ZAMBIA: SOUTH AFRICA: My Hunt With Takeri Reserve, Diekie Mueller Safaris & Coenraad Vermaak Safaris

[gillettehunter]

With my little laptop and Internet signal strength easier to do no more than 2 pics at a time.... Also to use thumbnails....
Bruce

 

[edward]

good report and pics,almost like being there.

 

[Arturo Cuturi]

Congrats on some great trophies, Takeri is most definitely a hidden Gem.

 

[gillettehunter]

Love the pictures and the updates, keep it up! Love you lots, glad you are having a great hunt.
Carolyn

 

[gillettehunter]

Need to correct a couple of minor errors.... Diekie's place is 2000 hectares. Thats almost 5000 acres or almost 8 square miles...... When I shot the bushbuck in the orange grove he went a bit further than I thought. Maybe 30-50 feet.
Back to the Afton Guest house tonight and I will head to Kimberly tomorrow. Last thoughts on Diekie Mullers's outfit. He has one of the nicest lodge setups that I have seen. His meat processing setup is exceptional. A good sized ranch with good water. I saw good numbers of Blesbok, Eland, and Impala. Saw Waterbuck, Sable, warthog and Blue wilderbeast. There is access to many other trophies as well. You will be well taken care of should you decide to hunt with him.
Now on to hunt with Coenraad Vermark Safaris. Bruce

 

[siml]

AAAH Bruce, you missing Bob by one night. He will be at AFTON tomorrow night.

 

[Wheels]

Bruce,

I'm a little late at getting back to your story. Really like your animals. Glad you were able to hunt at Takeri. Looking forward to more of your report and photos.

 

[bluey]

Your having a great trip , brucey
Was so much fun getting to meet you and sharing some of your hunt
Look foreward to seeing in aus ,soon

 

[Wheels]

Your having a great trip , brucey
Was so much fun getting to meet you and sharing some of your hunt
Look foreward to seeing in aus ,soon

Good to see you post buddy. Been missing your "southern" charm.

 

[gillettehunter]

Finally made it to @hansv , hereafter CV. Only 2 miles from the Botswana border. Took the rifle out to check it and took a short drive. Look what was at the waterhole. 1 male 2 females. Wild self sustaining. 1/4 million acres to roam. Bed time good night . Bruce I-net too slow. Will try tomorrow. Bruce.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Enjoy.

 

[gillettehunter]

If you want a big lion this is a great place to come. $70K. I'll post more photos when I have time. Look at his scars on his face. Big black mane too....
Great day and bad day. Put a bullet through the center of a 3 inch stick and still drew blood on an Eland this AM. Got anothe one in him 2 hrs later. He was coughung up blood and we were sure we had him.... My bad knees got close to 4 miles on them today. I had predicted a max of 2...... Saw a Chetah and a leopard while tracing the eland. Also a brown Heyena on the rd coming home tonight. Lots of Gemsbuck, Hartebeast and blue wilderbeeast [lus others. Late and I'm whipped. Bruce

 

[cpr0312]

Wow, you got to see a leopard and cheetah in daylight! I hope all ends well with the eland!

 

[gillettehunter]

Yes, seeing the Cheetah and a leopard in daylight is rare. Within an hour or so is extremely unusual. No sign of the Eland. My PH and trackers believe that the eland is dead.... We are fairly certain that the 2nd shot hit the lungs....Even though we saw almost no blood after 2 miles.... We pushed him probably 6 miles total. Jumped him at least 4 times. Even after the 2nd shot he was usually near the front of the herd. He was in a group of 5. Then 4 more joined them. So hard to sort through in the bush. We have tracked and walked through a lot of bush..... We are now looking for vultures and predators. Saw another Brown Heyena today. Seeing 3-6 jackels a day. Protected here.....
Today was interesting. I misread my watch and got up at 3:30. Dressed and half way to the lodge realized my error. Then the lions started. They were at the waterhole just outside the fence arond our housing. Saw them as we left. 2 BIG males One was the one that had been with the females 1.5 days before. They got pics later and we compared the scars from my pics. Now he has left them to be with this other male. Later we saw 2 females in the bush. With the big 5 present my PH has a 458 Lott with him when we go into the bush, just in case.
So we have been seeing 2-300 gemsbok per day. Can't take a female here. Only males. My PH has seen females that he thought would go 50 inches........ We finally found a bull my PH, Darrin liked. Only a 250 yd stalk or do. First broadside opportunity, we had to verify male/female as both were there. Then he took off. We followed. He stopped at 190 yds , but there was some brush in the way. So we moved 15 ft to get a clear lane. At the shot he dropped in his tracks. High shoulder shot and required a finisher.. Darrin thinks he may make 40 inches, a great Gemsbok bull.
We have seen a lot of Steenbok. They are in my package. We had tried for several, but no dice. As we drove by one jumped up and ran off a bit and stopped. One look and we could see that he was both heavier and longer than the others we had been seeing. Our stalk was 15 ft. So it started out as a drive by shooting. Then it turned into a stalk. I actually missed the first shot as he was walking back in the bush after we had stalked back 100 feet. He ran around and settled in some shade. We got to perhaps 75 yds. He was well screened by some black thorn bushes. I could see his outline so I took the shot and got him! We got to him and it looks like the buller could of split in the bush. I cut 1 stem and grazed 4 more and still got my animal! Looks like 2 entrance wounds. Horns are as long as his ears and good mass for Steenbok. Pretty decent ram and I'm tickled. restores some confidence after the eland fiasco....
We saw several very good hartebeast, but none stuck around. Maybe tonight or tomorrow..... We'll also look for the eland tonight. Got to download pics later. Need a nap. Bruce

 

[gillettehunter]

No shots tonight. Saw a ton of Gemsbok. Saw another brown Heyna.. Several newly born Gebsbok and Hartabeast. Was hottoday. 106. Headed to the So end of the property for the day. Takes OVER 75 min at top manageable speed to get from lodge to opposite end of property. They have a few elephants there too. No sign of the eland...... Can't find him dead or alive.....
Bruce

 

[gillettehunter]

Another great day in the Kalahari. Hit 106 yesterday. Maybe not quite as hot today. Darrin decided it was time to go to the South end today. Lots more Springbok there as well as more Blue Wilderbeasts (BW) to look at. Also more warthogs there as well. We went past several waterholes on the way down. At one here came 4 buff looking for a drink. Couple of good ones.

As we started to leave it here came a brown Heyena down the rd towards us. Came pretty close and then we saw the 2nd one near the rd.

can only load 2 pics per reply.

 

[gillettehunter]

AWays down the rd we spotted a large herd of Springbok. Probably close to 100 animals. Upon inspection we found 2 good rams. So Darren and I made a quick stock to 200 yds. Then the waiting began. Took 5 min for him to get clear and hold still. One shot and he was down. Darren was particularly impresses with the tips going down. Looks like he is over 14 inches.

We went to the So managers house and took care of the springbok. Shortly after leaving we saw a suitable warthog. They spooked from the truck, but we made a stalk. Darrin and the tracker got me in position for a shot as he trotted through a winow of 5 ft. I just flat missed. Crap sometimes happens.... We went to another waterhole. Lots of game there. The real unusual part was that there were 2 spotted hyenas laying in the edge of the water. Most of the game didn't want to get too close. Here's a pic

 

[gillettehunter]

Took a break at the next waterhole. Just covered up in Gemsbok.

After a light lunch we continued to look at animals. Not too many Hartebeast, but a lot of BW's. Always lots of animals within 3 miles of water. No water no animals. We worked over into the area with elephants. We stopped for photo's at 300 yds. One bull has been a dit cranky. He turned and saw us and headed our way. When he reached 50 yds we took off, He appears to not like people at all.

 

[Wheels]

Great tips on the springbok.

Really enjoying your report.

 

[cpr0312]

Wow, you have seen lots of hyena! Is there a chance one of those is now in the salt?