SOUTH AFRICA: RIFLE: BOWHUNT: First South Africa Hunt Report

[huntaholic]

Day 10 As we awake for our final day of hunting in the Western Cape, we talk at breakfast about the plan for the day. Most everyone had the animals they had in their package so the pressure was off a bit. Some of the guys went out to do some bird hunting, I decided to spend the day with Riaan driving around seeing if there was anything that peaked my interest. We headed over to the area we saw the Eland so I could try and get some good photos of them. As we came down from one mountain and across an open area Riaan stopped grabbed his binos and said WOW where did he come from. We hunted that area for the past week and never saw this animal prior. I said what is it, he responded a very very large Vaalrhebuck. He said that is one very nice trophy right there. I said ok you talked me into it. We grabbed the gun got within 100 yards and I get him in the crosshair, squeeze the trigger, he just stands there. I rack another, steady myself, take another shot another clean miss. Im very pissed at this point and Riaan said your way left again. Im so pissed I tell him that’s it, Im done. The Vallie runs off and we head back to the lodge. On the way in I get calmed down, we decide to go back to the range. After looking at the gun closer its obvious the scope base keeps loosening up. We tightening everything up get it sighted back in and go in for lunch. After lunch we go back to see if we can find him again, drive all around the area never see him again. As we are driving around we see a really good common reedbuck so we stop and make an attempt on him. First shot, about 250 yards clean miss. At that point it getting to my head so we get closer. We are now about 125 yards I hold tight let it go, it him way forward in the shoulder. He trots up the hill and stops shaking his head and front leg. I rack another, steady myself and shoot. Way left again. Im now really pissed so I take aim on his butt and hit him again in the shoulder and he runs off. We wait for a bit, put the dogs on him and look until almost dark. The entire group comes out to help look for him but the track went into the area where cape buff were so we called it off.

 

[huntaholic]

Day 11 We wake up early to get loaded up for the long haul back to the Eastern Cape. On the way back I was talking to one of the PH’s about still wanting a steenbuck and a female duiker for to mount with my Male. He said we would go hunt his dads farm and should be able to get both. We get back to Greys Gift for our final day and a half unpack and get ready to go back out hunting. We drive for a wile and get to the farm a couple hours before dark. Hunt for duiker and steenbuck for a while but see nothing during daylight hours. We hunt for a while after dark then head back to the lodge.

Day 12 Our final day hunting. We head out early to hunt bushbuck for one of the guys in the group. And also keep our eyes peeled for duiker and steenbuck. Just before we headed back for lunch he took his bushbuck. We then head back eat lunch and take a nap before heading back over to the farm for an evening hunt. We arrive to the farm just before dark. As we pull in I see eyes in a field so we get the light going and there are a bunch of springhare just coming out. I thought that would be cool to mount one with my caracal chasing after it. I grab the 223 and shoot one about a hundred yards away. We continue on through the farm and not too long into the evening we see eyes again, the PH says shoot that it’s a giant steenbuck. Again I grabbed the 223 and put it down with 1 shot. Things are going good only about an hour or so after dark and we only need to find the duiker. We drove around for a half hour or so and came across a nice female duiker just off the trail. One more shot from the 223 and we were done hunting in SA.

 

[Lrntolive]

Nice report. Thanks for sharing.

 

[CAustin]

Congrats on the caracal sir! I hope to have one of those someday myself.

 

[huntaholic]

Now to explain the the dilemma with the gun. I received the gun as a barter for work that I did for an attorney friend of mine. I've had it for about 15 years never using it to hunt. When I booked my hunt to Africa I figured I had the perfect rifle just needed to invest in good optics. The rifle was a Smith & Wesson 300 win mag that was hardly ever used. It came with a cheap 4 power no name scope, but had Leupold rings and base. After some research and talking with several other hunters, I chose to put a Leupold vx4 4.5x14x40 cds on it. I took the rifle to Cabela's where I bought the scope and they mounted and bore sighted it for free. Herein lies the problem, after spending over 800 on the scope I decided to go cheap and use the Leupold rings and base that came with the rifle. That's my learning experience.... Once I returned home I found out the base set screw was stripped out and would move with any vibration. Lesson learned for me, never trust equipments reliability unless it's professional inspected. I do not believe the kid working the gun counter at Cabela's had the experience to do the job he was doing. Not his fault though it was mine for not taking it to a true gunsmith. I place no blame on anyone other than myself for the rifles malfunction, I'm just glad I didn't leave any animals wounded from my mistake. By the way they ended up finding my common Reedbuck dead 2 days later and were able to send the horns back with all my other animals. I parted ways with that rifle but kept the scope for my new Browning X bolt stalker 300 win mag. It will be back in Africa real soon....

 

[huntaholic]

Here are the finished mounts from the first trip. My favorite is the Caracal and baboon. My wife really likes the Duikers and Steenbuck.

 

[huntaholic]

The rest of the collection.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Thanks for the story.
Glad to see a happy hunter.

 

[Nyati]

Congrats for your hunt, that caracal is really big !

 

[50by50]

Man! that steenbok is huge. Great hunt and report sir! Thank you for taking the time to share it. Hope your second trip is as successful!

 

[huntaholic]

Home and recovered from my second trip and flight. New post is soon to come keep an eye out within the next few days, it will be good for sure... KMG not only met my expectations, they FAR exceeded them.

 

[cpr0312]

Home and recovered from my second trip and flight. New post is soon to come keep an eye out within the next few days, it will be good for sure... KMG not only met my expectations, they FAR exceeded them.

Look forward t it!

 

[WMU05]

Awesome recap man. Thanks for sharing.