This was a family safari with the three of us sharing the bag.

By now every one is familiar with the Tsiseb and Otjimboyo Conservency's. Unless you go there you can not grasp the vastness of these open spaces. I would never had imagined that wildlife could thrive in such inhospitable conditions.

We roasted and hid from the sun by day, then snuggled deeply under the covers by nite. One nite some got brave and moved the beds out of the tent and slept under the stars until the wind blew at 3 am.

We now explain it by saying "We can tell you what is was like, but you still would not understand".

On the agenda were Springbuck, Gemsbuck, Kudu(big one),Mtn Zebra, Ostrich, and Eland. As Eland is not availible here this would mean a move to some where else.

First up was my wife Rena, for her Springbuck. The first shot at 150yds was a little low. We had to track it, mostly by sight for about a mile until it lay down, then a short sneak to finish.



Next was our daughter Kate for a Springbuck. After spotting a small herd, she and Gert climbed a low hill to wait them out. About an hour until they came into view, one shot.



You do a lot of traveling here, droping the meat at the Conservency office, and going to where each animal lives, many hours in the seat.

As Mtn. Zebra and Gemsbuck were must haves we started looking right away, I was suprised by the small number of Gemsbuck we encountered. From all the talk of Namibia I was expecting herds of them, not so! After climing countless hills to glass, this was very enjoyable. We headed west towards the fountain area.



The zebra live on the moon here, at least it looked like the moon to me. It did not take to long to find them, but then it took about four hours of hard stalking and hikinng to catch up. Then they made a mistake, the last time we looked they were a mile away and the next time they were 300yds and closing. At 150yds I took this stallion. My last zebra was a three hour track after the shot. This was a very satisfying BANG-FLOP, DRT.



The Zebra is where Kate became a hunter, after the pictures she looked at me and said "Can I use your knife?"



We were looking for a gemsbuck for Kate and Rena but the PH suggested a Kudu for Kate instead. The plan was for an average Kudu for her then if time permited to look for a bruiser for me. It takes a long time to get to the Otjimboyo Conservency then you have to get the guys together to go hunting. Lots of looking and glassing, the PH sent Matthew off to do some scouting in the distance and soon we were in business. He had spotted a small group with a nice bull. The stalk was planned and only Kate and the PH went. The rest of us went back to the truck to wait. An hour later they returned in a hurry, the first bull could not be reached but on the way back to the truck they saw one that had the PH it fits.
He decided to cut the distance with the truck, here he made what I considered a mistake. Any other time when we came to a hill, we got out and checked the othe side. This time we crested the hill in the truck and guess what was waitning on the other side.
We watched this bull and his girls run off in the distance, the decision was this was the one and no matter how far we would keep going. About two hours of tracking and sorting the tracks on foot and by truck they closed in. Kate is 5'3" and the PH is 6'7", twice he told her to shot and she could not even see the animal. Then she got a shot and put two bullets in it, from there it was just slowly track until she got the final shot in the bush.
Obviously this is the highlite of my trip to Namibia!!!!!





No more Kudu hunting, we did not need to be greedy!!

The gemsbuck really made themsevles a pain, we decided to hunt towards the Messum Crater. Way far away and really desolate. Shortly after entering the river towards the crater we spotted two cows, both easily 40" but one was very pregnant. Due to needing to get Eland hunting we decided to go after the not pregnant one. On this day in this lonely place, the one tourist who wants to go too the crater this week needs to come down this road and spook this gemsbuck.
After thing calmed down we went to have a look and found them. Rena missed a shot at about 150yds, they were behind some branches. Do you know how far you can see gemsbuck running in the desert? Pretty damn far!!!

Back towards the fountain today looking for the gemsbuck. Eland will have to wait, we are not leaving Namibia without a gemsbuck.
This is a long story but the short version is all three of us shot this bull with each of us having at least one shot in the vitals before he expired. Kate was not carrying her gun but used her mom's left handed gun to drop him after he doubled back on us!!



Off to Otavi and Wolfgang and Juanita Falks wonderful ranch to hunt Eland. We knew it was going to be tough, we only had 3.5 days. Lots of tracking, some destroyed clothing. My AR hat took a beating. We finally caught up to them by hunting the morining we were leaving, but the bulls gave us the slip and our self imposed deadline of no shooting after 9am and our hunt was over.

The Falks ranch is managed for wildlife and has several good blinds. I satb in one for two hours one day and took pictures of this Kudu.





How big is he????

One afternoon as we were going fence checking for Eland we saw a cheetah. No pics of the cat but the next morning we found a Kudu calf that the cheetah killed that nite!



We enjoyed our time with the Falks.



After the hunt we spent six days seeing other sights, I will follow up with that later

Dulcinea

Sounds like you had a great family trip. Sorry the Gemsbok were so elusive and you could not find an Eland.

Nice report - good to see the entire family involved. Your photos are excellent - the kudu in mid-drink is really unique.

Congratulations on a great trip.


Phil

Very nice report and pictures. Glad that the family enjoyed the hunt together.

Nice report and great pictures.

It's great to be able to see hunters WITH family on trips such as this. It's our future!

A full family trip to Namibia is on my "Things to do" list!

Until then I'll be happy with seeing Vaughan & group in......8 days!

Congrats on a nice hunt. Your wife's Springbok and daughters Kudu and excellent trophies. Good hunting, LDK

Congratulations on a great hunt! I'll be there in September with Vaughan with much the same "menu" in mind. Only 62 days to go!

Great hunt, great trophies and great photos. Don't you love sharing Africa with your family. You must be very proud of your wife and daughter.

Perry

Awesome photos and story. It's been three weeks since I've been back and I think about my trip every day.
I'm glad to see you had such a good time. Did Gert ever get any Reeses or M&M's?

Weidmann's Heil!!

Boy, your family did great. Those kudu were unbelievable. I think I'd have laid that last beast down.

Congratulations on a wonderful hunt. Kudude

Keith and family nice animals...Kate super kudu... Rena nice gemsbok...
I read this report and something is missing, can't seem to lay my finger on it...

Mike

Dulcinea,

Great report and photos. Really like the springbuck and kudu and that is a fine looking zebra. Sorry to hear the gemsbuck gave you fits, but sounds like you had a well earned hunt.

Too bad you did not get an eland. Wolfgang has a large number of eland on his place, but it sounds as if time was definitely against you. It took Vaughan and I 7 FULL days to get mine. I really enjoyed my time with the Faulks. We had many a Tafel, whiskey and laughs at his bar. Thanks for bringing back those memories.

BTW, do you know if Wolfgang ever sorted out his looming problems with the leopard across the road?

George

Went back and reread the whole post again...and looked at pics again...
No photos of ph and trophies, very impersonal report maybe some friction or problems with the camp???
No commments of how hard our Ph worked for us??? No recommendations for the Ph!!!

Mike

Great to see your wife and daughter included on the hunt! Your daughter seems to have become a true huntress on this adventure. Congrats on a great family vacation!

Looks and sounds like a great trip. The drinking kudu is great. I hope to get my own next May.
Congrats,
Jeff

Dulcinea ----- "WOW" what a trip for you Rena and Kate. You my friend are a very lucky man, having an understanding wife who also hunts and a daughter who is following in both your footsteps. Great trophys that you all will always cherish. My son and daughters have backpacked and climbed with me for years, my son and grandsons hunt with me each fall and shoot with me weekly, with an understanding wife's complete support, I couldn't ask for more. Good shooting.

Great photos of that kudu. What is the consensus - would he make 55"?

Nice trophies and it seems as though Gert took you all on a merry chase! Congrats!

That water hole kudu is a youngster. Very skinny, only about a turn and a half and not much horn mass.

I'm pretty bad at this sort of thing, but I'd put him in the mid 40s. Excellent curls. In a couple or three years, he will be a boss bull.

I guess the waterhole kudu at 54-55.

PWN375, we are extremely proud of Kate. No hesitation, we knew the Kudu was big. It did not phase her a bit. You know you got it made when your kid says" I can do anything I want, I just got to decide what that is"

Jriley, heard you had a good trip. If this was your first time I bet it is not your last!

Kudude- Kate and her mom were looking for a monster pig for a few hours so I went to this blind to take pics. Did not even carry my gun. After looking at him and not being glassy eyed anymore I could see he was a youngster compared to Kates' old guy.

George, After seing pictures of your eland at the ranch I wondered what the hell I was getting into. That was one amazing animal, congratulations!!!

Thanks Pat, I hope to tell you the whole story in Dallas. maybe Frank and Joyce will give you a ride down this year!!!

The Kudu, most have said 54-55 but too young. If he makes it 3 more years I want to be first in line for a stalk hunt.

George, the leopard. He crossed the road, the next to last day a cow was missing her young one. I am afriad Mr. Spots wore out his welcome. Surprising they were more worried about the cheetah, said they kill just for fun!!!

Mike, you sly old dog. Yes the were problems on this hunt, however they will be handled between Wendell, Vaughan, and myself. I am pretty sure it will not happen again!!1


Dulcinea

Congratulations! What a wonderful family. I have a daughter (much younger than yours) and high hopes of getting her involved...

Please tell me the specifics of the rifle your daughter used. It looks to me to be a Ruger Compact. I am intererested to know the specifics of the rifle and how you/she rate it. Thanks in advance.

Camp Dog, Yes Ruger Model 77 Compact. 308 Winchester, using 150gr TBBC. I would recommend going to a 165gr when you go to bigger animals like the Kudu. Though good gun handling and shot placement are always the most important.
SHe is very confident with her rifle, she shoots my 300 mag but the rifle is too big for her to handle!

D

Nice Springbuck and your daughter's Kudu is a beauty

Great photo of the Gemsbok.......as well!

Well done Keith and Rena

I was wondering about your trip the other day. I could not remember the exact dates when you had said the you were going and then this report shows up.

From the looks of the pictures it looks like you all had a good time.

Looks like it is time for another rifle for the female portion of the hunting crew. Kate did great.

thanks for the report and pictures

Graylake

Congratulations on a great family huntin trip !!!

Excellent pics and report, thanks for sharing

Congratulations Dulcinea!!

Great report and photos!

quote:

Vaughan Fultons'

My son and I hunted the same area with Vaughan Fultons this year and had a great time. Good report.

I am so happy for you and your family. What an experience to have together.

I have hunted with Gert, and please tell you 5'3" daughter that this 5'10" dude had the same problems she had seeing the animals. He is a right fine ph.

That is a whopper of a kudu. I don't blame you for not trying to top that one, Dad.

Thank you so much for sharing your adventure with us. It brought back many wonderful memories. Kudude

Thanks for the report. Great trophies!!

Your report brings back many memories. I hunted the same area in May and did well. I never did come across the Kudu I wanted, but there is always next time.

Great trophies and I'll bet even better memories. Thanks for sharing.

Kyler

I left Wolfgang's farm the day before you arrived. They are a very hospitable family and I highly recommend Junita's cooking.