First African Hunt

Speckfire,
Eland is fantastic, Impala and Bushbuck are very good. Warthog seemed to taste like any other pig only leaner. I only have sausage to base that one on. The informal survey that I took seemed to indicate the Gemsbuck was the over-all favorite but I never did get to try any. Crocodiles won't even eat Waterbuck, but it was prepared and sent to market like everything else. Nothing is wasted. Zebra I didn't try, but Frenchmen eat horsemeat. You can buy it over the counter in Manitoba, or used to be able to. Leopards and lions love them.
Everything that I ate I would rate as Beef or better. This is coming from a guy that doesn't like our own deer that much.I never noticed anything resembling a wild taste, but never tried everything.
Boer Seun has a lot more experience in this area than I, maybe he'll chime in on this one.
I wouldn't give up on ever going to Africa if I were you. Put your deposit down and buy your plane tickets one year, pay the balance of your hunt the next.I shot 10 animals, but maybe 4-5 is enough for you. You won't see a taxidermy bill for yet another year, so a lot of the costs will be spread out over 3 years. Would that make it more managable? It's going to be real hard to look at my regular hunting the same way, ever again.
Dogleg
 
Thanks a lot for you input and information Dogleg.I really appreciate it. I'm really encouraged by your invaluable advice and suddenly I'm hungry too :)
 
Great pics, Looks like a blast. I am wondering though, about how much was it for the trip minus bring all those thing back?

Hopefully one day I will go on a great trip like this
 
A few questions.
What did you do ahead of time to take your guns, both inCanada and in RSA?
It looked like you are wearing regular hunting boots, were they good for the climate there?
Whats the estimate for shipping all the trophies Home?

My son and I are going next July, just curious.
 
Martinbns,
I put the hunt together at the last moment so didn't get a preapproved permit.Otherwise I would have. All I did was download the form from the South African Police Service and fill out the relevant parts at home. There's a lot of information on the net about the forms. You also need an invitation letter from the outfitter saying that you will be hunting with him and a letter stating your intentions.(Hunting) Bring your hated registration forms along too. You will also need to show your return ticket and passport.Trigger lock your guns in their locked case.Take lots of small bills, Rand if you can get them, American if you can't.
As far as the airlines tell them that you are planning to transport rifles and they will flag your file. That way there are no suprises. You will have to sign a declaration, basically saying that they are not loaded and that you have less than 5 Kilograms of ammunition. Check your luggage straight through so you don't have to do this again.
When you get to RSA you will go through passport control before the baggage carousel. Chances are that your guncase will already be under the watchful eye of someone wanting a tip. The uniformed guy went over my form with me and pointed out a few lines that I was unsure about. I gave him either a generous tip, or small bribe which he asked for and he took my case to the police station through the back door. Get used to passing out money, because for the next while you will be doing lots of it. Five or ten Rand is a lot of money to some of these people, and only costs you a buck or two. American 10s and 20s which were the smallest I had, stung a little. Go around the corner to customs and they will point out where the police station is. There was no lineup and we were through in a few minutes. The printer took longer than the process. I understand that is unusual.The PH was suprised, I had my guns before we even met him.
My boots were unlined leather and great for the climate. After afew days I just started wearing running shoes because the boots were too loud in the dry leaves. My PH, the owner, wore sport sandals and shorts.
I asked for an estimate for marine cargo which the taxidermist recomended. What I was sent was an estimate for Air cargo for $3500 Am. Supposedly it will be about half as much by water, but whatever it is, it is.
I look forward to hearing about your trip next year, I've already ordered a 416 Rigby and am planning to go back.
Dogleg
 
thanks,
The reason I asked about the documents for leaving, there was an article in the SCI newsletter last month my Terry Weiland talking about have canadian govt export forms before leaving. I had never heard of this before this article.
Did you have to do that?
 
Martinbns,
All the South African police need that customs declaration for is proof of ownership. They can't wrap their brain around the idea that some other countrys don't have registration. With the Americans a customs declaration is probably the only piece of paper that they can get to show that the rifle is theirs. Most of the rest of the world would just use their registration papers. This is the only time that I ever found a use for that hated pile of paperwork.
Laws change constantly, your best bet is to stay in touch with your outfitter and do whatever they suggest. I would have just let the outfitter get them in advance, and pay the $100 fee if I had more time. As it was I was worried about sending all my original paperwork halfway around the world. If it were lost or misplaced there wouldn't have been enough time to get replacements.

Dogleg
 
Dogleg said:
What I was sent was an estimate for Air cargo for $3500 Am. Supposedly it will be about half as much by water, but whatever it is, it is.
Click to expand...

Take the air cargo. My experience (from Europe) was that almost anything can go missing on the long boat trip. And you can't get enough insurance to replace a trophy from a once in a lifetime trip!!!

Thanx for the great photos!
 
i have a couple more questions.

you hear different things about afrika, ranch hunting, high fence operations, etc.

was this on a cattle ranch (former or present) with standard 4 or 5 strand fences? high fence (granted you read about high fence operations in afrika that are 100000+ acres)? no fence?

i am just curious, not looking to start a pi$$ing contest.

any health issues? pickpockets in the city, etc?

see any snakes in the southern winter?
 
Practically everything in South africa is fenced. There are a lot of differences between our hunting laws and theirs. One of the biggest is that a landowner owns every animal, tree and bird on his property. If the property is high fenced he can also set his own seasons. Economics dictate that a hunting operation have the fences just for the longer season that he would be allowed. For the most part the fences don't seem to contain anything, but they do satisfy the law. I personally saw Kudu clear a 8 foot fence and Gemsbuck, duikers and warthogs crawl under them. There are plenty of animals on the road at night too.The smallest property I hunted was 2000 hectares or 5000 acres of bush. Lots are bigger. I'm sure canned operations exist, but I never saw any. Some of the ranches had cattle wandering around. Scrawny looking things.
I never saw any pickpockets, but nobody seems shy about just asking for money (tips). I ended up getting about 4 shots and taking anti-malarias. (probably for nothing.) Aids is widespread so you had best plan to bring your own or do without. I saw no snakes at all, they don't hibernate exactly but go dormant that time of year. I didn't miss them!
 
I saw a small thick tan-brown snake, no markings and with a very small head. By the time Deb got her camera ready the help, who hate snakes, were already pitching rocks at it, and it disappeared. Later I checked in several snake books, but I was unable to indentify it. Another day they told me to come quick there was a mamba, but by the time I figured out what they were on about, retreived the Benneli and ran to where they had seen it, it was gone, and going after a 7 step snake in the tall grass didn't seem wise. In Swahili mamba also means crocodile, so there was some momentary confusion - "No -no Bwana Mike - Black Mamaba - shotgun! Shotgun!!"
 
Any chance of bringing home canned game meat? Dump whatever clothes you brought over and fill luggage up to max weight allowance with canned eland or whatever?
 
Awsome, awsome pictures. that looks like one hell of a great trip for you.

I gotta ask did you try any of the meat or keep any of it? Or does it spoil on the spot because of the sun and heat?

Seeing all those picture really made me hungry for some game meat. ;)
 
Dogleg said:
... I wouldn't give up on ever going to Africa if I were you. Put your deposit down and buy your plane tickets one year, pay the balance of your hunt the next.I shot 10 animals, but maybe 4-5 is enough for you. You won't see a taxidermy bill for yet another year, so a lot of the costs will be spread out over 3 years. Would that make it more managable? ...
Click to expand...
I am planning to go in May or June 2009. (Was supposed to be 2008 but other priorities got in the way.) Thanks for the encouragement. Having the costs spread out like that makes it seem less painful!

:) Stuart
 
Dogleg said:
Blindside,
It will be bad enough, but I am getting everything done there where it seems to be a lot cheaper. Freight is going to be brutal too. I attached a copy of the invoice, in case it might be helpful to someone. Prices are in American $.

Order 20160

1 Impala shouldermount – drop shoulder, head straight (black face)
$
494.00

1 Impala skull on black shield
$
134.00

1 Gemsbuck skull (male) on shield
$
152.00

1 Gemsbuck shouldermount – female with male cape – repair horn
$
667.00

1 Blue wildebeest skull on black shield
$
184.00

1 Kudu shouldermount
$
830.00

1 Bushbuck shouldermount
$
492.00

1 Waterbuck shouldermount
$
798.00

1 Zebra flatskin tan
$
247.00

1 Gemsbuck flatskin tan
$
140.00

1 Impala flatskin tan
$
56.00

1 Blue wildebeest flatskin tan
$
140.00


$
4334.00

Packaging & crating
$
650.10

Veterinary Permit
$
53.00

Nature Conservation Permit
$
53.00

Total
$
5090.10
Click to expand...
Congrats, looks like a great trip. I got 11 animals over there and most were shoulder mounts with a half mount gemsbok and full mount bushbuck. Shipping crate was 6ft x 5ft x 4ft and shipping came to $3200 can. Total for taxidermy and shipping was about $10000 can and then remember GST on the taxidermy value once you pick it up. Not trying to scare anyone, still well worth it but the taxidermy etc does add up. Next time it's Tanzania for a couple buffalo and maybe one or two plains game so I spend more on hunting and less on taxidermy. :D
 
Well this is back from the dead! Not that I mind.:D

BAR308,
I ate bushbuck,eland, warthog ham and a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember now. Basically wild meat everyday. Everything I had was good, beats deer all to hell. Eland would drive beef off the market.
Temperatures are like a Sask. September and meat spoilage is not a problem at all.

Josquin,
That's the spirit, just book it and go.:rockOn:

MyRam,
I've got a buffalo hunt in the works for July, with a plains game hunt preceding it. I'm not done paying taxidermy bills just yet, but hopefully they will be less in the future. Since a lot of the best buffalo hunting isn't in the best plains game areas that may help. I'm not quite ready to settle for pictures as trophies yet, but can see a huge savings for those that can.
I see you're in Fort Nelson. I've spent a few winters up there punching holes off the Sierra. Missed last winter though. Fantastic game country.
Dogleg
 
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