Herb,
You are so right! Sorry for just posting hero pics, the experience is so much more than that.
Our first location was in the bushveldt country and the terrain was much like the hill country of southwest TX. Weather was a cool 38 degrees in the am warming up to the mid sixties by evening. The bird life there was incredible and I highly recommend getting a field guide if one makes the trip, it kept one busy during the slow times in the hides. We usually hunted from 7:00am till 11:00am came in for a quick lunch and were back out from 1:00pm till 6:00pm.
Here is a pic of one of the hides we hunted from and a sunrise shot with some guineas.
We hunted in hides such as this and also in elevated thatched hides. The darkness of the hides really worked well in keeping you concealed, and if your movements were slow the game had no idea you were there. Playing the wind was important, as when the wind was right the animals were much calmer, if it was wrong they were wired!
Here's a shot of the bushveldt
I think the longest shots taken were around 18yds, with most around 15. You learned to be patient and wait for the right shot. Both Tommy and I recall watching and waiting 45min to 1 hr, till the right opportunity presented itself.
Here are some shots of game from an elevated hide
There were days I might see 40-60 animals in one hunt and others only 1-5. The areas we hunted had not been bowhunted for some time, one of them had not been hunted since last year, so the game was relaxed for the most part, although after taking something one day, the next day they were a little more cautious.
Happy to respond to any of your questions here or you can shoot me a private email.
Biggie, Congrats on your hunt! Looks like you had a great time. The Gemsbok in the night time pic was 39" and the one in the day was 40".