joker2400
AH veteran
So I booked this hunt back in November after talking my dad into accompanying me on my 5th hunt to RSA, and my second with Reon and ABS. A quick text to Reon and follow up email to Elmay and we were headed back. Our goals for this trip were archery buffalo for me and eland with an Xbow for my dad.
Given that I'd be pursuing Black Death with archery tackle I decided to upgrade my equipment. I hit the local shop the day after the new bows dropped to try them out. After spending 2 hours shooting a variety of bows, I decided on a slightly discounted Bowtech Solution. I had decided to try out the HMR from Vector Custom Shop as my arrow. The arrow weighed in at 564 grains without the broadhead and was very solidly built.
For the broadheads I had decided to go with the 300 grain single bevel from VPA. However, after trying a few different sharpening methods and failing to get an edge that satisfied me, I decided to switch to the 250gn single bevel from Iron Will Outfitters. These broadheads were definitely not cheap, but razor sharp out of the box and well built. I took the VPAs along for plains game, as they grouped with the IW out to 30 yards. I spent all spring and summer dialing in this setup to 50 yards.
August 11th: Everything is packed up and ready to go at my sister's house. She will be dropping us off at the airport.
August 13th: We are off. Grand Rapids to ATL. 6 hours in the Delta Lounge. Then 15 hours direct into JNB. I went with the Premium Select and it was completely worth every penny. I still only slept maybe 45 minutes of the flight, but a least I was comfortable the remaining 14 hours
August 14th: Made it into JNB. My dad and his girlfriend went to Africa Sky before heading up to Vic Falls for a few days. I made it into camp without too much excitement a little after midnight.
August 15th: Breakfast at 7. I met the other couple in camp. Great people and I enjoyed sharing camp with them. Since I was running on very little sleep we decided that I would sit in a blind for plains game today. I wasnt in the blind long before animals started to show up. First, were the sable. Shortly after the sable left a lonf springbuck ram came in. Quick evaluation showed that it was a mature ram. A little more focus showed that he was badly deconditioned and well into his declining years. I decided to take him as my first animal of the trip. The 864gn arrow may have been overkill for this guy, but it did the job. After hitting a rock the VPA snapped off at the threads, but the HMR was in pretty good shape except for a piece of the outsert that sheared off with the broadhead. After recovering the springbuck, I settled in for the rest of the day. The highlights of the afternoon were a younger buffalo bull and a massive warthog sow.
August 16th: Back in a blind today. I was on the lookout for a nice warthog boar or an impala. We had discussed not shooting females at this point of the season and that the warthog boars had been MIA from the waterholes since June, so I figured I might be in for a long day.
August 17th: Today we start hunting buffalo. We headed to a very scenic concession property about 30 minutes away and found buffalo immediately. Once we started hunting we got onto the buffalo pretty quickly. We found them when they smelled us and stampeded out of their beds. After giving them some time to settle down we circled downwind and worked into 80 yards before being seen by a cow. They busted out and ran down the valley. We followed on their tracks until it became clear they were not going to stop anytime soon and headed back to the truck. As we were driving the roads to see if we could pick up their tracks we saw them cross the road in front of us. We backed out and attempted to circle in front of them as they fed through the bush. As we closed in the wind betrayed us and the exploded out of there. We took a break and had lunch while seeing if we could spot where they had bedded down. No luck. So it was decided we would let them calm down and try again in the morning. I had an uneventful afternoon in a blind.
August 18th: We were back after the buffalo we had seen yesterday. The guys spotted the buffalo while dropping the other hunter off in a blind for kudu. We attempted to close the distance be quietly walking down a sandy road. We got close. A cow spotted us through an opening at about 40 yards and busted out taking the other 20 buffalo with her. We spent the rest of the morning attempting to get back on the herd unsuccessfully. The other hunter had taken a wildebeest around noon, so we went to help with pictures and recovery. We decided to drop the wildebeest at camp and try a different property this afternoon.
We got to the new property and spent several hours attempting to pick up buffalo tracks. We found the herd first. All 50 of them. They appeared to be feeding the direction of a nearby waterhole, so we attempted to cut them off. We got picked off again, but they weren't too spooked and we were able to make another play. We ran out of light before we were able to get close.
August 19th: We went back to the property from yesterday afternoon and got on the tracks early and were able to get on the buffalo several times today, but swirling winds made it impossible to get within archery range.
August 20th: We decided to try a different property today. We spent all day looking for tracks and following a few possibilities with no luck. We had decided to drive around and see if we could spot the herd to make a plan for the following day, when around 430 we stumble across the herd feeding through an opening in the bush about 200 yards away. We immediately made a plan to attempt a stalk. A group of gemsbuck was between us and the buffalo so we waited for them to move off, before starting our approach. We were able to close the distance to about 100 yards fairly quickly. However, it was at this point that the go away birds started to raise a ruckus and put the herd on alert. We waited and stalked around to the clearing the buffalo were feeding into. We startled a group of warthogs out of their burrows as we did this. Luckily the buffalo didn't notice. As the buffalo fed into the clearing we were able to get 25-55 yards from them with cows and young bulls crossing closest and the couple of shooter bulls crossing farther back. We ran out of light and back out before we could spook them.
August 21st: Today we were sitting blinds on the main property as the concessions were unavailable due to it being Sunday. I didn't have any real goals except for maybe a nice impala. Late morning I get a text from my dad that he had shot his eland. A little after this I see the buffalo from earlier in the trip coming into the water. After a couple minutes it becomes clear that he isn't alone. He has a very large young bull and an incredible dagga boy following him. I had wanted to take my buffalo on foot, but I was unable to resist the character of the dagga boy and when he presented a slightly quartering to shot at 20 yards, I took it. The arrow penetrated well ~22 inches and the bulls ran off together and stopped after about 80 yards. There was a crash amongst the rock, followed shortly by a long, loud bellow. I could hear the other bulls attempting to hook him with their horns as the just managed to beat up the rocks. The bulls didn't leave until we drove up to the bull with the truck and then only grudgingly moved off. We spent an hour admiring this beats, taking photos, and loading him into the truck. At the skinning shed we discover that the arrow had gotten both lungs and one of the large vessels. The broadhead was retrieved in near perfect condition from the opposite side of the chest. The buffalo was estimated in the 42-43 inch range. We never put a tape on him, as inches aren't that important to me.
We spend the next few days hunting out of a blind for duiker and attempting spot and stalk for steenbuck.
August 26th: We try a new blind this morning. I am barely settled in before a couple of sable bulls move in. And shortly after that a baboon. About 30 minutes after they depart, I look to my right and notice a nice duiker ram moving in to the water. It takes him several minutes to walk into a shooting lane. I draw my bow, and as i get to full draw the arrow pops off of the string. I manage to catch it with my index finger of my left hand. I let the bow down as quietly as I can and renock the arrow. I now had to wait for another opportunity and was shortly rewarded with my chance. The arrow hit a little forward but we were able to recover the duiker after a little bit of work by the dogs.
The remainder of the trip was spent seeing what the bush may provide with some nice animals seen, but for one reason or another not being harvested. In this last 3 days I was able to end a 19 year quest and harvested both a baboon and a vervet monkey.
August 29th: A short sit in the blind highlighted by zebra and giraffes, before settling accounts and heading to the airport. An uneventful trip home and I'm already planning the next one.
Closing thoughts:
1. I will hunt with the team at African Barefoot Safaris again for the reasons listed below.
a. Low pressure atmosphere. No sales pitches or pressure to shoot.
b. Family friendly
c. Quality food with South African cuisine heavily featured and game meat always on the menu
d. Experienced with bowhunters and main property is bowhunting only
2. I plan to use a heavier arrow next time I hunt buffalo/giraffe, however the combination I used was perfectly adequate for the job. I am glad I made the switch to the Iron Will
3. I still packed too much stuff
4. Any upgrade from main cabin is worth the cost
Other random pictures:
Given that I'd be pursuing Black Death with archery tackle I decided to upgrade my equipment. I hit the local shop the day after the new bows dropped to try them out. After spending 2 hours shooting a variety of bows, I decided on a slightly discounted Bowtech Solution. I had decided to try out the HMR from Vector Custom Shop as my arrow. The arrow weighed in at 564 grains without the broadhead and was very solidly built.
For the broadheads I had decided to go with the 300 grain single bevel from VPA. However, after trying a few different sharpening methods and failing to get an edge that satisfied me, I decided to switch to the 250gn single bevel from Iron Will Outfitters. These broadheads were definitely not cheap, but razor sharp out of the box and well built. I took the VPAs along for plains game, as they grouped with the IW out to 30 yards. I spent all spring and summer dialing in this setup to 50 yards.
August 11th: Everything is packed up and ready to go at my sister's house. She will be dropping us off at the airport.
August 13th: We are off. Grand Rapids to ATL. 6 hours in the Delta Lounge. Then 15 hours direct into JNB. I went with the Premium Select and it was completely worth every penny. I still only slept maybe 45 minutes of the flight, but a least I was comfortable the remaining 14 hours
August 14th: Made it into JNB. My dad and his girlfriend went to Africa Sky before heading up to Vic Falls for a few days. I made it into camp without too much excitement a little after midnight.
August 15th: Breakfast at 7. I met the other couple in camp. Great people and I enjoyed sharing camp with them. Since I was running on very little sleep we decided that I would sit in a blind for plains game today. I wasnt in the blind long before animals started to show up. First, were the sable. Shortly after the sable left a lonf springbuck ram came in. Quick evaluation showed that it was a mature ram. A little more focus showed that he was badly deconditioned and well into his declining years. I decided to take him as my first animal of the trip. The 864gn arrow may have been overkill for this guy, but it did the job. After hitting a rock the VPA snapped off at the threads, but the HMR was in pretty good shape except for a piece of the outsert that sheared off with the broadhead. After recovering the springbuck, I settled in for the rest of the day. The highlights of the afternoon were a younger buffalo bull and a massive warthog sow.
August 16th: Back in a blind today. I was on the lookout for a nice warthog boar or an impala. We had discussed not shooting females at this point of the season and that the warthog boars had been MIA from the waterholes since June, so I figured I might be in for a long day.
August 17th: Today we start hunting buffalo. We headed to a very scenic concession property about 30 minutes away and found buffalo immediately. Once we started hunting we got onto the buffalo pretty quickly. We found them when they smelled us and stampeded out of their beds. After giving them some time to settle down we circled downwind and worked into 80 yards before being seen by a cow. They busted out and ran down the valley. We followed on their tracks until it became clear they were not going to stop anytime soon and headed back to the truck. As we were driving the roads to see if we could pick up their tracks we saw them cross the road in front of us. We backed out and attempted to circle in front of them as they fed through the bush. As we closed in the wind betrayed us and the exploded out of there. We took a break and had lunch while seeing if we could spot where they had bedded down. No luck. So it was decided we would let them calm down and try again in the morning. I had an uneventful afternoon in a blind.
August 18th: We were back after the buffalo we had seen yesterday. The guys spotted the buffalo while dropping the other hunter off in a blind for kudu. We attempted to close the distance be quietly walking down a sandy road. We got close. A cow spotted us through an opening at about 40 yards and busted out taking the other 20 buffalo with her. We spent the rest of the morning attempting to get back on the herd unsuccessfully. The other hunter had taken a wildebeest around noon, so we went to help with pictures and recovery. We decided to drop the wildebeest at camp and try a different property this afternoon.
We got to the new property and spent several hours attempting to pick up buffalo tracks. We found the herd first. All 50 of them. They appeared to be feeding the direction of a nearby waterhole, so we attempted to cut them off. We got picked off again, but they weren't too spooked and we were able to make another play. We ran out of light before we were able to get close.
August 19th: We went back to the property from yesterday afternoon and got on the tracks early and were able to get on the buffalo several times today, but swirling winds made it impossible to get within archery range.
August 20th: We decided to try a different property today. We spent all day looking for tracks and following a few possibilities with no luck. We had decided to drive around and see if we could spot the herd to make a plan for the following day, when around 430 we stumble across the herd feeding through an opening in the bush about 200 yards away. We immediately made a plan to attempt a stalk. A group of gemsbuck was between us and the buffalo so we waited for them to move off, before starting our approach. We were able to close the distance to about 100 yards fairly quickly. However, it was at this point that the go away birds started to raise a ruckus and put the herd on alert. We waited and stalked around to the clearing the buffalo were feeding into. We startled a group of warthogs out of their burrows as we did this. Luckily the buffalo didn't notice. As the buffalo fed into the clearing we were able to get 25-55 yards from them with cows and young bulls crossing closest and the couple of shooter bulls crossing farther back. We ran out of light and back out before we could spook them.
August 21st: Today we were sitting blinds on the main property as the concessions were unavailable due to it being Sunday. I didn't have any real goals except for maybe a nice impala. Late morning I get a text from my dad that he had shot his eland. A little after this I see the buffalo from earlier in the trip coming into the water. After a couple minutes it becomes clear that he isn't alone. He has a very large young bull and an incredible dagga boy following him. I had wanted to take my buffalo on foot, but I was unable to resist the character of the dagga boy and when he presented a slightly quartering to shot at 20 yards, I took it. The arrow penetrated well ~22 inches and the bulls ran off together and stopped after about 80 yards. There was a crash amongst the rock, followed shortly by a long, loud bellow. I could hear the other bulls attempting to hook him with their horns as the just managed to beat up the rocks. The bulls didn't leave until we drove up to the bull with the truck and then only grudgingly moved off. We spent an hour admiring this beats, taking photos, and loading him into the truck. At the skinning shed we discover that the arrow had gotten both lungs and one of the large vessels. The broadhead was retrieved in near perfect condition from the opposite side of the chest. The buffalo was estimated in the 42-43 inch range. We never put a tape on him, as inches aren't that important to me.
We spend the next few days hunting out of a blind for duiker and attempting spot and stalk for steenbuck.
August 26th: We try a new blind this morning. I am barely settled in before a couple of sable bulls move in. And shortly after that a baboon. About 30 minutes after they depart, I look to my right and notice a nice duiker ram moving in to the water. It takes him several minutes to walk into a shooting lane. I draw my bow, and as i get to full draw the arrow pops off of the string. I manage to catch it with my index finger of my left hand. I let the bow down as quietly as I can and renock the arrow. I now had to wait for another opportunity and was shortly rewarded with my chance. The arrow hit a little forward but we were able to recover the duiker after a little bit of work by the dogs.
The remainder of the trip was spent seeing what the bush may provide with some nice animals seen, but for one reason or another not being harvested. In this last 3 days I was able to end a 19 year quest and harvested both a baboon and a vervet monkey.
August 29th: A short sit in the blind highlighted by zebra and giraffes, before settling accounts and heading to the airport. An uneventful trip home and I'm already planning the next one.
Closing thoughts:
1. I will hunt with the team at African Barefoot Safaris again for the reasons listed below.
a. Low pressure atmosphere. No sales pitches or pressure to shoot.
b. Family friendly
c. Quality food with South African cuisine heavily featured and game meat always on the menu
d. Experienced with bowhunters and main property is bowhunting only
2. I plan to use a heavier arrow next time I hunt buffalo/giraffe, however the combination I used was perfectly adequate for the job. I am glad I made the switch to the Iron Will
3. I still packed too much stuff
4. Any upgrade from main cabin is worth the cost
Other random pictures:
