Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Well, Here We Go.....

I've recovered enough to start with telling you good folks about my hunt, an experience I cannot hardly put into words. I'm going to take a page out of dvdgeorge's book and post it a day at a time. My goal is to do great justice to what I've experienced. I have a tough time with that usually, as somewhere between my brain and my fingers on the keyboard, my thoughts tend to get lost. I'll apologize for that up front, but I'll do my best. I felt I was well prepared, due in a large part to the advice I received here. I'm grateful for that still. Even at that, I don't see how a virgin African hunter can be prepared to soak in all that Africa has to offer, and I realize I've only gotten a small glimpse of it. However, what I did see and experience was almost overwhelming. Anyway, enough of that.

Here is the headquarters for our hunt. A small ranch house accomodation that was right up my alley. The only sounds you could here at night were the sounds of Africa itself.

my ram, and I was more than thrilled. In fact, you will see after all my animals are posted that none of them are the "ram of rams".

A short time later, I was treated to my first African sunset, a beautiful experience in itself. Back under the veranda, a batch of chicken rested on a rack above glowing coals, at that time I was introduced to another one of life's simple pleasures.......

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It is irrelevant what you think. What matters is the TRUTH.

Oh man Johnny, this is starting out real good. Can't wait for day two.

Mike

They are yours, so they are all rams of all rams. Happy for you. Congrats.

Castle is a simple pleasure.

Nothing quite like one's first African Safari. Looking forward to reading the rest Johnny!

Excellent! Can't wait for the next installment!


maddog

Simply awesome!

Dink

Something I want to do someday, I'm definately ready to hear more!

Don't know if I'll ever get back, but each time one of us posts his stories, it takes me back. Thanks for posting. I can feel the sun and smell mopane smoke. Keep them coming.
Bfly

YOU SUCK!!!!

Woo hoo! Congrats!

Great story, thanks for sharing, keep 'em coming. Took my son last June for his HS graduation, my first trip as well. We still talk about it almost every day.

I figured you, The Poobah, would have cut me some slack, having noticed the pansy-assed bullet holder on the stock. I left it on there out of respect for all the turds here.

Very nice JG, very nice indeed!! And thanks for taking the time to give the detailed reports - those are the best!

Outstanding! Waiting for day 2!!!

Thanks for the report. Looking forward to the next installment.

As for the hartebeest not being the "ram of all rams", I think hunters need to cut others some slack. Its what the head means to the harvester that counts, not whether it is a "book head", "ram of all rams".

That skinhead WT doe may mean more as a first kill to a beginner, than a B&C buck to someone who has lots of big deer. We hunters need to be less judgemental and consider the harvesters views.

Which reminds me, I need to practice what I preach. My taxidermist, who is very good, likes to consider himself a sheep hunter. He has taken 5-6 rams. Now when I think of a hunter that has taken that many rams, they are likely an increasing progression in size or beauty, yet when he showed me his photos of his rams, they are all just squeakers, barely legal. And it's not as if they were necessarily hunted hard. A couple were shot near the campsite in the forest as targets of opportunity. However, he is very proud of his rams and he should be, as they mean something to him.

Just because I always thought if I shot a ram, the next one would have to be significantly bigger before I pulled the trigger, doesn't mean I can impose my views on him. (BTW, after a couple of severe injuries, I doubt I'll ever kill a ram (have shot a couple of ewes) unless I spring for a guided horseback hunt which is very expensive. I think I'd rather go to Africa 3-4 times than hunt a ram in Alberta.)

Very good write-up and super photo's. Good ram too. Perhaps I missed it as I tend to read pretty fast, but where in Africa were you hunting and with what outfitter?

Great pictures and story... Looking forward to the rest

The question was asked and I forgot to post it up front, but we hunted with Koedoeberg Safaris near the town of Groot Marico in the NW Province of SA. PH's were Reinier and Ricus Swart, and an apprentice named Monet. Great people, very knowledgable, and it turns out that Reinier had guided people all over much of Africa, and has been a PH since 1983. He was phenomenal at judging game, thank goodness, since we had never laid eyes on any of this stuff.

Day 2 started much the same as the first day, without the range session. Once again we started with coffee on the veranda, and with binoculars viewing the hills behind us and spotting some game. We crawled into the truck and very quickly realized there were lots of blesbok around....

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The "Go Away" bird was a royal PITA, but was still interesting. I still had to smile....I was having the time of my life. Meanwhile at the water hole, Zac had some blue wildebeest cows and a few zebra within 75 yards of his location. His arrow was nocked, and he said he had decided to try and take whichever offered the best shot.....the wind was perfect he said. For some reason the animals were very nervous. He knew they had no idea of his presence, but something was strange. Zac looked to his right, and a large female leopard came stalking into view. She laid up in a small patch of brush not more than 20 yards from him and his PH for about 20 minutes, both nervous as hell. The PH did have a Steyr 30-06 handy just in case, but no permits, so all they could do was watch. The female eventually became interested in one of the numerous flocks of guinea fowl that were ever present, and chased them off into the bush, never to be seen again by our party. They were very nervous about leaving the blind for obvious reasons so they radio'ed us and we drove up to the hide and picked them up. We didn't understand why we had to do that until they told us their story. We then totally understood!

Upon arrival at camp, we told our stories, watched the stars, listened to the many wild sound that can only be heard after an African sunset. Zac and I just sat there and grinned. Only one animal was taken that day, along with many memories neither of us would ever forget. The PH's then introduced us to another of life's simple pleasures. We were two of the luckiest guys on the planet.............

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It is irrelevant what you think. What matters is the TRUTH.

Another great day. Thanks for posting.

JG
Good reports that are feeding my glazed remembering stare. Great to share the hunt with your buddy. There is nothing like an old friend with whom to share such experiences. I found the circumstances and stalk to impact the appreciation of the animal rather more than the tape measure does. Enjoy each moment over and over.

Randy