First let me introduce myself. My name is Andy Cobb and I am from Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
I have been visiting this sight for a long time and finally joined as a member a while back. Thank you to Saeed for hosting us and thank you to all contributing members for sharing information. I learned a lot from this forum in preparation for my first trip to Africa. I wanted to hunt good representative animals and would shoot what I thought to be a good personal trophy for a bow killed animal. I did not hunt by the tape measure and did not care about the record books

Dates hunted: July 18-27, 2009 (dark of the moon)
Country hunted: Republic of South Africa, Limpopo Province
Area hunted: Soutpansberg Mountain area near town of Louis Trichardt
Animals hunted: Plains Game

Outfitter: Ken Moody; Ken Moody Hunting Africa

Method of hunt: Bow hunt (9 days) and Rifle hunt (1 day)
Bow: Hoyt Pro-Tech compound bow set at 71 pound draw, shooting Beman 300 carbon shafts fletched with Blazer vanes and tipped with 125 grain Thunderhead broadheads
Rifle: Remington model 70, synthetic stock bolt action, topped with a Leupold 3x9 scope, caliber 30-06, shooting Federal factory 180 grain Barnes Triple X bullets

PH: Tarek Jansen
Trackers: Evans & Zachy (both from Zim)

This was a fantastic trip and everything went smooth from my point of view. Non-stop Delta flight from Atlanta to J’berg on the Boeing 777 was good and on schedule both ways. The base camp lodge was extremely nice with a large well appointed dining/lounge/bar area and chalets for sleeping quarters. The chalets had comfortable beds, tile floors, in-suite bathrooms, and daily maid and laundry service. The grounds were well kept and had a nice lapa with firepit. Meals consisted of meat from various African game with side dishes and desserts. The food was delicious and plentiful and the beer was cold.






Bow hunting was mostly done from hides overlooking well used waterholes, while rifle hunting was spot and stalk. I hunted five different concessions with a wide variety of terrain; properties were located both north and south of the Soutpansberg Mountains and some were in the mountains. I bowhunted the first nine days, but wanted to experience more time in the bush and elected to rifle hunt on day ten. The first three days I saw lots of good animals and passed up several shot opportunities; either electing to wait for a good broadside shot, or there were so many animals that getting a clear shot was impossible.


Day 4- I am in a hide on the third concession I have hunted in four days; this property is north of the mountains. It is nice to hunt different ground and it also lets some properties rest between hunts. I made a perfect shot on an Impala ram and he runs less than 100 yards and goes down. I finally have my hands on the horns of my first African animal.


Day 5- Back in the same hide as yesterday and after seeing a lot of animal activity all morning, about 1:30 I spot three Gemsbok in the bush and heading for the waterhole. I study them through binoculars and it looks like a bull and two cows. They all have good horns and I decide to take the first shot opportunity presented. A long horned cow is the first one in and standing broadside at 15 yards. The arrow flies true and it looks like a good hit, however, these are tough animals. The tracking job takes much longer than I had expected, but Evans is up to the task. Watching him track was one of the many highlights of my trip. Upon recovery we discover the animal must have been quartering toward me slightly and the broadhead had only hit one lung. The horns are narrow but over 37 inches long and for me it is a great bow kill trophy.


Day 6- Warthog Day at the same hide. Several Warthogs come in and I shoot a nice boar, but when I put my face up to the shooting slot to track the boars direction of retreat I see a herd of Zebra about 60 yards away; apparently they were heading to the water... dang the luck; Zebra is on my “must have” list. Because of the enclosed hide and my quiet bow the Zebra do not know what happened. But they do know something ran the warthogs off. We recover the warthog about 80 yards away. I get back in the hide and less than an hour later an even larger boar hog comes in and I contemplated shooting him as well but decided to wait and see if the Zebra will return. It was a good call, because a couple hours later the Zebra do return, but are reluctant to come in to the water. I got some good photos of a pair of Giraffe that come to water.



Day 7- Same concession, different hide this morning. Passed numerous shots on Impala rams and will only shoot one that is much larger than the one I shot three days ago. A herd of Blue Wildebeest come in a little before dark; seven cows and a dark bull with what I consider decent bosses and wide horns. The mingle around the right side of the waterhole for a long time with the bull staying behind all the cows until the thirsty bull breaks away from the herd and comes to get a drink. He gets more than a drink... he gets a Thunderhead in the side. We track a short distance until dark and decide to wait until morning to continue. I feel sure we will find him tomorrow.


Day 8- Once again the tracking job turns out to be tougher than I would have thought. Evans and Zachy get back on the track in the morning and after finally sorting out the track we recover the bull. They take great pride in their tracking skills and I don’t know who was happier the Zim trackers or this American hunter. I spend the afternoon in an elaborate elevated hide overlooking a waterhole at a small dam on an otherwise dry riverbed. Over forty Eland cows, calves, and young bulls come in followed by a decent Waterbuck bull. I come to full draw on the Waterbuck as he drinks, but he is facing me... I wait for him to turn for a broadside shot. However, when he finishes drinking, he abruptly does and about-face and walks straight away offering no shot.



Day 9- Off to a different concession today and I am hunting a narrow canyon at the base of the mountains... it is slow. I see a few Bushbucks in the thick bush, but none come in to the water. However my hunting buddy, Tim, is hunting the top of the mountain above me and has a spectacular day and is covered up with Kudu. He had several shooter Kudu around him, with a couple of them sparring. Just as he is about to get a shoot at a good one, the swirling wind betrays his presence. I wish us both better luck tomorrow.


Day 10- Last day of my hunt, and I elect to hunt with a rifle today to experience time in the bush and not be sitting in a hide. We plan to hunt Zebra on a different concession this morning and if time allows move to a different property in search of Kudu. We spot Zebra first thing and stalk them most of the morning. It does not take me long to realize that Zebra are smart as they keep giving us the slip. There is a large herd of about forty Blesbok feeding in a large expanse of open grassland, about half the herd are White Blesbok... but my quest is for Zebra. By 1:30 we are tiring, thirsty, and hungry and we hike back to the truck for a break. We sit in the shade of a tree having a bite to eat and a cool drink with a good view of the open grassland. The Blesbok have now been joined by a herd of Wildebeest and while we rest, a herd of about twenty Red Hartebeest come out of the bush. We had spotted them earlier in the day and knew there was a couple of nice bulls in the herd. I made the decision to go after a Hartebeest and then continue the Zebra hunting. What I thought would be a “slam dunk” short stalk turned into a two hour game a of chess with the Red Hartebeest. We finally got into an acceptable shooting range and I made a perfect shot on “Big Red”, the darkest red bull with black legs. At the shot he slightly buckled, took a couple of steps, then staggered and went down.




After loading up the Red Hartebeest we still had a couple of hours of daylight to chase Zebra. We found them at the exact spot we had first seen them earlier in the morning. There was a herd of maybe eight Waterbucks with the Zebra... one of the Waterbucks was a nice bull. After a short stalk, the group of Zebra and Waterbucks detected us and began to trot off. I had to move around a thornbush to find an open shooting lane and by the time I got in position and had the gun on the sticks the last Zebra moved across the opening at about 60 yards. I settled the crosshairs just behind the shoulder on the quartering away Zebra and shot. The Zebra disappeared in a cloud of dust with the large Waterbuck bull just standing there looking at me. It would have been an easy shot on the bull, but I was still focused on my Zebra and the Waterbuck ran off. We found the Zebra behind another group of thornbushes. He had only gone about 30 yards and piled up. The Zebra was a young stallion with a perfect hide and very little shadow stripes... he will make a wonderful rug for my den.


I saw hundreds of animals during my trip and it would be impossible to cover all the details in this report.





With my first safari under my belt we headed home the next day. I was fully satisfied with every aspect of the trip and fully recommend Ken Moody Hunting Africa. Ken is an honest and very hard working fellow and his operation is run in an efficient and extremely professional manner.
Cheers,
Andy Cobb

Andy:

Congratulations on your first safari. Good pics and good report. Now you have the Africa bug and you'll have to return time and time again.

FYI, I am in Scottsboro, just 40 miles to your east.

What a small world Will...
I have a lake cabin in Scottsboro, it is on Skyline Shores just across North Sauty from Goose Pond. We will have to meet up sometime and have a drink and/or tell some tales... maybe at "The Docks" or somewhwere.
Andy

Congratulations! Thanks for posting your hunt and wildlife photos as well as details of your hunt.

Andy,

Sent you a PM.

Andy,

Nice hunt and a nice report! Isn't it a dream come true to hunt in Africa!

Best

jpj3

Welcome to the forum!! I loved your photos. It looks like you had a blast. Very nice hartebeest and my compliments on the classy trophy pictures!!!!

Brett

Congrats on the great hunt! I was the first hunter of the year in this camp back in June. I hunted for a couple days prior to flying to Mozambique for a Buffalo hunt.

In a day and a half of hunting I took Zebra, Common Blesbok, White Blesbok, Water Buck and Nyala. The quality and quantity of animals amazed me. This is my second hunt with Ken and won't be my last. By the way...Mozambique was incredible.

Congrats again.

Congratulations on a successful safari.

Nice report, I love the picture of the bird on the Kudu's head.

Thanks for the report and great pictures

Andy, congratulations..very nice, thanks for sharing with us.

Nice report and nice rare picture of a grysbok.

I have posted a couple more photos of the Grysbok and some others in the "Photo Album and Video" section.
Andy

Congrats,
My son and I went on our first safari last May. Looks like you had a blast.
Jeff

Great hunt Andy. Nice animals. Sounds like a really good time.

Congrats. It looks like you had a very productive hunt. Great animals. Time to start thinking about the return trip.
Good hunting.

Thanks Andy for a great report and pics of fine animals....Congratulations! Jim

Very well done.. Thanks for sharing!

Ghostbird,
I'm from Tennessee, but I spend a lot of time at Goose Pond.
Glad you had a great hunt.
I have made only 1 myself but planning to go again.
Bill

Great hunt report, awesome photos!

Hey Andy. I live in Huntsville too and I am planning on taking my second trip to Africa this September. Give me a call and maybe we can get together, drink a beer and share experiences.

Don Roxby - 256-776-9579.

I just send a note to Andy to see if he wanted to meet for a beer ... then I saw your note. Lets make it a three some. I live in Gurley near Madison County Lake.

Don Roxby 256-776-9579.

quote:

Originally posted by ghostbird:
What a small world Will...
I have a lake cabin in Scottsboro, it is on Skyline Shores just across North Sauty from Goose Pond. We will have to meet up sometime and have a drink and/or tell some tales... maybe at "The Docks" or somewhwere.
Andy

Andy,

Great report and great photos!!! I love the last picture of the oxpecker setting on the head of that young Kudu... well done...DAN

well done

Andy, congrats on your hunt. It was nice meeting you at Nashville (NWTF Show). For any of you that aren't aware; Andy is one of the best turkey call makers you'll ever meet. Some of his award winning calls were at the show and I'm very impressed with his craftmanship.
Regards,
David

Congrats on your hunt and a fine report. It seems you may have been fortunate with your dealings with Mr. Moody. An aquaintance of mine is waiting on receipt of his trophies before he reports on HIS trip with Mr. Moody. It will not be the glowing report that yours was. Should be an interesting read?

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

Congratulations on a great hunt. That's a spectacular photo of the Giraffe.

Great Post, another happy and proud hunter!
Great pictures and memories for the rest of your life. You have now been terminally smitten with the African Bug! No cure available, you have to go back for "Booster Shots" though.