Came home a week ago after 7 days of hunting the bushveldt and riverbanks of the Limpopo River.
Nothing spectacular, but I got the four I had on my whishing list, and another three as well

The bushveldt was dry, and especially the kudu had a hard time finding enough food.
My PH has a small farm, and of his approx 75 kudus, 24 had died.
Even the warthogs was skinny, and we found dead animals every day.
They was really hoping for rain to come soon.

I went down there all by myself, but met seven Americans in camp from New York Bowhunters, who kind of adopted me as their Oom (uncle) as I was the oldest man in camp
Four of them NY Fire Fighters, two students, and one Delta pilot, great guys all of them, and they took some fine p.g.trophies .

The first on my list was zebra, bushbuck, nyala and waterbuck. I got all four and also a nice duiker, a small baboon and a ok wartie.
No medals or such, but all taken after lots of stalking in dry bush.
Great hunting, great company and a week to remember

Outfitter was Clive Perkins / Sportsmans Safaris and my PH was Thiuns Pretorius.
Traveled with Air France from Oslo via Paris to Johannesburg, no hassel at all.





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Wellcome back Oom - Weidmannsheil! - Arild - caliber, bullets, distances...?

Thanks mouse.
Rifle is plane jane Ruger M77 in 338 Winmag.
Bullet, Woodleigh 250 gr RN, approx 808 mps.
This combo just work!

Distences varied from ca. 40 meters on the duiker, to ca 140 -150 on nyala and the waterbuck.
Very skittish animals, dry ground, but GREAT stalking

Congrats,

It looks like you had a great time.

Your rifle and ammo combo sure did the job.

Thanks for sharing the pictures

Congrats on your hunt. You took some very nice animals! That bushbuck is old and knarly looking, he'll make a heck of a mount.

Any more details on the hunt? Rifles used, etc. Tell us some more.

"Gratulerer", Arild!
Thanks for sharing.. Looks wonderful.. Nice trophies! Like that bushbuck in particular..

Yes...I´m very pleased with the old bushbuck.
Saw him one of the first days, but he slipped away again and again.

Found him again in the riverine brush, and kind of ambushed him when he crossed a narrow path.
He was moving, but I hit him hard a split second before he disappered

Good shooting
great report


TerryR

Arild,

Excellent! Looks like you had a great time. Beautiful trophies - I really like that waterbuck and the warthog.

David

Arild,

Welcome back mate, glad that your trip went well for you. The Bushbuck is indeed a beauty, they are a lovely animalto hunt, but congrats on all the trophies.

Looking forward to catching up in person over the coming months I hope.

Rgds,
FB

Arild,

All are very fine trophies, your waterbuck looks like a real bruiser! Good job, bet you had a lot of fun.

Well done...very nice trophies. That wartie looks better than "ok" to me.

Excellent trophies. The camp looks very nice, do you have some other camp photos?

FB:
Many thanks, yes I hope to see you guys in a not to distant future

Ann:
Thank you, the waterbuck was the hardest part. They where extremely wary so it took me three days to nail this one.
It´s not that long, but the outfitter said that as a trend, the horns on both nyala and waterbuck in the Limpopo area tends to be a bit shorter than elswhere, but with more heavy bases.
And Ann...that cat of yours is a beauty as well

The pig looks better and better

Not any other pictures of the camp where I am now Ace, but will see if I have some when I get home (stuck on an oil rig in middle of the North Sea right now)

Anyway, I´m more than happy with my trophies

Well done, sir! Man, that's a beautiful waterbuck. I love the sweet smell of waterbucks!

quote:

Originally posted by Ivan:
Congrats on your hunt. You took some very nice animals! That bushbuck is old and knarly looking, he'll make a heck of a mount.

Any more details on the hunt? Rifles used, etc. Tell us some more.

I sure hope there is another old and gnarly bushbuck along the Limpopo when I am back in 2010!! Nice one, Arvid!!

Larry

Arild,

Welcome home and some great pics and super trophies.. That bushbuck and nyala are super...

Mike

Rusty and Mike
Thank you and I really apreciate the comments from you oldtimers

I recived the trophies from my August 2008 Safari from Taxidermy Inernational in Pretoria last week.

Not exibition grade by a long shot, but good enough.

They smell strongly so I air them at my deck whenever the sun is out.







We where four hunters all togeter who got the shipment at the same time.
My three friends went down a couple of months before me and got som nice animals as well.
Unpacking was a bit like Cristmas



Yours truely

Arild,

I am fairly certain the ranch you were hunting was once known as Cambridge Ranch and was owned in part and hunted by Ivan Bezudienhout. If so, I once owned an interest in that ranch. It was a beautiful little place with good populations of game that would cross back and forth from Botswana. It was a shame Ivan couldn't manage the money and had to sell the place before he ran it into the ground.

Perry

Congratulations on some fine trophies !!!

Arild wery nice mate!!

Well-done. An impressive collection of trophies!

Beautiful trophies. Wish I had that bushbuck. Still on my to-do list.

Nothing shabby about that hog, either.

Thanks for the pictures !!
BTW, the bushbuck that's hanging in the middle looks like a VERY good one..

L

Thanks for the nice comments.
Yes, that bushbuck is a really fine one.
It was taken by one of the other guys, I think it is 15 1/4" if I remember correctly.
The other two is approx 13 1/4".

All three of them was taken in the same area along Limpopo River not far from the Stockpoort border crossing.

I hunted bushbuck on the banks of the Limpopo in 2005, but had no luck. Maybe next year...

Arild,

I ALSO TOOK MY Bushbuck right on the limpopo. What a great hunt!

All your trophies are great and your smiles tell the rest of the story. Congratulations!

Adrian