KMG Hunting Safaris 2024 Season Photos

Nice Caracal!
Thank you sir. I guess having a high population of Caracal is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
We can physically see the product of controlling their numbers over the last 3 or so years in the home property. Bushbuck numbers are flourishing.
 
Thank you sir. I guess having a high population of Caracal is a blessing and a curse at the same time.
We can physically see the product of controlling their numbers over the last 3 or so years in the home property. Bushbuck numbers are flourishing.
Do you only hunt them with hounds or night too?
 
Do you only hunt them with hounds or night too?
Hunting them at night is pretty fruitless to be perfectly honest. The only real chance at a Caracal is over hounds. One still needs to take care for good conditions in order to give the hounds something to work with. A fresh kill is always a great place to start from.
 
We took the tracks of a bachelor group of bulls early in the morning. Our tracker spotted the Cape Buffalo bull lying down a mere 80 yards from us. After dropping to our hands and knees, we lined up a small bush between us and the Buff, and managed to crawl to 55 yards. The bull was lying broadside. I could see a few other bulls around him, but the dewlap and roman nose on this particular bull drew my attention. After sitting for approximately 2 hours, we had a younger bull feeding towards us. The wind wasn't great, and I was worried that he would catch the scent. The younger bull turned and fed back towards the group. The group of bulls got up for a stretch, and this old bull had already shown me what I needed to see. As they say, the rest was history.

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What's better than a Cape Buffalo bull? Two bulls! After success on the first bull, the buffalo went missing for the next day and a half. On departure day, we had roughly 3 hours before we needed to depart with a cut off time in mind. I sent trackers in opposite directions with us checking other areas. The previous day, we had found two tracks which we followed for a few miles, but never caught up to them. The trackers which I had sent to this area, found two lone bulls in the general vicinity of where we left them. We were radioed, to inform us that they had found two lone bulls and managed to close the deal on this big bossed bull.

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When the warm days rolls in, you better know that you are in for a tough time on the spiral horns. Took us roughly 3-4 days to finally find a good bull. Leaving before sunrise, we had a short 3-minute drive to the hunting area which runs as a cattle ranch. As we could just start making out shapes, we noticed some Kudu cows moving back to cover only to spot this bull right at the back following his mob of cows. We got our hunter onto the sticks quickly and the bull stopped long enough to offer a shot. When the going gets tough, its all hands on deck with us. Since one hunter in camp had already tagged out, and the other PH hunting with the rest of the family group, we were a total of 3 PH's and 3 trackers covering areas to spot a mature bull. Very proud of the men that form the cogs of this outfit.

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The ghosts of darkness always promises for an exciting evening. Bushpigs are one of the most underrated hunts Africa has to offer. They are cunning animals and getting a successful bait going takes time and patience. When that white head breaks the darkness, they can bring on a serious bout of buck fever.
We often hear hunters mentioning that they are not interested in Bushpigs because they shoot many pigs back home. Bushpigs are not a feral species. They are a species in their own and worthy of its own place in any hunter's display room.

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We got the call that the hounds were chasing and moved to the area. By the time we got to the hounds the cat had already climbed. While trying to find an opening for the 22 Hornet for a clean shot, the Caracal decided that it had seen enough and decided to jump with a pack of roughly 12 hounds on its tail. Roughly a minute later, we could year the distinctive barking from one of the lead hounds, confirming that the Caracal had treed again. This time, much deeper and closer to the bottom of the valley in the thick undergrowth. This time around, we moved slowly, not to make the cat nervous. We found a perfect window to the vitals and the little 45gr'er found it mark.

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In the pursuit of claiming sustainability in our conservation through hunting model, it is paramount to do one's utmost best in taking animals closer to being past their prime than the alternative. We can fully appreciate that every animal on safari simply cannot tick this box, but it needs to be extremely high on the aim of each outfit. This responsibility should not lie with the hunter, but rather with your Professional Hunter. Here is a great Nyala bull where one can clearly see the indentations just below the spine showing body condition in decline. I will leave this post with a great quote by Aristotle: ”We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is then not an act, but a habit.” This quote can be applied so well to our hunting model which in return will mean that we will have generations that will still get to hunt and enjoy Africa.

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Some good patience and quick thinking paid dividends on this pig. As hunter and PH were on their way back for lunch, they spotted this boar next to the road about 300 yards from the gate to our base camp. This is the beauty of hunting low fenced areas. Things can happen very quickly. The long grass offered a bit of a challenge in seeing the pig firstly, and then identifying the correct Warthog. Great, old Warthog boar with a face only a mother can love. What they lack for in looks, they make up for in smoked cheese grillers.

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Poor man's Buffalo, the Blue Wildebeest. No doubt the toughest of the lot. Beautiful old bull and with teeth like that, this is what hunting should be about.

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What's better than a Cape Buffalo bull? Two bulls! After success on the first bull, the buffalo went missing for the next day and a half. On departure day, we had roughly 3 hours before we needed to depart with a cut off time in mind. I sent trackers in opposite directions with us checking other areas. The previous day, we had found two tracks which we followed for a few miles, but never caught up to them. The trackers which I had sent to this area, found two lone bulls in the general vicinity of where we left them. We were radioed, to inform us that they had found two lone bulls and managed to close the deal on this big bossed bull.

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Awesome bulls (y) (y)
 
Beautiful Common Reedbuck for our hunter. After spending a few days scouting around and only finding immature rams which we deemed still too soft at the bases, we found this ram by himself. After stalking him, we noticed an extremely nice Kudu bull standing in the shade watching us closely. If he ran, it would probably be all over. We managed to use the darkness offered by the riverine to close the gap to a mere 160 yards from this ram. Finding a small clearance, we got a prone shot which is always first prize.
Common Reedbuck offer some of the best table fare Africa has to offer.

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Ate Reedbuck for the first time this year. DELICIOUS! It was my first night in camp and I complimented whoever of the four hunters that had shot it. Of course, one guy said that it was his. My partner replied, "that explains the small portion".
 
Ate Reedbuck for the first time this year. DELICIOUS! It was my first night in camp and I complimented whoever of the four hunters that had shot it. Of course, one guy said that it was his. My partner replied, "that explains the small portion".
That is very funny. Certainly one of my favorites. Gemsbuck also high on my list.
 
Simply magnificent Kudu bull for our hunter. We are very blessed to hunt some incredible terrain, and what I believe some of the best areas available in the Eastern Cape. We offer both free range as well as managed area hunts. Exceptional animals require exceptional circumstances and that was no different with a great shot on this bull.

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