Bushbuck

If you’ve not hunted bushbuck before you have been missing out. These animals can be extremely tough to hunt, as I found out some years ago during seven fruitless days of hunting in the Groot Marico area. The terrain was flat and the bush dense, making a stalk almost impossible.

In contrast, a later hunt north-west of Grahamstown was much easier as hilly country made it possible to use high vantage points to scan the sunny side of hills as the sun slowly heated up the cold, winter mornings. We were able to see a good ram in time to duck below a ridge and stalk closer for a shot.
This time I was with my daughter, Ben-Mari, on a farm bordering on the ocean just south of Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape. She has set herself the goal of hunting all the spiral horns and, as she got an invitation to try for a bushbuck, it became the first on the list.

According to the landowner, bushbuck in their area (right on the coast), do not grow very big horns with 11- or 12-inches being considered a good representative trophy. Further inland, larger trophies abound. However, we were happy with any mature buck as it was the experience and not the size of the horns that mattered.
The terrain was also ideal for us as Ben-Mari is in a wheelchair which makes manoeuvring in rough terrain difficult. Here, the grass and flowing hills covered in coastal forest made things easier but, even better, the farm has no rocks, yes that’s right, not a single rock was spotted during the hunt.

I was to be the serving hunting companion, a task I actually looked forward to as it would give me time to take photographs. Before an accident that left her with a broken back, Ben-Mari worked as a professional hunter. She was able to handle a rifle fairly well before the accident but now she is wheelchair bound, wanting to hunt necessitated some improvisation. If you ever have to accompany or guide someone in a wheelchair, remember that for those who have lost the use of their legs, it’s easy to tip over forwards as their legs cannot be used to balance or brace against tipping. Also, as a standard wheelchair has small wheels in the front, it’s advisable to have someone on hand to tilt the chair backwards (lifting the front wheels) and to help push. Ben-Mari’s chair is fitted with wider than normal tyres, which made going over the rough terrain easier.

To make the wheelchair part of the shooting ‘bench’, I added a Vanguard yoke to an old but sturdy Vanguard camera tripod. This can be placed in front of the chair to use as a rest. An old rectangular-shaped camera bag, which is now used to carry ammo, hearing protection, etc, was placed on her lap to prop up her upper body if needed, and to provide a fixed support for the elbow of her shooting arm. This seemed to work well and the range tests were encouraging.

She used her .243 Win Sabatti rifle, which is fairly lightweight with a standard sporter barrel, but has very
little recoil. We settled on 100gr Norma Whitetail factory ammunition as it delivered groups of under .75MOA at 100m shooting from the chair in the veld. A 4–16 magnification hunting scope was selected to ensure a wide field of view (at low magnification) should an opportunity arise for a close-up shot.
The property, Glendower Farm, is owned by Adrian and Elizabeth Ford. Adrian is the fourth generation Ford farmer. They have Bonsmara cattle and conserve the oribi which have always occurred naturally on the farm. Elizabeth has a passion for Welsh ponies, some of which of course share the farm.

Their daughter, Hannah, and her friend Patrick (both professional hunters), were to guide us. We had three days of hunting available. It was early November and on arrival we realized that it would be a difficult day as the wind was blowing from inland towards the coast and the temperature was already above 30°C.
We headed out in a bakkie, trying to spot representative size rams. The idea was to start a stalk after spotting an animal worthy of hunting and/or, to pick spots where we could hide and hopefully spot the elusive animals. We stopped at a few high vantage points to scan the valleys below and managed to spot bushbuck ewes, oribi and bontebok.

It was soon 40°C and the call was made to rather pick a spot where rams had been seen before in the hope of an ambush. We stopped on an incline and proceeded walking uphill, with me pushing the chair on the back wheels. Patrick and Hannah were carrying the rifle and a bag with extra ammo, cameras and a small medical kit.
We soon reached the top; thankfully I had Patrick’s help pushing the wheelchair, as I was completely out of breath. We then manoeuvered the slight downhill to an opening which gave us a view over a small grass plain. On the other side, a female bushbuck was grazing despite the oppressive heat, but shortly after our arrival she picked a shady spot to rest. The animal was unaware of our presence only 80m away. Ben-Mari was already in a shooting position in her own shady patch and we started the wait.

As the minutes ticked by the sun slowly shifted, leaving us more in the sun than shade. We were unable to move as it might have alerted the bushbuck ewe. About an hour later another ewe suddenly appeared and the animal on the ground got up. Both soon disappeared into the bush. We waited about 15 minutes and then decided to move to another, hopefully cooler, spot. A scorching hot wind was now blowing at about 8 to 10mph.

Back at the vehicle Patrick explained that we could drive in a wide circle, slowly heading back to the farmhouse for a midday break. We were all feeling the impact of the heat and agreed that a shady spot for a drink would be welcome. It was simply too hot to consider eating.
On the drive we saw a few animals but none were big enough to merit a stalk. To our relief we were soon in the shade of some huge trees near the farmhouse where we could relax. The thermometer was now hovering around the 42°C mark and we were thankful to take a break.

At around 14:00 the wind suddenly shifted, now blowing from the coast and we could feel the temperature drop. By 14:30 it was a cool 25 degrees. It was quite an experience to see and feel the weather change so dramatically in such a short time. The wind was now even stronger at over 12mph, something that could limit the shooting distance.

Adrian now joined us and we were soon heading to another part of the farm. Patrick spotted some animals on a ridge across a valley and set up his spotting scope. He was able to confirm that one of the rams was very old and worth stalking. Adrian, knowing the terrain intimately, suggested that we drive up behind a hill, dismount and stalk over the summit and down the side to get close to the animals on the other incline.

The plan worked well as thick bush provided enough cover to actually get to the summit with the truck. Here we dismounted and started the stalk down the slope. Moving slowlyfrom bush to bush we stopped frequently to scan the opposite ridge for the dark, almost black ram.
We managed to spot the animal as it was walking into a thicket. This gave us the opportunity to move 10m closer, and they were able to set Ben-Mari up in a shooting position next to a bush about 100m from the spot where the ram was last seen. The plan was to wait patiently for the ram to emerge in a clearing across the small valley about 120m below us.

The rifle was loaded and Ben-Mari was scanning the area for the animal. She indicated that she was comfortable and ready for the shot. I could see her shaking in anticipation. The next moment the buck appeared, slowly grazing into the sunlight. We could now clearly see it was an old ram, almost black in colour on the face and neck with beautifully shaped horns.

Patrick, having confirmed the ram was good enough to harvest, gave the go-ahead in a whisper. The ram was still grazing, now moving into the shade and just a few metres away from entering thick bush. I could hear Ben-Mari stop breathing and the shot rang out. It was a hit, the ram jumped high into the air, turned 180 degrees and dashed into the thick bush. Ben-Mari was shaking and smiling, telling me she was sure the shot was perfect.

We waited in tense anticipation as Patrick, Hannah and Luke (the resident Jack Russell tracker), headed down the valley and up the other side. Luke was straining on his leash, a good sign, and the trio disappeared into the thicket where the ram was last seen. Luke was now barking excitedly and soon Patrick appeared from the bush with the buck on his shoulders. We literally sighed with relief.
Ben-Mari was clearly exhausted but happy as the work began to set up the animal for photographs. The 100gr soft nose bullet, angled as the animal was facing to the right and slightly away, went straight through the heart.

The bull was a magnificent specimen, very old with scars as evidence of a long and sometimes hard life in the bush. The final verdict (measured later at the slaughtering facility) was 11½ inches, which is good for the area. We could not have been happier. The oppressive heat and our sunburned skin was forgotten, now a mere inconvenience in the greater scheme of things.