Brad from Oklahoma City, USA surprised his son with a hunt in South Africa. A father and son hunt in the Karoo. Is there a better way to spend father and son time together?
After hunting an impala ram on the first afternoon, the 2nd day was spent stalking kudu. It took 18 year old legs to hunt this free range kudu down in the mountains on the morning of the 3rd day. Congratulations Aiden - that was a skilful stalk and hard earned trophy.
A strong cold front rolled in. The high winds masked our sound and helped us get 60 yards from a nice springbok ram. Brad took his first African plains game animal, a blesbok later that afternoon.
Hunted zebra in the morning. Stalk was a bust and herd stampeded off across a plain and over a mountain. Brad got onto a cull kudu bull that afternoon. We spotted him from afar as he walked into some heavy bush. Mitchell took his track and Brad got a 120 yard shot. He was a bull of extremely poor genetics but a fun stalk nevertheless. Thankful to cull a bull like this.
Day four was a charm. Started badly, couldn’t get close to a gemsbok bull with a herd of eland in our stalking path. We outflanked them only to get to within 50 yards from the gemsbok. The bush was too thick to get a shot and we watched helplessly as the top of his horns move diagonally across the slope in front of us. Hoping desperately he’d step into our field of view, he never did.
Later that morning we got in a long stalk on a small herd of gemsbok. This time, we couldn’t get close enough. 280 yards out we decided to chance our luck and Aiden made a steady shot. It hit a little far back and he disappeared from sight. We took the blood spoor for 20 minutes before we heard a crashing noise ahead and Aiden downed him as he was entering some heavy brush.
Spent the afternoon hunting plains game in the mountains! The view was breathtaking and couldn’t help but feel proud of the beauty of the Karoo. We spotted plenty of game as we made our way along a mountain track, stopping several times to glass and take in the views of the snow capped mountain.
The light was fading fast in the mountains when we surprised some blue wildebeest bulls moving down the slope into the plains. Brad’s shooting was world class. My setting up the shooting sticks not so much. Brad made the most of the tricky situation, his shot hitting squarely on the shoulder.
Got onto a herd of 9 Burchell’s zebra in the morning. Got busted by some kudu and the zebra fled across a plain taking all of Africa’s plains game with them - kudu, eland, springbok, giraffe…
Put a spotter on some higher ground and hiked a fair way - 3km. Let them settle down for 45 min before making the final stalk. Aidan’s shot passed high and they were off again. The kid will have to earn his stripes.
On the way out from the lodge that afternoon our path was blocked by a herd of elephant drinking in a river. Got a few ear flaps so we waited patiently for them to finish their drink and move off. Great sighting!
Our path now clear of elephant, we glassed the edge of the plains. Saw another herd of zebra and walked in 800 yards or so. This time our stalk was ultra slow and deliberate. We fought our way to 140 yards, wanting to make this stalk count. Aiden made the perfect shot to get his zebra, one of the too animals on his African hunting list.
We had some light before sunset and we put in a stalk on a narrow-horned, cull impala ram by the river. We were closing in on the impala herd when a warthog came sauntering into our field of view, 50 yards away. I froze and reaching back pulled Brad any myself behind the cover of an acacia tree. We waited for him to turn away before we moved. I set the sticks up and Brad fired almost instantaneously. He made an explosive dash before expiring in a kicking cloud of dust 30 yards away. A hunting gift… Brad badly wanted a warthog having seen several younger warthog throughout our hunt.
We had a couple of days to spare in which we culled some plains game. We had a super hunt and hope Brad and Aidan have fond memories of their time hunting plains game in South Africa.
