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Outfitter - Karoo Wild Safaris Vic and Lindsay Watson - East Cape, South Africa

Hunters - Frank and Tom

Guns - Winchester M70 Classic Safari Express in 375 H&H using Barnes 300 grain TSX. Ruger M77 (tang safety) in 338 Win Mag using the 225 Barnes TTSX. Both guns had 2.5-8X Leupold VX-III scopes

Animals hunted - Kudu, Gemsbok, Impala, Blesbok, Warthog, Bushbuck, Blue Wildebeest, Vervet Monkey, Baboon

Animals taken - Kudu, Gemsbok, Impala, Blesbok, Warthog, Bushbuck, Blue Wildebeest, and Vervet Monkey.

Animals seen on hunting grounds - All the above plus Steenbok, Duiker, Rock Hyrax, Hartebeest, Springbok, Mountain Reedbuck, Klipspringer, Zebra, Waterbuck, ostrich, rabbits, mongoose, secretary bird, hawks, eagles, bustards, dove, pheasant, ducks, geese, porcupine, elephant, jackal, lion, tigers and bears, Oh my!

This was a family trip for plains game with my brother to get him his first trip to Africa.

Arriving in the evening we did the obligatory sighting in and my trusty 375 H&H hit right at 1 inch high at 100 yards with the first shot, old reliable!

We had braised impala shanks for dinner that I could have eaten my weight of.

Up at 6 AM the next morning, we go to look for a Gemsbok for Tom.

Vic (Our PH) found a sick cow gemsbock that we saw first thing and told Tom to shoot it. It was 100 Lbs. underweight, with short horns that were flaking and peeling. Vic says that the cow was free because it had heart water, a tick borne disease, and he wanted it off the ranch. So, Tom broke the ice on his first animal in South Africa for free. I didn't get a good picture of it though.

Tom then got a nice Gemsbok:

That afternoon I took a nice blesbok that we stumbled upon. I hadn't planned to shoot one but Vic thought that it looked great. He said that it would go over 16 inches.

The next morning were up at 6 AM to look for Blue Wildebeest.
One shot at 150 yards. I love the 375 H&H!

I don't know blue wildebeest standards that well but his horns are curved a couple of inches outside of his ears, with old cracked bosses so he's a good bull.

We drag the elongated wheel barrow shaped game cart up the hill and get the bull loaded for its ride down to the truck.

Tom sees some football sized warthogs and the ranch owner tells him to shoot them because they're pests. Tom knocks down a piglet at about 100 yards and gets his second free animal of the hunt.

The next morning we chase warthogs and impala at another concession and Tom takes a sow warthog at 150 yards;

We get up in the morning and drive up into the mountains. The wind is blowing at 20 MPH with gusts above 30 MPH. Three hours later, we spot a good bull about 800 yards below and start the stalk going straight down the mountain.
At 70 yards Tom shoots a nice Kudu.

The slope was so steep and brushy that we had to cut the bull in half and slide it (on a tarp) down to the road in two trips that took half an hour.

The next day we drive an hour and a half to the coast to hunt bushbuck on a low fence dairy farm that borders a high fence nature preserve on one side. The farm is hilly pastures intermixed with huge blocks of impenetrable brush, cut through with fire breaks that the bushbucks come out to sun in in the morning and evenings.

While walking along the edge of the wildlife preserve a large male cheetah comes out along the fence, walks up to us and lays down 5 feet away.

We walked a few miles around the blocks of brush. Rounding a corner, we all hit the ground when the tracker spotted another buck on the other side of a small hill. Vic looked him over and said that he’s a big buck but only had one horn. I asked if it was a big horn and Vic said that it was and that he was an old ram.

I made my decision and slid out and into a sitting position. Bringing my rifle up, I could only see the top half of the ram’s body facing almost directly at me. He had a 2” stub for a right horn but the left side had the classic full twist of a nice bushbuck. I put the crosshairs on the junction of his neck and shoulder and squeezed the trigger. At the shot, the ram disappeared and everyone jumped out to see the ram dead on the ground. Getting up to him I discovered that I had shot the world’s ugliest bushbuck. He had no hair on his face and big bald patches on both sides and the top of his neck and shoulder areas. The tracker opened up his mouth and all he had was worn nubs for lower teeth.

We got him posed for pictures, loaded him into the truck and drove to the farm headquarters. The farm manager came out to look at him along with the farm owner’s father and they were both glad to see that I had shot the old, one horned “killer”. He opened up the ram’s mouth and said ‘Ach, He’s old!” I asked him how old bushbucks get and he said that they could live to 15 years. I then asked how old this buck was and he said “14 and a half”. We all had a good laugh at that.

The next day, Jacob gave me the bullet that he found while skinning the ram under the skin at the back of the ram’s rear leg. Apparently my bullet had broken the ram’s neck and then deflected, travelling the entire length of the ram’s body, coming to rest under the skin on his butt. The bullet weighed 299.1 grains at home on my reloading scale.

The next day, Tom takes a young, broken horned Impala ram after a group of blesbok with a wild goat among them busts us and scatters the herd ram.

The last day of the hunt, I get a good mature ram that takes three 300 grain TSX bullets to put down. Shooting 200 yards in 20 MPH winds across a valley, makes for some tough shooting.

Overall, we had a blast! Vic and Lindsay Watson are outstanding hosts and the camp and staff are excellent. The food was outstanding with a lot of wild game served and I know that I gained weight on this trip.

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Frank