IN SOUTH AFRICA we are blessed with a variety of small antelope species, three of which are similar in size, namely the mountain reedbuck, the springbuck and the vaal rhebuck (some describe these as medium-size antelope).
Springbuck prefer open plains, vaal rhebuck thrive on the high mountain slopes, while mountain reedbuck usually inhabit broken terrain on hills and koppies at lower altitudes, but also the loftier slopes – I have hunted them in the Lady Grey area, right up among the vaal rhebuck.
I shot my first mountain reedbuck in 1987, on a farm near Lime Acres in the Northern Cape. The afternoon sun was touching the horizon as I watched four animals moving up the slope of a fairly high hill. When they came within 200m of me, I dropped the ram with a 150gr bullet from my Mauser .308 Win using a 4X scope. I had a tough time finding the fawn-coloured ram in the fading light. I gutted him and a strenuous uphill climb followed. Once at the top, I
