A Legendary Safari for a first time hunter to the Dark Continent:

I had the privilege and honour to hunt with Wayne Howlett. Wayne was accompanied by his cousin Hop Howlett who was joining him on his adventure. Hop had hunted with my outfit a couple of times before and was hunting with my good friend and very experienced PH Mark Hudson. Hop wanted to share Wayne’s 1st African hunting experience with him.

We were to start our hunting in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Wayne was after Gemsbuck and Common Springbuck which were his main animals and Hop was after Copper Springbuck, Lechwe and Klipspringer.

Our first day had us after Gemsbuck and Copper Springbuck. Over the hill Wayne and I heard a shot and we were sure Hop had shot his Springbuck. I radioed Mark and sure enough they had shot a great trophy Copper Springbuck. It was our turn for a bit of luck. We set ourselves up in a good ambush position and waited for the herd of Gemsbuck to move in our direction to pick out a good trophy bull. We spotted them feeding towards us and Wayne got quite excited, was this to be his first African trophy animal if all worked out for us?

The herd came within 190 yards of us and the perfect trophy bull stepped out and presented Wayne with a perfect broadside shot. BANG!! Down he went. I asked Wayne to quickly reload in case he jumped up, but he did not. By the time we reached him he had expired. What a wonderful trophy to start off your African experience. Wow!

Mark and Hop decided to look for Mountain Reedbuck the rest of the day and we took off after Common Blesbuck. The wind had picked up and it made all the animals very wary. We stalked a group of 4 rams (bucks), but they knew something was up. We kept closing the gap without them seen us and with the sun setting I knew they would settle down and give us our chance. Wayne soon got his chance and shot a great trophy Blesbuck. An excellent first day in our wonderful Karoo!

Our second day had us up at sunrise and after a hearty breakfast we were back in the field looking for Common Springbuck. Mark and Hop were after Mountain Reedbuck. There was a sudden change in the weather and we were all soon back in camp and sitting around a warm fire and there we were for the rest of the day.

Hop wanted to check his rifle the next day and when there was a break in the weather he quickly went out and made sure all was ok. Sadly the weather did not play in our favour and there was to be no hunting that day. Another day around the camp fire had us eager to head out the next day.

Mark and Hop went after Klipspringer and Wayne and I after Common Springbuck. The ground was very wet so we dared not to go off the roads. We then spotted him a wonderful Springbuck trophy. He was not worried about us and was moving past us without any hurry. He made the mistake by stopping and Wayne dropped him in his tracks. This was to be the biggest Common Springbuck I had taken for the season. A fantastic trophy for Wayne to put up on his wall! The day was not to end there.

Wayne decided he would like to try and get a Black Wildebeest as we had seen some wonderful trophies. If anyone knows anything about Black Wildebeest you will know they wind themselves up by the tail and can run all day. The Wildebeest had winded us and knew where we had set up for the perfect ambush. What to do now! We decided to stick it out as they would soon forget and after an hour or so we got our chance. Wayne shot another spectacular trophy animal. He could not believe our luck. Luck! Come on what about skill? This was to be pure luck to get them to us, but skill to find the trophy. Pat pat! Nothing like honking one’s own horn!

Mark and Hop were not to be out done and after a couple of hours on the stalk for Klipspringer , Hop mad a perfect shot on a great trophy. Great going guys!

The next day the sun was out, but still quite chilly. Mark and Hop were after Lechwe. We decided to try for an Impala ram. We found a bachelor heard but could not get onto them. We then found another group with a great ram in it. As he cleared the others Wayne dropped him in his tracks. Another great shot by Wayne!

Mark and Hop had no luck the previous day so they wanted to say on for another day to try and find a trophy Lechwe. We on the other hand wanted to get to our other area to hunt for Kudu, Nyala and Warthog. So we set off for a day’s drive. During our trip Wayne and I got a message that Mark and Hop had shot a great trophy Lechwe and would leave the next day to join us. Wary and tired from the long trip we settled in for the night after a wonderful dinner.

 

 

The next day had us up early as we were excited to be hunting another area for different species. We were after Kudu the Grey Ghost. We spotted a couple of young bull and a few cows, but nothing we were after. We had seen many great Nyala bulls and then there he was. Just the bull we were looking. He had everything in a trophy bull one looks for. He was with 8 other bulls so we needed to keep our focus and make sure both Wayne and I were on the same animal. The Nyala then made the fatal mistake by crossing an opening in which I had intercepted he may cross. Yes Sir he did. Wayne made a perfect shot on him. He leaped into the air to the shot and I knew it was a good shot. We searched and searched but could not find him. With no blood on the ground we decided to retrace our foot steps for the 5th or 6th time and found the right set of running tracks. I caught a glimpse of something shining inside a dead Acacia tree and there he was stone dead. We dragged him out with a great sigh of relief from all of us. A true trophy Nyala! Wow!

 

Mark and Hop joined us the next day on this Big 5 Nature reserve of over a 100 000 aces. Hop was to be next. We spotted the really good Red Duiker walking down the trail straight to us. Was this going to be that easy? You walked and fed on leaves and kept coming. He turned and gave Hope the perfect shot. What a wonderful trophy. That was not to be the end of the day.

We had a break for lunch, light a fire and had a great braai out in the field under the wonderful indigenous trees. After lunch we moved out into an open area that had been burnt and were hoping to spot a good trophy Warthog for Wayne. There were quite a lot of Impala out in this open area and Wayne decided he would like to try and get another Impala. With a short stalk and a great shot down he went to the shot.

We loaded him and we were heading back when we spotted this huge old Warthog heading down the road. We jumped out of the vehicle and set off after him. Wow! He just kept on going as if he was on a mission. We finally caught up to him, but we could not get a shot on him. He had sensed that we were there and started to head back towards the bush as luck would have it he passed 60 yards in front of us and gave Wayne a frontal shot. Bang! Down he went to the shot chest shot. A great old boar!

We set him up for pictures and we reminiscence on the long stalk after him. We had decided that he was heading to water, but could not work out why he had gone so far for water. Sneaky old bugger, but then again he did not get that big for been silly.

Hop was there to share the whole experience with Wayne and that is what friend and family do. Good memories guys!

Our third last day and we had still not found a trophy Kudu. Kudu was the no 1 trophy on Wayne’s list and we had still not seen any good bulls. I was starting to worry, but knew it was just a matter of time before we would run into a good bull. Musa our parks guide got a call from the anti-poaching guys to let us know that they had seen 3 big Kudu bulls together. We set off like a jet and flew across the park. We were hoping that they would still be there as this was about 45 minute drive through the brush. Luck was still to be on our side and there they were, but that did not mean we were going to get one. They gave us the slip and we were very disappointed, but we knew were they hung out. We will return tomorrow. On our way back I spotted a loan bull and the stalk was on. He gave Wayne a small window through some brush and Wayne treaded it perfectly through the gap. He reacted to the shot and was off. I suggested that we give the bull some time before we followed suit, as I was not sure where Wayne had hit him.

No blood! This was worrying we followed what I thought was his tracks and them lost them. Oh no! After all that were we going to lose him? I saw a small brush pile and went to look through it as it looked like the perfect place a wounded animal would seek cover. There he was what a huge relief. I called to Wayne and they were there in no time. We got Wayne’s no 1 dream trophy Africa’s grey ghost. A huge old bull! Wow!

 

We had 2 days left of the hunt and decided to take the day off and visit some of the great areas around. We were fortunate to see 3 of the big 5 and the wonderful Indian Ocean. To end off the day we did a sunset cruise on Lake St Lucia. We spotted Hippo and Croc with plenty of beautiful birds found in the wetlands. We were even treated to a Hippo fight. Huge noise and great action!

On our last hunting day Wayne and I were after a Waterbuck bull. On the ranch we were staying on, had an old Waterbuck bull and it was good to take him out and make way for a new bull and new bloodline. Given that there was only one bull we were concerned about what the chances would be to find him. After a few hours we spotted a couple of females and there he was. We made our stalk and waited for him to get up. I whistled and he stood up. Wayne dropped him in his tracks. A really good old bull! What a wonderful end to a legendary safari for a first time comer to the Dark Continent. Well done Wayne! And that my friend is how legendary experiences are made with us.

One Blazing Safari!

Hi Guys.

My first hunt of the year was a hell of a hunt for a first timer to the Dark Continent, Brian Veer and his daughter Tara! Brian was after Sable, Nyala and Kudu being his main animals. I had decided to hunt two different areas for the species Brian was after. First been the Orange Free State Province and the second being KwaZulu Natal provinces of South Africa.

Our first day had us sighting in the rifles and then off into the field to see what we were in store for. We spotted a group of Waterbuck bull on the side of the hill. We started our stalk. The bull did not give us a chance and headed off quickly. We soon spotted a large group of Lechwe and there were some great bulls in the group. We picked out a real wide and long horned bull and he leaped forward to the shot. He did not manage to go far and our first prize was in the bag. What a fantastic start to our safari.

That afternoon had us out in the plains looking for Springbuck and Black Wildebeest. We found three groups of Wildebeest and we tried to close the gap. They knew there safety zone but did not know how far Brian could shoot. 250 yards and down he went to a fine shot by our new Daniel Boon. Even better still that was not to be our longest shot of the safari.

Our next day had us out looking for Kudu, but as we passed this large open plain we spotted a very good White Springbuck. Was he going to give us a shot at him? He finally stopped and I asked Brian if he could make the shot. YES! Was his answer and down went this excellent buck. What a start to the morning! No luck further that morning, but we were rewarded with another gold medal trophy that afternoon. A Red Hartebeest! What a bull. We shot him out of a group of 12 bulls. Brian made a perfect 150 yard shot on him and down he went.

Returning to camp while the sun was setting the trackers caught sight of a huge Blue Wildebeest bull. We got within 250 yards of him and Brian was steady and knew the shot was on. He was quartering onto us and Brian placed the bullet into his front shoulder. He leaped into the air to the shot and took off in a cloud of dust. With fading light we followed too soon and spooked him, so we decided to back off and return the next day. We knew he would not go far as it was a perfect shot.

The next day we were ready to find him. We followed his blood and not far down his trail he lay dead. Wow! What a bull. We took pictures of him and recovered him in no time. The skinners had their work cut out.

We took off to another ranch to look for Gemsbuck. There was game everywhere. It felt like we were on the Serengeti. After plenty of glassing we spotted some Gemsbuck we would like to try and get. We finally closed the gap and Brian made a perfect heart shot on a really fantastic Gemsbuck. When we approached her we did not realise how big she really was. Brian was taking some of the best trophies this ranch has yielded. We were on a roll. Tara was loving the outing too and could not come to terms at the amount of animals we were seen. I kept telling her his is Africa. She just smiled and said it’s surreal isn’t it?













The day did not end there as we were out for the finale hours of the day and again spotted those Waterbuck bull together. Then we spotted him. I don’t know who got more excited. Brian was on him and waited for him to clear and made a great 250 yard shot and down he went.

We got up to him and I could not believe how big he was. I got the recovery team in and we carried him out of the mountain for some wonderful pictures of a wonderful bull. Wow, Wow, Wow! What fantastic trophies we have so far. Great shooting Brian!
We were back out in the field after a light breakfast, but soon knew we were in for a tough day due to the strong winds. We tried for Black Springbuck and yes Sir it was tough. We then got our break as a very good male had not seen us and was feeding towards us in some scrub brush. Brian was on the sticks and he fell to the shot. What a lucky break and a great shot. Fantastic!

That afternoon the wind dropped right down and we knew the Springbuck would settle especially when the sun starts to go down. We peeped over a ground pond wall and there was a single Common Springbuck way out there. I guessed him over 350 yards. Brian wanted to try and make the shot. He lay over the ground pond wall and squeezed off his shot. The buck reacted to the shot. What a shot! We soon found him down and finished him off. A 400 yard shot was to be our longest shot of the safari. A great old male with heavy horns!

This was to be the day for the Sable hunt. We left really early as we had a 2 hour drive to where I had organized to hunt Sable. The brush was thick and we knew there were quite a few Sables in the area. After covering plenty ground and spending many hours in the field without a trace of a Sable we took a break for some lunch and would try again that afternoon. After lunch we spotted a group of Sable with a very good bull in it, at the same time we also spotted a group of Kudu bull too. They gave us the slip, so we went after the Sable. The bull we were after stepped into a clearing and he bucked to the shot. He will not go far I said! What a bull man, so majestic are these beautiful animals.  

The next day we decided to take a day off and visit the sites around Bloemfontein. Brian needed a day off from all that hard work. Work really!! Tara really wanted to visit an orphanage and get out of the warm African sun, which she was lapping up coming from the icy cold Alberta Canada. We set it up and she was in her element. Brian’s heart was also stolen by the kids and he donated some funds towards the home. We then went off to visit a Lion park as Brian was very keen to see the king of beasts in person. Was this going to be his next quarry on his next safari?

Our last day in this area and Brian wanted to complete the grand slam on Springbuck. We had seen some very good Copper Springbuck and this was to be the last one for the slam. We spotted a great buck and the stalk was on. He gave Brian a great chance and he dropped to the shot. Another wonderful trophy! What an end to Brian’s slam! Heading back to camp after some great picture and reminiscing on the safari so far, I spotted a wonderful Mountain Reedbuck. Brian was on him in no time. Bang! Down he went. A great trophy to add to Brian’s bag!

The next day we spent the day on the road heading to the other area were we plan to hunt Kudu, Nyala, Impala and Warthog. After a long drive we settled in and had a great meal, with a good night’s sleep. We were ready for our last few days.

We were to hunt on a 100 000 ace reserve with all of the big 5 on it. This was to be a treat for us. On our way into the park we bumped into a small pride of Lion’s. Wow! Turning down many great Nyala bulls, we finally decided on a wide heavy horned bull. Another wonderful trophy! We had him in the salt in no time. It helps to have great skinners.

That afternoon we found a few small groups of Kudu bulls, but not what I wanted Brian to take. We bumped into a group of Elephants and enjoyed the moment. Moving around and again turning down some good Warthog and Impala, we found the ram we wanted. Down went a great Impala ram to a frontal shot at 70 yards. A great end to a fantastic day!

Was today going to be our day for Kudu? After many hours that morning we spotted a couple of young bull’s but not what we wanted. Later that day heading back into the park after lunch we spotted him with a group of Kudu cows. My heart was beating in my mouth, were we going to get him? Oh yes Sir we had the grey Ghost of Africa. I could not stop telling Brian how lucky we were to get a bull like this.

I nick named Brian, Mr. Lucky because of the quality of the trophies he had got throughout this safari. This was truly a legendary HUNT!

We did not get a Warthog, but that’s a good excuse for Brian to return. We spent some time sight seen the beautiful province of KwaZulu Natal before heading back to Johannesburg in time for Brian and Tara to catch their fly back to Canada.

Brian and Tara thank you for the great laughs and the legendary memories we shared together over the 12 days. Keep warm! Mr. Lucky don’t let anyone rub the mojo off those rifles of yours.

Remember to live it and love it. Keep in the shade until next time.

Legendary Safaris were hunters become legends!

My Family

 

 

Hi all,

 

I would like to give you a background on myself and how I my family have got involved in my life as well as how they have supported me over the last 9 years.

 The saying goes, if you can’t beat them join them. Well with plenty of begging, just kidding. It all started with our eldest son David, who like his mother, knew very little about hunting. It was time to introduce both of them to my life and see if the bug would bite him too.

 Early one cold winter’s morning we set off to hunt Springbuck in our famous Karoo in the Northern Province of South Africa. A good animal to start out your hunting career with! We had planned to hunt Springbuck for 2 days and have the meat processed for our families. The best way to hunt them as a first timer is to sit in ambush and wait for them to come to you. We had got ourselves into a great ambush position and could see 360 deg around us. We had not been there long when a group of Springbuck started making their way towards us. David started to shake with excitement, so I needed to calm him. They were coming closer and closer. This young lad was ready for his first experience. A good old male stopped 120 yards from us. David settled the cross hairs on his shoulder and he bucked with the shot. Perfect! Straight through the heart! He did not stop there; yes Sir the bug had him. Down another one went. I was a proud parent. The pictures tell the story.

 

           

Next up was Grace, she was very keen on shooting an air rifle but did not want to shoot an animal, but wanted to catch a fish. We are very fortunate to have a beach house and we were there on holiday with my mom. The kids wanted to go fishing, so off we went to pump some sand prawns for bait and we were soon on the banks of the lagoon. The boys were not very impressed as the only one to catch a fish was the only little girl among them. Bitter sweet! We had all decided this was to be breakfast for the next day, but our little girl decided the fish would miss its family so she let it go. GIRLS!

 It was Ryan’s turn now. He was old enough to handle a rifle and had been shooting his BB gun quite a lot and was now ready to tackle a .22 rifle. It was time to introduce him to hunting. Our prey, Guinefowl! A couple of missed shots before we finally got close enough to those wary birds and Ryan got his first animal. The bug now had him too. A proud father!  He has already given me a list of all the animals he wants to hunt. A Crocodile! Dream on mate! Impala! That will work!

 

       
We soon started enjoying the hunting and family fun together and I was able to share some great moments with my family. David soon got to hunt other species! I was able to hunt Waterbuck, Zebra and Common Reedbuck with my family present. Zebra and Waterbuck of which I took with my bow!

 

I would like to thank my wonderful family for their support and enjoying our time together as well as the times we will share in the future. Vanessa you have been an inspiration in my life. I love you all. Thank you!

This is how legends are made. Doing outdoor things with your family keeps you close together and them wanting more. Keep them inspired as this is how hunters become legends.

Bring your families and come and share your hunting dreams with us.

 

Kind regards

Pete and Holly's Legendary Safari

Hi Guys.

My last hunt of the year was with good and old friend Pete Carter with his youngest daughter Holly. Pete and Holly were both after Nyala, so that made my decision easy on where to go, so I organized for them to hunt the KZN (KwaZulu Natal) province of South Africa, in a big 5 nature reserve of over 100 000 aces.

Our first day had us sighting in rifles after a long drive from Johannesburg. We were exhausted so we went to bed early to ensure a fresh start the next day.

We were up at day break and after a light breakfast we were out and looking for trophy Nyala. After spotting numerous bulls which we turned down, we finally found the one we wanted. He was with two other bulls and more bulls were scattered around them. With a slow stalk and the wind in our favour we got into position and waited for him to clear. It was a long wait as he had spotted us and it became a staring match as he was not sure what we were. BANG! Down he went, we had won that time. Pete had just shot one of the most beautiful trophies South Africa has to offer. What a day! Congratulations Pete!

On our second day our goal was to get another trophy Nyala for Holly. We spotted a similar bull as Pete had got and the stalk was on. Well! He was not that big for being stupid. We did get within 30 yards from him feeding towards us, but no shot as alas, he saw us and took off. Holly was a bit disappointed but knew she would get another opportunity.

Soon we spotted a great old Red Duiker male. Pete was on the sticks in no time and waited for the Duiker to clear for his shot. These little animals one has to shoot a little farther back through the ribs in order not to mess up the trophy. What a fantastic trophy! Well done Pete!

While hunting we were lucky to spot Cheetah and Wild dogs. We were also fortunate to see Elephant, Buffalo and Rhino. What a treat to see these animals while out hunting. For me and for many of my clients it is imperative that they see and experience all that Africa has to offer and our beautiful landscape.

Holly was not to be out done. We spotted another bull and the stalk was on. He offered Holly a quartering on shot. He went down with a perfect neck shot. This young lady can shoot. I was fortunate to share with her, her first African trophy on her second African safari, an Impala.

What another gorgeous Nyala bull. Congratulations Holly on a wonderful trophy! KZN the place for great Nyala trophies!

We decided to take a couple of days off and enjoy the beautiful sights around KZN. We only had one more animal left that we were after and quite a few days to do it in. The hunt went way better that expected as we were seen between 40 to 50 trophy Nyala bulls a day. You can’t ask for more than that.

Holly got to enjoy the beautiful beaches and have a swim in the Indian Ocean. We spotted Hippo and Croc and were able to visit the wonderful Cape Vidal as well and the St Lucia wetlands. A wonderful time was had by all.  
We needed to get back out into the hunting fields as I was starting to get the shakes. Pete was after Common Reedbuck, our last trophy of their safari. This took us to the open grassland as this is where the Reedbuck liked it. We spotted quite a few females and young males, but no old rams.

There he was, a fantastic old ram jumped up from his hiding place and was off with a female. The hunt was on! We were able to stalk him and got within range and Pete made yet another fantastic shot on this old and worthy trophy of a life time. Great shooting Pete!

Soon our safari was over and we had to head back with enough time for Pete and Holly to get their flight back to the USA. Thank you guys for a wonderful memory as always! Thank you for your wonderful support over the past 10 years! It is always an honour to hunt with you Pete as well as with all your special girls.

Pete and Holly, this is your legendary adventure, and I hope you enjoy sharing this special time with your friends and family. I hope to see you guys soon for your next legendary safari.

Live it, love it and remember to keep in the shade.

Pringle’s Legendary Safaris. WHERE HUNTERS BECOME LEGENDS!