After 2 days of travel, Martin, Denise and Teswyn gave us a warm South African welcome. It was great to see friendly faces after such a long journey.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Fire Pit
No camp is complete without a fire pit. Ours happened to have a shelter around it as the winds gust more than 20mph at night. We had a huge fire here and watched the evening lightning and heat storm pass through the area. There are no city lights just billions of stars.
Riet River
Here's our view from our camp. The Riet River is a slow moving wonderful river that split the ranch east and west. It was home to many different species of waterfowl including the Hadedas. The Hadedas is a huge bird that served as our alarm clock. You could set your watch to his call...5.23am every morning.
Our Camp
Our camp was a beautiful rock and mortar lodge. Several nights we had bats flying in the living area. It was quite funny and reminded me of my college days when I lived in the Bat Cave of St. Joseph's Cathedral at Loras. 
Down on the Farm
The concession was located on a huge farm just south of Kimberly. The farm had sheep, goats, cattle and many large alfalfa pivots.
Nick on the Salt Pan
Customary to Safari preparation, we took our rifles out to zero them in at 100 yards.
Prehistoric Creatures
These things are amazing. They are so strong that the Gilbert our tracker stood on one and it picked him up. Can you imagine?
Up and Around the Mountains
I think Martin finds great pleasure in beating the shit out of his clients on the first day :-)
We climbed up and down countless foothills to check the herds and find an angle. All was worth it but damn the first day is a bear.
Rich's Copper Springbuck
After 6+ hours of haulin our asses up and down and around the plain, we had an approach a very mature Copper ram. This trophy is by far the largest of all the Springbuck and the most aggressive of all the species.
Rich's Common Springbuck
Day Two was off to a great start with the 150 yard shot on this Common Springbuck. Nice mature ram shot off the rocks on a ranch about 20k north of Koffiefontein near the Reed River.
Nick's Black Springbuck
This is not only Nick's first African animal but his first animal ever. Nice trophy Nick! He's a beautiful ram.
Nick's Black Ram
Springbuck release a very nice fragrance during mating season. The scent is held under the long fur on the back of the rams as shown here.
Rich's Old Black Ram
After getting soaked in the rain, this was our second chance at this really old ram. He was found fighting a Copper Springbuck and by the looks of his nose, he lost quite a few battles. With this trophy, the Grand Slam of Africa is complete! Time to celebrate!
Later we decided to pursue another Black Springbuck with more symmetry in the horns.
Rich's White Springbuck
A great way to end Day Two. This beautiful White ram was shot near the Reed River at 150 yards. The striped horns are very unique.
Haulin Springbuck
The trackers tie the legs of the freshly shot Springbuck to a rebar rod and haul the animal out of the bush. Great ingenuity.
American Star
Josie, our Zimbabwean cook made us a special surprise to celebrate our hunt. This Springbuck Pie was outstanding!
Mountain Reedbuck
Mysteriously our tracker said, stop, they're up on the hill. We all panned this mountain and saw nothing. We looked through 10x binoculars, still nothing. He pointed and pointed and finally, we saw them. A herd of 6 far up the mountain sleeping under the green canopy. Unbelievable.
A Dry Heat
Martin and I spent the better part of 4 hours on this plain searching for a Black Springbuck. We hid behind a large ant hill for cover but another hunting party spooked the herd and our hunt was botched.
My light colored shirt needed to be covered in red sand so that I wouldn't stick out like a soar thumb. This place is heaven on earth!
Great Plains of South Africa
Finding a Black Springbuck on this plain is like finding a needle in a haystack. This particular plain must have been 5 miles deep by 10 miles wide with 100's of springbuck
Fearless Young Hunter
JP enroute to shooting his first Springbuck. He waited all week and finally it's his turn to give a try.
A Proud (but Deaf) Hunter
When JP's 270 rang out, it reverberated on the thick rocks below. Both JP and Martin had their bells rung with the loud crack from the rifle.
JP's First Springbuck
JP(age 11) shot his first Springbuck this trip. Marting and JP stalked this ram from the rock outcroppings. Great shot JP!
African Tradition
JP gets initiated by Gilbert, our tracker and skinner. On a hunter's first animal, it's tradition to put the blood of that animal on the hunter's face.
Rich's Black Springbuck
Three hours of baking in the African sun and sound hunting strategies resulting in this excellent Black Sprinbuck trophy.
Fine Springbuck Trophies
Proud hunters displaying their trophies. In total, we shot 3 Blacks, 2 Commons, 1 White and 1 Copper
African Copper Ducks
These are a pair of African Copper Ducks. They are the size of our Canadian Geese and quite smart. We had 3 attempts at them before we had success.
Heart of the Free State - Koffiefontein
Koffiefontein is one of the oldest diamond mine sites in South Africa.
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