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Hammer Couples Safari 2022
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<blockquote data-quote="HammerB1" data-source="post: 2636406" data-attributes="member: 8224"><p>Here is the 2nd post for The Holtmeyer's 2022 African Safaris. </p><p></p><p>The next day, we all woke up with full bellies from dinner the night before. On our morning hunt, I went out stalking with both Tino and Barend a couple of times. We went out for Wildebeest and Blesbok. No luck on the first 4 stalks, each being 30 mins to an hour and a half. But 5<sup>th</sup> times a charm. Just before we were going to head in for lunch, I went out with Tino once again. After only 10 minutes, I got a shot off on a Blesbok. One of the things that spooks the animals most is when they see you mount your gun up on the sticks, but I had already been on the sticks by the time he spotted us. I only had a couple seconds before he bolted. But I made it work. He was only about 40-50 yards away and ran 30. He wasn't a beast, but he was still a trophy. Such a different looking animal. It blows my mind every time I get to see a new animal. That wrapped up our morning hunt. Then we went back out for evening hunting. Mom, dad, Tino, Barend, and I went out to a different property this time. We saw a couple gigantic Waterbuck. How wide they were is insane. Beautiful. Unfortunately, we were not able to stalk them. The brush is so thick over at this place that there was no way to get a shot off unless you see an animal out in the open. As the evening went on, we didn't see much. A few branches mistaken for legs, but that's about it. The sun was going down, and we were driving back toward the entrance to leave and go back to the house. Then I hear Tino say "Grace! Grace! Gun your gun ready now!" I already had it out and one in the magazine. I was up aiming on this huge trophy Kudu within seconds. I have been dreaming of this moment since I first saw my dads Kudu 2 years ago. Literally the most beautiful animal I have ever laid my eyes on. He was quartered hard toward us. Tino told me "The line straight down his chest. Aim just a hair to the left of it and about 1/3 of the way up his body and squeeze". So from 120-130 yards away, that's exactly what I did. BOOM. He ran and after a minute or so we went out and found him. He only ran 30-40 yards before crashing into some brush and going down. I hit exactly where Tino wanted me to. This animal is by far my favorite moment from the whole entire trip. Tino estimated that his horns would be 48-52 inches, but we still aren't certain on that. The photos turned out beautiful, especially with the African sunset behind us. We loaded him up and got back to camp around 8 that night. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]400299[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]400308[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]400300[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]400287[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]400298[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p>This was the most uneventful day for the Holtmeyer's. It was still amazing to just be there and see all the animals even if we didn't end up getting anything. I went after some Gemsbuck and Steph went after some black Impala, but neither of us had any luck. Obviously, we were still grateful for the experience and time out there.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The next day was kind of a train wreck. We went out to a different place in the morning. The avocado farm. Me and Tino went out stalking some Red Hartebeest. There was a group of 25-30 cows with only 1 bull and we never had an opportunity for a shot. We kept driving around and after not long, saw a group of 2-3 Gemsbuck. I got set up on one of them and shot as close to the middle of the shoulder as I could. We saw him drop almost all the way to the ground then jump back up and run. We went out and started looking for him, but we couldn't. We started tracking and didn't get anything until almost an hour and a half later. We figured I must have hit far back because Tino and Bonzo(dog) found a small splotch of blood along with contents of guts. That is where we were thinking I hit. Tino, my dad, and Jephias (one of the trackers that also drives the truck) kept tracking while me and my mom waited at the truck, ready to shoot, on one of the roads we figured he would eventually cross. Well, he didn't. After another 2 hours, they made their way back. They found more blood and were planning on giving Bonzo a break, taking Steph and I back to the house, and bringing more of the guys out to help track. It was about 2 o'clock at this point. All the girls were planning on going into town for souvenir shopping in the afternoon, so that is why they were taking us back. I felt bad for just leaving them there to track the animal that I shot, but I was reassured many times that there was nothing I could do to help. We (the girls) had been in town for about 2 hours when Amanda shows me a picture that Tino sent her. They found my Gemsbuck. He was down when they found him but got up and started running as soon as he saw them. My dad had taken my gun and was able to get another shot into him before he got too far. Then he finally dropped. For good this time. They discovered that there was nothing wrong with my shot. I hit him right where I intended to, but what I was unaware of when I shot was that Gemsbuck have a different build in their neck/shoulder/spine. Their spine drops super low into their shoulder and there is about a 2-3-inch gap between his lungs and spine. What most people would call a "no mans land". Can you guess where I hit? Yup… no mans land. Just my luck! They think that the only reason they found gut contents is because he threw it up when running. Even though it didn't go how any of us planned, it was a great learning experience and just another example of how not everything goes like you want it to. I couldn't get any photos with the Gemsbuck, but my dad was there and was able to get photos. Tino cropped me in later. Then we all met up at the house and had dinner. That's all for that day… thank God. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]400307[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>We all woke up pretty exhausted the next morning. Everyone went out to the Avocado farm. This was the day we were all going to get out Impala. The men wanted to go for long range, so they had to go to the range and zero their guns. Then we were off. All the girls and the boys split up this time. So we had Kelsey, Jill, Rayne, Steph, and me. Along with PH's Barend and Tino. Not even after 10 mins of being out there, Jill got out with Barend. We continued to drive around and after about another 5-10 minutes, Steph got out with Tino. Only a couple minutes later, BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. 4 shots, each about 2-3 minutes apart. We went to help Steph find hers first. We were driving down the path and laying there in the dirt, the Impala. As we drove up, there it goes! Gets back up trying to run, but both of its front shoulders are basically hanging on him by his skin. He was only up for 5 seconds and then straight back down. But he was still alive. Tino gave me the thumbs up to put the poor thing out of its misery. I got a shot of quick, and we watched his head fall. Hard thing to do, but its much better than letting him suffer. Once we loaded him up, we went to help find the other 2. We found Jill's, which turned out to be a huge trophy. Very good shot on her part. We were then able to find the one that Steph and Jill shared. Mom took the first shot and hit a little too low. But we can blame dad for that. The day before, he has shot her gun and messed with the scope. So, it was very blurry and weird for mom to shoot. But that doesn't change the fact of what happened. By a miracle of God, Jill was shooting for the same one. She hit it again and it dropped. We went, loaded him up, and kept searching. Rayne got out after not too long, and shooting my gun this time, got a nice Impala with a perfect shot. Then Kelsey got out and got hers very quickly. Another great Impala with a great shot. Considering we had to shoot through multiple herds of Ostriches, it was great the success we had. We were all very happy as we drove out. We drove to a water station and rinsed all the Impala off. Got some killer pictures, and then met up with the guys. Steve and Brian were both able to get one. Steve from about 550 yards, and Brian from 250. We loaded them up with ours and then headed back to camp. Very fun ride with Rayne driving, and Tino judging her (jokingly) as we sat on the back of the truck. "Eric, I think your wife is trying to kill me". Tinos take away from the ride. After we went back and had lunch, we were back out. We stayed on Tinos property this time and split back up into our families. We were after my Waterbuck, and my moms Black Impala. At about 4:30, me and Tino got and started stalking a couple of Waterbuck. We were set up on the sticks, just waiting for an open shot. Which was going to be very difficult to get. I stood there, on the sticks, staring at the through the scope for a solid hour or more. Not moving, just waiting. The sun was starting to go down, and we were about to say it was time to go back. But no. That's definitely not what happened. We were finally able to get a frontal shot! There were 2 of them, side by side, looking straight at us. We were only about 60-70 yards away, and Tino told me where to shoot. Can you guess again what type of shot it was? Another "Shoot just a hair below that stick" kind of shot. With Tino, you never know what to expect. Carrying after my dad when he shot his Cape Buffalo, I went straight through the stick, and was still able to drop the Waterbuck. We found him and told my dad to come down to pick us up. We cut off the stick I shot through and showed it to my dad looking super disappointed. As if we hadn't gotten the Waterbuck. He didn't believe us, but it was worth a shot. We took a lot of pictures with the trophy, and then loaded him up to be taken back to the butcher shed. My mom went out with Barned to stalk a couple of Black Impala, but it was getting dark, and they couldn't find them back, so they just went back to the house. We all had dinner and settled in for the night with good hopes for the next days hunting. </p><p> [ATTACH=full]400302[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]400296[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p>We had a great breakfast and headed straight out, just like every other day. But this day was different. It was our last day. The final chance to get the things we wanted. Our family went out with Eric and Rayne as well. After almost an hour, we spotted some Wildebeest. The last thing on my list. I was wanting my mom to take it because I knew she was interested in one as well, but she made me go. Me and Tino were able to get super close to them, which is extremely hard to do considering how skittish of an animal they are. We were stalking them for at least an hour but were never able to get a shot through all the brush. We kept creeping closer and closer until we got up to about 50 yards away from them. We finally got somewhat of a clearing. I got set up on the sticks and once again, can you guess where Tino told me to aim? "Just at the tip of that stick". That's just what I did. Luckily, this time I didn't hit it. The Wildebeest ran about 75-80 yards before the tumbled to the dirt. Very nice Wildebeest, and I was extremely happy. But it was time for me to retire for the trip. I had already gotten everything I imagined of and more! I never could have imagined that I would get everything on my list! We were then off again to help find Rayne a Zebra, and my mom a Black Impala. They both got out within 10 minutes of each other and started stalking. At one point, I was looking down the road to see if the Zebra would cross, and there I see this Zebra just staring straight through my soul. I whisper "Eric, there is a Zebra staring straight at me right now". He tells me "No there's not. You're lying", and I just tell him "No Eric, I'm dead serious". He walked out to where I was and saw that I was in fact, not delusional. We then watched then cross the road only 40 yards in front of us. We wait about another hour before both Rayne and Steph make their way back to the truck. It was already time to go in, so we did. After lunch, we went back out. We went on our own this time, and let Rayne and Eric split back off. We spotted some Black Impalas quickly. Mom got out with Tino, and as we were driving away from them, within 2 or 3 minutes, we heard a shot. Perfect shot, of course. They ended up only being within 20 yards of the animal. We got some nice photos and then dropped it off back at the butcher shed. We went back out, mostly just to enjoy the scenery this time. There was nothing else on any of our lists, so we were also helping Rayne find her Zebra. We spotted a herd and Tino walkie talkied Zane (Rayne and Eric's PH) and told him to get down to where we were. We were also just across the road from a huge heard of Cape Buffalo and got some great pics of them! As it got dark, we went back in for dinner. With another one of Amanda's amazing dinners, we all went to bed happy and 5 pounds heavier. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]400301[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]400305[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]400304[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]400306[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]400289[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]400288[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>When we got up in the morning, we packed everything up and brought our luggage to the van. We had to get out pretty quick, but we of course made time to say goodbye to everyone and give thanks to all of the people who helped us along our journey. We could not have asked for better help. Everyone truly did amazing and there was not one part of the trip where anyone had a bad time. Well, except the times when Steve wouldn't shut up (all jokes… mostly). And that wraps up the 2022 Holtmeyer African hunt.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="HammerB1, post: 2636406, member: 8224"] Here is the 2nd post for The Holtmeyer's 2022 African Safaris. The next day, we all woke up with full bellies from dinner the night before. On our morning hunt, I went out stalking with both Tino and Barend a couple of times. We went out for Wildebeest and Blesbok. No luck on the first 4 stalks, each being 30 mins to an hour and a half. But 5[SUP]th[/SUP] times a charm. Just before we were going to head in for lunch, I went out with Tino once again. After only 10 minutes, I got a shot off on a Blesbok. One of the things that spooks the animals most is when they see you mount your gun up on the sticks, but I had already been on the sticks by the time he spotted us. I only had a couple seconds before he bolted. But I made it work. He was only about 40-50 yards away and ran 30. He wasn't a beast, but he was still a trophy. Such a different looking animal. It blows my mind every time I get to see a new animal. That wrapped up our morning hunt. Then we went back out for evening hunting. Mom, dad, Tino, Barend, and I went out to a different property this time. We saw a couple gigantic Waterbuck. How wide they were is insane. Beautiful. Unfortunately, we were not able to stalk them. The brush is so thick over at this place that there was no way to get a shot off unless you see an animal out in the open. As the evening went on, we didn't see much. A few branches mistaken for legs, but that's about it. The sun was going down, and we were driving back toward the entrance to leave and go back to the house. Then I hear Tino say "Grace! Grace! Gun your gun ready now!" I already had it out and one in the magazine. I was up aiming on this huge trophy Kudu within seconds. I have been dreaming of this moment since I first saw my dads Kudu 2 years ago. Literally the most beautiful animal I have ever laid my eyes on. He was quartered hard toward us. Tino told me "The line straight down his chest. Aim just a hair to the left of it and about 1/3 of the way up his body and squeeze". So from 120-130 yards away, that's exactly what I did. BOOM. He ran and after a minute or so we went out and found him. He only ran 30-40 yards before crashing into some brush and going down. I hit exactly where Tino wanted me to. This animal is by far my favorite moment from the whole entire trip. Tino estimated that his horns would be 48-52 inches, but we still aren't certain on that. The photos turned out beautiful, especially with the African sunset behind us. We loaded him up and got back to camp around 8 that night. [ATTACH type="full" width="380px"]400299[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="491px"]400308[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="566px"]400300[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" width="428px"]400287[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="502px"]400298[/ATTACH] This was the most uneventful day for the Holtmeyer's. It was still amazing to just be there and see all the animals even if we didn't end up getting anything. I went after some Gemsbuck and Steph went after some black Impala, but neither of us had any luck. Obviously, we were still grateful for the experience and time out there. The next day was kind of a train wreck. We went out to a different place in the morning. The avocado farm. Me and Tino went out stalking some Red Hartebeest. There was a group of 25-30 cows with only 1 bull and we never had an opportunity for a shot. We kept driving around and after not long, saw a group of 2-3 Gemsbuck. I got set up on one of them and shot as close to the middle of the shoulder as I could. We saw him drop almost all the way to the ground then jump back up and run. We went out and started looking for him, but we couldn't. We started tracking and didn't get anything until almost an hour and a half later. We figured I must have hit far back because Tino and Bonzo(dog) found a small splotch of blood along with contents of guts. That is where we were thinking I hit. Tino, my dad, and Jephias (one of the trackers that also drives the truck) kept tracking while me and my mom waited at the truck, ready to shoot, on one of the roads we figured he would eventually cross. Well, he didn't. After another 2 hours, they made their way back. They found more blood and were planning on giving Bonzo a break, taking Steph and I back to the house, and bringing more of the guys out to help track. It was about 2 o'clock at this point. All the girls were planning on going into town for souvenir shopping in the afternoon, so that is why they were taking us back. I felt bad for just leaving them there to track the animal that I shot, but I was reassured many times that there was nothing I could do to help. We (the girls) had been in town for about 2 hours when Amanda shows me a picture that Tino sent her. They found my Gemsbuck. He was down when they found him but got up and started running as soon as he saw them. My dad had taken my gun and was able to get another shot into him before he got too far. Then he finally dropped. For good this time. They discovered that there was nothing wrong with my shot. I hit him right where I intended to, but what I was unaware of when I shot was that Gemsbuck have a different build in their neck/shoulder/spine. Their spine drops super low into their shoulder and there is about a 2-3-inch gap between his lungs and spine. What most people would call a "no mans land". Can you guess where I hit? Yup… no mans land. Just my luck! They think that the only reason they found gut contents is because he threw it up when running. Even though it didn't go how any of us planned, it was a great learning experience and just another example of how not everything goes like you want it to. I couldn't get any photos with the Gemsbuck, but my dad was there and was able to get photos. Tino cropped me in later. Then we all met up at the house and had dinner. That's all for that day… thank God. [ATTACH type="full" width="385px"]400307[/ATTACH] We all woke up pretty exhausted the next morning. Everyone went out to the Avocado farm. This was the day we were all going to get out Impala. The men wanted to go for long range, so they had to go to the range and zero their guns. Then we were off. All the girls and the boys split up this time. So we had Kelsey, Jill, Rayne, Steph, and me. Along with PH's Barend and Tino. Not even after 10 mins of being out there, Jill got out with Barend. We continued to drive around and after about another 5-10 minutes, Steph got out with Tino. Only a couple minutes later, BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. 4 shots, each about 2-3 minutes apart. We went to help Steph find hers first. We were driving down the path and laying there in the dirt, the Impala. As we drove up, there it goes! Gets back up trying to run, but both of its front shoulders are basically hanging on him by his skin. He was only up for 5 seconds and then straight back down. But he was still alive. Tino gave me the thumbs up to put the poor thing out of its misery. I got a shot of quick, and we watched his head fall. Hard thing to do, but its much better than letting him suffer. Once we loaded him up, we went to help find the other 2. We found Jill's, which turned out to be a huge trophy. Very good shot on her part. We were then able to find the one that Steph and Jill shared. Mom took the first shot and hit a little too low. But we can blame dad for that. The day before, he has shot her gun and messed with the scope. So, it was very blurry and weird for mom to shoot. But that doesn't change the fact of what happened. By a miracle of God, Jill was shooting for the same one. She hit it again and it dropped. We went, loaded him up, and kept searching. Rayne got out after not too long, and shooting my gun this time, got a nice Impala with a perfect shot. Then Kelsey got out and got hers very quickly. Another great Impala with a great shot. Considering we had to shoot through multiple herds of Ostriches, it was great the success we had. We were all very happy as we drove out. We drove to a water station and rinsed all the Impala off. Got some killer pictures, and then met up with the guys. Steve and Brian were both able to get one. Steve from about 550 yards, and Brian from 250. We loaded them up with ours and then headed back to camp. Very fun ride with Rayne driving, and Tino judging her (jokingly) as we sat on the back of the truck. "Eric, I think your wife is trying to kill me". Tinos take away from the ride. After we went back and had lunch, we were back out. We stayed on Tinos property this time and split back up into our families. We were after my Waterbuck, and my moms Black Impala. At about 4:30, me and Tino got and started stalking a couple of Waterbuck. We were set up on the sticks, just waiting for an open shot. Which was going to be very difficult to get. I stood there, on the sticks, staring at the through the scope for a solid hour or more. Not moving, just waiting. The sun was starting to go down, and we were about to say it was time to go back. But no. That's definitely not what happened. We were finally able to get a frontal shot! There were 2 of them, side by side, looking straight at us. We were only about 60-70 yards away, and Tino told me where to shoot. Can you guess again what type of shot it was? Another "Shoot just a hair below that stick" kind of shot. With Tino, you never know what to expect. Carrying after my dad when he shot his Cape Buffalo, I went straight through the stick, and was still able to drop the Waterbuck. We found him and told my dad to come down to pick us up. We cut off the stick I shot through and showed it to my dad looking super disappointed. As if we hadn't gotten the Waterbuck. He didn't believe us, but it was worth a shot. We took a lot of pictures with the trophy, and then loaded him up to be taken back to the butcher shed. My mom went out with Barned to stalk a couple of Black Impala, but it was getting dark, and they couldn't find them back, so they just went back to the house. We all had dinner and settled in for the night with good hopes for the next days hunting. [ATTACH type="full" width="391px"]400302[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="371px"]400296[/ATTACH] We had a great breakfast and headed straight out, just like every other day. But this day was different. It was our last day. The final chance to get the things we wanted. Our family went out with Eric and Rayne as well. After almost an hour, we spotted some Wildebeest. The last thing on my list. I was wanting my mom to take it because I knew she was interested in one as well, but she made me go. Me and Tino were able to get super close to them, which is extremely hard to do considering how skittish of an animal they are. We were stalking them for at least an hour but were never able to get a shot through all the brush. We kept creeping closer and closer until we got up to about 50 yards away from them. We finally got somewhat of a clearing. I got set up on the sticks and once again, can you guess where Tino told me to aim? "Just at the tip of that stick". That's just what I did. Luckily, this time I didn't hit it. The Wildebeest ran about 75-80 yards before the tumbled to the dirt. Very nice Wildebeest, and I was extremely happy. But it was time for me to retire for the trip. I had already gotten everything I imagined of and more! I never could have imagined that I would get everything on my list! We were then off again to help find Rayne a Zebra, and my mom a Black Impala. They both got out within 10 minutes of each other and started stalking. At one point, I was looking down the road to see if the Zebra would cross, and there I see this Zebra just staring straight through my soul. I whisper "Eric, there is a Zebra staring straight at me right now". He tells me "No there's not. You're lying", and I just tell him "No Eric, I'm dead serious". He walked out to where I was and saw that I was in fact, not delusional. We then watched then cross the road only 40 yards in front of us. We wait about another hour before both Rayne and Steph make their way back to the truck. It was already time to go in, so we did. After lunch, we went back out. We went on our own this time, and let Rayne and Eric split back off. We spotted some Black Impalas quickly. Mom got out with Tino, and as we were driving away from them, within 2 or 3 minutes, we heard a shot. Perfect shot, of course. They ended up only being within 20 yards of the animal. We got some nice photos and then dropped it off back at the butcher shed. We went back out, mostly just to enjoy the scenery this time. There was nothing else on any of our lists, so we were also helping Rayne find her Zebra. We spotted a herd and Tino walkie talkied Zane (Rayne and Eric's PH) and told him to get down to where we were. We were also just across the road from a huge heard of Cape Buffalo and got some great pics of them! As it got dark, we went back in for dinner. With another one of Amanda's amazing dinners, we all went to bed happy and 5 pounds heavier. [ATTACH type="full" width="398px"]400301[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="466px"]400305[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="427px"]400304[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="434px"]400306[/ATTACH] [ATTACH type="full" width="421px"]400289[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" width="509px"]400288[/ATTACH] When we got up in the morning, we packed everything up and brought our luggage to the van. We had to get out pretty quick, but we of course made time to say goodbye to everyone and give thanks to all of the people who helped us along our journey. We could not have asked for better help. Everyone truly did amazing and there was not one part of the trip where anyone had a bad time. Well, except the times when Steve wouldn't shut up (all jokes… mostly). And that wraps up the 2022 Holtmeyer African hunt. [/QUOTE]
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