The author

By Ricardo Longoria

The South African springbok was one of the first animals I had the good fortune of harvesting upon beginning to hunt the Dark Continent. It was during the late morning on day three of my first African hunt. I sat in a pit blind at Howard Knott's Tshipise Game Reserve along with my PH, Robbie Guthrie. I was a bit discouraged, having just missed an easy shot on a gorgeous nyala ram. Shooting out of the small, ground-level opening in the pit blinds was giving me quite a bit of trouble. However, as is the case with Africa, it would not be long before I had an opportunity to redeem myself.

On that particular morning, there had been a great deal of activity around the waterhole. Impala came and went as well as a small group of roan antelope and some nyala females. I was still hoping that I might get another chance at the dandy nyala ram I had shot over earlier in the morning. Suddenly a large group of springbok materialized from the brush, ambling into the area to lick on a salt block that was slightly out of my effective range on the far side of the waterhole.

There was apparently one mature male in the bunch and though both the ewes and the ram had horns, the heavy mass of the ram’s horns was quite noticeable and distinguished it from the females in the group. Robbie sized it up before telling me it was a good one and to take it, should the right shot present itself. After licking on the salt for a while, the ewes came in to drink several times, but the ram kept his distance. I felt that it would just be a few moments before the salt-induced thirst brought the ram in to water. Unfortunately, things did not go as I had expected and before too long, the springbok dispersed, leaving me to wonder as to what had caused the ram to stay away from the water.

After nearly an hour had passed, the same group of springbok appeared, headed straight in the direction of the waterhole. The ram was the first one there and he came right in, drinking perfectly broadside to me. It was now or never. I drew my bow back slowly to full draw, picked a spot close to the ram's shoulder and released the arrow. The shot could not have felt better. When the arrow hit him, he leaped straight up in the air and then bounded away from the blind. I was able to get a glimpse of him running through the open brush country. I could see the crimson blood reflecting the sunlight on his shoulder. I was extremely fortunate to have gotten this opportunity. Springbok are very shy and getting a chance at a mature ram like this one is uncommon.

We sat quietly in the blind for about half an hour, before going after the ram. Following the generous blood trail for about three hundred and fifty yards, we finally saw the ram piled up under a large bush. As I walked up to him, I was in awe over the beauty of this small-bodied antelope. I hadn't really been thinking about these small gazelles, having had kudu and other animals on my mind, but now I was quite impressed. The tan, black and white colouring, along with its heart-shaped horns, make what I would consider one of the most beautiful of the South African game species. Furthermore, as I came to realize later, the springbok is one of the most celebrated of all of the South African plains game species.