Report by: Jack Brittingham
Location: Luwego River Camp
Date: 14 July 2006
Greetings from the Luwego River Camp!
It has been a very interesting few days since my last report. Leon Lamprecht and I have kept busy placing and checking both leopard and lion baits. We have also been placing automatic cameras on the baits to begin gathering data on the cats in this concession. Our trapline of baits covers a broad expanse of country and we have had hits by leopards on two of our baits. Both of these cats are small, one being a female and the other a young male. We will be including photos of these cats from the auto cameras soon.
The big action in our camp has been had by Dick Idol and his son, Cody. Two days ago Cody was able to stalk and take an exceptional Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest. This bull was taken while they were on foot walking an area where a series of waterholes or pans, as they are called, have attracted a variety of game. During this walk the group spotted the hartebeest and moved into position where Cody made a good one shot kill at about 125 yards, providing a great trophy for him and some much needed camp meat for the rest of us.
Their hunting excitement was kicked into overdrive the following day when, while hunting along the Ipera River, they came upon a bedded cape buffalo bull. The bull was laying up in a dense mass of vegetation on the river’s edge. As soon as he saw the hunters he charged straight at them! When he reached the stream’s edge he encountered a four foot drop off which slowed him down as he turned to take the trail just to his right. This gave Cody and John just the opportunity they needed to get their rifles into action. Cody slammed a 300 grain 375 round into the big bull’s shoulder, followed by a round or two from John’s 570 double. The bull was down on the spot and Cody gave him one more for insurance before the bull gave the death bellow, signaling the end of the encounter. All of this happened in a matter of seconds and was just too fast for Chris Pelser’s camera. He did capture the death bellow which, since it takes about six seconds for the Sony HD camera to boot up, gives you some idea as to how quickly such and encounter can happen! Cody’s bull taped out at forty inches on the nose, with fourteen inch bosses; one of the prettiest bulls I have seen.
Tomorrow I will again run our “trapline” with Leon to see if we have any big cats feeding on our baits. If so, we will set up the trail cameras to get some data to confirm the size and age of the cat before setting up a blind. I will let you know how it goes from here.
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