So Friday was a travel day but not before I got to do something I've not done in 14 years...........throw a fly to a trout. This area is full off ponds and streams that contain some very nice trout. There's a pond just below where we were staying and I borrowed some fly equipment and caught a nice 20" rainbow. No pics, the glow from my smile and two witnesses suffices.
But we are off now to Hluhluwe for Nyala and Red Duiker. If you're wondering how to say Hluhluwe, say shluh shlooey. We are headed to hunt a reserve which only Jacques has been able to hunt in and we are only the second party to hunt there. The sheer numbers of Nyala and Red Duikers is crazy. If you were just after any reasonable size trophy of either, it would be a very quick hunt. But we are after exceptional trophies and Jacques has to keep reminding me of this....it was worth the wait. I think the estimate on the Red was 3.5" and 29" on the nyala. We also managed a zebra for me and a nice Impala for Justin. This took us two solid days of hunting and passing over many a nyala bull.
The Red Duiker is a very quick decision, determine quickly if it's a shooter and get out quick and shoot. Mine stood for awhile and just as I leveled on him, he bolted into the brush. I went in after him, saw some red hair and shot at it and dropped him. Total expired time was maybe 10 seconds.
Once again the 7x57 and those 140gr NF's just continue to get the job done. I took my zebra with my .458B&M. Shot was forward on and I pulled it just a bit. But those 260gr SOCOMs from CEB are vicious. Zebra went about 400 yards but was leaving not only blood on the ground but was spitting up lung tissue, never seen that.
So we headed for Hartzhoogte yesterday and that was all day. We did some hunting this morning, but the wind is blowing hard and the animals are quite skittish. Jacques did want to give my .458 a go on a warthog, and well it was a dead warthog before it hit the ground.
Some pics:
