Small Game hunt in South Africa

The smallest antelopes of South Africa, known as the “Tiny Ten”, can be tougher and more challenging to hunt than the “Big Five”. The “Tiny Ten” are often extremely habitat-specific and endemic (localised) to specific locations. In order to complete this collection, you need to plan your hunt very carefully as it will probably end up becoming a 3 hunt series. Each African country has its speciality, in Namibia, it’s the Damaraland Dik Dik, in Mozambique the Suni and throughout Africa, there are 17 huntable Duikers. In Southern Africa the most popularly hunted small antelope are Klipspringer, Oribi, Sharpe’s Grysbok, Cape Grysbok, Suni, Dik Dik, Steenbuck, Common, Blue and Red Duikers. The Tiny Ten are typically shy, nocturnal, and difficult to find in their habitats. These animals may be hunted by waiting patiently at a dung midden (territorial toilet), or calling. Occasionally (and where legal) hunters may have to resort to spotlighting in the case of Cape Grysbok and using dogs when hunting Blue Duiker. These soft-skinned animals should be hunted with solids. In some cases, shotguns will suffice. Counter-intuitively, big-bore rifles (.375, .458, etc.) can be used with great success, especially if you need to “punch a hole” through brush or forested undergrowth (but, of course, with full metal jacket a.k.a. solid bullets).