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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member


Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
Your most rewarding African animal
      #44776 - 24/12/05 12:37 PM

Reading jorge's description of his Cape Buffalo hunt with John Sharp got me to thinking. (I know, that can be dangerous) I started looking around my trophy room, and I can vividly recall the hunt/stalk/shot, for each animal.Some came rather easy, some not so easy, and a couple were just downright hard to get. The ones that were hardest to get, IMO, are the ones I'm proudest of. They might not rank up as high in the record books as some of the ones that came easy, but I feel really good when I think of what it took to finally take them. Which animal are you proudest of, and why? I bet there's some really good stories out there.

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allenday
.333 member


Reged: 18/04/04
Posts: 318
Re: Your most rewarding African animal [Re: mikeh416Rigby]
      #44815 - 25/12/05 01:44 AM

I can think of a dozen episodes that were equally rewarding, but since Jorge talked about his buffalo hunt with John Sharp, I'll add another John Sharp story of my own that was one of my best hunts ever.

This hunt took place in August, 2000 in John's Malangani hunting area. It was a very wet season, and the leaves hadn't dropped as they normally do by that time of the year, so visibility was really limited. As a result, we spent a number of days climbing rock kopjes glassing for game. One kopje, in particular, was very productive, and we shot a superb blue wildebeest from it as it moved to water.

A few days later, toward evening, we climbed that same kopje to glass. After a bit John motioned for me to come over, and he told me that he had spotted a big kudu bull in the saddle of that kopje, which was about 300 yds. away from our position. John had lost sight of the bull, and he was worried that it had given us the slip and had moved across the saddle, through the brush to the other side. So John left his apprentice PH with me, while he went to the other side of the kopje to look for the kudu.

Not one to sit idly by, I kept glassing that saddle, looking for the kudu, which I felt certain was still there, hidden by the brush. After a half-hour or so, I spotted the tip of one of the kudu's horns. I went over to the apprentice and said, "Julian, I have that bull spotted, and he isn't moving. Go and get Mr. Sharp. I'll sit tight and keep the kudu located until you return."

When John returned, we both glassed for the bull, which was still in the saddle, pin-pointed his position, then developed a game plan to collect him. We very carefully moved down the kopje to a large boulder that would put us within 200 yds. of the kudu. The boulder kept us hidden, and would also supply me with a solid rest for the shot. By the time we got to that boulder, it was getting very dark, almost too dark to shoot. Another problem that remained was the fact that the kudu was mostly hidden in the brush, and I had nothing to shoot at.

But finally the bull did move, just enough to expose his left shoulder. At the shot, the kudu dash ahead, right into the open, and stood wobbling, so I shot him again with my 375 H&H, and down he went. By the time we got to him, it was nearly too dark for photos, but nevertheless, I had taken a very lovely, ancient bull that went 57". We were elated, and that was one of the most satisfying African hunts I've ever enjoyed, and it produced a kudu bull is one of my favorite and best trophies.

It was one very lucky kopje..........

AD

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jorge
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Reged: 13/07/05
Posts: 88
Loc: Orange Park, Florida
Re: Your most rewarding African animal [Re: allenday]
      #44818 - 25/12/05 04:47 AM

Well, I've alraedy gone on record with my buffalo as the most memorable, but right up there with it has to be my first ever african trophy and that was my zebra. I was again hunting with John Sharp in September of 01. It was my first day in Africa and we had been tracking a group of three zebra stallions for about an hour. It was my first real experience at watching the "art" of tracking and it was interesting to not how zebras dug huge, deep holes on dry river beds to access water.

When we climbed up the embankment, we found a lone, large stallion all by himself. We stalked to about 125 yards, using a termite mound for cover. John quickly put up the sticks. Iwas amazed at how steady the rifle could be held using them, as that had been one my concerns. In any event, I lined up the X hairs with a perfect "V" made by the stripes on his shoulder and launched a hand-loaded 300gr Swift A Frame. I heard the "whack" of the bullet, but when I recovered from recoil, the zebra had bolted. John was smiling and he indicated he was just on the other side of the mound about 50 yards away (he had run toward us at the shot). He just stumbled over and fell. I had arrived! After pictures were taken, John and the trackers went of to retrieve the vehicle and I was alone with my trophy, lit a Macanudo, and whispered to myself, "Top o' the world ma!" jorge

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mikeh416Rigby
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Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
Re: Your most rewarding African animal [Re: jorge]
      #45066 - 28/12/05 01:48 PM

I would have to say that the two animals I'm most proud of would by my Nyala, and Cape Bushbuck.

The Nyala had given my PH and me the slip for several days, always splitting away from a group of younger bulls when they sensed we were there. Finally, after we had spooked them again, and the younger bulls headed down the mountain, my PH and I ran about half a mile around the mountain, and caught the big guy coming out of the thick cover with his head down, just like a Whitetail Buck on the trail of a doe in heat. In spite of my heart pounding like crazy, and being seemingly unable to fill my lungs with air, I was able to get off an offhand shot from almost 200 yards, and put it down in its tracks with one shot. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'd rather be lucky than good.

The Cape Bushbuck was another animal that had been giving my PH and me fits. We were either seeing or hearing them too late for a shot, or we were running into females or young rams. The evening I shot it, my PH, a friend of his, my best friend, our tracker, and myself were spread out on top of a canyon wall looking down into the river bottom. Whoever spotted a good ram first, would have the tracker come get the PH and me, and hopefully the Bushbuck would still be visible when we got set up. As fate would have it, my PH was just coming down the trail toward me, at last shooting light, when I looked down and spotted the Bushbuck ram about 100 yards straight down in the riverbottom. I whispered to my PH.,"I see a good Bushbuck", and my PH. just said, "well shoot him then". I shot, and the ram died on the spot, shot right between the shoulders, through the spine. Even though the Bushbuck died only 100 yards from us, it took us almost 2 hours in the dark to work our way down to it, and get it back to the baakie.

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markhyoung
.224 member


Reged: 31/10/05
Posts: 49
Loc: Cody, WY, USA
Re: Your most rewarding African animal [Re: mikeh416Rigby]
      #46344 - 11/01/06 08:18 AM

I think for me the Zambesi sitatunga was the most rewarding. I hunted them briefly on the end of a 21 day safari in Zambia during '98. We moved up to the Bangweulu swamp from the Luangwa at the end of our hunt with just 3 hunting days remaining. The moon was full, swamp full of water and July was obviously not the ideal time for this hunt. We did see some sitatunga, shot black lechwe, oribi and tseesbe. The whole experience whetted my appetite for a return engagament. Also the Bangweulu has to be one of the most beautiful spots in all of Africa.

We returned to Zambia in 2000 with 7 days at the end of our safari dedicated to the sitatunga. This time we would be on the dark of the moon in September. It was a perfect choice.

The first day in the swamp we scouted for a good place to set up our portable blind. I say blind loosly as it was sort of a painter's scaffolding that put you 15 feet in the air and could accommodate 6 people. Jaco Du Plessis (the very one) told us where he had seen a big sitatunga a few days previous but with no trees close by to use for a stand he had not returned. We checked out the spot and found a perfect litte rise to set the scaffolding up on.

The next morning found us in the stand well before light. When the light came we had 360 degree sitatuga that paid no attention to our contraption at all. Early on we saw a couple of bulls in the low 20's but about 7:30 AM what appeared to be a huge bull came out of the payrus and casually walked across our front. The only problem was him being at 565 yards. It's not done but with encouragement from the game scout we climbed down and made a stalk through the reeds. About every 50 yards we would look back and Sadie would give us hand signals from the blind on what the sitatunga was doing. Eventually with Sadie's help we got in front of the bif bull and set up on the sticks. Itworked perfectly and as he stepped in the open at about 150 yards I shot him. At the shot he turned into the really tall grass and vanished. After a short wait and some tense moments we found him with the help of Smart the worlds tallest tracker. The sitatunga measured 28.5 and because the curl was not deep he was impossibly tall.

This was probably the happiest safari crew I have ever seen. Lots of hungs, handshakes, back slapping and kisses all around.

This was an end to a great safari and the only one to date were I was able to take all the animals I wanted and get the trophy quality I desired.

Because of a snafu in 2000 my sitatunga has been in Zambia since it was shot and just now it is on the way to the States. I'm very anxious to get it as the wait and subsequent haggling with ZAWA has been a roller coaster ride of incredible magnitude.

Mark

--------------------
Mark H. Young
ADAM CLEMENTS SAFARI TRACKERS INC.
WORLDWIDE BIG GAME, WINGSHOOTING AND PHOTO SAFARIS
www.safaritrackers.com
Office 1-307-587-6372
FAX 1-307-587-3385


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bulldog563
.400 member


Reged: 21/10/05
Posts: 1153
Loc: California
Re: Your most rewarding African animal [Re: markhyoung]
      #46365 - 11/01/06 12:13 PM

Got any pictures Mark?

--------------------
Join the National Rifle Association:
https://membership.nrahq.org/forms/signup.asp

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markhyoung
.224 member


Reged: 31/10/05
Posts: 49
Loc: Cody, WY, USA
Re: Your most rewarding African animal [Re: bulldog563]
      #46514 - 13/01/06 11:27 AM

Bulldog

Yes! I had a hard enough time learning to post pics on AR so I'm not really all that thrilled with messing with pics here. If you send me a e-mail through I will return it with pics attached and If you want to post them you have my permission.

Mark

--------------------
Mark H. Young
ADAM CLEMENTS SAFARI TRACKERS INC.
WORLDWIDE BIG GAME, WINGSHOOTING AND PHOTO SAFARIS
www.safaritrackers.com
Office 1-307-587-6372
FAX 1-307-587-3385


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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member


Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
Re: Your most rewarding African animal [Re: markhyoung]
      #46898 - 18/01/06 12:30 PM

IMHO, the Sitatunga is a magnificient animal, no matter the horn length. Congratulations Mark.

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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member


Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
Re: Your most rewarding African animal [Re: jorge]
      #46906 - 18/01/06 12:59 PM

Of the animals I've hunted in Africa, Zebra have given me the most trouble of any. My first Zebra hunt was on my first Safari, which took place in Namibia. We hunted Mountain Zebra for 3 days, and they flat out kicked my butt. I finally had to give up and pursue other game.

My 2nd Zebra hunt took place in the old Zulu Land, in South Africa. I shot the Burchell Zebra from @ 200 yards, and held right where the PH told me to. The PH announced, "good shot, he won't go far". Famous last words. Three hours and 4 more follow up shots (all hits), and I finally had my 1st Zebra rug.

The 3rd time I hunted them also took place in South Africa, near Thabazimbi. I was shooting my .375 Ackley Imp. with 250 grain Swift A Frames. I had a shot from @ 125 yards, with the Zebra quartering toward me. I held on the inside of the nearest shoulder and squeezed off a shot. The PH, tracker, and farm owner all declared a good hit. An hour and a half later, it became too dark to continue tracking, and we had to come back in the morning to follow up. We located the stallion, still running with the herd, and I was able to get a shot into it from 75 yards while it was running away. It finally died within 100 yards. My shot from the previous day had hit right where I held, but for some reason turned on the shoulder bone, and instead of penetrating into the vitals, it turned 90 degrees, and followed a path beneath the skin, and exited. I never saw that kind of poor performance from a Swift A Frame before, or since.

This past year I was back in Namibia, and fortunately, Vaughan Fulton, www.fultonclassicsafaris.com has an area where the Mountain Zebra actually can be hunted on the plains, instead of up in the mountains. I took a very old, battle scarred stallion with the 375 Ackley, but this time I used the 270 Barnes XLC bullet. One good shot, and it was down.

Over the years, Zebra have earned my respect as a potentially tough animal to, not only hunt, but to put down, even if the shot is thought to be well placed.

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