SOUTH AFRICA: BOWHUNT: Tsala Hunting Safaris Bowhunt 2018

jeff

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Namibia, South Africa in Kwazu Natal, Limpopo, Eastern Cape , Northwest Province, USA Ariz, Nev, Mont, Ida, Ore, Cal, Mich,Wash, AlasKa
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I had a exceptional bowhunt once again with the crew from Tsala. This would be my 3rd hunt with Tsala, I contacted Rouan the outfitter and asked if he would be interested in taking a bowhunter with a difficult wish list and he said no problem. On my list were bushbuck, bush pig, a large warthog, civet and honey badger. This was my 17th african bowhunt and I already had taken most of the common plains game. My wife this time wanted to go to Kruger and not hunt so Rouan arranged a excellent trip with the folks from Tsala and my wife loved it, she got to see a leopard which was the last of the dangerous 7 on her photography list. Every thing went smooth at immigration and we breezed right through in about 10 minutes, the fastest I have ever , Rouan was waiting for us when we walked out in the reception area at Tambo and we drove to the lodge. We opted to stay in the new deluxe tented accommodation which was great with in suite bath room.

Day 1 We hunted a natural brush blind and saw a few animals but none on our list then to the lodge for dinner and to get ready to hunt bush pig. Brandon my PH who is Rouan's son had been prebaiting and said there was a big boar coming in with a bunch of sows, a pop up blind had been set up well in advance. I had purchased a night vision monocular for the night hunting and it proved very useful, Brandon could see them coming at a distance and tell me which was the boar. At 7:30 6 pigs came in and the boar was with them but he never gave me a shot and eventually the wind swirled and it was over, it was exciting to see my first bush pigs!

Day 2 We went to permanent hide the next morning and coincidentally was the same hide my wife arrowed her bushbuck from 2 years before, a few animals came and went when Brandon said big bushbuck, by the time I stood and drew he was at the water at 14 yards, he only made it 40 yards and went down. I could hardly believe it as in times past I have spent a lot of time hunting them. He was a old ram with lots of character, the front of his horns were worn down and show the blue look to the horns and the bases were heavy and checked, his teeth very worn down . We saw numerous other animals from the hide that day but nothing on my wish list so back to the lodge for dinner and then back to the pop up for the bush pig. They came again right on time at 7:30 and this time stayed in front of us for a entire hour and never gave me a clear shot, they finally ate all the bait and left, my nerves were shot by then!

Day 3 We went to another property today for warthog as they said there was a lot of very big pigs there. Brandon had set up a pop up blind in advance there as well, we saw hogs and other game but the wind would not cooperate and kept swirling so after a few hours we we decided to go back to the lodge for lunch, on the way out we saw a monster boar but he was running and didn't look as he was going to slow down. At 6:00 we got back in the bush pig blind and at 6:45 the hogs came and this time he offered a broadside shot, I hit him a little high and spined him and went to shoot a finisher shot but heard a loud crack when I shot and arrow went through his hind quarters, completely baffled at what happened until we turned on the light and saw that I had shot through the edge of the blind and clipped one of the poles, OOPS. The pig was dead though and didn't
need another arrow. To say I was elated would be a under statement! The pig was bigger bodied than I expected and thought he might weigh about 275 lbs.
more to follow but right now have to take my 14 year old grand son bowhunting for deer this evening
 
Nice bushbuck and pig!!! Congrats ans look forward to more!
 
Thanks for the report! Great trophies.
 
My fellow Idahoan, great job with the bow! Bushbuck and Bushpig, no easy feat (y) Very nice trophies so far, I am looking forward to what is yet to come :)
 
Day 4 During the conversation one evening I said that I never really thought much about common reedbuck until I did the taxidermy on a shoulder mount on a very large reedbuck for a fellow AH member and thought it was awesome. Brandon informed me that not far away was a place that had very good reedbuck and if I wanted we could go and try walk and stalk for a day. So off we went early on day four. We saw several good reedbuck and to sum it up, it was very humbling , no shots although we managed to get within range twice. Also saw a good steinbok which is also high on my list but he also was too smart for me. Also saw a large buffalo bull and some giraffe. A good day all around ! Back to the lodge for dinner. I don't go to Africa for the food but let me say it was truly outstanding!

Day 5 Brandon asked if I wanted to try again for reedbuck but I said lets sit for warthog as a good boar had showed on the trail camera twice where I got the bushbuck. From the time we got there animals started pouring in, 2 big eland bulls, 5 good blue wildebeest bulls, several kudu bulls and 2 that we estimated at 57 and 54, mature impala rams, giraffe, and numerous females of most species. The wind started to get fickle late morning and everything left, after about a hour the warthog that we were waiting for came in, Brandon estimated him at 10.5 inches but he never gave me a shot and the the wind swirled and he was gone. Meanwhile Rouan had checked the civet bait and 2 different civets were on the trail cam, he also said he saw a very large warthog where we sat the first morning. We got settled into a brush blind just before dark, a civet showed quite early but failed to come all the way in, Brandon thought he was leery of the red light as it was new. We sat till 11:00 pm and called it a night.

Day 6 Brandon asked what I wanted to do the night before and I said lets sleep in and then go set where Rouan had seen the big warthog. We got into the makeshift hide at 10:00 and the first thing that showed was the big hog at 11:00, a double lung shot and he was down in about 80 yards. He's even bigger than what the picture seem to show, he had 10.5 inches of tusk showing outside the gum, he must be about 12 inches total!! I have taken a couple of pretty good hogs before but this one was way bigger! I was lucky the wind swirled the day before and I didn't get the 10.5 inch pig! The rest of the day Brandon took the wife and I on a game drive and showed us the river that runs through the bottom of their place, it was absolutely beautiful. It's their dry season so the river was the size of a nice creek, not only does it hold very good bass but on a sand bar we saw the tracks of a crocodile that Brandon said were quite large. We also hiked a short way up to a cave that often has leopard sign around it. Back to the lodge for dinner and to the civet bait. Unfortunately the it was a repeat of the night before. I feel that if I would of had a couple more days I think I would have gotten a crack at one but our time was up

Reflections:
I feel blessed that I was able to take 3 difficult trophies in one 6 day hunt. I also appreciated Rouan being willing to take me as bowhunter for difficult species as I know there was more work and less trophy fees for them. The whole time we were there they put no pressure on me to shoot other game or to use a rifle. They had put a lot of advance work in my hunt before I arrived with baiting and setting hides. My favorite outfits are those who own their own land as they will put money in to improving their place and will build good hides whereas outfitters who primarily hunt other concessions aren't going to put money into someone else place. I also like it when the PH s are the owners as they have a vested interest in the outfit, it's not just a job like a hired PH. Tsala fits my preference 100% in that regard. To whom it may be wondering the bushbuck was 15.75 inches. And last but not least is when I look at the pictures of my animals I can hardly recognize the old geaser that's kneeling beside them!! LOL Where have all the years gone!
 
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Hi Jeff. Been wondering if/when you would post a report. Looks like some great trophies. That Bushbuck is exceptional as is the warthog. All I can say is well done sir. Congrats on some very nice animals.
Bruce
 
I used a Bowtech Assassin set at #63 with 410 grain total arrow weight arrows and 125 grain Cabelas broadheads. The picture of the warthog shows how much his bottom row of teeth are worn down.
 
Congrats on your hunt, that warthog is a really good one !
 
Congrats on some great animals @jeff !
 
Fabulous hunt.................well done to both you and Tsala..............................the warthog from Hell!! I am sooooooo jealous!!......................................Bill
 
Great stuff, that bushbuck is fantastic! Congrats!
 
Congrats! Excellent trophies!!! I'm happy for you!
 
Thanks to everyone for their kind words!
 

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