In August 2012, I had the opportunity to do a hunt in South Africa with Andrew Pringle of Crusader Safaris. The hunt was intended to be filmed for promotional purposes, but as the time grew closer, it seemed that the show I was working on was not going to be able to film this hunt. So, I called my dad and asked if he would be interested in using the hunt for his show. To my surprise, my dad jumped at the idea. Although he would be busy filming in Australia at that time, he suggested that I film an episode for his show without him. I was shocked and excited to be given the opportunity. This would be my first appearance on my dad’s new show, The Boddington Experience, and I wanted it to be great.
Crusader Safaris specializes in free range hunting in South Africa. Some people are surprised when I tell them that because much of the hunting area in South Africa is now fenced, but let me assure you, there isstill plenty of open area to hunt if that is something you desire. We would have the opportunity to hunt in a few different areas on this trip, all located on the eastern side of the country. The area that we were hunting first was the KwaZulu Natal Province in the Umkomaas Valley. This area is well known for its spiral horned animals, and we were really hoping for a chance to see some big kudu, nyala, and bushbuck.
It was a long drive to get up into the mountains where our camp was set. The camp was permanent, but tented. The tents were built on cement slabs and had bathrooms attached. They were very comfortable and nice, but still had a wild feel to them. It reminded me of my hunts in Zimbabwe. The camp was set up on the bank of a small river, and the sound of running water was audible in every tent. Once we got comfortable, we decided it was time to sight in the rifle. I was using a new 30.06 Mauser 03. The gun was on loan from Mauser, and I had not yet hunted with it, although it had performed well on the range the week before. The M3 is a take-down rifle, which is very convenient for travel since the entire gun case is small enough to fit in the bottom of a duffel! I was shooting Hornady Brand, 180 grain Interlock bullets. We took a few shots on the range, and we were happy with the placement on the targets, so we decided to head out to go look around with the remainder of the afternoon light.
As we packed up the truck to go out that afternoon, a few small drops of rain were falling. We all ignored the drizzle and set out...
to see if we could find anything good to film or hunt with the few hours of light remaining. The mountains were beautiful at this time of year, very green from the recent rains, and the cover was thick, which gave the animals lots of area to move around. We saw a few animals that afternoon, mostly young kudu, but the rain was getting heavier by the minute. We decided to head back to camp, have dinner, and get an early start the next day. The rain continued through the night. resulting in the next few days being lost to the weather; there was nothing we could do but wait for the storm to pass, and try to keep dry as much as possible. It was not the rainy season, and this was not a storm that we had expected. We got 120 milliliters of rain in 48 hours! The once small stream running in front of the camp turned into a full flowing river of brown, muddy water. There was nothing to film and nothing we could hunt in that weather. We were all worried about the hunt.
The third day, we awoke to sunshine and clear skies as if the storm had never come through. The river had died back down to stream size, and the grass was greener than ever. Our spirits were high as we got ready to head out that day, until we hit the mud. The roads were destroyed. There were areas that were now completely off limits because the roads had washed out and thick clay-like muck had taken their place. We must have tried a dozen times to get up this one particularly horrible road, but just kept sliding backwards. Off-roading is fun, but not on high mountain roads, and certainly not when you are desperate to get to where you can start your hunt. We decided to try a different approach and hunt instead in some other areas that were more easily accessible.
My favorite part about free range hunting in Africa is that you really never know what you are going to find. The animals move freely and can cover vast distances, so you may see completely different groups of animals from one day to the next. On this particular day, we had set out looking for nyala. I had always wanted one, but I had never gotten the chance to hunt one. While driving down a mountain road, Andrew spotted something that got him excited. He slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car. Not knowing what he had seen, I just followed him out of the car and kept quiet. We slowly crept along the edge of the road with our eyes on the opposing hillside, and then I saw what had gotten him so excited. Standing in a...
patch of green grass directly across from us were two male bushbuck, feeding in the sunlight.
I have hunted bushbuck a few times before and never had any luck, They are sneaky and they love heavy cover and dark corners, which make them difficult to hunt, but it also makes their name fit them nicely. I was shocked that they just stood there like that in the clearing, but they seemed totally oblivious to our presence.
The one to the right looked smaller to me, and I asked Andrew if it was a young one. But to my surprise, he said it was actually a very old one. The body size was significantly smaller than the one on the left, but on second glance, the horns were, in fact, bigger. Andrew put up the shooting sticks, and I waited for a nice broadside shot.The bushbuck was licking his back for what
seemed like forever, but when he finally put his head down, I took my shot. The bushbuck dropped at the first shot and rolled a little way down the hill, but was not going anywhere after that.
The general morale of our hunting party was way higher after we got the bushbuck since the first two days of the hunt had been stolen by the storm, and we had all gotten a bit tense. The pressure was on. We didn’t have much time, and because this was my first chance to show my dad that I could do an episode for his show on my own. Sometimes it just takes finding the first little bit of good luck to start the ball rolling on a hunt. The bushbuck we got that morning was exceptional. Not only was it a nice old bull with hardly any teeth left, its horns were still over 15 inches! After we took the bushbuck back to camp and had lunch, we went straight back out hoping to find a nyala. Not far from camp, we had our first nyala sighting. It was a nice bull, but it was far away. We were standing on the side of hill overlooking a large, flat area with thick grey/green bushcompletely covering it. It took a good five minutes for Andrew to even explain to me where he saw the nyala.
We...
decided to drive down onto the flat area, and then get out and walk closer to the area where the nyala were feeding. Walking through that thick stuff is difficult, not just because of the general bushes and thorns, but also because of the tangle of roots running across the ground. I tripped quite a bit. After a few falls for me and some for my cameraman, we finally stumbled (literally) into the area where the nyala had been. Not surprisingly, they were gone by the time we got there. We tried a few more unsuccessful stalks in the thick brush, but finally gave up and headed back to the truck.
We drove to another area and glassed the hillside hoping for a glimpse of movement, but we saw nothing. There is a flat area where there were some old reeds growing, and Andrew suggested we check there around sunset. The nyala like to feed on the grass just outside these reeds as it gets dark. We were driving toward this area when once again Andrew got excited, slammed on the brakes, and leapt out of the car. The car was heading toward a little river crossing, and my eyes had been focused on that. I didn't see that above us on the outcropping of land above the little river, there was a nyala bull watching us! We scurried into the brush on the side of the road and worked our way back up the road until we were eye-level with the nyala, which at this point, still had its eyes on the truck. Andrew set up the shooting sticks, and I asked him to let me know when he was sure that this one was a shooter. As soon as he gave the word, I squeezed the trigger, and the nyala disappeared. We assumed that it rolled down into a little ravine.
The nyala was right where he was supposed to be!
Andrew said the shot was good, but when I lose sight of an animal I get nervous. We hurried across the little river in front of the truck. I slipped and stepped into a spot about knee deep in water, but I was so excited to see my nyala that I didn’t even notice at the time. The nyala was right where he was supposed to be! He had fallen into a very small cut in the ground that would really have only concealed him, but nothing bigger. I was relieved that he was still there and excited to check out my trophy close up. As we got close, I could see Andrew was even more excited now than he had been earlier! The nyala was exceptional with a perfect, classic bell shape to the horns, and much bigger than I had thought. The nyala...
only had a couple of teeth left in front and had already begun to wear down its horns. Lucky for me that even with probably an inch lost to wear, this nyala’s horns were around 28 inches long! For me, the size of a trophy is not everything. I like to take old animals with lots of character, preferably when they have passed their prime, and their health is only headed downhill. This ensures that animals reach their maximum potential and are not taken before they have a chance to breed.
Despite the rough start to our short hunt, I was thrilled with the outcome! Sometimes the stars align and things go perfectly, but more often, there are hiccups along the way that make the story much more interesting to tell later on. This was definitely one of those trips that had its hiccups, but it all worked out, and my dad was thrilled with the footage we got! My cameraman got a huge kick out of filming the truck as it tried desperately to get up the muddy roads, and in the end, it all came together nicely. Hunting like this, in a free-range area, means taking the chance that you won’t find exactly what you are looking for, but like any gamble, there is also a chance of finding something better than what you expected! In my opinion, an experience like this is worth the risk!