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Hunting >> Hunting in Africa & hunting dangerous game

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controlled_feed
.300 member


Reged: 23/05/08
Posts: 227
Loc: NSW, Australia
African hunt report
      #211064 - 18/06/12 11:08 AM

Here is a little report on our recent family hunt in RSA.

Outfitter: Shumba Safaris

PH: Mel Kleinhans

Location: Eastern Cape, South Africa

Time of year: June 2012

Weather: A bit changeable, but we hunted every day.

Animals hunted: Blesbok, Impala, Springbok, Cape Bushbuck and Cape Grysbok

Animals taken: Blesbok, Impala, Springbok, and Cape Bushbuck

Firearms: Sako 22/250. 55 grain Soft points. Mel’s go to rifle for kids and new hunters

My Remington Mod 700 30/06. 180 grain Woodleigh Protected Points

My family (wife, son, daughter and myself) hunted with Mel for 5 days.
Mel and his wife Leona, couldn’t have done more to make our stay more enjoyable. 4 people in camp at once, all hunting together, wasn’t a problem. There was plenty of food, and as usual the hospitality was first rate.

Having 3 first time hunter to deal with didn’t faze Mel in the slightest. His calm manner when setting up for a shot helped to relax the first timers enough that all 3 of them made good shots on all the animals. Maddi and Denise had never killed anything bigger than an ant prior to our trip.

Our first hunting day was spent looking for the ever elusive Cape Bushbuck and Cape Grysbok. Sunset found us with no shots fired, but an enjoyable day was had by all.
The afternoon of day two was spent hunting Blesbok in the Karoo. Denise made a perfect shot on nice Blesbok ram, her first African, and first ever trophy. That afternoon, Maddi was on the sticks no less than three times trying to get a shot at a very clever Blesbok ram. The ram won the day.



Dawn on day three bought a change in the weather, with very cold wind and some rain. Maddi continued where she left off the previous afternoon. A long shot in the wind and a brisk walk through the Karoo landscape for her brother and Mel got her a finishing shot on a nice, old Blesbok ram.



After some lunch, it was Josh’s turn to hunt. A long stalk and some clever manoeuvring on Mel’s part got Josh onto a good Springbok ram. A short time later, the ram was on the ground. As we approached him, he got up and tried to run, testament to the toughness of the African wildlife. Due to technical issues with the rifle Josh was using, I finally got in on the act, securing the ram with a running shot from my 30/06.



More foul weather came in during the night, rendering the morning of day 4 less than ideal for hunting. But hunt we did. A large herd of Blesbok was spotted on the side of a hill, Josh and Mel stalked the herd. A couple of shots later, Josh had a nice Blesbok ram on the ground.
With the weather deteriorating, the hunt was on for an Impala for Maddi. The weather continued to turn for the worse and the hunt was abandoned.



The last day of our hunt showed better promise weather wise, so a lunch was packed and we headed to a hunting area that Shumba Safaris have exclusive access to. Maddi’s luck changed late morning, with a very nice Impala ram being located. A stalk and a very good 225 metre shot later, she was standing next to her long awaited Impala.



Mel with Maddi and her Impala


That meant that I could finally go hunting. Mel knew the general area that a very good Bushbuck ram had been frequenting. The ram had given Mel the slip on two previous occasions, so he was keen to get the drop on the crafty old fellow. After a lot of glassing and a little luck, Mel located the ram, or more accurately the south end of the north bound ram, about a mile away. A plan was made and the hunt was on. After manoeuvring through the thick bush, we where across the gully from where the ram had last been seen. A tense few minutes turned up nothing but bush. Then all of a sudden there he was, about 200 meters lower than we had expected. A longish, cross gully shot secured the ram, but it took almost 30 minutes to get to the ram in the thick bush.He was an old fighter to, he had several badly infected wounds on his rear legs that look like a horn wound.




The little 22/250 performed well, and for what Mel uses it for, it does an outstanding job. The little projectiles performed very well, as can be seen by the photo. I wouldn’t use it as my hunting rifle, but for first timers and kids, it’s well suited.

The 30/06 performed well, as usual. I’ve taken over 30 trophy animals, from Scrub Bull to Klipspringer, using the 180 grain Woodleigh protected points, as well as a good number of other stuff and they perform every time and are accurate.

Typical Eastern Cape country side


The Cape Grysbok eluded me again this year, but I will persist.

I will hunt with Shumba Safaris again (this is my 2nd trip with Mel) and highly recommend them to anyone looking for a hunt in the Eastern Cape.

Edited by controlled_feed (18/06/12 11:15 AM)


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Fjold
.275 member


Reged: 28/06/11
Posts: 60
Loc: Bakersfield, CA, USA
Re: African hunt report [Re: controlled_feed]
      #211065 - 18/06/12 12:35 PM

Great report! It looks like the family had fun!

--------------------
Frank


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Ben
.400 member


Reged: 22/08/08
Posts: 1917
Loc: Northern Territory, Australia
Re: African hunt report [Re: Fjold]
      #211066 - 18/06/12 01:35 PM

Hey, real nice! I can't wait to be near there soon!

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tinker
.416 member


Reged: 12/03/05
Posts: 4835
Loc: Nevada
Re: African hunt report [Re: Ben]
      #211067 - 18/06/12 01:48 PM

Great story, great photos.
Really nice to see your family together for the adventure!



Thanks for the report.








Cheers
Tinker

--------------------
--Self-Appointed Colonel, DRSS--



"It IS a dangerous game, and so named for a reason, and you can't play from the keyboard. " --Some Old Texan...


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Mike_Bailey
.400 member


Reged: 26/02/07
Posts: 2289
Loc: GB
Re: African hunt report [Re: tinker]
      #211080 - 18/06/12 05:27 PM

Some lovely pics there, good stuff, looks like everyone had a ball, oddly I used the exact opposite of calibre on my bushbuck, a .44 Rem Mag lever action Marlin but the shot was only 60 odd yards, last time I use a Remington "core lokt" bullet, it entered behind the shoulder (quartering away shot), went through the heart and hit the opposite shoulder and disintegrated !? Mind you, I suppose you could quote the old adage "Where exactly in the death of the animal did the bullet fail" but I did expect it to hold together a bit better, best
Mike



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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member


Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
Re: African hunt report [Re: Mike_Bailey]
      #211095 - 19/06/12 01:02 AM

Congratulations on a great family Safari.

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Rule303
.416 member


Reged: 05/07/09
Posts: 4896
Loc: Woodford Qld
Re: African hunt report [Re: controlled_feed]
      #211150 - 19/06/12 01:18 PM

Sounds like you had a great family holiday. Should be more family holidays like yours.

Good write up and photo's.


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controlled_feed
.300 member


Reged: 23/05/08
Posts: 227
Loc: NSW, Australia
Re: African hunt report [Re: Rule303]
      #211154 - 19/06/12 03:50 PM

Thanks for the kind words. It was good to have the family safari. An upside of the trip is, now they don't think my hunting trips are "holidays" like they used to.

--------------------
I was born 100 years too late


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capra
.224 member


Reged: 13/07/10
Posts: 11
Loc: NSW
Re: African hunt report [Re: controlled_feed]
      #211208 - 20/06/12 04:20 PM

Good stuff Adam, shame about the Grysbok, I thought you were after a Vaal Rhebok?

Tony


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controlled_feed
.300 member


Reged: 23/05/08
Posts: 227
Loc: NSW, Australia
Re: African hunt report [Re: capra]
      #211215 - 20/06/12 07:20 PM

Thanks Tony, I got a Vallie last year. The Grysbok will come eventually. A lot of them are taken with a light, and I don't want to do it with a light. Nothing against anybody who does, I just don't want to.

--------------------
I was born 100 years too late


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