I just got back from a 7-day hunt with Eric Nysse from Wisconsin (HN member - enysse).
Eric was picked up by me on 16.05.2009 at OR Tambo Airport, JHB. I ran into some last minute problems with my concession owner, who had hunters on the property until May 18th, 2009 (not the info I had, and hunting was actually booked for May 17th). Early on May 19th, 2005, we went to the concession, and after a very short sighting in session, we finished the paperwork with the concession owner, and started hunting. After looking at quite a few animals, we found this very good Tsessebe bull. He was old and mature. I initially called his trophy size at around the 14"-mark (I always call short of what I think). The bull moved down the hill a bit, and presented a better look. We thought he was good, and approached on foot. He presented us with a broadside shot at about 60yrds, and Eric was very quick with the shot, placing the 190gr .300WM bullet just behind the shoulder. The animal took off, ran about 50yrds, and went down. His longest horn measured at 15¾", and on SCI scored a great 47¾".
We had some brunch, and went back into the veld to look for waterbuck and Burchell's zebra. Late afternoon (at around 16h20) we found a great waterbuck bull. The next moment the bull jumped out and ran about 10yrds towards us. Eric did not even wait for the call as he realized that this was a good animal. A well placed shot again with the .300WM, and we found the animal 30yrds further. His longest horn measured at 28¾", and on SCI scored a very respectable 73¾".
We were getting pressed for time, and whilst I stayed behind to help with the skinning of the waterbuck, my son, Wikus, also a PH, went off with Eric to find a Burchell's zebra. Before we were finished skinning the waterbuck, they were back with an extremely good zebra. I have to say thank you to my wonderful son for a great call on the zebra, as there were a 1,500ZAR penalty on shooting a mare. He made the call, and it was the right one.
On Wednesday, May 20th, off we went to a concession in Limpopo. After some hard hunting on Thursday, with no animal to show, we made a bit of a later start on Friday. We found a good impala, and Eric took a shot at about 300yrds. The animal was wounded, and not recovered, leaving all of us sad. At this point I have to say that notwithstanding the wound shot, Eric is a great shot, and wounding the animal was just one of those things that sometimes happens to us hunters. I still had full confidence in Eric's shooting ability.
After some lunch we went out again, and fairly late we found a fantastic kudu bull. He was broadside at about 40yrds, and again Eric placed the 190gr .300WM perfectly. I thought of around 48"-50", but as the measuring tape started to go around on the ridge it grew to an excellent 54½". It was measured right on the spot. On Saturday morning, just before we left, we re-measured, and the longest horm came out at 55â…œ". Apparently it grew a little more during the night ;-) It mesured a very respectable 130â…ž" on SCI.
On Saturday afternoon Eric boarded his Delta flight back to the States. I enjoyed hunting with Eric. He has very high demands with regards to the kind of animals he wants, and has a lot of knowledge with regards to judging trophies on the hoof. As PH I almost did not have to make calls as Eric would take one glance and knew whether he wanted it or not. I genuinely liked his approach. His first requirement was maturity, then horn mass, and then length. Eric is an excellent hunter, and it was truly a privilege hunting with him. I'm also very glad that we were able to find him some excellent animals for his trophy collection, and do hope to see him back some day soon.
Thank you very much Eric. I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did.
PS - if anyone would like to see the animals we hunted, please have a look at my photo album "Eric Nysse - 2009 hunt"
Eric, it is always sad to wound and animal, and not recover it, apart from the costs involved. But wounding is unfortunately part of hunting. In that... more