The Hunt Continues
Trip Start
Apr 24, 2006
1
17
23
Trip End
May 22, 2006
Between Kimberly and Beaufort Wes,
South Africa
Monday, May 8, 2006
Tony Drain and i started out at 6:20 am for Pineal. This is the area were the two Tony's harvested 2 Kudu the day before and seen another big bull that Boeta indicated it would make the record book.
We arrived at Pineal at 7:00 am were we met Rob Kemp who owns a sporting goods store in Kimberly and in a PH. He would be our guide for the day on Derrick Corns 20,000 hectare property.
Loaded up on the hunting trucks we travelled around the area spotting a number of Kudu but only small bulls not the monster I was looking for. I was looking for the bull that they guys seen yesterday. WHen I spoke to Boeta he fiquired the bull would score 55 inches. Book for Kudu is 53 7/8 inches.
We covered a lot of territory in our search making our way across the property and towards the Vaal River where we hoped we would find Kudu having an early morning drink. As we approached the river we glassed from the hills directly above the river and spotted 6 Kudu bulls 3 to 4 kms away.
We jumped back on the hunting truck and continued on to try and intercept the Kudu. The trail we were driving on was hard to navigate because it was covered with large and small rocks. In the end we couldn't get to were we wanted to.
I was getting a little dejected because this was really the last day I would be able to hunt Kudu because tomorrow we would travel to another area to hunt Warthog and the next day we have to drive the trophies to the taxidermist in Bleaufontein which was approximately 150 kms away.
Knowing all of this I asked Rob to take me back to Derrick's other place that we hunted at yesterday morning.
Shawn's Roland Ward Record Waterbuck
I knew from sitings that there was an abundance of animals at that location. I knew that he had some very nice Waterbuck and if I couldn't get a trophy Kudu I would maybe have a chance at a trophy Waterbuck. (That's the nice thing about the hunting packages I design you can substitute any animals at anytime.)At 12:00 pm we were back at the stone house near the gates of Pineal, were we had a quick lunch that Boeata's wife Ann Marie had packed. After lunch we travelled the 60 kms back to my desired hunting spot. We arrived there shortly after 1:00 pm and started to hunt immediately.
We travelled around the low flats looking for Kudu. Within 15 minutes we spotted some Kudu mulling around in the bushes. The bulls love to hide in the bushes hiding their horns in the branches. We studied the animals and decided none of the bulls were shooters.
We drove around the territory for another hour before we spotted a Kudu bull running over a hill. As we approached we seen the bull standing broadside in the bushes at 25 yards. I immediately put the cross hairs on his right shoulder and waited for Rob to field judge the animal and indicate to me to shoot. Rob indicated he was only 2 1/2 twist he wasn't big enough. (The PH's here really know their animals and if you want a book animal they will work very hard to get it for you.)
I thought to myself that this was the third such bull I had put my cross hairs on but have yet to see the monster I was searching for. We continued on spotting herds of Hartebeest, Wildebeest and Springbok.
Tony Vause's Gemsbuck
As we crested a hill we spotted a Waterbuck. Rob field judged the animal and indicated he was young and would not make Book.We decided to glass through the valley and spotted another Waterbuck which Rob thought was a much bigger Buck. We drove away from the Waterbuck trying to get to a lower location that we could try and move up from to get closer for a shot. As we got into position Rob looked at him again through his binoculars and said "he's book". I had already had the cross hairs on the Waterbuck which was 200 yards away. As soon as Rob said he was book I pulled the trigger on my 25-06 and the animal went down immediately and then heard the smack of the bullet hitting the animal.
Rob and I jumped out of the truck and went on to find the downed Waterbuck. We looked back at the truck for direction as we moved through the thick bush and African Black Thorn. Arriving at the beautiful mature male Waterbuck he was still struggling so I put another 120 grain Nitrex Speer Grand Slam into him and his struggling was over.
We positioned the WaterBuck for the all important pictures. Since I traded my Kudu for Waterbuck I had to pay the difference in price for the Waterbuck which is a much more expensive animal than a Kudu. I was happy to do so joking with Rob and saying "well I guess if it doesn't make book its free. .Right" he just laughed and picked up his cell phone and phoned a Rolan Ward Master Measurer to ask if he could measure the Waterbuck. The individual Rob was speaking to agreed.
Loosing light and with the Water buck loaded we made our way back to Derrick's Lapas where we started the drive back to Kimberly. When we arrived back at the Lapas we were staying at we were greeted by Tony Vause and Boeta. Boeta had taken Tony Vause out for Gemsbuck which was the last animal in his package and the animal he wanted more than the rest.
Tony Vause was successful on shooting a very nice thick 36 inch bull. He was ecstatic and I was very happy for him. Another successful hunting day in paradise.
Shawn
