Africa and a blue Gnu: The conclusion

[Prairie Drifter]

Our first mourning dawned clear. It was our only one. After that first sunny, hot day(low 90's) the rains came and kept the temps cool with highs around 70. My clients were gun hunters so we won't discuss it here except to say they took many fine animals. With heavy rains, blind hunting near waterholes was difficult at best. I was able to hunt a total of 2 1/2 days out of the 8 I was there. The rest was taking care of my clients.

Our first sunrise

 

My first day in the blind I saw only waterbucks. First a small one, then a very nice trophy quality bull stood at 9 yards.

 

 

 

I even got a little sun burned

 

[J. Cook]

Beautiful animals!!!!

[Trenton G.]

Would love the chance to do this someday. Looks like a lot of fun.
Great pictures!

[highlow]

No gnus is not good gnus.

Originally posted by highlow:
No gnus is not good gnus.

I see what you did there!!!        

Bisch

[Pine]

Wow , thanks for sharing .

[Shadowhnter]

[Prairie Drifter]

Some beautiful scenery



Termite mound built around a tree



Wildebeest in the bush



Got stuck from the heavy rains

Yep, that truck is stuuuuuuuck!!!!

Bisch

[Friend]

Please keep it coming?

[Prairie Drifter]

One ranch we hunted had breeding programs for special colored animals

Golden gemsbuck



Golden wildebeest



Saddle back or piebald Impala



Also a nice herd of Cape buffalo

[Shadowhnter]

Awesome animals, and great pics with dialogue!    

[Prairie Drifter]

I hunted with my clients for a few days.  They had a blast.  Father and teenage son making lifetime memories.  On our next to last day I sat in a blind on a bow hunting only property.  I watched many animals visit the blind that morning.  Baboons,  vervet monkeys,  blesbok and nyala.  Saw a few blue wildebeest too far off for a shot. Then a herd of blesbok came in with a very large wildebeest trailing them. The tracker says to me " very big bull". No kidding,  he looks like a truck standing broadside at 11 yards........

[rastaman]

 What part of Africa were you in Mike?

[Prairie Drifter]

Originally posted by rastaman:
    What part of Africa were you in Mike?

Limpopo Province, South Africa

[rastaman]

I thought it looked vaguely familiar! Looking forward to the rest of your story.

[Keith Zimmerman]

This is gonna be good.

[Warden609]

[Prairie Drifter]

.....trying to concentrate, pick a spot, pick a spot, god he's a huge bodied bull......

[Prairie Drifter]

Next thing I know all hell is breaking loose. The bull was knocked into the water tank. He gets up and stagger/runs 60 yards then cuts into the bush.
My heart sank as I saw I hit too high. I lost focus and blew it. The tracker confirmed a high hit. When my PH showed up he took up the track w/ two trackers. Four and a half hours later they showed up. The bull had stayed ahead of them, never giving him a chance to put him down. They lost the track when he joined up w/ a large herd of wildebeest.

We finished our hunt the next day and returned to the USA. I still couldn't believe that I blew an easy shot on an animal the size of small pick up.

I contacted my PH the day after we got back to let him know we arrived home, he tells me, "I have a surprise for you". Seems the landowner found the bull acting sick. He called my PH to come out where he finished him off. Made my day !!!!

 

I was using my Sierra Blanca 48" bow, 46@26". Arrow was a GT trad 500 w/ 325grs up front. FOC was just under 28%. Arrow weight was 620grs.

 

I was impressed w/ the power of the combo. On impact, he was knocked over. A 600lb + animal rocked by a 46# bow. Impressive  to me.

So ends my first African trip of 2017. More to come later this summer.