30
Thwane hunt
Taffie Mulder won this prize, but could not do the hunt. Originally he would donate only the carcasses to LCA, but two weeks before the hunt none of his friends could do the fiscal hunt and they decided to allow me to do the hunt.
We left Vanderbijlpark around 05:00 the Friday morning. The intension was to get through the traffic before it got too bad as we agreed to be on the farm not later than 12:00. Things went well and we stopped at the Petroport at 07:00 for a nice breakfast.
We reached the farm just after 11:00 where Dewald and Rhuan, professional hunter of the farm, welcomed us and showed us to the lodge where we would spend the weekend. We had two days to hunt 2 blue wildebeest (BWB) cows and 2 impala ewes.
After unpacking we were off to the range to ensure that my skills and equipment were up for the job at hand. The target was out at 100m and the 30-06 with 150gr Remington Core Loct group was good enough for Rhuan to give the go ahead for us to start with the hunt.
It was still early in the season and the bush was thick. We saw a lot of animals, but not one that was on our list. Those we did see did not allow us to take a shot. Late afternoon we were walking down a road on our way to an opening in the bush where Rhuan indicated that we might get some impala that time of the day, and just then we came upon a group of kudu. The bull, according to Rhuan, was about 52 inches and he was able to get about 70m from him before he saw us and alerted the rest of the herd disappearing into the bush.
We spend the evening around the fire having supper and discussed the tactics for the next day.
We left camp at 07:00 the next morning. The weather has changed and there were thick clouds and a cold wind that made the drive on the Cruise uncomfortable. Around 09:00 we heard over the radio that another group got 2 BWB. We, on the other hand, did not see anything.
We were on our way to lunch when we saw a heard of BWB cross the road in front of us. We drove for another 200m and got out. We tracked back to where we saw them cross the road and made sure the wind was in our favour as Rhuan tracked them deeper into the bush.
He spotted the herd about 200m from the road and everything fell into action. I took the first BWB at about 70m, quarter too shot. The herd moved to the right not further than 50m, as we ran to stay with them and to see if we could get another shot. As we came around a bush a BWB was at 60m. I took another shot, this time broad side. The herd moved off as we waited for everything to settle. We moved close and found the two BWB not 20m apart.
After lunch we went out again as we still had the two impala ewes on the list. The afternoon was quiet and only at around 16:00 we saw an impala ram cross the road about 150m in front of us. We got off the Cruiser and were trying to see whether there were any ewes with him when Rhuan saw a large ewe. She was looking in our direction but did not see us. She gave me a front shot and went about 10m before she expired.
After loading her we went to the same opening where we saw the kudu and this time a herd of impala was standing under the trees. Rhuan showed me that he wanted me to shoot, this was the longest shot for the weekend at about 130m. She went down immediately.
The hunt was complete and it was with gratitude in my heart that we drove back to the lodge, thankful for being able to partake in such a hunt.