Wow, it is good to be hunting again! With my season now at an end I thought I might share some pics and stories about this year’s hunts. Our first official hunt of the season was with long-time clients and friends – Cody and TJ from AB Canada. Cody and his brother hunted with us the first time in 2016 at which time he told me about his dream to one day hunt Cape Buffalo.
In 2017, when I was at the Calgary Boat and Sportsmen’s show in Calgary, Cody visited me at my booth and introduced me to his mom – a darling lady – whose only request was that, should Cody ever come hunt buffalo with me, I should please take care of him…
Well, the hunt was originally planned for 2020 and due to COVID moved on to 2021 – which also didn’t happen… So in April 2022 Cody and TJ finally made it over… We were lucky to find a very nice buffalo bull, late on the first afternoon. Cody shot it with his .375 and everything looked good. But it disappeared into the thick stuff together with the rest of the herd and it had gotten dark so quickly, we couldn’t go look for it that night.
Convinced we’ll find a dead buffalo the next morning, we returned – only to find the spot where it had been standing that previous night with very little blood as evidence that it had been wounded. What ensued was a 3 day ordeal on the tracks of the wounded buffalo before rain wiped away all the tracks and we had to give up. Cody was devastated and so was I.
Examination of video footage of the original shot showed that his bullet had clipped the branch of a sickle bush tree. As we never recovered the bull we will never know where exactly it was hit but it is probably still walking out there today…
After spending almost 4 days trying to find the wounded buffalo and with no fresh tracks or sign to follow, we had to call it a day and concentrated on finding TJ his Sable. That went without incident, and he shot the beautiful 10 year+ old 42” bull pictured above.
2022 Hunting Season
As we continued with our hunt for a Nyala for TJ, I could see that Cody was in a dark place. I felt terrible for his sake and a plan needed to be made but I did not know quite how or what. Meanwhile the hunt for TJ’s Nyala was successful.
Then a miracle happened (details of which are not important at this stage), and a new proposal could be made to Cody re a buffalo hunt.
We hunted for the next several days for buffalo without success. In between rain and other factors things just didn’t work out. Then finally; on the last hunting day, we returned to the property we had wounded the first buffalo on. This was our last opportunity and everything came together. With no branches in the way to deflect bullets, Cody’s shot was spot-on and the buff was dead.
2022 Hunting Season
Lynn from Idaho and his charming wife were up next and the animals were cooperating as pictures below show. Highlights were a 56” Kudu, very good Red Lechwe and more than decent Sable.
2022 Hunting Season
I met Kris at the Edmonton Boat and Sportsman’s show in 2019 and he’d booked a hunt for 2020 but that didn’t work out, so he and his friend Mike ended up coming in 2022. Mike’s primary target was a big Lion so we hit the road to a lion hunting concession in the Kalahari. We spent the next two days tracking down Lion on 12,000 acres near Tosca in the North-West Province.
When the Lion saw us, it let out a tremendous roar jumped up and turned to us – a charge imminent. Mike’s Pedersoli double in 9.3X74R proved to be the right medicine for Lion.
When an opportunity became available to hunt a Lioness as well, Mike didn’t think twice as he was now hooked on hunting Lion. The Lion hunt was not easy but hunting Lioness proved to be even more challenging. Resident PH – Seun Griesel – knows his stuff though and Mike connected with a beauty.
2022 Hunting Season
Meanwhile Kris also got to do some hunting and connected with a Zebra and Gemsbok.
With the Lions in the salt it was time to head up to our ranch – Sabrisa – up in Limpopo Province where over the next days we got quite lucky.
2022 Hunting Season
Ken from BC and his family were up next. We first travelled down to Cape Town for a 3 day tour, exploring the winelands and Cape Peninsula before heading up to Sabrisa.
The hunting gods were smiling upon us for the next week…
2022 Hunting Season
Then our clients and friends from Utah visited again. Alan has been putting groups of hunters together for us for the past four years and their annual visits are now an institution.
Ken from Duchesne UT was here on his first African hunt. He connected with a nice Impala early during the hunt.
2022 Hunting Season
To get a 55″ Kudu on your first hunt is quite an achievement – but CT Safaris has a reputation for big Kudu…
Ken couldn’t be happier and neither could I.
2022 Hunting Season
Alan connected with a very nice Mountain Reedbuck.
We have a very healthy Mountain Reedbuck population here at Sabrisa which shows that our conservation practices are showing dividents.
2022 Hunting Season
Another specie that was on Ken’s list was Burchell’s Zebra and we have plenty of them too.
Ken made no mistake and downed this specimen with a perfect shot.
2022 Hunting Season
Vicena showed demonstrated her shooting skills by making a difficult shot in this White Blesbok.
The Blesbok had nowhere to go but down after being on the receiving end of a perfectly placed heart shot.
2022 Hunting Season
Ken got this beautiful Nyala too.
Another one-shot kill by Ken.
2022 Hunting Season
Jeff from Michigan was first to jump at an opportunity for an incredible deal on Cape Buffalo I advertised a couple of years ago. His first hunt for Cape Buffalo 10 years ago in Zimbabwe didn’t work out as planned as his Buffalo was wounded and never recovered so the pressure was on to find him a good bull. We hunted hard for 3 days, seeing lots of buffalo but not one that met the standards that I had set for myself and for Jeff.
Well Jeff didn’t only get an incredible deal but also an incredible Buffalo bull. The Buffalo dropped on the spot from Jeff’s spine shot and it was all over.
Jeff wanted a Sable bull too so we started hunting for one.
