African Experience (lots of pics)

[tradtusker]

 

 

that is it from Namibia time to head South East into South Africa...meet up with Nigel

[Benny Nganabbarru]

What's your camera, Andy?

[tradtusker]

most of the hunting pics are taken on a small Canon iXUS, landscape shots are taken on a new Canon eos ds3, my dads camera ..he is a photographer    :D

[tradtusker]

good size Baobab

here is a young eland bull i shot walk and stalk as he trotted past me at about 13m the hit was to far back and we spooked him following up ended up taking 2 hits with the .308 then then 2 more arrows to put him down (tuff), so not a full bowkill but an awesome hunt never the less
 

 

[tradtusker]

ill leave the rest till nige gets back still plenty of pics and kills to keep you going  

[Benny Nganabbarru]

[LEOPARD]

Here's a few more pics from our time on the ranch on South Africa.  

 
 
 
 
 
 

[LEOPARD]

The highlight of the trip for me was taking a really nice Impala ram with my longbow. Here's the story.....


The day started out pretty hectic with lots of stuff to do around the lodge. We finally finished up and got our stuff together at about 9am, and were in the landy on our way to spend the rest of the day in the hide! About 5 minutes out of the lodge, Mark radioed Andy and asked for the 2 of us to go help him track an animal that had been wounded by a client. We hadn't spent much time in the hide so far in the trip, and the next few weeks were looking pretty hectic with guests, so Andy told me to drop him off to give Mark a hand, and to carry on to the hide and spend the rest of the day in the hide alone. He said if they found the animal quick enough, he'd join me later on!
I arrived at the hide, set up and started the wait! After about 2 hours of sitting with no action, 2 very nice Kudu Bulls came in to water (pics above). I photographed them, and contemplated shooting the one. But they were a little out of my budget as a student, so I left them!  
The Kudu milled around for a while, then left. And as you do, I seriously regretted not shooting one!  :D  About 30 minutes after the Kudu left, a big herd of about 40 Impala came in to water. I was absolutely buzzing! I knew I'd get a shot, and my heart was going like a roller coaster! The herd consisted of mainly females and small males, with one very nice trophy. The trophy came in and started drinking only about 18 yards from the hide. I started drawing on him and a small one walked in front, so I let down. Then he was covered by females and smaller males and out of sight for about a minute. I decided that I might not get a chance at him again, so I should take a female. As I had settled on female I was going to shoot and was preparing for the shot, the big boy walked out from the water and stood alone looking out to the distance. It was a long shot tho! I contemplated for a second, and decided to take the shot. I readied, drew, and anchored, then another small one walked in front. So I let down again. Took a few breaths, and did the same as before. This time I hit anchor and felt very comfortable, and before I knew it the arrow was on it's way and I watched as the fletch disappeared right behind the shoulder, but what looked too low! My initial gut feeling was - "Oh damn, I've misjudged the distance and hit him too low!" He trotted off about 30 meters from where he stood when I shot him, and stood under a tree. He looked around twice, then fell over and was out for the count!
I've never seen an animal die as quickly as he did, after a shot in the chest! He was out within a matter of seconds. I dead centered the heart, just goes to show how low the heart sits on African game. My arrow passed completely thru and fell on the ground behind him. I was using my 54" Windauer Wolverine Longbow - 68# @ 27", with CX Terminator Selects tipped with 250g Zwickey No Mercy broadheads. Total arrow weight was 600g.

 
 
 
 
 

[LEOPARD]

Here's the heart of my Impala.
 
 

After shooting him, Andy and James came over to congratulate me. We were all pretty hungry, so decided to cut the heart out, make a fire, and have some grub!    There's nothing like the feeling of eating something that you've just killed, especially in a place as special as this!
 

[LEOPARD]

While we were in SA, we went to a game reserve up in the north of South Africa called Mapungubwe. It's right on the confluence of Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. It's not a very well known park, and has only been open for a few years, but I would highly recommend it if you are looking for something a bit different from the Kruger. It's still very wild and quiet, and has a very nice, different feeling to the Kruger. Here are some pics...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[LEOPARD]

Andy and I spent a lot of time walking and stalking, and guiding each other in from these Kopjes (Rocky Outcrops).  
 
 

That's it from me for a bit, this should keep you all going for a while....  

[robtattoo]

Been waiting an age for this thread! Great going guys, I sincerely wish I could've stuck arund for the full tour. Glad to hear you had such a good time          

[Chris Surtees]

[Brent Hill]

Thank you for sharing these photos.  It looks like ya'll had a great time !  I have to go to namibia next.  Bhill

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Muddy blarvellous, lads!

[L82HUNT]

With out a doubt some of the best photos I have ever seen. I feel honored to be able to enjoy this.  Thank you.

[tradtusker]

thanks guys        

 

 

we tried to do as much walk and stalk hunting as we could as there is just only so long i can sit in a hide, every time we went out we where onto game in all the time iv hunted there iv never been so consistent in getting close to game. even though there is a big difference in getting close and then getting a shot i still felt great every time you sneak into the animals comfort zone.

 

 

like Nige said we used the Kopjes all the time when hunting/scouting. we also used them for our camp.  

all of us carried Robtatto knive for the trip man did they get a good work out    thanks Rob    

[tradtusker]

here's and interesting one.. we had had a group of compound bow hunters 2 weeks earlier and one of the guys had wounded an impala ram, he had taken a quartering towards shot and hit the shoulder blade joint smashing it but not penetrating far enough to get the vitals. Nige and i where on the way back to camp (as Nige had just shot a massive ostridge with the muzzle loader) when we spotted this impala ram lying under an acacia. We snuck in and nige was sure it was the one the guy had wounded, i had no clear shot with the longbow so told nige to shoot it with the muzzle loader if it got up, at that it got up a sprinted away nige took and running shot and nicked the back leg i took of running after it i chased the ram for over 1,5kms when it went into some thick cover i knocked an arrow and went round the side the ram saw me at about the same time i sore him and he tried to scramble through a gap in the low trees slipping over, i was already at full draw and the arrow hit him before he regained his footing. i was buzzing couldn't believe i had kept up with it and then to make the shot after running as fast as i could for over a kilometer was intense.

 


here is the healed over wound from the other shoulder.
 

[tradtusker]

this ended up being a team effort between James and myself, long story wont ever forget that one.

[tradtusker]

This was the highlight of the trip for me hunting wise, nige and i had been hunting all morning around the Big kopjes. I decided to work my way to another kopjes leaving nige behind.

After a while i had covered some ground and was getting close on one of the dry riverbeds so i slowed my speed down even more, it was hot and dry so the ground was noisy. I was going to skirt past a area of thick bush but changed my mind at the last minuet as i got in i caught movement and saw a Bushbuck ram moving towards the river i followed quickly and quietly but could not again on him when i got to the river i lost him and thought he might have sensed me and ran.

 i stood on a rock on the edge of the river bed to see if he would cross the river if he hadn't already done so thinking to my self that it was over, suddenly saw a shimmer of red and white in the tall grass on the other side of the river i picked up my bino's and saw the bushbuck, i quickly decided a route, nocked and arrow and slipped into the river where i new i could be almost completely silent at 18meters i stopped took a deep breath raised my bow and drew back then i heard the unmistakable sound of my broadhead smashing though ribs a few crashes and then nothing.

The bush he was in was thick so i backed off and climbed back onto the rock i had spotted him from where i picked through the thick bush with my bino's to see if i could find any sign of him, i called nige and who ran all the way from where we was to get to me (about 3kms). After waiting a while and talking about it we decided to follow we found the the arrow covered in blood then not 40m from where i hit him he lay dead!

out of everything iv ever shot with the bow (Water Buff included) i have never felt what i felt at that moment and i can't describe it.