15 July 2021

As we woke up to the coldest morning of the whole safari, we knew we were in the heart of the Karoo. The Karoo gets super cold in the winter. We started 2 fires to heat us up a bit and enjoy a nice warm cup of fresh boere moer coffee while we wait for daybreak and the sun to rise. We talked about the Yellow Blesbuck and walk and stalk in the 2000 hectar camp. At 07:30 we set off to look if we can see them. After driving for a while, Frans, out tracker on the farm stopped and pointed towards something about 3 kilometre's from the road. I took out the binnoculars and look at them. At first I only spotted ewes grazing into the wind and almost decided to leave, when I suddenly saw this stud of a ram walking out of the dry riverbed and I knew we had to go after him with the 243 loaded with 100 grain bullets. We set up with little hiding place in the field and decided to use the river bed to our advantage and stalk. Within about 200 meter reach, I asked the location of the Blesbuck on the 2-way radio just to make sure they don't run off during the stalk. Feeling like forever (about 45 min) , we closed the gap between us and we were close to a dry dam. We first waited for the client to catch her breath again and then I stepped up on the dam wall to look where they where. They were about 80 meters from us grazing with no worry in the world. Our client joined me on the dam wall and took the shooting sticks out with the crosshair from the vortex that is on the 243. I told the client to take her time and then the moment we waited for, the soft sound from the 243 fitted with the CK Hunting Suppressor was a sign that yet another trophy is on it's way to his forever home in the USA. The Blesbuck took off running for about 25 yards before going down and we gave our client a change to take in the beauty of these animals and pay her respsct towards the animal that she just harvested.