RSA

HUNTER- Larry Shores

OUTFITTER- Bronkhorst Safaris

PH- Phillip Bronkhorst

AREA-Various farms in the Limpopo
Province

AIRLINE- Delta

GUNS- my old reliable 416 made by Rifles,
Inc. I used 400 grain Swift A Frames in Remington factory ammo.

CAMP- The camp was a tented camp. Quite nice . 24 hour electricity. Showers. Restroom.

Also my Verney Caron 500 NE with 570 grain Barnes banded solids in Federal factory ammo.

GENERAL COMMENTS- I bought this at the GA SCI fundraiser . I support that chapter as they do a lot of good things like hunter
safety , gun safety, intro to hunting , youth hunts, veteran hunts, etc.

I decided on a variety of species some of which I had not hunted in a very long time . I will discuss each separately below.

Phillip has a ranch that is several thousand acres. However, we often traveled to other farms to hunt specific species . A couple of these involved significant drives which , to be honest , I did not care for .

RHINO- I last shot a rhino in 1994. I thought this might be my last chance. Also, I had not shot my 500 in years . This might be a good opportunity to use it again .

We took a charter into a farm near Polokwane. The farm was fascinating. Lots of rhino. Incredible, expensive security a portion of which I have promised not to disclose on social media. Let me put it this way. Anyone attempting to cross the fence has a death wish .

It was interesting how they determined which rhino to take out . They wanted to avoid inbreeding. Also, old males were removed for a variety of reasons including they sometimes injure or kill other rhinos.

It was pretty funny . The rhino we were after had a hole in its ear. They called him Trump.

We walked for miles the first day . While we saw plenty of rhino, we did not see THE rhino we were after . We flew to Phillip’s camp and drove back the next day .

We found the rhino we were after a couple of hours of walking and looking. He kept moving around . I wanted a broad side shot at a standing rhino . Finally I got it . At about 80 yards, I hammered him perfectly with the 500. He staggered and ran. I hit him in the rear end as he was running off. We followed . He was down in less than 100 yards. He was a magnificent old rhino.

How big are these critters? Let’s put it this way . He snapped a 5 ton strap they tried to lift him with!





Let me add another comment. I have been on many hunts with game scouts or other government officials. The Limpopo game department required an official to accompany us. This guy was quite nice and helpful. Some of these people are nothing more than annoying bureaucrats. This guy was not . He knew the law inside and out . He wanted to avoid any problems . He took great care to make sure everything was right . He even made sure we had the proper paperwork to transport the meat . I was favorably impressed.

BUFFALO - I have a serious addiction to hunting buffalo. Buffalo were available so of course , I wanted to hunt them.

Off we go to a farm 20 minutes or so away . We were looking for tracks to follow. This proved to be difficult as alternative routes had to be taken due to the damage from the floods earlier in the year . The damage was unbelievable.

We were moving to the other side of the property and passed a waterhole . I looked up and saw a massive old bull standing there . We kept driving . We stopped after a few hundred yards . We got out and stalked the waterhole carefully. At some point , I saw the bull walking in a line to pass right in front of us. I got on the sticks. The bull stopped in the brush . We could not see him. After a few minutes, I saw him walking back the other way . I hammered him with my 416. He was mortally injured . The shoulder was broken. He was staggering around . I shot him again off hand and hit him perfectly. He was clearly in bad shape but still on his feet . I shot him again offhand. Down he went . He was a magnificent old bull. Just over 43.



I’d prefer a lot of tracking but one cannot turn down an opportunity like this .

A couple of days later , we went to a different farm to hunt buff. We saw quite a few . We got out and started following tracks . We had not gone far when I spotted two bulls lying down asleep. It was hard to determine whether they were shooters or not . We kept maneuvering around trying to get a better look. Finally, they stood up and started moving away. The first bull was young. The second bull was a shooter . I decided to shoot .

It was a difficult shot all factors considered. It was going to get a lot harder very quickly . I shot and clearly hit the bull hard. He fell but got up staggering away. It looked like he fell again. I could not be sure .

We approached. I was nervous as hell. There was no death bellow . I was afraid we were going to be charged . My wife was with us. We found him lying down. He did not appear to be breathing . I put in an insurance shot . It was not needed .

He was another magnificent old bull. Just over 42.



Every single time my wife goes, the tracking is short . Very short . In the 3 buffalo hunts she has been on, we have not walked 2 miles total.

NYALA- In all my hunts , I have only shot 2 nyala. There seemed to be plenty around. I decided to take one .

We drove to a farm a long way away. The head man had a single sable running around which he did not know how it got there. It was 44.5 inches he said . Hell yes. Off we go.

We saw insane amounts of game . Giraffe fighting . Zebra fighting . A large old nyala bull crossed the road ahead of us. He was a shooter. We continued up the road and took a left hand turn. After a few hundred yards, we got out and headed into the incredibly thick bush to take a look. After a few hundred yards, we spotted him feeding probably 80 yards away . I hammered him with the 416. He dropped instantly.

This was my first nyala in the RSA. It seemed to me that his body was significantly larger than those I shot in Zimbabwe.



SABLE- I’ll be honest on this as it is quite comical.

After I shot the nyala, we took pictures. We also ate lunch . I walked about 30 yards away from the truck. I was standing there taking a leak . All of a sudden, I hear this commotion . They are all telling that the sable is coming out of the bush crossing the road. I think they are fucking with me . I go back to the truck with my zipper still down. I get my rifle and shoot it . Down it goes instantly .

I walk up to the sable . I am 100% certain that it isn’t 44 1/2. It ended up being 39 1/2. Philip was upset. He told me that I was not paying for this sable . That speaks volumes about his character.



I decided to go for another . We went to a farm in a very remote location. This farm was fascinating. The lady who ran it was pretty blunt about hunting funding the survival of the animals as well as their ability to breed them.

Off we go. After a while, I spot a large bull. We get out and follow it for a while. I was able to take a shot at about 90 yards . He was clearly hit but ran off head hanging low. We followed a short distance . He was down.

This bull was 48 7/8ths. My largest my quite a bit .




BLACK IMPALA- I had never seen a black impala . I decided I wanted to see one . Off we go to another farm not too far away . We pick up the owner and off we go. We had only driven a mile or so when we saw some black impala . We get out and walk down the road a good way. We then went into the bush trying to spot them. After a mile or so of walking , we spot them.

I had an incredibly difficult shot with a lot more bush in the way than I would like . I decided to shoot as the bush appeared to be very close to the rams . At about 140 yards, he dropped at the shot .

These things are beautiful. He measured 23.5 inches .

GIRAFFE- I love to hunt giraffe. We took off one morning to yet another farm. After a while , we spotted two giraffe. We get out and stalk them. We manage to get to about 80 yards . I shoot the bull and he runs . For some reason, he turns. I shoot him again. He didn’t run far and fell.

We got to him. He was an old bull. Blind in one eye. The meat weighed almost 900 kgs.




I see gun cases in my future.
BIRDS- we shot some birds on a couple of afternoons . While I am normally quite good with a shotgun, I absolutely, positively sucked on these shoots. I don’t know why. I did manage to shoot a spur wing goose. That is a first for me.



We left to go spend a few days at the Palace of the Lost City. This hotel is magnificent. Definitely worth it.

All in all it was a great hunt . We had a blast .

Big Rhino…
2 Big Buffalo…
Big Nyala…
HUGE Sable…

Pretty darn stellar hunt! Congratulation. You should bring Mary Lynn more often.

Sounds like a hell of a hunt! Thanks for sharing. Did you use softs or solids for the rhino?

Congrats Larry

Great hunt and was really good you picked it up at an SCI Chapter like you did
I’ve thought about shooting a Rhino under these circumstances for conservation.

Great hunt and report, having your wife along for some of the “action” makes it special!

quote:

Originally posted by Brandon.Gleason:
Sounds like a hell of a hunt! Thanks for sharing. Did you use softs or solids for the rhino?

Solids

What a great hunt. Congratulations Larry and thank you for sharing this with us!