IMPRESSIONS ON A REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA HUNT
AUGUST 2002
KUDU AND GEMSBOK

GUN TRANSPORTATION

Travel from Dallas to Atlanta on Delta Airlines was uneventful. Check-in of the rifle was a non-event. The Delta counter rep. was very efficient and knowledgeable about weapon transport. The gun was checked through to JoBerg. Arrival in Joberg was smooth. Although taking a great deal of time, the rifle finally arrived. Porters want you to wait and allow them to take your guns to Security, I didn�t want to wait until everyone else got their things so I walked my own through. No problems.

I filled out the forms, showed them the gun and the amount of ammunition I had, and was on my way, just as the rush of other gun-toting passengers and their porters arrived.

When checking in at JoBerg for the return flight no questions were asked regarding the gun or ammunition. The case was not opened to verify anything. A porter carried the gun from the SAA counter to Security with me alongside. They took my temporary permit and assured me they would get the gun to the plane on time. All JoBerg airport personnel I met during my trip were competent and courteous. (They pulled my small pair of scissors out of my carry-on at JoBerg. A week later in Houston security missed the replacement pair of scissors I bought and left in my carry-on again.)

Customs and Immigration at Atlanta was like customs and immigration anywhere, crowded, and slow. They did not look at my gun or my Form 4457. They were more concerned about spraying my boots.

FLIGHTS

South Africa Airways from Atlanta to Windhoek, Namibia (unscheduled stop) was a cattle haul, and from all accounts is that way on every run. We were supposed to land at Cape Town, but due to fuel concerns landed in Namibia.

One South African (white) woman passenger in my row was a psycho, refusing to follow a (black) stewardess�s instructions to remove obstructions from in front of the emergency exit; later screaming at the same stewardess and throwing food on her, after the woman had dumped her own food tray on her lap. Hours into the flight the woman became irate at the child in the row behind her, and began screaming at the child and his mother, using insulting language. Multiple flight attendants had to be called to re-instate peace.

The flight back was no better. I was in the center, four-seat row, inside seat. The other three men could have played on the offensive line for the Dallas Cowboys. I never saw an armrest let alone used it. The pattern of supports on the floor indicated this section had once had only three seats instead of four. Your butt had to physically wedge its way into the seat between the armrests. A totally miserable flight spent standing up in the back most of the time.

A flight attendant told me the previous week a female passenger was found dead in one of the toilets. No detail on what the cause was.

The flight out of JoBerg on the return was delayed one hour. We were told we could step off the plane in Sal on the re-fuel stop. Once we got there we were told that wouldn�t be the case.

The lost time due to the JoBerg delay was made up enroute, but we were held in a pattern over Atlanta for an hour and I missed the connecting flight to Dallas. Got on the next one an hour later although the attendant at the gate said I was only on standby until I told him that when I re-checked my bags I had been confirmed. Five minutes of computer work confirmed I was right.

PH

Pick-up at JoBerg was smooth. Not having seen each other before, it took a few minutes to match-up. Pete Swanepoel Jr. was a very good hunting companion. There were no surprises during the ten days I was with him. He made every effort to see that my trip was successful, comfortable and enjoyable. He knew the game and how to hunt it, and was able to get me into position for shots that I was comfortable with. By the end of the first day we both knew what to expect from each other and how we would approach the hunt. He did not like neck shots, too unreliable. I don�t take neck shots. He likes to get in close and with patience try to get a standing broadside shot. My thoughts exactly.

We are planning a buffalo hunt in 2004. I would recommend him and his outfit Safaribwana to anyone. Check the Safaribwana website. It is the best outfitter�s website I�ve seen for information on game and hunting in Southern Africa.

We spent the first night at Shayamoya Game Lodge and recovered from the jet lag by trying to catch a few Tiger Fish in Pongolapoort Lake the following morning. The afternoon was spent driving the Mkuzi Game Reserve.

SOUTH AFRICA

Too civilized to be �AFRICA�, or else I�m too old and well traveled to be in awe of a new country. The areas I hunted reminded me very much of Central Texas in KwaZulu-Natal, and West Texas or Southern New Mexico in the Northern Province (north of Kuruman).

The vegetation near Pongola (KwaZulu-Natal) was brush, mesquites-on-steroids and cactus. In the Kalahari (Northern Province) the land was not as arid as in West Texas or the Mesilla Valley around Las Cruces, New Mexico. One rancher apologized saying they had a lot of rain the previous year so that the Kalahari Desert in that area had waist-high grass.

Bring your own ice cubes or get ready to keep asking for them. The locals don�t seem to find ice that necessary in their drinks.

South Africa may be the best hunting value in the world. A five-day trophy elk hunt in New Mexico, including the trophy mounted will cost you the equivalent of a ten-day hunt in South Africa with a trophy Kudu and Gemsbok mounted, and that is counting the roundtrip airfare to RSA.

Prices are unbelievably low in South Africa at this time. A big �country� breakfast is less than US$2.00. The most expensive steak in a restaurant is US$5.50 to $6.00.

Get ready to live on biltong. They love it, you get it everywhere. It�s jerky in various forms and made from every animal imaginable.

There is tremendous history of wars and conflicts in South Africa, like any country. If you plan to do any driving across country, read up on the history, particularly if you are a civil war enthusiast or military engagements in general interest you. I drove through Glencoe / Dundee within thirty miles of Isandhlwana, Rorke�s Drift, Battle of Blood River, Prince Imperial Monument, etc.; and never knew they were there. These are all significant place-names for events in the 1879 Zulu War, which the British initiated against the Zulus.

 Isandhlwana � 20,000 Zulus overpower a garrison of less than 2000 British and their supporters at this rocky outcrop. The British had invaded their land. Only ten British were able to escape Isandhlwana. The last group of British soldiers to die was about sixty men in Company C that had held off the Zulus for a long while on the lower slopes before falling. The last man standing held out until evening firing from a cave high in the rocks.

 Rorke�s Drift � Out numbered 40 to 1 the 200 man British garrison fought off and survived a Zulu attack losing only 17 men, firing over 20,000 rounds of ammunition in ten hours of fighting.

While certainly the British heroism is well documented, consider the Zulus defending their land fighting against artillery, rifles, gattling guns, and cannon with essentially 5�cow-hide shields and 18� blades on a 30� wooden shaft. Other than overpowering numbers early on, they didn�t have a lot going for them, other than courage.

 Prince Imperial Monument � Louis, Prince Imperial of France, the only son of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte III and Empress Eugenie. Pulling political strings Louis arrived in South Africa in 1879 to serve with the British military as an observer during the incursion into Zululand. Three months later on a mapping expedition Zulus surprised the small party he was in. The Prince Imperial was unable to mount his spooked horse as the others fled, was surrounded by seven Zulus, one of which speared the Prince Imperial in the thigh. He pulled the spear out and rushed the Zulus firing two ineffective shots from his pistol. A second spear thrust stopped the Prince Imperial. When his body was recovered the following day 17 spear thrusts were evident.

THE PREPARATION

I took as much advice as I could get from people with experience hunting in South Africa. I weighed what they said against my hunting experiences. I took most of their ideas and left some.

When I arrived in Dallas from my home in Venezuela, I got all my stuff together, hit Ray�s and Pro Bass to buy what I didn�t already have, my doctor�s office for prescriptions, and ran through my checklists.

I bought Malarone for malaria. My doctor was unfamiliar with it and recommended Larium. I had heard enough ghost stories about that drug so I stayed with Malarone, and had zero side effects. (My PH said Larium side effects had caused one or two of his clients to have to postpone or cancel their hunts.)

I packed only three hunting outfits based on recommendations, and hearing that laundry was done almost daily on most hunts. That�s great if you are not doing much traveling. It didn�t work for me. We never stayed in one place long enough for laundry to be done. I should have had two more sets of hunting clothes.

I hunted in full camo. The weather was great so I was hunting in light pants and �ventilated� tee shirts. I had a light camo jacket and gloves I wore early in the mornings. In August the nights were probably around 40 degrees and the days got up to the mid-60s. We had light rain one day, but to me the weather was perfect. (I did use the 30spf sunscreen in the Kalahari.) I wore lightweight Gore-Tex boots.

I never used insect repellent although I brought plenty. There was not a bug problem in KwaZulu-Natal in the Pongola area in August. I saw my first mosquito on the fifth day, in the Kalahari. The only bug problem we had was in the Kalahari when we were invaded by bees. I got bitten on the finger. I was warned numerous times not to drink from a can or bottle unless I could confirm no bee had taken up residence.

I brought moleskin but never used it. Hunting / walking was not as difficult as a New Mexico mule deer or elk hunt.

Count on being cut and scratched by the thorn trees. I got it hard on the left ear and once to my left hand. The thorns there don�t just stick you, they rip you. I had Neosporin and the PH had alcohol patches.

I hit the rifle range (Gibson�s Outpost) for five days straight to shake the rust off. Here is a good place to talk safety. The day before I got to the range a shooter had blown his gun up, and caused severe facial damage resulting in about thirty stitches. He�s lucky he wasn�t killed. His barrel had gone down-range. His stock had disintegrated. They said they thought he had run a patch through the barrel between shots and apparently he hadn�t noticed a patch hadn�t cleared the barrel. (The shooter said initially he thought the factory ammo had �blown up� on him.) It was quite a sight seeing the dried blood all around his shooting position.

That didn�t stop me from nearly having a serious accident. Nor did the warning on the third day when the owner of the range casually mentioned if I had more than one caliber of bullet at the bench. I said �No�, but obviously I meant �I don�t know�, because, despite that message from God, I proceeded to load rounds in the 300 WSM, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. I jacked the shell out still thinking it was a 300 WSM. No firing pin mark on the base, just the words in a circle �Winchester .308 Win� staring back at me. I save my most severe ass-eatings for myself, and I delivered one then. I checked through all my gear in my bag and confirmed that one box of 165 gr. Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertips was in with my 300 WSM boxes. All were in the same designed boxes, each round had the same silver case, black bullet, silver tip. I just hadn�t noticed the difference in look or feel when I pulled out the wrong box. That is the one serious problem with the way I have to hunt while living overseas. I�m not around my guns except for two weeks each year. I�m not in a groove. I�m usually in a hurry. That is a recipe for disaster, and it nearly caught up with me.

My hunt should have ended right there. I should have been in a hospital bed beside the guy with the screwed up face. I was just lucky. I did not take the necessary steps to see that an accident wouldn�t happen. I don�t think I�ve led a charmed life, but there have been times when something got between me and serious injury. It happened again in this instance.

I shook it off the next day and went back to business. I shot until I felt comfortable that I could shoot solid out to 400 yards from a rest, 100+ yards standing or sitting, and not worth a flip kneeling. (My knees can�t take it. I�m lucky if I can stand back up.) I wrapped up the last day by firing two-shot groups from each of six boxes of identical ammo at 200 yards. Two boxes shot tight and 2� high. I drew a star on each box. I picked two of the other four that came closest to duplicating what I wanted. The other two boxes went back in the bag.

THE HUNT

The following will not necessarily be in step with conventional wisdom or other hunters� opinions, but I�ve been hunting for over forty years and I stay with what works for me.

I took my Browning A-Bolt Medallion in 300 WSM and 150 gr. Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertips to South Africa. I�m not a fan of heavy bullets (180 gr. plus for elk, kudu, gemsbok sized game). I don�t believe in �bullet-blowup� any more than I believe in UFOs. I don�t want an exit wound. I want the game to �eat� all the energy I throw down-range. I don�t need a two-point blood trail. I�m a patient hunter. When I shoot, the game has to be able to make its escape without both its lungs. It can�t.

I understand why PHs recommend 180 gr. or larger, premium, bullets for 30 caliber weapons. It�s because we (Americans) are lousy hunters and marksmen for the most part. I say this after forty years of watching a lot of average U.S. hunters. I saw and heard this first hand in South Africa. Shot placement is way down our list of priorities, regardless what we say. Examples during my hunt were:

 Three giraffe bulls were shot according to stories being told on the plane back to Atlanta, in the JoBerg airport and from other PHs and ranchers we talked to. One was killed after thirteen shots, another after eight and the third was a one-shot kill. Being a graduate engineer I can work the math. It took an average of more than seven shots to kill an animal that will allow you to stalk within about thirty yards of it while it stands and stares at you. That is the equivalent hunting challenge of stalking a pair of 36� boxers in your sock drawer.

 I met two U.S. hunters and their PH. The hunters were hunting a typical plains game laundry list of animals. The PH, off to the side, said he�d never seen such a lack of patience and poor shooting. They were shooting as quickly as the game jumped up and had hit nearly every animal in the gut, ass or broken a leg. They had found two �trophies� the following day after they had died of their wounds. (The hunters seemed to want to have stories to tell about running shots and shots at great distances.) When I spoke to the hunters, they talked like shooting game in the ass was normal for them.

 One hunter complained/bragged how his PH had insisted that he take 400+ yard shots because they couldn�t get any closer. While the hunter had collected a handful of trophies, none were taken inside 400 yards, according to him. (I don�t believe all aspects of the story, including all the 400-yard shots. My question to him would have been why didn�t you tell your PH who the customer was, and what his job as a PH included.)

 I heard PHs tell stories of wealthy hunters flying in just to fill a SCI �quota�.

o �Got a caracal trapped in a cage? I need one, let me shoot him where he sits.�
o �I need a rhino. Locate one for me. Spot him with a chopper. Fly me to him. Let me kill him and get back to base.� (All in under thirty minutes.)

The bottom-line is we, the hunters, define the ethics on these hunts, and some people don�t have any. The PH is there to provide a service, and if it conforms to the law, or unfortunately if the price is right, in some cases, the deal gets done.

So why does a PH like to see you shoot a heavy bullet, because nine customers out of ten need deep penetration to give the bullet a chance to get from his ass to his vitals, while you are throwing lead in the air.

I debated about changing to a Leupold 3 x 9 scope prior to leaving Dallas but decided against it. I stayed with a Leupold 6 x 18. I had talked to the PH months earlier about equipment. He was not overly concerned about 6x being too strong. I had no intention of jump shooting in heavy cover, so I was confident I wasn�t over-powered.

The Kudu Bull

My plan was to hunt four days for kudu. We were in KwaZulu-Natal near the Mozambique border on a small low-fenced ranch of 4,000 hectares. Actually as the owner said, he was lucky. He was � high-fenced. Three of his neighbors had seen to that. Rob only allows two Kudu bulls a year taken off his ranch so word was he might have 60� bulls. A 63� bull had died of old age the previous year, being too weak to pull himself free of the mud in a water hole. (We also saw big Nyala on this ranch.)

The first order of business was to shoot the piece of paper Pete hung in a low tree at about 50 yards. The sequence went; 3� left, 3� right and the third shot knocked the paper out of the tree. He asked me if I was comfortable with the scope adjustment. I told him the gun was good, it was the guy pulling the trigger that was a little nervous, and declined to make any adjustment.

On the second morning at about 9:30am we saw two good shooter-bulls on a hillside at about 500 yards. We watched them and saw that one was very big, maybe 57", but couldn't find any way to move closer to them since they were out in the open, and we had three more days to hunt. We backed off and drove to another area. We left the vehicle and walked (PH, guide, and I) in an area that had thick thorn trees. We could occasionally hear kudu bulls moving through the brush or thrashing trees with their horns but couldn't see them.

After an hour of walking and climbing I spotted two shooter-bulls below us at about 600 yards, moving our way down a jeep path. We worked our way down off the mountain on foot towards them, but lost them in the thick growth and never saw them again.

That evening we spotted two more shooters moving off a hillside towards water. We set up an ambush but they moved our way too slowly, and we ran out of daylight.

The next morning we went back to where the last two had been seen thinking they may have bedded down near there. We didn't see them on the hillside, but as the sun started coming up, we moved around to where we had the sun on our backs and watched the opposite hillside as the sun rose and the shadow line fell. We spotted one good bull and two cows feeding at about 600 yards in the emerging sunlight. After watching for a while I got the impression that we'd seen two different bulls feeding in the trees.

We started our stalk and worked our way down the mountain into the brush and trees in the draw, then had to back-out as it was too thick to get through quietly, and we could not see the opposite hillside. We worked our way up above the draw until we spotted the bull feeding towards the crest of the hill. We found a good rest in the trees, beneath a thorn tree and looked the bull over in the binoculars. He was in the open, broadside at just over 300 yards. He was good, except that one horn had about 2" of the tip broken off. We were glassing the area when another bull moved in the brush. He was about 20 yards below the first one, broadside, facing the opposite way from the first bull, but he only exposed his head and horns. The PH said to wait him out, that he thought he was actually the bigger bull.

Thirty minutes later (about 9:00 am) nothing had happened; neither bull took a step. They would occasionally turn their heads, but never made a step.

Finally thirty-five minutes from when we had first got set, the bull with the broken tip took one step forward. I got the cross hairs on the second bull and waited. That bull stepped forward from behind the brush and stopped at 280 yards. I had him in the scope at 18X and the cross hairs behind his shoulder; and touched it off.

He was hit (absorbed about 2360 ft-lbs. of energy at that range) and lunged forward (left) behind the trees and the first bull broke right. Four kudu cows broke right, from behind the trees where my bull had disappeared. He tried to turn and follow the herd but was rubber-legged when he came clear of the trees. The PH said, "don't shoot, he's going down", and the bull piled up in the brush. We found him deader than a hammer. The 150 gr. Winchester Ballistic Silvertip broke a rib on the way in, drove a hole through his lungs the size of your fist, and did not exit. The bull measured 56" and the PH, Pete Swanepoel Jr., said he thought it would be in the top one-third of the SCI record book.

THE DRIVE

We left the Kudu cape and horns at the ranch and drove two days west and north to the Northern Province to hunt Kalahari Gemsbok for four days. We drove through country marked by battlefields from the Zulu and then the Boer wars, and many mines as we cut through the Northern Cape. A day and a half later we were rolling in to a ranch north of Kuruman to overnight. The next morning we were up and driving the 140 kilometers up the Kuruman riverbed towards Aansluit and the Botswana border where we would hunt Gemsbok.

THE GEMSBOK BULL

We saw a number of decent bulls and cows the first afternoon. The cows have the longer horns, but Pete said he preferred I shoot a bull. (He thought we should hold out for a 40" bull or a 42" cow.) We saw one good bull that afternoon, but lost him in the herd before they disappeared. You can't tell the bulls from the cows in waist-high grass.

We had overheating issues with our truck the first day so decided to take another vehicle that was available the second morning. By mid-day we found ourselves on a long walk back to the ranch house after having battery and starter problems. We jumped some gemsbok on the trek, but nothing of interest.

That afternoon, back in the first vehicle, we jumped a number of small herds and tried to get close, but failed. We tried to cut the distance by driving slowly towards them, but they moved off. Finally we jumped a herd of about twenty animals and tried to move up on them by driving parallel to where they were headed. The biggest bull stayed in the lead. They kept moving steadily across the desert, through the trees. We thought we had him a number of times, but we couldn't pick him out fast enough when the herd stopped.

After about thirty minutes he started running in the middle of the herd. It took another thirty minutes (about 4 PM) before we eased within 300 yards of the herd, and caught the bull trying to sneak back right as the rest of the herd went left through some trees. He kept trees between us, until he stepped through a small opening at 220 yards. I had the scope set at 9X so I could keep up with his movement, and not confuse him with another Gemsbok. When he went through the opening I put the cross hairs behind his shoulder and squeezed the trigger. He hunched up when his body stopped the 2600 ft-lbs. of energy sent his way; like I'd jerked it too far back, and I said as much to Pete. He thought the same thing. The bull immediately disappeared in the trees as other Gemsbok ran back left and I tried to pick up any sign that the bull was still on his feet.

We drove towards the area and our driver picked up movement in the tall grass. The bull was down, and out; hit right behind the shoulder taking out both lungs with no exit wound. He had kicked his last by the time we got the truck stopped. He�d run about 75 yards after being hit.

The bull measured 40" on one horn and 39 7/8" on the other. It was the second biggest Gemsbok shot off this ranch, and the biggest Pete had taken in 2002.

THE FINISH

The following day we departed with the Gemsbok cape and horns for Pretoria. A day later we were at Nico van Rooyen Taxidermy in Pretoria leaving my gemsbok and looking at their mounts. I plan to have my gemsbok and kudu done in Denver and shipped to storage in Plano, but I�m impressed with what I saw in Rooyen Taxidermy and the prices are certainly better than in the States. A kudu shoulder mount is $515; a gemsbok $455. Pete will bring my kudu to Rooyen this month.

After getting all the business out of the way we drove to Pilanesberg (Sun City) and watched game on the Pilanesburg Game Reserve. We stayed at the Bakubung Lodge, which was first class. On the reserve we saw Elephant and rhino, and all the other cast of characters, but no cats, nor buffalo although they are on the reserve. We watched at close range as a big rhino bull tried to get to a young calf, or its mother. She held him off at about ten yards and kept herself between the bull and calf. We left them thirty minutes later with him still trying to circle and her letting him know she wasn�t in the mood for anything funny.

Pilanesburg was a great way to wind down, then back to JoBerg, pick up a few gifts for the girls and fly out. Next time Kruger, Cape Town, and a buffalo.

My trophies are posted at http://www.hunting-pictures.com/members/Kensco1/RSA.html if you would like to see how each hunt ended. (The times shown on the photos were Dallas time, add seven hours for South Africa.)

Very, very nice trophies and a good story well told. Congratulations on a nice hunt.

Ditto DB Bill!
Very Nice story and pictures!
Congratulations