The Hunt Continues
Trip Start
Apr 24, 2006
1
16
23
Trip End
May 22, 2006
Kimberly,
South Africa
Sunday, May 7, 2006
We awoke at 5:00 am for a 6:00 am pickup. We were moving to another area to hunt Kudu. When we arrived at the area we were met by the land owner Derrick Corns.
Derrick's property was beautiful nestled in large plush hills. The wildlife on the property seemed to be abundant. We watched herds of Springbok and Blesbok as we entered the property.
As we travelled around the property in search of the "Grey Ghost" the Kudu, we seen Waterbuck, Cape Buffalo, Sable, Nyala and a White Rhino. It was exciting to see these beautiful animals.
As we moved around the property we spotted numerous Kudu cows and a couple of small bulls but no shooters
Tony Drain's 2nd Kudu
. The morning was so cold that we had to wear thick jackets and gloves as we travelled around in pursuit of Kudu.The morning proved to be unsuccessful so at noon we returned to Derrick's lapas to meet up with Pieter and Tony Vause who were on the other truck. Tony and Pieter were already there when we arrived. Tony Vause had been successful on his hunt harvesting a 47" Kudu bull and a beautiful Nyala that would make the Roland Ward Record Book.
We decided to move to another area that was owned by Derrick named Peneal. Peneal was a large beautiful property spread out over 20,000 hectares. Boeta and Pieter were excited to take us there because nobody had hunted there in years.We travelled around the property looking for Kudu after about 1 hour we spotted a bull with two cows. Rob Kemp was my guide he indicated that was not the bull I was looking for we could do better.
We covered a lot of territory in the next couple of hours not finding the Kudu we were looking for. Derrick told me earlier on that if I seen a Warthog to shoot it because he wanted the meat and I could have the hide and head. At mid afternoon I spotted a nice pig standing in the bushes as we stopped the truck I pulled the trigger and hit the Warthog on the shoulder
Tony Drain's Kudu
. We dismounted the truck and went and retrieved the pig. The Boer had huge warts on his face and 9 to 10 " tusks. I was very happy with the animal. We loaded the pig and continued on.As we made our way down the road we met Pieter's truck with Tony Vause and Tony Drain. Tony Drain had been successful on a nice Kudu Bull. We continued on past them making our way down to the Vaal River where we thought we might catch some Kudu drinking. Upon arrival we could not see anything and glassed the hills across the river we decided to make our way back up from the river. At the top of the hill we herd to shots in the distance. As we travelled on we came across the other truck the two Tony's had shot another respectable bull in the 46" range.
It was now 5:00 pm and I knew we only had about 1 hour until dark. Derrick, Rob and I went to a more open area that we had not been to yet. We seen a Kudu Bull running across the road up ahead. We watched him run across the field and stop behind some bushes. I waited for him to come out of the bushes and put the cross hairs on his shoulder. Rob said "leave him he is not big enough". The time was right all the animals were moving we seen a huge Hartebeast bull, a herd of Eland, Gemsbok and Springbok in the distance.
We left the road and spotted a very nice Kudu Bull running with 6 cows. We tried to find the bull for a shot but he had vanished. The light was quickly lost so we called it a day and returned back to lapa's where we were staying. Both Tony's got their Kudu's but I would have to return tomorrow and try again.
Shawn
