24 October 2007, 13:23
infinitoThe Red Dragon, The poor man's Buff, and the charging Bushpig.
So the season has ended for me. What a year. Great hunting and great new friends, from all over the world. To all my friends on AR that has hunted with me this year, thanks for a great time, and taking the leap to book without meeting me first.
To all that followed the Leopard hunt. He did not come in, as simple as that. We had him eating three days before our client arrived, and then he disappeared. I must say that we had some of the most hostile weather I have encountered in years, and the veldt is full of food now.
I would like to report on a 14 day hunt/holiday with a couple from Wales, Sue and Daven Harris. Daven wanted to hunt for 7 days, and Sue wanted to tour for 7 days. So asked, so done.
The Hunt:
Daven wanted to shoot a Big Blue Wildebeest and a Caracal. Impala was also on his list. Not a lot of animals, but worthy non the less.
Daven used a Blaser with changeable barrels in .243 and .375. The man could shoot, let me tell you.
It quickly became apparent that the Red Dragon (Daven) was a hunter to the core. No bakkie shooting, and he loved his stalking…….
We hunted on our ranch in the Groblersdal district, about 1 hour and ¾ drive from the OR Tambo airport.
First up was Impala. Daven and stalked a big herd on the first morning. The wind was right……the sun behind us……I got Daven within 10 yards of the closest ewe, and then the big boy showed himself. Daven did not make a mistake, and shot the ram through the heart. The herd milled about and another nice ram presented himself. After getting my ok, Daven shot him as well. A nice double on the first morning……
Here is Daven with his two Rams.
I took one Impala and baited close to a waterhole, to see what turns up. Daven also mentioned his desire to shoot a Jackal.
This is us checking the bait:
The first night produced no results, but we got a nice mature Blesbuck ram close to the water the next morning. The .243 did it’s job, and the Blesbuck made about 20 yards with the 95 gr. Bullet that ripped up his heart…..
Every evening was spent drinking sundowners on top of the mountain…….
Our camp in the Valley below:
The Pool where Sue lounged through the day when we hunted….
The third morning had a big surprise for us……When we pitched up at the bait, it was all gone. My first instinct was Leopard, as no other animal will eat a whole Impala in one night….in that area…..My surprise turned to suspicion when I noticed how trampled the area was……..the tracks confirmed the suspicion…..BUSHPIGS, and loads of them…….The moon was full, and I asked Daven he wanted to have a go at them. He was a bit sceptical, as it did not feature in his mind to hunt them, but he agreed to go ahead with it. I re-baited the area with the Blesbuck, and organised everything.
That night it was all perfect. A full moon and strong breeze greeted us. We stopped the Bakkie about 1km from the bait, and me and Daven approached in moonlight, stalking as quite as we could. When we got close, I could count 14 pigs in the open area around the bait. I got Daven into position, and made sure he knew where to shoot. When I switched the Surefire on, chaos greeted us. The pigs were startled, and milled about. Daven picked out a nice sow and shot her in the head. Then one hog did something I never expected, he charged us. I kept the light on him, and yelled at Daven to shoot……The first shot was miss, and I switched of the light just as the shot rang out. This made the boar swerve only three yards in front of us. Daven could not get a second shot in. Daven was pumped up, and swear to this day that that was the most exciting hunt he has ever had. The Red Dragon and his pig:
The next day was spent Wildebeest hunting. To make a very long story short. It took us 9 hours of hunting , to get this boy on the ground.
On the last day we decided to hunt for another Impala. When we came down a mountain slope, we spooked a big bunch of Bushpigs, 11’oclock in the morning…….!!!! They ran down the side of the mountain, through the creek bed, and up the other side. I asked Daven if he wanted to shoot, but he said it was to far for his .243 Win. He did say I was more than welcome to have a go if I wanted. A quick look through the rangefinder confirmed the distance (which I will not state for obvious reasons, but it was VERY far). The shot rang out and the pig collapsed, shot through the heart. This was my best shot, ever with my .308 Win…..Note the dark colouring of this big pig….
So that was it, mission hunting, completed.
I then took Sue and Daven on a 7 day tour to the Cape Garden route. We spend a lot of time driving, but had great fun…..
Sue and Dav on the road…..
We stopped over for a day over at Willem and Ronel, the owners of my Karoo hunting concession, and tried for a Springbuck. Daven wanted to walk and stalk them, and that turned out to be not so successful……
Three days was spent at our place by the coast at Mosselbay…….This is a real relaxing holiday, with no person to disturb you, as the house is situated in a Private holiday village with access control, inside a small nature reserve…..
The house….
The view:
We then went on to visit Addo elephant park for a couple of days…..Herewith some pictures out of the reserve:
Fred Flintstone-Stone age PH:
The animals:
Sue and Daven were excellent guests, and I cannot wait to see them again next year, as they already booked again…..
I hope you enjoyed the read………
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