Miroslav Bojcun - Impala Trophy

Miroslav Bojcun's trophies
This page can't load Google Maps correctly.
Do you own this website?
Animal:

Note: We climbed up and got settled. We were confident something would show up. We decided to give it three to four hours and if nothing came, we’d move back to our first hide. We wanted to wait for my dream zebra there till dusk. Last night we practiced shooting at a lower light, assisted by an infra flashlight. W e noticed the first movement at around three thirty. A herd of impalas was approaching the hide. Just like yesterday, they were led by females. They scented carefully, stopped, listed, and then moved on. Two large males were hanging out in the back. We peeked out very carefully. I slowly and extra carefully grasped the back of the chair, making sure the release would not get stuck. I got up and picked up the bow. I placed the arrow in the bowstring and hooked the release. The tip of the arrow was aiming at the corner of the hide. I was carefully looking out over my shoulder from underneath my cap. Dirk picked up the rangefinder and double checked the distance. He raised two fingers, which meant twenty meters. The impala male was moving about very slowly and carelessly. I slowly started drawing the bow. Suddenly, Dirk raised his arm and stopped me. More impalas were standing behind the male and the flying arrow could wound them. That’s something you must try to avoid by all means. So we kept waiting. The book that was on the floor of the hide was opened on a page showing all the vital areas of an impala. The heart of most African animals is located in the front of their bodies. In most cases, you have to aim at their front foot. There is no need to worry about the bones. The arrow is equipped with a good point which, in most cases, will fly through the animal. You have to constantly watch the way the animal is facing. It is not a static 3D target with its vital organs marked on its skin. The vital organs (heart and lungs) are located inside and move with every move of the animal and the way it faces. It’s somewhat like a balloon. If it turns its head away from the shooter, you have to aim more toward the back. If the head is facing the shooter, you aim directly at the leg. The back leg will provide the best guidance. The impalas standing behind the male slowly started to leave. I was waiting for the right moment. The space was clearing out. This was my opportunity! Once again, I drew the bow toward the corner of the hide so that the animals would not notice any movement. I took the release and stepped to the right in order to get a clean shot through the peephole. The animal raised his head and looked up toward me. I froze. Then he put his head down and started feeding again. I could feel my heartbeat in my throat. My adrenalin was as thick as molasses. I placed the first pin on the sight on the animal’s left shoulder, I held my breath, and pulled the trigger. Several things happened all at once. The arrow flew out in the right direction, the animal jerked, froze for a second, and immediately charged with a huge leap. The rest of the impalas disappeared simultaneously. The clearing was empty. I exhaled and looked at Dirk. The arrow is over there, he said, pointing with his finger. The arrow was stuck in the ground, about two meters behind the spot where the impala male had stood. As I expected, the arrow went straight through him. It had so much energy that it did not slow down and went into the ground. We decided to wait twenty minutes. The shot looked pretty good, but as Dirk says, you never know! We climbed down from the hide and radioed trackers. Just to be sure, Dirk got his gun ready as well as, although we didn’t think he’d need it. But you never know! Two black trackers got out of the truck that came over. We set out to follow the impala’s tracks. We were following traces of blood. We walked through the bush behind the clearing and there he was, right after a dirt road. He escaped less than 150 meters. Our first catch made Dirk much happier than me. He congratulated me and immediately started setting things up for a photo shoot. He had a small clearing cut out in the bush and had the impala moved there. We placed him on the ground so that the falling sun would cast light on it. Everything was happening very fast. Dirk is a fanatic and he was ready to hunt some more.

Read more about Impala hunting
Region: Africa

rock lodge
BESbswy