The Hunt Continues
Trip Start
Apr 24, 2006
1
18
23
Trip End
May 22, 2006
Douglas,
South Africa
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
We up at 6:20 am to get ready and go to a private 14,000 acre sheep farm named Sanddrift that was owned by our friend Danie's mother. With all hunter's having their animals that I put in the hunt package we basically had a free day and decided to hunt Warthog at Sandrift for the day.
Danie indicated that they had a Warthog problem and his mother wanted us to shoot as many as possible. They had also indicated that they had Kudu that came and went off the farm which had low fences to contain sheep but not wildlife.
Prior to starting out we negotiated a price on Kudu just in case we came across a good one
Shawn's Kudu at Sanddrift
. (As you may remember from yesterday's entry I traded my Kudu Bull for a Watebuck, so was still interested in a good Kudu.)We all pretty excited about the Warthog hunt that lay before us. I was lucky enough through out the hunt to have shot two warthogs. One at the place we hunted most of the trip and one at Derrick Corns hunting place at Pineal. So if I didn't shot a pig I wouldn't be disappointed.
After driving around for 2 hour we didn't see a Warthog. If they were a problem they hid well! We continued driving and went through a gate to another part of the property that was primarily grazing land for the cattle. As we made our way through we spotted a Kudu Bull standing in the bushes on a side hill. We could just make out his head and his horns.
Boeta field judged the animal and indicated that he was a good bull but would not make book. I wanted to harvest a Kudu this trip so I took the shot with my 25-06 at 250 yards. As the shot rang out the Kudu went down. All I had to shoot at was the head so when he was hit he went down hard. Boeta said in Boeta style "Nice flippin' shot".
The Last night Celebration B-B-Q
We made our way through the thick African Black thorn that had been ripping at my hands all week. We had to slash bush to get to the Kudu on the side hill. When we arrived we dragged the Kudu to an open spot for pictures and were we could load the animal from.
With the Kudu Bull loaded we made our way down to the Vaal River to look for Warthog and Baboon. On the way we spotted 4 or 5 Warthogs but was unable to get a quality shot at them. When we arrived at the river we glassed for animals but didn't see any. It was probably because there was a number of Bushman that were fishing on the banks of the river.
Danie had indicated that they had lost 92 sheep to the Bushman's theft this year alone. So needless to say they chase off the Bushman.
From the river we headed back to Danie's mothers farm house to pay our respects, thank her for allowing us to hunt and pay her for the Kudu. It was now time to travel back to the Lapa's for the last night celebration B-B-Q.
On our way back Boeta took us on to Bushman land on the Vaal River where Boaeta indicated was very good fly fishing. We stayed there for a little while and continued on. When we arrived back Pieter was preparing the whole lamb that they were going to B-B-Q.
It was the last night before we headed off to the taxidermist in Bloemfountein with our trophies. We had had a fantastic hunt. I was so pleased with the quality of animals and that the two hunters I brought with me both indicated that they had the hunt of their lives.
Shawn
