Africa Recap

[wilcox1088]

This was my first trip to South Africa and will definitely be heading back. We hunted with Limcroma Safaris and can’t say enough good things about the operation. The trip started out 6/18, we Landed in Johannesburg 6/19 and was picked up by African Sky Guest house where we spent the first night. The following morning was delayed a bit but we finally got to the lodge around 3p, got settled in and went straight to the blinds. My list of animals were, zebra, kudu, gemsbok, Impala, warthog and nyala.

6/20 pm first hunt- we were covered in animals, sable, eland and finally a group of wildebeest came out and we immediately had the discussion on wether or not I was going to shoot, my PH (Kenny) said they were all pretty good animals, I didn’t have a clue but was ready to kill something, on the list or not. Drew back and let one fly at 23 yards, shot was a tad high but he ran about 80 and crashed

[wilcox1088]

6/21 am- we loaded in the truck early in the morning for about a 45 minute ride down some of the roughest roads I’ve seen to a new property. We made our way to the blind that was overlooking a waterhole and trough. After sitting for a few hours and seeing only kudu cows and a few small warthogs, Kenny had that look on his face and just said get your bow. Before I could turn around there was an Impala at the water trough at 21 yards. It all happens so quick Kenny could barely get the video camera on him, I was trying to get everything on video, the shot was as perfect as I could hope for, he ran 60 yards and we watched him fall.



After watching the Impala crash we decided to just sit and wait a while to see what else might come in, I got super slow and it was starting to warm up. We called the tracker in with the truck so we could load him, take pictures and get right back in the blind. Almost exactly an hour after getting back in the blind I notice Kenny looking out the back door but not saying anything but he just had that look on his face. He turned around and whispered for me to get ready. By the time I stood up, grabbed my bow and got settled I looked up and at 13 yards there was a giant kudu. Needless to say I didn’t have much time to get nervous. I drew back and sent one his way. Animal number two was down 15 yards from the shot and in sight

[wilcox1088]

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[marc.munoz31]

Nice job!

[Trapper76]

Wow!!! Amazing trip,animals and recap. Congratulations

[wilcox1088]

6/22- morning started out very relaxed, we were only hunting about 10 minutes from the lodge so we left about 7:15. We got to the water hole we were planning on hunting, but no water. So we moved to another spot on the other side of the property. Kenny dropped me off in the blind and went and parked about 300 yards down the road. We sat for quite a while before seeing any animals at all, but when we did it was jaw dropping. Two Cape buffalo came walking in and went straight to the water, two of the most solid looking animals I have ever seen. That really got me thinking. The whole time we’ve been hunting Kenny hasn’t carried a gun and I haven’t payed much attention until now. Well the Buffalo drank for a bit and walked off. About 30 minutes later an old warthog came running in by himself, Kenny said, “he’s old, shoot if you want”, just like the first day, I was there to sling arrows. I made what I thought was a perfect 17 yard shot. That is one of the fastest animals I have seen. We sat for a minute to wait on a couple guys that check all the blinds in the evening to help us track. The hog ended up running about 200 yards with the shot being a little high. After dragging him back towards the blind for pictures, we were just standing there talking when I looked up and about 70 yards out one of the Buffalo was sitting there staring at us. This is where the no gun popped into my mind. Kenny assured me they’re fine and not to worry. Well he busted out and we decided to start taking pictures, Kenny was joking with me, so I thought, about how nice it’s going to look with the Buffalo in the background. He just said if I run you run and get as high in a tree as you can. Needless to say I didn’t realize for two days until I looked back at the pictures that there was a Buffalo about 40 yards behind me.

[Mudslinger]

Congrats!

[wilcox1088]

6/23- The plans was to go to a new property and try and catch some nyala bulls out strolling and try and put a stalk on one. We road for about an hour without seeing much, we mad a turn in the road and there was a herd of zebra right off the side of the road. Well after a couple phone calls and a game plan, it turned into a zebra hunt. We were going to do just as we did before except I would be in the back with my bow. He would ease up, I would draw him stop me shoot. Plan worked perfectly, except one quarter inch branch that ruined the whole day, so I thought. After trying to get back on the zebras for a couple more hours with no luck we decided to make one more round by a water hole to see what was there. As soon as we eased up I caught a glimpse of the tips of some horns out of the back of the truck that Kenny never saw. So I tapped on the hood for him to stop. We made a lap around where we thought he was and there stood a huge nyala. We made a plan to ease back to the blind over the water where he would drop me off and park the truck and creep back in from the back of the blind. As soon as I got settled a massive sable came walking in. [ATTACH][/ATTACH]Not long after, he hauled it out of there and Kenny came walking in, with his rifle, made me a little uneasy when he said he had it just in case because there was a pretty bad Buffalo on the property. After about 45 minutes and just like the kudu I see him peak out of the back door and had that look on his face. We were whispering and trying to figure out a game plan when we had to shuffle everything in the blind around after he told me he would be at 5 yards out of the side window. Now my hands start to sweat and shake as I can barely see the tips of the big nyala horns start heading our way. He needed one more step so I drew my bow as he eased forward I let one fly at 9 yards as he peeled out. Perfect shot. We have it a few minutes and got on the track, rifle in hand. The nyala ran about a 100 yards and piled up right by the road. After we looked at him for a minute Kenny told me to wait there and he would get the truck, after I asked him if he was F****** crazy we both headed to the truck. Another one off the list measuring right at 29” he said he was one of the biggest he had killed with a bow hunter in quite a while

[droebuck]

Awesome trip congrats and those are some beautiful animals!

[wilcox1088]

6/24- We went to a new property this morning looking for gemsbok which have given us the slip the entire trip. We road in the truck for a few hours checking water holes and tracks, Kenny was extremely knowledgeable, he has been with Limcroma for 16 years and is not much older than me. It was just as much fun watching him and the tracker looking at a million tracks around a water hole and saying, no we need to move there hasn’t been any here in a few days, as the hunt itself. We finally got to a water trough where he said there had been a few in and out of there so we gave it a shot. Thought the morning we had waterbuck, warthog, golden wildebeest, giraffe, kudu, and finally three gemsbok bulls came walking straight to the water. The trough was turned sideways to the blind which made the animals face us the whole time. When the first one walked out we actually thought he was a cow because of how long he was. I drew on him a few times and held forever with no shot. Finally they all started to leave and I had a split second quartering away 33 yard shot. But unknown to me how the spine of a gemsbok was I spines him having to send a couple more in him. He ended up being 37”

[wilcox1088]

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[Gumbo Man]

Awesome trip for sure and great recap. Thanks for sharing and congrats. Would you mind sharing your equipment setup? Shaft weights, broadheads and lbs of draw?

[wilcox1088]

6/25- Three days left. We decided to go to a new water hole not far from the lodge that nobody had hunted all year. Without knowing what had been coming in we decided to park the truck about 400 yards from the blind and just ease our way in. After about an hour in the blind I began to doze off and Kenny taps me on the head and just says zebra. I look out my window and they are so close I’m almost looking up at them. Should be a chip shot at 10 yards. They are hard to my left so I draw my bow and step over to get a clear shot sideways through the front window. I aimed for the “triangle” and let it loose. I gcould tell immediately I hit him high and hit bone with little penetration. With a less than ideal shot we backed out and went to get the tracker. After about two hours after the shot we dropped the tracker off where the shot was and we headed out in the truck to see if he would cross a road. Long story short, we tracked the zebra the rest of the day and had to finish him with the rifle. The shot was at 9:30a and we loaded him in the truck at 4:45p

[wilcox1088]

6/26- After a frustrating day chasing the zebra the day before it was time for redemption. Since we weren’t in the blind long the day before we decided to go back to the same spot and see what came out. Low and behold, at about 9a we had 6 zebras walk out. The lead and biggest one was the first to walk out to the water at 23 yards. I couldn’t help myself and drew my bow. She turned perfectly broadside and I let it fly. This time I made it count right in the triangle, we watched it run about 40 yards then just stop. Walked to about 60 and rolled, with dust going everywhere we couldn’t see that she had got up and was dead at 100 from the blind. Zebra 2 was down. Always wanted a pedestal mount but also wanted a rug. Can make it happen now

[wilcox1088]

6/27- This was supposed to be the second to last hunting day but ended up being my last. With everything on my list in the salt we decided to try and go after some blesbok. We road around most of the with a few missed stalks. There was another group of hunters in the same area that called saying they had spotted one with a group of three off the road with one having a bad cut on his front leg. We hightailed it to where they were and loaded into the back of the truck, I’m not scared of shooting out of the truck at all. We got up on them but they would never stop long enough for a shot. Finally we got right even with them and they stopped, I drew my bow while Kenny ranged, 40 yards so I anchored, they started back walking so I lead and let it go. The shot was decent and quartering away a hair. He rand about 60 yards and bedded down. Last animal of my trip was down. Ended up shooting 9 animals, with all shot with a bow and one having to be finished with a rifle. Kudu-51” Gemsbok-37” Nyala-29” Impala-22.5” Blesbok-17” (I think). Shooting halon32 at 62# with nugent gold tip 400’s and kudu point Broadheads