With a year of lockdown due to the dreaded covid 19 and some fantastic rains over the summer the game was looking good. There was plenty of grass and the calving season had been good.
Due to these factors the numbers were starting to compete with the cattle grazing on one the properties that I look over. With livestock you can control where the animals graze and for how long. Utilising every bit and managing the ground which you have. With game it is slightly different. They will jump or go under a fence to the best grazing and move onto the next section when they want to. Guess this is an advantage of being a wild free ranging animal. Due to this though they go and take the best leaving the second grade areas for the livestock, which in this area is what the farmer actually makes their money from.
We had looked at the numbers and species and decided we needed to take some off. There were three species which we would be targeting. These being blesbok (Damaliscus pygargus), red hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus) and last but not least the great cape eland (Taurotragus oryx).
We would take off as many blesbok and hartebeest as possible. Carefully checking for older animals and males. With the eland we had seen that there were a number of older cows who may not get through the harsh mountain winters which we should take off. The owner also said that if we saw a big mature bull we could also take him as this would give enough meat for them for the year.
The day as always started early but the weather was perfect. Hardly any wind and the temperature being forecast to be below 20 degrees Celsius or 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Which for this time of year is rather cold in this area.
We collected two members of staff and headed to the area we would find the game. As we drove into the valley we saw some blesbok at the far end, about a kilometre and a half away. We decided these were the group we should try for as they continuously grazed the grass at that area of the valley. We drove towards them and they started to move away from us up the side of the valley and onto a plateau. They were now out of sight which gave us the advantage. I would climb up after them while the vehicle drove away hopefully drawing their attention and giving me the opportunity of a shot. As I reached the lip of the plateau and carefully raised my head in search of them I saw two standing about one hundred and twenty meters away. I slowly crawled to a nice rock and lowered my bipod legs. Putting the cross of my scope on the blesbok standing broadside to me I squeezed the trigger. The animal jumped and ran about ten meters before stopping and falling. Due to the animals not knowing I was there and the use of a suppressor the others were unaware of what was going on. I quickly moved attention to the rest of the bachelor herd and picked them off one by one. Ending up with all five in the bag. All of which were mature animals and on closer inspection were as fat as a feedlotted cow due to the fantastic grazing they had had.
We quickly gutted these and got them down to the vehicle and moved them off to the shade so as to get on with the rest of the hunt.
Driving around into the next valley where we expected to find the red hartebeest we took in the amazing scenery of the mountainous area of the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Breath-taking in every way.
As we drove into the area we had previously seen the hartebeest a knock on the roof of the vehicle and the confirmation that they had been spotted in front of us was relief. The herd ran across the road in front of us and headed again as the blesbok had done to higher ground. We made a plan and Will headed off to the far side of the camp and I continued after them. The plan worked and we managed to bag two bulls and two very old cows. Will putting in a shot of a lifetime to bring his down. The Kriek bullets were working their magic and both mine in the 308 and Wills in his 375H&H were doing the job perfectly.
After loading the four hartebeest we decided that we should head back and collect the blesbok so the skinning process could take place.
As we drove back to collect the blesbok the comment came out that what a day it would be if we came across the eland. Not that we had not had a red letter day already but this would definitely make it interesting and a good day into a fantastic day.
As the final words came out the words eland came from the back of the vehicle. We quickly questioned where and we were quickly told off to the right on the other side of the river, about four hundred meters away.
It was decided that I would go for it and we looked the herd through with our binoculars. There were four older cows, five younger and a big mature bull. Will and I looked at each other and it was decided that if I got the chance to take the big bull then that was the one to go for as we could come back anytime for the older cows.
We slowly headed towards them and they slowly walked away from us but not at any pace. We closed the gap and they watched us inquisitively but stood their ground. Using the taller shrubs as cover we slowly cut away at the range between us. Eventually I raised my range finder to see and it told me we were one hundred and seventy meters from them. Still quite far but there was no other cover so we would have to take the shot from here. Feeling slightly under gunned with my 308 I knew I would have to avoid the big shoulder of the bull. My decision was to put the bullet behind the shoulder where I would double lung the animal without the risk of the heavy bones causing issues.
The bull was now in the middle of the herd as though he knew that I was targeting him. The cows almost guarding him. As I looked through my Rudolph scope I picked him up and waited for an opportunity. There was one cow standing in front of him covering his vital area. If she moved my shot would be on. We waited and eventually she took a few steps forward. Clearing me to shoot at his vitals. I pulled the trigger and in the scope I saw the bull jump. Reloading quickly I fired another shot at him but missed. As I reloaded for another shot I saw him veer off and get the unmistakeable wobble which if you have hunted eland before you will probably know. His hind quarters started to give way and all of a sudden his legs went from under him, causing a huge dust cloud as his huge body hit the ground never to get up again.
We watched just to make sure but it was over. He had only managed to go about sixty meters before expiring and lay motionless in the grass. His size only really kicked in when we reached him. A huge body with many war wounds from fighting with other bulls to keep his harem. A wonderful tuft of hair on his forehead and magnificently thick to the point spiral horns.
I sat for a moment admiring him and appreciating how lucky I am to live in a place where I can do this type of thing which is a true blessing.
The real work would now start. We gutted him while Will headed off with the other animals and waited for his return to load this beast. It took the four of us and the help of the fantastic invention of the winch to get him onto the back of the vehicle. He slaughtered out at three hundred and twenty one kilograms. Enough meat to feed the family for the rest of the year. I took his head which I will have a European mount made out of as a shoulder mount would certainly be too big for the trophy room.
Again the Rudolph optics scope worked like a dream with its clarity and precision. And the Kriek monolithic copper hollow point producing perfect performance and passing straight though this animal delivering the killing blow.
Hunting and Outdoor Adventures 