This is long overdue, but I wanted to share a few of the trophies I took on a hunt last year with my dad and son in Botswana. As many have reported here, Tholo runs an outstanding operation, from the logistics to the food to the quality of the PHs and the animals. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone from a first-timer to someone who has been to Africa many times. And it’s a great place to bring kids or a spouse along.

I had thought Eland would be the toughest trophy to come by, but I took a nice bull on the morning of Day 1. Took a 20 minute hike in the bush following some tracks. Came upon the Eland, and shot it. Pretty uneventful.

Kudu, on the other hand, proved to be the toughest. The rut was pretty much over and it was a full moon. Needless to say, big bull sightings in the 55+ inch range were few and far between. I took a nice bull with a gigantic body right at dark on Day 3, and he measured about 53.5. I knew a bigger one was out there and shot the second bull with an hour to spare on the last afternoon. He measured about 56.5.

All in all, it was a great trip.

Thanks for posting! Those are outstanding trophies. Congrats.

Very nice animals, and excellent old-school style pics.

Congrats! Great animals!

I’m taking my son, father, brother-in-law, and nephew to Tholo next July. Really looking forward to it.

Great place
Those bushmen are just amazing trackers there
I made one bad shot on eland and 16 km later they found him and I killed him
I couldn’t believe how they found him without blood

+1 I hate this new style of taking pictures to exaggerate the size of the animal!

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:
Very nice animals, and excellent old-school style pics.

Congratulations, you had a fine hunt! Excellent quality, especially that Eland.

How did your father & son do? Father-son hunts are wonderful, but it’s not often someone gets 3 generations together like you did.

Well done! Tholo is a special place. I was also very happy with my hunt there.

Mark

Those are fantastic trophies. I think both your Kudu are superb.
Personally I prefer an Eland hunt to be harder than yours ( I enjoy long tracking ) but know sometimes you gotta take the opportunity presented.
Well done.

Congrats!

All mature, beautiful animals.

Especially those great kudu bulls!

Great trophies! Congratulations.

Superb trophies!
Is the Tholo ranch fenced? They advertise a good variety of species but don't seem to have any hyaenas or other predators.

Part is high fenced and part is low fence. I found and killed a really nice kudu in the low fence area around the cattle

Thanks for the report and congratulations on the fine trophies. The kudu are great. What time of year was the safari? (I'm wondering when the kudu rut is there.)

Tholo is my favorite place to hunt plainsgame.

quote:

Originally posted by Hannay:
Thanks for the report and congratulations on the fine trophies. The kudu are great. What time of year was the safari? (I'm wondering when the kudu rut is there.)

I was there third week of May. We definitely saw some bulls still chasing cows, but the rutting activity seemed to be slowing down.

Congratulations!
Thanks for sharing.

Ski+3
Whitefish, MT

Wonderful people. My wife and I will be back there in July.

Hunted there several years ago in a group hunt. Great area, lots of super kudu and eland. Had a great hunt and would go back with a family.

quote:

Originally posted by the Pom:
Superb trophies!
Is the Tholo ranch fenced? They advertise a good variety of species but don't seem to have any hyaenas or other predators.

Part is fenced but huge areas for cattle are unfenced. Absolutely full of free range Kudu

I shot both of my kudu in the cattle areas. I’m also guessing the kudu jump the high fences and move back and forth between the cattle and game areas. Regardless, both areas are huge and the fence is a non issue in my view.

As for predators, we saw leopard tracks and our PH saw some cheetah.