African Hunting Safari

[jjohnwm]

Lol, I have one trophy pic from my Botswana hunt, with me standing next to downed game, rifle held in the African carry position. I had held it that way at the suggestion of the PH, who was excellent at creating good trophy shots. He was cognizant of sun position, harsh shadows, composition, etc. and said it would look good. Since I had, at a minimum, a couple dozen pics of each animal taken I went along with it. I recall thinking how difficult it was to maintain control of where the muzzle was pointing, especially with several trackers and the driver all milling about in the immediate vicinity.

Come to examine the shots and dang it all if that weren't the best one, without any blinking or awkward facial contortions or background clutter or other imperfections. It became my main pic of that animal...but I felt a bit silly posing for it and still a feel a bit silly when I look at it...

I also vividly recall watching the two main trackers one morning loading up the truck to head out. One was carrying a cooler. The other had my rifle over his shoulder and a big bag of gear in the other hand; he was walking directly behind the first tracker and had the muzzle trained on the lead guy's head virtually the whole time. Yikes...

 

[Crazy_Farmer]

Lol, I have one trophy pic from my Botswana hunt, with me standing next to downed game, rifle held in the African carry position. I had held it that way at the suggestion of the PH, who was excellent at creating good trophy shots. He was cognizant of sun position, harsh shadows, composition, etc. and said it would look good. Since I had, at a minimum, a couple dozen pics of each animal taken I went along with it. I recall thinking how difficult it was to maintain control of where the muzzle was pointing, especially with several trackers and the driver all milling about in the immediate vicinity.

Come to examine the shots and dang it all if that weren't the best one, without any blinking or awkward facial contortions or background clutter or other imperfections. It became my main pic of that animal...but I felt a bit silly posing for it and still a feel a bit silly when I look at it...

I also vividly recall watching the two main trackers one morning loading up the truck to head out. One was carrying a cooler. The other had my rifle over his shoulder and a big bag of gear in the other hand; he was walking directly behind the first tracker and had the muzzle trained on the lead guy's head virtually the whole time. Yikes...

the "bwana" shot, even my videographer told me to take one, and same, its the best shot of them all ha!!

 

[Crazy_Farmer]

A bit off topic, but for those that have hunted Africa I have a couple of questions, as the sum total of my African hunting experiences are from YT. So, apologies if these are dumb questions.

1. Why do the hunters frequently carry their rifles on their shoulder gripping the barrel(s)? I would think sweat from hands on blued barrels would not be a good thing.

2. Are the hunters actually as 'casual' with their muzzle direction as depicted in the YT videos?

I'm on the other side of the fence ha!

Grown up waterfowling my entire life. and luckily have a farm we can hunt on. every morning walking to and from the ponds or field, I always "africa" carried or variations of it, my uncle would always walk that way too, for whatever reason and he never knew or saw anything to do with africa before. maybe a string of decoys over one shoulder, and shotgun, both sxs or auto balanced over the other. but shotguns were always empty.

very first day in Zim, PH told me "i probably sweep my trackers 20 times a day, and youll probably sweep me odd time too. its okay but always be mindful of it.

walking MANY kms over many days, mainly tracking dugga boys through thick stuff. I used every form of carrying. sling over shoulder, both hands, africa style forwards and backwards. in the thick thick jess, i didnt like sling carry as one hand used to part the way, but the barrel would snag and catch constantly. one hand on the foreend and carrying works too but i think multiple forms of carrying all have their place, and all have their benefits for muscle fatigue too!

probably employed every type of carrying known, and probably because after many km tracking in 30+ degree it only feels nice or a reprieve to carry a different style.

The neatest thing about african carry, was seeing my PH tuck the barrel under his chin while balanced and both hands free to look through binos!!

 

[Crazy_Farmer]

I hunted the Caprivi Strip in Namibia and also a large property in the Kalahari desert in Botswana, back in 2009. At that time, African hunting was practically never mentioned on CGN. Now, 17 years later...wow, we have 2 or 3 threads. Big deal.

One of the best things I did when planning my hunt was become a member of the Accurate Reloading forum, and it's still chock full of useful information on literally every aspect of African hunting as well as just about every other kind of hunting. If I were to plan a return trip now I'd start there. CGN is my internet "home" for guns and hunting, but for Africa...it doesn't hold a candle to AR.

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AR was THE place for true hunt reports from all the wild countries. Real reports with zero cheerleaders or paid sponsors. A basic search would give you all you needed to know. The same names of outfits would pop up over and over and quality rose to the top

Back then AH was mainly South African hunts and wasn't my preference. But I'm glad to say there's lot more wild country reports on africahunting now. And unfortunately a lot less activity on AR now, for a multitude of reasons.

 

[jjohnwm]

the "bwana" shot, even my videographer told me to take one, and same, its the best shot of them all ha!!

lol, "bwana shot", I love it!

 

[hoytcanon]

lol, "bwana shot", I love it!
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I can't do that sh*t... would feel too much like a poser... I carry my rifle on a sling in Africa just like I do here, and I keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

 

[jjohnwm]

I can't do that sh*t... would feel too much like a poser... I carry my rifle on a sling in Africa just like I do here, and I keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

Yeah, I get that; I felt a bit silly about that shot. It wasn't due to concerns about posing, simply because of the impracticality of that carry, but frankly I always feel a bit silly about doing a guided hunt at all. Having a guy lead you to game and set you up for a shot is often a practical and/or legal necessity, but it certainly takes some of the hunt out of hunting for me. Seems like...posing.

I got teased about the clothing and hat by one of my wife's co-workers. Before I could speak, my wife pointed out that the Carhartt work shirts and pants that I wore every day on safari were the same as I wore almost every day at work as well. The "safari" hat...wasn't. It was the same exact individual Tilley hat that I had worn for the previous decade while fishing, hiking, working in the yard, etc. and it continued to serve in that role for another 10 years after the hunt.

Are we "posers" for using nice walnut/blue rifles for hunting, rather than the more practical synthetic/stainless ones that are so common today? How about taking trophy pics at all and/or having taxidermy done? More posing?

How about the fact that I have shot more deer and coyotes and pumpkins and water jugs with that .375 than I ever did or ever will "proper" African game? Posing again?

Maybe; who cares? I took the pics, hung the hides and skulls, blew up the pumpkins and hand-rubbed the walnut stocks for my own pleasure and nostalgia, don't really give a crap what others say or think.

 

[hoytcanon]

Yeah, I get that; I felt a bit silly about that shot. It wasn't due to concerns about posing, simply because of the impracticality of that carry, but frankly I always feel a bit silly about doing a guided hunt at all. Having a guy lead you to game and set you up for a shot is often a practical and/or legal necessity, but it certainly takes some of the hunt out of hunting for me. Seems like...posing.

I got teased about the clothing and hat by one of my wife's co-workers. Before I could speak, my wife pointed out that the Carhartt work shirts and pants that I wore every day on safari were the same as I wore almost every day at work as well. The "safari" hat...wasn't. It was the same exact individual Tilley hat that I had worn for the previous decade while fishing, hiking, working in the yard, etc. and it continued to serve in that role for another 10 years after the hunt.

Are we "posers" for using nice walnut/blue rifles for hunting, rather than the more practical synthetic/stainless ones that are so common today? How about taking trophy pics at all and/or having taxidermy done? More posing?

How about the fact that I have shot more deer and coyotes and pumpkins and water jugs with that .375 than I ever did or ever will "proper" African game? Posing again?

Maybe; who cares? I took the pics, hung the hides and skulls, blew up the pumpkins and hand-rubbed the walnut stocks for my own pleasure and nostalgia, don't really give a crap what others say or think.

That wasn't a criticism of what you were doing... that was a personal feeling about the practice. Posing is doing something that is not authentically you. I don't like posing, and I do my best not to do it.
I don't get how nice rifles, that you like and use, is "posing." As for guided hunts, I operate on both ends of that spectrum, and what happens in Africa, in my experience, is hardly being " led to game and set-up for a shot. Everyone in the Landcruiser spends hours every day glassing, we all do the stalk and we all set up for the shot. I guess if it were an SA farm hunt, it would be as you say... when I was a young "purist," I resisted ever being "guided" to anything... but I also refused to shoot any game with anything but a bow for a 20 year period... then I realized, I was just building roadblocks in my mind that were limiting opportunities and experiences.

As far as pictures with game, mine are pretty mundane, I am wearing the same clothing and in the same poses, whether with a whitetail or a kudu... except on this last trip, quite a few were with a rifle with a suppressor on it, due to the lost luggage delay. I tend to mostly feature the animal, my presence is the almost incongruous to the scene.

 

[Longstud]

Awesome picture jjohn. Agree with Hoyt about safe handling 100 plus percent! There is no room for complacency when handling firearms, let alone loaded firearms. Im ok with staged photos with the game and gun(open and unloaded). To each their own and I understand both of your views. I want to go but Ive read and watched so much unsafe firearms handling that I couldnt really enjoy myself despite all the experiences and beauty.

 

[hoytcanon]

Awesome picture jjohn. Agree with Hoyt about safe handling 100 plus percent! There is no room for complacency when handling firearms, let alone loaded firearms. Im ok with staged photos with the game and gun(open and unloaded). To each their own and I understand both of your views. I want to go but Ive read and watched so much unsafe firearms handling that I couldnt really enjoy myself despite all the experiences and beauty.

If you go for plains game, you will be the only one with a rifle, so the safe handling practices are on you. In general the only time anyone else will have a rifle is when hunting dangerous game... so don't let what you see on YouTube stop you.

 

[Longstud]

If you go for plains game, you will be the only one with a rifle, so the safe handling practices are on you. In general the only time anyone else will have a rifle is when hunting dangerous game... so don't let what you see on YouTube stop you.

Thanks for the info! Have friends wanting me to go and after hearing their experiences and seeing the photos, it’s definitely on the top of the list. They archery hunt but my shoulders are done so that’s not going to happen. Like you, I guided for many years and gun safety was always a big part of the job. Groups of unknown people require constant attention. I will start looking into a plains game hunt. Kudu and a Warthog would definitely be on the list! Best of luck on your next foray to the dark continent!

 

[jjohnwm]

That wasn't a criticism of what you were doing... that was a personal feeling about the practice. Posing is doing something that is not authentically you. I don't like posing, and I do my best not to do it.
I don't get how nice rifles, that you like and use, is "posing." As for guided hunts, I operate on both ends of that spectrum, and what happens in Africa, in my experience, is hardly being " led to game and set-up for a shot. Everyone in the Landcruiser spends hours every day glassing, we all do the stalk and we all set up for the shot. I guess if it were an SA farm hunt, it would be as you say... when I was a young "purist," I resisted ever being "guided" to anything... but I also refused to shoot any game with anything but a bow for a 20 year period... then I realized, I was just building roadblocks in my mind that were limiting opportunities and experiences.

As far as pictures with game, mine are pretty mundane, I am wearing the same clothing and in the same poses, whether with a whitetail or a kudu... except on this last trip, quite a few were with a rifle with a suppressor on it, due to the lost luggage delay. I tend to mostly feature the animal, my presence is the almost incongruous to the scene.

No explanation needed! I didn't think you were taking a shot at me; if anything I was taking a shot at myself.

As a working-class stiff (now retired) looking at a pic of myself standing over one of my dream animals...in Africa!...I still can't think of that as "authentically me"! That was a once-in-a-lifetime trip for me; even if health, finances and the stars aligned to allow a follow-up, I'd spend it on some other trip(s) elsewhere. The newness and uniqueness of that trip could never be repeated. I can certainly see going back to Africa, but it would need to be somewhere else on that continent, to hunt something else.

For years now, I've fantasized about either an elephant or, oddly enough, a Lord Derby Eland. Unlikely to happen, but it's nice to dream....in fact, it's an essential part of life, especially as a hunter.

OP, I hope that you are planning on taking at least one "centerpiece" main trophy when you go; sounds like for you it's a kudu and that should be very achievable. On a plains game hunt you will likely see so much game it will make your head spin; it's a far cry from any hunt you'll do in North America. The number of animals, and especially the number of species, will stagger you.

Personally, I think adding in one or more of the Big 5 would elevate the quality of the experience immeasurably. Even if you must add an extra week or two, and a transfer to a different locale once there (that's what I did, making a plains game hunt in Botswana followed up by a buff in the Caprivi), well...once you devote the time and money to get to the other side of planet, do it right and don't skimp on what you hunt or where. Personally, I could not have lived with myself if I had visited Africa and not hunted a buffalo; I had first mentioned a desire to hunt buff to my father when I was about 7 years old, and basically never stopped talking about it for the next 45 years until I did it. Hell, my father bought me my first .375H&H when I was in my teens; I think he had resigned himself at some point in the decade leading up to that gift that, yeah, maybe I was really going to go there and do that.

Even if you end up going back multiple times through your life...there can only ever be one first safari. Make sure it is as special and magical and memorable as possible. When it comes to hunting in Africa, that's not a difficult task.

Africa exemplifies that old joke that compares hunting with ###: when it's good...it's really good. When it's bad...it's still pretty good...

 

[hoytcanon]

I have already made three trips over, and next year I am booked in Zambia for Cape Buffalo, and a few others, including finishing up the spiral slam. I agree that you can't hunt Africa without hunting Kudu, I have some other favorites, including Mountain Zebra, Blue Wildebeest and od course Warthogs.I have taken 16 species over there, and while I agree, that you can't repeat the excitement of your first Safari, there are so many different types of hunts and terrain to experience that you could go every year for the rest of your life and do something new... I will do exactly that for at least the next few years. On this trip, I was extremly fortunate to take some particularly large specimens of four species, and eight other nice animals. I spent a week in the Kalahari, and enjoy that terrain a great deal. Here are four particularly nice specimens;

 

[hoytcanon]

And a few others, including a very old (if not impressively endowed) Springbok and Blue Wildebeest... I spent the last three days shooting Egyptian geese, Eurasian Teal, Franklin Grouse, Guinea Fowl and night hunting Jackels... thermal hunting was a new and interesting experience.

 

[hoytcanon]

The wingshooting is a blast too, pun intended... and Guinea Fowl schnitzel is delicious!

 

[hoytcanon]

No explanation needed! I didn't think you were taking a shot at me; if anything I was taking a shot at myself.

As a working-class stiff (now retired) looking at a pic of myself standing over one of my dream animals...in Africa!...I still can't think of that as "authentically me"! That was a once-in-a-lifetime trip for me; even if health, finances and the stars aligned to allow a follow-up, I'd spend it on some other trip(s) elsewhere. The newness and uniqueness of that trip could never be repeated. I can certainly see going back to Africa, but it would need to be somewhere else on that continent, to hunt something else.

For years now, I've fantasized about either an elephant or, oddly enough, a Lord Derby Eland. Unlikely to happen, but it's nice to dream....in fact, it's an essential part of life, especially as a hunter.

OP, I hope that you are planning on taking at least one "centerpiece" main trophy when you go; sounds like for you it's a kudu and that should be very achievable. On a plains game hunt you will likely see so much game it will make your head spin; it's a far cry from any hunt you'll do in North America. The number of animals, and especially the number of species, will stagger you.

Personally, I think adding in one or more of the Big 5 would elevate the quality of the experience immeasurably. Even if you must add an extra week or two, and a transfer to a different locale once there (that's what I did, making a plains game hunt in Botswana followed up by a buff in the Caprivi), well...once you devote the time and money to get to the other side of planet, do it right and don't skimp on what you hunt or where. Personally, I could not have lived with myself if I had visited Africa and not hunted a buffalo; I had first mentioned a desire to hunt buff to my father when I was about 7 years old, and basically never stopped talking about it for the next 45 years until I did it. Hell, my father bought me my first .375H&H when I was in my teens; I think he had resigned himself at some point in the decade leading up to that gift that, yeah, maybe I was really going to go there and do that.

Even if you end up going back multiple times through your life...there can only ever be one first safari. Make sure it is as special and magical and memorable as possible. When it comes to hunting in Africa, that's not a difficult task.

Africa exemplifies that old joke that compares hunting with ###: when it's good...it's really good. When it's bad...it's still pretty good...

P.S - a friend and I are planning a Cape Buffalo/Tuskless Ele hunt for 2028... I.doubt that will end the trips over as a Leopard is in my future aswell. I saw three leopards and several cheetahs on this trip. I had the crosshairs on a nice big tom cheetah, but my wallet was empty, lol.

 

[Longstud]

Thanks for sharing the pics with the other Nutters! That warthog is awesome. Those K nines on that baboon are frigin scary. I’m assuming it’s a baboon!!

 

[stuckon308]

I made the mistake of "being responsible" before I had kids and a mortgage. A guy who was going over there offered to take me for an extra $5000. At the time it felt like a lot of money. Now I'm getting to the point of where is getting to be a good possibility again.

Last year I went to Kenya to build some bathrooms for a school for children with disabilities. But Kenya is anti hunting so I didn't have a chance.

I've always wanted a gemsbok. A warthog, kudu, and maybe a couple of others would be nice. But gemsbok always seem so beautiful to me. I would love to try the meat from everything I kill as well. From the guys who have had the pleasure of going, do you always get to at least taste meat from most of what you harvest?

 

[hoytcanon]

I've always wanted a gemsbok. A warthog, kudu, and maybe a couple of others would be nice. But gemsbok always seem so beautiful to me. I would love to try the meat from everything I kill as well. From the guys who have had the pleasure of going, do you always get to at least taste meat from most of what you harvest?

if your heart is set on Gensbuck, Namibia is the place. They are the National animal and indigenous to the entire country. The trophy fees on Gemsbuck, Kudu and Warthog are generally quite low due to their prevalence. As for the meat, we eat it every day, several times a day, including various dishes.

This is Wildebeest lasagna;



And a traditional "Braai," or bush BBQ, in this case we forgot the grill, so we cooked the zebra steaks on a machete blade. We started referring to that as "machete meat."



For whatever reason, African game is delicious. Springbok liver, Guinea Fowl schnitzel, Kudu steaks over a smoky open fire, Gemsbuck Rouladen, Roast Eland.

But be careful, after a big Braai, your hunting looks a lot like this;



And less like this;

 

[Crazy_Farmer]

I made the mistake of "being responsible" before I had kids and a mortgage. A guy who was going over there offered to take me for an extra $5000. At the time it felt like a lot of money. Now I'm getting to the point of where is getting to be a good possibility again.

Last year I went to Kenya to build some bathrooms for a school for children with disabilities. But Kenya is anti hunting so I didn't have a chance.

I've always wanted a gemsbok. A warthog, kudu, and maybe a couple of others would be nice. But gemsbok always seem so beautiful to me. I would love to try the meat from everything I kill as well. From the guys who have had the pleasure of going, do you always get to at least taste meat from most of what you harvest?

Yep agreed, for what you're wanting Id hunt Namibia or botswana, larger properties then SA on average and they're natural habitat of Gemsbok in the kalahari range.

I normally dont cheerleader or promote anyone but if I was in your shoes Id give a look at Tholo safari in Bots, its in the kalahari range, good Gemsbok, cranker kudu, proper bushman tracking eland. They would have everything youre looking for.

and generally most proper outfits always cook game for your meals. If not just ask them to before you go!