Small cats and night-hunting

[ryno111]

I'm leaving in a few weeks for a night hunt with @KEMP AFRICAN SAFARIS in South Africa. We'll be going after small and mid-sized cats (civet, serval, caracal, genet + hyena, badger, bushpig, etc...). I've had previous taxidermy done in the US, but I'm thinking to have these done in Africa ($18,000 versus $32,000 for life-size). I've been researching taxidermists in South Africa, and I thought I had a few good options. However, further research has shown that most of the good "cat guys" have recently changed outfitters, retired, etc... Does anyone have any recent experience/recommendations (from the past 6-12 months) for a taxidermist in Africa who specializes in small-medium cats?

Also, this will be my first night hunt in Africa. Any tips would be greatly appreciated (gear, shot placement, etc...). I'll be renting a gun/scope from the outfitter shooting 173 grain 7x57.

 

[dchum]

Genet and a 173gr 7x57 hmm

You will need to find a really really good taxidermist for that! I know that much haha

Sorry I don’t have any info! But the hunt sounds fun and I hope you write a nice report so we can hear all about it

 

[slam8031]

Having done that—layer enough clothes—it will get cool either in blinds or on the truck! Also I would recommend working on taking shots at practice similar time intervals—if you are hunting at night with a light you need to be able to take shots quickly in some cases. For my recent trip for tiny ten (I got five more on this trip) I would run 30-50 yards set up on sticks and take a shot while giving myself 5-7 seconds to get on sticks and shoot. Not exactly night hunting scenario but it did prove that I can get ready to take a good shot with little time.

 

[Betterinthebush]

Watching this.

 

[Denvir Tire]

In January of this year I was night hunting for predators near Colesburg ,with a professional Jackal hunter. The previous poster is correct regarding quick and accurate shooting when spotlighting.
If you're using a thermal sight, you'll have a lot more time to follow, identify, and plan a shot.
In my opinion, 7mm Mauser is much more than needed.....
I was successful using 5.56 in a Ruger with a thermal. Spotlighting rifle was a 22-250, used for everything from Springhare to Kudu cows.

 

[Clifford Johnson]

I used a 22 Hornet for the small cats, worked great.
I have used Savuti Taxidermist for the last 4 trips. Good work, good prices, fast turnaround times. They are in Joburg.

 

[Hogpatrol]

For my night hunts in RSA, I settled on a .17 Fireball shooting 25s & 30s. At night, it's taken springhare, caracal, porcupine, springbok, warthog, gennet cat, aardwolf, rabbit, and jackal. The scope is a Trijicon Accupoint 2.5-10 x 56 with tritium illuminated green post reticle. On my first night hunt I found a solid black, non illuminated reticle blended in to the darkness and I had trouble getting on target quick enough. For whatever reason the night animals don't seem to stay in one spot for long, springhares especially. About the time you get on them, they hop.
Highly recommend scopes with 30mm tube and 50-56mm objectives for better light gathering and with an adjustable illuminated green post, crosshair or center dot. My eye doc says green is better for night hunting. Having said that, if it's in the budget, go thermal. Some of the better ones, you can video your shots.

My scope: https://www.trijicon.com/products/details/tr22g

Taxidermy, had Marakalalo in Blomfontein do full size mounts on Fireball killed two caracals, two monkeys, two crows, gennet cat, porcupine, aardwolf, guine fowl, and an African wildcat, all very well done.

 

[ryno111]

Having done that—layer enough clothes—it will get cool either in blinds or on the truck! Also I would recommend working on taking shots at practice similar time intervals—if you are hunting at night with a light you need to be able to take shots quickly in some cases. For my recent trip for tiny ten (I got five more on this trip) I would run 30-50 yards set up on sticks and take a shot while giving myself 5-7 seconds to get on sticks and shoot. Not exactly night hunting scenario but it did prove that I can get ready to take a good shot with little time.

Thanks! I'll start practicing at those distances/times.

 

[Hunt anything]

Good luck, finding a good small cat guy is hard to do. They have so much character it’s hard to duplicate. Same with birds.

 

[Sarg]

What a great hunt you should have for some really awesome animals, I love hunting them all.

The 7x57 is only really needed for the Hyena & Bushpig, a 22 Hornet with good bullets or .222-223 would be better a shotgun is also a option on the small ones.

I have shot a lot of these small guys & a very nice .22LR load is the Winchester Super X killed most of them very well, even a few Warthogs, probably not for you on this hunt.

Will you be blind/bait hunting, lighting from a vehicle or chasing with dog team, are you using spotlight - Night Vision (very good for visual identification) or Thermal (very good at killing things & without them knowing)

I have used solids in big calibers to just don’t hit big bones if doing full mounts.

Now all these Cats, Dogs & such are tricky to mount well so you need a very good Taxidermist, I would think take them back to US for best work & find good small animal guy.

Africa is not the place for top work on small cats it will be a Crap Shoot if you do !


For some reason these work very well, Jackal - Caracal, lots of Monkeys & some bigger game that shouldn’t be shot with them.

PS some peoples idea of well done & them actually being well done/mounted can be far far apart, you can’t say anything either, it’s like saying your Wife or Baby are unattractive/ugly !

 

[Mwag]

I've not seen any of the small cats from marakalalo in Bloemfontein, but all work they have had done for me has been top notch.
Ive been to their shop 3 times and all of the big cats complete or near complete were excellent quality

 

[slam8031]

I used a 300 blackout subsonic suppressed for genet, civet, and common duiker (non subsonic). I shot the serval with solid 375. And the tiny ten hunt was with 6.5 creedmoor and a Benelli sbe 12 gauge. Nature’s Mirror in Limpopo didn’t small cats. I saw them last month but waiting on shipping!

 

[slam8031]

Did small cats…

 

[major hunter]

I'm leaving in a few weeks for a night hunt with Kemp African Safaris in South Africa. We'll be going after small and mid-sized cats (civet, serval, caracal, genet + hyena, badger, bushpig, etc...). I've had previous taxidermy done in the US, but I'm thinking to have these done in Africa ($18,000 versus $32,000 for life-size). I've been researching taxidermists in South Africa, and I thought I had a few good options. However, further research has shown that most of the good "cat guys" have recently changed outfitters, retired, etc... Does anyone have any recent experience/recommendations (from the past 6-12 months) for a taxidermist in Africa who specializes in small-medium cats?

Also, this will be my first night hunt in Africa. Any tips would be greatly appreciated (gear, shot placement, etc...). I'll be renting a gun/scope from the outfitter shooting 173 grain 7x57.

No reccos for work being done in south africa, but IMO the quality is just not at the same level (to many hands on one piece and material differences). At the end of day you have to decide what quality you will tolerate. The thought of a bad mount on a trophy of a lifetime doesn't sit well. Cost is always a factor but you will pay a lot more (thousands) in freight/shipping which will eat at the price difference.

7x57 will be good for the hyena, bushpig and badger (because they are nuts)! IMO it's going to blow a big hole in the civet, serval, caracal.

 

[Moe324]

I had Craig at bullseye in vaalwater mount my night animals. He did genet, porcupine, civet, and honey badger for me. I killed the honey badger with a .243 and the rest with a .17 both using thermo scopes. We sat over bait in blinds.

 

[Moe324]

 

[Moe324]

 

[Moe324]

 

[Moe324]

 

[Moe324]

I did specify that I wanted Craig to mount my animals and not have someone else do it as I wanted them done properly. I have 5 shoulder mounts done also along with 3 life size tiny ten animals.