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I sat a new blind today for zebra and gemsbok. The wind direction was OK, but not perfect. A few periods of swirls and almost always at the worst possible time.

A big kudu came in and moved towards the waterhole. But he caught my wind and for almost a half hour he stood in the brush and barked. I had never heard this before and it was very similar to the alarm bark of our elk, but it lasted much longer than any elk I had experienced. It was more like some of those PA whitetail does which will blow at you from a safe distance for what seems like hours.

I figured this waterhole was spent for the day, but surprisingly a gemsbok bull walked toward the blind an hour later. His horns were much shorter than I was looking for. He was an old bull, past his prime.

While the gemsbok fed, three kudu bull snuck in and tried to feed alongside the gemsbok. He would have none of it. As soon as they lowered their heads the gemsbok would make an aggressive gesture toward them and they would back away. The kudu were twice the size of the gemsbok, but the curly horns of those big bulls were no match for the stilettos hanging off the gemsbok's head.

A few times the kudu were within 5' of my blind - I could almost touch them. It would have been a slam dunk but as I said earlier, kudu were not on my list.

For the rest of the day I saw impala, wildebeest, kudu - even monkeys. I had only two days for a gemsbok and zebra to present a shot - I'd be hunting hard right till the end.