As a group of 4 hunters we had arranged to go on safari for a 10 day cull hunt package with François Dorfling of Umlilo Safaris in Kirkwood near Port Elizabeth in South Africa. It was to be our first safari for any of us, but by the look of it, it certainly won’t be our last. I went with 3 friends Puntgunner and 9.3 Nige from on here and another friend called Andy. What can I say about the outfitter that we went with? He and all his staff were absolutely fantastic. The hospitality, food and hunting were all out of this world. Everything was better than we could possibly have dreamed off. I’ll certainly be recommending them to anyone. But that’s enough of the advertising for him.

My first animal that I took was a Kudu calf, she was an elusive animal to try and get to, but I finally took her with a 211metre shot through the neck. I was flying as high as a kite after that, as it turned out things could only get better.



The second animal I took was a Black wildebeest; he was shot off the bipod on the plains at 250 meters,



Next on the list was Impala, I’d gone after them on the first morning, but could never get near them or when I could a suitable animal never showed itself. But this was to be a better day, we stalked a herd and settled on this one which we watched for over half an hour waiting for it to turn until the PH had had enough and he asked me to take a frontal shot which I dully did. A lovely young animal taken again off the bipod at about 160 meters.



That evening we went after Blue Wildebeest. My one was selected from a group that we stalked into and again had to sit up and wait until a suitable animal showed itself within the herd. After an hour or so finally the one that was selected for culling by my PH decided to get up and meet its maker. It was taken in a sitting shot off the sticks at about 170 meters.



The next morning saw a little time off hunting for me where I was taken by my PH to his farm to see his 2 tame Eland and his tame Blesbuck. We drove most of the way around his farm and the views can only be described as breathtaking. Getting to stroke and play with the animals was amazing.













That evening saw me stalking another group of Impala. We managed to get onto one group as they were moving across the plains. A compromised rest for my shot (a tree branch) saw me take my last Impala with a 170 meter shot down hill into the valley.



We next traveled off the concession to another hunting area in Grahamstown to shoot Warthog. These little critters were great fun to stalk and shoot. I never would have thought that a lump of grey could blend in so well withal the green grass and bush. The shots were all standing anything from 30 meters to 90 meters.







As you can see from the next picture the whole group had a good day shooting. Unfortunately the trophy Warthog’s that myself and Andy wanted all eluded us. But hey we still had fun



Next was onto another concession to shoot cull Springbuck. This one was taken at 120 meters while we were sat on a hillside admiring the view.



Earlier that morning my friend Andy managed to get onto a group of Impala so that he could take his Trophy Impala he’d been after. It was a lovely animal taken at I believe 180 meters sitting down across the valley.



I had now shot almost all the animals that I had wanted to shoot but I decided that I wanted a couple of trophies for the wall. We stalked right up to a group of Springbuck only for a herd of ostrich to come through and scare them all off. This resulted in us stalking a now very wary group for another 3 miles until a suitable black springbuck presented itself. This was an up close and personal type of affair as we were stalking through dense scrub. I took him standing at 60 meters. He was a beauty of an animal.



Next up was a trophy cape springbuck. Which I was informed I would be going out after straight after breakfast. That sounded like a great idea to me but unfortunately I then discovered that it was 30’c in the shade. But we still went out after him anyway. It resulted in a fantastic stalk; the animals were all so twitchy. I ended up taking him sitting down off of sticks at 270 meters, which was hell of a distance for me.



Then came our final morning hunting before we had to catch the plane home. We were after a Blesbuck, which involved another trip to a different concession. I managed to take this ram at 235 meters again off of the sticks sitting down.



Then unfortunately we all had to go home back to the grind. Would I do it all again? 110% yes. I’m currently booking up a trip to go back out there at the same time next year. The only question is what do I want to hunt? Definitely got that elusive trophy Warthog on the list closely followed by a trophy Kudu bull and a Zebra.

Sounds like you had plenty of fun! I enjoyed the pics of the pet Eland and Blesbok.

The pet Eland and Blesbok were great fun, you just had to watch where the blesbok wanted to stick her antlers as she didn't realise how strong she was.

Sounds like a busy trip. If I am not mistaken you shot v v well too!
Did you spot any 'heartbreak' trophy animals while culling? I would love to go on a cull hunt at some point, Umlilo seem to do it right with spot/stalk rather than traditional culling.

Cheers

Gabriel

Looks like a very fun trip, that's quite a pile of pork there!

Yea I spoted 1 heartbreaker of a trophy while I was there. It was after I had shot my black wildebeast. it was a Rowland Ward gold medal Black springbok. We tried repeatedly to get onto him but never could so had to settle for a slightly smaller trophy Black springbok.

Well done Paul !!!

Nice report and pictures. A job well done.....

Thank you Puntgunner. I think the main thanks ought to go to you, seeing as you organised the whole hunting trip for us.