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A much loved uncle called and explained that he attended a local fundraiser.................and purchased a package deal for plains game in Africa!
I am headed to Africa for a plains game hunt between now and the end of 2017. Please indulge me as I ask questions and pick the brains of the pros here.
First is simply where to start???????? I never dreamed that Africa would be in my future but has always been on my when I hit the lottery list.
There is just sooooooooooooooooooo much and I don't want to screw up what will be for me a truly once in a lifetime opportunity.
Thanks in advance for any ideas and suggestions.
JS

Good for you! Use the rifle that you're most comfortable with, good bullets, practice shooting off the sticks and have fun!

Money.....and a lot of it

Nothing about your trip will be cheap and even free will cost you something

Let's start a list of things to do:

- get the requirements for traveling with, and importing your rifles. I'd recommend a meet and greet service in RSA

- get the outfitters brochure and particulars on the hunt. RSA hunting is a la carte. You pay a daily fee and then a trophy fee for each animal taken of wounded. Make a budget.

- fly direct from US without stopovers in Europe if you can avoid it. Too many gun hassles and chances to lose your stuff.

- have a good pair of binos.

- take 1/2 the clothes and gear you think you need.

- bring twice the money. You may never get back, Africa might close hunting or restrict it. It happens.

- Practice, practice with your rifle off of shooting sticks. No bench rest in the field.


Start with that list. Enjoy the lead up!

Plus...you are sure to see something not on your 'list' and will be asking what the trophy fee on that is...


Take half the clothes and gear you think you need, and twice the money.

Read the other thread.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth.../1/advice_for_first_time_Africa_h#UNREAD

Thanks for all the good advice so far and trust me if it says anything about Africa in the title then I have been reading it!!!! It is a lot to digest but half the fun is in the planning.

Agree 100%. Make sure your travel arrangements are rock-solid. Gracey Travel. Say no more.

In terms of riflery, I'd say this:

1) Choose your African rifle(s) as soon as you can. A year in advance isn't too soon. You might find with repetitive shooting that your chosen rifle isn't as good as you thought it was, so you want to have time enough to switch to another.

2) Once your rifle is zero'd off the bench, stick with field positions. I took ingwe's advice and did 50% of my practice in the offhand position, 40% off sticks, and 10% kneeling/sitting. There is nothing like shooting offhand to weld your muscle memory in place, and if you're using a big bruiser of a rifle, it's also the position that allows you to roll with the recoil best, thereby reducing the wear and tear on your old bones and muscles.

3) Make sure you have an ample supply of practice ammo. You should shoot a minimum of 300 rounds in each rifle you're bringing. For your "big" rifle, practice loads should be either (a) reduced recoil, or (b) full power with a cheap bullet to avoid wear and tear on your body and your wallet. In my preparations last year, I loaded about 60% of my practice ammo with AA5744 powder under cheap Sierra GK 300 gr bullets at about 2000 fps, and the remainder was full-power ammo (2500 fps) using the same bullets. I would shoot 30-60 rounds of reduced-recoil ammo in each session, and then 10-30 rounds of heavies to finish up. I started out shooting 50 lights and 10 heavies, and by the time I was ready to go I was shooting 10 lights and 30-40 heavies in each session.

4) Don't take anything that you haven't thoroughly tested/broken-in at home. This means boots, socks, rifle slings, ammo cases, cameras, binos, everything. Especially boots. I bought my Courtenays 8 weeks before I went, and put a good 200 miles on them walking, and wore them to work every day.

Save all the money you can for the trip

Do not go out and buy anything special.

Steve Turner of "Travel with Guns" for your travel arrangements

African Sky Guesthouse if you overnight in Johannesburg or would like an airport walk through with your gun permits

Get anything with a,serial number put on your customs form

Use the best hard case you can get your hands on and take a soft case also

Think real hard about taxidermy. I really like mine, but for the price I could have shot a lot more animals. Consider really nice pictures, blown up and framed on the wall to capture the memories. I could have shot another Kudu, a few impalas, a zebra, a gemsbok, and so on for what it take to get the 5 animals back and mounted. If mounts are important, by all means do it, just give it a thought.

Very solid advice on shooting practice above. For me, getting to a place to shoot field positions was a challenge. Instead, I built some sticks, and loaded three practice blanks. I then printed silhouette targets of various animas at various angles, and placed them across my basement and 'shot' them ~15 times a night from various positions, primarily offhand and off sticks. It also got me into a good habit of cycling the bolt quickly for follow on shots.

Oh, and aim to hit right between the front legs, not behind.

Thoughts on using PH's rifle and not taking your own?
As for mounts only bring back the "special" one?
Save money for more animals?
I am thinking April of 2017?
Having hunted Elk, mule deer, Aoudad, free range exotics etc all over the west and southwest I am comfortable with sticks and recoil but don't own any big boomers.
Never felt the need hunting in the US.
If I do take a rifle I have several that I have and shoot regularly.
Should I go with my 300 Win Mag, 6.5-284, 308, or 30-06? More questions to come!

.30-06

30-06 with 150 grain Accubonds was what my wife and I used in 2014 to take eleven different species of plains game near Komga South Africa.

I suggest late June and early July

Take lots of pictures

You're doing the right thing by asking lots of questions, and this is a great place to get it figured out. You'll be right at home in Africa, being you're a Carlsbad guy.

Planning your first trip is loads of fun. Enjoy it all!

Thanks to all and JG I'm guessing that the "raider" is a Tech thing?

I have been three times and have never taken a rifle. My primary hunting rifle is a stainless / plastic stock Savage in 30-06 because I normally hunt in muddy river bottoms. So I did not have a burning desire to take it with me, plus I connect through London traveling on airline miles. The outfitter / PH has loaners and I have used his .243, 30-06, and .375 H&H. Talk to your outfitter and see what is available. On the other hand if you have a rifle that you will regret not taking then by all means you should take yours.

A 30-06 is a great caliber for most plains game.

Guns up!

Charles is right about the rifle thing too. I've used the outfitter's rifle once (30-06/180 partitions), and taken mine twice. Taking your own can be a major PITA depending on which mullet you talk to at checkin, TSA dudes, which airport, SAPS, etc. If you do, use one of the SAPS permit contractors. Best $100 bucks you'll spend IMO.

Africa Sky is the cream of the crop IMO.

If you're planning to hunt nothing bigger than kudu, you will be fine with any of those calibers, and my preference would be .30-06 with 180 grain bullets. If you need more rifle than a .30-06 for eland or dangerous game, you might as well move on up to a .375. And if you're going to hunt with a .375, then you'd best practice with one here so you're used to the recoil and blast.

I wouldn't hesitate a second to kill any Eland with a 30-06

Read the hunt agreement over with cynical eye. Auction hunts are rather famous for careful wording, that sort of exclude much of what you thought you were getting. A free hunt can quickly add up to a boat load of money. So much so that many hunts are never taken. An example would be SCI pressuring exhibitors to donate hunts, and the operator working it so he either turns a profit on the hunt he gave away or the buyer coming to his senses and not going at all. Somewhat better is when the hunter chooses to take some extra animals and he makes it back that way. Better, but expect a little pressure to do so. Alcohol can place a part in the bidding process.

They are not all like that, but bear in mind that the best auction hunts that well and truly include everything usually go for close to fair market value.

TALK TO THE OUTFITTER AS MUCH BEFORE HAND AS YOU CAN. Get their price list and build a wishlist on what you can afford. Also figure out what are good animals for the region you will be hunting. Keep in mind that just like whitetail deer in the States, the species of animal vary their by region based and not all species are necessarily native to that area. That makes a difference to many folks.

Talk to your taxidermist now and figure out what their charges are/could be and keep that in mind.

When I went, I rented a rifle there and it worked great for me. I would recommend that as well. I knew what they would offer me and I shot the same set-up here before going.

Good advice from everyone so far.....the only things I would like to add are:

1.) if you're not in shape, do your best to get in shape prior to going. Talk to your physician about a weight loss program (if necessary), start walking, etc. You really don't want to loose out on a good trophy because it walked over a hill and you just didn't have the physical ability to go after it. I lost 25lbs prior to going, and it made all the difference in the world when we were climbing hills and my PH spotted that kudu on a distant hillside!

2.) taxidermy: I have my own personal feelings on this, but all I will say (or suggest) is that the cost of taxidermy can get WAY out of hand rather quickly....not only with mounts, but dip/pack, govt. paperwork, shipping, etc. I decided that I would have 2 shoulder mounts (the species I most wanted to take) and the rest would be skull mounts. One of the other fellows I hunted with had all shoulder mounts done, and the cost of the taxidermy quickly surpassed what he paid for his safari!!!

3.) Tips: While tipping is a personal matter, it is generally regarded that is should be done if you had a good time....and everyone gets a tip: the maids, the cooks, the trackers, the PH. etc. There are guidelines elsewhere for this, so I won't go into it in detail (consider it your "home work":)), but it's also nice to take some items to leave: Lifesaver candies, hard candies (South Africans all seem to have a big sweet tooth), tick repellant, first aid supplies, etc. I left my binocular straps for one of the assistant PHs because his was falling apart; and he greatly appreciated it. We take for granted all the access we have to gear and such, but they don't have the stores, Cabelas, etc. that we have here in the States that they do in S.A. HOWEVER!!!!! please note that leaving items behind is not the same as leaving a tip!!!
I've heard people say "Well, I left my shooting sticks behind...that was his tip"......to me, what that says is "I'm a cheap-ass SOB"......but that's just my opinion.
Congrats on your upcoming trip..........I'm jealous!

Who are you going to be hunting with?

Take no more than one large bag with wheels and a back pack type carry on. In the carry on have all the essentials you'll need to the point you could do without the main bag if you had too.

If you bring a rifle a good option is to use a take down case that fits in the duffle bag. You will be doing site in any way so doesn't matter if it holds zero when taken down.

Take extra time off if you can to check out the parks and other sights. Don't go crazy buying new gear but if you do get a better camera. Better to have multiple cameras than multiple guns. Bring a point & shoot camera and let the staff take photos with it.

Agree on the taxidermy advice costs add up fast and by the time you have it all shipped there may not even be a good spot for it.

Not done it but a buddy has. It's taking him years to complete the taxidermy stuff (treatments, shipping and mounting). Far exceeds the safari. Primary reason I've not gone.

Pack a pair of hunting clothes in your carry-on plus your binos and camera. Wear your hunting boots on the plane and pack a spare pair in your checked luggage. If the airlines looses your baggage you will still have the gear to hunt. Ask me how I know..... : > ) Have fun!

Why not hunt and just take photos of your quarry?

That's entirely practical, but is a mental hurdle to overcome. There are lots of downsides to trophies. They take up a lot of space, there's shipping, permits, brokering, running out of space, and the feeling that everyone in the whole process from beginning to end thinks they have you over a barrel. After all, they have your trophies and if they want to see them again, send money. Its sort of like a hostage negotiation.

I started out taking trophies home like just about everyone else; have have mostly transitioned to leaving stuff behind.The first ones are the hardest. After you start having to give them away or never even unpacking some it gets easier. Trophy care can easily cost as much as the hunting trip did, and another trip might be worth more to you. Besides, most trophies will end up in a land fill eventually, nobody wants them when you're gone.