Posted By: Txhunter65
South Africa: Huntershill Safaris April/May 2022 - 05/15/22 01:24 AM
Hunt Dates: 25 April - 4 May
Travel: United from DFW to EWR Newark, NJ to JNB. Spent the night with Africa Sky then on to East London and back the same route, excluding the overnight!
Type of Hunt: Plains game and cape buffalo hunt for three friends.
Method: Rifle hunting: Howa 1500 .308, Howa 1500 .300 Win Mag., .260 Remington, .270 not sure make, .458 Winchester, .375 not sure make.
Outfitter: @HUNTERSHILL safaris
PH's: Jason Olivier, Grant Acton, Wes Renken
Taxidermy: @SPLITTING IMAGE TAXIDERMY
Agents: I handled all the airfare, overnight, taxidermy and will handle all the import and customs clearance.
Locations Hunted: I took 4 trophies on Huntershill's main property, 2 trophies on their Rocklands property, and 8 trophies on nearby low fence properties.
Species Hunted: Cape buffalo, tsessebe, springbok, bushbuck, impala, kudu, warthog, common reedbuck, common duiker, steenbok, vaal rhebuck, porcupine. Also hunted but was unsuccessful on caracal, jackal, baboon, and cape grysbok.
Trophy Quality: Extremely pleased with the quality of the animals.
Species Seen: Axis, Aardwolf, Baboon, Barbary Sheep, Bat Eared Fox, Blesbuck (Common, White, Copper), Bontebok, Cape Buffalo, Bushbuck, Grey Duiker, Eland (Cape, Livingston), Fallow Deer, Gemsbok (Regular and Golden), Giraffe, Red Hartebeest, Hippopotamus, Hog Deer, Impala (regular, black, and white flanked), Kudu, Lechwe, Nyala, Ostrich, Pere David Deer, Mountain Reedbuck, Common Reedbuck, Vaal Rhebuck,White Rhino, Roan, Sable, Sambar Deer, Springbok (Common, White, Black, Copper, Kalahari), Steenbok, Tsessebe, Vervet Monkey, Water Buffalo, Warthog, Wildebeest (Black, Golden and Blue), Zebra (Burchell's)
Lodging: Huntershill: The chalets were classic Africa, thatch roof, and skin rugs, very spacious. Rocklands, old army outpost during the Boer Wars, nice rooms with individual baths attached main dining hall and gathering room for drinks/stories.
Food: Many wonderful meals incorporating different game meats into the menu.
High Points: There were many high points, the vaal rhebuck on top of the mountain, the kudu that fell into the Kat River, the bushbuck that fell into the Kat River...
Low Points: Can't complain about anything...tired as hell at the end of most days but that’s a good thing when hunting. One regret was not setting up and taking proper field photos of the one horned bushbuck ram I shot.
Overall Rating: I was extremely pleased with the experience. The scenery is beautiful, but also very challenging. The staff is very friendly and always accommodating.
Would I recommend: Yes, this was a wonderful experience and I look forward to returning...again.
As I mentioned this was a trip for three friends, two of us had previously been with Huntershill. This was the other gentleman’s first experience hunting Africa. We hunted 10 days and took 38 animals. I'll likely post my pictures and leave it to them if they want to post theirs. I will post a pic at the end with all the trophies in one pic.
Day One:
We left the lodge and proceeded southwest looking for tsessebe. After glassing for a while, we found a group and slowly made our way towards them. When we got to within 600 yards my PH noticed a lone bull to the north of the herd feeding in light cover. We made our way towards him and with some minor maneuvering got a shot at about 180 yards.
That afternoon we went out looking for springbok, after locating a group of about 15 we made our way around behind them on top of a cliff overlooking the area they were feeding. My first shot wounded the one I was after, and we spent the next little while chasing them to get a follow up shot eventually putting him down.
Day Two:
We spent all of day two chasing cape buffalo got on several groups but never got a shot at a mature bull. Got close towards the end of the day with a large herd and one old bull that was covered in mud, but it wasn't to be.
Day Three:
Left the lodge before daylight in hopes of getting on a herd before they bedded down in the thick brush for the morning. We spotted a herd down near the river feeding to the north. We made our way around them and got ahead of where they were going and got set up to ambush them as they made their way out of the river bottom. As the herd came out, they spotted us and slowly lined up as a wall in front of us with mainly the young bulls out front. We spotted an older bull with bosses that were solid and closed together in the middle. Having been on the sticks for a while at that point we waited for him to turn sideways for a broad side shot. Eventually after the herd had one by one turned to our right he finally shifted and started to follow. As soon as I had a shot, I took it and heard the bullet impact. He trotted about 15 yards as the herd came back to surround him and face off towards us once again. Through all the legs my tracker was able to see his head down and blood coming out of his mouth and nose. After several minutes slowly maneuvering left and right with the sticks around the mass of black in front of us to get a second shot I got a clear shot at his shoulder and took it. A minute or two later he laid down, then the other bulls began attacking him and actually caused him to get back on his feet, as they scattered he was quartered away facing to my left, I tried to aim back a little farther but my bullet struck right on the shoulder exiting out his right front skull just below the boss causing all four feet to leave the ground at once ending my first successful cape buffalo hunt.
Travel: United from DFW to EWR Newark, NJ to JNB. Spent the night with Africa Sky then on to East London and back the same route, excluding the overnight!
Type of Hunt: Plains game and cape buffalo hunt for three friends.
Method: Rifle hunting: Howa 1500 .308, Howa 1500 .300 Win Mag., .260 Remington, .270 not sure make, .458 Winchester, .375 not sure make.
Outfitter: @HUNTERSHILL safaris
PH's: Jason Olivier, Grant Acton, Wes Renken
Taxidermy: @SPLITTING IMAGE TAXIDERMY
Agents: I handled all the airfare, overnight, taxidermy and will handle all the import and customs clearance.
Locations Hunted: I took 4 trophies on Huntershill's main property, 2 trophies on their Rocklands property, and 8 trophies on nearby low fence properties.
Species Hunted: Cape buffalo, tsessebe, springbok, bushbuck, impala, kudu, warthog, common reedbuck, common duiker, steenbok, vaal rhebuck, porcupine. Also hunted but was unsuccessful on caracal, jackal, baboon, and cape grysbok.
Trophy Quality: Extremely pleased with the quality of the animals.
Species Seen: Axis, Aardwolf, Baboon, Barbary Sheep, Bat Eared Fox, Blesbuck (Common, White, Copper), Bontebok, Cape Buffalo, Bushbuck, Grey Duiker, Eland (Cape, Livingston), Fallow Deer, Gemsbok (Regular and Golden), Giraffe, Red Hartebeest, Hippopotamus, Hog Deer, Impala (regular, black, and white flanked), Kudu, Lechwe, Nyala, Ostrich, Pere David Deer, Mountain Reedbuck, Common Reedbuck, Vaal Rhebuck,White Rhino, Roan, Sable, Sambar Deer, Springbok (Common, White, Black, Copper, Kalahari), Steenbok, Tsessebe, Vervet Monkey, Water Buffalo, Warthog, Wildebeest (Black, Golden and Blue), Zebra (Burchell's)
Lodging: Huntershill: The chalets were classic Africa, thatch roof, and skin rugs, very spacious. Rocklands, old army outpost during the Boer Wars, nice rooms with individual baths attached main dining hall and gathering room for drinks/stories.
Food: Many wonderful meals incorporating different game meats into the menu.
High Points: There were many high points, the vaal rhebuck on top of the mountain, the kudu that fell into the Kat River, the bushbuck that fell into the Kat River...
Low Points: Can't complain about anything...tired as hell at the end of most days but that’s a good thing when hunting. One regret was not setting up and taking proper field photos of the one horned bushbuck ram I shot.
Overall Rating: I was extremely pleased with the experience. The scenery is beautiful, but also very challenging. The staff is very friendly and always accommodating.
Would I recommend: Yes, this was a wonderful experience and I look forward to returning...again.
As I mentioned this was a trip for three friends, two of us had previously been with Huntershill. This was the other gentleman’s first experience hunting Africa. We hunted 10 days and took 38 animals. I'll likely post my pictures and leave it to them if they want to post theirs. I will post a pic at the end with all the trophies in one pic.
Day One:
We left the lodge and proceeded southwest looking for tsessebe. After glassing for a while, we found a group and slowly made our way towards them. When we got to within 600 yards my PH noticed a lone bull to the north of the herd feeding in light cover. We made our way towards him and with some minor maneuvering got a shot at about 180 yards.
That afternoon we went out looking for springbok, after locating a group of about 15 we made our way around behind them on top of a cliff overlooking the area they were feeding. My first shot wounded the one I was after, and we spent the next little while chasing them to get a follow up shot eventually putting him down.
Day Two:
We spent all of day two chasing cape buffalo got on several groups but never got a shot at a mature bull. Got close towards the end of the day with a large herd and one old bull that was covered in mud, but it wasn't to be.
Day Three:
Left the lodge before daylight in hopes of getting on a herd before they bedded down in the thick brush for the morning. We spotted a herd down near the river feeding to the north. We made our way around them and got ahead of where they were going and got set up to ambush them as they made their way out of the river bottom. As the herd came out, they spotted us and slowly lined up as a wall in front of us with mainly the young bulls out front. We spotted an older bull with bosses that were solid and closed together in the middle. Having been on the sticks for a while at that point we waited for him to turn sideways for a broad side shot. Eventually after the herd had one by one turned to our right he finally shifted and started to follow. As soon as I had a shot, I took it and heard the bullet impact. He trotted about 15 yards as the herd came back to surround him and face off towards us once again. Through all the legs my tracker was able to see his head down and blood coming out of his mouth and nose. After several minutes slowly maneuvering left and right with the sticks around the mass of black in front of us to get a second shot I got a clear shot at his shoulder and took it. A minute or two later he laid down, then the other bulls began attacking him and actually caused him to get back on his feet, as they scattered he was quartered away facing to my left, I tried to aim back a little farther but my bullet struck right on the shoulder exiting out his right front skull just below the boss causing all four feet to leave the ground at once ending my first successful cape buffalo hunt.