[toxic111]

May 11, 2013
Day Three
Springbok

Today we planned to hunt springbok on the Glen Boyd property. After breakfast we loaded the hackie and headed out.

We drove out to the area where the springs usually hung out and started glassing. We found giraffe & impalas, but no springboks. We moved down the road a bit more and glass some more. We find a half dozen in the distance, but we were not able to tell if they were males or not.

We drive closer then get out to close the distance. We bump into some impalas and they spook a little, but not enough to spook everything. We finally get a good look and see no males in the bunch.

Frusterated we hop back in the hackie and drive around that part of the property looking. Lots of other wild life but no springs. We head to the other side of the property and park the hackie and get out to walk. We see red hart beast, dukier & several nyala, including a nice ram and of course several impala.

Braun, having had enough of not seeing any springboks decided to head back to the lodge for lunch, and he was going to check with some land owners he knew to see if he could find a better location.

After lunch we headed out for a property near Gramestown a little over a hour away. We arrive at the property and drive in. We finally spot some springs and plan a stalk.

Using the wind and the little cover we worked our way to a group of males. We belly crawled the final distance and Braun set-up the sticks. I seed the rifle into position and take aim at the animal and as soon as the right one was clear I hit the trigger. They take off, with no animal hit, miss number three for the week!

The springs were not as spooked as I would have expected and we were able to stalk up to the same group again, again the sticks and again a shot, again a miss…. What the heck. Both shots were what I thought to be over 200 yards.

I found out later that I was fooled by the size of the these animals, they are smaller than our pronghorns.

We spent the rest of the evening walking trying to get on one again; to no avail. We headed back to camp after dark with me feeling depressed on my crappy shooting skills. The lack of practice I wanted to do before the trip was beginning to really show.

We had to get it done tomorrow as we were moving to the Kubusi camp over two hours away, and springboks there are few & far between.

May 12, 2013
Day 4
Springbok in the fog

We arrived at the same property we hunted yesterday at first light. The fog was thick so we decided to walk a bit and find a spot to sit and wait for it to lift.

As the fog started to lift I spotted a warthog moving towards us. I pointed it out to Braun, with one look with his binos he says its a good one and he grabs his sticks and we see if we can get in position for a shot. No go, that hog was on a mission and wasn't going to stop.

The fog finally lifting we started waling into the wind to see if we could spot the herd from last night. We finally spot some and start to see if we could get on them, but it was not to be, they either spotted the hackie or the tracker and headed out of the country.

We decided to get back into the truck and try a different piece of the property. Getting out at this new spot something felt good.

Braun grabbed his sticks and I grabbed my BOG-POD which I have set for short sticks, maybe my shooting will be better from a sitting position.

We started again walking into the wind. We jump a couple steenbucks which I thought were rabbits based on their size & the way they ran. We also had a real nice dukier at 60 yards or less. It just stood there for 30 seconds or more. I kept waiting for the sticks to go up, not knowing we couldn't shoot them there.

Not much after the dukier Braun spotted some springboks. We worked closer to them to get a better look. After a bit we were close enough to see that there were some decent males in the bunch. Now it was time to get much closer.

We duck walked for about a quarter mile keeping low and behind what brush we could. Finally we had to belly crawl the last 200-300 yards trying not to put a body part in a cats, I managed with only a couple pokes.

Finally we were as close as we were going to get, and my PH set-up my Bog-Pod. I slowly got the rifle up. This time I had time to get settled in. I lined up and waited for the ok for a shot from Braun.

He game me the ok to shoot, and I squeezed the trigger. I heard the bullet hit, but did not see him go down. I asked Braun if I got him, his smile said it all. He had dropped in his tracks. We hurried up to him to get some pictures done before his white guard hairs on his back relaxed.

Once we had all photos done it was off to the skinning pole to get him capped out.

Once the work was done we headed back to the lodge for lunch and to load up to move to the other camp.

This shot I paced off 160 yards, the bullet hit right where I was aiming.

May 13, 2013
Day 5
Blesbuck & Wildebeeste

Day 5 dawned sunny with some light winds. After breakfast at the new lodge, we loaded up & headed to the property we were going to hunt that day.

First up was blesbuck, we saw a good ram with some cattle as soon as we entered the driveway. The day was looking good so far. We saw several more as we headed to the ranch house.

We talked a bit with the landowner and his wife finding out where the blues hang out on the property. We soon headed back up the driveway to see if we could get a crack at the first one we had seen that morning.

After working our way over the fence, and through the bush we had some cattle spook, and that was the end of that.

We headed back to the backie and headed down the road to see if we could locate some more. Once we discovered where they were at we planned our stalk again (recurring theme again I know).

Walking with the wind our faces and slinking behind cover we got close to where we thought they were. Suddenly my PH squats down, there they were in front of us. Braun set-up the Bog-Pod and I got in position. The ram started coming towards us and kept coming, he didn't know we were there. He stopped at around 60 yards facing us.

The .300WSM barked once and he went straight down. Another animal on the ground & it's not even 10am yet. We set up for and take pictures. The tracker field dressed him and we carry him to where we can get the backie in. Then its back to the farm house for the skinning.

While the skinner was working away Braun and I headed out to see if we could find out where the blues were bedded down for the midday. Our first cruise around the property turned up nothing. We came back around and we were heading up the driveway and Braun spots some in the bush.

He asks me if we should go have a closer look. I forgot about lunch and grabbed my rifle and sticks and we headed out. Braun got us to about 200 yards and we set up, I was given the go ahead to shoot the one.

After the recoil of the 300 I swear I saw the bull stumble, my PH thought so too. He headed back to the truck to get the dogs and we started tracking we he was back.

The dogs seemed confused on what we were looking for, not a good sign. We tracked those bulls for over an hour before my PH called it a clean miss. Which I agreed with as I felt I pulled the shot to the left severely.

After this I was exhausted and dehydrated, so we headed to the land owners lodge that they offered for our use. After lunch we headed back out to see if we could find another one.

After more walking and glassing we found three male together and worked our way into position for a shot. Finally coming out of a creek bed we could see them. We set the sticks up and I was directed to the best one.

I settled the crosshairs on the shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The animals took off, none of us heard a bullet hit, but I felt sure of my shot, everything was steady. We headed over to where he was standing, all separate spots. We looked for signs of a hit, blood, hair, a body, nothing. I even went back to where I took the shot from to clarify where it was standing.

All of us feeling it was a hit, felt we should have the dogs. Seeya (the tracker) was sent back to the backie to get them, while Braun and I kept looking to see what we could find. It must have been less than 15 minutes later when the radio comes to life. A smile comes to Braun's face, he says Seeya found him.

We go over to where he said he was down, behind the only piece of bush we didn't look at. He only went about 50 yards before piling up. He was not a big bull, be an old one, his bosses were full of large cracks, the skull and hide will still look good.