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(Felis serval / Afrikaans - Tierboskat / Zulu - Ndlozi)


I have hunted with Adrian Salter of Adroda Safaris many times - tsessebe in Limpopo, plainsgame in Natal, bushpig over hounds in Zululand and vaalie in the Drakensberg Mountains and more. He is young and he is very passionate about hunting. He hunts all over RSA, runs two hound packs one for cats and one for pigs, works very hard, runs a well managed operation and consistently gets great, big trophies. He is based down by Nottingham Road in KwaZulu Natal. Anja had not yet met Adrain.

After a few days break in Joburg to do laundry, banking, shopping and visit Safari Outdoor in Sandton et cetera, we loaded the Landrover Sunday evening and set off towards Ermelo where we would meet Adrian, with the plan being to try for a couple of 'big' fallow buck and run his hounds in the evenings for serval. We took along Anja's CZ .30-06. This was to be a fully guided and catered hunt as opposed to our 'DIY biltong hunt' the week before (RSA Part 1).

Fallow deer (Dama dama), as you can guess, are not indigenous to RSA. Native to Europe, they have been introduced far and wide around the globe and were introduced into RSA over 100 years ago and have thrived, especially in Natal and Mpumulanga. I have seen some seriously big heads that have been taken in RSA - 4 kgs and 5 kgs being not uncommon. Anja and I would try for a couple of large stags with big palmered antlers. The rut would be nearing its end so we may see bucks with broken off tines and damaged antlers. No worries, that's all part of nature and doesn't make it any less of a hunt or a trophy in our books, in fact it makes it all the more interesting IMO.

After an easy three hour drive, we met Adrian, Sunday evening at the Hummingbird Guest House in Ermelo, operated by Axel Engman, PH, and his wife Karin. We would be driving 45 mins to the farm to hunt fallow and serval. The accommodation and catering was ok. Contrary to plan, Adrian did not bring any dogs, other than his Jack Russell, Ruger, as the farmer did not want hounds running at night on his lands. Fair enough, his farm, his rules.

Monday we were away at 05.30 and at the farm by 6.30. A longish drive on dirt roads. The farm was 4.500h of totally unfenced land operating as an arable (mealies) and stock farm (sheep and cattle) with wild, free ranging game. We drove to the base of an escarpment where Axel knew fallow to be and at 06.45 we started glassing and saw fallow in the 'fire bos' and thatch grass almost immediately - a number of big stags on the escarpment and a single big stag with some 20 hinds grassing and sunning in the tall thatch at the base of the slope to the left of us. We glassed a bit more.

Glassing at sunrise -





Frost !!




Then with jackets, gloves and wollen caps against the 4 degree celcius first light temperature, we planned and began a stalk into the small herd on the left. The thatch grass was over our heads and there was frost on the ground. We quickly stalked in to 150 m and, standing on a small rise, with the sun coming up behind us, Adrian put up the sticks. You could just see the stags antlers and head. I assumed where spine and shoulder should be and put in a shot which overshot the stag, but as luck would have it the herd ran straight towards us and I was able to drop the stag at 20 m with a freehand shot leading a meter on the running animal. We had a free rang fallow stag taken in RSA at 07.15 on morning one! Sometime things just happen right and this was one of those occasions - morning one, 30 minutes and I had my fallow stag!










After photos, we loaded the stag and drove a short way to a wattle coppice where we hoisted the fallow deer on a branch and Suki, Adrian's tracker / skinner, set to work caping and butchering the animal. With the cape in a drum of salt water and the head secured up the tree away from ground predators, we 'tailgate' breakfasted whilst making plans for Anja to try for an even bigger buck that we had spied in the 'fire bos' earlier that morning. We would drive up the back of the escarpment and walk / stalk along the ridge stopping to glass for stags as we walked. We had plenty of time.

Having slowly driven and parked up around the back of the escarpment, Axel, Adrian, Suki, Anja and I started glassing the valley from above and it was not long before we spied a young all white fallow stag followed by a big dark chocolate stag with a broken antler. We glassed more. After an hour the larger stag from earlier that morning - the one we were looking for - stepped out from a thicket at 254 meters and Anja put in a shot with the .30-06 and it was good. The fallow made a short dash before standing again and Anja put in a second shot - also a hit - and the stag was then swallowed up by the thick bush.







We waited a while and then Anja and Adrian walked, climbed and slid down the hillside with me and Suki staying on the ridge up top calling directions. After a long while they neared the thick bush where the stag was last seen and Adrian let Ruger, his Jack Russel, off and then all hell broke loose! Ruger picked up the blood spoor and quickly found the stag but the fallow was still on all fours and had no intention of giving up without a fight or flight and bolted. With Ruger in pursuit followed by Adrian and Anja, the stag lead them half a mile along the valley before Ruger was able to bay him, hanging on to the stags right ear! A finishing shot and the stag was down! Anja's first shot had hit the left lung and the second cleanly broke the rear hind hip / leg. Nevertheless the stag was able to bolt half a mile through the thick bush! Amazing. African game, even if originally from Europe, is simply very tough.

Now "big looks big" and this fallow stag was big, with a serious set of antlers - one pierced by some object .... maybe a branch when he was in velvet or a bullet, who knows. He was big even by European big fallow standards.




We took our time with photos and reliving and reveling in the story of the hunt, before loading the stag and a very tired Ruger and driving to the wattle coppice where he hoisted stag number two and Suki set to work caping and skinning and butchering. An alfresco tailgate buffet lunch and an afternoon siesta followed before driving the farm late afternoon to see what we would see....

And see we did - a big, old mountain reedbuck bedded almost in a bush next to a doe along the sheltered side of a steep ridge. My shot was a bit high and we had an exciting follow up down the hillside amongst big rocks and tall elephant thatch over our heads stealing our vision but I was able to drop the buck with a neck shot in the long grass. A truly old big horned ram with blackened teeth. A good one to take. I was very pleased. A close friend, on seeing the animals we took on this hunt, stated that he thought the mountain reedbuck was one of my best trophies.









We then loaded the two fallow onto the bakkie along with the reedbuck for the hours drive back to the B&B and dinner.

Tuesday we breakfasted late and then drove to a 3.500 h game farm where Anja walked and stalked and shot a big zebra stallion. It was a fenced farm and a simple straight forward spot, stalk and shoot affair. Our daughter now has an apartment of her own and asked if we could get her a zebra rug for the living room. Mum was a only too happy to oblige. Zebra number 10 to Anja! Adrian, Anja and I returned to the B&B and Axel drove all the meat to the butchers.

Setting off on the stalk -







Back at the guesthouse we dressed warm with layers, down jackets, hats and gloves ready for a cold night hunt for serval ! We dressed more like we were going on an alpine winter tour than an African hunt but boy was it cold at night at 2 - 4 degrees c!

Mpumalanga is issuing serval permits as they have a lot, unlike Natal and other Provinces where there are no permits. And classed under the rubric of "other predators" serval may be hunted at night along with bushpig, caracal and 'non protected' species ie fallow.

We arrived at the same farm where we hunted the fallow and started lamping, driving the farm paths, tracks and mealie fields. We picked up eyes everywhere - duiker by the dozen, steenbok, fallow deer, stripped polecat, owls, hares and dozens of mice. Adrian and I were on the back of the Cruiser with Axel driving and Anja in the passenger seat, with the heating on! At one point we saw a very large caracal but he bolted away across the cut maze field into some heavy brush. More duiker. More fallow deer - does and stags - out on the cut mealies. More stripped polecat. They were fun to watch!

Driving a tree line Adrian jokingly said "We will drive around the bend and the will be a huge serval, just wait and see!"

And at 20.50, planning to call it a night at 21.00, we drove around a bend off a wattle line and there - 75 m out - sitting on a ploughed field without a care in the world was this large tom serval, shining golden yellow in the light and just sitting there. It then all happened very quickly and my shot was good and we had our serval cat! And he was big! And he was old. We later weighed him at exactly 12 kgs.












We were all thrilled and admired the cat and admired the cat some more and took our time setting up for photos. A truly beautiful animal. A very special animal. Sometime Diana smiles big and wide and this was one of those times! I was thrilled to have taken such a very unique, beautiful nocturnal predator! We all were! Very special!

It was late when we got back to the Hummingbird. We placed the serval whole into a chest freezer. The taxidermist would skin him after taking lots of exact measurements. After a quick meal and a single celebratory drink we fell into bed at midnight, tired and very happy.

Wednesday saw the end of our hunting trips with a 280 kms drive to Joburg and a couple of down days in Sandton before Anja flew back to Germany and I returned to Lagos. Adrian, driving via Newcastle, would drop the trophies at the taxidermist. That serval must be a full mount and the fallow will go together on a pedestal to compliment the two Kafue lechwe we took and pedestal mounted together!

It was a couple of weeks of stark contrasts - biltong hunting and self catering in the bush, opening the chalet door to thick African bush and wildlife (Part 1 of the report) to a B&B type guest house on the edge of Ermelo, which is not a pretty town, and driving to hunt on various farms - fenced and free range - within a 100 km driving radius. Anja decided she likes to stay on the property that we are hunting on and not drive to different locations. I tend to agree but the flip side is Adrian strives to get his guests big, quality trophies and that may require some traveling and driving from province to province. A trade off I guess that everyone needs to make a decision on when the book a hunt. I'll certainly hunt again with Adrian but give thought to what Anja thinks about traveling / car time too.

We had a wonderful time. We shot some biltong animals in the Limpopo bushveld plus we hunted a brace of great old impala rams and we hunted lifetime fallow deer and serval in the Mpumalanga Highveld, with a solid old mountain reedbuck being a bonus. Nine animals over the two weeks.

Thank you to Adrian and Adroda Safaris, Axel and his wife Karin and to Suki, tracker and skinner, whom we gave a lift to Joburg so he could visit his children after the hunt and we listened to his stories in the Landy of his 5 years working on a captive breeding lion farm including hunting lion with Mark Sullivan a couple of years ago. Stories for another time perhaps. And a big thank you to all AR readers that came along too on this report.

And to finish it off here the traditional sunset photo ..... albeit with the Landy 110 in the centre!


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As a ps we have to thank this little / big fella too! I love Jack Russells and this guy has amazed me on a number of hunts - last year he retrieved a spurwing twice his size from a lake and this year he chased, bayed and hung on to the ear of Anja's fallow! Great stuff! A great big little dog! Thanks Ruger and you look great chilling after the hunt with your shades on and don't worry the taxidermist can fix up the shredded ear !!

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Charlie - Thanks for another great and inspirational report!

Awesome report and trophies Charlie. Well played!

Interesting hunt. Thanks for sharing.

BH63

Anja and Charlie,
Very happy to see you are both well and looking as good as you did in November.
Great report Charlie, as always, fine photos and ditto trophys. You had a great time, I can tell.
Well done you two. What is up next?
Jytte

Charlie,

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!! You guys are having too much fun.

Mark

Sounds like a lot of fun. How are you going to mount the serval? Beautiful trophy.

Great report Charlie. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks for sharing Charlie

Great report on a great hunt and a few cracker trophies.
Love that Serval, still on my bucket list and the old Mountain Reedbuck ram is a seriously worthy trophy.
A few may be surprised at the incident free mileage you’re getting from the Defender.
Thanks for writing up your adventures.

What a fantastic report and beautiful photographs!
Thank you for sharing your experience.

JCHB

Great report!

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Thanks all for the comments and feedback - a nice part of writing and posting reports is always feedback and comments imo. Both good and less good.

Overland - I am planning a full mount of the serval but not sure on the pose / position yet. Tricky one. What I would love to do is hunt a big caracal and then have them mounted together in a tumbling / fighting fur ball ! Just think that could be a stunning mount! We'll see!

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Enjoyed the 2nd part tremendously. Charlie, I have the feeling I was part of the hunt!

Always enjoy your reports. Thanks for sharing. I LOVE that fallow with the hole in the antler. Too cool.

Adrian is a great guy. Hunted with us in England last season

Charlie:

Reads like you didn't miss doing much.
Quite a trip and good time for all of you.

Thanks for sharing with us.

George