Springbok hunting, a short guide.

[Messor]

A rough guide to springbok hunting, for those who feel like taking up the challenge but lack the experience.

Some disclaimers before we start, firstly, I’m a Karoo man, the principles remain the same almost everywhere, be sure to adapt to your hunting environment. Secondly, it’s based on personal experience, mine, and though I claim to be the know it all expert of everything I seriously doubt it, so just try and soak it in but always remember that hunting is a personal thing, so find your own way. Not gonna go into safety as it is a given, think, be alert, be safe.

Now, the first question when reading this might be why? Is the springbok not the national animal of SA, haven’t all hunters bagged this trophy somewhere? Problem is, springbok is unfortunately our national shooting antelope, every year I see hunters coming down from Gauteng and the surrounding provinces, old hunters that have shot plenty a springbok, many of them haven’t hunting a single one. Yes when time is short we shoot our national animal from vehicles, and more often they are driven (we call it voorsit), but percentage wise very seldom hunted. Now don’t think I exclude myself from that list, I shoot a hell of a lot more springbok than I hunt, yet hunting them is the only way I get real satisfaction.
Let start, I’m not gonna write a 100 page article since that would ruin the experience, I am just gonna break it up into several key topics.

Equipment:
What do you need, well let’s start with the obvious, you need a rifle, well at least this is the type of hunting we are discussing. Now I am not gonna go into heavy detail, since everybody are experts in calibres, and I do agree that most rifles are capable of bringing down springbok. All I ask from a caliber choice is this, IF POSSIBLE, try and use a caliber that would keep you on target after the shot, I know some might not understand but I will tie it in with another section. Yes its fun and all to shoot a springbok with your 375, but please don’t be one of those people that ask me after the shot whether you hit the animal or not.
Gear, in my olden days I would take the rifle, some spare ammo(if I had), and I would drink my stomach full of water before I left on the hunt, that’s it, nothing else. Now that may be a pure way of hunting but as you grow older then you realize that taking tour time enjoying certain things is not that bad. Good pair of boots, you gonna walk, good strong pair of clothes, perhaps you might need to crawl etc, and since you gonna be in the sun all day please put on a hat. Don’t worry too much about colour, springbok are colour blind, if you have those over the top show-off camo stuff they will work as well. Take a back-pack, but when you sit down it must not touch the ground, that might hamper some stalking techniques, remember that you will have to get used to carrying the pack and the rifle on the shoulder. Be sure your binocs are over the shoulder, not in the pack, it’s your main hunting tool. Bottle of water and some chew stuff for during the day. Camera for those days you need to reflect upon your hunts. Not gonna mention a knife, I truly hope that’s a given.

Hunting:
Have you ever wondered why a kudu have those big ears, grandma(the wolf) will tell you it’s to hear you better, while kudu is our hearing champion springbok is our seeing champion. Now how do you hunt something that sees better than you without leopard crawling for a couple of kilos? Remember the following words, LINE OF SIGHT, the abc of springbok stalking. You will spend some time locating animals but once you’ve found a group or a single animal worth pursuing then stop, think about your plan of action. When you’ve located a possible target, first see where in relation to them you are, if you are upwind then you know you have to get downwind. Two ways, if you haven’t been spotted then use cover(line of sight) to stalk around them, normally in the plains ridges are your best bet, don’t just start walking, plot a course, he who fails to plan etc. If you haven’t been concentrating and they see you first then sit still, if they are even slightly nervous they will run off, if they do go back to feeding then look for cover behind you where you can very slowly back away out of sight and then stalk your way behind(downwind from) them. Now keep in mind these things move, you have to visually confirm the targets and/or their trajectory while you are doing this.

When you are downwind then it’s easy, look for a bush/ridge/any natural object behind which you can approach the animal/herd without a direct line of sight. What to look for, for a group of animals or an individual look at their heads, some will be feeding and some will be keeping watch. When they move you move, a springbok stops to look, same way we don’t run and shoot, when they suddenly look in your direction then freeze, as long as it takes, sooner or later they will lose interest and start feeding again. That’s why it’s always easier to stalk a bachelor group, ousted ram or territorial ram, hunts are normally shorter as your approach is usually faster, you yourself need to figure what you want to hunt, and adapt. Not gonna go into the whole leopard crawling thing, it's like sex, everybody's got their own moves, some harder to replicate than others. But worth mentioning, and please take it for what it is, the fitter you are the better hunter you are.

Shooting/shot placement:
Whether you shoot off sticks or bipods or natural objects it makes no difference, all I ask is be sure that you have actually trained on the range from your field shooting positions. I would say shooting at distance from a field position is about 70-80% harder than shooting at the range from a bench.
Shot placement, you will hear varied opinions, if you want to use mine then it’s simple to remember. Using a vertical line up from the BACK of the front leg, then place the shot 1/3^rd up from where the torso begin, aka one third up into the chest cavity, if you do this you will have a large margin of error with a guaranteed kill if you hit the target. Now this might sound silly but don’t go shooting headshots if you are not used to shooting headshots, for you to shoot headshots successfully you would have had to missed them on a couple of occasions successfully, so just keep it simple and play safe.

What to look for during the shot:
A very important but short section. Remember I told you to use a caliber that won’t kick you off target, why? If you hunt alone and you shoot into a group of animals, then if you are kicked off target then how would you know on the plains in the long grass exactly where you’re animal have fallen, or if it had fallen at all when all the animals run off? Two things I want youngsters to remember now, something I have seen over plenty a year of hunting. If you shoot an animal regardless of where you aimed, should it fall down like struck by lightning but then get up and runs, be worried, be very worried. Chances are you put some energy/stun on the central nervous system but didn’t hit the vitals. On the other hand should you hit the animal, it sets off running making you worried, it falls over but gets up and runs again, don’t be worried, always be ready for a follow up shot but I guarantee you(90% of times) that animal will lose momentum, either stumble and fall over or loose energy, stop and tumble over as the blood/oxygen supply is cut off.

This is a lot of stuff, but during the hunt you might remember some or see the scenario , for the older/experienced hunters it will make sense or they might think I’m crazy. Some photo’s of one of my dedicated springbok hunts this year.



Yes, plains, cover is hard to get, that is why springbok prefers them. Remember haste makes waste.



My normal solo hunting gear, notice the gaitors on my boots, steekgras is a real bitch. At this time the hunt was over so the binocs are already in the backpack.



Yes, what this is all about.

Now some details of this specific hunt, I parked my bakkie at the first windpomp inside the camp to be hunted, and set off on foot, but with my camera still in the glove box, bugger!
The animal I hunted was alone, although I did do a lot of walking the hunt itself was short, since he gave me plenty of chances to advance, think the whole hunt walk + stalk took about 2 hours. The spot where I shot him was a couple of kilos from the vehicle, I left my gun and backpack there and carried the springbok back to the bakkie, I then walked back and fetched the stuff. Now I could have fetched the bakkie and then recovered the animal, and no this is not some macho thing, it's my way of honoring and spending time with the fallen animal. If life was meant to be easy I would have won the euro lotto a long time ago.

Next year should someone request it I might do a full writeup with videos/pictures on how to slaughter them.
Hope this article helps as is.

Regards
The Reaper

[Andrew Leigh]

Schweet thanks for the write up, it was informative as all my hunts have afforded me ample cover so this was nice to read how you boys do it out on the vlaktes.

[Proudprado]

If you go on like that, you'll turn me into a hunter . Nice piece, thanks.

[Moomin]

Awesome article!

I went on my first Springbok hunt 2 weeks ago (near Murraysburg) and I definitely made some mistakes. Will use this advise for future adventures in the Karoo. The walking was tough, the ridges are silent killers (for the unfit people - like myself). All things considered, it was a humbling experience to say the least.

[treeman]

In that one photo I see what would be considered plenty "Karoo" cover for a stalk. A whole 6" of difference in ground level. From my Karoo findings that seems to be plenty. I look at the Bokkies and say - I wish I had my E/Cape velt, makes you a good stalker easy easy. When I come to your area I spend more time crying than photographing.
Thing I gotta ask - always amazes me, that root in photo - what is it from ?. I often stop at a cutting and see a moerste root and the closest bossie is 30m away and its a 1" thick bossie. Makes me wonder just how old some of those little Karoo bossies are ( they look like weeds) - and how much of the Karoo is underground because above ground is so harsh.
Enjoyed your write, one of those I will go over a few times.

[Messor]

Thing I gotta ask - always amazes me, that root in photo - what is it from ?

When you read the article again......:)

Remember I carried the bokkie back to the bakkie, which I parked at the windpomp, in the shade beneath a couple of trees, and since I forgot the camera there I had to take the photo's there :)
But yes, everything's got strong roots in the Karoo, just like it's sons.

[The Beast]

very nice. loved it.

[Maroelas]

Thanks Messor, very nice!

Where did this hunt take place?

[Messor]

Thanks Messor, very nice!

Where did this hunt take place?

Little karoo farm in the Colesberg district, Northern Cape.

[Clint357]

Nice, thank you for writing!