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AH fanatic
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2012
- Messages
- 571
- Reaction score
- 518
- Media
- 39
- Member of
- NRA, SCI, DSC, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever
- Hunted
- USA, RSA, Zimbabwe
We spent Saturday looking for and stalking zebra and kudu. Ryan made several unsuccessful stalks on zebra. It seemed like we saw zebra everywhere until we decided to hunt one, then they became very elusive.
Ryan on one of his zebra stalks....
In the afternoon, we found a nice kudu bull, traveling with a couple of younger bulls and some cows. We spotted them on a hillside and tried to get in position for a stalk. The old bull was clever and didn't offer us an opportunity as he moved off to the other side of the hill with his harem in tow. We drove the bakkie down the trail and tried to get ahead of them so we could make a stalk and try and intercept them. Henk and Elias made a plan and we set out, stalking up the mountainside. We stopped once to reconnoiter and set out again. The last 100 yards we belly-crawled and got to the spot where Henk thought I could get a shot. Henk and Elias glassed for 10 or 15 minutes, then all of a sudden, the sticks were down and there he was. The bush was thick, but it looked like a clear shot to his shoulder. Two slow breaths, squeeze the trigger and the 300 barked. After I settled from the recoil Henk asked how it felt. I told him I was steady and I was on his shoulder. He saw no reaction from the bull. Now the doubts set in. Had I missed? Had I wounded another? It was only a 100 yard shot. How could it not have been true?
We gave it a couple of minutes and went for a look. About half way between where I took the shot and where the bull stood, there it was. A branch, about the size of my forearm. My bullet had clearly struck the branch and deflected. We checked for blood and other sign to be sure, but we concluded it was a clean miss. Aargh...I was suffering the curse of the kudu!
We returned to the lodge Saturday evening with nothing in the bag, which was ok as we had enjoyed such success to that point. As my father-in-law says, if you filled your tag every time out, they would just call it killing, not hunting. However, we had two days left and I was really doubting whether I would connect on a kudu.
Ryan on one of his zebra stalks....
In the afternoon, we found a nice kudu bull, traveling with a couple of younger bulls and some cows. We spotted them on a hillside and tried to get in position for a stalk. The old bull was clever and didn't offer us an opportunity as he moved off to the other side of the hill with his harem in tow. We drove the bakkie down the trail and tried to get ahead of them so we could make a stalk and try and intercept them. Henk and Elias made a plan and we set out, stalking up the mountainside. We stopped once to reconnoiter and set out again. The last 100 yards we belly-crawled and got to the spot where Henk thought I could get a shot. Henk and Elias glassed for 10 or 15 minutes, then all of a sudden, the sticks were down and there he was. The bush was thick, but it looked like a clear shot to his shoulder. Two slow breaths, squeeze the trigger and the 300 barked. After I settled from the recoil Henk asked how it felt. I told him I was steady and I was on his shoulder. He saw no reaction from the bull. Now the doubts set in. Had I missed? Had I wounded another? It was only a 100 yard shot. How could it not have been true?
We gave it a couple of minutes and went for a look. About half way between where I took the shot and where the bull stood, there it was. A branch, about the size of my forearm. My bullet had clearly struck the branch and deflected. We checked for blood and other sign to be sure, but we concluded it was a clean miss. Aargh...I was suffering the curse of the kudu!
We returned to the lodge Saturday evening with nothing in the bag, which was ok as we had enjoyed such success to that point. As my father-in-law says, if you filled your tag every time out, they would just call it killing, not hunting. However, we had two days left and I was really doubting whether I would connect on a kudu.