Hunter: Shaun Hall
Dates: July 12 – 19, 2008
Country: Botswana
Safari Company: Tholo Safaris
Booking Agent: Wendell Reich, Hunters Quest
PH: Jaco Vissers
Animals Sought: Eland, Kudu, Wildebeest, Gemsbok
Animals Taken: Eland, Kudu, Wildebeest, Gemsbok, Impala, Jackal
Rifle & Ammo: CZ 550, 375 H&H, Federal 300 Grain Barnes TSX

This was the first of two hunts on this trip. My dad and I had originally booked to hunt with Vaughan Fulton for Buffalo in the Caprivi and then an opportunity came up to hunt plains game as well and extend our visit. I will be posting a hunt report on our trip with Vaughan shortly. I have hunted plains game several times in the past and really wanted to hunt eland by tracking them. I contacted Wendell and he told me that these guys had just what I was looking for, so we booked this trip just prior to our trip with Vaughan in the Caprivi.

My dad and I with 2 other friends left Seattle on July 9, travelled through Frankfurt to Windhoek and then a short connecting flight to Maun. We were met there by an appy PH named Stephan and delivered to camp, 3 hours to the southwest. We were given our choice of accommodations in camp, either a traditional style tent with thatched roof or an air conditioned chalet. The camp is set up to handle large groups but they only book one group at a time, so the four of us would have the run of the place. They have several tents and a couple of chalets overlooking a watering hole. 4 hippos in the watering hole near camp always provided some entertainment.







We were hunting in two groups, both 2 x 1. After checking our rifles in the morning we left in different directions. It was very cold in the mornings in the back of the safari truck. The main hunting area is very large; I believe around 200,000 acres, with a high fence around the perimeter and no internal fences. The perimeter high fences are required to protect the investment of the safari company, but they played no part in the hunting. In fact, the only time we saw the fence was in travelling from one area to the other. They are also in the cattle business, and we hunted kudu in the cattle areas a couple of times.

We left the truck after a short drive and were quickly spotting game. The area is very flat and very thick and it is difficult to see game much past 100 yards in most areas. Within a short time we came across a nice wildebeest, Jaco put up the sticks and told dad to shoot. It was a face on shot at about 150 yards, the wildebeest rocked back at the shot and spun, running into the brush. We all expected to find the wildebeest with 100 yards of where he was shot. As we investigated we discovered the bullet hit a branch and was deflected, hitting slightly off center. We were in for a long day of tracking, the Bushmen trackers were exceptional.

During the following hours of playing cat and mouse with the wounded wildebeest we stumbled into a bachelor herd of eland. I had told Jaco that I was only interested in an old blue bull, the older the better. We moved into position and found a huge bull at around 60 yards, so dark he looked black through the scope. I placed the cross hairs on the opposite shoulder as he was quartering slightly away and squeezed the trigger. He ran about 20 yards and dropped dead.



We took some pictures and Jaco radioed camp for a crew to come and load the eland. The break we took from pressuring the wildebeest was advantageous. Not long after we resumed the tracking we found him bedded down and dad was able to finish him off.



Just before lunch we spotted a nice wildebeest. He spooked at the site of the car but we didn’t think he would go too far. We ended up following him for about a mile before I was able to get a shot.



We took the wildebeest back to camp and had lunch. On the afternoon hunt we spotted a huge bull wildebeest in the middle of a herd standing in the middle of the flood plains. Because of the size of the bull and the anticipated difficulty of the stalk, I decided to try for another wildebeest. We had to crawl for almost a half a mile to get close to the herd. As we got close enough for a shot we discovered that the herd had bedded down and it was late in the afternoon. We had two options then, wait for them to stand up or move directly in and hope he presented a shot. We decided to press the issue and we got lucky, taking another nice bull wildebeest.



Day three we found ourselves making several failed stalks on gemsbok. The gemsbok in this area seemed very spooky, and we had no luck go our way. In the afternoon dad shot a nice kudu.



Day four was cold in the morning and very windy. We didn’t see many animals all day, presumably because of the wind. We did try to stalk a very nice duiker, Jaco thought he would go over 6â€, but lady luck was not with us. On the way back to camp we spotted a herd of impala. We disembarked the truck and began following the herd. The herd was onto us and we could hear them barking as they ran off, but just as we were about to call of the attempt we spotted a nice satellite ram.



Day 5 was another cold morning in the truck, and we had high hopes for an eland for dad. My dad has had multiple knee injuries over the years resulting in 6 surgeries, 3 on each knee. His doctor has been recommending both knees to be replaced for years, but being as stubborn as he is has refused, continuing to hunt sheep and goats in Alaska where he lives. This time, however, he injured his knee again just days before leaving Alaska for this trip. When we picked him up at the airport in Seattle he could barely walk. His doctor had told him that he should cancel this trip, but he refused of course. We had discussed this en route, thinking that he should try and save his knee in the early going and try and heal up as much as possible, because the second hunt we had planned in the Caprivi was for buffalo and elephant and would require as much of his strength as he could muster. Fortunately for him, other than day one, we had not been required to put many miles on his leg because we forced him to stay in the truck while I was hunting. It was not easy to do, we almost had to tie him down, but it was for his own good. This day, however, we found promising eland track, and proved to be a long day of tracking. His knee held up, I don’t know how, I guess through sheer determination and will, and he got a nice bull eland at the end of the day.



Day 6 was again very cold and windy. The animals were staying hidden in the brush from the wind and things were a little slow. We ended up on the road near where dad had shot his kudu when we spotted a nice bull about 200 yards from the road. We decided to continue down the road and leave the truck. As we continued down the road we saw 6 more bulls, all mature bulls and all within 200 yards of the road, but the first one was the biggest. We knew we couldn’t walk past 6 bulls to get to the one we wanted so I suggested that we just turn around and drive back past them and then leave the truck. I think that this time the windy conditions helped us, as the kudu seemed reluctant to flee. This worked out well and we caught the bull as he was trying to sneak off.



Late in the afternoon we spotted a nice bull gemsbok. As we crawled through the brush to the point where we knew we should be able to see him, he was nowhere to be found. We assumed that once again our stalk had been blown and were just about to leave when Jaco spotted his horn low in the brush. He had bedded down and was only about 30 yards from our position. I could only see his ear and top of his head, but Jaco told me to hold down and shoot through the brush. I was glad to be shooting a 375 with 300 grain Barnes TSX, as one shot in the neck and he rolled over dead.



At that point all of our priority animals were down, so we spent the next two days relaxing and spent some time driving around looking for another big duiker. I was very tempted by the red hartebeest and zebra that we saw, but I have 2 hartebeest shoulder mounts and many zebra rugs already, so I decided to save that money for another hunt sometime in the future. They have a photo safari area that we were able to visit one afternoon, we were fortunate enough to see 7 rhino come into the watering hole at the photo safari lodge.



All of us had a great time, the organization was very professional. The food was wonderful, the rooms were very nice, and everything exceeded my expectations.

Congratulations, and excellent pictures. I really like those hippo and rhino photos--they should be framed and on the wall!

Thanks for sharing your hunt. Nice looking Kudu nad Eland.

Shaun...

I've anxiously been waiting for your report as I'll be at the same spot next August. Thanks to your excellent retelling I am more pumped than I could have imagined. I'm doing the happy dance here !

Looks like a wonderful experience, particularly since you could share it with your dad.

BTW, how about filling us in a bit about the eland tracking. These are bushman trackers, correct?

Bob

Thanks for the report - looks like you and your Dad had an excellent trip together.

Great photos also!!!


Phil

Eland, Gemsbok, and Kudu top my wish list. Your account and excellent photos really stir something inside me. Great trophies...and the time with your Dad...priceless.

Thank you and I can't wait to read about your hunt part deaux!

Matt

Congratulations and wishes for many more hunts with your Father. From the photos, it looked like he was having a very good time.

Shaun,

Congrats on a great safari with your Dad. Nice trophys and a real hunt. We work with Tholo also and I think he offers the best plains game hunting in southern Africa without his properties being over stocked zoos.

Well done!

Mark

Thanks everyone for the comments. I have been hunting with my dad for as long as I can remember and time spent with him in the field is indeed special. I can only hope that I will have that kind of relationship with my kids when they are older. I was fortunate enough to take them to Namibia last year and that was a very special hunt as well. Dad has confirmed that he will be having both knees replaced in late October, he is dissapointed that he will be missing 2 dear hunts and a mountain goat hunt. When were talking about that, he was adding up how much he would save by not doing those three hunts and thinking he was well on his way to going back to hunt eland.

Bob,

Those Bushmen trackers are amazing. This was my 5th hunting trip in Africa and they were by far the best I have seen. They seemed to have a 6th sense about things. This was the closest thing to Buffalo hunting I think you can find, but for a fraction of the cost, you will be amazed. Mile after mile through the sandy brushy terrain, the tracks were mere depressions in the sand, but they could tell the age of the track as well as the size of the animal. I would go back just to hunt eland and watch those guys work. The PHs we hunted with were very good as well, both of them grew up with the Bushmen and could speak their strange language.

Shaun

Shaun....

Hunting with the bushmen was one of the key factors in choosing this particular hunt. I was hoping it was as exciting and rewarding as you described!

I've been reading up on the bushman in an attempt to get more familiar with my surroundings there. Quite an amazing people.

Thanks for sharing.

Bob

Awesome report, I'm going to be there next May so I loved reading your report.

I will be there the latter part of May of 2009. I am glad to see some pictures of the area. Thanks!
John

quote:

Originally posted by Lucky1:
I will be there the latter part of May of 2009. I am glad to see some pictures of the area. Thanks!
John

John,
When are you going to be there? I'll be hunting the May 16-22nd!

I will be there May 23 through June 1. This will be my second trip to Africa. My first was to Namibia. I will be hunting eland, blue wildebeest, impala, warthog, kudu, zebra amd perhaps blesbok. What are your plans?
John

quote:

Originally posted by Lucky1:
I will be there May 23 through June 1. This will be my second trip to Africa. My first was to Namibia. I will be hunting eland, blue wildebeest, impala, warthog, kudu, zebra amd perhaps blesbok. What are your plans?
John

This is my first trip so I'm very excited! I really want a gemsbuck and kudu and I have heard great things about the Eland hunting. I'd also like to take an Impala and for some reason I'd really like a warthog but I guess my chances aren't that good. I'm open to Zebra, Wildebeast and Duiker if the right one comes along.

I'm not looking to shoot everything in sight but I'm going to keep my options open I figure.

We saw a lot of warthogs while we were there, my buddy did shoot one. You should be able to get one but you will probably have to sit at a watering hole to get a shot.

You guys will be there during the kudu rut, it should be amazing. After talking to my PH there, I think if I were to go back it would in May to catch the rut.

Well-done! I love the old broomed horned eland bull!

SD,

Again, all smiles and great photos..

Mike

Great report SD.
When I was there 3 years ago there were only 4 Rhino, glad to hear that they are up to 9.

TerryR

Congratulations a great and memorable hunt.