Soutpansberg Free range Kudu hunt

Hello Everyone,

I booked and went on this hunt in late April and early May. I have been busy, and it has taken me longer than it should have to write my report on this hunt, but here it is. I hunted once before with Bayly Sippel for Buffalo in 2023 with their PH, Nic Junge, and harvested a 46.5-inch monster. The hunt, their facilities, and their service were all top-notch. When I saw this hunt advertised, I knew I had to book it. I retired at 50 years old in 2021 and now I travel and hunt six to eight times per year. With all of this hunting I do, this hunt with “BS” was one of the best hunts of my entire life—a top three for sure. That says a lot because I hunt all over the world with many different outfitters for nearly every species.

When we all read these hunt reports, people are always curious about the rifles and calibers used, so I will address this now. This trip was a little challenging because of the wide variety and varying sizes of game pursued. I brought three rifles: a Savage 17 HMR with a 3×9 Nikon scope with a bull barrel; a Tikka T3 .30-06 with a Nightforce 3.5×15 scope; and a Seekins Precision in 6.5 PRC with a Huskemaw 5×30 scope with custom turrets out to 1,200 yards, shooting Hornady 147 gr Precision Hunter ammo.

I requested Nic Junge as my PH again for this hunt. He is possibly the best PH I have ever worked with. He picked me up from my hotel near the J’burg airport and we drove six hours north to our hunting area—a small and remote old farmstead in the Soutpansberg Mountains in the Limpopo District. When we arrived, we met Tyler, who is a friend of Nic and grew up hunting on this property since he was a small child. The accommodations were comfortable but rustic. We had electricity, hot and cold water, and all the basics, but it was not luxurious. The hot water was provided by boiling water in a 55-gallon drum over a wood fire.

We arrived late in the afternoon, unpacked, and settled in. We had dinner and then went out that night to hunt over one of the two bait stations that Nic and Tyler had set out in advance. Nic provided me with his .300 WM and a high-quality clip-on thermal to use for our night hunts. We were in a cluster of rocks about 50 yards away up a hill. We were at the bait maybe 45 minutes when a bushpig sow came into the bait. Five minutes later, a huge bushpig boar came in. I gave it a minute or two to settle in and then dropped it in its tracks with one well-placed shot.

Day two started like any typical hunting day—up early, breakfast, and then hiking into the mountains looking for kudu and other species on our list. Almost immediately, we spotted some kudu cows and then a young bull, but after a full day of hiking and glassing, we headed back to camp empty-handed. After dinner, we went to the second bait station hoping to harvest some of the other species on my list. This bait station was set up with a blind about 15 yards from the bait. When we walked into the blind, there were already bushpigs at the bait and we scared them off. Within five minutes, they were back. After giving them five minutes to settle in, I shot another boar. Nic could not believe my luck. I was getting tired of shooting these things, as I have shot countless hogs here in the States. At that time, I did not understand how difficult it is to kill bushpigs.

Day three started like normal. Tyler and Nic decided that we needed to really hike hard and far and do some serious climbing in search of a kudu bull. We hiked for about two hours—all uphill, up a very steep, rocky, and overgrown mountain trail. We finally reached the top of this mountain and came to a huge plains area that Tyler called his “sweet spot.” We climbed on top of a large rock outcropping that gave us a great view of the open area in front of us and started glassing. The mountain continued upward behind us and on our sides. At about 9 a.m. or so, Nic spotted a group of cows with a few calves playing. This was during the rut, so we watched those cows for maybe 90 minutes waiting for the bull to show up, but to no avail.

I spent four years in the Marine Corps infantry, and it was beaten into us to watch our six o’clock for the enemy. To this day, when I hunt, I still always look behind me. While Nic and Tyler were looking forward, I was looking backward and off to our sides. At about 10:30 or so, at our 7 o’clock, I spotted a huge bull coming downhill and making a very slow approach toward the cows that Nic had spotted earlier. We got me set up prone on a rock and ranged the bull at 360 yards. I had my Tikka .30-06 shooting 200 gr Federal bullets. The kudu was broadside and facing to the right. The first shot was maybe 3–4 inches high and 3–4 inches too far right from perfect, but on a kudu it does not matter. There was probably a bit of wind. It was still in the vitals and he went down. I reloaded and waited. After maybe one minute, he stood back up and I fired again. The second round struck him in almost the exact same spot and he was down for good.

I will continue the update in another follow-up post soon. I am barely getting started.

Day four after the morning routine was red duiker hunting. I had never done this before, and it turned out to be much more difficult than I imagined. I used my Tikka .30-06 with FMJ ammo so as to just punch a hole in this small animal and not do too much damage. Red duiker live in very thick, dense vegetation which is almost impenetrable to a human of my size. You have to crawl on your hands and knees into this dense vegetation in full camo gear, set up against a tree or bush, and then try to call them in. It is similar to turkey hunting but FAR more uncomfortable. As all of you Africa hunters know, nearly every bush on that continent has thorns, so you get shredded on the way in and out of the setup. You call for about 10 minutes or so, and if you see nothing, you move a few hundred yards and try again. You just keep trying and trying. It’s a numbers game. Sooner or later, you get lucky. With red duiker, both sexes have horns, so you have to be sure not to shoot a female if you call it in. You and your PH have to work together closely. Anyway, we started calling at around 7 a.m. and worked non-stop until finally, at around noon, we got one to come in. Nic checked it over and whispered “Shoot,” and I fired. It was a good hit, but it took off running through all that thick vegetation. I was worried that we might not recover it due to the brush being so thick. Nic walked quite a way back to our vehicle and got his tracking dog, Buck. Buck smelled around a bit and found that duiker within 30 seconds.

We headed back to the farmhouse and rested until dinner. After dinner, we drove maybe 60 minutes to a huge macadamia nut farm where we started night hunting with spotlights. Here I used my suppressed 17 HMR. This rifle worked wonderfully for these small nocturnal species—quiet, light, and powerful enough to get the job done. I also brought my Tikka, as we were also looking for bushbuck, this time shooting smaller 168 gr Federal bullets. We did a combination of driving and spot-and-stalk looking for nocturnal critters. Nic had a handheld thermal also to aid in spotting. Tyler and I were using only handheld lights. Pretty quickly, Nic spotted a white-tailed mongoose and Nic and I were out on foot after it. Having never hunted one before, I did not realize how quick and slippery these things are. They never really seem to stop moving. I wound up taking a shot at it just as it took a quick turn and missed. Disheartening as it was, the night had just started, and we kept on hunting. A short time later, Tyler spotted a genet. I quickly jumped off the truck and made a perfect shot off my shooting sticks, collected the animal, and jumped back on the truck. Not 30 seconds later, Tyler spotted another genet, and I repeated another perfect shot. I now had two genets in the bag. I had harvested a genet on a previous trip to South Africa in 2024, and I love these animals. Something about them really excites me, so I was extremely fired up now. Maybe 30 minutes later, a giant cane rat ran across the road. I had no idea what it was, and Nic yelled to shoot it, so I did. I had never seen one of these things, and it was the size of a small dog. It was a perfect shot, but it took that 17 round like an insect bite and ran off into the grass, never to be seen again. We all laughed.

All this time, we had been seeing dozens of bushbucks, but they were either does or small rams and not at all what we were looking for as a trophy. Continuing on, maybe 30 more minutes later, we finally found a very nice, mature bushbuck ram. We were now about two hours or so into the night. Nic and I got out of the truck and put on the stalk. After following it for maybe five minutes and through several rows of macadamia trees, I finally got a clean broadside shot and made another perfect one-shot kill. The ram ran about 50 yards and then fell over dead. Nic was able to follow it with his thermal, so we never lost sight of it. About 10 minutes later, Nic spotted another mongoose from the truck and the chase was on. We got out of the truck and chased it on foot for probably five minutes until it finally stopped running around and gave me a shot. I got it this time. These animals let out a loud squeal-like sound when they get shot. It is a very unique sound that I have not heard before and one that you will not forget once you hear it. I’m going to go out of sequence and say that at the very end of the night, I got a second mongoose. It was the last animal of the night, and it again made that unique squeal.

Now for a really cool and weird story from the trip. Everyone has certain species that really excite them more than others. I really love these nocturnal species much more than your run of the mill plains game species. On my priority list was Genet, Civet, Honey Badger and Jackal. After I shot the Mongoose, we continued driving and searching. Nic soon told me that he saw another Mongoose with his thermal, so we jumped out of the truck and pursued it on foot. It took off running very quickly and ran through row after row of macadamia trees. After several minutes Nic said he had found it, set up the sticks and got me on the shot. I was ready. I turned on the light attached to my rifle, looked through the scope and saw a huge Civet, not a Mongoose. So, I shot it. It took off running. The area we were in was an agricultural area with nut trees and no undergrowth. Just row after row of nut trees. We searched for an hour for that Civet and never found it. I was 95% certain that I made a perfect broadside lung shot but Nic thought that maybe I missed. We never found it that night and went back to our camp without it. I was a bit heart broken. Our camp was deep in the mountains deep in a valley with no cell service. The next day when we climbed up into the mountain for our daily hunt and Nic got service he had a message from the owner of the Macadamia farm. The farm workers had found my Civet when the sun came up. They said that it was so large they were unsure it was actually a Civet at first and that Nic should come get it. After that day’s hunting was over Nic drove to the farm and retrieved the Civet. It was in fact the largest Civet that anyone had ever seen or even heard of. Photos of it were being sent to and from friends and family and everyone was in shock by its size. I may have shot a world record Civet.

We were making good progress on our species list and slowly what was left to hunt was becoming smaller. I had requested and Bayly Sippel had obtained a Honey Badger permit for me. We were checking our bait cameras every day but no Badgers were showing up at our baits. We got a Leopard on one of the cameras one night, lots of pigs, a of couple Civets very early in the morning and some porcupines.

Now it was time to hunt dedicated for Klipspringer. We had been scouting for them the entire trip and had been hunting for them half-heartedly, but they were elusive, and we had really only seen one shootable ram. He ducked into cover anytime he saw us coming from way off and was not going to give me a shot. My Seekins in 6.5PRC with the Huskemaw scope is highly accurate at any range even on a target this small so this is the rifle I used for this species. We again set out on foot right at first light and started hiking straight up into the mountains. This time we went to a new area where we had not previously been, and Tyler said was prime Klipi territory. We put some serious miles on this day and gained and lost a lot of elevation. At around maybe 11AM we heard a Klipi calling and Nic spotted it maybe 50 yards away just over our left shoulders above us high up on a rock with a ewe and a baby. Nic set up the sticks and I took a very rushed shot and missed. I still don’t know why or how but it happens to all of us sometimes. They scattered and even though we waited we never saw the ram again. I felt horrible about missing after Nic and Tyler did all that work to find the ram and get me a shot. They were both such good sports they just said, “No worries, we will just find another one” and we kept hiking and climbing. After about another 90 minutes we hiked into a very steep and remote valley, and we immediately saw 2-3 Klipi’s between 200-400 yards sitting high up on rock outcroppings surveying their domain. As we stalked in all but one disappeared. That one however, stayed exposed on a rock high above us at a fairly steep angle and 220 yards away. I laid prone and used my pack and a large rock to steady the rifle. I really had trouble getting stable and took at least a minute or more to take the shot. I was very worried the animal would move away but I knew I had to get the shot right this time. Finally, I got all the fundamentals right and slowly squeezed off the round. The bullet hit about two inches low, but it didn’t matter. The shot was close enough to perfect and the Klipi went down instantly. We then had to hike miles back to camp and called it a day. We all needed some rest. The only thing left on my list that I really cared about was the Honey Badger but they were not coming to any of our baits.

After getting back to camp and resting a bit we had dinner and discussed how best to go about tackling the Honey Badger issue. I REALLY wanted a Badger and we were not seeing any. At this point I had harvested everything that was important to me in this Soutpansberg area that was possible. Nic suggested that we pack up in the morning and move to another location that he knew of that had a huge gut pile, a blind and in his opinion a high chance of seeing Badger and Jackal. I agreed so the next morning Tyler went home and Nic and I moved. The first night at the new lodge we sat in the blind for quite a few hours. We saw two Jackal at about 150 yards through the thermal, but they never stopped moving and I never got a shot. No Badgers came in or were seen at all. We did not do any hunting during the next day but when the sun went down, we went back into the blind. I have done MANY, MANY nighttime thermal hunts out of blinds and while rewarding they are boring and can be grueling. We brought chairs, blankets, food and drinks and settled in for a long night prepared to sit all night if needed. I was blown away when after only 30 minutes Nic tapped me on the knee, which was our signal for ( Badger at the Bait ). I put my eye to the thermal scope on the rifle and saw a huge Honey Badger moving around at the bait working its way through our gut and bone pile. I settled my breathing and remembered the 2lb trigger pull on the rifle. The Badger went broadside and stopped moving to eat and I fired. I saw it go straight down without moving. Nic whispered in my ear in a slightly panicked voice that I missed and it had run off to our right. He was unsure if I had hit it and if it was wounded. I replied that ” No way I missed. I was 100% sure that I had hit it perfectly “. We sat for a about five minutes looking through the thermal seeing no heat signature where a dead Badger should be and nothing in the direction he saw it run off in. Finally, I said to Nic that we have to walk out to the bait and see what is going on and he agreed. We turned on our lights walked the 25 yards to the bait and there lay a huge, dead Honey Badger. Without either of us seeing it, two Badgers had come in together. When I shot the big male, the female had run off. The male fell dead behind a large pile of bones and guts so that was blocking the heat signature, and we could not see it until we walked up to it. I literally started jumping up and down and high fiving Nic. We were both elated. He later weighed it and it was 32lbs which by all accounts is quite large. What struck me was just how beautiful and cool this animal was. It was everything I had hoped for. An exciting culmination of the entire trip.

As soon as I saw this hunt advertised here on AH.com I knew that this one was for me. I was in South Africa in 2023 with Bayly Sippel for Buffalo and in 2024 with Frontier Safaris with my ten-year-old son on a multi species hunt for ten days. I was not planning on going back again so soon but I sure am glad I did. Bayly Sippel is one of the best, most professional outfitters that I have ever hunted with. They provide good accommodations, their cooks and food are excellent, their service overall is top notch but most of all their PH Nic Junge is probably the best I have ever had anywhere in the world. I have already booked their Mountain Man hunt for myself and my son for 2026 and if they still offer this exact same hunt in five or six years I will go back and do it again with my son so he can experience it the way I did.