Steve, Todd and Don's Legendary Experience

Hi Guys.

So much has happened this year leading to me not sending out any newsletter. I am going to try and make it up to all of you.

The second hunt of the year was with good friends of mine Steve Persnal and Todd Mikolajczk. They brought a good friend of theirs over Don Gajkowski whom hunted with a great PH and friend of mine Mark Hudson.

The safari started in the Winterberg Mountains of the Eastern Cape and ended in the Karoo of the Eastern Cape. The guys had tough mountain animals on their list such as, Vaal Rheybuck and Klipspringer. I knew we were up to the task of this challenge.

Klipspringer was first on our list and in the misty rain we thought our chances would not be great. We finally spotted a couple of males and made our stalk. After a few hours we could not get any closer so Steve said he would try a 340 yard shot across this large valley. Wow what a shot, it was perfect and down he went. That was one down and one to go. In this weather there would be little to no chance of getting a Klipspringer. Lady Luck had already blessed us with one. What a fantastic start! Later that afternoon, once the wind died down and rain had stopped, Lady Luck was back and Todd had his klipspringer. What a first day, but wait, Don got his first African animal too, a beautiful Cape Kudu.

Day two had us travelling to look for Vaal Rheybuck in a different area. We had spent quite a bit of the day travelling from one mountain area to another. We scouted the surrounds as we did not have enough time to get deep into the mountains to an area where they prefer to graze. With an early start we got into the mountains and soon spotted a group with a very good male among them. The hunt was on and we needed to get height advantage on the group. Steve was going to be in for another long shot. They knew we were there and they kept their distance safely between us, but it was not far enough! Steve anchored him which gave us the opportunity to get closer for the finishing shot. What a trophy!

We then headed back to camp while on the lookout for a lechwe for Todd. Seeing many groups we finally spotted a group of bulls that were worth following. We stalked them for over an hour and finally got a shot at a magnificent bull. With a short run, he went down in a cloud of dust. This was a magnificent trophy! Don and Mark also had a great day and were rewarded with a great Mountain Reedbuck. Great going guys!

The next day had us back in the mountains looking for Vaal Rheybuck. We saw a great Mountain Reedbuck and Steve was on him and down he went. He was a beautiful old ram! We had no luck the rest of the day so we returned back to the camp for cocktails and reminisce about the hunt around a warm campfire. Stories were exchanged with plenty of laughter. What a great bunch of guys.

We woke up to a beautiful morning and we spotted a small group of Vaalies with a good male in it and were on them in no time. However, they saw us coming and were out of there before we could get a shot on him. We left them to try another day as they are quite territorial.

Back down the mountain we saw a magnificent Bontebok. Steve said he would like to try and get him. We stalked around and around as he was aware of our presence. We ducked down and did the oldest trick in the book. Hide from him and after a while he started looking for us. Big mistake, as he went down with a perfect frontal shot. Oh he is magnificent!     

That afternoon had us looking for a black Springbuck for Steve. The herd had saw us long before we had seen them. We needed to put on our thinking caps to get close enough for a shot. It’s a good thing they had a very good guide that out smarted them and Steve made a good shot on him and down he went. Steve was on a roll.      

 


Don was having a good safari with Mark and they were collecting great trophies. It was Todd’s turn and we were after Nyala. We spotted a good bull and missed a few opportunities on him, but we finally got our chance. Todd made a great shot and dropped him in his tracks. Well done old fellow! That afternoon we went back to where we had spotted the Vaalies. There they were, they had already seen us making our way over the mountain top. Todd made a long shot and hit him. We went after him and ran out of day light so we backed out and decided to go back early the next day to try and find him. We gathered the troops the next day and went back to look for him. Where was lady luck when we needed her? We were just about to give up after 4 hours of looking for him. Lady luck graced us with her presence once more and with some young guys after him we finally got him. Wow guys, you would not believe how he covered all that ground on only three legs. A hard earned trophy indeed! Luck and youth were on our side this time. Don got a fantastic Blesbuck and was also rewarded with a great old bull Blue Wildebeest.  

   




That afternoon we packed up and travelled up to the Karoo (a semi desert area) a few hours way, in search of, Gemsbuck, Black Wildebeest and White and Copper Springbuck. Once there and we had settled in, with a few hours of day light left, we decided to go out and look for Black Wildebeest. We thought we would try and ambush them. Mark sat with Steve and I sat with Todd. Our plan worked perfectly as down went the first bull and a few minutes later, down went the other bull. These were both gold medal trophies. What magnificent trophies! Good going guys.

The next day we travelled an hour to another area to look for Gemsbuck. The wind was howling and I thought our chances were limited. We all put our heads together and decided we would try and send some guys into the mountains and get the Gemsbuck to come down to where we would wait in ambush. Mark was with Don and I was with Steve. I heard over the 2 way radio that they were on their way down. We got ready and before we knew it they passed 30 yards from us without a shot. They settled about 180 yards below us. Steve took the first shot and down she went. We called Mark over the radio to move in as they did not know were the shot had come from and had not moved. Mark and Don got into range and Don made his shot and she too went down with a perfect shoulder shot. Little did we think that we would be able to get 2 Gemsbuck, in these conditions but we did. What a morning!

That afternoon we looked for a Copper Springbuck for Todd and after a short stalk along a small river bed we got into a position and a really good male walked right towards us and down he went. Great shot Todd! Steve and Todd were both after Stienbuck and Steve was up first. We had seen quite a few but not what we were after. Finally we got our chance and Steve made a good shot on the little fellow. Down he went just as the sun set.

The next day we needed 2 White Springbuck, both for Steve and Don. The wind was howling again and we had had some more rain that limited where we could go. Steve and I kept in the tree line while Mark and Don moved on the opposite side of the area. We were soon in favour and had our first chance at a really good ram. He moved past us without stopping, not giving us a chance. We moved on and again had a wonderful ram come into range. Steve wasted no time getting ready. BANG! Down he went. What a trophy. We soon heard another shot and Don had his trophy too. They were blessed with really fantastic trophies. That’s the way it should be done!

Steve realised he only had one Springbuck left to complete the Springbuck slam, so we were off to look for Copper Springbuck. It was not going to be an easy task as they were already alert to our presence. We set off on foot as there was no way we were going to get around in a 4x4, as ours was out of action. Mark was able to sink it down to the chassis. Good going lads! We followed a lone ram and finally got our chance on him. Steve was quick onto the sticks and he vanished with the shot. What a way to end your slam.

Day broke and we were after Fallow Deer. We decided to try and call in a rutting buck. Wow, I had no idea they would respond like they did. We had a large buck respond to the call, but could not get a shot at him even at a whole 30 yards . We were all in fits of laughter as he came in from over 400 yards away without stopping to battle this male in his area. He sensed there was something wrong and took off. This was like taking candy from children. We moved areas and we soon had another buck in to 60 yards and Todd dropped him in his track. That was fun! Now I know why the guys love Whitetail Deer hunting.

We had a day left and our host Naasie asked us if we were interested in shooting some racing chickens for the local soup kitchen. Racing Chickens what the hell are those? We had no idea what he was on about, but we soon found out. Ostrich! Ha-ha! This was a blast. Many shots later and we had two male Ostrich’s in the bag for the soup kitchen. That was alot of fun and the guys spoke about it until they flew back home and I am sure they are still talking about it with all their friends.

This was truly a fantastic safari with wonderful clients! I would like on behalf of Mark and myself, to thank you for the fun and laughter we shared during your ten day trip. It’s safaris like these that makes me more passionate about what I do.

Congratulations on the fantastic trophies you guys were able to collect while hunting with us.

Pringle’s Legendary Safaris were hunters become legends. Enjoy your legendary memories

.

Regards

Stuart

Mike and Karen Egan

Hi Guys.

 

So much has happened this year leading to me not sending out any newsletter. I am going to try and make it up to all of you.

  

My year started on not such a great note with Mike and Karen Egan from Winnipeg, Canada. Mike booked a non-trophy Elephant hunt in Zimbabwe. We struggled to get the permits for the hunt and started on some PAC (problem animal control) hunt for Hippo and Crocodile.

 

Mike and Karen enjoyed some sight-seeing and some bird shooting before we headed to the southern part of Zimbabwe for the Hippo and Croc and were to move to the Gonarezhou for non-trophy Elephant. 

 

We spent the last night of our touring part of the trip in the northern parts of Kruger Park, we headed for Zimbabwe.  It took forever getting through the border, and then had a few more hours before getting to camp.  Once we were there we found out our permit had not been issued, so Andries out Zimbabwean PH headed to Harare to collect the permit. However this took a few days as it does in Africa.  We made the most of the time and we were able to hunt a Hippo and a Crocodile.

 

We learnt that the locals had a problem with a bull Hippo eating their crops and a couple of Crocodiles eating dog’s, and kids. Anything they could get hold of.  We got to the area and found the Hippo’s tracks and followed them to a big pool in the river.  We moved in quietly to take a look to see if we could see him. Yes!  There he was.  He had sensed there was something up and gave us the slip a couple of times.  Working through the thick bush we found a spot to wait him out without knowing we were there. He finally gave Mike a brain shot from the back. BANG!  His head lifted out of the water to give Mike another shot.  A few ripples in the water and all were quiet.  Darkness soon fell so we had to return in the morning to recover him.  With the help of a canoe we were able to get a rope on his leg and winch him out of the water.  Great going Mike! There was also a huge Croc in the same pool but with all the noise he vanished, so we walked up the river to look for another problem Croc. We saw him and sat in ambush for him.  Finally he made his way out of the water to give Mike a great opportunity on him.  3 quick shot from Mike and it was all over. He was by no means a monster, but Mike will have saved a few dogs and others. The villages cheered when they saw the Croc.

 

  We finally had our permit and were off after Elephant.  This was not to happen as there had been no communication between the parks guys and the outfitter in the area.  With another day wasted he agreed to let us hunt.  There had been so much hunter pressure on these animals that they only walked and fed at night.  We followed fresh tracks everyday but to no avail as the Elephant knew they were safe back in the park.  We finally gave up and headed back to South Africa very disappointed.

Sometimes safaris don’t go the way you plan them and it’s out of your control when dealing with greedy government officials.

Mike and Karen thank you for your loyal support and look forward to seen you back in our hunting fields. 

 

Kind regards

Pringle’s Legendary Safaris Team         

Torres Safari

Dear Friends

 

I had the pleasure and honor to hunt with the Torres family from California and we were accompanied by a good friend of mine PH Siegfried Osmers.  Gilbert was fortunate to have him as his guide while Jimmy and I teamed up. David our tour guide joined us too and he had a fabulous time driving the ladies around to all the beautiful sites of the Kruger National Park. Jimmy and I were after non trophy Cape Buffalo and Kudu (The Grey Ghost).

 

During our first few days Jimmy and Gilbert hunted on the same ranch.  Our first day started with a bang and we were onto buffalo tracks in no time.  This came to a halt shortly after starting out as the buffalo had moved into a thick area of bush, which in turn made tracking very difficult.

 

The rough terrain did not halter our efforts and soon got onto new tracks. As a result we were fortunate to bump into a small heard sunning themselves so moved in towards them.  Given that the wind conditions were not in our favor by continuously moving we were soon detected and buffalo scattered in all directions.  Best thing for us to do was to let them settle and return later on in the day.

 

As soon as we returned we came across fresh tracks and caught up to the heard.  The wind turned again but this time in our favor and we were able to move around the heard with the hope they would feed into us. Our plan worked perfectly and a bull fed to within 30 yards of us.  Jimmy got the shot and made a frontal spine shot to drop the bull in his tracks.  He quickly followed with two security shots.

 

Soon enough we heard that Gilbert had got some action too.  He managed to get a great Zebra.  Jimmy and I met up with Gilbert and Sieg to help them load the Zebra then returned to load the buffalo. What a fantastic start!

 

The next day we all started out with the hope of finding the infamous Grey Ghost.  Despite our best efforts this was not to be.  Gilbert however, was lucky to get an Impala and a superb Blue Wildebeest.

 

An early start the following day and off to a different ranch.  Again, no luck as it was tough hunting and thick bush.  For this reason we decided to head back to camp and were told of the ladies amazing day.  They got to see most of the Big Five.

 

Without delay we were up and rearing to go the next day.  With an air of determination about us we set off.  My good old friend Sieg was making me out to be an amateur as Jimmy and I did not get anything but Gilbert was rewarded with an awesome Kudu.  Well done Gilbert!  Jimmy did then get his turn though and shot a beautiful Zebra.

 

We tried another ranch to increase our chances of finding the Grey Ghost.  However we did not come across him.  In the meantime the ladies has shopped up a storm and wearing David out.  No rest for the wicked!

 

In light of our last few hunts, we thought we would try the mountains and got a lovely view of some younger males.  At last light, nearing us heading out, we spotted three huge bulls but unfortunately could not get a clear shot.  The land owner was to be away for a few days and this meant we could not return.  For this reason we resorted to plan c.

 

This next day belonged to Jimmy and started out terrific for him.  He got an Impala and my trusted companion Zazoe found it for us.  It was time for us to head out but not before Jimmy spotted a common duiker.  Thereupon he made a good shot and we had him in the bag.

 

A marvelous morning was had but left us pondering what was to come of the afternoon.  We caught sight of The Grey Ghost and this put all ponderings to rest.  At last we had found it.  We came across a good size bull but it had a skew horn so we turned him down.  Nevertheless, not too far ahead we found four other bulls.  Jimmy was quick to react and get the shot. The bull went down and Zazoe was instantly on him.  The bull was kicking on the ground and was soon up with no follow up shot.  Not too concerned as we knew Zazoe would have him pinned down soon enough.  We followed the barking and found them.  Jimmy fired two shots and it was all over.

Sadness struck as we found Zazoe had been killed during the shooting.  I had lost my wonderful hunting companion but all things considered it had been a great day for Jimmy as he had his Grey Ghost.

 

Our last day was upon us and we were looking out for a Giraffe for Gilbert and the Blue Wildebeest for Jimmy.  We knew from previous hunts with clients that the Wildebeest was not an easy target as they always just vanish.  Not long into our hunt Gilbert spotted his Giraffe and the stalk was on.  On the whole this was a fantastic way end to the Torres safari, with a beautiful Giraffe bull.

 

Thank you to Jimmy, Gilbert, Maria, Stephaney and Donna for the memories.  I hope we get to see you guys in the near future.  Take care all and remember to live your legendary experiences.

 

Regards

Stuart

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chucks Legenday Adventure in Africa

I am starting a series of blogs where I want to share the adventures that I have had over the last few years.  Please feel free to leave comments!  I hope you enjoy them

In 2009, I had just completed my first hunt of the season with good friend of mine, Mr. Chuck Bridge of Manzanita, Oregon. Chuck was hunting with a .357 mag and a 50 caliber handgun. We started our hunt with plains game and we were after Klipspringer, Bush Pig, Duiker and Steinbeck.  It was hard hunting as we had plenty of rain and the grass was tall and a lot of food and water all over. Chuck was rewarded with a 4” Klipspringer after 4 days of hard core hunting. As he said 4 days for 4” we should have hunted for longer and we might have gotten some more inches.

We then set off to hunt Buffalo with his 50 SW. We arrived in the hunting area to find tracks of a lone dagga boy. We had the help of the resident PH and 2 other PH’s.  One of which was running the camera to ensure we captured the moment. The tracks lead into a thick reed bed marsh. We decided to walk on the opposite side to where we last saw the tracks. Moving along quietly and slowly, suddenly I caught the movement of a tail swishing. It was the bull. He was lying in thick grass under a small jackal berry tree. I set Chuck up on the sticks with his handgun and was getting ready to whistle to get the bull to stand up, when a Bushbuck female jumped up and spooked the bull. He jumped up and looked straight at us at 35 yards. Chuck was on him and was going to shoot him straight in the chest. He turned as Chuck fired.

At that distance we were not sure if we had hit him as we did not hear the bullet smack. We gave him a few minutes and then went across to where he was standing. There was no blood on the ground and my dog Zazoe was not interested in anything. I heard the Ox Peckers and at that moment one of the other PH’s saw the bull standing 40 yards from us. He took off before Chuck could get a shot on him. We followed in the direction in which he ran, as we could not find any tracks because of the terrain, I was listening out for the Ox Peckers, but we could not hear them.

We spread out to try and find some evidence as to where he had gone.  Suddenly one of the PH’s (Gideon) called out, “Here he is!!” He grunted and came from our left.  I put out the sticks for Chuck to shoot, but there was just no time. Chuck shot freehand and hit him in the chest. The bull was on us in no time. I pushed Chuck out of the way and we ducked for cover. The PH (Jacques) who was behind us took a shot as well.  The bull knocked Chuck flying and then went on and rammed into Jacques, who was standing behind us.

He was sent flying and was tossed onto the top of an Acacia tree. He broke the top of the tree which caused him to fall to the base of the tree. The bull tried to get to him but luckily Jacques was protected by the base of the tree.  Gideon ran into assist and shot the bull again, which then turned on him. Gideon tripped over a clump of tall grass, he fell, and the bull was on him in no time. It pushed and gored him into the ground and then tossed him into the air as if he was a rag doll. Chuck had recovered and shot again while we were running looking for rifles. The bull staggered and fell next to the PH it had just tossed into the air. We brained him one more time from behind and then it was finally all over.  It felt like a lifetime, but the whole incident lasted less than 10 seconds. Wow!

We assessed the injuries and I ran back a few kilometers to the hunting vehicle to get a phone. Fortunately we were able to get help in no time.  Jacques had holes on both sides of his hips, one from the horn and the other from the top of the tree.   Gideon was gored on his right thigh.  He had a huge amount of damage, but was taken to hospital quickly where he has been well taken care and after 6 hours of surgery the doctors repaired the damage. He will be on his feet in a few weeks.

We were very lucky no one was killed. We had God’s hand over us that day.

The next day we travelled up to Hazyview in Mpumalanga where they were having problems with Hippo. We got there in the evening as this was the perfect time to try and get the problem Hippo. We were well rigged for the outing. We searched all over for the Hippos but we had no luck on our side. It had been a long 2 days and we were exhausted from the couple of days’ adventure so far.  Chuck needed to have a long nap in the vehicle, whilst we were travelling back to the camp. 

We decided to pack up for the night as there was too much noise and we thought the Hippos might have a party of their own somewhere else. We were about 10 km from the area when the ranger from parks board got a call from the local women which had reported the problem with the Hippos.  Chuck was beat and did not have a good feeling about this. He was still shook up from the Buffalo and was feeling very stiff.  However, we managed to convince him to try one more time and we were off back to the village.

We moved in slowly as it was dark and around 11:00pm. We could hear them in the corn crunching.  It was a very weird and surreal set up as it was a Friday night and a long weekend and all the locals were in high spirits. It sounded like we were at the party too. We located what seemed to be a bull. I got Chuck all set up and we turned on the light. There he was. Chuck shot a perfect heart shot and we followed up with our rifles. The Hippo dropped and then got up and went into the reeds. We gave him a few minutes and then went to check him out. Chuck followed up with a brain shot to make a hundred percent sure as we did not want another buffalo story. It was all over by 00:15am. He was a monster.

We went back the next day to get pictures and skin him out. All was taken care of and we took a few days off to recover from all the excitement.  We hunted for a warthog and Chuck finished off his incredible experience with a perfect heart shot on a huge bodied warthog with long bottom tusks.

I want to thank Chuck for the great experience we shared together and hope he recovers soon.  My friend, this is your very own unique African story and I hope you enjoy reliving each moment with your friends. 

Take care all and remember to live your legendary experiences.