just returned home from 14 days in south africa and i'm wishing is was back there already. i hunted with Dries Visser in their mountain camp outside of Thabazimbi. the landscape there is beautiful and game is abundant. my PH, Gerhard Van Vuuren, was excellent as was the entire staff there. since i could write a book about my hunt i will take it day by day if anyone is interested in reading it?
Day 1: the hunt begins. after spending 17 plus hours on a plane it was nice to just sit with my legs stratched out gazing out into the african bush. the morning sun was not long above the horizon and the temp was a cool 40 degrees. being able to see my breath in june was something i had not had the pleasure of doing prior to this hunt. the native people said it was cold, but to me it was like sitting in my tree stand on a brisk fall morning back at home waiting for whitetails. heaven!
after getting everything ready in blind my PH pulled out a plastic bag of zebra dung and situated enough pieces in a line to last several hours. i had not be warned of this tactic to mask human scent but became familure with it real quick. if you have not sat in an enclosed blind whith zebra dung burning, it's a real treat. NOT!
after several hours in the blind the PH said that things were really slow most likely due to the heavy rains the previous month and the very cold temps. if this was slow he could have fooled me. being used to seeing one or two deer a day back home this was non stop action. we had already seen 3 eland to include a very nice bull. i had not had eland on my wish list for my first trip so i opted to pass on a 10 yard shot on this huge animal.
day 1 of the hunt ended with no arrows loosed, but with lots of game observed. the day was capped off with an outstanding dinner of african fare and i drifted off to sleep with dreams of the morrow.
Day 2 arrived early, especially with the 6 hour time difference that i had not fully adjusted to at this point. not long after sunrise i found myself sitting in a tree stand overlooking a water hole. the sweet aroma of zebra dung was already filling the inside of the tree house.
it didn't take long for the first animals to show. a tribe of baboons were making their way back into the mountains after raiding the alfalfa fields during the night. quick tip: when baboons are with in your sight don't even blink an eye. they will see you and they don't mind letting every other animal for miles know that you are there.
the sun was well above the tree tops and the baboons had moved out of the area when i spotted movement well out in front of the blind. before i could even point out the location of the movement my PH informend me that it was a herd of blue wildebeest heading out way. since this was one of the animals that i had on my wish list and dreamed about taking my heart rate increased right away.
the cows appeared first and took their sweet time making their way towards the water. 30 minuted had passed since i first spotted them and they were still a 100 yards out and in no hurry to drink. i was so focused on watching them that i had not noticed the 5 warthogs that had made their way into the water from behind the blind. a sow and 4 little pigs. mamma pig watched as the 4 little ones kneeled on their front legs to drink.
this must have eased the minds of the wildebeest as they began to filter in 1 by 1. the 4th animal to come in looked like a huge bull to me, but i was quickly schooled on the difference as my PH spotted a very nice bull standing in the shadows out about 150 yards. what i had thought was a nice bull was actually a cow. thank goodness for my PH because i would have shot this animal for sure as it was much bigger than any whitetail i had taken.
the big bull started in and my heart kicked it up a few beats. at 50 yards he decided he didn't like something and made a U-turn. this bull could just not make up his mind and came in only to turn and go back out no less than 4 times before finally making the decision to drink. this was his fatal mistake as he came in and gave me a perfect 15 yard broadside shot.
my 56# morrison made it to full draw effortlessly and no sooner had the PH said take him the arrow was on it's way. the shot looked perfect to me hitting right in the crease behind the shoulder. the white feathers disapeared as the bull lunged and left in a cloud of dust a long with the rest of the herd of 15-20 animals. using my binocs i could see my arrow sticking in the ground where the bull had been standing and the once white feathers were now bright red signifying a good hit.
to me the hit was perfect, but to vetran african hunters you know how tough the game is here. we or should i say the trackers followed this animal for 5+ hours before giving up the track due to darkness. back at camp we made the plan for the following moring. the trackers and PH were huddled in conference while i sat back and re lived the shot over and over in my mind trying to figure out what i had done wrong.
Day 3 shortly after a hardy breakfast of bacon and eggs we headed out to once again take up the track. i must say at this point i was feeling really down and didn't have a good feeling about this animal much less my hunt. loosing my very first animal was just not an option i wanted to deal with. after two hours of beating the bush i had sunk into a real funk. i was about to tell the PH that i would walk every inch of bush until i found this animal, even if it took my entire hunt, when i heard the radio crack with an excited voice. not understanding any words other that "dankie" (thank you) i was an excited wreck waiting to get the translation from my PH. "they have him" "they found your wildebeest". after some hoops and high fives we made our way to the trackers.
i was all smiles sitting by this awesome animal. my first african hunt and i was going hime successful even if i didn't see another animal. not likely but at this point it would not have mattered. i was on cloud nine. after photos and giving the trackers my appreciation we headed back to the skinning shed to see what went wrong with the shot.
i was using a 56# morrison longbow, carbon express arrows tipped with a wensel woodsman. the arrow entered 1/3 up and right in the crease behind the shoulder and passed through both lungs exiting out the opposite side. this animal had traveled close to a mile before expiring. are african animals tough with a strong will to live. you bet!
the best thing about this hunt was that i was joined by my 10 year old son. he was getting to experience the safari with his dad and that all by itself was worth the cost of the trip and now we had our first african trophy to add to the lifetime of memories this hunt would create.
Topic: missing africa already (Read 3724 times)
