SOUTH AFRICA: Spiral Horn Slam x2 With Game 4 Africa Safaris

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I just got back to Houston yesterday after a 3 week trip to Angola (business) and South Africa (hunting). Still need to sort through the notes and photos to do a proper report, but thought I'd at least get it started. As the title indicates, two spiral horn slams were completed by my daughter, Elise, and me while hunting with AH Sponsor @Game 4 Africa Safaris and PH Wik Coetzee. It took us two hunts, the first in 2016, and now this one in August, 2018, to complete the spiral horn slam (kudu, eland, nyala and bushbuck). Elise and I took a few other animals on this hunt, highlighted by the 30- 2/8" monster Waterbuck that Elise took on Day 2.

A lot more details to follow!

Elise waterbuck Aug 3 2018.jpeg
 
Congrats on a great waterbuck! Look forward to the report!
 
Really enjoyed your report from last year, so I'm excited to see what happened this year for you!!!
 
Congrats, that is a very good waterbuck !
 
Nice waterbuck!
 
How this hunt came about........

After living for six years in Lagos, Nigeria, I was transferred to Houston at the start of 2018. Going back to Africa so soon was not really in my plans for this year. Around late February, I was in a meeting at work and my boss announced that one of us needed to go to Angola in July to do some training. Nobody jumped at this opportunity, so I volunteered. I had worked five plus years in Angola, so I was very familiar with the folks and operation there. Once I firmed up the dates I needed to be in Luanda, I contacted Wik Coetzee at @Game 4 Africa Safaris to see if he had a week available, starting in late July. I figured if I was going to travel to Africa on a company paid business class ticket, I might as well go hunting while I was there! My daughter and I hunted with Wik in 2016 and knew we wanted to hunt with them again. Wik was booked up solid in late July, but could take us August 1-8, so we jumped on that.

This is a link to my 2016 hunt report:
https://www.africahunting.com/threa...me-hunt-with-game-4-africa-in-may-2016.29089/

I was able to book a flight from Houston to JFK, overnight in the Big Apple and then fly South African Airways nonstop flight to Johannesburg, about a 15.5 hour flight. Arriving about 8am in JNB, I had a 1 hour and 45 minute connection for my SAA flight to Luanda. I made it, barely, but my checked bag did not. I was in Luanda a total of 8 days and SAA finally got me my bag on Day 7. Good thing I had two changes of everything in my carry on bag. My biggest concern was all my hunting clothes. Plan B was go to a Safari Outdoors store when I go into Joburg. Luckily, didn't have to do this.

I departed Angola on July 28 and had a bit of a gap before the eastern cape PG hunt would start on August 1st. Just sitting in Joburg would cost a couple hundred bucks a day, so I looked into a short 2-3 hunt that was close to town. I contacted @CAustin to check if Paw Prints Safari had openings for July 28-31. As it turned out, the AH group hunt that Charlie helped to organize was finishing up on the 28th, so yes they could take me for a short 2-1/2 hunt. Coming in right after the AH group, I was a little concerned about no animals being left and not a drop of booze at the bar, but this wasn't the case. :) Paw Prints' camp is only about a 2 hours drive west of JNB, in North West Province and an area I had not been before. Due to the nature of this hunt, only 2.5 days, a full moon and me being fairly picky (looking mainly for bushbuck or monster kudu), I did not take any animals but still had a fun few days.

I returned to OR Tambo airport on July 31 and got checked into the City Lodge. I walked over to the arrival terminal to meet my daughter, Elise, who was flying in on the Delta flight. Walked back over to the City Lodge, got her checked into her room and then went to dinner. The next day, August 1st, we had an 11 am flight to Port Elizabeth on SAA, so it was a nice, leisurely morning. Colin Coetzee, Wik's older brother, met us at the PE airport and drove us to the lodge, which is just north of Grahamstown, a 2 hour drive on very nice highways.

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Upon arrival at the Kudu Ridge Lodge around 3 pm, we were greeted by many familiar faces and showed to our chalets. After settling in and visiting with everyone, we decided to go do the standard trip to the range and see if we can shoot. We were again using the rental rifles, which are Sako 85 rifles in 7mm mag, topped with Swarovski 2-12 scope and a suppressor. Same rifle we used two years ago, with excellent results. I peeked into the gun vault room and counted about a dozen Sakos, from 270 to 375 H&H, some with and without suppressors. The 375 H&H has a Schmidt & Bender scope. An impressive assortment of rifles and scopes for sure! The Sako actions are extremely smooth and the trigger crisp. I shot twice from the bench and once off the sticks and the three hole pattern was under an inch. Elise followed and her group was quite good too. Tomorrow, August 2, we start hunting!

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Day 1 of hunting: August 2

When I booked this hunt, I told Wik that bushbuck was at the top of our list. Wik told us we'd hunt a couple of properties that we did not hunt in 2016. For Day 1, we'd have about a 40 minute drive to a 100,000+ acre low fenced conservancy. So after an early morning breakfast of bacon,eggs, toast, juice, coffee, etc, we were ready to roll. Wik has a 4 door Land Cruiser and three trackers and a couple of dogs went with us. As we neared our hunt area, it looked like gently rolling, wide open terrain. Looks were deceiving! Once on the property, numerous deep canyons with heavy vegetation were evident. It looked like a very good place to start our hunt. We'd typically set up on a shady side of a slope and glass over to the slopes in the sun. It was amazing how you could spot animals fairly easy. From 7am to about 9am, we only saw a few female bushbuck.
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Around 9am, one of the trackers, Goza, spotted a ram. Wik quickly got me set up on the sticks, in a sitting position, and we watched the bushbuck for a few minutes. Finally, the bushbuck presented a good, broadside target, Wik told me to aim a little high, but don't let the cross hair go above his back. I squeeze off a shot and the bushbuck dropped where it stood! Wik then told me it was a 250 yard shot. We stayed put and Goza worked his way around the end of the canyon and then down some steep slopes and finally got to the bushbuck with little guidance needed from us. Since I took kudu, nyala and eland during my 2016 hunt, my spiral horn slam was complete!

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We continued to glass the same general area when. Around 11am one of the other trackers, Mike, spotted another ram. Wik got Elise into shooting position and they watched the ram for several minutes. Elise shot and I saw the ram run. Wik thought it was hit so the trackers and dogs went into action. We followed behind and soon the dogs had the fighting mad bushbuck bayed. Elise fired once more from close range and it was over. Second bushbuck of the morning and a great start to our hunt. Wik meantioned that he ranged Elise's shot at 280 yards. Quite a shot!


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The beers and snacks around the evening fire came early that day, as we recounted the bushbuck double!

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We drove by the Game 4 Africa gate on July 31 and I was thinking you might be there. Looks like you started off with a bang!!!
 
Day 2 of hunting: August 3

As I already noted, my daughter took a really nice waterbuck. I am not big on putting a tape measure to the animals I've taken over the years. I did have a big bull elk officially scored for Pope & Young and that's it. Wik was curious on this big waterbuck, so he found a tape and came up with 30-2/8".

We actually started this morning watching Wik and Elise on an extended kudu stalk. The light morning wind was swirling and they ended up getting winded and the kudu took off. So we went on a bit of a forced march on fairly flat terrain. After about an hour of walking, with an occasional pause to glass, Wik spotted some waterbuck. Wik and Elise got to within about 50 yards of a waterbuck, but didn't have a good, clear view of the animal and eventually the waterbuck departed the area. We kept moving forward through the bush and saw the waterbuck bull again. Elise got on the sticks and made the shot. The big bull ran a bit, going into some really thick stuff. The dogs quickly located the waterbuck and a finishing shot was required.

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Day 3 of hunting: August 4

I had mentioned to Elise that since she got a bushbuck on Day 1, all she lacked was the eland for the spiral horn slam. Elise took a really nice nyala and kudu during the 2016 hunt. Elise remembered the adventure my eland was, two years ago, and wasn't sure she wanted to experience "one ton of fun." Both Wik and I encouraged her to give it a try, so we grabbed the 375 H&H and headed to another property that we hadn't hunted before. This was about 10 minutes from the lodge and was 50,000+ acres high fenced. After driving around a bit, we got out and starting walking a ridge and glassing into a canyon. Wik spotted a group of bulls, but they were close to a half a mile away. We moved down into the canyon and set up on a dirt road. The eland were moving towards us and we hoped they'd cross the dirt road slow enough to get a shot. No such luck. The eland kept moving and headed out of the canyon and up the slope to where we had been an hour or two earlier. So up we went after them. The wind was favorable and after 30 minutes of hiking, Wik had Elise on the sticks with the 375 H&H. With no suppressor, I reminded Elise to make sure she had her ear plugs in (or her ears would end up like mine). A big boom and the eland took off running. The shot was about 180 yards and Wik was sure the eland was hit. We started tracking it and quickly found a blood trail........a very minimal blood trail. I was not optimistic. The trackers soon joined us and with help from the dogs, found the eland, which still had a lot of life in him. A couple of follow up shots finally put the big guy down. Elise had her eland and also her spiral horn slam.




 
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What fun to get to hunt wth family! All excellent trophies! Congratulations especially to Elise! She’s doing great!
My youngest granddaughter is the first of our kids, grandkids, great grandkids to show interest in hunting. We have made a deal that if she learns how to shoot well and hunts here with me I’ll take her to Africa in two years at 14. I hope she follows similar to your daughter and does as well. You obviously trained her well!
 
Wow, she was able to take some great trophies!! Congrats to your daughter on the waterbuck and eland!
 
What fun to get to hunt wth family! All excellent trophies! Congratulations especially to Elise! She’s doing great!
My youngest granddaughter is the first of our kids, grandkids, great grandkids to show interest in hunting. We have made a deal that if she learns how to shoot well and hunts here with me I’ll take her to Africa in two years at 14. I hope she follows similar to your daughter and does as well. You obviously trained her well!

Several years ago, I bought a bolt action 223 and that's what Elise uses for a lot of practice. She regularly shoots better than me on the range.
 
Several years ago, I bought a bolt action 223 and that's what Elise uses for a lot of practice. She regularly shoots better than me on the range.

Good idea. I’ll move her up to a 223 for her first centerfire.
Thanks!
 
Elise's willingness to use a 375 H&H is a testament to her desire to hunt. The added recoil is enough to scare most women off. I do have one question though, the rifle she is holding in the picture of her with the eland looks like it has a can on it. It might be that this is the rifle she used for the finishing shot(s). Just wondering. I share your "fatherly pride" in knowing that our kids are following in our footsteps as they relate to hunting and the great outdoors.
 

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