Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Africa Hunt Installment #2

Day 1
After arriving in Nelspruit, we were met by my PH, a young guy named Erwee (pronounced like the letters RVA).
Everything arrived just fine, so we loaded up and after a couple of hours of that disorienting left side of the road driving, we were up at the lodge that would be our base for the first part of the trip. We got gear reorganized and went out for the traditional re-sighting in of the rifles.

The first several days of my hunting were at a government preserve named Ohrigstadt. It was about 60,000 acres with no interior fences; its major purpose is to protect a reservoir that provides a municipal water supply. The landscape at Ohrigstadt was much different than I had expected. Most of the photos and videos of Africa hunting that I had seen were of a flat bushveldt where sight distances are typically less than 100 yards. Ohrigstadt was much steeper and more open; it reminded me a great deal of the Palouse/Snake River region of Washington and Idaho and the Blue Mountains of Oregon. Large expanses of open hillsides, with clusters of brush and fairly dense vegetation in the draws. The elevation was about 5000 ft, and I think there was maybe 1500 ft vertical relief from the top to the bottom.



The major species we were targeting at Ohrigstadt were kudu, zebra, duiker, waterbuck, and warthog. As is the case for many hunters, the kudu was my major objective, and turned out to be the animal we hunted for the hardest. Their rut was in May, so by the beginning of July the males were largely off the bands of females, and either solitary or in small bachelor bands.
I almost shot my kudu less than 30 minutes of the hunt beginning. After we sighted in the guns, we went for a game viewing drive just as it was getting dark. We are looking at things, my wife and I are gawking like first-hour clients, and Erwee stops the bakkie and says �There is a big kudu. Get your gun lets go.� My response was a confused �Now?� I did not have my game face on; I really had not been expecting to see a shooter bull. But I fumbled up some shells and we take off. We go up behind a little knoll and there is a smallish bull in the open, and right up on the ridge, standing in some brush but skylined, is another bull. Erwee sets up the sticks for me to shoot the skylined bull, but it turns and walks over the ridge before I can. But it got the juices flowing.

Day 2
This was a day of a lot of driving, looking, and walking, with the only shooting coming at dusk.

I hunted primarily with the 375 H&H at Ohrigstadt, even though none of the species we were hunting demanded it. Erwee was very pleased when I pulled it out of the case, and as the trip went on, I came to understand why. One of the reasons that I became fond of the 375 is that Ohrigstad has a fair number of rhinos. At one point we were sneaking along a thickly wooded draw in an area with a lot of obvious rhino sign (trails 3 feet wide, turds the size of cantaloupe, and beds the size of Hondas.)



Erwee was in the front, armed with his Musgrave 7x57, I was next with the 375, my wife followed, then the unarmed government game scout and the tracker brought up the rear. As we went through some brush (small trees that force you down near your knees, Erwee was looking left, and to the right I saw a female rhino and calf, bedded down maybe 25 yards away. They got to their feet (surprisingly quickly, I would say) and as is normal for white rhinos, the calf started off running and the female fell in behind. Unfortunately, the befuddled calf started running right at us, thus creating a de facto charge from Momma as she brings up the rear. Fortunately they both veered off at about 10-15 yards, so we were none the worse for the experience. But I will say that I was much happier having the 375 in my hands than I would have been with the 30-06.

With maybe an hour of light remaining, we were off on a walk and saw a shooter waterbuck at perhaps 200 yards. They set up the sticks, and I took a shot and missed. There was just so much new�having spectators, the fear of wounding and losing an animal that would cost me a couple thousand bucks, an unfamiliar target�I think I wasn�t concentrating enough and just botched it. I can also blame it on some new see-through Butler Creek lens covers, which I promptly removed. Fortunately as we were driving back out of the area, there was another nice waterbuck (maybe even better than the one I missed) on the opposing slope. After a short stalk, I got on the sticks, and the range was just short of 200 yards. My miss had rattled me, so I wanted to get closer. We were working down the bottom of a broad draw, the waterbuck was contouring along in front of us, going in and out of sight. There was a big opening that he was going to have to walk though, so we set up the sticks and I waited for him to come out. The light was fading fast. Unfortunately he came out further up the hill that we would have liked, and my shot for him was about 250 yards. But the 375 was sighted in so that it would be only a couple inches low at the distance, and I poked him in the shoulders for a DRT. Erwee was extremely pleased with the shot, in part because it saved us a tracking job in the dark.



Day 3
The first part of the day was spent on photos of the waterbuck. I have seen a lot of the staged safari pictures, but had no idea how much time and effort went into getting them right. The PH finds just the right spot, they cut out all of the grass and any rocks and sticks that would get in the way, and the PH lays in all sorts of contorted positions on the ground to get the angle right so that the horns are in the sky. Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that sometimes the poor tracker has to lay behind the animal and hold it up so that the head is in just the right position.



After that was taken care of, we went for a drive. We had seen a fair number of zebra already, and they seemed to always be way up on the tops of the open ridges. We had not done any stalks on them because they were quite skittish, were often in unstalkable positions, and were way up on the slopes where an 800# dead zebra was going to be a real project.

But today we spotted a herd of four in a little basin that would be a fairly simple stalk; just drive behind the ridge, work up out of sight, pop over and plug one. Just the way I have hunted antelope since I was a kid in Montana. And that is just how it played out. I took a shot at a big stallion at 180 yards; they did not even know we were there. All four zebra took off at a gallop at the shot, contouring away from us. Just after they went over the ridge, I saw a series of dust clouds come up from something going straight down the hill. So the tracking was on. Unfortunately, our tracker was back skinning out the waterbuck. We hit a small amount of blood, just drops every little ways. Just after going across the ridge the tracks for the herd kept contouring around the hill, so the PH charges on to trail them. That leaves me, the game scout, and my non-hunting wife to trail up the blood. Just after crossing the ridge, the blood turns down hill. In addition, I can see that a lot of brush has been laid down in a track going down the hill. My thinking was that the dust clouds I have seen were the zebra rolling down the hill. So I forge down and find him laid up in small stand of trees, quite dead.



There happens to be a spot on a zebra�s shoulder where the stripes form a triangle. That is the perfect place to hit them. My shot went maybe 4� behind the triangle, and then due to the slight angle of the animal, ranged back from there, exiting maybe 6� behind the triangle. (It would have been better if I had shot 3� in front of the triangle).

At this point, I would like to share one of the lessons from this trip. I would have generally liked my shots to have gone lower and/or further forward than they did. I am a habitual �back seam of the front leg� shooter, and I had a hard time breaking that habit. In addition, the shapes of African animals were all new to me, and I did not do as good a job as I would have liked in terms of judging and compensating for slight angles.

As we are taking photos, the game scout calls for a crew of workers from the reserve to come get the animal. The meat from these animals, by the way, goes to the locals. The workers seem more than happy to come retrieve an animal because that gives them first dibs on organs, which are highly prized. In fact, even before we could get the zebra off the mountain, Erwee got a call from the outfitter that he and Rick had just shot a �monster eland� and that we should round up all the help we could muster to get it retrieved before dark. We passed a road crew and got as many volunteers as the truck could handle. I came to decide that �monster eland� is probably redundant. Rick shot this animal square in the shoulder with a 225 gr Partition from his 338-06 at about 150 yards; the animal responded by jumping a 6� fence and then going a quarter mile before they could get a volley of finishing shots into it.


Day 4
Still looking for kudu, warthog, and duiker. Aside from the first fleeting chance the first night, I have not had any more chances at a shooter kudu bull. All of the warthogs we have seen have been either trotting or running flat out; those animals never seem to stop. I am yet to even see a duiker. Moreover, this is the last day that we are scheduled to be here at Ohrigstadt, and I am just beginning to get it figured out.

The working hypothesis for the day is that the big kudu bulls have gone solitary and retreated up the thick canyons. So the plan is to get in before daylight, and stand on a viewpoint where we can see a lot of country and watch for kudu as they come out onto open slopes to warm up in the first sun. The hour that we spent doing this was one of the highlights of the trip. As a western hunter, I am used to using my binocs to cover large pieces of country. So I can really spot game at distance. I could see waterbuck, kudu cows, eland, a small kudu bull, a monster warthog, rhinos and baboons. It was great standing there watching the light come up and things moving around. It was a real Mutual of Omaha experience.

But no kudu bulls of any size.

As lunch was approaching, we went around the reservoir to a thickly wooded area where we had had some fleeting glimpses of at least one large kudu bull. The plan was to stop for lunch and then walk some ridges where we could look down into the draws. As we were getting out, we kicked up some kudu out of a draw and they were moving away though head deep grass. There was a large set of horn bobbing through the sea of grass. We got the sticks set and I waited for the kudu to come to the other side. Some cows came up the slope and out of the grass, and then the bull. Erwee said �shoot him� so I did. Just as with the zebra, the range was 180 yards. There was a �whomp� sound and he rared back before running out of sight. �You hit him hard. He won�t go 30 yards.� Jubilant high-fives around. We get to where the kudu were, and there is no kudu and no blood.

Hitting and losing an animal is every hunter�s fear. But it was my greatest anxiety on this trip because I have never shot at animals with four-figure trophy fees. There is no doubt that I hit him, and I thought my sight picture was on, but we can�t find anything. After maybe 20 minutes, my wife and I are well up the slope doing a grid pattern, and Erwee calls up that he has cut some decent blood and is following it up. We are to come back down, and join in behind on the trail. It is steep, rocky, thick, and thorny, so it takes us some time to get back down to the blood trail, which is very sparse and intermittent. But we start along, and just as we are coming to a thick bottom, there are two harsh coughing barks from in front of us. At this point, my wife announces that no way in hell is she going into that brush, and that I need to take her back to the truck before I go on. (She never really liked being in the thick brush, even when the PH, scout, and tracker were along. Just the two of us?�no way.) Now that was the last thing I wanted to do; I wanted to hunt up the kudu. But the look on her face was that there was no option. Nada. Zilch. So we cut back to the truck, and about the time we get there, several shots ring out.

What mixed emotions. He found it, so that is good. It is not dead, so that is bad. Maybe it is dead now, so that is good. The Ph had to clean up my mess, so that is bad. I deposit her at the truck and charge off in the direction of the shooting. After bushwhacking through some thickets, and up a slope I follow his whistles to Erwee standing over the kudu. It turns out that the barks had been the kudu, probably trying to clear its breathing. At the sound Erwee went up to an overlook, spotted the kudu, and punched some holes in it with his 7x57. We took a few pictures and then he left me there with the kudu so that he could drive back to the headquarters to pick up some help to get the kudu out.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/utah708/P8040017.jpg[/img]

In the time that I had to look it over, I decided that my shot went nicely through the close shoulder, but the quartering away angle of animal meant that it came out up toward the neck rather than passing through the boiler room. This is perhaps the one animal on the trip when I should have shot further back.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/utah708/P8040026.jpg[/img]
From a trophy perspective, I have to say that I am disappointed with the kudu. The horns are only 47,� and more than that, they are fairly narrow. I had really hoped for more spread, and if the situation was such that I could turn down shots, then I might have held out for a different look. But this was the fourth day, and we had hunted hard for kudu, and this was the first shooting opportunity I had had. But on the plus side, the bull was old, with ivory tips. He was not likely to get much bigger. On the down side, the hair on the cape was pretty well rubbed, which helped me make the decision to get a European mount, and save the shoulder mount for another kudu (and thus have an excuse for going back.)

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/utah708/P7030816.jpg[/img]

By the way, JJHack has an excellent little essay on his website about judging kudu; I encourage all first timers to read it. I think that my kudu is the kind he says not to take. And, based on his essay, it is easy to figure out which of these to take.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/utah708/P7071059.jpg[/img]

At any rate, the kudu was the end of our time at Ohrigstadt, and this essay has gone way too long, so I will save other adventures for another day. But what are the first timer lessons that come out of these experiences? First, bullet placement remains the critical issue, and finding the right spot on unfamiliar animals is not always easy. Even shooting a .375 with TSX bullets, shots on the corners remain exactly that. Second, don�t necessarily assume that African shots are short range. The shots that I took were 250 (waterbuck) and two at 180 (zebra and kudu). Your ability to get on sticks and steady QUICKLY and be proficient out to 200 yards is critical.

excellent report! were it not for the animals, I'd say it looks a lot like Utah....

Great story and fine photos

A lot more like Utah than I expected. (At least this part...stay tuned.)

Terrific post! It looks as though you had a really excellent trip. Good reminders on shot placement. Putting the verticle crosshair centered onto the front leg rather than behind it as we N.A. hunters are taught to do is a good bet on broadside shots.

I live near and hunt in the Snake River Breaks area and I agree that the topography of the area you hunted looks mighty familiar. I love long range shooting so I am sure I would really enjoy a hunt there. I am waiting to hear about Gemsbok as we cannot shoot them yet in Zim and I want one pretty badly. Keep up the posts! Thanks tons for the effort.

Another nice read and pics... It doesn't make waiting until I can get to Africa any easier though...

looking forward to the next installment.

I enjoyed your story and pics...Congrats on a great hunt!

You did well...

utah708, seems like you had a great time. Sorry about the kudu.

I have to disagree with you on above though. The kudu was at least 2 years short of a mature bull. Sorry if this sound pompous/ arrogant/ derogatory, it is just my opinion.
I have a real problem with shooting immature bulls, be they kudu or buffalo. I have done it myself before, and are likely to do it again, but to me, a kudu trophy should have the curls completed, even if the length is short of 50 inches, that is much prefered above a "long" one with points still back. A big deal are normally made that one should shoot only hard bossed buff, but nobody ever mentions kudu. Some animal's horns (like buff or kudu) just look "incomplete" when they are young, where others, like oryx and eland, young ones can look OK.
Once again, sorry if I have offend you by the post, that is not my intention.

Great post, your Kudu is a great trophy regardless of the horn length. The one I took was only 46", a bit wider than yours but the hunt for it was fantastic, climbing small mountains, shooting across a canyon.

Karl-

No offense taken. I was merely repeating what my PH said, and I suspected that it had a positive spin. (Having done some guiding myself, I know the pressure to tell the client what he wants to hear.)

Another great installment

You earned a good trophy, and a European mount will look great, IMO. There's always that bigger one waiting for your return to Africa...

I've enjoyed your installments immensley.