OTTERSKOOF – A GEM IN THE FREE STATE
An old bull with symmetrical horns is what I wanted...
KOOS BARNARD
Iwatched as the four waterbuck bulls, alerted by two kudus, climbed the steep slope of the rugged mountain above the Knapsak River. They were already too far away to take a shot, but I watched them through my Leica binocular and noticed that one bull had a nice symmetrical pair of horns that did not pinch or come together at the tips. That’s the one I wanted.
I was hunting on Otterskloof Private Game/Hunting Reserve, a prime piece of property located about 30km from Philippolis in the Free State. This small town lies approximately 200km south-south west of Bloemfontein, the capital city of the province. The reserve belongs to Abel and Karin Erasmus who bought and amalgamated 14 stock farms back in 2007 or so, to form this pristine wildlife reserve where sustainable utilisation plays a very important role in the conservation of a large number of animal species. As can be expected, it is a wilderness area with no inner fences and a total size of 14 000ha. An added bonus is that the reserve also borders the Vanderkloof Dam.
Otterskloof does not only cater for hunters. It is open to hikers, fisherman and wildlife photographers. The facilities can also be utilised for conferences, weddings and many other functions, etc.
The main lodge, Safari Lodge, is close to the main entrance. Then there are the Bush Lodge and Rhino Lodge, both located deep inside the reserve, approximately a 45 minute drive from the entrance. A 4x4 vehicle is
not required to reach these lodges but you do need one with high ground clearance. Safari Lodge has 11 en-suite rooms and can sleep 22 people. It offers fully-catered services of the highest standard – the equivalent of a five-star hotel.
Bush Lodge and Rhino Lodge are mainly for those who want to cater for themselves and do not have electricity. Stoves and fridges are powered by gas and warm water is supplied by means of a wood-fired geyser or donkey as it is called locally. Rhino Lodge sleeps 16 people and Bush Lodge 8. Fishermen love to stay in the Bush Lodge because it gives easy access to the Vanderkloof Dam. »
» Otterskloof is a wildlife paradise and home to 32 different species of game. You will find everything here, from mongoose, lynx, jackal and steenbuck, right up to kudu, eland, buffalo and rhino. Rare species such as roan and sable flourish on this reserve. Blue cranes, fish eagles and a host of other bird species also thrive here.
This must be one of the most beautiful hunting venues in South Africa. The terrain is quite varied and comprises wide open, grassy plains, broken veld dotted with thorn trees, high mountains and deep valleys. A number of non-perennial rivers, of which the Knapsak is the biggest, wind their way through Otterskloof. Although the Knapsak does not flow all year round it has many big water pools that basically never dry up. I have hunted Otterskloof on a number of occasions and the beauty of the place astounds and delights all over again with every visit. This is indeed one of my favourite hunting venues in South Africa.
LOOKING FOR AN OLD BULL
It has been a while since I have hunted a mature waterbuck bull, so my main aim was to bag an old bull with nice symmetri- cal horns. I wasn’t looking for a record book animal... any old bull that gave me a good hunt would suffice.
The common or ringed waterbuck is endemic to areas east of the Great Rift Valley towards the sea and from south-eastern Somalia all the way down the eastern side of Africa to South Africa’s Limpopo province. These shaggy but stately looking animals have been introduced to properties all over South Africa by game farmers and being quite hardy and adaptable, waterbuck do very well in most parts of our country. As their name implies waterbuck have a high requirement for water, drink regularly and are never found too far away from a water source. Otterskloof has a very healthy waterbuck population with many good, mature bulls.
Waterbuck have oily skins, especially the old ones and the musky odour of that oil can taint the meat if the hairy side of the skin comes into contact with the meat during the skinning process. Some believe that waterbuck meat is terrible to eat but that is a myth. Avoid contact with the hairy side of the skin and the meat is excellent
(see our recipe for waterbuck backstraps in this issue).
Although gregarious herd animals, waterbuck do not form large herds. Group sizes normally vary from three or five cows with their calves to maybe 15 or so. Each maternity group usually has a dominant, territorial bull with them but female groups are also common. Young bulls leave the herd when they are one year or slightly older and form bachelor groups that have no set territories of their own.
Older, non-breeding bullssometimes remain solitary or they join a bachelor group and it is among these that good trophy bulls can be found. Waterbuck can reach an age of 15 years.
Being territorial, bulls are normally not too difficult to locate. When they are not regularly disturbed waterbuck are not as shy and secretive as kudu or bushbuck for instance. However, where they are regularly hunted, these animals can become as jumpy and elusive as a kudu bull.
Although waterbuck favour marshes, reed beds, riverbanks and floodplains adjacent to stretches of open water they are also at home in fairly dense, flat bushveld where it can be quite difficult to hunt them. With limited visibility you often smell them before you spot them – the musky odour that a group exudes can be quite strong. In more open terrain like at Otterskloof for instance, a high vantage point overlooking a riverbank is a good place to start a hunt from. Sit quietly and glass your surrounds, a waterbuck is bound to show up at some time or another.
On day one of the hunt, I glassed some broken terrain early in the morning and later stalked a herd of kudu. We (my wife and I – she was my cameraman) also stalked hartebeest and mountain zebra and we bumped into sable, buffalo, gemsbuck, blesbuck and blue wildebeest.
At noon we visited a fairly deep, narrow valley where the Knapsak River cuts through mountains. I remember spotting waterbuck and kudu there in the past and thought it would be a good place to visit. Well, as it turned out luck was on my side. I spooked two kudu bulls at the entrance to the valley where the Knapsak turns sharply. The kudus raced up the mountain slope above the riverbed and that’s when I spotted the waterbuck.
Knowing that waterbuck are territorial and creatures of habit I decided to return to the exact same spot early the next morning. Hopefully I could surprise the waterbuck bulls down in the riverbed. Where the river turns sharply a fairly high hill towers over the entrance to the valley. From the top of that hill you have a grand view of the valley (see picture). All I had to do was climb to the top from the blind side, get comfortable and wait patiently – that is if a waterbuck obligingly decided to come and graze on the grassy banks close to that sharp bend in the river.
SETTLING IN FOR THE HUNT
I reached the top of the hill just as the first rays of sunlight started feeling their way down the steep slope of the mountain on the western side of the Knapsak. Using the Leica I meticulously glassed the riverbed and then the mountain slopes on both sides of the river. After about 15 minutes I spotted a young waterbuck bull way down the valley but high up on the righthand side mountain slope. As the sun bathed more of the slope in bright light I spotted two more youngsters and four mature bulls. They were a long way off but I was almost certain that one of the bulls was the same one I eyed the previous afternoon.
Instead of going after them I sat tight, hoping that they would eventually move closer. A few minutes later I heard stones rattling and spotted a herd of waterbuck females below me on their way to the river. I watched until they reached a big pool, drank their fill and started grazing in the riverbed. More movement caught my eye. Two big buffalo bulls emerged from the bushes on the left hand-side riverbank. They joined the waterbuck females for a while and then walked to another pool right at the sharp bend in the river.
Upon reaching it they entered, then dipped their heads under the water, pulling out tufts of water grass that grew beneath the surface. The old gentlemen were enjoying breakfast. I spent more than an hour on the hill but the waterbuck bulls did not come any closer, in fact they moved away a little. With all the other activity around the entrance to the valley I decided to slip down the blind side of the hill again and return in the afternoon.
We hunted a different section of the reserve for the rest of the morning and at about two o’clock were back at the valley and climbed the hill again. Reaching the top, I stopped and glassed the riverbed below. This time we were lucky! I spotted four female waterbuck and the male with the nice set of horns I saw the previous day. They were about 500m away but facing our way.
I quickly moved a few metres down the slope to a convenient rock and got into a comfortable shooting position. My wife followed with the video camera and set it up right next to me. All we had to do was wait...
After about 30 minutes the bull started walking purposely towards us. He stopped after covering approximately 150m, grazed for a while and then continued slowly in our direction. It turned out that he was heading for a patch of short grass right below us where he joined a group of three warthogs. When he stopped to graze, my Leica rangefinder confirmed that the distance was 205m, so I closed the bolt of my .308 CZ 550 over a cartridge containing a 150gr Nosler AccuBond bullet.
The bull was almost fully broadside, facing to the left. I thus lined up the Swarovski’s crosshair slightly behind his left shoulder. As he stood grazing, his left front leg was positioned a little to the back, so I waited until he moved it forward to expose the vitals. A split second after the CZ barked we heard the sound of a solid hit. The waterbuck leaped high into the air and took off at full speed but only managed to cover about 40m before his legs buckled.
With that my waterbuck hunt was done. My wife and I slowly descended into the valley and walked up to the bull. He was old, his horns beautifully »
» symmetrical with thick bases. After we’ve taken some pictures I called in the recovery team who carried the bull out (see video).
AND NOW FOR A GREY GHOST
Next on my list was a kudu bull. Abel told me about a specific bull with wide horns that he had seen on several occasions. That one, he said, nobody was allowed to shoot. Well, I was fine with that... any representative bull would do.
Kudu are also known as “the grey ghosts of the bush” because they can be quite elusive, especially the old bulls. We hunted hard the next day but did not see a single kudu bull. However, late in the afternoon our luck changed. We were on our way back to the lodge when I spotted five kudu bulls on the far side of a plain. They were heading towards a watering point close to the foot of a hill in some broken terrain. I parked the Toyota and grabbed my rifle.
The bulls must have been at least 700 to 800m away so I set off at a hurried pace in an effort to intercept them. It was soon clear though that I would not be able to do that. Using a donga as cover I changed direction and headed straight for the watering point. Topping a rise 172m from the water I noticed that the bulls were already there so I sat down and rested the CZ over my shooting sticks. The kudus were among some karee trees that surrounded the water and I could not see them clearly.
Eventually a bull stepped into an opening... it was a good one with wide horns. I lined up on the bull but hesitated. Was it Abel’s special bull? The sun was already behind the mountains and in the pale dusk the bull looked huge. I sat for long minutes watching the kudu through my scope, not sure what to do. I did not want to make a mistake by shooting the wrong animal. Eventually I lowered the rifle and opened the bolt. It was good to know that I could have taken him if I wanted to. By then it was so dark that I could hardly make out the other bulls behind the trees, so I stood up and walked back to where my wife waited in the Toyota. By the time I got there it was pitch dark.
I had a plan though. There is a wide kloof (valley) leading away from the watering point with high hills on both sides. The hills on the right-hand side actually form a high plateau. Like most animals, kudus are creatures of habit and I was hoping that the bulls would stick together and hang around in the area during the night.
The next morning before sunrise I parked the Toyota at the same spot as the previous night and set out on foot towards the watering point. Hopefully the bulls would be somewhere in the hills close by. I passed the watering point and took up position on a low rise that gave me a good view of the kloof and the hills on both sides.
To my right I spotted a small herd of gemsbuck and further up in the kloof, halfway up the slope of the high hill on the right, seven Hartmann’s zebra. Using the Leica I glassed the kloof and hill slopes carefully... no kudus. Be patient, do not rush things and keep on glassing I told myself.
After about 20 minutes I spotted movement right at the top end of the kloof where the hills join to form what we call a neck. Kudu! First I saw only one, then two more. They were in a patch of dense bush in the kloof right below that neck. Unfortunately I could not approach them directly because the wind was at my back and the mountain zebra would spot me long before I was within shooting range of the kudus.
The only way to close the distance undetected was to take a wide detour to the right and move along the plateau on top of the right-hand side hills. Turning back towards the kloof would then allow me to approach with the wind crossing my front from left to right.
Fortunately the gemsbuck had moved on, so I turned sharp right, walked over a low koppie (hill) and then started climbing the big hill. The terrain was difficult and it took me almost an hour to complete the semi-circle detour. Would the kudus still be down there in the kloof? I ended up right at the top of the kloof close to the neck and leaving the plateau I descended the hill slowly... almost one step at a time.
Suddenly I spotted the kudus. Not three but seven! All were bulls. Something must have disturbed them because they were all standing in a bunch halfway up the slope of the opposite hill, looking down the kloof. The bull with the wide horns was not with them. I ranged the distance; it was 178m.
A convenient rock to my right provided a good rest and I settled the 3-10x42 Swarovski’s crosshair low on the bull’s shoulder that stood right at the rear of the group.
As the sound of the shot echoed down the kloof, the bull collapsed and rolled almost in slow motion about 10m down the slope. The 150gr Nosler AccuBond had again done its job.
I completed my hunt by shooting a warthog on the last day of the hunt, but that is a story for another day (see Kolskoot 2019, our annual special edition – on the shelves at the end of April).
To conclude: Otterskloof is a beautiful place and well stocked with a variety of game species. It offers some of the best hunting you will find in South Africa. This is a professional outfit that I highly recommend. * For more info on Otterskloof phone 071-332-9939 or e-mail hunt@otterskloof.com * To watch the video of the waterbuck hunt on Otterskloof please use the following link: https://youtu.be/eSy7Yt-GJnI