Eastern Cape Plains Game Cull Hunt

Vince and Tina from Devon in England, have joined us for an Eastern Cape Plains Game Cull Hunt. This is definitely not their first time to Africa, Vince being an ex-Zimbabwean citizen, they have travelled to Africa many times, so they are no strangers to the bush, and it is apparent in their passion and love for nature.

30 December 2017

Tina and Vince arrived in Port Elizabeth following a short holiday with family in Cape Town, Vince was eager to get out into the bush, so after some tea and scones at the lodge we headed out to sight in Vince’s rifle that he brought along from the UK.

31 December 2017

After breakfast we went out to have a scout around and see what we would come across to start Vince’s African Cull Hunt. Whilst putting in a stalk on a kudu bull, we were waiting for the kudu to move into a better position, suddenly two jackals shot out of the bush and ran across in front of us. Vince was quick as a flash and he managed to drop one in its track. Very happy with this shot, we continued looking for more game animals, and lo and behold the second jackal crept out of his hole, and ran past us again, and again with lightning speed Vince dropped the second jackal. This is honestly one for the Induna Safaris record books.

After a lodge lunch and a little rest, to wait out a bit of the heat, we headed back out. We put in a great stalk on a young Impala ram, and Vince made an excellent shot.

A very successful and enjoyable first day, was had.

Tina remained at the lodge and spent some time relaxing and swimming at the pool, and also did some long hikes on the property.

01 January 2018

Another great day spent out Hunting, we came across a warthog in the morning, where Vince made a long and very accurate shot, dropping him almost instantly.

Another lodge lunch and an afternoon rest, before heading out for some bush time. We put a stalk in on a black springbuck that was running with the Copper Springbuck herd. They were very alert and skittish, so we battled to get too close, but Vince was confident in making a long shot of 200m and rightly so, as he made excellent shot, dropping the springbuck instantly.

We moved over to an area of thicker bush, where we saw a large number of Kudu’s, we were elevated on a hill so the position was perfect for glassing. With such a large number of eyes on us, we weren’t sure how close we would get. But we did a good stalk and Vince shot a cull kudu bull with yet again a very good shot.

Tina and Denise spent the day in Graaff Reinett doing some hiking at the beautifully scenic Valley of Desolation. They packed a lunch and had a lovely picnic on the mountain whilst enjoying the breathtaking views around them.

02 January 2018

We stalked up on three Impala that were across a gully, and they were at about 100m, there was an older ram and two younger rams in the group. Vince took the older ram first, which went straight down due to Vince’s accurate shot placement. One of the two younger rams ran in the opposite direction and ran away up the hill; the other was confused and milled around at the site, where Vince was able to harvest this Impala ram as well, with a single, perfect shot.

Tina spent the day at the lodge, again doing a long hike, seeing a number of animals and a variety of birds along the way, with her ever capable guide, our 7 year old son Kyan.

03 January 2018

Everyone had a very enjoyable morning, we had an early breakfast then Kelvin, Denise, Vince and Tina went to  the  Sundays River where we enjoyed a river safari by canoe, it was very pleasant being surrounded by beautiful scenery and seeing some magnificent bird species, including a very grandiose Fish Eagle.

After a quick lunch back at the lodge, we were out in the bush Hunting again.

We started a stalk on some Kudu’s but they spotted us and got away. We then followed two Impala rams, which we could see on a hill in the distance, half way through the stalk we lost sight of them, but we were confident of the direction that they were moving in, So we proceeded quickly to the next vantage point, maintaining our down wind position. One of the two Impalas appeared above us on a hill 60 degrees left of where we expected them to be. Vince took a 70m shot again making an excellent shot.

After this hunt, Alton left us in the bush and brought the impala back to be processed. On our walk we saw a group of seven kudu’s, five of which were bulls, three of which were trophy standards with ivory tips, on the far side of the group was a management bull, with a narrow horn set. Although we stalked patiently no opportunity presented itself.

We continued walking back to the lodge with sun beginning to set, we then saw an older impala ram, with worn tips, a challenging stalk between sparse cover brought us to within a shootable distance the Impala was quartering away requiring good hunting experience and shot placement that Vince demonstrated superbly.

04 January 2018

We started the day off by going to look for another springbuck.  We glassed multiple springbuck resting at distance. There were a large number of management springbuck, so we picked one and put in a stalk. Vince took a shot at 160m, hitting the springbuck, who then got up and ran a short distance where Vince took a second shot dropping him.

Tina and Kyan did some more hiking on the property, covering a distance of about 7km. They spotted some Kudus, Impalas and warthog on their hike, also a number of birds were seen.

05 January 2018

The morning stalk started with us glassing from the height where we could view up and down the valley, multiple kudus were present but no management shooters. We tracked along the ridge, constantly glassing in the valley below, safe in the knowledge our wind would not carry down into the valley below. After a while we noticed three warthogs on the ridge approximately 200m ahead, we stalked into shooting range, and Vince took a shot as the largest sow present, making a good head shot, however, the sow darted into a hole. We were able to track her finding her in the burrow, were we managed to coax her out. She bolted at top speed, and Vince luckily took an instinctive shot, that dispatched the warthog. It was a very exciting hunt.

A stalk was made on an Impala in the afternoon but unfortunately he was nicked on the leg and managed to elude us after hours of looking. We all agreed that it was a flesh wound and that the animal should recover.

06 January 2018

Vince and Tina are going home today, we sincerely hope that our new friends will return, they will be missed by us all, including Tina’s guide, Kyan. Induna Safaris ended 2017 on a high note, and 2018 got off to a great start with some great people. Thank you for Hunting with us, and creating some wonderful memories here with us at Induna Safaris. We hope you enjoyed your Eastern Cape Plain Game Cull Hunt!