Patrick R
AH fanatic
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2009
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- Rustenburg, North West Province
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- 38
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- Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa
With permission of the hunter and not a member of AH forum i am placing the following hunt report.
Hunter: Frank Castora (frank.m.castora@accenture.com)
Safari Operator: Bushwack Safaris
PH: Patrick Reynecke
Area: North West Province, Rustenburg
Dates: 28th Feb to 3rd March 2014
Terrain & Weather: Incredible thick jesse and rainy
Rifle used: .270 Win
Species seen: Kudu, Eland, Red Hartebeest, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Jackal, Steenbok, Duiker
- Drove about 2hrs North West of Rustenburg to a spectacular game/hunting ranch.
- Nice dinner and drinks at the camp (very nice) all around
- Early rise 5am breakfast at 5:30
- We drove about 30mins to a valley to "shoot-in" the .270 on shooting sticks.
- 100 yards on to the 5-diamond target (large center diamond smaller quadrant diamonds). New gun for me First shot, very very low felt like the trigger had about a ï½½" pull with a lot of play before resistance and then the break was very late in the pull and I dropped the shot. Second shot, small bullseye, third shot same small bulls eye (within an inch). Ready to hunt.
- The hunting was walk and stalk. I was after small game because it was cheaper this ranch was chosen because of that. We hunted with a guide/tracker and the Professional Hunter (PH), myself and a ranch-hand that periodically took photos.
- We must have walked 7-10miles that morning from about 7am-noon. We saw Kudu, Eland, Red Hartebeest, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Jackal, Steenbok, Duiker, but the bush was so heavy that we had very few shots. What was quite scary was how close the herds would run past us or how quickly they would scatter when we surprised them (and us).
- We decided that my trophy would be the Red Hartebeest but they remained visible but difficult/impossible shots for me.
- It rained the entire weekend.
- In the afternoon we took a jeep out to various areas and then walk/stalk.
- Saturday night while driving back, we came upon a nice lone Impala ram which I was permitted to shoot from the Jeep sitting position 100+yrds, I missed low again damn trigger.
- Wonderful meal Saturday night (Braai Afrikaans barbeque) a lot of drinking too...
- Sunday morning same drill, but MUCH harder rain we took the jeep out again but very few lone-animals and the rain which caused the bush to be incredibly heavy to be just too difficult to hunt in. Back to the camp early.
- Lunch/nap/dry cloths.
- We went back out mid-afternoon and I was able to get a jeep shot at about 100yrds at a Blue Wildebeest. But after 2hrs of tracking, no blood trails and a 500yrd circle, that I must have missed..
- At 6:45pm, the PH told the driver that unless we hit an animal with the jeep, our hunt was over. I was incredibly happy and satisfied with a wonderful weekend.
- Not 5 min. and 2 turns of the road later, I spot a huge Blue Wildebeest bull behind a large bush and signal the driver to stop. I was about to dismount the Jeep but the PH said wait the bull had not seen us. Sure enough at about 60-80yrds, he walked out from the bush and the PH asked if I was comfortable with the shot, I said yes, and he said, "take the shot"...perfect placement and the bull went down within 20yrd from where I hit him.
- You'd have thought a holiday erupted with our group and then back at the camp. I felt like I was in Avatar with the way I/they truly felt blessed to have harvested this animal.
- The PH, his son and I waited by the animal while the tracker and driver went back to get the truck DAMN IT WAS dark, raining and noisy while we waited.
- We took the trophy back to the skinning shed. There we toasted, skinned, butchered the animal and initiated me. We did a lot of toasting.
- We got back to the house around 11:30pm for dinner and more toasting. Monday morning was rough!
- I simply cannot wait to go back and do this again, get my Red Hartebeest and an Antelope!
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Hunter: Frank Castora (frank.m.castora@accenture.com)
Safari Operator: Bushwack Safaris
PH: Patrick Reynecke
Area: North West Province, Rustenburg
Dates: 28th Feb to 3rd March 2014
Terrain & Weather: Incredible thick jesse and rainy
Rifle used: .270 Win
Species seen: Kudu, Eland, Red Hartebeest, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Jackal, Steenbok, Duiker
- Drove about 2hrs North West of Rustenburg to a spectacular game/hunting ranch.
- Nice dinner and drinks at the camp (very nice) all around
- Early rise 5am breakfast at 5:30
- We drove about 30mins to a valley to "shoot-in" the .270 on shooting sticks.
- 100 yards on to the 5-diamond target (large center diamond smaller quadrant diamonds). New gun for me First shot, very very low felt like the trigger had about a ï½½" pull with a lot of play before resistance and then the break was very late in the pull and I dropped the shot. Second shot, small bullseye, third shot same small bulls eye (within an inch). Ready to hunt.
- The hunting was walk and stalk. I was after small game because it was cheaper this ranch was chosen because of that. We hunted with a guide/tracker and the Professional Hunter (PH), myself and a ranch-hand that periodically took photos.
- We must have walked 7-10miles that morning from about 7am-noon. We saw Kudu, Eland, Red Hartebeest, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Jackal, Steenbok, Duiker, but the bush was so heavy that we had very few shots. What was quite scary was how close the herds would run past us or how quickly they would scatter when we surprised them (and us).
- We decided that my trophy would be the Red Hartebeest but they remained visible but difficult/impossible shots for me.
- It rained the entire weekend.
- In the afternoon we took a jeep out to various areas and then walk/stalk.
- Saturday night while driving back, we came upon a nice lone Impala ram which I was permitted to shoot from the Jeep sitting position 100+yrds, I missed low again damn trigger.
- Wonderful meal Saturday night (Braai Afrikaans barbeque) a lot of drinking too...
- Sunday morning same drill, but MUCH harder rain we took the jeep out again but very few lone-animals and the rain which caused the bush to be incredibly heavy to be just too difficult to hunt in. Back to the camp early.
- Lunch/nap/dry cloths.
- We went back out mid-afternoon and I was able to get a jeep shot at about 100yrds at a Blue Wildebeest. But after 2hrs of tracking, no blood trails and a 500yrd circle, that I must have missed..
- At 6:45pm, the PH told the driver that unless we hit an animal with the jeep, our hunt was over. I was incredibly happy and satisfied with a wonderful weekend.
- Not 5 min. and 2 turns of the road later, I spot a huge Blue Wildebeest bull behind a large bush and signal the driver to stop. I was about to dismount the Jeep but the PH said wait the bull had not seen us. Sure enough at about 60-80yrds, he walked out from the bush and the PH asked if I was comfortable with the shot, I said yes, and he said, "take the shot"...perfect placement and the bull went down within 20yrd from where I hit him.
- You'd have thought a holiday erupted with our group and then back at the camp. I felt like I was in Avatar with the way I/they truly felt blessed to have harvested this animal.
- The PH, his son and I waited by the animal while the tracker and driver went back to get the truck DAMN IT WAS dark, raining and noisy while we waited.
- We took the trophy back to the skinning shed. There we toasted, skinned, butchered the animal and initiated me. We did a lot of toasting.
- We got back to the house around 11:30pm for dinner and more toasting. Monday morning was rough!
- I simply cannot wait to go back and do this again, get my Red Hartebeest and an Antelope!
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