Post by phil46 on Jan 15, 2022 10:38:57 GMT -6
Second Chance Bushbuck
September 2007 found me in the Limpopo region of South Africa on my second African bowhunt. I was using my 66” 2 piece Massie longbow, 57lbs at my 28” draw. For arrows, I was using Grizzlystics tipped with 125 grain 4-blade Magnus Stingers screwed into a 100 grain brass inserts for a total arrow weight of 620 grains.
I had taken several nice animals and on Friday my PH, Antonie, asked if I was interested in a Bushbuck. I told him I was and he said they had access to a piece of property in the mountains near Thabazimbi that had a good population of Bushbuck. Of course I was interested and we made plans to hunt there on Saturday.
Saturday morning we got to the blind overlooking a waterhole at about 7:30. This blind was sitting on a 8 or 10 foot high bank about 6 yards from the edge of the waterhole. I would be sitting by myself. I put my gear, along with lunch and water for an allday sit. I also had a radio so I could contact Antonie. About 9:30 a young ram bushbuck came in. Something spooked him before he drank, but I wasn’t interested in shooting him anyway. During the rest of the morning, several different animals including Impala, Blue Wildebeest, and Mountain Reedbuck came to the water.
Throughout the morning I could see several Zebra holding back from the water. One of them was a nice stallion that I would have taken if he had presented a shot. One of my biggest regrets is that I had passed on a great Zebra on my first trip to Africa, but that’s a story for another day.
At about 4:50pm a really nice bushbuck came into the far side of the waterhole. Finally he committed to drink. He was at about 18 yards and perfectly broadside. I picked a spot, came to a solid anchor and let the string slide off my fingers. Thunk…. I felt my upper limb make contact with the metal roof of the blind. With a sinking heart I watched my arrow dive low into the bushbuck’s shoulder. It looked like the arrow centered the knuckle joint and I got almost no penetration. I got on the Radio and called Antonie. I told him what the hit looked like. We agreed that there was little likelihood we would recover him but we spent hours that evening and next morning searching. An interesting sidenote is that the Bushbuck is one of the antelopes that can be aggressive when pushed so Antonie was prepared with his rifle when we were tracking. Since, in Africa, if you draw blood you have to pay the trophy fee, that bad hit had just cost me $900.
I still wanted a Bushbuck so we made plans to hunt that property again on Thursday. This time Antonie sat with me and we got into the blind about 7:50am. Antonie set up the video camera and we waited to see what would develop. Because of what happened on Saturday I drew my bow several times to check clearance. The roof was a little low so I was going to have to watch my bow cant when I shot. If I had been shooting my 62” bow I don’t think there would have been a problem. During the course of the morning several varieties of animals came in including a nice bushbuck but none offered a shot.
At about 9:50 a bushbuck came from behind the blind and when down the bank and started drinking about 6yards from the blind. Antonie whispered “shoot”. Because of the steep angle and the low roof of the blind I knew it was going to be a difficult shot. He was at a sharp angle away from me. I picked a spot that would have the arrow exiting through the off shoulder, came to anchor and dropped the string. Thunk…I heard the now familiar sound of my upper limb brushing the roof of the blind. In the excitement and haste of the shot I had neglected to watch the cant of my bow. From the time I saw the bushbuck and Antonie said shoot until I dropped the string was about 10 seconds. Antonie said the hit looked too far back.
We waited about an hour and crawled out of the blind. I’m feeling kind of low. Antonie grabs his rifle and we, including the African tracker, start tracking. We found some blood, but not a lot. We followed the track about 200 yards and the tracker spots the bushbuck dead under a tree. We were only about 75 yards from a bushroad so we drug him out to the road. While we waited, we sent the tracker for the truck. Antonie walked down the road a short distance and called to me, I walked down and he showed me a fresh Leopard track in the dust.
I had hit the bushbuck just in front of the left hip, the arrow had went through the liver and took out the right lung.
September 2007 found me in the Limpopo region of South Africa on my second African bowhunt. I was using my 66” 2 piece Massie longbow, 57lbs at my 28” draw. For arrows, I was using Grizzlystics tipped with 125 grain 4-blade Magnus Stingers screwed into a 100 grain brass inserts for a total arrow weight of 620 grains.
I had taken several nice animals and on Friday my PH, Antonie, asked if I was interested in a Bushbuck. I told him I was and he said they had access to a piece of property in the mountains near Thabazimbi that had a good population of Bushbuck. Of course I was interested and we made plans to hunt there on Saturday.
Saturday morning we got to the blind overlooking a waterhole at about 7:30. This blind was sitting on a 8 or 10 foot high bank about 6 yards from the edge of the waterhole. I would be sitting by myself. I put my gear, along with lunch and water for an allday sit. I also had a radio so I could contact Antonie. About 9:30 a young ram bushbuck came in. Something spooked him before he drank, but I wasn’t interested in shooting him anyway. During the rest of the morning, several different animals including Impala, Blue Wildebeest, and Mountain Reedbuck came to the water.
Throughout the morning I could see several Zebra holding back from the water. One of them was a nice stallion that I would have taken if he had presented a shot. One of my biggest regrets is that I had passed on a great Zebra on my first trip to Africa, but that’s a story for another day.
At about 4:50pm a really nice bushbuck came into the far side of the waterhole. Finally he committed to drink. He was at about 18 yards and perfectly broadside. I picked a spot, came to a solid anchor and let the string slide off my fingers. Thunk…. I felt my upper limb make contact with the metal roof of the blind. With a sinking heart I watched my arrow dive low into the bushbuck’s shoulder. It looked like the arrow centered the knuckle joint and I got almost no penetration. I got on the Radio and called Antonie. I told him what the hit looked like. We agreed that there was little likelihood we would recover him but we spent hours that evening and next morning searching. An interesting sidenote is that the Bushbuck is one of the antelopes that can be aggressive when pushed so Antonie was prepared with his rifle when we were tracking. Since, in Africa, if you draw blood you have to pay the trophy fee, that bad hit had just cost me $900.
I still wanted a Bushbuck so we made plans to hunt that property again on Thursday. This time Antonie sat with me and we got into the blind about 7:50am. Antonie set up the video camera and we waited to see what would develop. Because of what happened on Saturday I drew my bow several times to check clearance. The roof was a little low so I was going to have to watch my bow cant when I shot. If I had been shooting my 62” bow I don’t think there would have been a problem. During the course of the morning several varieties of animals came in including a nice bushbuck but none offered a shot.
At about 9:50 a bushbuck came from behind the blind and when down the bank and started drinking about 6yards from the blind. Antonie whispered “shoot”. Because of the steep angle and the low roof of the blind I knew it was going to be a difficult shot. He was at a sharp angle away from me. I picked a spot that would have the arrow exiting through the off shoulder, came to anchor and dropped the string. Thunk…I heard the now familiar sound of my upper limb brushing the roof of the blind. In the excitement and haste of the shot I had neglected to watch the cant of my bow. From the time I saw the bushbuck and Antonie said shoot until I dropped the string was about 10 seconds. Antonie said the hit looked too far back.
We waited about an hour and crawled out of the blind. I’m feeling kind of low. Antonie grabs his rifle and we, including the African tracker, start tracking. We found some blood, but not a lot. We followed the track about 200 yards and the tracker spots the bushbuck dead under a tree. We were only about 75 yards from a bushroad so we drug him out to the road. While we waited, we sent the tracker for the truck. Antonie walked down the road a short distance and called to me, I walked down and he showed me a fresh Leopard track in the dust.
I had hit the bushbuck just in front of the left hip, the arrow had went through the liver and took out the right lung.