SOUTH AFRICA: 1st Time Hunting Part 1

Hunter8mm

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Hi all! I am new to the AH community. The following will be an account of my trip to South Africa with my husband in the fall of last year. It was an incredible experience which I am so grateful to have had. My husband and I went with Lianga Safaris and had the privilege of working with the owners Herman and Annette Scheepers. We arrived in South Africa and they picked us up from the airport as promised. They were so friendly and really made us feel at home. When we got to their lodge I was amazed at how beautiful everything was. Our room was clean and nicely decorated. Best of all was seeing their many hunting dogs! I love dogs and so it made me feel even more comfortable and at home being able to interact with their happy pack of pups!

That afternoon, Herman our PH took us out for a quick hunt before dark. My husband was able to get a shot off at a nice blesbuck and that was his first trophy. Unfortunately, after this darkness had set in and he and I were both too tired to keep trekking.

The next day we went out again. While we were riding in the back of the truck, my husband told me that we would be trying for zebra later in the trip but that Herman had another area he wanted to take us for that. He also told me that we would not be shooting any zebra on his land. A little while later, Herman stopped the truck and he and I went stocking for wildebeest. As we went along he lined me up on a zebra. I was confused because I thought I was not allowed to take one on his land. My cross hairs were spot on the shoulder; he said to take the shot and I paused to ask what the price was. Unfortunately, the zebra ran off. Herman then explained to me that if he tells me to take something not to worry about the cost and that we would work it out. To this day I am still mad at myself for being so inexperienced. A perfect line up and I blew it.
Anyway, about an hour later Herman spotted a waterbuck. I got it in my crosshairs and took the shot without hesitation. It hit but we could not find it. Herman thought that I jerked and hit it in the stomach. I am still upset at myself for this because I never wanted the animal to suffer. After searching for a long time all we had found was some stomach bile. The dogs couldn't get a lock on it and Herman said that these animals, when wounded, would generally develop a fever and we should be able to find it around one of the many watering holes on the property. Unfortunately for us a cold front moved in for the next few days and so that never happened and we ended up loosing the waterbuck. After a long while of tracking Herman spotted a herd of blesbuck off to one side. They hadn't seen us yet so we eased into positon on the sticks. I didn't want to repeat my failure so I made sure to line up on it, but as I was still nervous had a bit of hesitation. He told me which one to take and I took the shot. Finally, success! Upon further inspection, we found that I had actually shot it through the neck. While I had aimed on the shoulder, it did prove effective as it dropped on the spot. This was my first ever kill and I was so excited. From there it gave me the confidence needed to hunt the other animals on the list.
To be continued!

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Welcome to AH! Looking forward to the rest of your report.
 
Welcome to AH.
 
Welcome aboard!

Look forward to the report!
 
Great start to the story!
 
Welcome to AH. eagerly awaiting the rest of the story. Pics too please.
Bruce
 
Welcome. Looking forward to your next post.
 
“This was my first ever kill and I was so excited.” Hunter8mm this is awesome to have your first kill in Africa! Cant wait for the next installment!
And welcome to AH!
 
Welcome to AH !

Good start
 
................
As we went along he lined me up on a zebra. I was confused because I thought I was not allowed to take one on his land. My cross hairs were spot on the shoulder; he said to take the shot and I paused to ask what the price was. Unfortunately, the zebra ran off. Herman then explained to me that if he tells me to take something not to worry about the cost and that we would work it out. To this day I am still mad at myself for being so inexperienced. A perfect line up and I blew it. .................

Inexperienced?
There are plenty of "experienced" hunters who should take a lesson from you.
I am absolutely impressed with your conscientious actions. It is imperative that you know your target. The PH can give you a green light it is YOUR responsibility to make the final choice to shoot.
Good for you.

I look forward to rest of your hunt report.
 
Pic of me and one of the pups. Poor girl was blinded in one eye due to a spiting cobra. She has since recovered and is back hunting with her pack!

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I’m leaving on Saturday for my first safari. Going to South Africa. Enjoyed reading your first post.

Jay
 
Hi everyone! Back again with part 2 of my hunting report.
One of the animals I really wanted to get while out in Africa was a big male bushpig. The first night we sat out in a blind about 50yds from a pile of fresh bait. We sat and waited for about 3 hours and did not see a thing. After this, Herman suggested we leave because the wind had begun blowing the wrong way and thus had alerted the pigs to our presence. The land owner told us later that the pigs came in about 20min after we had left! The following night, we set up again only this time we sat out in the open. We set up 70-80yrds away so that if the wind turned again it would be harder for them to detect us. Again, fresh bait was put out and we waited. Herman and I sat there from about 6pm to 1am in the morning. In that whole time the only thing that came in was a porcupine! I finally called it quits because I was getting too tired and cold to focus properly and wanted to have some energy for hunting the next day! So unfortunately I never got a bushpig. However, the experience was a great learning lesson. Those animals are much smarter than I had initially gave them credit for. I thought it would simply involve putting the bait out and they would come waltzing in to get their grub! Those pigs were clever buggers and understood the concept of there is no free lunch. They were watching us that first night and knew to wait until the coast was clear. However, on the drive back to the lodge that night we saw three bushpigs running across the road! Talk about luck! The game is not over though, I will try for one again in 2019!

The next day we set out hunting for zebra and baboon. We hiked and trekked for several hours but did not come across anything. Later in the day we were driving in the truck and Herman our PH suddenly tells the driver to stop. He had me jump down and follow him about 200-250yrds away. He led me to a hiding stand that had rotting stairs. We went up inside of it and he pointed out three impala females to me. That were below us at a watering hole 123yrds away from us. I was so excited but also out of breath! Herman is so athletic and has more energy than I have ever known anyone to have! I aimed but he had me pause for a moment to catch my breath. There was one larger female along side two smaller ones. I asked if I could take the larger of the three and Herman gave the go ahead. I settled my cross hairs on the shoulder and pulled the trigger. She fell where she stood! At the time I didn't know how far away she was, but then Herman informed me that it was 123yrds. I couldn't believe it because I had only practiced at the range back home at 100yrds. I had and still struggle with my confidence levels when it comes to shooting. However, being able to make a clean and quick kill at that range gave me a boost. I was grateful that Herman had me settle down before taking the shot because I don't think I would have had success if he didn't.
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Thanks for reading and part 3 will be coming soon!
 
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I’m leaving on Saturday for my first safari. Going to South Africa. Enjoyed reading your first post.

Jay
Thank you! Best of luck! Be sure to post and fill us all in on your big hunt!
 
Nice shooting.
 
Great job so far! Enjoying the report and looking forward to the next installment :)
 
Really enjoying this report and looking forward to part 3!
 

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