Day Ten
My last day if hunting, making it bittersweet. Up early and looking for the Wildebeest Bull from yesterday. We find spoor and then eventually the bull, along with three other bulls now, but he was still the best of the bunch. I’ve used my .30/06 for the entire trip, but bring out my .375 H&H for this one. Honestly, I had planned on using it more, but didn’t want to change things up as I was shooting well for the most part.
We bump the bulls a couple of times, but the wind is in our favor and they aren’t sure what we are. They run across a little valley and up the other side and stop. First the bull is blocked my brush, then another bull is right behind him, so we have to wait a bit. He finally clears the other bull and I again near the “thwack” of the hit and he drops as if hit by lightning while the other bulls run off. I was aiming at the point of the shoulder and pulled to the left and broke his neck. It was 214 yards and worked out well, but I’m still not overly pleased with the shot. Maybe I’m too hard on myself, but I really try and have high standards for my shooting.
So we will need help getting this guy out and I don’t want Nancy to miss out like she did on the Kudu, so we go for her and a cart. I shot the Wildebeest, but Nancy quickly announced he was hers. She loved him.
That evening I got a bonus. Although I was happy with my Steenbok Lammie wasn’t and kept telling me he thought it was bigger and so did Attie. He wanted me to shoot a better one if we saw one. Well, that evening we did. And Nancy was with us, so I got a chance to redeem myself for the missed warthog on the first day. I don’t measure horns very often, but Lammie wanted to measure this one. The short horn is 5 inches and the other right at 5.2. I was tickled. It is also funny how the 96 yard shot on the Steenbok looked much further than over 200 on the beest.
Another evening around the fire and we’d be headed back to the main lodge the next morning.