There is so much more to a hunt…
Fellowship Friendship FUN
Character Development – from encountering difficult situations
JOY
Beauty – beauty of the experience – beauty of nature
Join Scott Lamphere on his hunt with Fort Richmond Safaris in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
When Scott phoned me in the middle of the night in 2013, his first words to me were, ‘Can you get me close to an Nyala?’ I immediately replied: ‘For sure, I can!’ After lots of planning via email and many hours of travel, I picked Scott up at the Port Elizabeth Airport for his hunt in the Eastern Cape. It was not long before Scott took a beautiful old Bushbuck ram with an impeccable shot and soon after a lovely Blue Duiker too. Time flies when you’re having fun and we found this to be so true. Although we’d been out looking for Nyala a few times, we were without luck. On the fourth morning, as we were driving up a ridiculously steep hill, we heard a tap on the roof of the Land Cruiser accompanied by shouts to stop. Three bulls were coming down the hill to the left. We prepared ourselves quickly, packed some water, Scott checked his rifle and ammo and we were off. Trekking through thick bush isn’t easy, it can wear you out in just a couple of hundred yards and making a clean shot as well as picking the right animal in the herd can also be very challenging. Luckily as we got closer, it became a little less dense and as the Nyala bulls came down the hill, the more scattered they seemed to become! We squatted down behind some shrubs and waited… After what seemed like an eternity to Scott, they started appearing! “Hold on”, I said, “there are more coming!”. Just then more Nyala started appearing before us and walking in single file down the last stretch of the hill, just below the crest. “I saw him”, I whispered to Scott. I continued to explain that he would only have one shot at this, through a small opening in the bush. I helped Scott get setup on his bi-pod. Suddenly, the first young bull appeared. “That one?” Scott whispered anxious to get his Nyala. “No!” I said, “wait! I’ll count you through them”. Then came a female, followed by another young bull and a calf. The wait was almost excruciating! All of a sudden, Scott’s bull stepped into the opening and stopped. I whispered, “Take him!” and all within a heartbeat Scott squeezed the trigger, BOOM! After Scott’s 300 Weatherby Mag went off, it took us a moment to regain our senses and Scott exclaimed, “Did I connect?” and my reply came almost simultaneously: “Perfectly!”.
The look in Scott’s eyes at that moment is the reason we do what we do as Proffesional Hunters and Outfitters in Africa. PURE EMOTION, PURE JOY! Racing from moments of sadness to an absolute and overwhelming feeling of accomplishment in an instant and yet it feels like an eternity at the time. “We got him, that’s why I came back – for that animal and we got him!” Scott and I just sat there for a while and soaked in the sun, replaying the beauty of the experience in our minds quietly. It was one of the best hunting moments I have experienced. I will really treasure it and my time spent with Scott in the Eastern Cape for many years to come and many more Nyala hunts. Geoffrey Wayland
To the Bushbuck, Blue Duiker and Nyala, Scott added a Vaal Rhebok, Common Reedbuck, Red Lechwe, Oribi and Klipspringer. (pictures below)
Scott and I just sat there for a while and soaked in the sun, replaying the beauty of the experience in our minds quietly.
Remember always:
‘Wonderful things will never happen, if you do not make them happen.’