African Safari - Hunt Day 2 - 19 AUG
We rolled out early this morning, 4:30 am. We drove for 2 hours, up near the Botswana border, to a ranch of 16,000 acres (that's 25 square miles). It's an operational cattle ranch that happens to also support an abundant wildlife population.
We grabbed a driver for the truck and headed off into the bush. We parked along a road, and started stalking. Today Jan did not mention anything about a "little" walk. Good thing, 'cause he would have been a Big Liar!
We started by tracking impala. We spot them, work around the wind, and then try to get close. They busted us several times. Along the way we did see a jackal. On about the third try on the impala, we ran into a herd of blesbok. Game changer. New plan had RePhil hunting and me pulling up rear guard.
One thing I will say about African game - they are NOT a curious bunch. All of the curious ones are long dead. If they suspect anything, they run away. This happens a lot.
We tracked the blesbok until the wind swirled. Our scent startled them - and they ran down the path TOWARD us. Once seen, they stepped off the path but crossed at 20-30 yards. It was impressive!
Again, I did not have a good view because my job is not to photograph the hunt - but be quiet and stay out of the way. I did see Jan pointing to the middle of his own chest. I confirmed later that he was telling RePhil to center-punch the large male who had stopped to check on the herd. Bam! Hit.
Mr. Blesbok, at this point takes off running, along with Jan. Jan is screaming at RePhil to keep up. Okay, that's not going to happen. 60 year old grandpa versus 25 year old kid. No contest.
RePhil does eventually catch up after Jan stops 400-500 yards down the bush. Jan tells RePhil to shoot the blesbok again. Not happening. RePhil is breathing so hard that as he looks through his scope he sees: clouds, trees, and dirt, reverse...as he huffs and puffs. I watch as shot #2 goes into dirt.
RePhil takes his time, steadies his aim and puts shot #3 in the boiler room. Blesbok in the pot. We call for the truck to haul us all back to the barn.
After lots more walking, we are ready for lunch because it's now 2 pm. That's 10 hours on coffee, fruit, and water. We are ready to eat - and eat just about anything. We again call for the truck. It picks us up. As we go to open the gate, Jan sees a very large impala. He tells me to get out of the truck with my gun. We put on a stalk. We get into position at about 100 yards where the impala is due to feed right out into the open. That was until a grey lourie sounded his alarm call. The impala froze. Jan asked if I felt confident with the shot through the bushveld. I confirmed as much. He authorized the shot. Stoned it. Jan was quite excited as he said this was the largest impala taken all season, and only 1.5" from the record book.
We took lunch. RePhil napped. And then we went stalking again. RePhil shot an almost perfect impala that evening right before sundown. After 10 miles of hiking, we filled 3 tags. Great day!
We grabbed a driver for the truck and headed off into the bush. We parked along a road, and started stalking. Today Jan did not mention anything about a "little" walk. Good thing, 'cause he would have been a Big Liar!
We started by tracking impala. We spot them, work around the wind, and then try to get close. They busted us several times. Along the way we did see a jackal. On about the third try on the impala, we ran into a herd of blesbok. Game changer. New plan had RePhil hunting and me pulling up rear guard.
One thing I will say about African game - they are NOT a curious bunch. All of the curious ones are long dead. If they suspect anything, they run away. This happens a lot.
We tracked the blesbok until the wind swirled. Our scent startled them - and they ran down the path TOWARD us. Once seen, they stepped off the path but crossed at 20-30 yards. It was impressive!
Again, I did not have a good view because my job is not to photograph the hunt - but be quiet and stay out of the way. I did see Jan pointing to the middle of his own chest. I confirmed later that he was telling RePhil to center-punch the large male who had stopped to check on the herd. Bam! Hit.
Mr. Blesbok, at this point takes off running, along with Jan. Jan is screaming at RePhil to keep up. Okay, that's not going to happen. 60 year old grandpa versus 25 year old kid. No contest.
RePhil does eventually catch up after Jan stops 400-500 yards down the bush. Jan tells RePhil to shoot the blesbok again. Not happening. RePhil is breathing so hard that as he looks through his scope he sees: clouds, trees, and dirt, reverse...as he huffs and puffs. I watch as shot #2 goes into dirt.
RePhil takes his time, steadies his aim and puts shot #3 in the boiler room. Blesbok in the pot. We call for the truck to haul us all back to the barn.
After lots more walking, we are ready for lunch because it's now 2 pm. That's 10 hours on coffee, fruit, and water. We are ready to eat - and eat just about anything. We again call for the truck. It picks us up. As we go to open the gate, Jan sees a very large impala. He tells me to get out of the truck with my gun. We put on a stalk. We get into position at about 100 yards where the impala is due to feed right out into the open. That was until a grey lourie sounded his alarm call. The impala froze. Jan asked if I felt confident with the shot through the bushveld. I confirmed as much. He authorized the shot. Stoned it. Jan was quite excited as he said this was the largest impala taken all season, and only 1.5" from the record book.
We took lunch. RePhil napped. And then we went stalking again. RePhil shot an almost perfect impala that evening right before sundown. After 10 miles of hiking, we filled 3 tags. Great day!
RePhil and his Blesbok.
Me with 24.5" impala ram. Gold Medal!
The Grey Lourie - sentry of the African bush.
Very similar to our Blue Jays - slightly larger and more annoying.
RePhil with his impala ram. 21". Nice trophy.
A beautiful South African sunset to end a wonderful day!
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