Hello to Bonlati and it's members,
Anita has asked me to relay the story of the HERMAPHRODITE IMPALA.
It was the second day of my eight day hunt on the Bonlati game farm when we came across a small group of Impala, with two ewe’s facing me. They were standing side by side, quite close together, at a distance of maybe 50m. I took careful aim at the animal on the right and squeezed the trigger on my Tikka 30-06 firing a single 180g round. When I regained the sight picture through the scope I saw hooves come up. But it wasn’t until we walked over that we saw two Impala lying on the ground! The bullet had passed through the shoulders of the front animal and had hit a second (unseen) animal in the throat, killing both animals virtually instantly.
I was extremely happy with having cleanly taken two animals with the one shot, but I will admit that I don’t have much experience with Impala. I’d previously taken a couple on my last visit to South Africa (and let’s face it they aren’t exactly running across the Sydney Harbour Bridge!), so initially I thought that I had shot an immature Impala ram because of it's small horns. It wasn’t until my PH examined it that he told it was in fact a ewe. I must confess that I didn’t realise just how rare this trophy was straight away. It only really dawned on me much later when Anita started contacting various people, including the taxidermists, who in 52 years of business have never seen an Impala ewe with horns!
The local newspaper was contacted and are apparently interested in the story, and there may even be interest from other groups as well.
I am now back in Australia, and I simply can’t wait for my trophy to arrive. I must acknowledge that I was incredibly lucky to have taken such a rare animal, especially in such incredibly lucky circumstances.
But as I always say, there is plenty that I don’t know about hunting, but I know that I take more game when I’m out in the field with a rifle in my hands, than I do sitting in the pub talking about it.
This was a truly awesome experience that I won’t forget in a hurry.
Please feel free to let me know you’re thoughts, or if you’ve ever seen this phenomenon before.
Thank you
Ben