SOUTH AFRICA: Voorsit Jagt In The Karoo

[Sika98k]

Last December in Czech a number of South African hunters joined the group for the 2 day hunt. They were good company and took the initiation into the company of boar hunters with a smile. One of them invited me to come to their annual hunt in the Karoo this year.
So some months ago we touched base and I was given the dates. As it was only a 2 day hunt and a day or two in Cape Town either side I arranged to use one of the farm rifles. This turned out to be a Musgrave in 308.
I duly booked a flight with KLM through Amsterdam. I boarded for takeoff at 0550 and landed in Cape Town at 2125 local in reasonable shape. I had a seat beside an emergency exit to stretch out a bit.
Straight through customs after collecting my luggage which actually contained two Sika heads one of the guys shot in Ireland a couple of years ago. C met me outside arrivals and we were rapidly on our way to Constantia, a suburb of Cape Town.
Arriving at my hosts house I was greeted by some other hunters, both South African, English and Slovakian. The slivovitz was flowing. Home made and very tasty I might add. Turned in after a few and slept soundly.
The next morning we went to Groot Constantia for breakfast. They also make remarkably good wine !
The afternoon was spent packing the trailers with provisions for the trip. I was pretty sure we were going to feed an army but 11 men in camp for 3 nights and days do consume a fair bit of grub.
We set off at 0600 on Thursday morning. It was a 6 () hour drive and we wanted to avoid the early morning traffic. We did, C set a cracking pace up to Beaufort West in his Landcruiser towing a trailer. It was still raining in places with some flooding and I was looking rather dismally at my Courtney boots which are not built for wet weather hunting !
We arrived at Juriesfontein Farm early afternoon and were greeted by some earlier arrivals. We unloaded ourselves and luggage and proceeded to fill the fridges and freezers with what had to be chilled (beer) and frozen (ice). Gradually the usual suspects arrived and salutations were exchanged, more of that damn slivovitz !
A few people checked their rifles on the range. I was handed the Musgrave and rapidly became acquainted with it. Mauser action, 2 stage trigger, what wasn’t too like about it ? Well, hardly a trace of blueing left on the barrel from years of handling but it shot well.
The afternoon wore on and the fire was lit in the boma to provide charcoal for the braii that evening. Darkness fell, the steaks went on and were they good ! Absolutely superb. We turned in at a reasonably decent hour as it was an early start in the morning. A lack of juice in the iPad forces a temporary halt. I’ll leave a few photos.

 

[Sika98k]

I should have explained earlier that this was a “ driven springbok hunt”. Now to any of us who have seen springbok at full speed you’d wonder how in the hell you could shoot those animals bounding across the veld. I’d heard of this and have done plenty of driven boar hunts where at least the boar remain in close contact with the ground !

After breakfast of rusks and coffee we were given our shooting instructions and safety briefing. No loaded rifles in vehicles, bolts out. No shooting at the skyline. No alcohol before or during the hunt. There was more but basic safety around firearms was asked to be observed.

We were told what we could shoot, springbok, impala, blesbok, blue wildebeest and kudu. These were all chargeable. Baboons, monkeys, jackal and caracal were targets of opportunity. As stock farmers pests are on the house. They farm merino sheep, angora goats and cattle on the 10,000 hectares the farm comprises of.

Driven springbok actually means that the animals are moved around a kamp, field for lack of a better word, towards the rifles by the farm staff. This is where I had a bit of a giggle as the farm staff were all wearing bright orange overalls. So no, they weren’t out on day release from the local penitentiary as I suggested they might be !

We were each given a rough map of the kamp we were shooting and the places we would be shooting from were numbered. We drew for places pretty much like a driven pheasant shoot in the British Isles. Each place had its arc of fire illustrated to us as we were dropped off from a bakkie.
Let the fun commence. !

I had to walk a few hundred metres to my post with one of the staff. I’d been provided with a camp stool as standing for 4-5 hours can get tiring on the back. I was behind a small acacia bush and had a good view of the surrounding hillsides. I suddenly became aware of two springbok staring in my direction from a distance. I returned the stare through my binoculars. I settled down on my stool. I think I’ll call that my chair in future. Anyhow the two springbok decided to settle down and wait so we played the waiting game. So more springbok appeared over the hillside but well out of my comfort zone with an unfamiliar rifle.

Eventually something spurred my two to move and they headed downhill in my vague direction. I got up on the sticks and watched their movements. A presentable shot appeared as they paused and I sent it. Both disappeared from sight and I watched their movements general direction. One reappeared and paused for a couple of minutes and then departed for safer climes. So I was confident I had one on the ground. I enjoyed a cup of coffee from a thoughtfully provided flask before setting off on the recovery trail.

I located the shot site showing a lot of lung tissue but buggered if I could pick up the trail. I cast around and could see nothing else. So off I went up the hillside, nope. Across the hillside,nope.
Frustration and annoyance set in as a guest I did not want to f##k up and have a wounded animal to be searched for. Heading down the hill I spotted a few drops of blood . One led to another, a few pauses looking for the next and then I spotted the animal ahead of me dead on the ground. Relief ! I turned it on its back so the white of the belly showed and tied a piece of toilet paper to a bush to aid in locating it later. Handy stuff that. I returned to my spot and succeeded in getting another springbok in virtually the same spot. Thankfully it didn’t run too far and locating it was pretty simple.

2pm was ceasefire time and the bakkie arrived sometime later and we gralloched the animals and loaded them. Back to camp and picked up a couple of the other hunters. Success’s were various, some had their 2 animal limit, others not. However everyone had enjoyed the day and it hadn’t rained.

Back at our rustic lodge stories were exchanged of the days events and thankfully the slivovitz was ignored. Dinner was again cooked on the braii, wagu burgers were the main course. I can definitely recommend Groot Constantia red wine. Someone had brought a few bottles of it and tasty it was.

 

[JPbowhunter]

Great story and a neat experience from the other side.

 

[Sika98k]

Saturday dawned in the Karoo and we stirred into life. Today was to be a walk and stalk day. I elected to hunt a blesbok not having hunted these animals before. After breakfast and suitably composed myself and 2 of the farm staff set off in a bakkie. We set off into the hills where one of them said a couple of nice rams hung out.
We pulled up and the two of us set off. The driver remained behind. Some short while later we rounded a bluff and spotted a ram some distance away bedded down in the morning sunshine. We set off after him. He however decided rightly that he wasn’t going to share the parish with us and off he went. We watched as he went over a ridge and then down a gully to the veld where he ran out a couple of hundred yards and watched us.
The guide indicated that we should follow. Inwardly my eyebrows went up as I wondered how we were going to get within range of this elusive blesbok. This was the start of a few hours walking back and forth after that damed ram and another group of blesbok that insisted on following 2 golden wildebeest wherever they went. The ground underfoot was pretty rocky. Some places you walked on the rocks, others you picked your way around them.
“Blesbok like the yellow grass” I was told as we hiked off towards another group. Then they decided to do a loop back towards our original starting point when we came off the hills. This became a bit frustrating to put it mildly. I wondered if we were ever going to close within range !
Again the herd or bastards as I was now starting to call them took off. There was no real stalking of these animals, the veld is pretty open interspersed with the occasional scrub and tree. But if you don’t try you won’t succeed !
Eventually we reached an area where we were able to approach a bit closer using a dry river bed and some small trees. One ram was standing clear of the herd. We crept up behind a tree to narrow a not inconsiderable distance. Mainly hunting in forestry back home in darker conditions bright open spaces I find it difficult to judge ranges. 300 I figured, I had rung the steel gong dead centre at 200 on the range. There was a crosswind to contend with.
Hold on hair I was told long ago. It worked, the blesbok was down but still kicking. We hurried up towards the animal as we covered the gap I could see I had overestimated the distance, it was more like 250. I had hit the animal just below the spine which had anchored it. Another shot in the neck finished the business.
The bakkie came along , we gralloched the animal and made a very bumpy return to a farm track and brought the animal in to be weighed. Every animal shot is paid for by weight and a minimum value. The blesbok weighed 51kgs dressed out.