[grayghost]

Day 3 continues...After taking my Red Hartebeast at 1:02 PM, we were off in search of Kudu again. This took us to deep valleys and ravines, covered in bush. It's true; about everything over there vegetation wise has thorns. I only managed to get stuck once and that was on the thumb. Finding a good vantage point we glassed several cow and bull Kudu, but none of the mature bulls we were looking for. Later in the afternoon, Meyrick spotted a Bushbuck feeding in an open spot down in the valley. He said we needed to get a better look at him so we began the long hike to where we could get a better view. He set up his spotting scope again and told me although he had a beautiful "black phase coat" he was only pushing 12 1/2 or so inches in horn length. I had hoped to get one with 14 inch horns but once I began looking at that beautiful black coat dotted with white spots, stripes and chevrons, I told him: "If I can get within 200 yards, I'll take him with my .223." He gave me the OK and off I went, leaving my PH to give me hand signals if anything changed with the Bushbucks position or attention. I crept downhill until I reached the edge of the bush. It was a steep ravine and I glassed the buck feeding uphill at an angle; heading towards me. I moved down a little more and as I peeped around the right side of a large bush, the buck was staring right at me. I slowly melted behind the bush and came clear on the left side. I readied my rifle and had to stand to shoot offhand. My gun is somewhat heavy as it sports a bull barrel, but the range I estimated was only 125 yards and downhill so I aimed low at his chest. He was still staring at me. I squeezed the trigger and with the thump of the hit, the buck wheeled and dove straight downhill into the thick brush. I waited for Meyrick and although he heard the impact he asked me if I thought it was a good hit. "Yes," I replied. We carefully made our way down to the spot where the buck was standing, finding no blood. We knew about where he had gone into the brush so Meyrick had two of his Jack Russell Terriers with him and they ran into the bush and barked "Dead" within seconds. My buck had only traveled less than 40 yards. Again, the 60gr Partition gave complete pass through. It was a double lung shot and I was surprised how fast my buck expired. He measures 13 inches and is a very nice trophy with a super nice coat. As per normal, his neck is rubbed, otherwise he has a nice length mane on his neck. He will make a great shoulder mount! Three animals on my third day. This is hard to believe each morning; and the thrill is only beginning. Continued....