We need some hunting stories
we need some good hunting stories. I'm thinking of the thread jooger had last season with all the great stories where us novices can learn a few tricks and tactics. I in particular would love to hear some stories from the Edwards plateau and hill country area as I'm in bosque county and that's the type of country that I hunt in. Besides idk about y'all but I think those stories are fun even if I don't learn anything new. How bout it?
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We could use some good ones. Maybe we could get GarGuy to continue on his thread about "Pressured deer". Did you read the story on here the other day about a buck a guy killed when was 13? It was awesome! -
No I must have missed it I did see the ones about the first hunts was it on there?Comment
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My funniest story happened in about 1977. I was 8 and it was the coldest day i had ever lived through at that time. So cold my uncles from North Oklahoma and Ohio both commented how cold it was. My dad had left me in the stand to go ride around the ranch with my uncles. He left his thermos full of hot coffee in the stand as well.
My feet got so cold and i wanted relief so bad i decided to poor some of this hot coffee into my boots. Well, it was awesome!! with in the hour i had poured the entire thermos into my boots. This is when it all went bad. You see, hot coffee will certainly keep your toes warm in very cold temp.'s BUT when you run out of hot coffee it will not take long for those warm toes to turn into little blocks of ice.
I saw my Oklahoma uncle for the first time in 20 years a month ago and the first thing he said was......" Got any coffee?" It makes for a great chuckelComment
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The thought of putting liquid in my boots when it's cold terrifies me lol. The things we do when we're that youngComment
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Coyotes 1 Buff 1
I trembled with anticipation, setting in the Double Bull blind. About a hundred yards away no less than eighty turkeys were waking up and the air was full of cackles and gobbles. Having spent the previous morning on a ridge glassing the birds, I felt confident I had them patterned. If every thing went as planned, several dozen birds should fly down right in front of me.
There is nothing subtle about a hundred turkeys flying down; I griped my bow tightly as they dropped in all around my position. Beating wings, clucks and purrs filled the air as eight big Toms dropped in fifteen or twenty yards away and begin to gather up. My previous surveillance told me they would gather up and head to a near by green field. Wasting no time I picking one out that was facing away from me. For a second all the ruckus disappeared as my full concentration was focused on a tiny spot, the world blurred with only a dime sized target in focus. Feeling the broadhead touch my finger, I held an extra second before relaxing my fingers. The string slipped away and I watched as the Zephyer tipped, Carbonwood shaft screamed across the short distance between us. Great relief flooded over me as I watched the arrow bury up to the feathers. The big Tom preformed a full standing back flip and made it about fifty yards before piling up for good.
The remaining seven turkeys stood stone still, staring at each other with an expression that said “What?”
Leaning back I grabbed another arrow and was picking out another target when I was surprised to see the first turkey leaving. He had hitched a ride with a half grown Coyote. There was an explosion of Turkeys when I leaned out of the blind and shouted “HYE PUT THAT DOWN”. I know looking at my sleek build you would assume I would have no trouble running down a Coyote but after a hundred yards of the Coyote stumbling over his bird and me stumbling threw the West Texas brush I lost sight of him.
Returning to my truck I quickly assembled my BowBug tracking unit as I was determined to show the canine who was at the top of the food chain. With the tracking unit in one hand and a Kimber 45 in the other I set out to prove my point.
Over the next two hours we played a game of tag. I would jump the Coyote, he would run off a hundred yards or so, I would locate him again with the BowBug only to have him break and run again before I could get off a shot. He had to wonder how this white man kept showing up over and over again as I slipped in on him six or seven times.
I was very disappointed when as luck would have it he finally crossed our north fence line. I was sure he was close to dropping the bird as it had to weigh half as much he did. I stood at the fence, the tracking unit thumping steadily telling me he was no more than fifty yards away and accepted my defeat.
Once I had returned to my truck I realized what an outstanding job the BowBug had done. Not only had the sending unit stayed attached to the turkey with a Coyote dragging it through the brush but it had also allowed me to find him six times. Had this been a wounded Deer or Hog I believe it would have worked much the same way as I quickly learned to tell when the animal was laying down and when he was on the move.
The next morning found me in the same blind. In a repeat of the day before the turkeys landed in the same small clearing. When the arrow slammed into the closest bird he took off doing his best impression of a tail shot Jap fighter plane, flying a big half moon path and crashing into the ground with a solid thud.
I have never won any blue ribbons for being smart but it only took a few seconds after reaching for another arrow for the light to come on.
Leaping up Turkeys flew every direction as I hurried to claim my prize. Holding the turkey up high I shouted into the West Texas brush “HA…… THIS ONE’S MINE………. YOU CAN’T HAVE IT.
Marty ThomasComment
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I have written several stories about my safaris in RSA, but they are way to long to post on here.Comment
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A Kalahari Lioness!
This dream actually began back in 2008 when I met Harry Nel of African Arrow Safaris at the RMEF Elk Camp in Reno Nevada. I ended up purchasing a hunt that Harry had donated to the Elk Foundation. I along with my wife, Jan, and my best friend and longtime hunting partner, Monty Shropshire would finally be going to Africa on a safari. That hunt in September of 2008 and another hunt in September of 2010 had me bringing back 13 Plains Game to my trophy room. Following the 2010 hunt when we met up with Harry at the 2011 DSC show in Dallas, TX we started talking about a lioness hunt with a bow. Plans and dates were made and the hunt was on for Sept of 2012. Out hunt was to begin on the 10th of Sept. The location of the hunt I was leaving up to Harry as he had not let me down in 2 previous hunts with him. Monty and I had been joined by David Nelson, his wife Becky and Terry Martin on our trip in 2010 and we put 28 Plains game in the salt on that excursion! David, Becky and Terry would be on this hunt also.
When we arrived at the airport in J’oberg Harry told Monty and I that we would be staying the night in J’oberg and David, Becky and Terry would be heading to his main lodge in the Limpopo near Ellisras.
Harry, myself, Monty and Monty’s PH, Gary left out early the next morning for the long drive to our lioness destination. We still did not know exactly where we would be hunting, but we were quickly informed that we would be on the 50,000 acre concession of San Souci Safaris in the Kalahari. A lioness hunt with a bow in the Kalahari, how much better could it get. We arrived at our destination after a long drive, had a wonderful dinner and visited with the owners and PH’s on the San Souci. Out hunt would begin early the next day. This concession was definitely in the middle of nowhere as it was 160 kilometers from the nearest town, Kuroman.
Our hunt began with a light breakfast on September 11th and a drive through the vastness of the San Souci and the Kalahari. Our tracker spotted the first tracks on a sandy road about 8am. We drove around this particular large section of Kalahari bush to make sure the tracks did not cross another road. We returned to the spot where we originally spotted the tracks and determined that there were 2 sets, either large females or young males. We would have to see them to determine what was making the tracks. We set off into the bush with Jason, the owners son and a PH, a tracker, Harry, Gary, myself, Monty and Anton, a videographer that was along to hopefully video our hunt.
Our first sighting of the animals making these tracks was at 10:30am. From 8:45am until the sighting, all we did was circle, backtrack, meander, circle some more and backtrack some more as the 2 cats seemed like they were out for a leisurely morning stroll. Our first real, true sign was the discovery of a female Blue Wildebeest kill that had been made earlier that morning. She was in the process of giving birth and the lions or lionesses had either heard her, saw her or smelled her and then did what comes natural to them. We knew we were close then but still did not know if they were young males or large females. At the sighting of the 2 cats, Monty and I looked at each other and thought that we were looking at 2 young lions, that is until they got up to leave. We then realized along with help from our PH’s that we were looking at and on the trail of 2 very large lionesses.
After observing the cats for a short period until they disappeared in the brush, we started a very steady and hard push to see if we could get the cats to tree or to stand their ground in some African bush. We wanted to keep pressure on them as the temps were starting to rise, the sand was getting hot and they more than likely had full bellies from the morning kill. With luck, they would do what we wanted and give us an opportunity for a shot.
Our luck changed for the better right before noon when one of the lionesses broke off to our left and disappeared in the bush and one slowed and continued straight towards a huge Acacia tree with giant overhanging limbs all around. She made the shade of the Acacia tree and went to the far side, turned and faced us and squatted on her haunches. My time was nearing as I had first shot on a lioness. This was my lioness, hopefully. We closed to within 50 yards, but had no shot due to the limbs of the Acacia. The only opening we could see was on the vey opposite side of the tree from our position. As we began a circle to our right to try and get to an area that offered a clear shot, the lioness began to growl and let us knows she did not appreciate our presence. About half way to the spot we needed, Harry turned and told me there was a 99% chance of her charging. If that happened, I told him he knew what he had to do if it was a full charge. We looked at her closely again and realized that she had moved to a spot right next to the trunk of the Acacia and was digging her rear legs into the dirt for a possible charge. We then slowly began circling to a spot we hoped afforded a clear shot without her charging. We made this spot and there was a clearing, about the size of a football. With the lioness position of quartering towards us and the position of her head as she glared and roared at us, I would have to place the arrow directly to the left of her nose. Not bad if it was a paper lioness at 20 yards, but this was a large Kalahari lioness that was extremely upset at our presence and the distance was 42 yards. Harry had told me we could expect a 20 to 25 yards shot in a tree. This was not 20 to 25 yards and not in a tree and she was doing everything she could to rattle my nerves. This would have to be the best bowhunting shot of my life. I have no idea where anyone else of our group was as I was solely concentrating on my target. I drew back once and let down and then drew back a second time, anchored and settled my 40 yard pin high on her side. I released the arrow and watched it until it disappeared in the shadows of the tree. The lioness let us know quickly that I had connected as she let out a tremendous roar and bit at her side where the arrow hit. The only problem was I had no idea where the arrow had hit. She jumped into the air when she roared, swapped ends and ran from underneath the tree to our right, thankfully. At about 20 yards from the tree, she slowed and began to wobble, walked another 20 yards and leaned against a very small thorn tree, took 4 deep breaths and died. I had killed a Kalahari lioness!
No one was in a real hurry to approach the lioness and I was a nervous wreck as the rest of my group congratulated me and then went into the shade of another Acacia tree and sat down. I knew we needed to wait a bit, but that was hard for me to do as I could look over at my lioness lying underneath a tree dead, hopefully. After about 15 minutes of an agonizing wait, we approached the downed cat with a 470 double rifle, a 458 Win Mag and Harry’s shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot. This is where a lot of “dead” cats end up not being dead. Fortunately when Harry placed his barrel of his shotgun on the open eye of my lioness, it was confirmed, she was mine!
More high fives, handshakes and hugs commenced as I celebrated a walk and stalk hunt of an African lioness in the Kalahari region of South Africa. A dream that began in 2008 was finally a realization.
One cannot imagine the immense stature of this country and the size of this Kalahari lioness until you have experienced a hunt like this. Estimated weight of my lioness was over 400 pounds with a tip of nose to tail measurement of between 10’ and 11”, a truly huge lioness. This hunt had everything, doubts, adrenaline, heart palpitations, the best shot of my hunting career and most of all, an experience that will last a lifetime. I had fulfilled another dream of hunting Africa for dangerous game with a bow and I hope to return someday for more adventure and possibly to the Kalahari region of Africa. Monty ended up getting the other lioness shortly after we got mine loaded in the truck. She too was a very large lioness. Monty’s shot was about 20 yards up into the tree she had taken as refuge in and she was on the ground dead within 20 seconds with a perfectly placed shot. David and Terry followed our hunt with lionesses of their own at the San Souci. We all fulfilled dreams here and we still had several days for some Plains game back in the Limpopo at Harry’s home concession. That is for another time and story.
I would like to thank the people of the San Souci, Gary, Anton and especially Harry for helping me realize my dream. A huge Texas thanks.Comment
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Great story
ThanksComment
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tttComment
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A Dream of a Hunt
A big bull Nyala was on my list for this year’s hunt with Harry Nel at African Arrow Safaris in the Limpopo region of South Africa. I had taken 6 animals with Harry in 2008 and we were returning for an engagement with the African Plains Game that Harry had on his nearly 100,000 acres of hunting concessions. The problem was that the Nyala was not at the top of my list is it was trumped by a Kudu, Warthog, Waterbuck and Zebra, the top 4 animals on my list. I really wanted a Nyala, but it is one of the most expensive animals Harry has to offer as far as trophy fees and because of the beauty of this animal, my wife, Jan, and I had decided that if I ever killed one that it would grace my home with a full body mount. Monty Shropshire, my hunting partner in 2008, had taken a great bull so we had the chance to see this magnificent animal up close and personal. We had also seen shoulder and half mounts at HiVeld Taxidermy in Pretoria in 2008 and to us, it just not do justice to such a beautiful animals to do anything but a full body mount. Monty had his done in a full body mount and that just sealed the deal for my wife and me.
Our hunt began on the 20th of Sept on a 40,000 acre concession named Shelanti Game Preserve. W arrived later than usual for our morning sit in the hide as it was about 1 ½ hours away from the lodge and we were still reeling from a long delay on the flight over. So late that we did not get to bed until 3 AM the morning of the 20th. With Harry being my PH and the main PH of African Arrow Safaris, we dropped the other 3 hunters at their respective hides and ended up at our hide about mid morning. We were greeted with the sight of a female White Rhino and her 3 to 3 ½ year old young at the water hole. I was able to get some great pictures and video at a very close, but scary range, about 20 yards. She and her young hung around the water until she determined we were not much of a threat to her and her young and they eventually moved off into the thick bush. Harry returned from parking the truck away from the hide and we settled in for the long sit. Not long after we settled in a group of Impala came to the water and were in and out pretty much the whole afternoon. As the Impala moved off for the umpteenth time, a shadow appeared from our right and a beautiful Nyala bull came to the water. He stood drinking at 10 yards and I was sitting there thinking here is my chance, a lot earlier that I thought I would have, but Harry leaned over and whispered in my ear that this was a very young bull with not much character to his 24” horns, so I settled back in my chair to admire his beauty and to watch Harry get video of him drinking at such a close range. It was tough to pass, but I listen to harry and will only shoot what Harry says is a trophy and worthy of shooting. WOW, a Nyala bull up close and personal on my first sit in a hide on my 2010 hunt!
Fast forward to Sept 28th, 2010, the 9th day of our 10 day safari. I was pretty much on cruise control at this point as I had killed the 4 main animals on my list, a big Kudu bull, Waterbuck bull, Zebra and a monster Warthog along with a trophy Tsessebe bull and a very big Impala. The Tsessebe and Impala were icing on an already wonderful cake, but that afternoon would reward me with a monster cherry on top of this cake. The wind had been blowing the morning of the 28th and the animals were almost non- existent at the water. My wife, Harry and I traveled to a hide close to the river, but Harry warned us not to expect too much. As we settled into the hide about 3PM Harry mentioned that if nothing moved by 5PM we would head to the river to do a walk and stalk and hopefully find a bush pig, warthog or whatever out feeding on the vegetation along the reeds and grasses along the side of the river. 5PM came and we exited the hide and headed for the river. Harry carried his binoculars and range finder, me, my bow and quiver with only 3 arrows with my wife bringing up the rear. We got the wind mostly in our face and began our slow “walk and stalk” along the river’s edge. We were not all that close to the river’s edge as the river cane and reeds reach far away from the river, but it was still a stark contrast to the dry, sandy part of the concession that we had been hunting. The air was cooler and moist and the ground was damp and everything was green. It was fairly easy being quiet with the damp ground and green vegetation.
We had gone about ¾ of the way down this stretch of river when Harry motioned with his hand to stop. He turned very slowly towards my wife and me and put his finger to his mouth to signal us to be very quiet. My wife quietly kneeled down to avoid being seen by whatever Harry had seen. I watched Harry slowly raise his binoculars to his eyes and I stretched a little to look over Harry’s right shoulder in the direction he was looking. There he was, a big, mature trophy Nyala bull feeding behind some trees at about 50 or 60 yards. I am definitely not adept at judging African Plains game’s trophy potential, but with the body size and ivory tipped, very long sweeping horns of this Nyala told me I was looking at a true beast of a Nyala. Harry turned to whisper to me that this was a MONSTER Nyala. His next words were to follow him very quietly and to step in his tracks. We slowly eased up ever so slowly and only if the Nyala had his head down feeding. We were able to close the distance to about 40 yards when the bull started feeding to our right. If he continued on this path he would pop out from behind the trees at about 30 yards with nothing in between him and me. Being an animal with a sixth sense, as soon as he reached the edge of the trees, he swapped ends and feed back towards out left and still behind the trees. Harry motioned to move slowly again and we moved to our left about 5 yards. The Nyala found an opening in the trees and moved into the opening about 25 yards from us. We were very fortunate as the wind was directly in our face and blowing hard enough, rustling the river reeds to cover any sound we made. The Nyala slowly feed to our left and when he stopped he was standing quartering slightly towards us at 20 yards. Harry had already instructed me to aim a little high straight up the leg and to not worry about shooting through the tops of the reeds. Good thing he told me that as all I could see of the Nyala was about 1/4 of the top of his body. His head was obscured by the reed while he was feeding. This was probably a good thing as I could not see his horns and had only the body to concentrate on. As I drew my bow, Harry eased to my left and I settled my 20 yard pin on the bull’s shoulder and shot. The bull immediately disappeared from my sight, but I did hear the arrow hit with a solid thud. I looked to the left of where the bull had been standing and saw a Nyala going up the embankment in a dead run. I thought that this was my bull. I was sure hoping it was a fatal shot as it was getting very dark and tracking in these reeds at night is almost impossible even for an expert like Harry. After the shot Harry ran to our right along a trial and into the opening where the Nyala had been standing and screamed at the top of his lungs “YES”. I thought and was hoping that he had found a blood soaked arrow, but when I entered the same opening I saw what Harry was yelling about. He was standing right beside my Nyala, I had hit the spine and the Nyala had dropped in his tracks! I immediately turned and faced my wife and raised my bow above my head in celebration. I had killed a dream animal and had done it in a way that I thought would be impossible, on a walk and stalk. Although I had not made a perfect shot, Harry was thrilled that I had dropped this Nyala in his tracks. He said under the circumstances this was the best outcome that could have happened. After many high fives, hugs and hollering, we posed the Nyala for pictures and Harry returned to get the truck for the cameras and to get him loaded. My wife and I stayed to admire this animal I had just taken. A little sadness set in as it always does in taking an animal’s life, but a celebration was also happening as a dream had come true for me. We took many, many pictures, got the Nyala loaded and headed to the lodge for more bragging and celebration with the others. I knew this was a trophy Nyala, but when I saw the look in Coen’s (Harry’s Dad and Harry had told me to watch the look in his Dad’s eyes when he saw the Nyala) eyes, I knew that I had just taken the trophy of a lifetime. We eventually measured the Nyala’s horns at 28 ¾” and his mass at 7 7/8”. A true trophy Nyala and of the size that I may not ever see again. I could really set my cruise control for the remainder of this hunt and try and figure out where I was going to put a full body mount Nyala in my home and how my 2 Rotties were going to react to his presence. I still have a little time to think about that. Many thanks to everyone at African Arrow Safaris for everything they have done for us and a special thanks to Harry for his expertise in walking, stalking and tracking and the wonderful time he has shown us.
The lioness from the above story.
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Few years back in late October a buddy and I went and hunted the mountains in SE OK. We got in our stands very early in the afternoon and got settled in. This was before the time change so it wasn't getting dark until pretty late.
I checked in a few times during the hunt via text and all was well. I didn't end up seeing anything and sent a text just as it was getting dark that i was heading in. I get back to camp, and start gathering wood for a fire. By the time i get the fire going and sit down to warm up i realize my buddy hadn't made it back yet and it had been dark for about an hour already. I try calling him and get voicemail, so i shoot another text asking if he was ok thinking maybe he was tracking a downed deer.
Another half hour had passed as I was cooking dinner and still hadn't heard anything so at this point I'm getting pretty worried. I decide to go look for him. As I'm driving toward his spot i see his truck and pull up right next to it. At this point I'm really worried, and begin calling him over and over with no response.
Ok, so now I'm going in after him thinking the worst possible scenarios. As soon as i kill my truck and turn off the lights i see a flashlight come on up the hill. Then i see nothing but a bouncing light hauling but towards me and hear POP pOP POP POP gunfire as he is running towards me. We were bowhunting so I think someone is firing at him!
He makes it down that hill in record time and just jumps in the bed of my truck and yells GO GO GO! So i haul butt out of there leaving his truck behind and dont stop until i reach the main road a good safe distance away and I get out and ask what the hell was happening up there? You ok? ect.
" I was sitting in the stand and started glassing the open field next to the tree line and i spot something moving. Rolling around out in the tall grass. I adjusted my binocs and i see a mountain lion playing around out there about 100 yards from my stand. Looked like he had caught something and was playing with it. "
You sure it wasn't just a bobcat?
"Positive,that sucker was huge and had a long tail. I watched him for a good 30 min as it started to get dark and then i set binocs down to tell you to come get me and i dropped my phone from the stand. Then i looked back through the binocs and it was gone! I didn't see where it went. So i stayed in the tree knowing you would show up eventually"
What was the gunfire?
" I keep a 357 in my bag. Didn't want it to chase me out so i popped off rounds in the direction he was as i ran out. "
I LMAOComment
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