Post by phil46 on Apr 1, 2022 5:23:42 GMT -6
Blue Wildebeest
August of 2003 found me in the Limpopo Region of South Africa. I had dreamed of hunting the dark continent since I was a kid, but had always pictured it being with a double rifle after dangerous game. When I did finally see my way clear I booked 14 days and decided to take my trusty longbow and hunt plains game as it was more in my price range. I was using my Jeff Massie Longhorn, 64”, 55lbs at my 28” draw. It had a cocobolo riser with bamboo lams under clear glass. For arrows I would use Arrow Dynamics tipped with a 160 grain, 1 ½’ wide Magnus broadhead for a total arrow weight of 610 grains.
We had been seeing a herd of Wildebeest near a waterhole and I had sat in a treestand there a couple of times, but could not get a shot. There was a nice bull in that herd that I really wanted. Finally, a few days before the end of my hunt, my PH Kruger, decided to set up a pop-up blind on the waterhole. There was a pushed up pile of brush at just the right distance from the waterhole so we set the pop-up in the middle of the brush pile and cleared a shooting lane. To add to the camo, we draped a camo net over the blind. When finished you could not tell there was a pop-up in the brush pile. We also had shoot through netting on the window.
On the morning of the next to last day of my hunt Kruger dropped me off at the blind and I got settled in. I would be sitting by myself. During the course of the day there was not much activity at this waterhole and I was getting a bit despondent. I considered calling Kruger and having him move me to a different location, but decided to tough it out. About midday a big male baboon came into water. When he didn’t spot me I knew that my hide was well camoflauged. I decided to try and take this baboon. I came to anchor and dropped the string, the arrow passed under his arm and shaved a bit of hair off his chest, man, these baboons are fast.
About 4:45 a small herd of wildebeest came in. They watered and milled around the waterhole, but didn’t offer a decent shot. As they started to leave the waterhole, they paraded past my shooting lane in single file at about 8 yards. I knew they weren’t going to stop, but they were moving slowly so I decided if the bull I wanted followed the same path I would attempt a shot. The bull strolled past my shooting lane. I touched anchor and dropped the string. The herd bolted out of there. The shot looked good but I wasn’t sure. I called Kruger and let him know I had shot the bull. Kruger and the African tracker arrived at the waterhole about ½ hour after I called him. We found good blood and tracked for about 100 yards where the bull crossed the road into another thick block of bush. There we lost the blood. We searched until after dark, but could not recover the blood trail. We did find the back half of the arrow and it looked like I had good penetration. We decided to back out and resume the search in the morning.
Early the next morning we returned to where we had found last blood and resumed the search. It was a cloudy, windy dreary day. We could not find any more blood but the tracker was able to follow the tracks. We finally lost the track where they mixed with the tracks of a herd of wildebeest. We decided we would do a grid search in the last block of bush where we had found. Kruger, the tracker and I lined up about 40 yards apart and started through the bush. As I was walking I spotted a pair of bat eared foxes and decided I would try to get a closer look. Suddenly I realized I had lost sight of Kruger and the tracker. I yelled to make contact but got no response. I realized I had left my compass in my backpack. I knew the block of bush was only a couple of miles square so I knew I could walk out to the road if I could hold a straight line. Because of the clouds I could not use the sun to maintain direction. After thinking about it a few minutes I realized the wind had been pretty much constant on my left side as I came in. I put the wind on my right side and started walking out. Sometime later I came out on the road about 200 yards from the truck. I waited at the truck until Kruger and the tracker returned. They had not had any luck. Since it was now almost noon we decided to call a stop to the search.
I spent the rest of the day at another waterhole, but did not shoot anything. The next morning was spent packing up. Kruger took me to the airport and I flew back to the states, still feeling bummed about the Wildebeest even though I had taken some nice animals.
The day after I arrived back in the states I got an email from Kruger. They had found my Wildebeest. He had apparently died just before they found him as the hide had not slipped and was still in perfect condition for mounting. Apparently my shot had been a bit far back. The kill zone of African game is a bit farther forward than where I was used to shooting whitetails.
August of 2003 found me in the Limpopo Region of South Africa. I had dreamed of hunting the dark continent since I was a kid, but had always pictured it being with a double rifle after dangerous game. When I did finally see my way clear I booked 14 days and decided to take my trusty longbow and hunt plains game as it was more in my price range. I was using my Jeff Massie Longhorn, 64”, 55lbs at my 28” draw. It had a cocobolo riser with bamboo lams under clear glass. For arrows I would use Arrow Dynamics tipped with a 160 grain, 1 ½’ wide Magnus broadhead for a total arrow weight of 610 grains.
We had been seeing a herd of Wildebeest near a waterhole and I had sat in a treestand there a couple of times, but could not get a shot. There was a nice bull in that herd that I really wanted. Finally, a few days before the end of my hunt, my PH Kruger, decided to set up a pop-up blind on the waterhole. There was a pushed up pile of brush at just the right distance from the waterhole so we set the pop-up in the middle of the brush pile and cleared a shooting lane. To add to the camo, we draped a camo net over the blind. When finished you could not tell there was a pop-up in the brush pile. We also had shoot through netting on the window.
On the morning of the next to last day of my hunt Kruger dropped me off at the blind and I got settled in. I would be sitting by myself. During the course of the day there was not much activity at this waterhole and I was getting a bit despondent. I considered calling Kruger and having him move me to a different location, but decided to tough it out. About midday a big male baboon came into water. When he didn’t spot me I knew that my hide was well camoflauged. I decided to try and take this baboon. I came to anchor and dropped the string, the arrow passed under his arm and shaved a bit of hair off his chest, man, these baboons are fast.
About 4:45 a small herd of wildebeest came in. They watered and milled around the waterhole, but didn’t offer a decent shot. As they started to leave the waterhole, they paraded past my shooting lane in single file at about 8 yards. I knew they weren’t going to stop, but they were moving slowly so I decided if the bull I wanted followed the same path I would attempt a shot. The bull strolled past my shooting lane. I touched anchor and dropped the string. The herd bolted out of there. The shot looked good but I wasn’t sure. I called Kruger and let him know I had shot the bull. Kruger and the African tracker arrived at the waterhole about ½ hour after I called him. We found good blood and tracked for about 100 yards where the bull crossed the road into another thick block of bush. There we lost the blood. We searched until after dark, but could not recover the blood trail. We did find the back half of the arrow and it looked like I had good penetration. We decided to back out and resume the search in the morning.
Early the next morning we returned to where we had found last blood and resumed the search. It was a cloudy, windy dreary day. We could not find any more blood but the tracker was able to follow the tracks. We finally lost the track where they mixed with the tracks of a herd of wildebeest. We decided we would do a grid search in the last block of bush where we had found. Kruger, the tracker and I lined up about 40 yards apart and started through the bush. As I was walking I spotted a pair of bat eared foxes and decided I would try to get a closer look. Suddenly I realized I had lost sight of Kruger and the tracker. I yelled to make contact but got no response. I realized I had left my compass in my backpack. I knew the block of bush was only a couple of miles square so I knew I could walk out to the road if I could hold a straight line. Because of the clouds I could not use the sun to maintain direction. After thinking about it a few minutes I realized the wind had been pretty much constant on my left side as I came in. I put the wind on my right side and started walking out. Sometime later I came out on the road about 200 yards from the truck. I waited at the truck until Kruger and the tracker returned. They had not had any luck. Since it was now almost noon we decided to call a stop to the search.
I spent the rest of the day at another waterhole, but did not shoot anything. The next morning was spent packing up. Kruger took me to the airport and I flew back to the states, still feeling bummed about the Wildebeest even though I had taken some nice animals.
The day after I arrived back in the states I got an email from Kruger. They had found my Wildebeest. He had apparently died just before they found him as the hide had not slipped and was still in perfect condition for mounting. Apparently my shot had been a bit far back. The kill zone of African game is a bit farther forward than where I was used to shooting whitetails.