My son and I just got back on Friday from a Plains Game Safari with Huntersgame safari's.
www.huntersgame.co.za The PH was Nihan Engelbrecht, we hunted two properties, the first was a 125,000 acre reserve in the kalahari 150 km fmr Upington and the second was his own farm 65 km from Kimberly.
We started out at Kalahari Oryx, we arrived late in the day and sighted in our rifles no problem, we had used Equity Aviation to help with gun permits, it was very easy. While we were in the SAPS area another couple of hunters were there using te Tuffpack, it seemed kind of small and hard to access compared to the Hard Golf Club case I had bought for about 1/3 of the price.
The first day we made a couple of stalks that didn't work out on Kudu and then we went about a mile through a dried up river bed full of Buff crap then up a small mountain and my son Brendan shot our first african animal a nice Blue wildebeest.



Later that day in the dunes I shot a similar wildebeest.



Near the end of the day after looking at several hundred Gemsbok we passed one feeding by itself, I asked if it was a nice and Nihan said it was a cow. As we drove away, he looked back and said in fact it was a nice bull. Brendan and Nihan went on a short stalk and after two quick shots I got down and walked over to where they were. Brendan had hit it high and too far back with the first shot and in desparation had fired a quick second and literally shot both back feet off the animal, three shots later it finally died. Gemsbok was my first priority and Nihan knew this, he gave me a funny look when I got there and said it was really good, as in he may not find me a better one. It had just under 38 inch horns with good bases and just missed Gold medal.



Next morning we spotted some Kudu and Zebra, we drove around the mountain, climbed above them, there was no Kudu bull, so Brendan shot this very nice dry mare zebra for a rug.



The next day we drove about 40 km to the back of the property for Impala, after stalking three different herds we found one by himself, we crawled the last 80 yards or so, put up the sticks and he was facing me when I shot him at 259 yards(the longest shot either of us made) I missed my mark on his chest and shot him in the mouth and out the back of his neck. A shoulder mount is out, but he qualified gold medal.



On the way back to the lodge we were delayed by some buff that wouldn't get off the road, Nihan noticed a small herd of Mountain Reedbuck at the base of the mountain and commented that it was a very nice ram, we drove about 200 yards further and stopped the truck again and said the same thing, then after a very short drive he stopped and said If I didn't want it he wanted to borrow my rifle. I asked him how much, he said $350 so off we went. We backed up the truck to about 200 yards from both the reedbuck and the buffalo, we got down, I shot him off the sticks which excited one of the buff which started our way. I started to scramble back into the truck yelling at my son to grab my rifle, the buff had stopped after about 20 yards, everyone thought this was pretty funny. The reedbuck had 7.25 inch horns on both sides with good bases(apparently), this animal excited the crew and the management of the reserve more than anything else we shot. It made gold medal.



The nest day we cimbed the mountains for Kudu. I was starting to get sick from the flu at this stage. I was up first, we climbed a small mountain which was protecting canyon which held Buffalo, wildebeest, waterbuck, kudu cows and springbuck. On the next mountain up on our side of the canyon was a Kudu bull about a mile away. We dropped down and climbed the much taller mountain to our left, dropped over the other side and the PH brought us back up over the top directly acros from the bull. He said it was a mature bull, but not huge, I said good enough for me. I got up pbehind a rock, there was at least a 25 mph side wind so I held just in front of his back leg and hit him high in front of the shoulder, but with a quick second shot I took him through the neck. The Kudu measured 46, it isn't the biggest but the stalk and the shot were easily the most exciting things I have done in hunting.



Later that day just before 6:00 pm and 4 mountains later Brendan got his, it was much larger than mine and measured 51.5 inches and qualified bronze.


By the end of this day I was felling really lousy, the flu had goten worse, fever, nose and cough. The next day we drove to Nihan's own farm Thorngrove about 65km from Kimberley and we both took nice Blesbok. The next day was very difficult for me, the flu had really set in and I was having trouble sleeping to make things even worse. We got out of the truck at about 7:45 to walk through the thorn to see if we could bump something up, we walked about a mile to a hill where the tracker had taken the truck to see of he could spot Eland or Waterbuck for me, we spotted a herd of Eland and the chase was on. We followed the Eland until about noon back and forth over hills through the thorn, I got on the sticks three times without being able to get a shot. Finally the herd was coming up a small opening on a hill about 100 yards in front of me, Nihan I'd the bull for me(not hard) and at the last second he said shoot the one on the left, I was holding on the knuckle of his shoulder face on and at the last second I remembered reading somewhere that frontal shots on Eland should be 375 minimum, so I did a bad thing, I moved over about 6 inches closer to his neck but not on it. After the shot the herd ran past broadside, but I wasn't sure which bull I had shot. There was small drops of meat blood, the trackers followed it for two days, but we never saw him again. After going back to the lodge I read the "perfect shot" book about it and "on Purpose" I shot the bull in exactly the wrong place. By this time with the flu and the 5-6 km we had chased the Eland herd that morning, I was done, the PH very diplomatically suggested they needed to pressure the animal and he asked if i was up to it, I agreed with him I was done.
This was very sobering, it was actually the first animal I've ever lost.

The next day, we both got nice springbok after a series of shot stalks. BY this time a short stalk was all I could do physically.



ON our last day of hunting, I still needed a Gemsbok, it was my first priority all week, we had looked at hundreds of them and never did see one better than Brendan's, I was feeling really lousy and on the way back in a nice bull popped out in front of us. I am not too vain to admit I shot it from the truck, I had climbed mountains, walked at least 50 kms through the thorns, looked at at least 500 gemsbok, this middleaged sick banker's body was done. Say what you want about ethics etc, this is still my favourite african animal and it will be on my wall in about 8 mths. The horns measured 35.5 inches with thick bases.



So here I am in Fort McMurray Alberta at home still recovering from the flu and the jetlag, we had the time of our lives, Nihan Engelbrecht and his staff were great, we ate very well, we were treated like family. It was great to do this with my 18 year old son before he heads off to university this fall, we stalked almost all the animals together.

Now I would like to take my wife with me nest time, maybe get my Eland and a nice Waterbuck.

Looks like a great hunt. Thanks for the report
and photos.

Super report and looks like a great hunt with excellent trophies... it is good to see these father-son and family hunts being reported recently!

Congrats on your hunt and hope you get better soon! LDK

Great hunt and thanks for the pictures!

Sounds like a very memorable and wonderful trip.
Thanks,
Jeff

Nice trip and good hunt.

Great idea on the hard golf club case. Which brand/model do you have? I am planning a trip spring 2008 and was going to buy a tuffpak.

Thanks for the report and the pics. Sorry about your luck on the eland.

What a hunt.
Nice Pics. Thanks for shareing.


Seloushunter

Thank you for sharing your hunt.

David.

Some nice animals there. I liked the 'honesty' part. LOL I went to RSA in early July and my PH and I got a bad case of the sinus infection. I can definitely 'feel' your pain especially with the plane ride back. Again, some really nice animals!

338zmag
I bought a datrek, it weighs 13 lbs, they make regular size and taller. I just bought the reguar size, FWIW a rifle with a 26 ich barrel wouldn't have fit. It worked really well, I would highly recommend it.

I always like seeing father/son trip reports. I really need to take my dad on a trip.

Nice gemsbok and kudu. That impala will never play the harmonica again.

I just drove south of your home on the way back to mine...interesting area.