2024 Hunting Season

[IdahoCTD]

Yep it is. Centerline rifles require expensive permits to own. The guide does shoot PRS style rimfire events but your shooting up in trees and I would bet its cheaper and quieter to use airguns plus your often shooting around businesses or houses. I bet I shot 400+ pellets in 2 days. We only shoot 4hrs a day so its pretty constant shooting. I shot a couple 10-12 times trying to get them to fall out of the tree.

I'm going to try to take my dad and boys to MT for prairie dogs in June. Both of my kids play competitive soccer and their schedules are silly with tournaments and games. My oldest just qualified this weekend for a regional tournament near Anaheim, CA in mid June. It's a 5 day tournament if you make it to the finals.

 

[8MMX57JS]

I finally had the time to look for a bear. I was out over the weekend and saw two bears. One stood out but i had no shot opportunity, went back yesterday for an evening stroll hoping to see if I could find that bear and low and behold it was in the same spot I saw it on Saturday feeding on grass. A couple shots at 80 yards did the trick. Bear expired no more than 15 yards from the first shot. Turns out its an ancient dry sow. Teeth are worn out. Squared just a tad over 6'. Shot with a Husqvarna FN98 in 8x57. 196gr S&B factory ammo.

 

[xphunter]

Awesome Possum!

 

[Blkram]

Congrats on a very mature sow!

 

[gerry]

Congrats on a really nice bear, she definitely was an old bear and a good size. I just love that you use rounds like the 8x57 too.

 

[DrMike]

Excellent! Definitely an old bruin, and I love that you were using a classic cartridge!

 

[Blkram]

Susan and I made home from Africa last night!
The trip covered over 33,000 miles with 3 days travel from NEBC to the Eastern Cape province of of SA, and 3 days to return home...with 15 hours of driving and 22 hours of flight time included during each 3 day period.

We spent 6 days hunting, one day of relaxing and traveling to visit the PH's brother's guns store in East London, and an afternoon spent bass fishing on a couple of local dams (water ponds) on the concession where we stayed. It was Susan and my first chance to fish for bass, and we both caught some smaller fish. Was fun!
We ended up using the Outfitter's rifle on the hunt; a Ruger M77 Laminated stainless rifle in 300 Win Mag, with a S&B 2.5-10x56 illuminated dot reticle scope, bipod and suppressor, shooting Sellier & Bellot 180 gr SPCE ammo.
On the trip to the hunting concession from Port Elizabeth, we saw 12 different species, including: Burchell's zebra, blesbuck, impala, springbok, baboon, ostrich, vervet monkey, black impala, white flanked impala, bushbuck and duiker.

Susan got her 11 yr old springbok on Day 1 at 215 meters.

We also saw the following new species that day: steenbok, gemsbok, white blesbok, black springbok,common reedbuck, warthog, nyala, kudu, sable, and fallow deer. I got one unsuccessful stalk in on a kudu bull.

Day 2 - We travelled 2 1/2 hours to another concession near the Mountain Zebra National Park to hunt for Susan's sable.
She got her 7 yr old sable at 170 meters.

We also saw the following new species that day: African wildcat, mountain zebra, golden wildebeest, bontebuck, red lechwe, red hartebeest, kafue lechwe, mountain reedbuck, hyrax, dapple springbok, cape buffalo, and white springbok. The African wildcat was spotted on the trip to hunt sable, and is very rare, and very rarely seen during daylight, and considered a good omen when spotted. This proved to be true for Susan's sable hunt!
We returned back to our hunting concession for the afternoon hunt and I got my 11 yr old nyala at 185 meters.
Unfortunately the file size is too large...I will try to adjust and add photo later.

Day 3 - was hot (34 degrees C) and very windy.
We saw two new species (jackal and cape hare), and I had another unsuccessful stalk on a kudu bull. They have earned their nickname of Grey Ghost very well!

Day 4 - We saw one new species on this day: eland.
I got my 11 yr old impala at 205 meters, after a unsuccessful morning trying to relocate the kudu bull from the day before.
(I had originally passed on this ram the first evening, as I was focussed on my main 3 species...but after a conversation with our tracker Molumme and learning more about impala (his favourite animal to hunt and eat), I decided to take him if we were lucky enough to find him again. He was the largest impala ram of any species we saw on the entire trip)

In the afternoon, we travelled to a neighbouring concession to hunt kudu and bushbuck.
We had an close encounter with a nice kudu bull at 60 meters, but no shot opportunity!
We then spotted a bushbuck and travelled about 6 miles around to get a good stalk on it from the downwind direction.
I took this 12 yr old bushbuck from 175 meters.

This old warrior only had a nib of one tooth left, and was in very poor condition, having lost approx. 30% of his body mass. He definitely would have not made it through the upcoming winter. The concession's PH told me that 7 other hunters had hunted this ram over the past few years, with one hunter from Norway travelling there on 7 different trips just to hunt this one ram! Can just imagine the stories that this old ram could share!

Day 5 - The only new species we saw this day was a secretary bird; which I had previously told the PH was one bird I was hoping to see!
I got 3 more stalks in on kudu this day, finally culminating in collecting this 7 yr old bull at 215 meters.


I had forgotten to cran the scope back up from 2.5 power and hit the bull in the liver and one lung, where he ran about 100 meters and was crashing around behind some bush. The PH advised me to put another shot in him through the leaves and branches, which I did when he stilled for a moment. Unfortunately the shot hit him in the horn (which the taxidermist can fix), and put him down for good, even though the bullet did not strike him in the body.

Day 6 - Another hot and very windy day, so we did not hunt and went to East London for the day.

Day 7 - Tried for a nice fallow buck at another concession...but I missed him clean with a hurried shot when he stopped in a gap momentarily below us. Upon climbing back up the mountain to our original viewing spot, we spotted avery large warthog that the PH told me if I did not shoot it, he would!
Back down the mountain and around to approach from the downwind side, we covered the final 300 meters a step or two at a time, glassing to spot him before he spotted us.
Finally found him sleeping in the sun at 70 meters and took this 12 year old boar in his bed.

At the shot, the bush exploded with sows and piglets scattering in all directions!

Day 8 - spent the afternoon fishing for bass in a couple of dasm as previously stated.
Susan got one, and I caught 5 with the largest being about 14" long. Lost another 5 when they jumped!

The chef we had at the lodge was great! He prepared delicious meals every day, and we were able to try blesbuck, kudu, impala, springbok and nyala. The springbok was very good and tender, and we had 3 meals from Susan's ram. The nyala was also very delicious and tender. The kudu was good, but definitely a,little chewier.

DAy 9 - Travelling back to Port Elizabeth, the only new species we saw was black wildebeest. Overall we saw about 37 different species of game. Definitely a target rich environment!

When hunting the local concessions where we did not have to travel highways to other concessions, we hunted from a 1946 Jeep, and Susan sat in the front with the PH while I rode with the tracker on the high seat in the back, with our assistant PH (the PH's 19 yr old niece who was just back from her PH training and waiting for her exam results) and tracking dog, Nitro (I'll add a photo shortly). He is a beagle/terrier cross, that we were lucky enough not to need during the hunt, as 6 of the 7 animals were all taken with heart shots, and the longest recovery was the sable, which I saw go down after a 90-100 m run, and the kudu who travelled about 100 m after the first shot. The remaining animals travelled less than 10-15 m and went down within sight, or just behind a bush where we could see them expire, or not come out.

We had a good trip, made lots of new memories that will last a lifetime! And got some very nice animals! (The impala and warthog were very nice animals that weren't on the menu, but could not pass up!)

 

[Blkram]

My nyala:


The 1946 Jeep, Corsa tracker Molumme and tracking dog, Nitro:

 

[Blkram]

I forgot to mention that we were able to recover 3 bullets from these animals; the nyala, the kudu and the warthog.
All other bullets completely passed through the animals.

Forgot to include the ammo's factory listed specs:
BC 0.353 SD 0.271
Muzzle velocity 2936 fps Energy 3456 ft. lbs
@ 100 meters (109 yards) - 2644 fps 2802 fps
@ 200 meters (219 yards) - 2369 fps 2247 ft lbs
@ 300 meters (328 yards) - 2110 fps 1782 ft lbs

Bullet performance:
Nyala shot at 202 yards; velocity approx. 2490 fps and 2240 ft lbs
Kudu shot at 235 yards; velocity approx. 2278 fps and 2052 ft lbs
Warthog shot at 76 yards; velocity approx. 2714 fps and 3299 ft lbs

I have never used Sellier & Bellot ammunition before. The PH said that this is the most common and available ammunition available in South Africa, so is what he uses.
The rifle used shot this ammo with sub-MOA accuracy.
The controlled expansion design of this bullet is similar to a Partition for expansion and penetration, and from the way the lead stayed on the recovered bullet, appears to be bonded(??? - lead on copper jacket appeared similar to what I have seen in recovered AccuBond bullets) I wasn't able to get much info in its design while over there on my phone due to limited internet access, so I could be wrong about it being bonded.
Overall, I would say that the bullets performed well on the game, as all but one were one shot kills with the animals expiring quickly and cleanly. None of the animals had any amount of bloodshot meat at the entry or exit sites; so you could eat up to the hole! The internal damage caused by the bullet was extensive, producing the quick, clean kills (but as always, shot placement was a contributing factor)

While not my preferred or favourite ammunition; I would not hesitate to recommend this bullet for hunting for those who have access to this ammunition or bullet.

 

[DrMike]

Excellent report, Gil. Great that both you and Susan connected on your desired species. Good show!

 

[gerry]

Congrats Gil and Susan for an amazing trip.

 

[salmonchaser]

Great looking Nyala. My favorite to hunt I think. If I recall I had busted stalks on Kudu for about 6 days before I finally connected. Great report, really looks like you had a great time.

 

[Blkram]

Great looking Nyala. My favorite to hunt I think. If I recall I had busted stalks on Kudu for about 6 days before I finally connected. Great report, really looks like you had a great time.

Yes, the nyala is a beautiful animal. It will be shoulder mounted. The rest will be European mounts (skull and horns). We will also get flat skins tanned from the springbok, impala, and kudu.
We actually saw quite a few nyala bulls, and I got the 3rd one seen, which turned out to be the largest one seen during the hunt. At one point during a kudu stalk, we had a very nice nyala bull come through bush to 44 yards from me. Was great watching him, as he had no idea we were there, until the PH's niece tried to get closer for some video. Luckily, he went away in a direction away from the kudu we were stalking.
At another point during a stalk for kudu, we had 6 blesbok ewes and calves run by us at 4 yards, with the last 2 stopping to look at us for a moment. Was very cool being so close to some of these animals!
Of the kudu, the 6 stalks were on 4 different bulls. I think the one that gave me the slip twice earlier in the day was the largest one seen. 3 of the kudu bulls were within 60 meters at different times during the stalks, with no real chance for a shot in each instance.Made me wish I had my BLR in 358 Win, or Model 88 in 338 Federal! Definitely a fun animal to hunt!
The bushbuck ram was the only one seen during the hunt, although there was lots of good habitat for this secretive little antelope.
Regardless, both Susan and I are very happy with our animals and we had a great experience with each of the hunts!

One antelope seen during the hunt that will definitely be on my list for my next trip to Africa is the Kafue lechwe. A very beautiful animal! We also saw a very large red lechwe, but the Kafue with is black markings on his chest and legs is very striking!
And a great experience was our goal, which we achieved! Getting some very nice animals was a great bonus!

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Thank you for sharing your hunt and photos. Enjoyed it all. Dan.

 

[NYDAN]

I finally had the time to look for a bear. I was out over the weekend and saw two bears. One stood out but i had no shot opportunity, went back yesterday for an evening stroll hoping to see if I could find that bear and low and behold it was in the same spot I saw it on Saturday feeding on grass. A couple shots at 80 yards did the trick. Bear expired no more than 15 yards from the first shot. Turns out its an ancient dry sow. Teeth are worn out. Squared just a tad over 6'. Shot with a Husqvarna FN98 in 8x57. 196gr S&B factory ammo.

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing the photos.

 

[NYDAN]

I forgot to mention that we were able to recover 3 bullets from these animals; the nyala, the kudu and the warthog.
All other bullets completely passed through the animals.
View attachment 22611

Great stories. What an exciting time that must have been. Congratulations on a successful hunt.

 

[Gun nut]

Thanks for sharing. Excellent recap. Congratulations to you and Susan on this wonderful experience.
Duane