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Part II - Barbary sheep / Aoudad with KMG



Internal flights







After a couple of days in Joburg, it was up at 03:30 and off to OR Tambo airport for the 06:15 a.m. flight to Port Elisabeth on FlySafair.

With only hand luggage and a fly rod and having checked-in online, I was through security in no time and headed to the Wimpy for a much needed coffee.

The flight was smooth and landed on time in PE and Marius, of KMG Safaris, was there to meet me. Within 15 minutes of landing we were in the Cruiser heading along the coast road and then inland to the mountains.



KMG Safaris

I have hunted with KMG Safaris a number of times on my own and also with my wife and we have taken some super trophies! Marius started the business back in 2007 or thereabouts and has gone from strength to strength.

A solid operation!


Aoudad / Barbary sheep


We drove about three hours up into the mountains north of Port Elisabeth, arriving at the lodge in time for a late lunch and then off to the rifle range.

A very comfortable lodge with large rooms each with a fireplace and good bathrooms with full sized baths! The mountains hit my legs hard and I actually soaked in the tub for an hour one evening!











The farm is black owned and managed and has been for the past 15 or so years. The sister or the owner lives on the farm and came to the lodge a number of times to check everything was ok and whether we needed anything. Whilst she may not be a die hard hunter, she was 100 % spot on with the hospitality and guest relations. Marius referred to her affectionally as South Africa’s “Whoopy Goldberg”. Her smile was infectious!

And the catering was great. They slaughtered a lamb for us and we had roast lamb a number of nights. Excellent!






.300 Win Mag


I was shooting Marius s .300 Win Mag topped with a Night Force scope dialled in to his binocs for range and height. A great set up that works. I shot the rifle at 250 yards and was on target. All good to go.









We then had a drive into the mountains, red volcanic rock and sagebrush like vegetation. The likes of which I have never seen in RSA.

We spotted Cape mountain zebra, black wildebeest, sheep, mountain reedbuck and more. All very promising for the next couple of days of hunting! To all extents and purposes the farm can be seen as free range in the mountains. There are fences across the lowland boundary but the mountains stretches (the bulk of the farm) were wide open.















Barbary sheep





After a good nights rest, it was up at 05.30 and off at 06.00 after coffee and rusks. We took a field lunch with us into the mountains.

Marius drove us up into the red rock as far as we could go and then it was on foot from there.








After a short while glassing, we spied two groups of sheep, one some dozen in number and the other six or seven. The bigger of the two groups showed what looked like an old ram, Marius put the spotting scope on him.

“He looks like one to go for”, and with that said we began to plan our stalk.

The stalk took us around the back of two mountain tops and was something like 2 to 3 kms in total. We had to hunker down for a trio of zebra that came up the valley and crossed to the other hill side.

And then as we were coming down the mountain to get above the bedded sheep, a single red hartebeest cow walked slowly out of the ravine and the sheep spooked and ran!

Luck was on our side as they only ran a couple of hundred meters and we very quickly crawled, slid and rolled down the mountain side to a ledge some 265 m above the sheep.





Marius dialled in the scope, I set the rifle on the bi pods and found the sheep in the scope. I then dialled the magnification to 20 and we all took a deep breath and gave it a moment.

The sheep did not know we were there above them and were milling, looking back at the hartebeest. Sighting on the rams shoulder I waited a few minutes until he was clear and then whispered that I was shooting.

The shot rang out and the impact was loud and clear. The ram turned and tumbled to the left and lay still. I stayed on him in the scope for some moments and then when we were all good that the ram was not getting up, I clicked the .300 on safe and stood up.





The plan had worked to perfection bar the zebra and the hartebeest and we had our Barbary ram, down shortly before 11.00 !











We hiked down to the ram and spent time admiring him and talking some photographs before a long an arduous carry out! I went ahead of Marius and the tracker, taking the sticks, the rifle and everyone`s binocs and I made it to the Cruiser at the bottom of the mountain where the other two trackers were waiting with Marius’s dogs. I managed to drive the cruiser a ways up the mountain and shorten the carry out by a few hundred meters.








We were at the skinning shed and then back at the lodge for a late cool box lunch and a well earned cold beer by 14:00 hrs.

Barbary sheep in the Eastern Cape mountains! What a great hunt! I was and am thrilled.





And here is a question that I always wonder about .... we were in the middle of the mountains, nothing for miles and within minutes of gutting the ram there were flies on the guts!! How do they do it? All morning no sign of a single fly and then within minutes of opening the sheep up they were there! How do they know ? I will likely take this question to my grave!




Fallow deer





There are at lot of fallow on the farm and I suggest to Marius that we hunt one as a cull meat hunt.

The following morning at 06.00 the mist was thick and low in the valleys. Marius suggested we hikeup the mountain behind the lodge and wait for the sun to break the mist and then scope for fallow.














It was like hunting in Austria, climbing up the mountain through the thick, damp mist, boots soaked from the dew and mist and coming out above the cloister and mist into blue skies and sunshine! Marius commented that his new seal leather boots were soaked through, clearly not very efficient seals!

A small group of six or seven fallow crossed below us and into our wind and ran, a couple of prickets and the rest does.

Sitting and glassing down the slopes, suddenly two fallow heads appeared not 50 m to our left on the brow of the hill. One was a young buck, pushing his first antlers. Marius threw up the sticks and suggested a high neck shot (the meat!) but as we moved the deer ran. We followed and as the deer ran up the far back slope and stopped to look back, I was able to drop the young buck.

It was not a head or neck shot but rather a low shoulder with little meat damage, so everything was good!





Recovering the young buck, we spotted a group of fallow with a couple of older buck that had yet to shed their heads. A short stalk and I shot the poorer of the two bucks to bring my two weeks of RSA hunting to an end.





A good buck to take out as he was poor head and old. There are some trophy buck on the farm but we were only after culls and that was what we did!



Bass on fly





That afternoon and also the next day, I fished a couple of the ponds but had little luck.

We then made the drive back to East London and Marius’s farm at Komga, and I was able to catch a couple of bass in one of the dams at Outspan.





That evening, we braiied the fallow filets and they were super! Nothing beats venison that you have shot yourself! And we rounded it off with home made apple crumble and fresh farm made thick clotted cream! Wow!

After I flew the next day Marius and Nick hit the bass pond with spinning rods and poppers and caught a load!









Joburg

The following day, after breakfast Marius drove me to East London airport for the short Airlink flight to Johannesburg.





I enjoyed a home braai on my last evening with a great bottle of Rupert & Rothschild Classique. South Africa must be doing something right if you can enjoy a great steak and sides with a superb red wine and it all comes in at under USD 20 ! And yes I know I / we have Euros and USD to spend but you get my meaning!





I sorted the Landrovers and tidied up the house and then it was OR Tambo, rifle check in and Lufthansa back to Germany.

My Africa hunting is finished for this year, in fact I was the last hunt for both MD Safaris and also KMG Safaris.

I had two memorable hunts, one in the dry red earth and thorn bush of the Limpopo and the other in the lush greenery and red rocks of the Eastern Cape mountains. And I finished up with a great old buff, three blue wildebeest, two warthog, an old African civet, an old Barbary sheep and a brace of cull fallow deer!

A big thanks to MD Safaris and Rowan Watkins my PH and an equally big thanks to KMG Safaris and Marius Goosen, the owner and PH who went the extra mile all the time!

And thanks to all AR members and readers that came along on these two hunts with me! Appreciated.







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Charlie
I hope you have booked plenty of hunts for next year so we can enjoy your reports!

JCHB

And thanks for Part II!