Africa hunting?

[Ardent]

I like the RSM Took this one with the same, what chambering? This was one of the conciliation animals they let me take when they were getting worried we wouldn’t find buffalo in the bush behind us. Pretty darn near they’re an antelope, that look and act like a bovid. Tough too, as my brother found out with me on a later trip.

 

[Buckmastr]

Good eye, on that hunt in the Bubye I carried that RSM in 416 Rigby and a Model 70 in 338 WM.
That wildebeest sure soaked up that 416.
Your wildebeest looks great! Very dark.

 

[Buckmastr]

The waterbuck was a real nice hunt. Their behavior reminded me of the mule deer. I shot this one just before dark, along a river. He was hit a bit low and the followup in tall heavy grass islands through the river near dark turned into a bit of an adventure. But we got him!

 

[jjohnwm]

I had no interest in a Wildebeest when I started my plains game hunt...but after more than a week of having stalk after stalk aborted when an unseen Gnu grunted and bolted, taking all the other game with him, I wanted revenge. At that exact moment, every Wildebeest within 5 miles of camp sensed a disturbance in the Force, and finding them suddenly became difficult.

Finally found a herd that contained a couple of nice bulls, crawled about a kilometer through the grass with almost no other cover, and then whispered back and forth urgently for another 10 minutes trying to decipher which one I should shoot. This one lost the coin toss. It turned out to be one of my favourite stalks of the trip; those big striped skins are a vastly underappreciated trophy as well. To think that I almost didn't even hunt one! Used a .375H&H, naturally.

Might shoot another one if I go back, but probably not. If I am tempted by plains game at all, it would likely be a species I haven't already hunted...but that's a big "if". A return to Africa would be focussed on an ele, a leopard, maybe a dry-land hippo or another buffalo. Plains game will be an afterthought.

 

[Buckmastr]

Great picture! Not a lot of cover in that scene!!

 

[jjohnwm]

Great picture! Not a lot of cover in that scene!!

That's about how it looked for 10 miles in any direction. Quite a change of scenery for an Eastern whitetail and moose hunter.

I'm getting antsy just looking at this thread. I've seen Angus' lion before, and will never get tired of looking at it. Your leopard is magnificent.

And...even though it's "only" plains game!...that waterbuck is one I should have devoted some time to. They were present (introduced) in the Kalahari during my plains hunt, but taking a waterbuck in the middle of a desert just didn't seem right. I saw some amazing ones in the Caprivi, but I had my Buffalo Goggles on and wasn't about to be side-tracked. Very classy animals.

 

[Ardent]

There are many animals I should have hunted, amongst them Kudu and Waterbuck, but I was shy on funding each time and had a main focus that had consumed all my money. One day would enjoy a much less focused adventure in Africa, I’m pretty flexible now just want an adventure. Bongo sounds like that but then again, I’m not wound up about them nor the prices the hunts command. But I love where they give you a purpose to go rifle in hand. Hell honestly I’d be happy just taking pictures now and hunting for camp meat critters. Had a lot of fun hunting Warthog and Impala sized creatures.

 

[Longwalker]

Angus, you gotta go back and hunt Kudu! Actually just a suggestion for anyone. Budgets matter, especially in our current economic situation. Whatever your situation, I think Kudu are The most interesting critter to hunt of them all. During my recent hunt in Namibia the Kudu ( and everything else ) were VERY stressed with two years of severe drought, and so I had decided to give the Kudu a pass. But I enjoyed seeing many cows, several nice bulls and stalking a few without serious intent. Then I saw a broken horned old bull all by himself, looking like he was just taking up space and eating food the young'uns needed more. My PH agreed that he was one that needed to be taken out. A long careful stalk and one bullet from my 9.3x62 at about 150M and now I have a unique trophy, that didn't cost much. He was skinny but still tasted good. And one more comment, about wild Africa - not all private land hunts in Namibia are on fenced and tamed properties - the place where I hunted plains game was a large private holding that was being well managed for wildlife only. Game animals were free to come and go, and they chose to stay because of good habitat management, no competition from cattle or goats and appropriate hunting harvest levels. Neighbouring properties had similar goals, and it made for an interesting and rewarding area to hunt, despite being private, and some of it partially fenced. On my previous trip to South Africa at the Kudu hunting was by far the most interesting, challenging, and rewarding. That was on large, fenced private properties that were managed only for game. Kudu don't respect fences much. Seemed like "real" African hunting to me! - and I'd do it again.

 

[medvedqc]

your kudu trophy is a very good one. well done.

 

[Ardent]

Awesome, yea Kudu captures my imagination still. I had a great opportunity once on a bull the PH sighed and described as “every hunter’s dream” while it ran off, his client not flush enough to take it. I hunted Gemsbok instead on a later hunt and while rewarding, we all know about the allure of spiral horns...

 

[jjohnwm]

Angus, wasn't it Hemingway who never got his kudu? At least you still have the chance to do so!

That was one of my African must-haves; the buffalo was what actually brought me there, but I needed to hunt 3 other critters as well: kudu, warthog and zebra. Warthog was a laid-back, fun sort of hunt, not to be taken too seriously. Zebra? Lots around, and I let the PH choose one; let's face it, a zebra trophy is a zebra trophy, beautiful beyond belief but pretty much the same as every other zebra trophy.

But, man, kudu is the sort of critter with which it is easy to become obsessed. The area I hunted was thick with kudu...good kudu...and so hunting hard and being picky became the way to go. They're a difficult animal to judge without experience, so again I trusted the PH, but I passed a few that he thought I should shoot just because they didn't fit the picture I had drawn in my mind. Too wide...too narrow...curls too tight...I eventually just thought of them as caribou, i.e. tell me which one you want me to shoot, and I'll tell you if I like it or not...but don't expect me to tell you why 'cause I really don't know!

After I took mine, the PH insisted on measuring it, and then turned and started to speak...and I stopped him and told him I didn't want to know. He was a bit taken aback, but I don't measure trophies, don't care about numbers and didn't want to start. He was practically twitching for the several more days I was there, kept trying to get me to ask, but I didn't. At the end of the hunt, driving me to town where I would spend the night before my flight, he was just about bursting on the half-day cross-country road trip. We shook hands and said our good-byes, and as I walked through the door into the hotel where I would be spending the night he yelled from the parking lot "John! JOHN!!!" I turned and the sneaky devil yelled out the number, laughed and disappeared. To this day it's one of only two trophies I have ever shot that I know the number on...still wish I didn't...

 

[Longwalker]

Ha! I'm of a similar mind, the concept of "trophy' is or should be a personal thing, not a competitive measurement. Your kudu is beautiful regardless of whatever the measurement was. Measuring kinda cheapens the experience for me. I had a friend talk me into measuring a whitetail buck once, and another time my guide insisted on measuring a Yukon Dall sheep. My first kudu ( from South Africa) was bigger and wider and apparently had more inches than the broken horned bull, my guide insisted on measuring that one too. I don't remember and don't care what the measurement was. His skull is on my wall and it looks pretty. Broken horn will join him and look good too.
One of the interesting aspects of hunting in other countries is the different cultural practices. Europeans seem to emphasize the concept of selectively hunting very old, non breeding animals as a priority, regardless of antler size. Especially when meat is not the primary motivation for the hunter. Or they hunt the young ones that are the best eating and not vital to the breeding herd. Situations vary with location and species. Germans honour the dead game animal with the "letzerbissen" ceremony. I like that a lot and practise the ceremony myself when I can. Hunting culture in Africa can be a mix of everything, from utilitarian meat gathering, or very ritualized in the European way, to American style competitive score-keeping. Just make sure you are hunting the way you prefer, with a like-minded PH. There is plenty of opportunity to have an African hunt in the style that you will enjoy the most.

 

[jjohnwm]

^ Very true. My PH referred to those unique one-offs as "German trophies".

I like the Last Bite idea as well, but most of my hunting is more geared to my First Bite of the newly harvested meat.

 

[A-zone]

Awesome, yea Kudu captures my imagination still. I had a great opportunity once on a bull the PH sighed and described as “every hunter’s dream” while it ran off, his client not flush enough to take it. I hunted Gemsbok instead on a later hunt and while rewarding, we all know about the allure of spiral horns...

Nothing quite says "Africa" like the spiral horns of a kudu...

 

[Buckmastr]

Very nice Kudu!
The Kudu is an animal you can shoot a bunch of. Especially on a plains game hunt with a lot of quota.

 

[Crazy_Farmer]

Nothing quite like the deep curl of a kudu.

 

[Kudu]

Awesome pics gents.

Having lived in Southern Africa for the first 45 years of my life, I can honestly say that for me it’s hard to hunt in Namibia or Angola, too many bad memories in those two places, too many mates killed in the war. Too many days spent in uniform marching to the beat of another’s drum chasing bad guys around Ovamboland, Kaokoland, Kavangoland and East Caprivi.

Having said that, I grew up in the Limpopo valley and hunted for subsistence before the place got overrun with game farms and fences - those where the days when you could hunt almost anywhere, and a real bushveld Kudu cost nothing more than a bottle Klipdrift brandy and a handshake amongst neighbours.

Today I find Botswana one of the most satisfactory places to visit in Southern Africa, I love visiting the Okavango and chasing tigers with a fly rod, and Mozambique is the best place to hunt in my mind

My family own plenty of land in various Southern Africa countries, and I would never be expected to pay for any hunting that I would wish to indulge in, but to be honest - like anything, a African hunt can be expensive as wish to make it, or as inexpensive as you would like it to be.

If you want to go to Africa and try and imitate on of the great classical hunters of years gone by, by all means - arrive with a shopping list of all the exotics and be prepared to haul out the cash, there are many in the business over there to take that cash, and take even more cash to create the awesome trophies to hang on your wall back home.

Or you can take a really inexpensive trip into the wilds of Africa, relax around a campfire siping a fine scotch (that you picked up at duty free in London) listening to the African bush at sunset, the sonbessie” makes a unique sound that will always stick with you once you heard it, enjoy a simple braai of skaap tjops , borewors and braai broedjies - sleep under canvas then hunt for vlakvarkies, rooibok maybe bosbok or even a kudu if you are in the right area.

Take a week if need be to find the right specimens you might see very unique animals while you walk and stalk, your PH will lend you / hire the right rifle to hunt with if you don’t want to take your own, a 300 magnum win/ H&H will be all you will ever need. This hunt won’t break the the bank, or as I said you can try the exotic route and blow a small fortune - I know which I’d rather do today - lol

 

[DVXDUDE]

The PHs I hunted with in SA always talked about Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. They were all born in Zimbabwe and they say it's the "new wild west" in terms anything goes, But the hunting is fantastic.

I wasnt into "trophies" for say, I just wanted to go some exciting hunts and gotta say, Zebra, Wildebeest, Impala, Warthog, Blesbuck and Duiker that I shot were all awesome hunts.

 

[medvedqc]

a country forgotten in the recent comments: Zambia. if i have the money that is the place i want to hunt. i went 3 times not for hunting but i met few people there and really like the place. i loved to meet people in zimbabwe but i hated the country and i went and lived in some really bad countries by western standards.