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The Mossy's first hunt

Good day gents,

As promised here is the story of my 308 ATR Night Train's first hunt with a couple of pics.

So Friday after work, I left Johannesburg on a one day hunt in Naboomspruit or Mookgophong in the Limpopo province of South Africa. I was accompanied by 3 of my mates, and stayed over at one of my friends houses in Naboomspruit. The farm where we hunted was about 10km from we we stayed.

Saturday morning we got up at 6am, to start our day at 7am in the bush. Excitement was running high among the guys, as it would be the first hunt for 2 of the guys for this year.

Getting to farm, we decided just to drive through the property, in order to familiarise ourself with the type of terrain and to come up with a strategy. I have hunted this farm about 10 times in the last 5 years, and each time it was a major challenge.

Our preferred method to Hunt is walk and stalk. This can be a very difficult method for impala, especially because they usually move in herds, 100 eyes looking and 100 ears listening. And being called the McDonald's of the Bush, they are very skittish animals.

The terrain varied from thick bush and brush, to waist high grass, to open savanna.
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We knew that our average shot would have been about 100m, but if the savanna came into play, shots of 200m would be reality.

Me and one of the guys got and started our walk. After about an hour of searching we came to a spot where you have bush that opens up in a open space of grass land, with the next bush starting in about 100m. So if you can imagine a open stretch of grass land between 2 bushy areas, 100m apart and stretching for 800m, you are on the right frame of thinking. We decided to go and sit in the middel of the open field, under a single tree. There was some loose branches lying around that was providing nice cover. We sat for about 20 min when we heard and saw movement in the brush right across us. 3 impala rams came out with a steep gallop, and ran across the grassland to the Bush behind us. They ran about 50 meters past us without seeing us, and came to rest in the brush behind us. I was sitting flat om my but and cross legs, facing the wrong direction now. I slowly turned myself around, still sitting crossed legs. The one ram was nou standing about 70m away, and perfectly broadside in the shade. I wrapped my sling around my left arm and rested my left elbow on my knee (one of my favourite unassisted shooting methods ), I gently squeezed the trigger, and the trigger broke away like glass, only as an LBA trigger can do. The impala expired within 20m. Perfect double lung, with the 180gr Sako super hammerhead doing exactly what it should.
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Next it was my friends turn, and would also be using my rifle. He is not that experienced, and I was to guide him. We were again on foot, this time through waist long grass, which made it extremely difficult to stalk softly. After about an hour, a massive ram jumped out of the brush and ran straight past us about 30m away. I decided not to pursue him, as he is already aware of us and running full speed. After about 2 hours, I suggested that we take a break and have a sigarette. By this time we have reached the savanna area, and the grass was about ankle hight. I chose us a place to sit that made a a horse shoe shape bush, with us facing away from the Bush over the savanna. We each lit up a sigarette, had about 3 drags when I noticed movement about 200m away. My friend struggled to see anything at that stage, but I calmed him down saying that the ram is feeding in the direction of a very nice open piece of land. He took up aim, and waited for my go ahead to take the shot. I wanted the ram to just turn perfectly broadside, as we was standing quartering too. At last he turned and I said shoot him. He fell straight down with a perfect neck shot. As seen in the photo this a massive impala, and a worthy trophy.
Needless to say my friend will also be getting a Night Train [emoji2].
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Next weekend I will take the Mossy on his Gemsbuck hunt, and hopefully I will have a story to share.

Have a great day.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 
Looks and sounds like a great hunt...thanks for sharing it with the membership !!
 
Thank you so much for sharing the story.

I truly enjoy looking the photographs and hearing the stories of places that I will likely never see in person.

I also like the sound moderator on the rifle. :cool:
 
Congrats on the great hunt!

It's good to see the Night Train did the job well. Thank you for sharing your story. We love seeing these photos from other parts of the world...
 
Very cool. Congrats and thanks for sharing your story and pics.
 
Great Story! Sounds like the hunt was a success. :) What did you do with the first imp? Field dress?

We here in the states envy the can, as some places don't allow them and if they do, it can be costly to equip your gun with one.
 
Thanks for the kind words guys. Glad ya'll enjoyed the story.

@Bobster the friend of mine living in Naboomspruit took it to his house about 10km away where he slaughtered it, while we continued hunting.



Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for the good huntin story and pics!! Nice lookin rams you guys brought down.

I'm guessing in those temps you've got to field dress or at least cool the carcass quick or risk spoiling the meat? Up here in the north during hunting season there's usually snow on the ground and we can pack the chest and abdominal cavity with snow.
 
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