SOUTH AFRICA: Plains Game Package & Cape Buffalo With Bosveld Jacobs In Waterberg, Limpopo

[crackerman]

Posting with a Gin and Tonic in my hand.

I’ve finally got time to sit down and write my hunt report for what I hope is my first of many trips to Africa. Hopefully this report can help someone in the future planning their getaway after bringing down a huge government conspiracy. (If you have read the Jack Carr Terminal List series you get the joke)



The journey started a couple of years ago in 2022 at a local sportsmen’s show when I joined my local SCI chapter for 3 year when I was just expecting to join for 1. I attended a number of meetings and after speaking with my wife who is the smart money person said we could make it work. So we set aside some of my bonus money over 2 years and made it happen.

I booked the trip shortly after doing to the DSC show in Dallas in 2024 where I talked with a number of outfits. I settled on Bosveld Jacobs in the Waterberg district of Limpopo because a number of my local chapter’s members have been there and I hit it off well with Riaan after multiple visits with him at different events. Its definitely worth the small price to visit either SCI or DSC to see how you vibe with the people you are spending a lot of time and money with. After a crap day with a local duck guide that I believe we were lucky not to get arrested, I insist on meeting guides face to face before I spend the money with them.

With that prologue out of the way I spent the year between my booking and my trip practicing a lot of things including shooting of the Africa Sporting Creations sticks. My goal from a hunting and financial perspective was to not lose any animals due to bad shots. All that work paid off down the road. Here was a typical target shot standing at 200 yards off my sticks, in no way a sniper but plenty good enough to hit the vitals on an animal. That target is a life-size whitetail vital zone target for reference.

Day 1

April 20th 2025 finally came after 384 days of waiting. I left Boston on United and after a short hop to Newark I had 8 hours to kill and had lucked out on a Business class upgrade so I killed time in the Polaris club. Eventually the time came and I boarded for the dream flight to JoBurg.

A long time later I landed in Joburg and was met off the plane by the VIP service from Africa Sky. Zipped through immigration and customs and met the famous Mister Gilbert. I had RiflePermits.com do my permit was met by Marius and sailed through SAPS. The group headed over to Africa Sky and checked in and settled down for dinner. Had a great meal of Lamb with chocolate cake for dessert

Day 2

April 21st

Woke up to the first full day in Africa and had breakfast and then got picked up by Hendru a young Appie PH and started our 2 ½ drive to the lodge. After a quick stop at the bar/hotel owned by the outfitter for a beer we arrived at the lodge! The lodge just opened in February so the taxidermy needed to be hung but the barndominum concept was pretty nice and had 6 individual rooms all facing the river. We had lunch of Kudu lasagna and Greek salad and then I settled into my room.

Once we settled in myself and the other pair of friends loaded up and went to the range to sight in. The other gentlemen went first and while all was well for the most part the guy shooting a braked .300 Weatherby magnum with different bullet weights was an interesting challenge. I was shooting a CZ600 LUX in .30-06 topped with a Trijicon Credo 2.5-15x42 with a Kenton custom dial loaded with 180gr Barnes TTSX, I also shot my Q Fix topped with a Sig Sauer Sierra3BDX in 2.5-8x36 shooting 168gr Barnes TTSX.

After all the administrative work was done my PH, Tracker, Cameraman, and I headed out to look for my first African Animal! We entered a property and then hopped off the truck. We walked around for a bit and saw Kudu, Waterbuck, Zebra, and Wildebeest. We walked a while but came up empty. As we walked back to the truck the PH saw a couple of Warthogs but none with tusks. The PH then saw a shooter and we got one the sticks but there was one much closer that we were worried about busting us. Eventually the problem one ran off while the target one came closer and the realized we where there. I shot it on the run with a quartering away shot. We took off chasing the Warthog and after about 200 yards came up on the massive blood trail leading to where it was tucked under a tree and the PH gave it a security shot in the head. First African animal in the salt and we went back to the lodge and had a great dinner.

 

[crackerman]

Day 3

April 22nd

Woke up, breakfast, and then we were out the door by 6am. We went back to the same property and began looking. We had a special moment when my PH spotted a Leopard walking through the grass.

The camera man said he had lived there his whole life and had never seen one. We made our way to a good spot to glass and spotted a herd of Wildebeest and began a stalk. We tracked them for a while and the PH eventually got me on the sticks at about 200 yards. I put the CZ600 Lux on the sticks and pulled the trigger, and friggen missed! The PH and camera man were being nice saying I missed by only a few inches in front of the animal. The herd ran off so the PH sent the tracker with the truck to push the animals back to us. We were hiding behind bushes as the animals came back towards us and as the animals came back to about 100 yards the PH put the sticks up and I settled the crosshairs on the shoulder and boom! One more animal down! It was an old bull with worn down teeth and cracked hard bosses.

We spent the rest of the evening driving around looking for other animals but didn’t see anything worth taking. Got back to the lodge and met a couple other groups that had arrived.

Day 4

April 23rd

Another early wake up and out the door by 6am again. We headed out to a new property that required a long drive because the other road had washed out due to an unprecedented amount of rain that the area received over the last few weeks. We arrived to the property and drove around seeing Zebra, Eland, and wildebeest. We continued to drive around and spotted some Zebra so we jumped off the truck and began the stalk. We went through some muddy rocky terrain that the PH said was normally dry but again due to the crazy rain there was water everywhere. We got close to a small herd but they ran off to the wind. We walked about 2 miles and then found a mixed group of wildebeest, eland, and zebra.

We stalked the herd while playing the wind and hiding behind brush. There was a low spot in the brush where we got spotted by an eland bull but were apparently sneaky enough to get by. As we were going I making the effort to step where the PH was but I missed one spot and stepped on a burnt bush, the look I got from the PH was hilarious. We got around the brush and the PH threw up the sticks. He pointed out the zebra to shoot and said when the impala get out of the way shoot. The impala moved and I shot to which the PH said it was very fast, I told him I just did exactly what you told me too! The zebra ran maybe 50 feet and dropped to the single shot. It turned out to be a perfect heart shot and that Barnes is effective.

After a good nap we got moving again and decided if we could find a large warthog the PH knew lived on the property. As we were going towards the location the PH saw a great old Impala bull. We hopped off the truck and made a quick stalk. The PH threw up the sticks and I lined up the CZ600 and dropped the Impala.

The Barnes made a hell of a hole on the back side and we loaded the buck up and then cruised back to pick up the Zebra carcass. On the way back we spotted a jackal that I completely whiffed the shot but it was funny.

 

[crackerman]

Day 5

April 24th

This day started at 3:00am when I was woken up by crazy rain and thunder. The rain railed hard until about 11am but it wound up being one of the most relaxing days I’ve had in years. I took a nap for hours and I think the PH’s eventually got bored so everyone loaded up with their PHs and we went to Bullseye Taxidermy. Lots of cool taxidermy and the organization was amazing knowing where everything is. I’m glad that we got a chance to see the whole process and it was very interesting for a QA nerd.

Day 6

April 25th

I had hunted everything in my initial package so I decided to go after a cow buffalo. While I would love a good ‘ol Dagga boy, the cow worked with my budget and a cranky buffalo is a cranky buffalo. We headed out to a road that was probably nice pre rain but felt like an offroad trophy truck course. I’ve never shot a .375 so we pulled into a farm field and the tracker walked to a tree about 100 yards away and hacked out a circle. I lined up on the sticks and hit the circle so good to know I can shoot a big bore well enough.

We then headed out to the property for the buffalo and spend the morning walking around some thick stuff looking for the buffalo. At one point we headed into some thick stuff that was YouTube change video worthy. We found nothing but decided to go for lunch which consisted of Kudu sausages. The tracker and a property worker spotted the cow and began to climb the mountain while we drove around to the other side to see if they would drive it over. We spotted some juvenile kudu and a random fallow deer wandered out. We hung out for a while but no luck, so we took a quick tour of the property going by the airstrip, helipad, and lodge. I need to win the lotto.

 

[crackerman]

Day 7

April 26th

Woke up again and had a great breakfast and was out the door early again. We headed back to the first property we had hunted on a search for Bushbuck. I brought my .308 to get another animal with it. Off in the distance we saw a bunch of wildebeest and bushbucks with the occasional waterbuck. We got to a good point where the PH through we could make a good stalk. We began to get close, but they busted us. They ran off quite a way but we were able to put a large chunk of vegetation between us and them. We did have to low crawl a bit, but we got to a shooting position and the PH put up the sticks. He said as soon as the extra animal moved shoot. The extra animal moved away, and I pulled the trigger. The PH seemed a bit disappointed because he was not sure if I missed or hit too far back because it never jumped. He was then “nope it’s going down” and his mood brightened considerably. The shot was farther back than I would have liked but an animal going no more than 50 yards is a good shot.

We went back to the lodge for lunch and then headed out to a different property for the buffalo. We arrived to the property and drove around until we found some tracks. We got off the truck and stalked to about 100 yards and it was the first time I had seen a cape buffalo in real life and it was a rush. The herd had a bull, a number of cows, and calves. They ran off so we went back to the truck and drove around until we found them again. We got off the truck and then begun to sneak up playing the wind. We moved up inch by inch and I could hear my pulse pounding in my ears. We got to within 60 yards when the PH put out the sticks. I settled onto the sticks and sighted onto the shoulder of the buff. When the herd spread out I pulled the trigger and the shot landed true on the shoulder. The cow fell over where it stood and stayed down. The herd did not break immediately, and it was tense as we began to move towards the herd to push them off. They did and we moved closer and I paid 3 insurance shots in the still down buff. The PH seemed not absolute, so I said to him “if you want to shoot go ahead”. He anchored it for sure with 1 round of .458 Lott. I was not so stubborn as to be against the PH helping. With that my first DG animal was down! That was an absolute rush and I will be doing it again and hopefully a Moz Bull hunt will be within my reach some day. For now I am happy.

We made our way back to camp and wow! Every PH was congratulating me and the other guests seemed in awe a bit other than the 87 year old who shot a buff that week too. I don’t claim to have shot a dagga boy but I feel like I am in a cool club that I went and hunted Dangerous Game. It was as much a rush as jumping out of planes, racing motorcycles, and running code 3 EMS calls. I sensing a personality type likes DG, lol.



Day 8

April 27th

My hunting on this trip was complete so when the PH asked what I wanted to do it was fishing and beer. We had a morning hitting up some curio shops and then went to the cameraman’s house to grab some fishing gear.

We spent the afternoon fishing, drinking beer, and just enjoying the week. Pictured is the biggest fish I have ever caught in South Africa. It was the perfect low key way to end the week.

 

[Frederik]

Thanks for sharing welcome to the buffalo club.

 

[Nyati]

Congrats on your hunt and thanks for sharing !

 

[franzfmdavis]

That is a fantastic write up great pictures! You got there the day we left so it was so fun reading your report! Took me right back!!!