Yes, Nick was on the camera. Be prepared for long photo sessions with a very particular photographer who wants the perfect photos.Thx John & Lucy for sharing your enjoyable ‘boots on the ground’ trip report + pics & it hits canny close to home - I’m 63-days from my KMG adventure, actually 62-days in 4hrs not that I’m counting or anything! And four/4 of your trophies are on my hit-list, plus, Nick will be our PH, plus, we’ll be using Nicks rifle to ease air travel so I’m feeling schooled right now!
Question: Nick on the camera? Great trophy pics capturing the moment: trophy, Hunter, natural Topo back drop. Splendid stuff … congrats!
Sometimes the animals would be loaded on the truck and unloaded again at a better spot for photos. If you wanted some on the spot the animal fell that would be done as well.Thx John for the F/U message & kudo’s for Nick/KMG … I have read & heard that allot lately! I feel the avg. Hunter totally under-estimates the value of properly preparing & setting the trophy for that prize post-Hunt moment. I did in my early hunts & I have bad (yikes) Kodak moment to prove it!
A “Chief” Bushbuck! A bit dicey for sure but - whew! Yet Well done to all.Days 5 and 6. Back at the coastal lodge after our trip to the Stormbergs mainly looking for a bushbuck for Lucy. We did a mix of checking neighboring property’s and by the lodge. The 14” or so ram that we’d seen in the headlights with Marius on the day of our arrival started showing up in the open mid afternoon. Nick did get Lucy to about 60 yards for an attempted shot. She wasn’t steady enough for the quick shot needed and the ram was gone. An experienced hunter would have had a better result.
Day 7. Lucy still hunting for a bushbuck and I had a caracal on my want list. Nick has his own pack of hounds and a houndsman that runs them usually for the farmers that call him for predator control. He set up with a farmer to run his pack close to a dairy farm we were bushbuck hunting.
The morning started slow but about mid morning Nick and Lucy got to about 160 yards on a grazing ram. Lucy got on the sticks and after aiming a bit longer then most, she shot, the ram jumped, kicked and went into cover. Nick thought it might be good or just low. Waited about 20 minutes then Nick and Temba went into the bush a bit and found a decent pool of bright red blood. They backed out and Nick got a message from his hounds man that he’d treed a cat. We changed gears to give the ram time to stiffen up or die and went to the hounds.
They were down in a steep draw that we worked our way towards the commotion. The cat was about 20’ up a tree about 10 yards straight out in front of me. All had for a rifle was Nicks 308. He thought it would punch through and not open up. It opened up and blew the back out pretty good.View attachment 408342Back to the wounded bushbuck. Nicks tracking dog Bruno had jumped off his truck on the hunt before ours and the PH Jeremy who had been on the hunt with Nick was keeping Bruno until Nick could go pick him up. Bruno was needed for this tracking job. Nick called and Jeremy says he’s on his way to help in the hunt. These guys love their bushbuck hunting!
Jeremy and Bruno were there in about an hour and they went in after the ram. If he stiffened up it wasn’t much. Jeremy took Nicks 308 and Nick had his 9mm. Bruno had his Kevlar vest. We heard barking and then one shot. I said to Lucy that‘s good. Then we heard another shot and I said I don’t know what that means. Finally after what seemed a very long time the guys came out with a thumbs up. Bruno had found the ram and in the thick stuff Jeremy had a shot at 2 meters and hit a tree. The ram came for them head down, horns leading. Bruno grabbed a leg and as the ram turned to butt him Jeremy shot the ram at he said 1 meter.. Bruno thanks to the vest only had a tender side, and guys had an adrenaline buzz for the rest of the day.
Very exciting couple hours for two old folks that are well past their “sell by date”
View attachment 408351
15” ram.
That’s a smoker Nyala, Lucy! A prize in any trophy room.Day 8.
Thanks all for the positive comments. I should have mentioned if Lucy’s shot had been two inches higher there would have been a lot less drama. She had picked up a copy of The Perfect Shot Book and was trying for a heart shot so the ram didn’t suffer. Took me to long to figure that one out.
Now it’s nyala day. We’d been seeing some good bulls almost every day while looking for bushbuck. Nick kept saying we can do better. I had doubts because some looked very nice. Went to a 11,000+ acre concession and seen one mature bull that had good length but his horns were almost touching at the tips. Not very good look. We can do better. We drove past some very thick tangle, dark bush and spotted a likely bull. Kept on driving for a ways. Stopped and Lucy and Nick slowly walked back along the trail. They went past where the bull had been a bit and seen a different bull. Not gonna do better then this one. Lucy threaded about a 20 yard shot into the thick stuff and was done nyala hunting. We drug him out for a good photo. Pretty proud of this newby hunter.View attachment 408411
LOL We’ll take payment in trophy fee credit.Marius should put you on payroll. You and Lucy are selling KMG and PH Nick‘s skills! What an incredible time.
Just remembered I have a photo of Nick and Temba trying for the perfect pictures.Thx John & Lucy for sharing your enjoyable ‘boots on the ground’ trip report + pics & it hits canny close to home - I’m 63-days from my KMG adventure, actually 62-days in 4hrs not that I’m counting or anything! And four/4 of your trophies are on my hit-list, plus, Nick will be our PH, plus, we’ll be using Nicks rifle to ease air travel so I’m feeling schooled right now!
Question: Nick on the camera? Great trophy pics capturing the moment: trophy, Hunter, natural Topo back drop. Splendid stuff … congrats!