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Thread: Frankfort Free State hunt
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30-06-2020, 13:08 #1
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- Jul 2012
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Frankfort Free State hunt
We have an annual hunt on a family farm every year (if we can) in the Free State close to Frankfort. The hunt crept on me this year and I did not have all the time for prepping and visiting the range like one should. I also invited a friend and his family along. He has three kids, 2 girls (5 and 10) and boy (8).
Uncle told me that there was a RHB bull that needed to be harvested and friend wanted 4 blesbuck.
We arrived late Thursday evening to a cold Free State but the Agga was doing its best to keep the kitchen warm.
Friday morning was crisp but not too much frost. We started to sight in our rifles and mine (308) was about 500mm of. This was a concern because we went to the range the previous week. Brought it on target and friend's (270) rifle was on par.
Friend and his son was dropped off for a walk and stalk hunt. The farm is quite forgiving seeing that you can see 7 years into the future in the Free State due to the flat topography. The farm has some nice hills and a number of scattered trees that allow for concealment and cover. Two thirds of the farm boundary is formed by the Wilger River.
My cousin and I set off to a different area. We soon realised that all the animals including the RHBs knew that we were after a specific species. We parked the vehicle next the the river(fishing spot) and started the stalk. The wind was not in our favour and we had to walk to the back of the camp and work our way back. We were almost to the back and had not noticed the intended quarry and assumed they were in another part. We broke the silence and discussed our plan of action only to realise they were standing in a guly just below us. They heard us and ran off. The camp we were hunting is about a 100ha and we had to start stalking back.
We managed to get within shooting distance (211m). Shot went off nicely but without desires affect. I was aiming for the area just behind the ears where the neck joins the head. Animal ran off without an sign of being hit. I then looked at my rifle critically and saw that the scope has moved and was loose. Drove back to the house and fumed for the rest of the morning and placed blame on company who fitted my silencer. We could not retighten the screw because they we stripped.
When we got back to the house friend's son had successfully stalked 3 blesbuck.
Luckily I took along my 264 and checked zero. We went out in the afternoon and harvested a good blesbuck ram.
Saturday we woke up to a almost white Christmas and it was extremely cold and misty. Cousin and I commenced our stalk from the same place as before. Visibility was limited to 100m and we could see the springbucks and blesbuck moving about. We headed to the same spot as the day before but as the most lifted (like most does before the sun) we saw that the RHBs were standing on a hill behind us.
I setup my shooting stick and cousin ranged (320m) I compensates for the distance and pressed the shot. We heard the bullet hit and they ran up further up the hill. We slowly stalked closer using a prickly pear bush for cover and saw the bull lying down with head up. He was looking away from us. Hunt ended with final.shot.
The bullet had struck a bit far back and took out the liver and nicked front part of stomach.
Animal.was about 500 m from closest road. My cousin (20) decided he would carry the gutted bull after lifting it in the fireman's lift. The curse of the young :).
Lesson learnt: check everything before a hunt.
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30-06-2020, 13:10 #2
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- Jul 2012
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Re: Frankfort Free State hunt
After examining the RHB I saw that I nicked the top.on the should (1cm) below backline. There was very little blood. This just further emphasized the importance of checking equipment
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30-06-2020, 13:16 #3
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- Dec 2010
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- Philippolis
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Re: Frankfort Free State hunt
Thanks for sharing. Murphy was obviously not bothered by the cold.
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30-06-2020, 13:37 #4
- Join Date
- May 2011
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- GP, but in my mind, hunting for Ivory in the 1930's
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- 43
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Re: Frankfort Free State hunt
Nice write up. Thanks for sharing.
Don’t take life too seriously, no one gets out alive.
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30-06-2020, 14:38 #5
- Join Date
- Feb 2019
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- 37
Re: Frankfort Free State hunt
Its always great hearing experiences, glad you managed to fill your bag. Thank you for sharing
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30-06-2020, 19:00 #6
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- Jul 2012
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- 1,838
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01-07-2020, 08:22 #7
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- Jul 2015
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- 44
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- 1,278
Re: Frankfort Free State hunt
Thanks for the story!
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