This blog is written by 15-year-old game hunting enthusiast and conversationist, Slade van Wyk.
Game hunting in South Africa for feral animals is, in my opinion, one of the most exciting African hunts available, the triumph of emotions that you will experience in such a hunt is incredible. As much as these animals aren’t always the biggest or the scariest, they are extremely fun to hunt, and I would highly recommend them if you had the chance to go on one of these safari hunting trips.
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What makes an Animal Feral?
A lot of you may be wondering what classifies an animal as “feral?” A feral animal is originally labeled as a domestic animal (an animal that had been kept captive) and when it is released into the wild, it is left by itself, without being managed by humans. When the animal is released, it is then labeled as a feral animal. An example of one of these animals is a feral pig. A feral pig that was once domesticated and then released into the wild would become feral, the same pig could have been used for studies of nutrition, studies of genetics, or even study of meat which would lead to culling while being domestic. Once one of these domestic pigs is released into the wild it will then fully earn the name of a feral animal/pig.
Where can you hunt feral animals on a safari hunting trip?
If, like me, you want to enjoy a feral game hunting safari, there are many locations worldwide with farms that contain some exotic feral animals such as feral goats and sheep. If you were to go game hunting in South Africa, you can find feral animals just about anywhere on a safari hunting adventure. We as Game Hunting Safaris decided to head towards the Northern Cape for a very diverse and interesting selection of animals for an African hunting trip.
My African Hunt: Targeting the Ferals!
When on our hunt in the Northern Cape, I hunted three different types of species of feral animals, namely a cow, goat, and sheep. Two of the feral animal species that I hunted on my African hunting trip were in the same conditions, namely rocky mountains, dry grounds, and hot temperatures.
Feral Sheep Hunting in South Africa
My brother and I woke up early to try and get a head start on the day that awaited us and prepared everything that we would need for our African hunt. We had packed our rifles and a bag full of supplies such as binoculars, water, etc in preparation for an exciting hunting safari. And so, we started to walk. We walked on the flat, dry grounds for about an hour, and as the sun started to rise, we started to hike up a mountain. We didn’t know it at the time, but it would be one of the worst mountains to climb, as the rocks were big and slippery, making the climb quite a challenge.
With all the equipment we had packed, it was very stressful not to damage anything and we were cautious as we climbed. Once we had reached the summit, we noticed a flock of sheep idly standing under some trees. We slowly started to stalk the sheep and noticed that there were three sheep roughly the same size. However, as we used the binoculars to confirm the biggest one, we realized that he stood out like a sore thumb! He was definitely the largest and due to his sheer size, with a large body and beautiful woolen coat, it made him stand out in the flock and easy to see. We stalked closer and I found an ant mound to rest my rifle on, with my brother watching the sheep through the binoculars to ensure that it was a good shot.
As I looked through my rifle scope, I lined up my crosshairs towards the middle of his chest as he stood in a frontal position, making the heart a bit more difficult to hit but the shot was still accomplishable. I pulled the trigger, and all the stress was relieved. He ran about 10 yards and then fell to the ground. As I approached him, I saw what a monster he truly was! My word, he was heavy! We took a few pics of him lying down and me sitting just behind him, as well as a picture of me holding him by the horns – and his head and horns were surprisingly very heavy. I had some assistance from the PH to load the beast and off he went to get prepared. While he didn’t have the biggest horns, it’s not just about trophy hunting for animals in Africa but more so about the memories that you make, and I will never forget that feral sheep!
My Goat on my African hunting trip
The second animal that I hunted was a feral goat. The conditions were the same and I used the same hunting method as with my previous African hunt.
It was a bit later the following day when my brother and I started to head off, we walked the same flat, dry terrain the day before, but we followed a different route that was still quite difficult to hike to, in search of new prey. While walking across a flat area of land, we spotted something white in the distance. We used the binoculars and yes, it confirmed that we had finally found them, as there was a herd of goats in the distance!
So, we did the only thing we could do…we decided to track them while being as quiet as possible! We slowly covered some ground and reached a reasonable distance from where I could spot them quite clearly. I lined up the rifle’s sights to the front middle part of the animal where the lungs sit and then pulled the trigger! The bullet hit both lungs perfectly and he dropped after running about 10 yards, before dying behind a bush.
He had a very nice shape in his horns. They had a more backward shape before then coming out to the sides and making their way out and a bit up. But again, at the end of the day, it’s not always about the trophy, but rather about the experience and all the different types and shapes of horns that you may see.
After we had taken a few pictures behind the goat, we took a few pictures of the horns in the sky which looked amazing. I would highly recommend this approach if you were looking for a striking image emphasizing the width of the horns. We then loaded him and took him to the skinning shed where we chose to shoulder-mount him on the wall. We put salt on his mohair to keep it dry and to preserve it for the long drive to the taxidermy.
Later that day when the goat had been skinned, I returned to the skinning shed where the workers had just finished, and I cut the goat’s backstraps. I then took it back to the house and started to prepare it, by removing all the sinew and putting the good meat aside. I fetched olive oil, some herbs, salt, and pepper, and sliced the goat backstrap into small, bite-sized pieces, and added it to a pan sizzling over a recently prepared fire. The meat started to cook slowly and when it was done, it smelt and looked amazing. My family was so excited to have a taste of the goat and even the PH tried a piece! It was delicious and I would make it again and in the same way, but it’s not recommended to eat the meat on the same day as you hunted it, as you are supposed to let the meat hang and bleed out for a couple of days and then only cook it. We live and learn, but it was very tasty and thoroughly enjoyed by all.
My Africa Hunt for a Feral Cow
The third feral animal that I targeted was a cow. On the third day of my African hunting trip, we used a different strategy than the previous two days. We decided to drive around in hopes of spotting one of the massive cows we knew were on the farm. After we had been driving for about an hour, all we saw was a Scimitar-Oryx, and we headed towards it.
While we were approaching the oryx we spotted some cows in the distance. My brother took a shot at the majestic oryx, and it was perfect! The oryx fell straight down in his tracks! But as we slowly approached him, we spotted a very large cow about 120 yards away. I decided to try and take a shot at her with my 300 Win Mag. On the back of the bakkie, I lined up my shot between her eyes, which is a shot that isn’t highly recommended as the brain is small and a difficult target to hit. I pulled the trigger, and she dropped on the spot, all stress was gone… or was it?
As we headed towards the oryx to go and pick him up and take pictures, my younger sister spotted that the cow was still alive and walking around! And that could only mean one thing… I had missed her brain! So, I quickly jumped up onto the bakkie and grabbed the first rifle I saw, the rifle I grabbed shot AK rounds so it wasn’t the biggest caliber, but it would get the job done. The PH and I raced off on the bakkie towards the cow that had stood up, I lined up the shot for a double lung and took the shot, she stopped and couldn’t move, so I reloaded the rifle and took another shot in the same place and shot her again, she fell to the ground, and we raced towards her. She was barely alive. We used the PH’s .22 to shoot her again to ensure that she died as quickly as possible. And, after 4 shots, she finally died next to a bush.
The only challenge we had was that the cow was so big that we needed a trailer! The trailer was flat and had a large piece of rubber that could slide off the trailer. We drove to the cow, released the rubber sheet with a winch, and put it next to her. We rolled her onto the rubber sheet and winched her onto the trailer. Her horns were so big that they could touch both sides of the trailer and as much as it’s not always about trophy hunting in Africa, I was very happy that I had shot such a massive cow. We drove back to the house to drop her off, she was so big and heavy that we had help from all the people that were on the farm to pull her off the trailer and attach her to be skinned.
After we had collected all the meat and horns from the cold room, we sat back and enjoyed our last night in the Northern Cape. As the sun set in the background, I could confidentially say that it had been an amazing safari hunting trip and it was one of the best and most exciting African hunting trips that I had ever completed. In conclusion, I highly recommend that you do one of these amazing African hunts where you can enjoy breathtaking sunrises and sunsets, along with all the memories that are made and the trophies shot.
Read more about our recent trip to the Kalahari, where we enjoyed an African plains game hunting safari.
Author: Slade van Wyk (15 years old)