What are Steenbok and Duiker like to stalk?

Evening chaps,

I am thinking about my 2nd trip the SA next year sometime and am intrigued by the idea of stalking steenbok and duiker. I was wondering if any members could shed some light on what it is like to hunt them and the challenges, etc. I imagine they are similar to Muntjac which we have over here.

Cheers, Tom

Hi Tom,

I have been lucky enough to have taken both steenbok and duiker with a bow via spot and stalk. It's going to be a challenge but it can be accomplished if you are pateint and dedicated. In the Limpopo region where I have done most of my hunting, both species share the same preferred terrain which is open areas of the bush with knee-to-waist high grass. They have great eyesight won't stand in one place to long once they spot you. We have had he most success using the safari vehicle as a distraction tool to apporoach them. They are fairly tolerant of a truck cruising by and usually just pick their heads up to see what's going on. If you don't stop the truck, they usually stay put....If you stop for more than a few seconds, they usually bolt. When we spot one we continue to cruise along slowly 100 or so yards past them. Once out of sight, I jump off the truck and stalk alone without the PH.

If you are willing and able to get down on hands and knees and sometimes belly crawl through the high grass, you can usually close within 40 yards or less for a shot. The other challenge you will face is getting an unobstructed shot through the high grass at a very small target. You can usually shoot through the light grass without incident. Of the two species, I have found the steenbok tends to be slightly more tolerant. They often stand still for you for several seconds or bound away a few yards only to stop and give you a second look and often a second shot. Not so much with duikers. Once they blow out, they are usually gone. Another advantage is that neither species are herd animals per se... Usually you will encounter a single animal or a mating pair. Less eyes make it a lot easier to try and pull it off.

Best of luck....! It will be a fun and rewarding hunt.

Thank you for your reply.

From what i have read and what you say, they sound like a challenging quarry to stalk. My worry would be is that i shoot with a .270 and i would like to get them caped or even full mounted. What would you recommend as a calibre as not to damage the cape too much? The added bonus is that they are considerably cheaper than many plains game species.

Cheers, Tom

I think a .270 Win with a hard bullet would be fine.

They are bloody small and like someone said, don't stand still for long. They are territorial so if there is a good male around your PH should know where one is and you can get a 2nd crack at him if you fail the first day you try.

My son shot his Roland Ward Steenbok in the grassveldt and spent an hour getting from 200 to within 100 metres of him. (I was almost asleep in the hunting truck waaaaay away on top of a small rise). Be patient and very slow in your movements. There is fantastic hunting with the smaller species in Africa.

He used a .243 with 100 Partitions. A .222, .223, Hornet or .218 Bee with 50 grain Norma FMJ's or light super frangible varmint bullets would be perfect if you need the skin/cape. A very good taxidermist may have saved the full skin but we did manage to get him caped.

Exit:


Post hunt engraved floorplate in the white. A nice reminder itself for his first trophy and a great stalk:


The smile says it all:

That is a very nice trophy indeed! Congratulations to your son. These two species are firmly up on the top of my list.

They are fun to stalk. Go for it.

I have been to Africa three times, only had one shot at duiker. We happened up on the duiker, not tageting them while we were hunting nyala on a hillside. We above him 125 meters or so, pretty much a target of opportunity. The steenbok we hunted specifically on what my PH called "the steenbok highway", a stretch of roadway in the bush on one of the concessions. As others have said, the steenbok usually pause, run, pause which seems to be more predictable than duiker. Both were shot with 180 gr, 30.06 behind the shoulder with very little tissue damage.

I'm going for both in a few weeks in the Eastern Cape area. And not just a little nervous. Beautiful trophies. If I'm fortunate enough to get a Blue Duiker...I will definitely do a full body mount.

Go for it, it will be fun and challenging. Patience is key when closing the distance on them

I was able to get within thirty yards of a few steenbuck. Still not close enough and they were not relaxed enough for my slower arrows. The Duiker that I saw were almost always running by the time I saw them. I am now hooked on the smaller antelope. You should be in for a great time.

UKHunter said:

Evening chaps,

I am thinking about my 2nd trip the SA next year sometime and am intrigued by the idea of stalking steenbok and duiker. I was wondering if any members could shed some light on what it is like to hunt them and the challenges, etc. I imagine they are similar to Muntjac which we have over here.

Cheers, Tom

Click to expand...

Hello UKHunter,

The various pigmy antelopes are for some reason more fascinating for me than the "normal sized" ones except perhaps bushbuck (and of course Bongo, which I cannot afford to hunt anyway).

For calibers, some PHs recommend whatever you like to use but with a heavy for caliber round nose bullet at lower velocity.

Heavy bullets such as 220 grain in .30 caliber are generally meant for things like moose, wildebeest, bear and similar.

Therefore, they often do not expand much if at all on such tiny animals, (thereby saving the hair/skin) and yet, due to their blunt shape, they still hit hard and put the small animal down quickly.

Not sure if such ammunition is available in .270 caliber but perhaps your PH can have some waiting for you when you arrive in camp? (very sketchy on that idea).

More likely though, he will have some rifle of his own that is well suited to those animals (most PHs keep a .375 H&H about, plus a few 300 grain solids for that sort of thing, (as well as for other larger jobs).

Best Regards,
Velo Dog.

I just got back and was lucky enough to get both a duiker and a steenbuck. Both are great animals and both could have been shot with my bow (had I took it along). Both little guys were under 40 yards when shot. The steenbuck while stalking the flat open velde and the duiker was in thicker bush as we walked looking for Kudu.

I shot my Duiker with my 375 because it was what I had in my hands when I saw him. And I had used up all the shells I had with that day for the 6.5 Creedmoor missing Steenbuck!

That 375 blew right through the lungs and left a finger hole out the other side... But I aimed back a bit to not hit shoulder bone. He ran popped up in the air when hit and ran a few yards. On the other hand the Kudu I shot with the same bullet dropped in his tracks..... There is no way a Duiker is going to absorb all the energy from a large caliber. It is going to blow through and thus most of the energy is going to go out the other side with the bullet. On the other hand I hit a lot of shoulder and thick meet on the Kudu and the bullet lodged in the off side shoulder, which was all mush. All that energy stayed in the animal and dropped him like a rock.

On the other hand I hit bones on a Mountain Reedbuck and had a huge hole out the other side.

As for stalking those critters, that ought to be fun... My wife almost stepped on one before it blew out of the grass in front of her and proceeded to zig zag away at full klip! Our PH told me to expect about 2 seconds to get a shot on Duiker.

Good luck in your quest! They are both sneaky little buggers. I had a opportunity at a good steenbok in 2004 and passed as I was more interested in the "bigger stuff". What a mistake. In 2007 and 2012 a common duiker was on my wish list. 27 hunting days later it is still on my wish list. Like rooihond.....I saw plenty but they were always running like they had just laid down in a fire ant bed!

Spooky and very cautious to say the least.

I have seen them and was able to get within a 100 yards, however my PH at the time wanted me to shoot then with 22 and we needed to be within 50 yards.

The 50 yards never happen.

So this year they are both on my list of trophy animals to have a go after.

Who knows what will happen.

However the porcupine will be a prime target again.

Steenbok and duiker are mostly species of opportunity they are however territorial there is always a lot of activity from them around water holes. If you miss a chance on a steenbok make sure to check the area again later, duiker can also be called with a predator call that sounds like a rabbit they sometimes come charging in.
Make sure to miss the shoulders with whatever you will be shooting most premium bullets will not have time too expand unless they are too fast. They make for wonderful trophies and are very special plus very tasty as well good luck and come back and show off.

I saw them at every turn in the Northern Provence during my hunt in April. The were really thick in the thorny brush. It did seem like they would run 30 yards and stop to look back. My PH indicated that a shot gun was the thing to use hunting these small critters. I must have seen 50 over the course of two days....just my luck.....I was not hunting them.

I've been lucky to take 4 of the Tiny Ten, and 5 if you count the mountain reedbuck, which some people do. The ones I've taken are common duiker, blue duiker, oribi and Vaal rhebok. I can honestly say, they were taken differently using a 22 LR to a 300 Win Mag to a 375 using 300 gr solids. My suggestion when specifically targeting the little guys is to use a solid bullet and don't shoot the shoulders. If using softs, be sure and aim toward the last couple of ribs, so you don't mess up the hide.

Good luck hunting the little guys! They are certainly addicting!! My next trip will target red duiker, suni and cape grysbok. It's sad when you've been home exactly a week and already planning the next trip!!