[grayghost]

Day 4; July 16th. The early morning started with another stalk on a good Kudu bull. Keep in mind I'm hunting the Southern Cape Kudu, not his larger relative the Greater Kudu. We worked our way to within 295 yards before he stood and stared in our direction. I was slightly elevated above him and steadied my cross hairs on his chest. Another miss. Why didn't I listen to my friend and sight in at 300 yards. It might have helped if I had not been out of breath, and had my rifle sling (I had overlooked them in my luggage and thought they were missing).No frustration however. My Kudu will come; at least I hoped so. We continued to search for Kudu, and although we found lots of other game, we kept to Kudu glassing. By lunch we had decided to drive back to the ranch and eat. After a great meal, soup, salad and Impala stew, we headed off in search of one of South Africa's rarer Antelope; the Bontebok. Bontebok were nearly extinct some decades ago, but thanks to the Bowkers, their family became instrumental in saving this species. Out of a small herd of only five animals within their care, today they number more than 6,000 and growing around the world. Other concerned ranchers and game managers became involved and now the Bontebok can be seen in zoo's and game parks around the world. There is a Bontebok National Park in RSA. Only a few are allowed to be taken out of the Bowker herd each year, and older, mature bulls are the norm. Currently, they are still a listed CITES animal and I must obtain a permit to import my Bontebok into the States. With numbers growing, it is my understanding that the Bontebok should be delisted before long. As we searched the open areas, we began to see small herds of Bontebok scattered about the ranch. Not under much hunting pressure, they are as curious as opening day Pronghorn Antelope here in the States. I managed to close the distance to 110 yards before they showed signs of moving off. I chose my .223 and one shot put him down. However, I followed with a second shot as this is a heavy built Antelope and he did not expire until the second shot. Both Partitions were recovered: one, a small copper cylinder, the other retains the base and a small amount of the nose section. It was very flattened and probably only 10 grains of lead remained. In my humble opinion, this cartridge is too light for medium sized African Antelope in the hands of most shooters. My first shot was 100% in the kill zone vitals, but this animal absorbed it and penetration was not satisfactory, and this animal could have lingered for possibly a little while without my quick follow up shot. My intention on using the .223 was to not damage the skin, as I am having a full size rug made with head mount. Similar to how we used to mount Rocky Mountain Goats. This will show the entire beauty of one of Africa's most colorful Antelope. I recommend nothing less than .270 caliber on this animal. There are a number of quality, well contructed bullets that would prevent hide damage. Just my opinion. Later, we were watching Black Springbok and Meyrick noticed a young Common Springbok running with the herd. He told me to cull that buck. One shot at 210 yards dropped the buck. He will make a nice flat rug. Continued.....