I was on a 3 week trip October 18th - Nov 8th and between work in India and Ireland, I got a 6 day hunt in (one evening, one morning, 5 full days) down in the Eastern Cape with my friend Murray Danckwerts @ Stormberg Elageni Safaris. The weather was great and there was another hunter and his son in camp along with a family friend, all from England, so that always makes things more enjoyable. They did quite well BTW. Not sure I will ever fly that much again, however, in a 3 week window - 6 flights over 10 hours, 7 flights that were 90 minutes.

Outfitter/PH: Murray Danckwerts, Stormberg Elageni

Trackers: My old buddy Ray-Ray and Sharpie

Area Hunted: SW of Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape (4th time to this location - first time 2006)

Dates Hunted: October 27th - Nov 2nd

Rifles Used: Winchester Model 70 CRF w/suppressor and 150 gr Hornady SSTs and Heym 450/400 Double w/Hornady DGX & DGS 400 grs; Murray had an original 450 NE William Evans from early 1900's with 480 gr loads.

Animals Seen: Geez, everything except elephant, lion, leopard (they are on the property), hippo, and croc

Animals taken: Golden Wildebeest, Cape Kudu 50.5"/49.5", Steenbuck, Cape Buffalo, Cape Bushbuck, Red Lechwe, Warthog. This was my first Golden Wildebeest, Steenbuck, Cape Bushbuck, and warthog; taken one or more of the other animals.

Animals Hunted, but not taken: Duiker, Baboon (busted us one time and missed another), massive Nyala - he wasn't on the menu, but when Murray saw him we had to go after him, heavy over 30", but he gave us the slip in some thick stuff


It's always a good time to hunt with friendly faces and familiar areas. I've known Murray, his wife and sons, his parents, and Ray-Ray for 18 years. After a week in India, it's good to be somewhere without massive congestion, pollution, and trash literally everywhere. And safe water and food. And my kingdom for a good cup of coffee with cream (NOT milk) anywhere in India. I got a fresh ground coffee with fresh cream at JNB waiting for my flight to Port E - it renewed my soul. And then had a great porter at a brew pub. And got to eat lots of meat in camp - including a few bags of biltong in the field. I will say, no issues with using borrowed rifles as Murray is a rifle and reloading pro - so lots to chose from, but that heavy trigger on the Model 70 cost me the easiest baboon shot on the planet. I liked hunting with the 450/400 and had planned on looking at a new Heym in 450 or 470, but learned that I can cycle my 404 from my shoulder as fast as a double and the money for a new double would be better put towards hunting fees

Per my previous posts, I don't monkey with photo bucket, etc anymore. I sure wish URLs from Google Photos would work, but they don't (Google's issue, not AR).

Enjoy!

RSA Fall 2024

Austin Hunter, you had an epic hunt. Great buff and superb bushbuck!
Thanks for sharing.

JCHB

Thank you! Lone daggaboy. Got one in the same exact area last June. Thick dry stuff turning into green, thick, swampy stuff. Definitely a major pucker factor if you look at where he finally expired.

The bushbuck was old - right eye had been gouged out, had a horn wound on his left side, and most of this teeth were gone. I did him a favor.

Thanks for the report - well done. You made good use of the break between work travel to Ireland and India. I've squeezed several safaris in between or adjacent to work travel.

The link to the Google photos folder works pretty well.

One of the coolest parts was hunting the golden wildbeest. I spotted him late in the day, 800 yards away or so grazing on a ridge line. The sun was behind him and lit him up like a golden Aztec sun god. It was a sight to see. I wish we had sunlight when we took the pics. He just glowed in the light - thus the name. it was like that stag that appeared to St Hubert

Congrats and well done!

Very fine trophies and photographs