ciller160
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- Messages
- 69
That afternoon a big cold front moved in and the wind blew like we were back home in the Permian Basin. It knocked the power out to the lodge, and being in Africa the answer was “it might be fixed tomorrow, it might be fixed next week”. Fortunately they had a couple generators to run the lodge off of. Unfortunately the big generator had an oil issue and only the main lodge small generator was running. Luckily the kitchen and WiFi router were located in the main lodge. We spent the afternoon watching the dust blow and hoping the power would come back. We ate dinner by candlelight and enjoyed the company. By the way, the food everyday was outstanding. It’s a family run outfit and the owners mom is the main chef. It’s the perfect combination of home cooked goodness combined with gourmet tricks. Really added a nice bonus to the trip.
We got real lucky again and around 10:30 that night the power was back on and everything was back to normal in time for bed.
My kudu was the last animal on the list and we went Sunday morning back to the kudu property. We started on the sunny side again and this time we ran into giraffes before the hunt really started. We drove back to the point of the ridge and started hiking up the shady valley. About a mile into the walk we had a big kudu in the middle of the side hill spotted and I was setting up on the bipod. At 347 yards I knew it would be a fairly easy shot. He was quartering towards us and the sun was just starting to hit the trees behind him. I double checked the range and settled the crosshairs on him. Squeezed the trigger and heard the sound of a bullet smacking the front shoulder. He disappeared into the brush and we started towards where we had last seen him. We found blood, but not nearly as much as I expected. We tracked him for about 1/2 mile and the blood was getting less and less. I was starting to think I had hit just a little left and hit his stomach. Suddenly we jumped him in the thick thorns, only seeing the head and horns and in less than a second he was gone again. The tracker quickly followed him and we found our way to the top of the ridge where the brush thinned out enough to breathe. We spent another 30 minutes working our way back and forth on the ridge trying to decipher just where he had gone. Suddenly the tracker yells and the bull is seen diving back into the thick brush the same direction we had just come from. Now we had two trackers working their way around the ridge trying to find where he had headed next. But nothing was found and he had vanished. When we got back to the Bucky where my wife and a camera man were waiting I was sick. Certain I had lost my kudu, and worse, left an animal to die a slow excruciating death.
Fortunately the video showed what had really happened. After watching it several times in real speed. And several times frame by frame we watched the bullet sail over his right hip. We couldn’t figure out where the blood had come from. Possibly I had just touched his skin, or a rock had exploded behind him, or he had been wounded from fighting with a different bull. None the less I felt better knowing he wasn’t walking around with a bullet in his guts, but still annoyed I had blown such a shot on a gorgeous bull. I Jumped in a blind again that night and again was treated to an endless parade of monkeys and baboons fighting and eating and chasing each other. We had a couple cow kudu move in and watched them for about 15 minutes. Another 3 that we had seen on the ridge a mile behind the blind showed up and after that it was like somebody had turned on the kudu faucet. Bulls and cows were coming from every direction. One stood out as a bigger class and as luck would have it he was front and center on the bait. I waited patiently as cows and calves fed in front and behind him, as soon as it was cleared I sent one through his front shoulder and he was down less than 50 yards later.
We spent the next few days fishing and going to Addo Elephant park. And sitting in a blind on the main property trying to get something within 20 yards for my wife to get her first bow kill. We had a couple decent chances and some close calls but nothing got an arrow through its ribs. The night we returned from fishing after catching a couple sharks from the shore we were to late to hunt anything but another hunter had come to hunt the biggest buffalo and had finally put a shot in him just before dark. Our timing could not have been better as they were heading back out into the field to finish the hunt they asked if we wanted to ride along. And as we learned earlier the answer to that question is always “YES!!” We started the day pulling sharks out of the ocean and finished the day putting our hands on a 42” Cape buffalo. It really was a magical day.
On our final day we returned to the kudu property intending to do some cull and management shooting. Which is how the day started with 2 old female blesbucks. Then it was my wife’s turn and we found a herd of impala but they would not stop moving to present a shot. I told her she would have to get quicker with the gun if she wanted to shoot anything on our cull hunt. Soon enough we found another herd and as she was getting set up they moved another 50 yards and the mature ram presented the best shot so the PH said shoot him if you want and of course my wife sent a perfect bullet through his front shoulder at 230 yards.
That was the morning hunt. That afternoon we decided she would sit in a blind again waiting for a mature male babbon or a management kudu bull. I would go with the PH looking for a couple zebra stallions we had spotted that morning on the drive into the property. Within 30 minutes of dropping her and the tracker at the blind he had found the zebras. Feeding in the open bottom about a mile and a half away. The wind was bad on our first stalk and they moved off before we could get within 400 yards. We jumped back in the Bucky and in no time we were back on them. One shot at 200 yards and the zebra I hadn’t planned on shooting before I got there that morning was down. I added a management warthog to end my day and we made our way back to the blind.
My wife had no luck at the blind. As only a handful of cow kudu had moved in before it got dark. And that is how our hunt in Africa ended. It was a special trip from beginning to end.10/10 would recommend. 100% will go back. Thanks again for all the advice and information. It was incredibly helpful.
We got real lucky again and around 10:30 that night the power was back on and everything was back to normal in time for bed.
My kudu was the last animal on the list and we went Sunday morning back to the kudu property. We started on the sunny side again and this time we ran into giraffes before the hunt really started. We drove back to the point of the ridge and started hiking up the shady valley. About a mile into the walk we had a big kudu in the middle of the side hill spotted and I was setting up on the bipod. At 347 yards I knew it would be a fairly easy shot. He was quartering towards us and the sun was just starting to hit the trees behind him. I double checked the range and settled the crosshairs on him. Squeezed the trigger and heard the sound of a bullet smacking the front shoulder. He disappeared into the brush and we started towards where we had last seen him. We found blood, but not nearly as much as I expected. We tracked him for about 1/2 mile and the blood was getting less and less. I was starting to think I had hit just a little left and hit his stomach. Suddenly we jumped him in the thick thorns, only seeing the head and horns and in less than a second he was gone again. The tracker quickly followed him and we found our way to the top of the ridge where the brush thinned out enough to breathe. We spent another 30 minutes working our way back and forth on the ridge trying to decipher just where he had gone. Suddenly the tracker yells and the bull is seen diving back into the thick brush the same direction we had just come from. Now we had two trackers working their way around the ridge trying to find where he had headed next. But nothing was found and he had vanished. When we got back to the Bucky where my wife and a camera man were waiting I was sick. Certain I had lost my kudu, and worse, left an animal to die a slow excruciating death.
Fortunately the video showed what had really happened. After watching it several times in real speed. And several times frame by frame we watched the bullet sail over his right hip. We couldn’t figure out where the blood had come from. Possibly I had just touched his skin, or a rock had exploded behind him, or he had been wounded from fighting with a different bull. None the less I felt better knowing he wasn’t walking around with a bullet in his guts, but still annoyed I had blown such a shot on a gorgeous bull. I Jumped in a blind again that night and again was treated to an endless parade of monkeys and baboons fighting and eating and chasing each other. We had a couple cow kudu move in and watched them for about 15 minutes. Another 3 that we had seen on the ridge a mile behind the blind showed up and after that it was like somebody had turned on the kudu faucet. Bulls and cows were coming from every direction. One stood out as a bigger class and as luck would have it he was front and center on the bait. I waited patiently as cows and calves fed in front and behind him, as soon as it was cleared I sent one through his front shoulder and he was down less than 50 yards later.
On our final day we returned to the kudu property intending to do some cull and management shooting. Which is how the day started with 2 old female blesbucks. Then it was my wife’s turn and we found a herd of impala but they would not stop moving to present a shot. I told her she would have to get quicker with the gun if she wanted to shoot anything on our cull hunt. Soon enough we found another herd and as she was getting set up they moved another 50 yards and the mature ram presented the best shot so the PH said shoot him if you want and of course my wife sent a perfect bullet through his front shoulder at 230 yards.
That was the morning hunt. That afternoon we decided she would sit in a blind again waiting for a mature male babbon or a management kudu bull. I would go with the PH looking for a couple zebra stallions we had spotted that morning on the drive into the property. Within 30 minutes of dropping her and the tracker at the blind he had found the zebras. Feeding in the open bottom about a mile and a half away. The wind was bad on our first stalk and they moved off before we could get within 400 yards. We jumped back in the Bucky and in no time we were back on them. One shot at 200 yards and the zebra I hadn’t planned on shooting before I got there that morning was down. I added a management warthog to end my day and we made our way back to the blind.
