SOUTH AFRICA: 10 Day Lady's Hunt

LJ SAFARIS

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We have just completed an all ladies 10 day hunt. Kelly is wanting to promote more ladies to hunt and what better way to do it by hunting in Africa with her own lady Professional Hunter. Lauren was her PH and has been a PH for almost 10 years now. First time to South Africa on a hunt, Kelly was very excited. On day of arrival Lauren met her at the airport and started that same afternoon by checking rifles at our Coastal Concession.

That first afternoon we took it easy and went for a walk to see what we see. The weather was starting to move in, we have just come out of a drought so any rain is much appreciated.

The next day we were out looking for a Blesbuck but conditions were not easy as it was raining. We spotted a nice old Blesbuck ram lying down in long grass and the stalk was on. After a sneaky plan we were in the ideal position. He was in range and Kelly made a perfect shot. That following day was poor rainy weather with not many animals moving about. We attempted to hunt but unfortunately no luck.


The next morning we were out looking for Impala, Common Duiker, Kudu or Warthog or anything that presented itself that we would like to hunt. Far in the distance we spot a bachelor herd of impala. Strategies put in place and off we went. Having a herd of Eland near to the Impala, it made many more eyes to be aware of. We got into a prime position and once we selected the ram we wanted to shoot Kelly made, yet again, a great shot. He was down! As we started walking over to where the Impala was lying a Common Duiker appeared, ran to a small shrub and lay down. As Lauren picked her binos up, gave him one look and the stalk was on again. He lay down in a large open area in front of a small bush. We stalked closer but at 50 yards, he was still lying down. We tried to manoeuvre to the side but he unfortunately jumped up and ran away.

That afternoon we spotted some Zebra and Warthogs. We were in range to hunt both and as we sat waiting for the right opportunity the big zebra stallion decided he wanted to see what the object was next to the bush. He moved in closer and closer towards us until he was about 100 yards out. The Warthogs kept moving further away in the distance and the zebra kept moving in closer. After quite a while the zebra had moved off and the stalk was on to get nearer to the Warthogs. A cull pig was selected and a perfect shot was made.

That same afternoon one last stalk was put in before heading back to the lodge and a zebra was hunted. A great shot was made!

With the rains moving in more and more each day we decided to head up to our Karoo Concession a few days earlier and then return to the Coastal Lodge nearer to the end of our 10 day hunt to hunt Kudu, Bushbuck, Warthog and Common Duiker.

Arriving at the Karoo Concession it was raining and there was some thunder in the skies. We decided to try and see if we could find some springbuck close to the lodge area. Not wanting to move too far away in case the big storm moved in. We saw plenty but just not quite the ram we were looking for.

On Friday the 13th we were determined to hunt and get an Eland. We moved into the big mountain range of the 75 000 acre hunting area. Here we have seen herds of Eland ranging from 20 – 200 in one group. After spending most of the day stalking and walking the mountain range, we had no luck. We started to head back as we where about an hour or 2s drive away from the lodge. On our way back we spotted a lone big Eland bull in the distance and the stalk was on. Kelly made an impeccable shot and the Eland was down. We went back to the lodge with big smiles. The animals we were looking for at our Karoo Concession was Eland, Springbuck and Kudu.


Our second morning we headed out in search of what ever we could find. Unfortunately we did not have any success and headed back to the lodge for some brunch. That afternoon we decided to take it easy as the previous day’s hunting Eland was a very long and hot day.

On our last morning we went out to the flat areas, below some big Mountains, in search of Springbuck. Using the bushes in the small river beds we stalked a lone Springbuck ram. Some Blue Wildebeest in the distance spotted us and started giving alarm calls. The Springbuck was wary but wasn’t sure what was going on. We got Kelly onto the bipods and while quartering towards us, once again, she made a brilliant shot.

Next we were our looking for non trophy springbuck to make a round beautiful rug from the flat skins. We spotted a small group in the distance and moved towards that area. While sneaking over a little “koppie” Kelly taps me on my shoulder and says look there. Low and behold a young male springbuck lying down about 40 yards from us and had no clue that we were there. Kelly got set up and soon the springbuck stood up. He was down. While heading back to the lodge area to get our Springbuck in the salt we came across a great cull springbuck. He gave us ample time and then he too was down.

Hunting the Karoo area with its beautiful landscapes is truly breathtaking and always a truly memorable hunt!

Had a fantastic lunch back at the lodge, packed up and headed back down to the Coast for the last few 2 hunting days of our 10 day lady hunt.



Arriving late the afternoon with poor weather again, we took it easy. The next day we were out looking for Bushbuck, Kudu, Warthog and Common Duiker. The hunting of Bushbuck and Kudu is a little different, it’s sitting at lookouts for about an hour glassing prime areas. We moved around and while walking into a prime area for Warthogs we spotted 2 young boars play fighting. They were near to a large herd of Nyalas and the difficult stalk started. We got within shooting range and luckily for us the Warthogs were feeding towards us. The Nyala moved off slowly and the Warthogs were out in the open. Kelly made a great shot and the Warthog was lying 20 yards from where it was shot.

We headed to Kenton on Sea for brunch and an outing. After our tummys were full from a delicious brunch, we headed back to get ready for the afternoons hunt.

While hunting different spots and glassing at a few lookouts, from the one lookout I heard a slush noise, as if something jumped into the waterhole below. Soon after I hear a whistle and my tracker says “Ngulube! Ngulube!” One does not often see Bushpig during the day time as they are nocturnal animals. One hunts them at night where they feed at crop plantations or at bait areas. The other way to hunt them is with dogs during the mornings. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, seeing a Bushpig during the day time. We have only ever shot one in the day time with a client once before! Kelly and I moved to where the tracker was, I get Kelly set up and we waited for the Bushpig to show himself. We could hear him walking in the water and after a while he walked out onto the sand. Kelly took a good look at him and said she wants to hunt him. The Bushpig moved slightly towards us and with the worry of him getting away, Kelly made a perfect shot while he was walking. A lot of praise and a very proud PH we had an exceptional Bushpig. This was the highlight of my hunt with Kelly.

Last day of hunting… With a few animals still on our list we decided to hunt which ever presented itself. After sitting and glassing at one of the lookouts for about an hour a Bushbuck ran out from a bush and lay in front of a large cactus far off in the distance, on one of the plains we were glassing. We watched him for a little while and he settled in at that spot so we decided to try our luck.

After a very quiet stalk and luck on our side, the Bushbuck was still sleeping in front of the large cactus. We got to 50 yards from the Bushbuck ram and he looked very comfortable. After about 40mins of watching him sleep and him looking our way every now and again. We decided to try wake him up. I whistled, nothing. I waved my hands in the air, nothing. We waved the shooting sticks in the air, nothing. I whistled again, still nothing!

After an hour and 10mins, the Bushbuck ram decided to stand up. As soon as he was up Kelly made a great shot and the Bushbuck was down. That afternoon a thunderstorm moved in and halted our hunt a little bit. We decided to call it a day and went back to the lodge.

It was a really great 10 day hunt and Kelly left extremely happy. So much so she is already planning hunting trip for 2021!

Looking forward to hunting with you again Kelly!

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Thanks for sharing! Congrats to the hunters
 
GREAT shooting... What caliber rifle and bullet type did you use on yhis hunt.
 
GREAT shooting... What caliber rifle and bullet type did you use on yhis hunt.
We used a 300 Win Mag and S&B 180 grain bullets. The bullet has a Barnes tip and this ammo gives great performance.
 
Great report on an even greater hunt. I don't know when I've seen South Africa look so green!
 
I love that massive headed bushpig! And it sounds like you made the most of an exciting hunting opportunity. Congrats on all your animals!
 
That is a really impressive bushpig. I hope your client realizes how lucky she was for that opportunity.
 
Hi All, thank you all for the messages.

Yes the Eastern Cape is very green at the moment due to a lot of rain that we had in February.

The Bushpig was Kelly's favorite animal of the hunt too, she loved all the character in the Bushpigaas well as in some of the other animals we hunted. She definitely did realize how special is was.

Thank you for all the comments and congrats. I love photography and love capturing all the different views of the hunt.

The Eland hunt, we have a choice of over 800 Eland on the Concession. We passed up on quite a few and then spotted this one in a great stalking area. We stalked to about 150 yards and she made a good shot. The bullets we were using is S&B 180grains and she was shooting a Howa .300.

Thanks again for all the comments.

Kind regards
Lauren
 
Any Pumba? They are cool. That Bushpig his s nicd specimen
 
Fantastic hunt report and great pictures!
Thanks for posting.
 
Ladies Hunt with LJ Safaris South Africa by LJ Safaris posted May 28, 2020 at 3:10 PM
 

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