Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa WHY HUNTING AFRICA HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TROPHY HUNTING by Tyler Freel

Absolutely my experience as well. Meat means life in Africa, something taken way for granted in the US.

R

Count on it M3taco, I'm going to build Wife a Boma here at the house, i'll screw 40 skulls from a cull hunt to the interior fence walls, have a welder bud that's going to fabricate a grill for cooking in the sand with Hickory. a few lanterns and appropriate amounts of adult beverage should make for a nice relaxing spot.

Great idea for both of you to enjoy Gunner. Now, butcher yourself a little fresh veal (impala) and get it on your "braai", a boombox set off a 100yds with some random recordings of hyena and jackal and maybe lion calls and your all set!!

I'll play, people always like to ask about the animals I killed. I always deflect that question and say yes, the hunting was fantastic but what I always took away from both of my trips was the experience. The people, the new food,country and ideas.

The sounds! I could go on and on about the sounds and they do not stop at night, just change. Of all the things I truly miss, is the sound of the hippos at night.
The stars, the sunsets and sunrises get honorable mention.

Nice ideas, we always have bullfrogs, coyotes and dove, with the occasional whippoorwill and owl.

It's much larger than the animals [hunting] for me too Sir.

Now we're getting the idea! An African safari, or any other hunting or fishing trip should be more than just killing things.

Every time I step out of the aircraft door and onto the ramp to get down to the tarmac in Windhoek or Gaborone, I ALWAYS get the "spicy" hit in the air from the African sage bush and on a good year with good grasses a bit of cinnamon and vanilla from the dried grass.

Still remember the first time we saw a couple of bull gemsbok in a full on rut fight. We were within 75m and the sheer power their oversized shoulders and necks gave their horns an UNBELIEVABLE speed and violence and the sound of the horns clashing and the grunts of exertion that is very hard to describe. I've seen a lot of species fight, but pound for pound gemsbok has to be the most astounding. Seen it a few times since and it is still an amazing sight.

Stalking in close from downwind of elephant that you can't really see but KNOW are there. Your senses are already on extra high alert and the closer you get the stronger the pungent musky smell fills your nose. You can hear them breaking down branches bigger than your leg like they are matchsticks. You start to hear the grumbling from the stomachs and then scratching of the various acacia thorns down their sides as they move along. Standing within 50m and just watching them feed while they have no idea you're there. Then the ultimate is being charged and not knowing for sure if it is just a bluff (head up, trunk up and ears flared wide) and if he decided to REALLY come (ears go back, trunk goes down and tucked under and head comes down) and him changing his mind at the last minute just as you're putting pressure on the trigger and you BOTH get to walk away. You being more shook up then him!!!

Gunner and CRS have also mentioned the "sounds". This is not "Africa" but Australia. In 2018, my wife and I did an Asiatic Water Buffalo cull hunt in the extreme northern part of the Northern Territory a few hours west of Gove. Tented camp. At night there was NO SOUND AT ALL. No insects, no birds, no frogs NOTHING. REALLY EERIE!! We were on separate cots and were whispering to each other about the absolute silence when what had to be one of the huge fruit bats flew close over the tent. She was immediately my cot mate! Thank you fruit bat!

M3Taco: Although we’ve never met, we’ve shared a lot of memories from our hunts with Jan. During my fifth hunt with Jan last May, I told him I’ve run out of room for Euro mounts in our condo, and was more interested in the hunts themselves than something to hang on the wall. When Jan’s neighbor Johan who runs Shona Hunting Safaris had a Leopard hunter from Malta, I told Jan I had no problem shooting bait animals for Johan and hanging/ checking baits. We shot baboons, a crippled Zebra and a sickly domestic cow and hung them for Johan. We even found where a big male Leopard had killed a juvenile Eland and dragged it over a mile. We tracked it in hopes we’d find the kill hanging in a tree and could erect a blind for Johan and his hunter. It was a lot of fun helping out on a Leopard hunt without having to pay the daily rate. At the end of the hunt I shot a tremendous Waterbuck and Jan had a European Mount made with a plaque with my name on it, and it hangs in his guest chalet. If/ when you go back to Jan’s place, think of me.

I agree that Joe’s is a “Must See” when in Windhoek, and I have eaten there four times. For a change of pace, I ate at the Stellenbosch Winery in May 2019, and for about $18 US had a fabulous Fillet Mignon dinner with a couple of Tafel Lagers. It’s rated #1 in all of Namibia for Restaurants.

I had a great experience hunting with the Burchell's in 2017. I'll be hunting with them again in 2021. Thanks for sharing your trip.

Nice write up!

Thanks for taking the time to share!!

Amazing, hopefully after the epidemic, I would not mind seeing pictures here on the forum when the time comes. Cheers mate!

Yes Sir, pics will be posted, may certainly be a 2021 hunt now though, getting there may be one thing, getting hung up [out] over there trying to get back may ne a whole other set of problems.

Great, looking forward to 2021.

That is very interesting.