Returned last week from a great hunt with friends I met right here on AR. This trip would not have been possible without Ted Thorn and his wife and our good friend Graybird. I also brought my girlfriend along as an observer and traveling companion.
Had a great trip, great accomodations and some great hunting with quality animals.
This was my first trip to Africa and I know won't be my last. I had a great young PH who was real excited about hunting and getting me on great animals.
I brought a .338 Win Mag Supergrade M70 shooting my handloads with 225 grain Sierra's going 2850 fps. More gun than I needed but the rifle needed to be brought as I've only killed coyotes with it before. Recovered one bullet from Wildebeest weighing 202 grains after travelling through 30 inches or so of animal.
First day of the hunt I had some kind of stomach flu and all the joys of fever and diarhea that come with it, I tried to put on my poker face and hunt through it but everyone could tell I was not myself.
Day 2 saw the first mature Kudu bull I'd ever seen and was told that I better shoot as they don't get much bigger, 195 meters (213 yards) off the sticks and he was ready for pictures.


Next day a very respectable Bushbuck gave me a broadside shot at 245 meters, I laid my hat over a rock and made a good shot low through the shoulders but Bushbucks have a lot of life in them and he was trying to make his way into the thick stuff so I made a neck shot that took the wind out of his sails.


Blue Wildebeest had gave me the slip for several days and I probably should have passed this shot but was unsure if I'd see a better one. These animals are incredibly tough unless hit perfectly and mine was no exception, 305 meter shot on the sticks is about the limit of my abilities, needless to say it took some follow up shots.


Impala were fairly common and we had a great time judging several Rams before we made this stalk in a tall grass prairie. The Impala were alert but unable to locate us and they moved in on us, at about 125 meters we set up the sticks and I took this Ram.


Thus far on the trip I'd only seen Warthog sows and piglets, we glassed this Warthog Boar from 600+ meters and decided to stalk closer to get a look at his teeth. At 190 meters we could see he was a shooter and I made a good shot on him but like they do he bolted and ran 150 yards before he knew he was dead.


We had seen Zebra several times but all were in bad locations to get them out or were pregnant mares. We spotted some on a hillside and were able to stalk up around them and got above them. We found this male amongst some mares, I liked the color of his stripes so we set the sticks up, the PH was surprised when I told him I was head shooting the Zebra but he was comfortable with my shooting and said go right ahead. 75 meters steep downhill and he dropped in his tracks.


Took a break from the hunt and went to the beach at Morgan Bay for a couple days, was very nice to see some sights and wade in the ocean of another continent [/url]


My final animal on the list was a Blesbok, we had seen a great one on Murderer's Hill and went back to see if we could find them and stalk close enough for the shot. After several attempts and stalks on Rams that needed to grow more I shot this one at 206 yards off the sticks.




Spent that evening looking for a Baboon which gave us the slip, PH saw one at 560 meters but I couldn't locate it before it moved off.
All in all it was a great trip. I am very fortunate to have friends and a girlfriend to share this trip with and will remember this forever, my first Africa hunt.
There is much more to tell and more photos to share but this is the basic story for you to enjoy.
Thanks for reading.

Ya done good! (That's a very nice blesbok.)

Super trophies. Congrats. AIU

Dave

It was a couple weeks from our lives that I will never forget.

Great looking pics my friend

Congratulations!!!
Looks like you had a wonderful time!!!

Dave,

I'm already looking forward to doing it again, even with my body still saying it's on Africa time.

The Cape kudu bull is a stud!!! He'll look nice across from your bull.

Congrats buddy!!!

Dave,

Well done! The Cape kudu is very nice as are your other trophies. Your smiles tell the story.

Mark

Congratulations Dave, welcome home. I am glad you enjoyed the trip.

Super pictures and a great looking blesbok (as well as other trophies too)! What did the blesbok measure? Cheers

Great to see top grade trophies consistently coming out of South Africa.

What a great hunt. Well done.

Thank you for sharing your hunt
JCHB

Looks like I missed an awesome hunt! It won't happen again, I'm going with you guys next time.

That Kudu is awesome Dave!

Congrats, that cape Kudu is a stud!

Thanks for the post.

Dave,

After having a couple weeks to digest the trip I'm still in awe

Glad your lady made the trip with you as I am very pleased mine did the same

Memories are best when shared

Thanks buddy

Great trophies. Great companionship. Well done.

Awesome Cape Kudu

A real thumper you got there Snell !!

Looks like you had a great hunt. Congratulations

Very nice trophies, it looks like you had a lot of fun!

+1

clearly you guys had a great time and got some wonderful trophies...and you are so right,once you get some of that African sand on your feet you have to go back...congrats and thanks for sharing.....

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Great to see top grade trophies consistently coming out of South Africa.

What a great hunt. Well done.

+1

Great trophies , well done. I am sure you will remember this trip forever.

How long was the Kudu ? Beautiful spiral . As your PH said - they do not come much bigger.

Thanks for all the positive comments, everyone, friends and AR acquaintences.
Swain the Kudu is 51.5", my PH said that Eastern Cape Kudu are hard to find bigger than that. Me, I'm very happy with all the animals I hunted and was exceedingly pleased with my young PH, Martin Neuper.
I should have taken more time and wrote a longer report but I was rushed to get one out and try to fit back into the grind of work.
I only have one regret from the trip, wish I could have stayed 2 more weeks!
Gemsbok, Eland, Waterbuck, Black Wildebeest, Nyala and more will be on the list when I make it back.
Thanks again everyone for the positive comments.
I really need to thank Graybird again for the push to make this trip happen and thank Ted and his wife for being great friends and thank the new friends I made on the trip.
Here's one I snapped a picture of

Congratulations! Well done! But I want to see more pictures!!

Best regards, D. Nelson

The picture of a bird sitting on top of an Aloe is cool

Silver award for big bird pecker.....Graybird has you by just a smidge on biggest bird pecker pic

Looks like a really great hunt. Thanks for sharing.

Congratulations on not only a great hunt with very good trophies indeed but also on tip top trophy & other photography.

Whoever took the trophy pics did a lovely job.

Good stuff.

Mike

Great kudu and a beauty of a blesbuck!

Congratulations mate......

Just getting back to the reports.
Mighty fine hunt you had 'neighbor'.
Let me know when you get 'em mounted I'd like to drop by and take a look. By the way, who is your taxidermist on these?

Great pictures, all of 'em, very well written report too.
George

Excellent trip sir. Very pleased to hear that you had a great hunt in the Eastern Cape. Congratulations on some great trophy animals.

Take Care,
Marius Goosen

Well done and thanks for taking the time to post a report of your safari!

Happy for ya guys, great job!!! Looking forward to seeing you both up in the hills this fall.

Second biggest pecker award

Really great looking trophies... Well done...