Jack Brittingham's 2003 African Hunt
Field Report #5 - July 14, 2003
Impala, Spurfowl, Sandgrouse, And More...
Hello Everybody:
Things are going well over here. Three days ago I missed a real nice impala at 140 yards. He had a great shape with pretty good length, and I just pulled or rushed my shot. He was good enough that the next day we went back and spent about four hours walking in the area and finally relocated him. After a good bit of sneaking and belly crawling I was able to end up with a shot of about 75 yards. This time he wasn't so lucky. I hit him just about right and he only went 50 yards before going down. He measured 27 inches but has the classic outswept horns at the top. I am sure I would rather have this ram at 27 than one with 29 inch horns and still coming in at the top.
That afternoon Doug (my PH), drove us to a place where the baboons climb up on these rock kopjies at night. Just at sundown we videoed me shooting one off a ledge from 300 yards. It was pretty dramatic footage, with the baboon falling from the ledge. I was using Doug's new, 300 Winchester Magnum rifle from Christiansen Arms, and it shot very well.
Since then, I have been busy shooting Spurfowl and Sandgrouse which has been fun. They cooked some up over the fire on kabobs and I have never had a better tasting bird! I also went with Ray on a buffalo hunt and was able to video him taking a nice old bull with a perfect heart shot at about sixty yards. It was a long and arduous stalk that began with a sighting, followed by a good deal of tracking to catch up with the herd, and ended with some tense moments trying to find an opportunity at the old bull with all the other buffalo who were feeding and milling around. He was thrilled with his first cape buffalo! I also accompanied him to a leopard blind but we had no luck.
Last evening though, Doug, Michael Viljoen and I went to a blind we set up at one of our baits, and we had a leopard come in at about 6:10 PM. The lighting was perfect and I managed to get him going up the tree, feeding, actually hanging from the bait, and descending the tree! I have about fifteen minutes of video in total. He went up the tree a second time and fed again by hanging from the bait. Just as my tape was ending, his back feet lost their purchase on the bait which left him hanging by his two front paws. If I had had three more seconds of tape I would have captured him falling twenty feet to the ground! I guess you can't have it all. I am very happy with the tape I got, and am hoping to video a kill in the next camp. With this cat, I had no interest in shooting him, as he was a young male of about 130 pounds. He was very beautiful to watch, though.
In two days time, we move to the Ugalla Camp where I can begin hunting for leopard, crocodile, another buffalo, sable, kudu and roan antelope. Until then, I will continue to try and help Ray kill a leopard here, by setting up and monitoring baits. We had a good hit on one last night and, if he has had no luck on his baits, I will go with him to this spot in hope of videoing his kill. The track is large so I'm sure it's a very big leopard. It should make for an exciting afternoon hunt!
Take care,
Jack