bowfishoholic

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Thornfield MO
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Hunting reports
Africa
2
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Hunted
US, South Africa
This was our 3rd trip to South Africa. The first 9 days would be in the bushveldt with Limcroma Safaris, where we hunted the first time. The second 5 days would be in the highveldt with Pawprint Safaris. By this time our plains game list was getting pretty small and most of the animals are harder to get with the bow, we didn't want to use a rifle.
We started out our archery hunt at Limcroma Safaris in the bushveldt. We stayed at the new couples/family lodge, Sable Valley lodge.
The lodge is deep in the concession, but a gorgeous place. Nice and roomy lodge and large spacious chalets. Anke was our cook who went out of her way to make us comfortable. We had wild game every night including - springbok, bushbok, sable, gemsbok, hartebeast and roan, nyala, eland and cape buffalo, sable and gemsbok, and impala, wildebeast and kudu. After dinner we had drinks by the fire.
Day 1: We went out in the evening to shoot a zebra. We had zebra at around 33 yds, but no good shot was available.
Day 2: Today was my husband's birthday. I surprised him with a Tactacam for his bow after breakfast.
Guillaume was our bowhunting PH. We started out looking for a Zebra. The zebra showed up, but would not quite cooperate. We broke the ice by shooting a birthday impala.
Day 3: Out for zebra again. We sat by a pond today and saw kudu, warthogs, Waterbuck, wildebeest and Gemsbok. The gemsbok came in while Dave was taking pics of the red sunset.
Day 4: Sat for Zebra again. We saw wildebeest and kudu. Right at sunset we heard clicking and a huge eland came in and fed 20 yards away. While he was eating we heard clicking again and a second eland showed up.
Day 5: Dave sat in a blind for Zebra in the morning. Dozens of blue and gold wildebeest showed up. The zebra showed up and spent the morning dancing around the wildebeest. Just before noon, Dave got his shot on the zebra. Lucky, our tracker started following the blood and was quite excited at the blood trail on both sides. Just then we saw a big white heap under the trees about 50 yards away. We took the zebra to Hannes for skinning. Back to the lodge for lunch. We sat in a blind for Gemsbok in the afternoon. Anita shot a Gemsbok 2 inches ahead of crease on shoulder and the broadhead broke off in the bone. Lucky tracked the Gemsbok, but it appeared to join back with the herd.
Day 6: Thursday Dave sat in a treestand early for bushbok. He saw bushbuck, kudu and duiker. We headed to the blind where I shot the gemsbok to try and get another shot on him after lunch. But Dave shot a Golden Wildebeest. Lucky tracked it and Guillaume shot it twice with a rifle. A couple of warthogs entertained Anita while they looked for the wildebeest. We had a front coming in now and the wind would not be right for this area for the rest of the hunt.
Day 7: Time to concentrate on our bushbok. Dave sat in the treestand early, then later on in the day. He saw a huge bushbuck and 2 other ones.
Midday we sat in the blind until lunch. We saw babboons several times, then saw a golden wildebeest, a baby kudu, and mongoose.
Day 8: Dave tried the treestand early, then stalked bushbuck, he saw a female. Later we sat in the blind. The golden wildebeest came in and 7 warthogs. Guillaume made plans to sit in a popup blind in the evening, where bushbok fed in the afternoon. The front came in and it was quite windy and the bushbok were afraid to come near the blowing blind.
Day 9: One more day for bushbuck, but no luck again.
Anita went to the Crocodile River for catfishing with some other couples.
Later in the evening, I joined a group that went to see Cape Buffalo and Rhinoceros at a nearby concession. We got very close to both and got some great pics and videos. Headed back to the lodge to begin packing for the second part of our hunt.
Dave came back and had a young bushbok in front of the blind, but unfortunately he wasn't a shooter yet. He did get some great video.
Day 10: We headed to Thabazimbi, where we met our driver Francous, who took us to Brits to meet Pawprint Safaris.
We arrived at Brits and met Johan. Pawprint was a quieter place, but we had a great time with Johan. He really made our hunt quite enjoyable.
We stayed at the Balule Bush Lodge. We were the only hunters there. We sighted in our bows and met with Pieter to discuss our plans.
Day 11: We headed to Lichtenburg at the Reitpan Safari concession for our sable. When we headed to the blind, we saw the majestic sables. We spent the morning waiting in the blind. Just before lunchtime, the sables headed our way. The first one came in and passed the blind and kept snorting at us. The rest finally came in. I had the Tactacam out of the blind window and my phone app came in pretty handy. I kept taking videos, but the sable were very slow at coming in. After about a half hour, they finally made their way in front of us. Dave got a perfect double lung and clipped the top of the heart. We even got the entire event on video, right to him falling down.
Headed back to Balule Lodge and ate our lunches. Claudius made venison tails for dinner.
Day 12: Johan took us to Chameleon Market for souveniers. He helped negotiate and set the sellers straight when they told tall tales about their products. We had a quick coffee with Johan's family, where we had a great time. Headed back to Balule Lodge for lunch. We went to see Pawprint's new bowhunting concession.
We sat on the water with hopes for a bushbok. The blind was set up with a nightlight for hunting. We were at least hoping for a critter to try our night archery skills. The only thing that came in was a big eland.
Day 13: We spent the day at the bowhunt concession. Really cool blinds with lights for night hunting. Many are dual with one side elevated and the other side ground level with tinted windows for viewing. Water and feed in front of the blinds.
Eland and kudu came in the morning.
Saw waterbuck, zebra, impala, blesbuck, ostriches, Livingston Eland, Eland, kudu, nyala, monkeys, wildebeest in the afternoon. Pieter joined us for dinner.
Day 14: Our final day in South Africa. Time to pack and pay up.
Met with Pieter after breakfast. Packed and took walk around property.
Saw several herds of blesbok, including a white one, 9 hartebeast, 4 impala, a kudu, and a nyala.
It is hard to decide which hunt was better. We had a great time at both. The PH definetely makes the difference, and Johan was the perfect PH for us.

We learned our lesson from our 2nd hunt with Pawprint in 2014. If you have problems, don't keep it to yourself, let your PH or outfitter know what is going on. My husband had always read "Don't guide the guide", but he should have confronted Pieter about the problems we had at camp with our cook and PH.

Definitely didn't have problems this hunt. It was A++.

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Good news. Glad the repeat trip was not a repeat!

Congratulations.
 
This was our 3rd trip to South Africa. The first 9 days would be in the bushveldt with Limcroma Safaris, where we hunted the first time. The second 5 days would be in the highveldt with Pawprint Safaris. By this time our plains game list was getting pretty small and most of the animals are harder to get with the bow, we didn't want to use a rifle.
We started out our archery hunt at Limcroma Safaris in the bushveldt. We stayed at the new couples/family lodge, Sable Valley lodge.
The lodge is deep in the concession, but a gorgeous place. Nice and roomy lodge and large spacious chalets. Anke was our cook who went out of her way to make us comfortable. We had wild game every night including - springbok, bushbok, sable, gemsbok, hartebeast and roan, nyala, eland and cape buffalo, sable and gemsbok, and impala, wildebeast and kudu. After dinner we had drinks by the fire.
Day 1: We went out in the evening to shoot a zebra. We had zebra at around 33 yds, but no good shot was available.
Day 2: Today was my husband's birthday. I surprised him with a Tactacam for his bow after breakfast.
Guillaume was our bowhunting PH. We started out looking for a Zebra. The zebra showed up, but would not quite cooperate. We broke the ice by shooting a birthday impala.
Day 3: Out for zebra again. We sat by a pond today and saw kudu, warthogs, Waterbuck, wildebeest and Gemsbok. The gemsbok came in while Dave was taking pics of the red sunset.
Day 4: Sat for Zebra again. We saw wildebeest and kudu. Right at sunset we heard clicking and a huge eland came in and fed 20 yards away. While he was eating we heard clicking again and a second eland showed up.
Day 5: Dave sat in a blind for Zebra in the morning. Dozens of blue and gold wildebeest showed up. The zebra showed up and spent the morning dancing around the wildebeest. Just before noon, Dave got his shot on the zebra. Lucky, our tracker started following the blood and was quite excited at the blood trail on both sides. Just then we saw a big white heap under the trees about 50 yards away. We took the zebra to Hannes for skinning. Back to the lodge for lunch. We sat in a blind for Gemsbok in the afternoon. Anita shot a Gemsbok 2 inches ahead of crease on shoulder and the broadhead broke off in the bone. Lucky tracked the Gemsbok, but it appeared to join back with the herd.
Day 6: Thursday Dave sat in a treestand early for bushbok. He saw bushbuck, kudu and duiker. We headed to the blind where I shot the gemsbok to try and get another shot on him after lunch. But Dave shot a Golden Wildebeest. Lucky tracked it and Guillaume shot it twice with a rifle. A couple of warthogs entertained Anita while they looked for the wildebeest. We had a front coming in now and the wind would not be right for this area for the rest of the hunt.
Day 7: Time to concentrate on our bushbok. Dave sat in the treestand early, then later on in the day. He saw a huge bushbuck and 2 other ones.
Midday we sat in the blind until lunch. We saw babboons several times, then saw a golden wildebeest, a baby kudu, and mongoose.
Day 8: Dave tried the treestand early, then stalked bushbuck, he saw a female. Later we sat in the blind. The golden wildebeest came in and 7 warthogs. Guillaume made plans to sit in a popup blind in the evening, where bushbok fed in the afternoon. The front came in and it was quite windy and the bushbok were afraid to come near the blowing blind.
Day 9: One more day for bushbuck, but no luck again.
Anita went to the Crocodile River for catfishing with some other couples.
Later in the evening, I joined a group that went to see Cape Buffalo and Rhinoceros at a nearby concession. We got very close to both and got some great pics and videos. Headed back to the lodge to begin packing for the second part of our hunt.
Dave came back and had a young bushbok in front of the blind, but unfortunately he wasn't a shooter yet. He did get some great video.
Day 10: We headed to Thabazimbi, where we met our driver Francous, who took us to Brits to meet Pawprint Safaris.
We arrived at Brits and met Johan. Pawprint was a quieter place, but we had a great time with Johan. He really made our hunt quite enjoyable.
We stayed at the Balule Bush Lodge. We were the only hunters there. We sighted in our bows and met with Pieter to discuss our plans.
Day 11: We headed to Lichtenburg at the Reitpan Safari concession for our sable. When we headed to the blind, we saw the majestic sables. We spent the morning waiting in the blind. Just before lunchtime, the sables headed our way. The first one came in and passed the blind and kept snorting at us. The rest finally came in. I had the Tactacam out of the blind window and my phone app came in pretty handy. I kept taking videos, but the sable were very slow at coming in. After about a half hour, they finally made their way in front of us. Dave got a perfect double lung and clipped the top of the heart. We even got the entire event on video, right to him falling down.
Headed back to Balule Lodge and ate our lunches. Claudius made venison tails for dinner.
Day 12: Johan took us to Chameleon Market for souveniers. He helped negotiate and set the sellers straight when they told tall tales about their products. We had a quick coffee with Johan's family, where we had a great time. Headed back to Balule Lodge for lunch. We went to see Pawprint's new bowhunting concession.
We sat on the water with hopes for a bushbok. The blind was set up with a nightlight for hunting. We were at least hoping for a critter to try our night archery skills. The only thing that came in was a big eland.
Day 13: We spent the day at the bowhunt concession. Really cool blinds with lights for night hunting. Many are dual with one side elevated and the other side ground level with tinted windows for viewing. Water and feed in front of the blinds.
Eland and kudu came in the morning.
Saw waterbuck, zebra, impala, blesbuck, ostriches, Livingston Eland, Eland, kudu, nyala, monkeys, wildebeest in the afternoon. Pieter joined us for dinner.
Day 14: Our final day in South Africa. Time to pack and pay up.
Met with Pieter after breakfast. Packed and took walk around property.
Saw several herds of blesbok, including a white one, 9 hartebeast, 4 impala, a kudu, and a nyala.
It is hard to decide which hunt was better. We had a great time at both. The PH definetely makes the difference, and Johan was the perfect PH for us.

We learned our lesson from our 2nd hunt with Pawprint in 2014. If you have problems, don't keep it to yourself, let your PH or outfitter know what is going on. My husband had always read "Don't guide the guide", but he should have confronted Pieter about the problems we had at camp with our cook and PH.

Definitely didn't have problems this hunt. It was A++.


I forgot 2 pretty cool things. At Limcroma we met a father and son from Oregon. Sheldon was almost identical to my husband's youngest son. He looked, sounded, had the same expressions and same likes as Matt. The other neat thing was the couple with us ended up living only a few miles from my brother in Oklahoma. Now we have a 2nd reason to visit OK.
 
Sounds like a great trip. How about some pics?
Bruce
 
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Dual level, night. Lit bowhunting blind at Pawprint Safaris
I forgot 2 pretty cool things. At Limcroma we met a father and son from Oregon. Sheldon was almost identical to my husband's youngest son. He looked, sounded, had the same expressions and same likes as Matt. The other neat thing was the couple with us ended up living only a few miles from my brother in Oklahoma. Now we have a 2nd reason to visit OK.
full
 
Congrats on a great hunt !
 
@bowfishoholic ,

Thanks for sharing your reports and congrats on your trophies. I am very interested in the newer Sable Valley camp at Limcroma. Can you share some more pictures and details of that lodge and your experiences there? Thanks very much.
 
Congrats and thanks for sharing!
 
The rooms had a huge bed. Looked like 2 full beds put together. Very comfortable and lots of pillows. The roof was grass thatched on the inside and steel shingled on the outside.
We had a huge walk in closet for our belongings. A dressing table, complete with a hair dryer. The bath has 3 options. A glass enclosed walk in shower, a large raised bathtub and an outdoor shower with a privacy fence. We had his and hers sinks.
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All toiletries were included such as soap, shampoo, coditioner, and lotion. Laundry is done 7 days a week.
The doorway is a huge sliding door with a covered porch and chair.
The lodge- stone and grass thatched roof inside. Lots of mounts on the walls and an open bar as long as you don't abuse it. 2 clusters of sitting areas, one with a fireplace.
Sliding glass doors on each side.
A huge dining table for the wonderful meals. Everyone meets for dinner and your PH sets a time for breakfast and plans for lunch depending on your hunt.
There is a gift shop with African items for sale, a business office, a game room with tv available. There are plans for a spa and hot tub. The patio is already set up.
Everyone gathers around the large fire ring/pit with appetizers and drinks before and after dinner.
Outside of the fence around the lodge area, African plains game are free to move around. There are some cape buffalo, so you aren't able to walk the trails outside of the fence. We had a big nyala hanging around camp. My husband was sighting in his bow amd had to wait for him to move.
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Finally found the page to put my videos.
It is under videos on the photo/video link.

I can't figure out how to get our videos on AH. Thank goodness it is easier to shoot our animals than putting a video up.
 
I would say the biggest difference between the 2 hunts was the atmosphere at the lodge. Limcroma was a bit more social - focusing with interaction between hunters.
Pawprints was quieter, not as many other hunters and more interaction with your PH at night. A great PH truly makes a great hunt. Both times at PawprintSafaris was late in the season, so there were not other hunters with us. There was definetely room for 3 more parties.
Both places have fabulous cooks and PHs, firepit, bar, appetizers, and spacious rooms. Limcroma has a bit newer and updated chalets and nicer baths.
For bowhunting, I think Pawprint will be a fun place to hunt. The highveld atmosphere is more like the mountains. The blinds are high tech. It also gives you a challenge for night hunting with a bow with 4 blinds set up with lights, one mostly for predators. Pieter also has some great ideas for improvements in the works. The bowhunting concession is a new acquisition.
We saw animals in amd out of the blinds all day.
Limcroma also has a dedicated property for bowhunting, where the animals are much calmer.
 
Spent 10 days with Guillaume in 2017, great PH, glad to see Kayla in the picture with the picture with the zebra too!
 
Glad you guys had a good trip. Your right those bow blinds are high tech.
 

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