Africa

Moving on to this years hunt, we arrived in Johannesburg on 20th May, had a great flight with Air France from Paris but on arrival we only had two bags, all five rifle cases and six bags failed to arrive until the next day. We drove SW in a rented VW Kombi van arriving at New Holm around 7pm. We planed to have a few days hunting the Karoo Plains before going north to the bush veldt. After a beautiful supper of roast lamb and Springbok our host, PC excused himself, to go and check some sheep as he was having trouble with Jackals and Cape Fox after the lambs. I have farmed all my life, first in the UK where hunting rabbits and fox at night from trucks was normal so I just had to go with him to see how sheep were farmed in South Africa and “Can I bring my rifle?” was replied with a big grin. The rest went to bed but Craig and I first had to have a night hunt.
My “light” rifle for this trip was a new Merkel 140 side by side ejector rifle in 9.3 x 74R topped with a Swarovski 1-6 X 24 Z6 scope firing 286 Gr Norma Alaskan ammo. (No time to work up a reload for this rifle) Now this was not the ideal rifle for fox at night but I couldn’t resist trying her, PC brought along his suppressed bolt action .22-250 for back up.


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up.
First blood for the Merkel, a marauding Cape Fox who was after lamb for supper.
 
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Day one at Karoo, Springbok.

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Myself and PC, my longest shot with a 9.3 x 74R at 370 m, Dianna was smiling on me.

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Craig, Mod 70 in .30-06 he finished up with two.

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Wolfgang, Ruger No1 in .300 Win Mag, the first of several one rd kills.

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The "Merc", .300 Weatherby, the oldest buck, see how the tips of his horns are angled back.

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Black Wildebeest on the Karoo Plains

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Craig with a good bull

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Wolfgang with a good bull, he finished up with a cow as well.

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Jeff used his .300 Weatherby for a one shot kill

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I had fun, I laid in the grass and waited until they were 60 paces away. I had a instant one rd kill with a 9.3 rd in the neck, never had chance for a double tap.

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Relaxing with a cool beer at the end of another great day.
 
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Wolfgang with a really good Blesbock

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My last shot on the Karoo Plains and I also had a good Blesbock.

Time to move North, a 10 hour drive took us to the Limpopo region, now we would be hunting in the African Bush Veldt, my favorite. The weather warmed up, now we could hunt in shorts.

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The African Bush Veldt, Samuel was to prove to be one of our best trackers.

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Lots of good thorns here and always something new to look at.

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Wolfgang with Bennie his PH at a viewing point.

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Pictures are out of order now, Craig had a good Wart Hog, now using his CZ 550 in .375 H&H.

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Jeff drew his first blood with his bow and also collected a Wart Hog.

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The shooting sticks collapsed just as I was about to fire at this fellow on the trail, he ran off and I snapped a shot off as he disappeared, Jeff my PH called a hit, to my surprise he ran back across the trail and I snapped off another shot. I was cursing my bad shooting as we walked up, but he lay by the trail stone dead, two center hits with the 9.3 x 74R. Jeff had a big grin on his face, he was pleased with my shooting, but not half as pleased as I was. In fact I was so pleased with my shooting I am having a head mount prepared for the office and my wife had told me before I left, no Wart Hog mounts, “but dear he is special!”
 
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I am using the new Swarovski Z6 1-6x24 with the circle dot reticle in a Recknagel QD rail mount. It was a toss up between the Swarovski and the Schmidt & Bender but I had a much quicker delivery on the Swarovski. I did not want their circle dot recticle but it is growing on me and I would not change it now. I would have gone with a "Picket Post" reticle had it been available in the Swarovski as I belive it is the best in low light conditions. I do not like iluminated reticles on my hunting rifles, only something else to go wrong.
 
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Hunting Eland, at the top of a small mountain we could observe two large bulls below us, one had a broken horn but the other was maybe a good trophy. The problem was to get with in range of my 9.3 x 74R, my practical range is largely determined by the conditions and shooting down this hill side was really challenging due the bush. The bull was feeding contently and not keen to show himself, we wanted to be sure he was worth taking so we had to get a closer look at his head. Jeff my PH decided to take his boots off in order to move more quietly.

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A view along our trail, I remember it was very hot and extremely still, my hearing is no longer good but I could hear the bulls browsing below us, they can be noisy as they use their horns to break down branches to feed on.

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Time to savior the full African experience, off with my boots and socks, no way was I going to be the only noisy one on this stalk. Hell I never thought I would do this. I have now made a mental note to harden up my feet for two weeks before I go back to Africa to hunt. Anyway the large rocks were to hot to stand on, the small rocks and stones to sharp, the dry leaves were still very noisy, at least the small heaps of old poop were comfortable to my bare feet. The tracker gave me a big grin, now he knew for sure I was really crazy, I thought about that old saying about only “Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun” and nearly laughed out loud, how true. This Eland Bull was certainly going to be one to tell my Grandkids about. We moved slowly down hill closing the range. The two old bulls browsed contently and moved into thicker and thicker bush and finally completely out of sight, we never did get a good look at him, but in my heart I know he was the Grand daddy of all Eland bulls. What a great afternoon, never stalked Eland in bare feet before!
 
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B said:
Out of curiousity what happens to the meat from all those animals? I don't know much about sport hunting.
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It is the meat you eat while in Camp as well as the meat is given to the employees as pay/bonus to help feed their families. Nothing goes to waste. In some cases, particularly in remote areas, the meat is donated to the villages to help support them and reduce poaching.

By the way Gemsbok is outstanding meat....
 
Morpheus32 said:
It is the meat you eat while in Camp as well as the meat is given to the employees as pay/bonus to help feed their families. Nothing goes to waste. In some cases, particularly in remote areas, the meat is donated to the villages to help support them and reduce poaching.

By the way Gemsbok is outstanding meat....
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Nice, I know what I am doing when I retire!
 
Why wait until you retire? We have hunting packages that start at $5000.00. Air tickets are around $2000.00. Africa has never been more affordable! Enjoy the magic of Africa now!
 
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A super Boabab tree, I think I need to check that spelling!


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Wolfgang with a Gemsbock


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Craig with his Gemsbock. Craig and Wolfgang were both shooting CZ 550 rifles in .375 H&H and were delighted with their performance. Their practice shooting Gophers off hand was now paying them dividends!


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Be carefull what you sit on.
 
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We harvested two good Kudu.

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Craig with a super Kudu


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Wolfgang with his Kudu, just over 50 inches. A “long shot” all of 19 yds!

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Another view of Wolfgang’s Kudu, perfectly even with superb deep curls. I think this was the finest trophy that any of us collected on this trip.
 
Personally I think the Taxidermy fees charged in South Africa are very reasonable, we use Bulls Eye Taxidermy, their work has been excellent and carried out in a timely manner. Most importantly they have always offered excellent advice on the best mount to bring out the best in the animal and suit your situation. Turn around is approx 6 months, so we will have our trophies before Christmas. The cheapest would be a simple European skull mount which for the small Springbuck is $125, a shoulder mount for a Springbuck would be $420, a Kudu $800 and my large Eland $970. Shipping is not cheap, last year Air Fright for my Waterbuck and Impala shoulder mount with a Zebra hide cost $1400.00.

Check out Bulls Eye at www.bullseyetaxidermy.co.za

You could have your trophies “skinned and dipped” and then shipped, shipping would be cheaper but you will pay more for Taxidermy in Canada and there are fewer Taxidermist in Canada who are skilled at mounting African animals.


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The Waterbuck from my first trip.
 
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