NAMIBIA: BOWHUNT: Namibia Bow Hunt With Eintracht Jagd Safaris July 2018

[Lee M]

Day 10
Today three of us went 2 hours south (1 hour south of Windhoek) to hunt a very rocky and hilly area that had a good population of mountain zebra. It had other animals as well, but this was our main target. Hunter101 went to another farm near the main ranch to stalk a kudu, as this was his remaining primary bow target.

The mountain zebra area was even rockier and steeper than I expected and I was amazed that the trucks were able to get up and down the way they did. As we were only spending one day here and we knew that this was a more open hunting area we all had guns. I borrowed a .300 WSM from my PH. We drove for about 30 mins, came around a bend and spotted a few baboon running up a side hill. There was a big one but I was a little slow getting out and into position for shot. I walked toward them and a small one appeared and started to move off at about 250 yards. I took a crack at him and was lucky to see him topple over immediately. I guess I had no excuses about using an unfamiliar gun if I got a crack at a zebra. We soon spotted a small group of zebra but they were about a mile away and saw us long before we did. We tried to drive around to get on the other side of the hill for a stalk, but could not find them again. Bill and Dakota were in another vehicle and had similar luck. Bill did manage to stalk into position and get a 200 yard shot on a good stallion. It ended up at the bottom of a ravine and was a difficult but doable recovery.

There was a leopard hunter in camp so we stopped and checked two baits for him. There were pics of a hyena, numerous honey badgers and a genet, but no leopard. The property was very large, so there no issue with us hunting one section as the area that the baits had been getting hit was a few miles away.

We saw another group of zebra before lunch, but they were too far off with no good approach.

After lunch we headed back out and saw another group that was closer. We made a stalk but when we got to about 350 yards another group of zebra came from a different direction and messed up the whole situation. So we went back to the truck and headed off. We spotted a group of 7 or so zebra at the top of one of the hills. My PH glassed closely and said it looked like a group of 5 stallions and 2 mares. I have good eyes but I laughed and said -> looks like 7 black and white zebra to me. I can usually see game as good as the guides and trackers, but in this hilly rocky terrain I was always the last to see the zebra and even this took some time. Their stripes were perfect camo. They were a good 1000 yards above us and content to stay there and watch us. So we made a stalk up the side of the hill while our tracker moved up the other side. They decided to bolt and for some reason came right down the hill towards the truck, where none of us were at. They circled around to the left trying to make a loop back towards their previous position and we were fortunate to be in the right spot and intersect them at about 200 yards. I was on the sticks but they were clumped together and Zebra parts were facing every direction. After about 5 seconds one cleared from the group and was facing me and I took a front-on chest shot. It dropped like it was a head shot, but I wasn't 100% sure as it went out of site. I was thinking of taking two (as I wanted to do some chairs and also possibly a demaska mount) but hesitated wondering if the first was down, and then they all bolted. We hiked down to the spot and took some good pics with my zebra. It was a mare and one of the smaller ones of the group but still nice and had great distinct markings. It will make a great rug or demaska. My PH has also had good success taking a few clients on bow hunts here and said the key is to stalk up over the top and drop down on them. That would be a fun hunt but would require a few days and a good set of lungs. Billc and Dakota had some good opportunities in the afternoon and Bill added to his "funky" animal collection taking a crooked horn waterbuck.

We saw numerous Oryx, Hartebeest, warthogs and a very nice kudu during the day as well. We headed home at dark and had a nice dinner at the main ranch. Hunter101 was also successful getting a nice kudu with the bow after a few early blown stalks. We headed off to bed knowing we had one more day of hunting before it was over. And what a day the last one turned out to be...

 

[RBurg44]

Great report! Looks like you had a blast lee

 

[Lee M]

Day 11
Today was going to be our last full day of hunting. I wanted another pig, so we went back to the same farm where we had been seeing a steady stream of porkers coming into the water throughout the day. I had first named this the "gate" farm and then renamed it the "pig" farm. When we arrived at the blind there was a group of red hartebeest and kudu at the water. Some good bull reds, but I did not notice any horns on the kudu. Was now second guessing myself on not coming at daylight. We settled in to wait for the sun to rise higher, the temps to climb and the pigs to arrive. Two very big cows came in and began having a territory dispute. This continued on and off for a hour. Two groups of sow's with young piglets came in but with the cows still hanging out and causing commotion never really fully came in. The cows then slightly moved off and I was optimistic. Time passed and finally a medium sized pig came close but stopped short and then left. Was the wind swirling? I was concerned as I really wanted another pig. Then I noticed something at the waterhole... It was a snake that came in slowly for a drink. I told my PH and he seemed a little surprised due to the time of year. He glassed it and I asked him what kind it was. He said an Egyptian cobra. WHAT? Are you kidding me??? He was 27 yards away so no big deal. 1o mins later he slowly slithered off, mostly going farther away, but slightly to the left. An hour passed and a good warthog came in from the right at 23 yards. I raised the bow, pulled back and got set. I forgot to turn on the single pin light again, but asked the PH to twist it for me and i was set. He was on the pig with his phone video and I released the arrow. The arrow flew true and was a good heart/lung pass through. The pig bolted away did a loop back to the right and flopped over about 50 yards from the water hole. I could not see in that direction, so Pieter tried to sucker me in by saying he was concerned that the shot was so far back. I knew he tried to play this trick on clients and was sure I hit the 10 ring. He got out of the blind and said bring your bow and gear so we can get some pics. I gathered my stuff which took a minute and stepped out of the blind and that is when things got interesting. Slithering on the ground about 15 feet away and moving my way was the cobra. I said hey Pieter, our friend the cobra is paying a visit and he urgently spoke up and said just move out of the way. The snake went under a brush pile that was against our blind and was still moving toward the pop up blind. I was now 20 feet away and the snakes tail was sticking out of the brush. Pieter came over and looked for his head to ensure it was 6 feet in front of his tail and then when confirmed, grabbed the tail and flipped the snake out and away from our brush pile/blind. What a show... The Namibian Indiana Jones. The cobra flattened his head and let us know he was not a garter snake. He then got a long stick and pushed him in the direction away from the blind. This was a crazy moment for a PA boy... Pieter let me take some video and kicked a little dirt at the snake to get him to flatten his head. The darn snake kept turning around and heading for our brushpile/blind. Pieter moved him at least three times away, but he kept coming back, so we had to take other action to end this episode. So for all you hunters who go to Africa in June/July thinking it is winter and snakes are hibernating, think again. This farm now officially dropped the name of "gate" or "pig" farm and was now the "Cobra" farm.

We headed back for lunch around 1 pm. On the way home Pieter told me that if your ever bitten by a poisonous snake, it is best to sit back in the shade under a tree. He then paused and followed up with, "As the sun does bad things to a rotting corpse". LOL

After lunch, we relaxed a while and headed out around 3 pm. Bill C was going for a springbuck and I decided to go out looking for an Oryx with a gun. I wanted a good spot and stalk in the free range.

Berger (other PH) and I went out an drove on the Pieter's family land, which is massive. We drove and stopped and glassed for about an hour. We saw a huge warthog at one of the water troughs we passed, but that block had already been checked. We also saw a pretty good bull Kudu in a group of 5 cows. That was encouraging as rabies did impact the kudu and Eland population in the area around the home farm. We came up on a group of Reds and Oryx and they took off about 300 yards from us, so we stopped and started glassing. We ended up seeing three different groups of Oryx far off in the distance and decided to park the truck and try to stalk them. They didn't know we were there and started slowly moving together and to the right. This was good as there was a thick area on our side of them that we could circle around and go through. It took us almost an hour to make the sneak. During the stalk we kicked out an Aardwolf which was awesome to see. When we came out of the thick stuff we had most of the Oryx in front of us about 350 yards out. I wanted to sneak closer to the 200 yard range. We started doing this and noticed a few Oryx about 60-80 yards to our right. Then some more off to our left. We glassed the close ones but they were only average in age/size. We crawled closer and then popped up behind some brush for the final glassing. We could now make out the main group. There were about 10 spread out over 300 horizontal yards and they were still moving to the right. We glassed a nice bull and two of the bigger females in the group. The male was similar to my bow kill, while the females seemed to be approaching the magic 40" range. One had a very curvy horn, the other a more straight horns with a little wiggle on one the last few inches. They must be related I thought. I decided to go for the second female. We ranged her at 210 yards and I got on the sticks and fired. The shot felt good and we heard the good thump/crack and she reacted with a kick and sprint. All chaos broke loose with the other animals around, including a few more we didn't realize were inside 100 yards from us. We went up to the brush pile she disappeared behind and she was piled up. It wasn't 40 yards from the shot. We called the tracker and gave him our location. It took him about 20 mins for the truck to arrive, so I realized how far we actually gone to get into position. At this point the sun was going down and the rays of light were scattered across the terrain. It was a day I will remember for a long time and a great finish to 10 day hunt. Namibia is a beautiful country.

Back a camp we arrived and saw that Bill was successful getting a very nice and thick springbuck. He said Pieter is the master of stalking and got him way closer then he thought was possible. We measured my Oryx at 39", a great trophy to me based on the experience and not the tape! Here are some pics. I'll get a video or two posted shortly as well.

 

[machinistbutler]

Beautiful pics and great story. Got shivers with you talking about the snake.

I was quite concerned about running into a black mamba there. Pieter just shrugged when I asked about them. His reply was "If you see me run, you had better run too. " He always had a slight smile when he answered this Canadians questions.

Loved the write up, every paragraph and picture took me back to being there again .

Thanks for sharing!

 

[flatwater bill]

Great hunt............I especially like those thick tusked wartpigs..........some awesome trophies here.................well done..............FWB

 

[Hunter101]

Hello, to all that's looking for a great place to hunt. Pieter Delport is the man Eintracht Jagd Safaris in Namibia. Pieter has huge free range properties that is loaded up with game. Will be very difficult to fine a place that has more animals and giants then Pieter place. Take your rifle and smack a few giants or bring your bow and set over water or stalk whatever you like. Pieter can get it done just by tracking tracks in the sand until he gets you in range of a old kudu bull. I seen first hand Pieter and his tracker work out a track. You will see a ton of pigs,giant springbok,reds, and oryx, and whatever else you want in his bow infested properties. I have bow hunted a few place over in south Africa and Namibia. Pieter's hunting area is by far one of the best for a great bow hunt or rifle. My opinion nobody can offer a better hunt with less hunting pressure and the number of animals you will see. will have you booking another hunt before you leave!

 

[kathy]

Awesome, you can't beat a VPA solid, I shoot the 175 grain solid. Forrest

 

[RBurg44]

Hey lee you take any pics of the mtn zebra area lodge?

 

[Lee M]

Sorry no pics of that lodge. We were only there for a day. Drove in am and left that evening. Would be good to do 2-3 days there. Great mountain Zebra and some good kudu among other animals.

 

[Lee M]

Crate just arrived. All items packed well.

 

[Lee M]

 

[RBurg44]

@Lee M Making my wait drag out seeing crates come back cant wait to get over there!

 

[CAustin]

Lee you guys had a good hunt! I need to catch up with you and talk sometime.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Sounds like a grand time! I plan to try it out in 2020 splitting time between there and the Limpopo PawPrints tent camp.
Delport has some excellent pricing on the animals commonly found in Namibia!

 

[Lee M]

Can’t imagine a better place for Oryx or warthog. Most on an endless amount of land that you couldn’t cover in a full summer of hunting.

 

[RBurg44]

flew Ethiopia airlines from Wash Dulles to Windhoek (via Ethiopia)

Hey lee what kinda of layover you have there? And how long was the overall flight from dullas to ethiopia to windhoek?

 

[Lee M]

Overall trip 19hr 20 mins. Dulles to Adidas Ababa 14hrs 20 mins, 1:20 layover and then 3:45 to Windhoek. Left 11am Dulles arrived Windhoek just after 12 noon the next day.

 

[RBurg44]

How are they with guns? Pretty easy is there fees or extra paperwork? Im starting to explore my options to get there and i was gonna drive to jfk from MD to get the saa direct flight but with all extra fees and more and more paperwork im exploring options outside of saa now

 

[CAustin]

Again thanks for sharing Lee.

 

[Lee M]

How are they with guns? Pretty easy is there fees or extra paperwork? Im starting to explore my options to get there and i was gonna drive to jfk from MD to get the saa direct flight but with all extra fees and more and more paperwork im exploring options outside of saa now

I only took a bow. However it was in a case they mistook for a gun so they put in security room in Windhoek. It was checked through to Windhoek. No issues getting it looked at and released. Windhoek is a small airport.