Day 4 continued - after leaving the blind in the morning whe headed about 30 minutes up the road to a different property that had Nyala on it. Got settled in the blind at 1530 and didn't see a thing until 1630 when not one but 2 Nyala bulls walk in to the waterhole from oppisite directions! Both were nice but the one that walked in from my right was huge. I didn.t even have to ask which one to shoot because it was blatantly obviuos even 2 me. Hien had told me on the way in that Nyala were incredibly fast string jumpers even more so than Impala. He wasn't kidding!! It took almost 20 minutes to get the shot I was looking for which didn't do anything for my nerves. He was broadside at 13 yards when I shot and all I saw was a wave of hair moving like a cheerleaders pom pom. We played back the video a frame at a time and I got to watch what was a not bad shot but not perfect either turn into a hit high in the neck just in front of the shoulders.
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Now I feel like I am going to puke! He ran about 40 yards and stopped and actually started coming back in but then turned around halfway back and walked into the thorn brush. My little lapse in concentration just cost me $2250.00. It wasn't just the money because it is only money, I don't like screwing up. The upside is that it was obviously not fatal and he would recover. As I was sitting there feeling like crying which was because of the money a little ray of hope shines down on me! Hien didn't think he was spooked to bad and inspite of getting bit he thought I would get another chance at him if I put in the time. This is where the SAA strike worked in my favor because I was the only hunter in camp at this time so no one else would be coming here. Fast forward to day 7. Back at the same blind hoping for a second chance encounter with mister Nyala. Sat from 1500 till dark with no Joy. :(
Fast forward again to day 11. Went to the Nyala blind at 0730 prepared to make a day of it. I had been watching a parade of them when at 1400 I saw another one and the heart started racing again. After 10 minutes of carefull study with the 10x binoculars at less than 15 yards I satisfied my self that this was the right one because I could see the almost healed entrance and exit wounds on his neck. I really wanted to make sure because if I shot the wrong one I would be up to $4500.00 just on Nyala. This time I shot better, although what started out as broadside became a quartering towards shot as the arrow passed through. Exit was 3 inches behind the entrance but it worked.
I had my Nyala and was extremely lucky to say the least! For those that are wondering he is 28 1/2 on one side and 28 3/8 on the other with 7 1/8th and 7 1/4 bases. It's a really big Nyala and he is going to immortalized as a walking half mount with his head in sneak posistion turned slightly to the right!
Topic: I'm Back!!! (Story and Pictures added) (Read 11802 times)
