NAMIBIA: KHOMAS HIGHLAND HUNTING SAFARIS - Philip Hennings

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DAY 7
May 15th
Weather: 50–80°F
Location: Casanova

At this point, the only thing left on my list was an oryx. We started the morning seeing oryx right away. The first group didn’t have one with quite the look I was after—decent animals, but not what I wanted to end the list with.

Not too long into the morning, we spotted another group that had a good-looking cow. She had great mass and pretty good length, and after a quick discussion with the team, I decided she was the one.

I don’t even remember the exact distance of the shot—maybe 280 or 300 yards. I set up on the tripod, got steady, and took the shot. Down she went.

And just like that, I was done. Or at least, I thought I was.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, and I actually took all of May 16th off—just enjoying the lodge, the food, the company, and soaking in everything we’d accomplished so far.

That night, sitting around the fire on the 16th, George (who I had traveled with) came over and surprised me. He said, “I’d like you to keep hunting and try to take a larger kudu.” He was gifting me another kudu hunt—an incredibly generous gesture I won’t forget.

I only had 1.5 days left to hunt—the full day on the 17th, and just the evening of the 18th, since Katrin from INGWE Taxidermy was coming the next morning to collect our trophies and talk through the taxidermy work.

I went to bed that night early, excited, and ready to chase down one last trophy.

 

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DAY 9 - FINAL DAY
May 17th
Weather: 50–80°F
Location: Butcher John’s (behind the lodge)

We got up early, and George asked one of the other PHs, Isaac, to help judge kudu that day. So now the team was made up of two PHs—Isaac and Adab—as well as Mentos and Santos. George and Isaac had seen a good kudu bull the day before, so we were headed back to Butcher John’s place behind the lodge.

The plan was to make a big circle around the area where they’d seen the bull, hoping he hadn’t moved too far overnight. Then, if nothing turned up, we’d head to Casanova that evening. The sun was still low, and in the wintertime, kudu typically don’t move much until it warms up a bit.

Once we made it to the side of the mountain where the bull had been spotted the day before, we began glassing—and right away, we started seeing kudu. Over 30–45 minutes, we spotted a small bull and about 8–10 cows, but not the one we were looking for.

We decided to drive up higher, where we could get a different angle. The walk wasn’t far, so Isaac and Mentos stayed behind in the truck to glass, while Adab, Santos, and I hiked over to a better glassing point.

And sure enough—we found him. About 60 yards away, bedded and facing away from us. The wind was right, and we were behind big rocks, so everything looked good. But we couldn’t tell for sure if he was big enough. We used the handheld radios to call Isaac and Mentos to help us judge him.

Just when things seemed perfect, a group of cows spotted Isaac and Mentos approaching—and just like that, the whole group spooked and took off over the next ridge. No roads led over there, so we regrouped and headed back to the truck.

The new plan was to hunt our way out of Butcher John’s and head to Casanova. About an hour later, while glassing, I spotted some kudu myself, which didn’t happen often on this trip. It was mostly cows—probably seven or so—but we couldn’t see the bull at first.

Eventually, Santos spotted the bull, but we still couldn’t see his horns clearly. We set up the tripod and waited. As usual, the bull was behind two trees, standing in the shadows about 280 yards away, up toward the top of a small mountain while we were at the base.

We waited a solid 45 minutes, hoping he’d step out. Finally, we sent Santos up the road in the truck to try to spook the group slightly—just enough to get them to shift. It didn’t work, so we kept waiting.

Both Isaac and Adab told me clearly: “Do not shoot when he steps out. We’ll judge him, then tell you to shoot or not.” I said, “Understood.”

Finally, after over an hour, he stepped out—and both of them said, “Shoot!” So I did—and down he went.

We climbed to the top, and when we got there, we measured him. He had three inches more per side in length than the wide kudu I’d taken earlier in the hunt. Mission accomplished.

I still loved the wide kudu—its look and character were incredible—but this one had that extra reach we were hoping for.

And with that, my hunting was officially done.

I couldn’t have dreamed I would enjoy hunting Namibia and with Phillip Hennings at Khomas Highland Hunting Safaris as much as I did. It was ten times better than my wildest expectations.

Thank you, Phillip, and the entire team at Khomas—this was the hunt of a lifetime.