Our last group for 2022 consisted of brothers, Vince and Jaime Covas and Jaime’s son Jimmy with his wife Rebekah. All of the Covas men are military veterans. With the exception of Vince who lives in Georgia they are all from North Carolina. This was Vince’s second hunting trip to South Africa for the other three it was their first time. I have an idea that it will not be the last time though. It was a hard hunt in warm weather but everyone had a lot of fun. The tigers were suitably fed and some great trophies were harvested.
Professional hunters: Hein Funck and Thinus Steyn.
On the first day of the hunt, each of the Covas boys successfully hunted a gemsbok (oryx). This is hardly a common occurrence, off the top of my head, I can’t recall three trophy gemsbok being hunted in a single day by any other group. Jimmy Covas setting up on a gemsbok bull, it was a long wait, followed by a well placed long shot that resulted in Jimmy’s first African trophy.Rebekah with her zebra stallion. The zebra was high on her wish list. A very long stalk complicated by impala, springbok and red hartebeest between us and the zebra. In the end we had to backtrack and restart the stalk. Rebekah harvested the stallion with a quick accurate shot. The hunt that started down in the plains, ended on a mountain. Vince Covas with his gemsbok. Vince and Jaime with Jaime’s gemsbok, taken after a lot of excitement.Jimmy Covas with his first African animal, a magnificent gemsbok bull.Rebekah Covas with her second blue wildebeest (brindled gnu) bull. A very exciting hunt, at times we were within yards of the herd but it was eventually harvested at just under 200 yards.Jaime Covas with his kudu bull. Hein Funck and Vince Covas with Vince’s waterbuck bull. Vince saw his first waterbuck on his first South African trip, seven years ago and decided he wasn’t going home without one this time.Thinus Steyn, Rebekah and Jimmy Covas with Rebekah’s first blue wildebeest harvested after a long stalk through a thicket. The shot was taken at well below 100 yards. This was Rebekah’s first African trophy.Jaime and Vince with Vince’s steenbok ram. Note that the termite mound on which the steenbok is posed had been dug out by an aardvark.Jaime and Vince Covas with Jaime’s warthog boar. Note the lucky guinea fowl feather in Jaime’s cap. Rebekah and Jimmy scouting for kudu in a valley close to the Orange River.Jimmy with his red hartebeest bull.Jimmy and Rebekah with a plains zebra harvested on top of a Free State mountain.Vince and Jaime Covas with Jaime’s blesbuck ram.Jimmy Covas with his impala ram.Rebekah Covas with a young kudu bull she harvested for the South China Tiger project at Laohu Valley Reserve.Jimmy with his black wildebeest bull.
