Almost out of malaria pills so we must be back! Had a wonderful trip with Claude and Jill Kleynhans and Ryan of Mafigeni Safaris. If the picture of the nyala posts OK I'll get the full report posted.

Lets try to make it bigger, she sceamed!

OK looks like the pictures work.
We were hunting with Claude and Jill Kleynhans of Mafigeni Safaris in the Limpopo Province near Phalaborwa. We started the first day after Buf and soon found the tracks of a good sized herd. We stalked them for about 300yds but they spooked when we got to within about 40yds of the outskirts of the herd with no shootable bulls offering a shot. We followed for about 1/2 mile but they kept moving and we decided to look elsewhere and let them settle down.
We cut another set of tracks and after a short stalk got within about 90 yds of a shootable bull who was quartering toward us. At the shot he broke to our left and then circled around toward the wind coming from our right to join the rest of the herd charging off into the jess. We began following the trail slowly and soon found blood. As the trackers and Claude deciphered the tracks, we proceeded cautiously through the jess with visibility of between 10-40 yds. After about 300yds we saw him standing broadside about 40 yds away. Claude told me to aim for his right shoulder and at the shot, he ran off again. We continued on his trail for another 50 yds and finally we found him lying down and I gave him a final bullet from my 375 H&H. This was definitely an exciting introduction to African hunting on our first day out. Unfortunately, after all of the excitement, I didn't get any pictures with my digital camera so I don't have any buf pics to post. He had a 39in spread and measured 3/8 inch short of SCI min with nice heavy bosses.
The next day we went for the nyala on another concession and although we saw several, we were not able to get a shot until late afternoon. The bull in the photo above stood in heavy cover at about 90 yds. I shot the 375 H&H throughout this hunt and at the shot he dropped and never moved.
The third day we hunted still another concession where we were after kudu and eland. Once again the game was plentiful but after several stalks and looking over some beautiful animals it wasn't until the afternoon that we were able to connect with this bull. He was moving through the bush from right to left about 100 yds out. Each time we set up the shooting sticks, he would step behind a tree. Then we would move to try to get a clear shot and he would move again. Finally Claude set up the sticks and said "When he steps between those two trees, take him"

We came back to this same area for kudu the next day and again saw some nice bulls but seeing and getting a shot at these beauties is two very different things. When we saw one offering us a shot, he wasn't up to Claude's standards (they all look huge to me) and when we saw a good one, he would be gone before we could get the shot off. This one stopped about 50yds out in some heavy cover but I was able to pick a path for the shot through the thorn trees and he never took a step after the shot.

After all of this success (4 animals in 4 days) my wife who has never fired anything but a 22 and a 12ga decided that she wanted to hunt for a bushbuck. Claude let her borrow his 7X57 Brno and off we went. On the second day of hunting after several drives in thick cover, this nice bushbuck made the mistake of offering a shot at about 120yds through the thorn trees. At the shot he jumped straight up and took off. Claude got his tracking dogs and we found him after about 300yds of tracking.

We finished off this hunt with a zebra which was the toughest animal of all to take. After 3 days of hunting morning noon and night we finally got a nice stallion.
This was the greatest hunt or vacation we have ever been on and as Arnold says "I'll be back".

Blacktailer,
Congratulations on a great hunt and some fine trophies! Also, glad to see your wife participate in the sport. Looks like you've got a great hunting companion as well for your next safari.

Blacktailer,

Congratulations on a great hunt, that is the way it should be, and thank you for sharing your hunt with us.

I particularly like that eland.

"I'll be back"...you damn right my friend......

Thanks for sharing your hunt.....I dearly loved it.

Wonderful animals, all of them. Tell us about your rifle.

One of my favorite things to hear is Claude say, "Take him!". Great trophies, wonderful stories. Needless to say I'm jealous!

Rusty
We band of brothers!

Congratulations on your fine trophies, writeup and excellent photos. Since you did not get photos of the Buf, we expect you to go back and shoot another one.

rslus

WELL DONE!!! Beautiful pictures and very descriptive writing. Thanks for sharing with us.
Smoker

MStarling and I are booked with Mafigeni next year for a plains game hunt. Looks like we'll be in for a good time

Nice animals, thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

Rick

Absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Congratulations. Should be some wonderful memories from this hunt.

Makes me especially happy because, as Rick said, we're going there in May!

Trademark Texan,
The rifle is a Win Mod 70 produced in 1959 in 375 H&H with 1.5-5X Leupold. I shot 300gr Speer African Grand Slams at 2400fps per "The Perfect Shot". See my post in the Hunting section on lessons learned, I would not use this load again. In '06 we will go back either to Tanzania for buff and plains game or Zambia for roan and sable. Now THAT'S a tough decision!
Blacktailer

Thanks for the great pictures and stories. You bagged some beautiful trophies. Congratulations on a fantastic hunt.

Blacktailer,
Thanks for sharing your hunt with us. Really enjoyed your photos of the hunt. That eland looks really great.
BigBullet