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  1. #1
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    Default That 'almost R8000' mistake!

    My wife wanted an Eland the last few months badly. I even posted here on GS asking about eland. Long story short, I found a place in Natal willing to accommodate me and a friend or two, and we headed off last weekend. I took my 9y/o daughter along, this was her first hunting experience.

    Friday morning early we climb on the LandCruiser and after making sure the rifles are sighted fine we set off to find eland. 30mins in the farmer spots a small herd of four. He identifies a bull with good weight and small horns "Jy kan hom kry vir R8000!".. yes! Problem is that the eland isn't giving me a easy shot, I have bad "bok koors" and the farmer is shouting "jy moet skiet!" I'm using my 3006 with 180gn Nosler BT's, my buddy is using his 308 with Barnes TTSSXXX (ok lots of T's and X's). I pull a k*k shot. I know it was a k*k shot, or better termed 'pens skoot'. Buddy lets a round fly and hits the eland high, not enough to do terminal damage.

    Farmer loudly says to me "Nou het ons k*k"...drives the Cruiser closer, the tracker gets off and within a minute or two we have blood, but not a lot (I must credit the tracker, this guy knew his stuff and amazed me!). We see the three other eland running up the other side of the hill, and a few mins later the 'kwes bok' following. I follow the tracker, but I'm a desk jockey and huffing and puffing. We crest the little hill, see the eland at the bottom on the other side, 600m away. He is separated from the herd and hurting, but not enough to stop. Farmer says there are three routes the animal can go, and splits us in to three groups. Farmer will take the Cruiser around the hill and try cut the eland off, my buddy with the 308 will go with the tracker from behind, and the gully next to the hill I have to cover with another person.

    What feels like an eternity passes as we scan the gully and find better vantage point, then scan it again. I see a gorgeous Nyala bull 70m from me, and a Kudu bull maybe 150m away. After about 20mins we hear two loud gunshots. Phone the farmer. The eland is down. We climb the little hill and find him and some of the workers already loading the eland. The eland was moving towards the Cruiser up the hill and the farmer and his 300 WM put it down. I'm relieved. I didn't want the animal to suffer, but I also didn't want to waste R8000. The whole chase took around 45 minutes. My daughter was inside the Cruiser with the farmer while I was running around (safer for her), and she comes to me "Daddy can we say a prayer for the eland?"... So we thank God for the amazing opportunity presented to us, and for the eland giving his life to feed us. Being end of September we rush the eland to the skinning / cool room and offload as quickly as we can. Was a decent size bull, dressed out to 330kg's.

    Later the afternoon I had calmed the 'bok koors' down and shot two Blesbuck cleanly. One at 150m, one at 163m. On the blesbuck I used 130gn Impala heads and they performed quite well. In the one side, out the other side, engine block of the animal pissing out oil on both ends. They didn't run far :)

    My lesson learned: Shoot when you are comfortable with the shot, don't rush it! It almost cost me a lot of money, and cost an animal a lot of sufffering.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: That 'almost R8000' mistake!

    Thanks for sharing!

  3. #3
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    Default Re: That 'almost R8000' mistake!

    That last sentence. Always good to be reminded.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: That 'almost R8000' mistake!

    Eish! Glad you got it!

  5. #5
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    Default Re: That 'almost R8000' mistake!

    We all learn more from our (almost) failures than our successes .... The trick is repeat as few lessons as possible. Thanks for sharing. Its a good reminder that things can and will go wrong.

  6. #6
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    Default That 'almost R8000' mistake!

    Farmers and guides are guilty here. They always want you to hurry the shot.
    If i can tell my story as well.
    I was looking for a kudu cow in '96 in the vaalwater area.
    We came across a few that was grazing. Oblivious to our presence about 70m away. I was tired after a brisk 10km walk and would have liked to take a breather and watch them for a bit.
    The guide showed me which one, and kept on whispering shoot, shoot. I aimed and fired. When we got to the downed animal i froze cold. There it was. Little horns sticking out about 3cm from his skull.
    We had to pay for a full size bull.
    Just because the guide tried to hurry me.
    That said, it was the best kudu i've ever had!

  7. #7
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    Default Re: That 'almost R8000' mistake!

    Quote Originally Posted by Crafty View Post
    Farmers and guides are guilty here. They always want you to hurry the shot.
    If i can tell my story as well.
    I was looking for a kudu cow in '96 in the vaalwater area.
    We came across a few that was grazing. Oblivious to our presence about 70m away. I was tired after a brisk 10km walk and would have liked to take a breather and watch them for a bit.
    The guide showed me which one, and kept on whispering shoot, shoot. I aimed and fired. When we got to the downed animal i froze cold. There it was. Little horns sticking out about 3cm from his skull.
    We had to pay for a full size bull.
    Just because the guide tried to hurry me.
    That said, it was the best kudu i've ever had!
    If a guide chooses an animal for me and tells me to shoot believing its a cow, I would be reluctant to pay for a bull. Had a similar situation fairly late one afternoon about 8 years ago and PH on the property called me to shoot a lone springbok ram after checking him through the binos. When we get closer turns out its a copper, which was a strict "not on the menu" item. Owner was very cool about it and charged me normal meat price, especially since I jokingly asked before shooting "You sure that's not a copper".

    Maybe one of the PH's can weigh in on what they think is the correct standpoint, as I base my opinion purely from the hunters perspective and would be interesting to see the thoughts from the "other" side.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: That 'almost R8000' mistake!

    Glad it ended well Pblaauw!! On our last hunt, both my father-in-law and my mate cleaned missed impala at around 80m (easy shots) as they were being rushed by the guide and were a little breathless from the walk-n-stalk!

    On Digby's point (Post #7) its an interesting question. I shot a black wildebeest cow which is in the non-trophy price bracket and did confirm with the guide about 5 times that it was a non-trophy and female and that we were talking about the same animal! I would be annoyed if it turned out to be a trophy since I'm relying on his call (There in lies the rub) but I suppose would pay up?

  9. #9
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    Default Re: That 'almost R8000' mistake!

    A PH"s job on the hunt is to take responsibillity for what the client shoots.If the PH tells you to shoot and the animal is the wrong species,wrong sex,is a trophy when you wanted a non trophy or vice versa,then the PH must make good with the land owner,financially or by way of an explanation,whatever....The PH should not shout at you to shoot or even urge you to shoot,the correct way for him to handle himself is to point out the correct animal and calmly tell you to take it.The final onus is on you to make the descision to shoot if you are comfortable enough with the shot as a wounded,lost animal is for your account.

    A guide is another story.Often he is sent with you simply to ensure that you dont get lost or stray onto a neighbours farm or shoot the farmers stud brahman bull.There are exceptions but often a guide has no hunting knowledge at all.You pull the trigger you pay,the onus is on you to make the correct call.

    "hunting"with the farmer,land owner can be bad news when all the farmer wants is to shoot as many animals in the shortest time possible and this can lead to unrealistic expectations from both parties.

    The only way i hunt is on my own on farms where i have built up trust over many years.Unfortunately,this trust does take years to develop and nurture.

    The best way is to speak honestly and openly to the farmer about your level of experience and your expectations before the trigger is pulled.If you are a newbie then tell the farmer that you dont know the difference between an impala ram and a Lechwe ram and you need guidence rather than get involved in an argument after the fact.

    When in doubt,dont shoot.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: That 'almost R8000' mistake!

    Quote Originally Posted by Digby View Post
    If a guide chooses an animal for me and tells me to shoot believing its a cow, I would be reluctant to pay for a bull. Had a similar situation fairly late one afternoon about 8 years ago and PH on the property called me to shoot a lone springbok ram after checking him through the binos. When we get closer turns out its a copper, which was a strict "not on the menu" item. Owner was very cool about it and charged me normal meat price, especially since I jokingly asked before shooting "You sure that's not a copper".

    Maybe one of the PH's can weigh in on what they think is the correct standpoint, as I base my opinion purely from the hunters perspective and would be interesting to see the thoughts from the "other" side.
    You were lucky here... in many "terms and conditions" for the game farms they expressly say something like "the full onus and responsibility for the shot rests with the hunter (and not the guide/PH/tracker)"!! Be careful before breaking the shot if you, as the hunter, are not 100% clear on the animal and/or certain of your shot.

    ...or perhaps clarify things with the farmer before you head out on the hunt. Better to do this, then to need to argue with the farmer about who is responsible for paying for his prize stud copper or nyala bull (etc.).

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