David Tennent Hunting Safaris

To continue with this year’s hunt….

We arrived in the Free State mid-morning from Pretoria.  Once everyone was settled in and had had a light brunch, we went to the shooting range to check that the rifles were shooting straight.  First up was Brett (11 years old) with his .243W.  After a few small adjustments to Brett’s rifle, it was shooting well.  Next up was Brett’s Dad, Dan, with his .300 Weatherby, that proved to be shooting well.

It was Brett’s first trip to South Africa so he was going to hunt the first animal, an Impala.  We decided to go out as soon as possible, as the weather was not too hot and there was only a light breeze.  We all got into the pick-up – the hunters at the back.  We saw lots of game while we were scouting for Impala and eventually, we spotted them on the other side of a dry riverbed.  There were 6 rams together with 3 good looking rams in the bunch.  We stopped the pick-up a long distance away from the Impala and Ken, Dan, Brett and I climbed off the vehicle and set off for the long and careful stalk.

Ken had made up some small shooting sticks for Brett which he brought with him from the United States, and which became invaluable on this particular hunt, as well as on the hunt for Springbuck.

The only way down to the dry riverbed was down a steep slope.  We all slid quietly down and started across to the other bank.  I had made a mental note of where we had last seen the Impala, which were not far from this other bank.  We carefully crawled up the bank to see where they were, only to find that they had moved off a way.  We crawled over the top of the riverbank and, using what little cover we could find, we got reasonably close to the Impala.  I put Brett on the shooting sticks in a sitting position and waited for the Impala that we wanted, to give us a good shot.  Unfortunately the Impala were feeding away from us so we could not get a good shot and the distance was a little far for a clean kill.

Leaving Ken and Dan behind, Brett and I made our way down an old dry wash to try and close the gap.  We crawled up the side of the dry wash that we thought was closest to the Impala and again I got Brett into the sitting position with his shooting sticks.  The Impala were still feeding away from us with no possibility of a good shot.  I counted the Impala and realised that one was missing but I could not see it anywhere.

We sat for quietly about 15 minutes when the missing Impala suddenly appeared out of another dry wash that we had not seen.  It stood broadside at about 80 m.  I whispered to Brett that if he felt comfortable, he should take the shot and no sooner had these words left my mouth, when a shot rang out.  Brett had put in a great shot!  The Impala ran for about 20 m and piled up.

Brett had now got his first African animal and had done a great job!!  It was a good stalk with very little cover.  I am sure Brett will remember this hunt for years to come.  I would like to compliment both Ken and Dan for the hard work they put in to school Brett in shooting, walking behind a PH as quietly as possible and also practicing shooting off shooting sticks.  If you are not used to shooting off shooting sticks, it can be difficult. 

Congratulations Brett!!

In August this year, our very good friends, Ken and Sheila Harrison, their daughter Kelly Herb, son-in-law Dan Herb, and grandchildren Brett and Brianna, joined us for hunting in South Africa.  Ken and Sheila had been threatening to come out and hunt South Africa with their Family for about 4 to 5 years and they were true to their word!  The hunt was to be divided up into 3 sections, namely hunting in the Free State Province, in the Limpopo Province and a tour of the world famous Kruger National Park.  But more about this marvellous time later because a previous hunting experience with Ken and Sheila comes to mind!!

 I guided Ken and Sheila about 10 years ago on a hunt which was, to say the least, hectic!!  We hunted Limpopo, Free State and Natal Provinces, taking many good trophies along the way. 

The short story that I would like to share with you is as follows:

Sheila does not like snakes at all.  So when Ken and I went out stalking and hunting, Sheila would stay with the vehicle, until one day in Natal, Ken and I persuaded her to come on the hunt with us.  We had not gone more than 50 meters from the vehicle when we bumped into a cobra!  Sheila to this day, believes that Ken and I planned the whole event!  As you can imagine, Sheila was not impressed at all and again elected to stay with the vehicle, and nothing would change her mind!  At least the incident did not spoil her enjoyment of the rest of the time we all had together!