Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa MY EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

Yes, some do.

My suggestion is that rather than get your panties in a wad when GH tosses a cookie like that, that you take notes and do the same. If you physically can't, join a gym. He ain't lucky, he just works harder than 99% of the hunters on the forums.

My panties aren't in a wad, I still think his bragging sounds like Lee, and you can but out anytime.

You are acting like a fool. Lee didn't back anything up in the way of pictures of success. You might want to rethink your comparison.

OK, I'll stop acting like a fool and you stop fantasizing about my panties.

Save your breath Calvin, these guys have their minds made up already. Hell, all I did was offer an opinion that a picture would have been better without the high fence and I've been labeled a troll. You'd think that hunters that hunt the "Dark Continent" wouldnt be such thinned skinned wusses

Carry on with the story and pictures please

I hunted Africa in 2009 on 160000 acres of fenced land. The fences are no different in purpose than in NA, to keep game wandering onto other properties. The game belongs to the owner of the land it lives on. The place I hunted started as a 16000 acre sheep and cattle ranch. It had low fences. Farming became unsustainable because the land was not really able to support domestic stock. The land owner got rid of his livestock.

The land started to regenerate, and as it did game began to naturalise back in. He bought a small herd of 20 black wildebeast, which had lived on the land when he was a boy. He then began to buy adjacent farms, getting rid of the livestock, and letting it naturalise. He did this for years, and the sterile adjacent lands were natural boundaries to keep the game in.

As the farmers adjacent to him saw he was making a progressive living with wild game they began to let portions of their land naturalise and the animals started to migrate into it as a part of their travels. It was at this time that the son of the original owner erected high fences to control this migration, and loss of income. He presently sells animals to stock other game farms from the excess produced on his land. He also brings in professional cull hunters to keep his herds prime and healthy, selling the meat and hides to keep the operation viable.

His family's far sightedness has seen 160000 acres returned to its natural state, and provided a breeding ground for species to thrive on and off his property. I think that the motivation of profit has resulted in a very positive outcome. His wife runs a wild cat breeding and reintroduction facility which specifically works to reestablish wild cats of the Karoo, which have no economic impact, but makes the land more like it was in the past.

By the way I had days I was so tired after a day of hunting, I went to bed after a cup of Bush Tea and without supper. I hunted hard for four days for my Gemsbok and he took us over 12000 of those acres. Call it a canned hunt if you want to. My wildebeast photos are taken where we are within sight of hydro lines. He took us for a five mile walk after being hit in the lungs, and with a broken shoulder. I may be a wuss, won't deny that, but those free range animals sure are not.

The honesty and lack of self grandisement exhibited by Afterum is worth the read in and of itself, not to mention the transportation back to the field it offers those of us who have hunted there, or for that matter anywhere.

Thank you sir for your excellent narrative and photography. I shared my trip with my wife as well since she is my partner in all aspects of my life, both at work and at play. It is obvious by the photos that your wife is worthy as you to experience all Africa can offer.

In deepest respect

Randy

thanks Randy, it was because of you and guys like you that I choose to continue.....

Not so thin skinned at all. This thread started as a great story with pictures on what may be one of the great adventures of a life time. Then a couple of jerks effectively shut it down. It was just stupid.

Come on AFTERUM, I really want to read the rest of the story....purty please


maddog

No he's not Lee and his bona-fides are genuine, , he is an unquestionable and capable hunter, but some of us do and or did hunt on Public Lands and DIY, bit you can't do that in Africa and until one has hunted there, on the trail of an animal from dawn until dusk, it is no walk in the park. I've done both. Have you? Regardless, this has been a GREAT thread, quite enjoyable. jorge

PS; There are no public lands or DIY in Africa and as to this:


Have you considered that some here might be past their physical prime and as to the 99% did you derive that empirically or through research?

And by that statement you have not made up your mind as well? It's not thin skin Sonora, merely an attempt to correct something that just ins't so... jorge

Tuesday August 24th 2010
I was still riding high on my kudu from yesterday. Not the biggest in camp (Tim had a 58") but the shape and the way the tips turned out and that beautiful ivory on the ends, well it just fit perfectly into that space created in my dreams. I only had steenbok left on my "contract" and I had definitely decided to add a gemsbok, especially after seeing lots of them as I hunted other animals. Tip and Tim had both killed nice bulls. I had seen a cow with what Craig said were 36" horns, a very nice one in that area. At that time, I had not decided to add one so I passed. It was funny, we would ride around and see animals like this eland.



Craig would say "do you want to pop him?" and I would say "not yet" and we would laugh. I probably would have shot an eland (it's about an 1800$ "pop") if I could get the meat home. It was the best I tasted and it would fill a couple of freezers. We rode around part of the morning and walked the other part. I saw lots of steenbok (they tend to jump the road like rabbits), maybe 2 dozen or so, but they were either does or they were young males with small horns. Tip had already killed a monster (pic in a previous post) and I knew I would probably not equal it, but I wanted a good mature represenative of the species. BTW I saw three of the small antelope on my trip. Steenbok, duiker, and klipspringer (at Kruger). Let me tell you, you ole boys that are used to hunting rabbits would get a kick out of these little guys. They run like a well, deer, and not only that, they duck and dive and in general are hard to get a bead on. I think maybe shotguns and buckshot would be the ticket. Duiker (diker in English daker like baker in Africaans) means diver and buddy they live up to their name. You almost never see them still and that makes it double hard to see if they are a buck and if so if they are a shooter. Craig said there is a group of trophies of the little guys and if you can collect all of them you would have the tiny seven. A hard group to collect since some live in very out of the way places. We went back to the lodge for lunch.
Back out about 3pm Craig said, lets take a walk. We had only done a couple of miles that morning and so it felt good to walk off some of that big lunch. We saw several steenbok but no shooters. We did see a big gemsbok but a zebra spooked him before we could get a shot. Those dang zebras ruin many a stalk. I told Craig "if you spook a zebra, the whole forrest runs!" Two zebras can turn the whole area into a running circus parade. When we got back to the truck we rode around some and saw somemore duikers and steenbok but still no shooters. We were headed home when we came around a corner and Craig stopped the driver and pointed, "there, shoot". Hell, he didn't say what he had seen and I was looking for a big gemsbok, "No" he said "steenbok" so I looked lower and saw the buck. I tried to shoot him far enough back to keep him from being torn up from the .375 (a 22 magnum would have been about perfect). Here is his picture. I am glad you can't see the other side. Craig assured me he could be put back together for my pedestal mount.



He measured 4 and 1/2 and I thought he was beautiful. Before we went out to retrieve him I told Barb "now before we walk out there I want you to know these things are "cute". She said "I'm OK" and we brought him back for the pics. I remember thinking, I have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to get my gemsbok. I can afford to hold out for a very good one. I should know better than that.BTW, in order for me to get low enough for the hero shot, I was down in the same aardvark hole you see Barb in here.



Glad this one didn't have a warthog or black mamba in it!

We didn't hunt the steenbok, when we were there in 2008, instead "trading up" for the blesbok, on the pkg. But you are right, there was a boatload of the little fellers around.

maddog

I have grown quite enamoured of the tiny tims in Africa. I had opportunity for a steenbok, but decided against it because of my 338.

It seems I should have taken the shot. It and a giant springbok were the only two the PH was a little ticked I didn't shoot. I had already taken a springbok at 320 yds, and did not need to shoot another.

Your description of the running, darting of the steenbok is bang on and they always amazed me how they would dart back and forth then stop suddenly, your eyes moving to where they should be and then loosing them.

Barb is character isn't she. I love that shot of her.

Randy

You couldn't pay my wife a million bucks to get down in a hole like that. You should have stuffed the Steenbok in your luggage to avoid dipping & shipping fees. LOl

Thank you for continuing your narrative. I missed the chance to do what you have done 12 years ago having taken a different road I value your story and experience. Keep it coming.

I wanted to show you a lilac breasted roller the most photograped bird in RSA...

and the sunset that day....

An excellent report, and great trophies, mate!!!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010
I think it hit me Tuesday night. I woke up about 3am and thought "Hell, this thing is gonna end soon." Sounds crazy I know but I had been so caught up in this thing that I guess I never considered it would end. We would hunt all day and then eat supper and then we would gather at the fire to talk about guns, calibers, other hunts, "the way we do it at home" and stuff like that. The ph's, especially Johann were very knowledgeable about guns (JB they were rifle loonies, they just don't know it) and they also reloaded and were up on new powders and bullets. They were true Barnes disciples as well. Tim, my new buddy from California was a double rifle nut and he had some 75 guns (not all doubles but quite a few) in rare and unusual big African calibers. I learned alot from him and the Africa boys as I called them hung on his every word about those old rifles. Barb and Terre (pronounced Terry) had decided to travel about 40 miles away on Wednesday to take an elephant ride. I decided to go along, not to ride but Craig and I would go into a small town near the elephant ride ranch and while they rode we would pick up some supplies for Pieter and the camp. I hated to miss a morning of hunting but I needed to pick up a few gifts and I would still have 2 and 1/2 days to hunt for a good gemsbok. I really enjoyed the morning in town but a strange thing happened. I had been in the bush for the previous 8 days or so and coming to town (even this little one-horse town) kinda overwhelmed my senses. Too much noise, lights, hustle and bustle. Craig noticed it and told me the same thing happened to him sometimes after a long stint at camp. I went to the local "tourist trap" and bought a few handmade things to take home. We stopped by a supermarket (smaller than ours but nice and clean and well stocked) and over in the "deli" department was this glass case full of what looked like chicken pot pies. I forget what the name is in Africaans but Craig bought me one and he bought himself two. The ones he bought were peppered steak, he said they were best, but they had chicken, lamb, mincemeat, and others. We went outside and ate them in the parking lot washed down by a diet coke. The pastry was homemade and excellent, nice and buttery with a rich meat filling that was tender and spicy with black pepper. By the time I had eaten mine, Craig had finished his two. He said " I usually get 3 !" I said "Yeah, I could eat like that when I was 28 y/o too." We went back and picked up the girls about 12:30pm and headed back to camp and Tiny had lunch on the table. We ate and headed out to a place called "Rose Valley" to look for Gemsbok. I was very glad to be back hunting but although we walked most of the afternoon we could't make anything happen.