Back from Namibia....Makalaan, what a hunt!....more pics added page 3

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Just returned a couple days ago from Namibia.  This is my second trip to Africa and I was looking for a different experience than my previous trip to RSA.  Also the animal I wanted the most in Africa was Gemsbok......and Namibia is the place to go for those critters....

Africa is a long trip no matter what....and the route to our destination included a 2-3h domestic flight to Boston,  a layover there, a 14h cross Atlantic flight to Doha, Qatar, a VERY long layover there, then a 9 hour flight to Windhoek.  After arriving in Namibia we had a 6 1/2 hour drive to the farm.  I did not keep track going over, but coming home from the time we left the farm 'till I walked in my front door was about 60 hours.

We hunted with Makalaan Safaris, and the entire experience was fantastic.  There are a few other folks here on TG that have hunted at Makalaan, Gene Fisher and Steve Goldsmith come to mind, and if anyone is interested I would be more than happy to talk with you about the details as those guys would as well...they both helped me out alot with references and planning.

Makalaan is a smaller, very personal operation. The hunting property is quite large, but Antonie prefers smaller groups.  This is not the place you will hunt a group of 5-6 guys.  2 guys would be ideal, possibly 3, or even a solo hunter works out well.

They don't feed at blind locations at Makalaan, you will be hunting water, with supplemental mineral on location.  He also does not stock exotics,  the only non-native he has to the area is waterbuck.  Huntable species include gemsbok, eland, kudu, impala, warthog, wildebeest, waterbuck, zebra, giraffe, and duiker. There are a few red hartebeest,  but the recent drought was hard on them.

Namibia is a very sparsely populated country, and very remote/wild. While we were there a leopard got into cattle at the owners' mother's ranch nearby and killed two calves. 

Pit and elevated blinds are available and with many years of experience with bowhunters the shots are set up well, with distances of 10-20 yards. 

My first day was to be in an elevated blind in a fairly brushy area....I kept close notes and ended up seeing around 120 animals that day........

[Ryan Rothhaar]

After watching alot of animals, many cows and calves, warthogs, and passing some really nice impala rams as well as a group of jumbo wildebeest bulls, I spotted a gemsbok standing off in the brush 50 yards away watching the water.  Many species like to stand back and watch to see other animals using the water to assure that there is no danger present. A couple of cow/calf kudu came to water and the gemsbok trotted right in. It was a lone cow with really nice horn length, and looked good to me! Cows generally carry thinner horns than bulls, but often longer, and are hunted as trophies as well.

She drank quartering on, but stopped quartering away as she left the water at 16 yards, and I shot her behind the shoulder, burying the arrow in the offside front leg. She peeled out, and at 50 yards hit a stump, flipped over, and never moved after that.  When I called Antonie and told him the situation the comment was "That doesn't happen with gemsbok"...they are pretty tough and seeing them go down is not typical....first day started out well!

[Ryan Rothhaar]

The second day found me in a pit blind with an elevated blind on the other side of the water. After being winded by several groups of warthogs and kudu cows I moved over to the elevated blind....which I like better anyway....maybe it's the whitetail hunter in me that just likes treestands.... 😀

Anyway, I had many animals in, including a borderline kudu bull "2 1/2 curls", and could see several gemsbok standing around here and there under trees. They look to me like they stand around looking for something to stick their horns into! The points are rapier sharp,  evidently they rub/sharpen them on the concrete hard termite mounds, and can kill each other fighting.

Later in the afternoon a couple of dandy bulls came into water and I shot my 2nd gemsbok, in as many days, at 10 yards. The hit was a little high but exited lower and there was immediate blood. He ran a couple of hundred yards across an open area and into the bush. We found him 75 yards into the bush bedded and dead a half hour later.  Antonie accused me of being blind to all animals other than gemsbok....guilty as charged 😉

[Ryan Rothhaar]

At this point I was looking for an eland bull...they are tough as they like to water at or after last light and are very unpredictable, and a kudu bull, also I wanted to take a good impala.  I was passing big impala daily, but did not want to shoot one in prime time to mess up a chance at a bigger animal.  We had a few bad wind days, and around mid hunt I finally had a good impala come in early, around 9 am, chasing a ewe.

Bonus was he was distracted...they are notorious string jumpers when drinking....and double bonus he was close!  I ran a big Snuffer through his lungs at 7 yards and he was down in 70.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Now I was in the watching/waiting game looking for eland or kudu.  I was set up on situations for eland, and saw a few cows, calves and a small bull, but the big bulls were zigging when I was zagging. My buddy had 10 big bulls in a group come to water and salt one day at 130 pm, with the Andre the Giant of eland leading them.  I never could make it happen on eland, but had a great consolation prize on day 10....

[Ryan Rothhaar]

On Day 10 I was back in a pit blind, watching the parade, when around 130 I noticed a couple of dandy kudu standing under a tree 100 yards off out through a side window.  I kept eyes on them throughout the afternoon, and about 4 o'clock, after some warthogs watered, they started my way.  One bull was narrow and long while the other was very wide, both mature bulls.  While I always liked the wide kudu, whichever gave me a shot was going to get a Snuffer.

They slowly worked their way in, and ended up circling the blind at 30 yards to try to catch the wind.  The wide bull was leading,  and ended up 20 feet away, looking at the blind.  I had an arrow on the string, and was pretty amped up.  While looking out the shooting hole if I leaned slightly forward I could see his right horn and right ear looking right at the blind.

After about 3 hours (which was really maybe 5 minutes) he committed to the water and started in....as soon as he got well into the shooting hole I shot him walking at 16-17 yards, not wanting to give him a chance to get my wind.  The arrow disappeared into him just behind the front leg and broke when he whirled to go.

After 4-5 jumps his front end started getting lower and lower and he went down after 60-70 yards, heart shot.

What a beauty!

[JamesD]

Well done and well told Ryan!

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Well I had one more day to hunt....and the eland eluded me, but hey, that's a reason to go back!

My buddy killed 4 great animals too, an impala, warthog, gemsbok, and wildebeest, with his northern mist longbow.  He didn't get the zebra he was after so maybe we will both go back.

I was shooting nika n3 limbs at 61lbs at my draw on a Toxon 2 riser from Chucks custom bows - he builds a beautiful wooden riser for ilf connection. Shooting big jim .340 arrows and big Snuffers with steel adaptors for 630-640 gr arrows. I had 2 holes in everything except the gemsbok cow where I hit the off shoulder.

Makalaan truly is a jewel of a place...10/10.  This is a plain working ranch, no white napkins and fine silver, but good honest down to earth folks that love to hunt.

R

[GCook]

Sir you shot some beautiful animals.  Congratulations on a great hunt and thanx forbthe nice write up as well.

[Pine]

Well done.  Thanks for sharing.   

[Mike Yancey]

Very nice animals!

[mj seratt]

Congratulations!  Excellent trophies and a great story.

Murray

[Cove-Creek]

Congrats Ryan, awesome animals...thanks for sharing!

[shick]

Ryan, congratulations on a highly successful hunt.  Didn't realize how long the travel time would be.  Sounds like you did your homework well on choosing the outfitter.  Congratulations again.
Shick

[Bow man]

Wow great animals!!  Congratulations

[Horsehide]

Thank you for the great stories. I have been getting the itch for an African hunt, but am not sure if we can make it happen.

[achigan]

Tales well told Ryan! Thanks for taking us along.

[Phillip Fields]

Great write-up. Congrats on a great hunt.

[Chad R]

Thank you for sharing, Ryan.  I enjoyed reading about your hunts and seeing the pics.  Congratulations!

[Orion]

Quite a hunt.  Thanks for sharing.  Congrats.