SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa With VDV Safaris

tap

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im sitting in fransehoek(spelling??) waiting for a bit before I leave Africa and head back home.

This particular trip was for my honeymoon. I desperately wanted a big safari but Ian stopped me dead in my tracks and said it wasn't going to happen.

Sooooooo after much debate I was able to talk Ian into 4 days of hunting and 6 days of wine touring in the Cape Town area.

All I can say about the wine touring is WOW! I'm not much for wine or non hunting activities but the winery's and vineyards in the area around Cape Town are awesome. It's like you stepped back hundreds of years in time. The area is the quietest and most quaint areas you could ask for and the views and experience were second to none. We finished our wine tour yesterday after we attended the flavours of winter festival containing nothing but locally produced port wines and all I can say is that it was amazing.

I would say more about the wine tasting but there's honestly just too much to add in here and my wife is absolutely hooked on Africa and wants to come back as often as possible and let me hunt while her and Ian's wife tour the local vineyards. So I think the plan was a success!

For the hunting part I had to make a massive compromise. I was wanting to go to the roadless mountain areas of Limpopo and hunt a wilderness kudu because there are many bulls over 60" and the hunt is amazing. However Ian said it's not a hunt for my wife and that she was going to hunt with me during my hunt. So he had a 6000 hectare concession with nothing but massive kudu and gemsbok along with sable that he knew I would love. On a side note Matt Christmas was on his first safari at the same time with me and hunted the wilderness area. They didn't see many kudu but picked up a skull that measured 62" and Matt shot a bull that I personally measure at 60 1/8" on day 4 of his safari.

Well Ian was spot on. Within an hour of hunting we had already spotted 5 bulls over 56" and two pushing 60". Since it was so early and I was only allowed 1 day to hunt I elected to pass on the bulls and come back to them later in the day. Well after an immense amount of searching we realized that one of the first kudu we had see was the biggest and I desperately wanted to find him and take him. The only problem is that as everyone knows the kudu are ghosts. We saw over a dozen big bulls and not one was the big one I wanted. The farmer in this area feeds with butternut squash so we waited for the feed trucks to come load the feed points and that's when my mind was blown.

I've hunted kudu for almost 15 years and have become infatuated with them. Never have I seen such an amazing place. There had to be over 500 kudu standing in the roads going after butternut squash. It was the most amazing sight I've ever seen. I just drove up and down the roads taking pictures. Only problem was that I still couldn't find the bull I was after.

After about 30 minutes all the squash was gone and so were the kudu. I had lost all hope when I saw a bull I decided was the bull for me. He had deep curls heavy mass and the tips pointed out at the top. I asked to shoot him but our tracker said if I did I would always kick myself for not holding out for the one I wanted. Everyone estimated that bull to be between 58-60" but we let him walk.

At this point it was getting late in the day and we decided to go back to the area where we had seen the big bull earlier. We hunted slowly in every opening possible and zigzagged for miles and about an hour before sun down we somehow spotted him. We stalked in to about 200yards which was about the best we could do and then I got on the sticks for a perfect broadside standing shot. I wasn't breathing so well, I had buck fever and could control myself. Next thing I know is that I jerked the trigger and flinched all at the same time and had to watch my kudu disappear at a dead run. We tracked him for a mile or so and finally gave up on him as there was no blood and his track was still running.

With my head hanging low we headed back to the truck. Our tracker was even more disappointed than I was. He told me that was his favorite bull in the entire area and that I had missed it. The disappointment on his face was real and it absolutely killed me and made me feel even worse. But with a heavy heart we headed back to the truck to contiue our hunt for the last 30 minutes or so of remaining light.

I have to go to the airport now but I will update this story in a few days when I get back state side.
 
Look forward to hearing more!
 
Safe trip.
It sounds like the Honeymoon was a success. Congratulations.
 
Congrats on the adventure, misses happen.
 
Hey Tap. So glad to see a report posted by you. I know life has been a huge roller coaster with some huge ups and downs. I know hunting has not been a priority for a while. I am excited to read the rest of your report. I'm so happy that your bride had a great time and wants to go back. Sorry to hear about you missing the Kudu. That is part of hunting. We just don't get them all. Bruce
 
So after missing the shot we decided to just frantically drive around and see what we could see. This guy popped out to our surprise!
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Often nature is fair to the animals, a real hunter will someday bag that big Kudu.
 
Yep nice Kudu.
 

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