Eland Hunt 2008 Part 1

[Bambistew]

A Chance to Hunt Eland.

In 2005, my wife Leah and I traveled to South Africa on our first safari. What we didn’t know is that it wouldn’t be a once in a life time trip, but hopefully one of many to come. Prior to our hunt we spent countless hours researching and trying to decide who and where we should go for our first trip, granted I think I did most of the day dreaming and she let me make all the plans, even so we worked it through together.

We first came into contact with the Heyns and Samaria Safaris www.samaria.co.za at an Outdoor Expo in Harrisburg PA in 2004. We spook with probably 15-18 other safari operators at that show, discussing all points of their operation and getting a feel for who they were and how they operated. After talking with all the other outfitters, Samaria kept calling us back. Maybe it was Hennies personality, or the quality of animals they took on their property, I don’t know, but they seemed to be the ones for us? Either way our mind was pretty much made up a week after the show ended.

Samaria seemed to project that the operation they ran was a small family oriented practice and that they strived to have a good time rather than put all the emphasis and pressure on filling a truck up with animals and had more than $ in their sights. While I love to hunt and enjoy filling the bag so to speak, I’ve taken well over a 100 big game animals with a rifle, bow and black powder rifle. I have come to the point in my hunting career that I much prefer working hard for one really nice animal vs. taking a truck load of ‘representative’ animals just to say I got them that season. Success to me is having a good time, not killing an animal every time I go hunting. I for some reason seem to have a horse shoe lodged in my posterior that allows me to get nice animals AND have a good time on most trips anyway, so I don’t put my pressure on myself to succeed.

Our first hunt with Samaria didn’t disappoint. I still to this day fondly remember the hunt for all the animals we took on that trip. I have to admit; we filled the truck up to the brim, but did so with exceptional animals. While I was pleased with the warthog I got that trip, something about hunting for them made me yearn to get one bigger. I was also fortunate to take a truly world class kudu and bushbuck on that trip, so my desire to achieve a spiral horned antelope slam was ignited. I’m not sure I’ll ever succeed in achieving the entire slam of 8 species and several subspecies of each, but I plan to try and make a dent in the list. Some of the animals live in extremely remote parts of Africa and hunts for them are very, very expensive. The thing about South Africa, is that they have 4 indigenous species with ample hunting populations. I was hoping to collect another spiral horned antelope on this trip. My passion seemed to be leaning toward a nice eland bull if we could find one.

For our second hunt, I dreamed many nights about what animals would be exciting to hunt for. I finally came to the conclusion that I would like to focus 100% on eland and try for a nice warthog and impala if we found one. To be honest I was actually willing to go home empty handed if we couldn’t find the quality of animals I was after, just spending time in Africa hunting was worth the trip for me

We departed from Baltimore on the 21st of May, and were met by Benji and Rachelle Cawood in Jburg. We collected our luggage, registered our rifles with the police and departed for the first leg of our trip. We would spend the first 2 days in Kruger Park getting used to our surroundings and sharpening our ‘game’ eyes. The park trip was a whirl wind adventure, we saw around 20 different big game species, and many different kinds of birds, reptiles and other small animals. I know that everyone in the group had a great time. The highlights of the trip included being surrounded by a herd of 200+ cape buffalo while in the car, and seeing a couple cheetahs.

zebra

cheetah

Hippos in the elephant river

waterbuck

elephant

giraffe

hyena

croc

steenbuck

buffalo

nyala

 

[Bambistew]

Camp
We arrived at camp late in the evening of June 24th, 2008. There was not enough light left to check the sights on the rifle, so we would have wait until the morning. This was also are first look at the new camp that Quinton and Benji had been working feverishly on for the last 6 months to complete. The new camp was beautiful. They built a new dinning area with a large bar and lounge area on the second floor. The bar was made form old Teak railroad ties I believe, and was quite honestly the most hansom piece of furniture I’d ever seen. They had also built a new patio with a fire pit. That evening we quickly got settled in, had a sun downer and dinner and then off to bed.

Camp

Camp dining area/bar

Fire pit

Bar area

Their property is approximately 18,000 acres where the camp is located, and they also have another 3000 acre piece about 10-12 miles away which consists of thick bush along 2 river beds. The larger section is made up of rocky ridges, rolling hills, and a large sandy flat with thick cover.

Far end of property, Jabalini in foreground

hills

Day 1
The first morning after a quick bite to eat, we all made a stop at the rifle range to check the sights and make sure all our rifles were still shooting where they were supposed to be. A few quick test shots, and every thing seemed to be in order. I was a little apprehensive due to the fact that the bullets I had loaded for one of my rifles, where put together the night before we left and I didn’t have a chance to go to the range to check the sights. Everything checked out fine however, so we loaded up the bakkies and off we went. The plan was for my dad and I to hunt together with my friend and PH Quinton, and Leigh would hunt with Benji, Quinton’s business partner. We went our separate ways and wished each other good luck. We would head for the flats, and Benji and Leigh would hunt the hills.

We drove down a small road for about 2 miles before stopping and climbing a knoll to glass the flats below. We spotted a few impala but nothing else, we hiked back to the bakkie and drove another mile or so to a second vantage point. We glassed for a few minutes before spotting a small heard of blue wildebeest, zebra and impala. We watched them for about 10 min or so and noticed there was a small band of bulls about 300 yards to the right of the larger group.

wildebeest


We quickly checked the wind and made a plan. We circled down wind to get in to position, but the problem was the terrain was relatively flat and the bush was thick, getting in range and getting a shot would prove difficult. We crept to within about 100-125 yards of the herd and waited for an opportunity. My dad stood poised with his rifle on the shooting sticks waiting for the bulls to clear the brush and offer a shot. A quick check of my range finder indicated the bulls were about 135 yards. After what seemed like forever, a nice bull finally walked into an opening. Quinton told dad that it was a nice bull and to take him if he felt comfortable. About 20 seconds later the rifle reported, and the bull bucked and took off running. We all remarked at the hit and figured it to be a good shot.

Dad next to a baby baobab


We waited about 10 min or so before proceeding to the spot where we had last seen the bull. It took us a few minutes to figure out where he had been standing exactly due to the thick bush, and numerous tracks in the sand. After wandering around for about 10 minutes we were finally able to find the tracks the bull had left. We followed them for about an hour, double backed a couple times and didn’t find one drop of blood or water indicating any kind of hit. We spent the next hour or so making circles trying to sort out the tracks, but there was so many wildebeest in the area, that sorting out the correct tracks proved futile. We were all pretty certain that he had hit the bull, but concluded it must have been high and probably too far back. Disheartened we returned to camp to have lunch. We planned on returning in a few hours to see if we could find them again, and to look for any sign of a dead animal.

That evening, my wife Leah accompanied us back to the same area. We searched around in the area for the wildebeest, but again found no blood. We chalked it up to bad luck and figured we could stew about it or let it go. It was impossible to find any sort of sign at this point, and following tracks with no blood in them was pointless. The best thing to do was to continue hunting for wildebeest and hope to run into the same bunch again in the same area and maybe get lucky.

Later that evening we ran into a heard of about 30 or so wildebeest, we were fairly confidant it was the same bunch we had seen earlier that morning but we couldn’t discern if any where wounded. After they spooked we followed the spoor for a ways, but once again found no sign of blood.

We continued hunting along a small dry creek for the next hour and a half. We encountered water buck, impala and a very nice warthog but nothing offered us a shot. With about an hour of light left, we took a short breather to decide on what to do. We could either still hunt back to the bakkie, or continue on and have Jabalani (our tracker) return to fetch it and pick us up farther up the creek. We talked it over for a few seconds and while standing still we heard rustling in the grass about 50-60 yards from us; we quickly crouched to avoid detection. The wind was in our face, and we were confidant that what ever was near was not alerted to us due to the thick brush and grass. The grass was about 5-6’ high or so with a few bushes and game trails running through it.

Quinton snuck up to a small opening and peered over the high grass, confirming his hunch that it was eland. We asked if Leah and my dad would stay put, while we tried to get in close for a shot. Eland are notoriously spooky animals; they can see and hear exceptionally well and drink on the trot… rarely standing still for any length of time. They stand nearly 6’ at the shoulder, and can weigh upwards of 1500-1800 pounds. We snuck up as close as we could, ducking under a large acacia tree for cover. The herd was
feeding in the long grass, shrouding much of their bodies with only their backs, neck and heads visible. A glimpse of an animal here, a horn protruding there, was all we could see.

Yours truely

Finally they moved through an opening and we spotted a couple bulls in the bunch, then WOW there was a monster bull, in a flash, and he was gone. They were on the move feeding and were quickly getting away from us. We hurried through the grass to catch up, and saw that they would be coming through another opening about 100 yards in front of us. Quinton set up the shooting sticks and one by one they single filed through the opening at a fast walk. Finally a bull can through and stopped offering a shot. Quinton said it’s a nice bull, but I replied that I didn’t think it was the big one we had just seen and he agreed, but remarked that this was also a very nice bull. I hesitantly held off on the trigger, in an instant the herd had vanished into the grass again. We hurriedly tried to catch up with them, and a game of cat and mouse pursued for about 30 min until we finally lost light and they figured out someone was after them.

We returned to meet up with Leah and my dad, who we had left stranded in the bush for exactly 49 minutes, I believe that was Leah’s number. We didn’t mean to leave them there that long, but in the heat of the hunt we lost track of the time. Leah was a little miffed, but latter while hunting for zebra she realized why too many hunters is a bad thing when you’re trying to get in close.

Jabalani had returned with the bakkie about the same time Quinton and I had returned to meet up with Leah and my dad. We climbed in and headed for camp. It took us about 30 min or so to get back, and by that time it was pitch black. We spotted a few small animals in the headlights on the way back, a bat eared fox, and an African wild cat.

We returned to camp to find Leigh all smiles. He had taken a very nice impala ram, big heavy bases and exceptionally long horns. Definitely the biggest ram we saw on the trip.

Leighs 24” impala

Day 2
We returned to the area where we had seen the eland the night before. Again we parked in the same spot as the previous evening, and made a large circle, hunting both sides of the dry creek bed. We saw waterbuck and a few impala, but no eland. The impala were heavy in the rut, the sound they make when chasing each other is kind of a cross between a deer grunt, and the sound a Hollywood actor makes when he’s been gut shot, sort of a low drawn out roar. We spent most of the day chasing impala, trying to find a good ram for my dad, we had a couple chances at lesser rams, but no big ones presented themselves.

At lunch, we talked with Leigh and Benji, they had seen a monster warthog that morning and were going to return to see if they could find him again that evening. They were successful and he was a dandy. He was broken off a little on one side, but other wise a very big boar.

That evening we hunted along the dry creek bed for eland again. We saw some red hartebeest, impala, eland and wildebeest. We tried a couple unsuccessful stalks on impala, but didn’t connect.

We returned to camp, to find Leigh once again grinning from ear to ear. He had killed the big warthog they’d seen that morning, and he was a dandy. I have to admit I was jealous, not only had Leigh been luck to get two animals thus far, he killed two really nice animals.

Leighs 13.5” warthog

 

[Delw]

Fantastic story

 

[noharleyyet]

Awesome narrative & pics. Thanks B-stew.

 

[Ultrahunter]

You know after looking at that Giraffe and the one that Moosie shot I can kind of understand why it would be cool to shoot now. I think if I ever get over there I wouldn't mind shooting one. Maybe with a bow??

 

[MarvB]

That is a big ol' w-hog! Nice work Bambi!

 

[Tom]

Great pictures!