Africa 2.0

[Blkram]

As the the rifle appeared to be hitting lower than expected, we decided to go back to the range to reverify the zero after dropping the black springbok off at the skinning shed.

As we were coming down the road to the shooting range, we spotted the red lechwe ram we had been chasing for 3 days, standing on the range!
We parked behind some brush, and got ready. Just to b safe we adjusted to scope up 6 clicks before starting our stalk down the road where we could get a shot at the the lechwe through a gap in the bush. The challenge was going to be getting the shot through the two fences between us and the ram, as the shooting range was in the next main area, separating the concession properties.
He was aware of us, but not alarmed, as I set up on the shooting sticks at 153 yards. I held for the shoulder at the top of the black markings that extended from his shoulder/chest down his front legs, and dropped him in his tracks, with the bullet striking just an inch lower than where I aimed.

What a day! 3 animals! All beautiful representatives of their species! I was a very happy hunter!

The cool part is that the ram had been standing where we had seen him twice before; including the first night we arrived at the Lodge. Must have been his normal hang out, although the rest of the time, we had spotted and stalked him in various places in that area, within about a mile of where I got him.

 

[Blkram]

The next day wass the day that I reported above on Susan finally getting her black wildebeest.

Another great day in the field! We saw Mountain reedbuck, and Mountain zebra.

We were hunting the other concession where I had gotten my bontebok, where the landowner wanted a certain old eland bull taken and was allowing us to hunt for it there. It was a large mesa-type mountain surrounded by farms on the open plains. We saw tons of other game there too, including a number of nyala, zebra, hartebeest, warthogs, springbok, and impala.

We did find that eland bull, but as it was the first time the PH had seen him, and his head was in a tree, eating, he wasn't exactly sure it was our target bull at first. It would have been a chip shot of about 78 yards...but due to the uncertainty, and the fact that the old bull (ruff on his face, with ribs and hips showing, and neck losing mass after the rut) hung out with a younger bull (which had no ruff on his face), we wanted to be certain before pulling the trigger. Finally the wind swirled and the bull looked at us, and then ran off, giving no opportunity for a shot after making sure he was our targeted bull. We followed, and got one more sighting of him at about 200 yards as crossed an opening in the bush down a draw, but he was quartering away hard, and I passed on the less than ideal shot. The next time we caught sight of him, he was about a mile away and still going away!

We followed and went around with the Land Cruiser, and found he and the younger bull had joined the main herd, but were out of range, and eventually dropped off the mesa. Anticipating where they had gone, we went back around to where we had first seen him, and crept along the ridge looking below for the herd. We finally found them again further along, at the base of the mesa, but ay almost 500 yards were beyond what I was comfortable shooting at such a large animal with the 270 Win...and when he did show himself briefly, it was almost straight on.

We never found him again over the next two days of concentrated effort on and around that mesa (which was several hundreds of acres in size on top, with lots of bowls, ravinces, and draws). We did find the two two herds of eland there each day, but no sign of the targeted bull. Was a great hunt!

The second day while searching for the eland, we did find a real old mountain reedbuck, and called the other PH whose client was looking for one. They got there about an hour later, and within 5 minutes, the hunter had the old ram down, as he was bedded on a nice little bench soaking up the morning sunshine! His secondary growth was over an inch, and he was well worn, and heavy. Cool little antelope!


I might have to rethink hunting one of them!

 

[Blkram]

On the following day we continued to hunt most of the day for that elusive eland bull, with no finding of him,. although we had 2 successful stalks to get close to the eland herds. Such majestic animals.
We did see more game everywhere we went including a very nice nyala with a herd of cows, and several other smaller bulls.

About lunchtime we decided to stop in the area where I had gotten my black springbok, to look for a copper ram.
We travelled down the same creek bed again, popping up every now and then to check the surrounding area for game.
We ran into that same young eland bull and had a repeat encounter much the same as the previous one. Very cool!
We also herds of gemsbok, blesbok, and a few kudu, including one nice bull.

We finally spotted the springbok herd, but they were somewhat downwind of us, and we retreated back up the creek bed, and travelled around to get the wind right and within range.
As they were moving, we continued to move keeping the bush between us and them, and staying in the shadows of any bush as we came around it so that we would not be as noticeable in the sunlight.

We got with 166 yards of a black and a copper ram, feeding in the more open area. I got ready on the sticks, and when the copper ram turned broadside, I made the shot. He humped up and slowly followed the black ram as best he could behind some bush. The black kept going, but the copper did not reappear. By the time we got to him, his hair on his back was already starting to lay flat again. He is a nice od ram, heavy and brooming on his left horn.

I decided to have him shoulder mounted, as he isn't very big and won't require much wall space, and is so pretty.

 

[Blkram]

The following day was spent continuing to look for eland, without any luck finding the targeted bull.
We did se a few steenbok. Cool little antelope!

That ight we went out on the night hunt for Susan's jackal and caracal.
We got her into the night shooting chair in the back of the hunting vehicle. Pretty cool set up, as the night vision scope was connected to the one PH's (Yanus) cell phone so we could see what Susan was seeing, and record any footage. The other PH (Eannis) rode in the back of the truck with her so he could lock/unlock the shooting chair as needed so she could rotate almost 360 degrees for scanning and any shooting opportunity.

A couple of the areas we went to had a lot of standing water on the tracks, so the mud was flying pretty good getting into the desired hunting location. But Susan and Eannis did not even get muddy! (Much appreciated!) Once we were where we wanted to be, Yanius set up the varmint calling machine. It only took about 5 minutes before a couple oof jackals showed up in the night vision scope!
It took Susan a moment or to to get onto one of the jackals and get steady for the shot at 62 yards, which broke the jackals back. Where it fell was in a depression but you could see it flopping around a bit from time to time, but no chance for a follow up shot. The second jackal had not stuck around so there was no chance for a double.
A few minutes later, Yanus started the vehicle and drove up to the pasture fence with the headlights pointing to where the jackal was. He jumped the fence with a tire ironn and went to discpatch the jackal. Turns out there was still a good amount of fight left in the critter, and Yanus had to be quick to jump out of the way and not get bit! He was renamed "Dances with Jackals"! After dispatching the beast, we got a few pics of Susan, and Eannis holding her jackal.



We then went to another area, not far from where Susan got her black wildebeest, to set up and let me have a turn. I was looking for genet, but they would have me shoot any jackal, or caracal that came in.

It was definitely a neat experience viewing the countryside through the night vision scope! I could see the various plains game (lechwe, wildebeest, impala, scimitar horned oryx, and various birds) active in the area in about a 180 degree circle (we had parked up against a large bush), while Eannis would scan what I couldn't.
We set up the caller there, but had no predators come in overr the hour and half we were there.
But, still a very neat experience!

As a note, the father/son duo from Edmonton got a serval, and a jackal, and they saw a honey badger (which according to the local government does not exist in the Free State) on their night hunt!

 

[Blkram]

The next day we continued to hunt for my missing eland bull, with no success, but again found the eland herds on our two stalks. And scout some for Susan's white blesbok. Susan got to see the big lions at the neighbouring concession, and we also got to see mouflon and vaal rhebok during our travels that day.

On the morning of our last hunting day, we headed out first for another property to find the white blesbok for Susan. While travelling into the property to pick up the local tracker, we past a nice ram besidee the trail. He was busy tending a ewe and they didn't go anywhere. After picking up the tracker we went to the main area to check on the herd that had many white blesbok int it, but the rams were smaller. So we went back to look for the ram we had first seen. They hadn't gone 100 yards from where we first saw them, and we were able to get Susan into shooting range, and she made a great shot, with the ram expiring within 20-30 yards.


The ram was in the rut and you can see his secretions from the pre-orbital glands running down his face.

Once you can compare the horns of the blesbok to the bontebok, you will see that the blesbok's horns are longer and heavier, and they are more yellowish than the black horns of the blesbok.

 

[Blkram]

After the photo session and loading the blesbok into the back of the Land Cruiser the PH decided to take us up the mountain to look for an eland.

We were travelling up the trail to the road that wound around the mountain, and spun out on all the loose, large rock on the trail right where we needed to turn onto the sidehill road. (We had been over several steeper sections of trail during the week...the difference was all of the large loose rock on the trail in this location.)
We stopped momentarily, and Eannis got out of the back of the truck to try to place some large rocks behind the tires to hold us, as Yanus was trying to get the transmission into low range. Suddenly the rocks let loose beneath the tires and we took off backwards down the trail. I had just thought that we should probably get out/off the vehicle just in case...
I believe Yanus had stuck his head and shoulder out the window (right hand drive) and was trying to aim us for a large bush that would hopefully stop us, when we hit either a large rock, anthill or small termite mound that caused us to roll.
Susan was riding in the cab ini the front passenger seat.

As I was sitting in the high seat on the passenger side of the vehicle, in the back of the truck, when we rolled over onto the passenger side of the vehicle, my shoulder hit the ground first, causing the injury to it, and breaking a couple of ribs. I recall thinking "lay flat and do not move". Not sure, but I think that the force of hitting the ground as the vehicle continued to roll pushed me into the gap between the two front high seats and prevented me from more injury... I definitely felt the vehicle crush my left leg as it rolled over me...I believe it was part of the high seat rack over the cab of the vehicle that got my leg. And then the vehicle was past me, rolling back onto its wheels before coming to a stop.

The tracker, Max, had been sitting in the rear high seat at the veery back, and he was thrown and suffered a broken arm.
Yanus was ejected out the driver's window during the rollover and suffered a concussion and a sore back/pelvis...he was not sure what hit him as he scrambled to get away from the rolling vehicle.
Susan had been hanging onto the grab bar above her left shoulder during the entire incident, and had banged her head (but her vision was good, she just had a headache so far), and had a buggered shoulder and broken ribs. She was trapped in her seat as her door could not open.

Eannis and Yanus were immediately checking us out to see how we were, and seeing what they could do to help us, and then called the outfitter for help.

i was able to sit up, but knew I could do nothing as my leg was broken, and possibly my shoulder too. There was some bleeding, but very minor, and I told them to leave the legg as is to try to keep the wound cleaner as I was sitting in a lot of loose dirt and rock.
I gave directions to te PHs on checking Susan and Max over to determine extent of injuries as best they could. Once Max was settled and his broken arm supported to stabilize it from further movement, and we knew Susan was somewhat OK, I had Yanus sit beside me so I could check his back. He had a very minor scrape, no bruising or bumps, cuts or bleeding. Was either hit by the rolling vehicle or banged on the rocks when he was ejected from the vehicle. His bump on his head was not bleeding, but his vision was blurry. (He had suffered numerous concussions from rugby in the past). I just couldn't keep him seated as he was insistent on helping Eannis check on Susan and trying to see how they were going to get her out f the vehicle when help arrived. I was able to take a pic of the vehicle from where I was sitting in the trail. The time on y phone was 9:40 AM.

It took awhile for help to get there, but they did have a first aid kit, and six helpers.
While 5 guys supported the vehicle to ensure it would not roll again, they were able to open the driver's door and get Susan out that way, and into the front seat of the other vehicle.
There was a couple of pieces of plint material in the first aid kit, so I directed them on how to splint my legs together and then lift me and get me across the back seat of the other vehicle. I had Haardus grab me by the belt to help drag me across the back seat, so my legs were out straight and my wounded shoulder was supported by the back of the seat.
When we got back to main road, Tersa, the outfitter's wife took over and drove Susan and I to the hospital in Bloemfontein. They also sent Max in another vehicle to the same hospital. Yanus opted to get driven to his hometown nearby and the hospital there to checked over.
Due to condition of the roads right in that area, the first 40 or kms were taken at 10-15 km/hr to try to mitigate the pain in Susan's broken ribs. We made it to the hospital emergency at 1 PM.




You can see Yanus just behind the Land Cruiser; he is talking to me where I was sitting on the trail.

 

[salmonchaser]

So glad you were able to make it home after that. I’ve tried three times to express my shock at the extent of your accident. Unimaginable!

 

[Blkram]

Emergency staff looked at both Susan and I, but after X-Rays, only told Susan that she had broken ribs, could do not much to help her and discharged her. Her condition worsened over night, and Ters took her to her own Dr the next morning, who immediately sent her back to emergency to another Dr who immediately admitted her to the ICU and treated her tension pneumothorax (7 ribs broken in 13 places). They put in a couple of drains, but her lung had partially collapsed (25%). She spent the next 8 days in ICU, then they removed her drains and moved her to the surgical ward.

They looked at my leg and sent me for Xrays and then a CT, and bandaged the wounds.
The next day I was in surgery getting a rod from knee to ankle, two plates, and 4 screws to fix the broken tibia. They cleaned the flesh wounds some but said that they would need to go back and do more work there. They also removed 4" of damaged flexor tendon and fixed it. (controls the lifting/extension of the foot and toes from the ankle) I am in an aircast as they need to go back every 3 days for wound care.

When the orthopedic surgeon came to see me the following day I asked him when they were going to work on my shoulder. Turns out emergency and the admitting Dr hadn't even told him I had a damaged shoulder. He sent me for x-rays right away, and I was in surgery the next morning and had a plate and 5 screws put into to stabilize the shoulder joint and allow the muscles to heal and reattach to the shoulder blade and bones in the shoulder joint. They also took more time to clean up the flesh wounds where the leg had been crushed by the vehicle. The orthopedic surgeon also referred me to the plastic surgeon for assessment and potential skin grafts.

Physion started the day after the first surgery, and was everyday for the 5 weeks in the hospital in South Africa (for both Susan and I).

The plastic surgeon inspected my wounds and came up with a skin graft plan, and I went back to surgery the following weekend when we could get in to the schedule. I had 3 skin grafts from my left thigh to the lower leg. They looked at it 5 days later, and he was happy that 90% of the grafts had already taken. My next wound care was 4 days later, and he was still happy with the progress being made. I had wound care again before we were transferred back to Canada, and here 5 days later, the Dr here that directed the wound care is also happy with the progress that is being made, and the one skin graft that had taken appears to be taking now (good thing!)

Both the shoulder and leg are non-weight bearing for 12 weeks, and after that I will need another surgery to remove the plate in the shoulder, to allow full movement of the shoulder again. I am being referred back to the orthopedic surgeon in Vancouver that operated on my shoulder back in 2002.

All in all, we spent 5 weeks in the hospital in South Africa before being cleared with "Fit to Fly" letters for the insurance company , and the airlines. And it took about a week to get Drs and rooms back here in Dawson Creek secured for us both, and then the travel arrangements made for our medical transport via ambulance and airlines to get us here. The trip took 37 hours in total to get from the hospital in SA to the hospital in Dawson Creek.

Was an experience to say the least. Poor Susan does not fly well, and was air and carsick on each leg of the journey, and is now finally getting her stomach to settle down and be able to keep food down. Her ribs are still extremely painful, but she is mending! It took a couple of days for my leg to stop aching from all the vibration from the travel, but is better now. Thanks to good painkillers! And rest and relaxation!

We are both so glad to be back in Canada, and home close to family and friends! And again, thanks and appreciations for everyone's prayers and well wishes! We have had a steady flow of family and friends in to see us since we got back on Friday, and it is so good to see everyone again! Our spirits have been greatly uplifted since being back, although we were actuallly doing pretty well in this department.)

We are also happy to be back where the food is normal to us! (Although I lost an additional 30 lbs while in the hospital in SA! so not all bad! LOL)

We will continue to heal and recover, get stronger to where we can eventually be released from hospital and get home! I will keep you updated as we continue to make progress!

 

[Blkram]

So glad you were able to make it home after that. I’ve tried three times to express my shock at the extent of your accident. Unimaginable!

All I can is that the hand of God was over me as that Land Cruiser rolled over me, and that he was also taking care of Susan so that she wasn't ejected from the vehicle during the rollover, or that any part of her had gone out the window where it could be crushed during the incident. We are grateful to be alive and not in worse shape, as it could have so much more than it was!

I have been getting told quite a bit recently that I needed to slow down...I guess I have been handed down the means to do so. I will heed the message more dutifully in the future!

 

[RL338]

My goodness you two were lucky.

 

[sako2]

God was with all of you.

 

[DrMike]

God was with all of you.

Amen, for sure!

 

[Wolfshead]

Sending more prayers for your continued recovery

 

[Aussie Wanderer]

What a crazy story. Glad you are all safe and getting better. With all of those injuries it seems silly to say how lucky you are, but damn the exit stage left hook was surely swinging. Get well soon.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

A wild and adventurous hunt. Glad you and your wife are making progress. Prayers for a full recovery.

 

[Blkram]

We'll not forget this adventure anytime soon!!!

Susan says she is done with Africa, but I know that I will return. She says I cannot go alone! I need to find someone to go with me...
Want to go to the Limpopo next for eland, Limpopo bushbuck and honey badger.
I will return to hunt again at Koranna Mountain...thinking of roan, springbok, and ??? (They did make sure we were taken care of in the hospital, bringing us any items we needed or wanted, and coming to visit regularly over the 5 weeks, which was greatly appreciated!

Talked to the travel agent today about the cancelled flights home for Susan and I, as we had to wait until well enough to fly, and the travel insurance covered the return trips. Waiting on confirmation, but looks like I have one year to rebook but it will only cover flights from Africa to Canada.

 

[Slimfinn]

Glad you are on the mend, hope it keeps progressing positively

 

[Vince]

Gil,
I’m heading planning to head over in early November of 2027 for a Dagga Boy.
Want to meet in J’burg and hunt in Limpopo?

Vince

 

[Blkram]

Hello everyone!
Finally got some of the photos resent in a size that allows me attach them to the posts. (Still cannot get the pics of the black springbok to work....will keep trying!)
If you back to post #58 and work forward you'll finally get to see the pics of those animals!
Hope you enjoy the updates to the posts!

 

[Blkram]

Gil,
I’m heading planning to head over in early November of 2027 for a Dagga Boy.
Want to meet in J’burg and hunt in Limpopo?

Vince

That'll be their summer and the heat! Not for me! (although it would be neat to tag along on your buffalo hunt!)
And I may have to take the trip and use my rescheduled flights before the end of May 2027; still waiting on confirmation of details.)