the 375.

We would leave after a great breakfast at 7:am each morning and find a high spot to glass from . The first day we spotted a herd of Red Hartebeast and took off on foot, they were over a mile away and we crawled the last 200 yds. and Daniel made a shot at 300yds. He was nervous and the shot took him in the back leg. After a long follow up he was able to finish him off at about 100yds.



Next was my turn, we spotted three Springboks and stalked to within 150 yds , I took him with the 375 and he dropped in his tracks. I was hesitant about taking this rifle but wound up using it on everything from 150 out to 300 plus yards.



We took the Springbok back to the skinning shed and took off again after lunch. Late that afternoon we saw a lone bull Oryx, the range was a tad over 300 yds, I held about a foot high and he dropped after a short 50 yd run.



The next morning I spotted a Kudu on the opposite mountain and after a long climb he spooked and we were unable to get him [my fault] Hannes said he would go 57 inches. After that Daniel got a shot at an Oryx but was still a little nervous and shot high. We followed the animal for several hours with John and Marcus the two trackers resembling a couple of blood hounds and finally determined that it was just a flesh wound. Later that afternoon he would take his Oryx at about 150yds.



The next day we pulled out of camp and headed to a new area to hunt Mountain Zebra. We drove to Windhoek , spent the night and drove about 2.5 hours west to a mountain range [I forgot name] were this Zebra originates. The scenery was beautiful and that afertnoon we spotted a herd and climed ahead and were lucky to cut them off. I told Hannes that I wanted a big Stallion and didn't care if he had some scars. We were careful not to shoot the Herd Stallion and mine presented a shot at about 180 yds. Once again the 375 was on and he dropped in his tracks with a quartering to shot to the base of the neck.



About twenty minutes later My son was able to get within 200 yds and drop his younger male with one shot from the 30 06. We had both Zebra in less than two hours.



Later that night we were treated to fine steak dinner form our hosts Riaan and his wife Hanale the owner of the ranch. Daniel and I spent the afternoon watching the skinners process the two Zebra, those guys are hard workers and very fast. Also impressive was the size of the two animals.


Back to Bergzicht where we would be treated to excellent meals and more hunting.
The next morning we were driving along and saw a nice Kudu with about 3-4" of left horn broken. I declined but Daniel wanted him. The bull was standing in the shade at about 250 yards and Hannes suggested that Daniel get a steady rest from the truck. He took the quartering shot and hit the bull high in the hip. John and Marcus took the track while we went around the opposite side of the mountain. Ater a couple of hours we heard the bull comming and Danied dropped him on the run at about 80 yards with a shot through the shoulder. This redeemed him as he was pretty bummed out about his shooting, I wish I had had the video camera on it was a fine shot and the 06 put the bull down with out a quiver. The first shot was high and not immediatly fatal but would have eventually killed the bull, we were glad to have finished it.




The next animal I wanted was a Blue Wildebeast. We found a herd with a good bull and stalked to within 200 yards. I got excited and rushed the shot hitting the bull in the back leg. After a long chase we were able to get within range and put him down with a shoulder shot. I should have backed off but made a mistake however it worked out ok.




The next to last day we saw another good Kudu Bull on the top of a mountain and after a 3 hour climb he spooked just out of range, he was just under 55' and had beautful horns.
We had hunted hard all for a good Kudu and had come up short. We had missed chances on Three bulls in the 56 to 58" range and had seen alot of bulls with broken horns. We were driving on a road in good Kudu country when Marcus said in tone that was barely audible "Kudu Bull" things happened real fast and I took him offhand at about 80 yards with a neck shot which is all I could see. He was not an old bull but had beautiful horns measuring 53." Not exactly the way I wanted it to happen but this being my first trip I was glad to get him with a clean shot.






That afternoon we took Daniel out to try and get a Springbok. We were finally able to find a good one and he shot him right through the heart at 320 yards with the 06. A beautiful trophy and a great shot, he was extremely happy.




The last day we went out to try and find a big Black Wildebeast that we had been seeing and found him just as he had had his butt whipped by a younger stronger bull. He was being chased by the winner and we were able to set the sticks up at about 250 yards. The 260 gn Accubond took him in the shoulder and he dropped after a 25 yard dash.




Namibia is a beautiful place, the people are very nice and Hannes does a great job . As I said before everthing was just great. We had a great hunt and everone worked hard to make sure we enjoyed ourselves. I would not hesitate to hunt with Hannes again.

Sorry I don't know why all the pictures didn't show. Can somebody lend a hand?

quote:

Originally posted by Big Mo:
Sorry I don't know why all the pictures didn't show. Can somebody lend a hand?

Insert the photobucket image code in your post where you want them to show up. Terry or another moderator could do it for you. Make sure the whole code is there.

You might want to size the larger ones down a bit for the guys on dial up.

I did take a peek at your Photobucket album and you have some nice shots in there.

Congratualtions on the trip!

Thanks Charles ,How do I do that
stan

To post the other pictures, go to your Photobucket album page. You will need this page open in another browser window. Click on your original post (the pencil eraser icon in the lower left corner) to edit it. Copy the text in the box next to "Img" under the picture you want in your album and paste it into your report where you want it to show up. be sure you get all of the text.

To reduce the picture size, use Microsoft photo editor or whatever image software you have and resize, then upload the resized ones to Photobucket and put them in your report in place of the large ones. It looks like you have a mix of larger and normal sized ones now.

If that does not make sense let me know.

Sorry Charles , I don't get it
stan

quote:

Originally posted by Big Mo:
Sorry Charles , I don't get it
stan

Which part is confusing?

For editing the pictures in to your original post, you look at your post and click the "pencil eraser" in the lower right corner of your post. Your orginal post will pop up and you can then make changes to it. Scroll though the post until you find the place for the picture. Then you need to paste in the text to make teh image appear. If you go tto your Photobucket album page (from the link in my post above) you will see boxes under each picture. One has the image code you need. It looks like this [IMG] http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/sbennett_01/Picture253.jpg
[/IMG]. I added spaces so it does not put the image here. You just copy that text from teh Photobucket box into the post you are editing adn the image should show up in your post.

Like this one:



Heopfully this makes sense. You can also PM Terry Carr and he can help you get the images into your original post where you want them -- I can't edit it, although I can post your other pictures here in one of my posts if you want.

Great report. Charles' link to your photos worked fine for me. Great animals! Looks like you has a good hunt. Hannes is quite a gentleman and it does not surprise me that you had a great time.

George

Big Mo,

I edited your post and added the photos from your album. Let me know if I got them in the correct place.

The first two photos in your album are too large. Can you edit them to a smaller size and I'll add them to your post? [Edit them to 50%]

Regards,

Terry

Very nice animals and thanks for taking the time to share your hunt with us.

Charles and Terry, Thanks for your help.
I will try to edit the other two, for some reason I'm having trouble getting photo bucket to let me in.
Thanks again guys

Great hunt Stan, nice trophies - whats next?

I want to hunt Buffalo in Tanzania. I just bought a Searcy PH 470 and would love to break it in on a couple of Buff. I like the looks of Adam Clements camps in Lobo and Lokisale.

Sounds like you had a great hunt. I enjoyed the report and pictures. Well done. Your Son has a story for HIS grandchildren thanks to you.


TerryR

Great report.

Thanks for sharing.

Kyler

My son had a great time. He started shooting at a very early age and has shot quite a number of white tails here in Ga. He is on a deferred enlistment in the Marine Corps. and heads to Parris Island in Jan. It was great to enjoy this experience with him.

Nice animals, especially your son's springbok!

Best wishes to your son on his service in the USMC -- it's great that he got to go on this adventure with you.

Great photos and report! I'm glad you guys had such a good time and had such good luck with the hunting. I can't wait until my boys are old enough to take on a trip like that. Keep in touch about your buff plans. I might like to tag along on that one if I can.

Well set up pictures!
Where are you planning on getting the taxidermy done?


At least the USMC will be happy to recruit a good shot!

Local guy in the Atlanta area

Nice hunt with father and son. Congrats!!!!!!!

I guess he will lose all that hair soon.

My thanks to him for going and protecting our freedoms! He is deserving of honor!