# Archery Safari in South Africa



## travissalinas

booked a hunt and finally made the big trip back in september. it was more than i expected and a pretty reasonable price. in a seven day hunt took 13 animals, 11 of those with the bow and a SABO sight. got videos of most of them

here's the kudu 




impala and red hartbeest 




impala #2 




zebra, baboon and guinea fowl


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## pacontender

Congrats on the trip. I can't wait to get back.


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## travissalinas

i'm hoping in two years to take the wife and go back


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## Tslick

Awesome videos and hunt. Thanks for posting.


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## travissalinas

giving the kids at the safari camp some gifts when i arrived









the first animals into the water hole was a magnificent bull sable!









the strkinginly effective camoflauge of the zebra


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## travissalinas

For several years I had more than kicked around the idea of picking up the stick and string and heading to hunt with Dries Visser Safaris near Thabazimbi, South Africa. Each year work and life took precedence over answering the call of my ancestors. Within the last eighteen months I had gained a wife, a baby boy, a home and a second business in a short time and the axis on which my world revolved had forever shifted. I took what might be my last opportunity of short sweet time to book the hunt with Dries and make my pilgrimage to his Citadel Camp located in the Limpopo Province. The Limpopo province is to South African plains game what South Texas is to White Tail deer, an absolute paradise. 
Day - 1
I awoke at 2:12 AM and lay awake ravenous until it was time to rise at 5 AM and head to breakfast, my biological clock was in complete chaos of jet lag,. All our trackers were Tswana, their original tribal domain covering both sides of the Limpopo River around South Africa and Botswana. Will and Stacy joined Stian and I as we drove about 45 minutes to a ranch known as GeoDot, a compilation of George and Dottie the owners. Will had previously hunted this property and he remembered this ranch as "The Zoo", and what a zoo it was. The Zoo was drier than Citadel and many animals still had to visit the watering hole to receive their daily moisture. Dawn had already come and gone long before we even got near the blind. We set up shop in a spacious pit blind with one way tinted windows and Stian lit a piece of zebra dung to cover our human odor.


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## travissalinas

I was snapped out of my pregame butterflies as a dark came shuffling along through the one way windows of the pit blind. The lord of all antelope, a magnificent bull sable, colored like a heap anthracite piled upon a fresh snow drift, arrived and as the morning progressed he kept all his subjects at bay. With an aggressive toss of his huge scimitar horns, the sable effectively deterred any and all of the kudu, zebra, gemsbok, or blue wildebeest that arrived from sharing the alfalfa. Even the francolin and guinea fowl were kept on edge and they made squawking protest to the lordly sable. The hungry herds would wait for a chance and maybe take a sip from the water hole before fleeing from the sable's deadly horns. After about two hours the novelty of this bull sable wore off as we realized we would have no other animals come within bow range. After exhausting our supply of zebra dung missiles targeted at the sable, Stian radioed for the tracker to relocate us.


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## travissalinas

an orange hornbill sharging a perch with a dove









the gemsbok waiting well away from the sable bull


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## travissalinas

zebra mare and foal









a good looking giraffe, and things started getting interesting when that kudu showed up


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## travissalinas

We drove out through a large pasture of the ranch where the sekylbos trees had been sprayed and later burned off. It was a miniature Serengeti, the larger native trees had been left healthy and dotted the landscape. The waves of dry winter grass could not conceal the scores of game, we saw three herds of impala, several zebra, a family of warthogs and our tracker spotted a couple of nice kudu lying in the shade of a huge camelthorn tree! The sekylbos trees are an invasive species from Botswana, similar in appearance and growth rate to a huisache or mesquite, but with a density like ironwood, the fruit of these trees is spread by the animals and an ecosystem can quickly be choked out by this fast growing invasive species. George the rancher, by clearing out the invading seyklbos and leaving his large native trees increased the carrying capacity of his ranch and created a honey hole for fortunate bow hunters!


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## travissalinas

Moments later we were in a pit blind nestled in a grove a giant camelthorn trees. The wind was unfavorable and the tendrils of smoked eddied as if caught in a stream. We heard the deep throaty alarm bark of a kudu bull before we saw him. The kudu remained vigilant, and after about twenty minutes the kudu began to circle and finally came into view. From there the procession unfolded as we watched several cows, calves and young kudu bulls parade through, even one pretty nice shy bull that we had difficulty judging. This bull's rib cage showed through his gaunt sides, his characteristic white lines were faded out and his beard was not as long or dark, nor his facial markings as crisp as the other kudu, but my did he have a set of horns.


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## travissalinas

A kudu usually tops every sportsman's wish list and my opportunity at a mature bull was ambling slowly away. The other hunters in camp had been struggling to find their own bulls. My original game plan of taking any mature animal until my budget was filled had been foolishly disregarded. As these emotions raged through my mind a breath of wind brought a wisp of the zebra dung into the blind. The breath became a soft breeze and moments later two kudu cows shuffled in to feed.


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## travissalinas

a warthog gnawing the salt


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## travissalinas

As if fate had blown me a kiss, a younger bull paid the cows interest and that old kudu bull turned about face from out in the bush and returned with the slow confidence and intent of sorting out this lesser rival. Stian and I had our thoughts on the same page, SHOOT! For the kudu I had selected one of my camo-dipped Easton Axis ST 400 arrows, weighing slightly more than the normal bare carbon arrow, tipped with a brand new 100 grain. Rage two-blade and tailed by a green Nocturnal lighted nock. I had pre-ranged the distance at 24 yards. I suppressed the tingle of buck fever, with the same control I used when kicking clutch field goals. My draw rolled back silky smooth thanks to the combination of muscle memory and Mathews Engineering. I dialed in my twenty yard fiber optic dot in with the triangle on the lens of my trusty SABO Sight just slightly forward of the crease behind the front shoulder and held two inches lower than the mid-body line. An ox pecker was busy at his work right next to my point of impact, and luckily for the ox pecker, he shifted off to safety right before I released.


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## travissalinas

some white rhinos came to within arm range of a well placed stick


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## travissalinas

The Nockturnal lit a green arcing blaze in the fiery evening light as it inched through space and impacted right on target, the impact making a sound like that of a fencepost driver dropped onto a pumpkin. Slow motion switched to the fast forward of chaos as kudu streaked in all directions. My kudu, I could say that with confidence, lurched forward and accelerated on those long graceful legs as he bounded away with my arrow buried to the fletchings and the Rage protruded out the far side from the area of the chest cavity where the heart and lungs are located. As he left my sight in could see his stumble to Earth begin as squirts of blood sprayed out his sides and then the back slapping and high fiving triggered the release of the shakes as my kudu disappeared from view. Holy smokes what a thrill!
Once the tracker and truck showed up we exited the blind to immediately have a white rhino encounter. I was in the middle of reading _African Game Trails_ by Teddy Roosevelt, and his colorful accounts of the charging pachyderms combined with their physical hulk and horns in a prominent display at only twenty yards added yet another heart racing thrill, especially when they became agitated and started to show how truly quick they were. I have stared down and wrestled some pretty sizable wild hogs into a burlap sack, even doing so in such fashion as to be the 2007 Wild Hog Wrestling World Champion but my gosh it would take a big sack to hole those two rhinos. The larger and luckily the more docile of the two rhino species were intent on hitting the buffet of feed, water and salt until I sailed a well placed tomahawk stick from 25 yards as and effective deterrent.


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## travissalinas

Back to business, we trailed the kudu about 120 yards from his starting point while the rhinos thundered away. The kudu had fled with such haste that we only found small splashes of blood even with two huge Rage holes through his lungs and heart tissue. Sparse blood or not was of no consequence because my kudu was piled up just the same. We later found the broad head half of the arrow, the Rage still in good condition. Measurements don't much matter to me, but Stian could not resist whipping out the tape. He had nice deep curls, his tips swept back and there were rough ridges and deep grooves covered with battle scars that added character to his horns that measured 58" and 56"! I was pumped, and I had just blown over half of my budget the first of a seven day hunt, but what a way to cash in on the kudu of a lifetime!


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## travissalinas

58" on the left and 56" on the right. i don't know what the bases were, but no one really seeemed to care, we were all pretty excited anyway


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## raiderfish

Wow. Just wow. 

Cant wait for the rest.


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## travissalinas

Day two found us returning to the same pit blind. The grassy plain carved from the thick bush veldt habitat dotted with large camelthorns and even a few marula trees was teeming with several large herds of impala. Our first customers of the morning were another very nice kudu and a young nyala ram. The two seemed to be pals and nosed around playing, and they provided plenty of entertainment when the two began sparring.


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## travissalinas

A group of ewes were approaching the salt lick in a skittish manner and a very nice ram was keeping tabs on his harem. The ewes had gathered around the salt lick and after several minutes of vigilance, the ram came snorting up and drove his ewes away. Luckily, the ladies had not yet had their fill of salt and they made a quick loop and returned. The ram set up surveillance in a nearby stand of scrub, then made another mock drive at the ewes. He stopped then paced back to his vantage point for several more minutes. Finally the ram's patience wore thin and he came on towards the ewes with an obvious determination to herd them away, the ewes skittered away as I drew back and prepared to lead the ram. I knew he would not stop. The salt block the ram would pass near was a mere nine yards down range. I watched the ram approach through a side window, the ewes skittered away. It was a high risk, high reward type situation. Many of the other hunters had struggled to get an impala after the fresh green leaves had sprouted on the shrubs. Impala were now able to refrain from drinking but once every few days. I figured this opportunity at a very nice impala might be the only one I would get and I swung and led the ram as he entered the view of the narrow shooting window like a quick passing shot on a fleeting clay pigeon.


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## travissalinas

a pretty comforatable and permanent pit blind, i only wish it had more than one shooting window


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## travissalinas

the fiesty young nyala ram. i was told that bucks of the species go from being a ram to a bull at the nyala. things smaller than nyala like bush buck, reedbuck, impala and so on are rams and things larger like waterbuck, kudu, gemsbok etc are bulls.


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## travissalinas




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## travissalinas

The ram never slowed but I let the rage fly, if you don't shoot, you certainly will not hit anything. The impala was slightly quartering away and I immediately knew I had hit him back. Impala are the ultimate antelope when it comes to athleticism, and when they've been alarmed they really hit the jets. This ram accelerated like Reggie Bush as he leapt and bounded over shrubs, eight yards a leap. This is where the Rage broad head earned its keep. Despite my poor shot, the Rage had made a nice pass through on the quartering away shot, opening up its legendary wound channel and sapped the life from the plucky impala ram. This ram had tipped out and measured a nice 22 3/8" inches, Stian judged him at 5


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## travissalinas

one of the main animals on my wish list on only the second morning, everything from there on out was just a bonus.

:cheers:


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## travissalinas

i can't get over the contrast between the red sandy earth, the blue bird sky and the contrast the vegetation makes on the sky line, i sure want to go back.


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## travissalinas

After all the excitement of the lengthy trail before 9:30 AM, Stian thought it best to relocate to another blind for the rest of the day. As we arrived several nice kudus and a herd of zebra fled the scene. We settled in for a stake out through the heat of the day and we had very limited activity. Stian and the tracker both dozed in and out while I rolled through the pages of _African Game Trails. _The lack of mammal activity was made up for by the bird appearance. Several grey loureys, also known as


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## travissalinas

"he looks poisonous" said my sister. this crimson breasted shrike was one of many beautiful and unusual birds i got to watch.


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## travissalinas

and i think that shrikes are eaters of meat, which makes them doubly cool


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## travissalinas

looking through the SABO sight from the business end. probably my favorite feature is that there is not post to obscure part of your target, you can see the entire target and make pin point arrow placement very easy


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## travissalinas

also known as


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## travissalinas

also known as "the go away bird" for its warning cries, came to water. Blue wax bills flittered around the bushes and iridescent purple grackles splashed in the water. The special sighting of the day was a crimson breasted shrike strolling around within arm's touch of the window. There were also plenty of orange hornbills.


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## travissalinas

"There is a really nice red hartebeest bull coming in," hissed Stian with a sense of urgency in his voice. I jolted back to reality from my bird watching and historical safari novel. I didn't even need to glance at the bull, I could tell from Stian's tone that it was a good animal and anything mature was on my hit list. Oddly, the best bull was coming in first and the three stragglers were lesser bulls. The stragglers didn't even get a chance to come to water before I drew back another camo-dipped arrow, this time tipped with a 100 gr. Shuttle T Lock and settled the 20 yard dot of the SABO Sight under the triangle on the lens in perfect alignment with the top of the crease on the red hartebeest.


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## travissalinas

Will's girlfriend Casey had a red hartebeest on the top of her hit list, and had sat this same blind in hopes of finding the hartebeest that regularly visited this water hole. Will and Stacy had elected to try another ranch and as luck would have it, a dandy hartebeest had presented itself broadside in bow range.


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## travissalinas

This time the arrow leapt off my string with striking speed and impaled the unsuspecting hartebeest cleanly through both lungs before blowing through his body cavity and skittering away into the bush. The hartebeest turned a full 180 degrees in his initial leap of surprise as he turned to flee and raced back to the other three bulls that had not yet come to water. Here he briefly paused before doing the wobbly knee dance and going down for the count, all in plain view about 60 yards from the blind. It was a thrill to watch! This dandy bull, by Stian's reckoning was 6-1/2 years old and sported 21-1/2" horns with hefty 10" bases, a fine specimen.


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## travissalinas

a dandy red hartebeest bull


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## travissalinas

these have got to be one of the oddest ahaped creatures of africa


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## travissalinas

a distant afternoon view of the waterburg mountains


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## travissalinas

a firery African sunset


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## travissalinas

this had to be one of the finest days of hunting in my life, two great animals with a bow! i feel a sundowner coming on


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## raiderfish

Outstanding photos and descriptions. The SABO picture needs to be sold to SABO for advertising!


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## mardigrastopsntails

Wow. Great read. More coming I hope.


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## travissalinas

eland sighting on day 3


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## travissalinas

On day three I was ready to change gears and get out of the pit blinds to stretch my legs. Stian was overly keen for some spot and stalk adventure, he volunteered that he had already spend 79 days in the blinds this season and would love to stalk something. Fresh from my first good night's sleep, we drove out from camp at day break into a more open area of veldt with spotty thick bush and we began our slow walk through the crispy dead grass face first into the light dawn breeze. 
Tracks abounded on every game trail, and we even found the skull of a deceased monster kudu. Our first animal encounter was with a pair of steenbok with a fine male, but the little antelope, sized like a large Italian Greyhounds, had spotted us long before we caught a glimpse of them and we never had so much as a chance at their fleeing forms. We put a descent sneak on three nice impala rams but they ended up turning the wrong way behind a bush, then a fickle swirl of wind wafted their way and that round went to the impala. We jumped several gemsbok before crossing toward some more open ground and spotting a nice wildebeest about 150 yards out.


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## travissalinas

As we neared our quarry, it was as if we entered Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. A blue wildebeest bull was running with a herd of a dozen blesbuck rams, and there were also impala in the vicinity. Suddenly the herd trotted out about 40 yards across our position to the east as the wildebeest ambled after his blesbuck friends. Stian and I were caught out in the open. All the animals we hunted on Citadel were very much wild, and this herd of blesbuck with a confused wildebeest were no exception. We were quickly busted and received a chorus of snorts as the blesbuck and company sped away.


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## travissalinas

Stian and I continued working into the wind and our next sighting was of a zebra herd. The zebras here headed away from us and we quickened our pace along a well worn game trail and rapidly closed the distance in near silence. Within seconds we had circled into position by the herd and I was setting up for a shot at 30 yards when the zebras changed direction and now were going down wind quartering away from us. As the gap widened, Stian and I shifted into a trot and circled around downwind about 200 yards from where we expected the zebras to emerge. We caught sight of the herd grazing across our front and we slow crawled through sparse scrub. There was an excellent ambush point between us and the zebras if we could just reach it.


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## travissalinas

Then movement amidst the ambush thicket caught my eye. A herd of about 40 impala ewes with a very nice herd ram were grazing right through the middle of the ambush. We were pinned and could only hope the zebras worked towards us. The entire zebra herd passed by broadside, but at a range of 50 yards. The wind changed once again, and the zebras came on alert, the impala shuffled away. I elected to pass the 50 yard shot. I still had plenty of time to try for a better shot opportunity.


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## travissalinas

Jan the Tswana tracker picked us up and I was soon deposited in a new blind, we jumped cape buffalo, eland and several very nice kudu on the way in and the action quickly resumed. Several whopper kudus came and went, followed by the herd of eland with a dandy herd bull. A female vervet monkey with her young came to the feed trough, their bright eyes picked me out from the dark recesses of the pit blind and they scampered away screeching. Next, I caught sight of a dandy blesbuck, so named by the Afrikaners for the white "blaze" that streaks down their faces. Even in my limited experience I could tell this was a very nice blesbuck, yet he paced and pranced at 75 yards for about five minutes before finally exiting the scene. The afternoon heat peaked and the wildlife procession dwindled. I checked what Dwayne had packed for lunch, a biltong or shredded dried game meet sandwich with mayonnaise and I dove back into _Death in the Long Grass_, by Peter Capstick and resumed his thrilling tales of life as a professional hunter.


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## travissalinas

a SABO sight view of a good eland


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## travissalinas

but my budget was getting crunched already after that monster kudu and the hartebeest


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## travissalinas

Occasionally I glanced up from my book and I was startled to see a nice impala ram within shooting range. I'd already been lucky enough to take one impala, but he was too nice to pass up. I set the Capstick saga down and clicked on the camcorder. The ram whipped his head up from the salt block and stared at the shooting window. Nobody had seen an impala come to water all that week, but this ram was at the salt lick 13 yards away standing slightly quartering to. My DXT was already nocked-up, the arrow tipped with my last remaining new 2-blade Rage broad head and I eased back to full draw. The fiber optic dots on the SABO Sight were bright like ruby droplets of arterial blood as I settled the 20 yard dot into alignment with the triangle on the lens. Although the ram was slightly quartering to, I knew he was mortally exposed.


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## travissalinas

The arrow hissed off the bowstring and closed the gap so fast that not even the impala could react. The impact was tight on the near shoulder and I saw the arrow skitter to the ground after it passed though the lung area. The ram reared forward before accelerating to ludicrous speed and fleeing the scene. I radioed Stian the good news. Stian was out to retrieve a pop-up blind that he'd set up as a backup plan for kudu, but he quickly returned and after 120 yards on the blood trail, I proudly gazed at my second impala ram.


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## travissalinas

me and my taxidermist both wished this nice blesbok would have come within range


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## travissalinas

lung blood


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## travissalinas




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## 11andy11

sweet!!


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## travissalinas

Day four dawned brilliant and still. We taped up our felt stalking shoes over our boots as the grey light strengthened and then strode off into the smallest of breezes. The game trails were more like sandy hoof printed highways and after only ten minutes of slow stalking we were closing the gap and on a very nice blue wildebeest. My previous game plan with Stian on spot and stalk was that I would take whatever species opportunity presented, and opportunity was standing quartering away at 32 yards! Fate had placed a single sparse bush covering the vital zone. Ever so carefully I eased around the bush prepared to draw the moment the shooting lane opened. 
My hunting success rate must be way lower than the big cats of Africa, for the wildebeest used his sixth sense to discern danger and moments later he busted me and broke away snorting his alarm. Very few stalks work out for the big cats, and even fewer for bow hunters. Before the dust had settled from the bolting wildebeest we heard several zebra calling to each other with that unmistakable ringing bark. We worked our way closer to the sound, noting some very fresh zebra sign. When the herd sounded off again, we were close. Our duo worked well together, as we made out a few zebra grazing across our front, Stian whispered out ranges as I studied my shooting lane options. My closest target was 50 yards until a plump mare stepped from a thick clump of bush into a lovely shooting alley and grazed slightly quartering away at 40 yards.


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## travissalinas

I rose from my crouch and drew my bow simultaneously. The zebra I was targeting took a step forward with the front leg nearest me. The mare was slightly quartering away and the red dot on the SABO set for 40 yards blazed a fiery red in the light of last dawn. I held steady for just a brief second and depressed the lever on my release. The arrow I had carefully chosen for this assignment sped away arcing as high as my hopes. This arrow was another one of the camo-dipped Easton Axis ST 400's. It weighed in at 9.9 grains per inch, 0.9 grains per inch more than is bare carbon sibling. The arrow was tipped with a 100 grain Shuttle T Lock and this arrow had been flectched with a new set of Blazer vanes flying hot pink and black zebra print colors. Kim's favorite arrow had been destined for this zebra.


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## travissalinas

The arrow impacted with the resounding thwack of a solid hit. The zebra spun and crow hopped away from the arrow while flashing her powerful yellow teeth at the arrow. To my dismay, I could plainly see the arrow did not make good penetration, I estimated only 9 inches into the body cavity. We heard lots of noises as the herd exploded in chaotic retreat, but we distinctly heard large crashing noises, and shortly thereafter the unique barking sound of zebras answering the roll call. Stian said that was good news, they were calling to their fallen comrade.


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## travissalinas

forgot the pic of the second impala, an older and heavier horned animals, although about and inch shorter than the first. i was pretty pumped to get this guy


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## travissalinas

We began on a steady blood trail and found a large puddle of blood next to a fragmented dead tree the zebra had evidently collided with in her hasty escape. About 150 yards down the trail we located the arrow, intact and the blood marks on the shaft confirmed poor penetration, also the fact that the arrow had fallen out was not a good sign, yet we were on good blood. Even one of the blades on the broad head was notably bent and misshaped, most likely from contact with the shoulder blade. The insert portion of the shaft was damaged and egged out as well, a sure sign of hitting rock hard zebra shoulder bone. I had a lot of respect for these arrows, I had experiences of missing my target during practice and hitting a cinder block wall and also a 2x4, each of the arrows was unscathed, yet this arrow showed signs of impacting a very hard shoulder bone. As the yards turned into dozens and then hundreds, the blood trail began to thin out with no sign of our quarry. I heard a galloping noise, now about 45 minutes after the shot and we trailed blood to the last known location of that noise, my zebra was still alive and running.


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## travissalinas

We decided to let her be for a spell, then come back with more trackers and dogs. We returned to the lodge for lunch and a quick lesson in Tanzanite gems. Then we watched the shot on the big screen. Placement was good for a 40 yard shot, but at the last moment, the zebra had spun away and the arrow appeared to angle up into her shoulder. That explained the bent blade on the broadhead. Stian said he would leave me in the warthog blind while he organized more trackers and would pursue the zebra later that day. 
This was the same water hole as the evening before, but the presence of game was much higher this day. I saw several nice kudu, as well as some shooter gemsbok. The procession of warthogs was endless, I saw probably over 40 all together, but I saw only one descent boar that was not quite what I was looking for. I let the warthogs alone. There was also a mass representation of the waterbuck species at this location. At one point, I had 14 waterbucks of varying maturity lounging, drinking and soaking in the pool. As the evening shadows grew tall, a herd of eland joined the show. The eland soon scented me and fled the scene.


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## travissalinas

My next visitors were a flock of guinea fowl. I nocked the same arrow I had recovered from the zebra. One of the fletchings was slightly detached from the shaft and the insert was egged out on the carbon fiber shaft. The damaged to this arrow and the bent broad head made for an excellent arrow to roast a guinea. My unlucky specimen flipped over backwards into the waterhole as the arrow center punched her breast bone from 21 yards out. The guinea recovered enough to scamper about 10 yards before flopping over. 
I noticed the same jackal lurking out on the edges of bow range but once again he was too sly to offer an easy shot at him.


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## travissalinas

I recovered my guinea. Jan, my tracker, was very thankful for the donation to his cooking pot that night. Stian said that he and more trackers had gotten back on the spoor of the zebra. She had doubled back from the point where we had jumped her and they had followed her at least two miles. To say that these trackers and PH's are good at reading sign and trailing is understatement, they are extremely gifted! 
Later that evening after a supper of hartebeest stew, we struck out and spot lighted. Nothing eventful occurred and we stuck our plans for primates in the morning.


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## travissalinas

the zebra stalk, the guinea fowl, and the hunt capturing day 6...


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## travissalinas

Day six started an hour earlier than the others. In the predawn hours, no breeze blew yet the passing of the wind front had dropped the temperatures back down to the low 50's. Winter was not quite through with its cold dry grip on the bush veldt and the summer wet season would have to wait. Our early departure allowed for the extra travel time necessary to make the trek to a ranch up in the Waterburg Mountains back northwest of Thabazimbi. Our first set up was another pit blind nestled in dense brush in a draw between two kopjes. Our only visitors for the first two hours were two female baboons and a bushbuck ewe. The bushbuck ewe had a beautiful set of colors and a body that best resembled a shaggy and partially spotted high performance whitetail. Bushbucks are noted for their extreme quickness and in some even duck arrows as close as 20 yards.


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## travissalinas

Stian made a radio call to the truck and soon we were headed to another property, up higher into the mountains. The valleys were choked with the sekylbos trees, an invasive species despised for its Napoleonic march against the other flora of the veldt and prized for its iron hard wood most useful for barbequing and wood work. As we approached the ambush point it seemed as if our quarry had preceded us. We saw multiple kudus and a troop of baboons making their escape while we were still some distance from the clearing. "They'll be back," encouraged Stian in his excited Afrikaner accent.


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## travissalinas

a nice mirror image of a waterbuck bull


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## travissalinas

"We must quickly get in the blind before the baboons climb up the cliffs and watch us get into the blind" said Stian. We hustled our gear into a pop up that was well brushed-in, while Jan wedged a loaf off the alfalfa bale into a scraggly young camelthorn tree at 25 yards. Jan dumped some molasses coated range cubes into the feed trough as we zipped up the pop up blind entry flap. Stian declared he would film by hand, as any shine from the tripod and video camera in the pop up window would tip off our quarry and prematurely end our hunt. I rested my bow, an arrow nocked, on my lap and began to range the different landmarks in my strike zone.


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## travissalinas

a fiery sunset. there were large bush fires burning in botswana that made for interesting shades of orange during sunset


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## travissalinas

Gratefully, the popup blind had been situated in the shade of the trees and this offered some protection from the heat that rose up as the midday sun bore down. I snacked on a sandwich and day dreamed about armor plated zebras. "Draw your bow", hissed Stian. I ducked behind the window and drew back as a large male baboon that was missing his tale led in several members of his troop. The baboon reached up into the notch of the tree and grabbed an armful of Lucerne, looked back over his shoulder at us in the popup blind then barked and ran off carrying his loot, his troop scampering after him. The baboons stopped to eat their loot about 80 yards away under a tree. The alpha male continued to bark his warning while they greedily consumed the pilfered hay. We had been busted before I'd even had an opportunity to take him out. An hour later, the baboons bark was growing increasingly irritable, then I heard the raspy huff of a dust devil. Noise of dust pelting the earth and branches crashing together rose to a crescendo as Stian and I both grabbed hold of the popup frame work to keep it from blowing away. During this assault from the dust devil, baboons were fleeing our direction, however the troop circled wide of our position and exited the clearing to the dense scrub behind us.


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## travissalinas

a great shot from the SABO cam, this image runs through my dreams for the next trip


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## travissalinas

a bruiser kudu bull posed nicely for the SABO cam


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## travissalinas

a rare colored wildebeest, this is a "spotted" wildebeest. the ranch is also going to begin a breeding program for copper wildebeest. i guess this would be similar to breeding for albino or melanistic whitetails.


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## travissalinas

bushbuck ewe, i sure wish i would have seen a nice ram


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## travissalinas

After that, animal activity at the waterhole and feeding area was static. A scene that could be the album cover for Max Stalling


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## travissalinas

After that, animal activity at the waterhole e album cover for Max Stalling's "Heat of the wide afternoon" shimmered on the veldt. A second dust devil passed out of harm's way. Stian nodded off and I blazed through my Peter Hathaway Capstick Novel, _Death in the Long Grass_, until a blur of motion in my peripheral vision put me back on alert. A vervet monkey had scampered by and his buddies were moving into my strike zone. I nudged Stian and noticed baboons working into the area from out of Stian's window. Get ready he said, I drew back on my Easton Axis arrow, the same one from the guinea fowl the previous evening, tipped with the same 100 grain Rage two-blade broad head I had recovered from the kudu.


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## travissalinas

Again alpha male stood up and grabbed a quick handful of alfalfa from the fork in the tree and scampered away once more, but only to 40 yards. "I think he will duck the strings," whispered Stian. I let off as quietly as I could while the alpha male faced away from our ambush point. Vervet monkeys had posted up in some of the juvenile trees around the edges of the clearing, effectively pinning us down with their network of prying eyes. The monkeys were playful, and soon switching from guard duty to playing chase.


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## travissalinas




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## travissalinas

got the first impala back from the taxidermist


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## travissalinas

and the red hartebeest. still waiting on the kudu


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## travissalinas

and the kudu is finally on the wall...


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## Trouthunter

Cool!

TH


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## travissalinas

Trouthunter said:


> Cool!
> 
> TH


i wish my wife shared the same thoughts. all i can say is that she better used to it


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## TildenHunter

travissalinas said:


> i wish my wife shared the same thoughts. all i can say is that she better used to it


Ha. I think she will be just fine. She has put up with you this long. What's another 50 years. Looks great Travis.


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