In Search of a Trophy

This South African Safari Included an Encounter with Poachers and a Search for a World Record Mountain Reedbuck
By Thomas C. Tabor

"Tom, you've got to hunt mountain reedbuck. I know where we possibly could find the next world record," my PH and close friend, Carl Labuschage, kept telling me.

But in all honesty, I hadn't even considered hunting reedbuck of any kind on this trip. Months before I'd arrived in South Africa, I'd prepared a well thought out list of other plains game species that the walls of my trophy room just seemed to be screaming out for.

Surely, if finances weren't a consideration, I would have booked a 30-day safari all-inclusive of everything, including the Big Five. But unfortunately, like a lot of hunters, I don't fit in the category of being a wealthy financier and as such, expenses played a major role in the 10 animals that I'd selected to hunt.

TOP OF THE LIST

On the top of that list, I'd hoped to take a good kudu bull, which would move me a little closer to completing my collection of spiral-horned antelope; I wanted to bring home a warthog, which had somehow eluded me on my earlier safaris; and the eight others on the list were no less desirable, or no less challenging to hunt.

But what was possibly even more of a concern than the fairly small trophy fee for the reedbuck was my time restraints. There just didn't seem to be enough time to include a mountain reedbuck, but Carl persisted, pleading with me that I had to make time even at the cost of missing out on some other species. Knowing full well if I didn't agree I would surely regret it down the road, I finally asked Carl to make the necessary arrangements. First, however, I wanted to see a kudu bull on the ground and in the Zululand area, good quality kudu are not all that easy to come by.