Southern African Outfitters

Transcription

RSA R45
Volume 19
20 • Issue 34
Hunting the great continent of Africa
africanhuntinggazette.coma
Apr/May/Jun 2015
b
africanhuntinggazette.com
africanhuntinggazette.com1
Due to the variation in color
and structure of the patterning
of the hide, taxonomists disagree
whether there are as many as
nine subspecies or six full different
species of giraffe. Although giraffe
can be hunted in private game
farms in Southern Africa, the
giraffe is not included in the SCI
Trophy Record Book.
• Published quarterly, a quality journal presenting
all aspects of hunting available in Africa.
• The traditions and tales, the professional hunters
of today, and the legends of yesteryear.
• Reporting on the places to go, the sport available
and all the equipment to use.
• Examining the challenges of managing wildlife
as a sustainable resource and the relationship
between Africa’s game and its people.
Brooke’s Editorial
What’s in a Name?
On Linda Lemon, Artist in Africa in AHG Vol. 20, Issue 3 By Lloyd L. Smrkovski8
A Family On Safari By Mrs. Luisa Perregil 9
Another Response to Brooke’s Editorial, “What Would Teddy Say?”
(AHG 20.1) By Bill Heubaum9
Hunters Do Good
Update on the Chiredzi River African
Wildlife Trust (Zimbabwe) By Nick Ohanesian10
From the Desk of Hunter Proud Foundation
Editor – Brooke ChilversLubin
[email protected]
Gear & Gadgets
Columnists
• On Shooting Johan van Wyk
• One for the Road & On Ammunition
Terry Wieland
Advertising Enquiries:
7
News & Letters
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
– Richard Lendrum
[email protected]
Managing Editor – Esther Sibanda
[email protected]
The Elephant and the Pauper – The Movie By Zig Mackintosh12
Leica Optics – ER 5 Series Riflescopes
GASTON J. GLOCK Style LP – Excellent Hunting Jacket
Meopta Optics
Ripcord Service – Emergency & Insurance Services
Clint Orms Engravers & Silversmiths
16
16
17
17
18
Wildlife Game
Outfitters, Africa and Europe
Richard Lendrum
Tel: +27 11-280-3370
[email protected]
Extending Tanzania’s Hunting Season – Two Points of View
By Dr. Henry Brink & Rolf Baldus20
North America
Kim Rieman
Tel: +1 406-925-2466
[email protected]
[email protected]
Giraffe from “Game Animals of the World” By Chris and Mathilde Stuart24
Design & Layout – Nadette Voogd
Subscriptions
Africa
Esther Sibanda
[email protected]
Rest of the World
Nicole Kelly
[email protected]
Toll Free: 1-855-528-3325
Administration & Finance –
Pria Bharath [email protected]
Published by:
African Sporting Gazette Inc.
PO Box 30, Bracebridge, ON,
P1L 1T5, Canada
Printed by
USA – Quad Graphics Inc.
Africa – Typo Colour Printing Specialists
© Copyright. All copyright for material appearing
in this magazine belongs to African Sporting
Gazette Inc. No part of this magazine may
be reproduced without written consent of the
publisher. The views and opinions expressed in
this publication are not necessarily those of the
publishers.
2
Contents
Wildlife Profile
Hunting Stories
Zimbabwe 2012: This Could Have Been the One! By PH Ernest Dyason28
South Africa 2012: How to Spend 24 Days in South Africa By Rick Batten34
Zimbabwe 2014: Fourth Time’s Charm By Mike Ambrose
42
South Africa 2014: Pinch Me! By Dan Cantlon48
Zimbabwe 2011: A Cowboy Gun in Africa By Brett Valette52
Namibia 2013: A Really Good Rifle… By Brian “Wato” Watson58
Botswana 2010: Botswana Bulls By Tony Masino64
South Africa 2004: Cattle Raiders of the Kalahari By Bruce Parker70
Company Profile
African Dreams
Mosita Wildlife
76
77
Bowhunting
Namibia (2004) - First African Bowhunting Safari By Frank Berbuir 78
South Africa (2012) - Archery and Antelope By Derrek Batson86
Huntress Diana
Zimbabwe (2014) - The Unexpected Wait
By Laura Barbour
94
westleyrichards.com
Contents
Hunting Stories of Yesteryear
In the Tracks of Robert Ruark. By Roger Wiltz100
The Early Boer Hunters of Southern Africa – Part II
By PH Willem Frost104
Brooke’s Leopard Blind Reading
The Gnu’s World – Serengeti Wildebeest Ecology and
Life History By Richard D. Estes
Reviewed by Brooke ChilversLubin108
PH Q&A
PH Dawid Muller (Namibia) –
Making Every Trophy One To Be Proud Of112
94
Rifles in Africa
A Professional Hunter’s Rifle – David Ommanney’s
.470 Rigby NE By John Mattera
Johan van Wyk’s On Shooting
Ritual, Respect, and Rangefinders Terry Wieland On Ammunition
New Woodleigh Manual a “Strong Buy”
Knife Guide
Arno Bernard
Carlton R. Evans – The Bobcat Knife Dennis Friedly Knives –”Birds”
Gaétan Beauchamp
Loyd McConnell’s Cactus Custom Knives
Thomas & Debi Rucker Handmade Knives
118
124
128
130
130
131
131
132
132
28
A Hunter Speaks Out
What We Hunters Are Facing By Jerry Bullock134
Knives in Africa
The Knives We Take to Africa By Gary Lewis137
26
Sporting People Pages
African Outfitters – Visited & Verified
We Answer the International Hunter’s Call
140
144
African Hunting Expos 2015 –
Exhibitors company profiles154
48
4
Terry Wieland’s One for the Road
An Old Africa Hand 168
84% +
Wt.Ret.
.704
dia.
SCIROCCO II®
.308-180 Grain | 2.5x expansion
TERMINAL PERFORMANCE
3300+ fps.
95% +
Wt.Ret.
.670
dia.
A-FRAME®
.308-180 Grain | 2.2x expansion
Swift bullets are the best hunting bullets made!
)RU WZHQW\ ßYH \HDUV 6ZLIW %XOOHW &RPSDQ\V LQQRYDWLYH GHVLJQV DQG FRQVWUXFWLRQ
KDYH OHG WKH ZD\ LQ ERQGHG FRUH KXQWLQJ EXOOHW WHFKQRORJ\ :KHWKHU \RX FKRRVH
Swift A-Frame® RU6FLURFFR®ZLWKWKHVLJQDWXUHEODFNSRO\PHUWLS\RXJHWWHUPLQDO
SHUIRUPDQFHZLWKRXWHTXDODQGH[FHOOHQWDFFXUDF\$)UDPH® and 6FLURFFR® bullets
SURYLGH WKH EHVW SHUIRUPDQFH IRU KXQWLQJ DQ\ JDPH VSHFLHV DQ\ZKHUH LQ WKH ZRUOG
%XOOHWVZLWKRXWHTXDO
SWIFT RELOADING MANUAL NUMBER TWO
Now Available!
See website for details.
785-754-3959 | www.swiftbullets.com
The moment when an experience becomes a thrill.
Explore the new ZEISS VICTORY SF.
// FASCINATION
MADE BY ZEISS
ZEISS VICTORY SF – The most versatile premium binocular from ZEISS.
The new ZEISS VICTORY SF makes nature’s most impressive moments more
thrilling than ever before. The optical perfection, unparalleled field of view,
revolutionary ergonomics and lightweight construction combine to make
the b es t all -around binocular we have ever designe d. E xp erience
VICTORY SF – the most versatile premium binocular in the history of ZEISS.
Learn more:
www.zeiss.com/victorysf
facebook.com/CarlZeissHuntingUS
6
Brooke’s Editorial
What’s in a Name?
I
miss bookstores. Not mall bookstores
with 50 shades of the same thing, but
independent bookstores that still carry
obscure titles for people who don’t read
just in airplanes, like Shakespeare and the
Hunt or African Animals in Renaissance
Literature and Art.
How else would I have discovered
The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals? I’d
probably already graduated from college
before learning that the much tossedaround “eponymous” simply means
naming something after somebody. As
in the Roosevelt sable being named after
Teddy. So this is a dictionary of the people
after whom mammals are named, for
example, the Mr. Grant and Mr. Thomson
behind their eponymous gazelles.
This 574-page reference book turned out
to be a page-turner as I looked up every
species with a family name I could think
of. The history is so rich in semi-tragic
characters that one is relieved they are
immortalized – at least to us hunters.
The British pioneer Harry Scott
Thornicroft (b. 1868), for whom Zambia’s
Luangwa Valley’s giraffe is named, spent
17 years as District Commissioner in
Northern Rhodesia. He married an Ngoni
matriarch named Elizabeth Mvula with
whom he had 11 children. In 1902, he
shot a giraffe and shipped its skin to the
British Museum (where it was displayed
until it rotted away) on suspicion it might
be a unique race. Presumably, he learned
that the subspecies had been named after
him before he was killed when a tracker fell
on him. He and his wife are buried on their
farm. The Internet sadly reveals that their
graves have been severely vandalized.
Scotsman Mr. Joseph Thomson (b.
1858) was second-in-charge on his first
Royal Geographic Society expedition to
Kenya and Tanzania (1878-1884), when
its leader died of dysentery in southern
Tanzania. The first to explore Masailand
with its Thomson’s gazelles or “tommies,”
he completed the 3,000-mile, 14-month
safari, impressing the locals with his
“magic” by removing his dentures.
Thomas famously wrote: “In my opinion
the travellers’ strength would lie more in
his manner toward and treatment of the
natives than in his guns and revolvers.”
And: “He who goes slowly, goes safely; he
who goes safely, goes far.” Weakened by
multiple African maladies and a goring by
a buffalo, he died age 37 in London, after
having lived quite openly as “intimate
friends” with two other men, a poet and
watercolorist. Thomson was furious that
Rider Haggard ripped off many of his tales
while his own book failed.
Lieutenant General Sir Charles
William Maxwell (1776–1848) was
Governor of Senegal in 1809, Sierra
Leone in 1811, and later of Dominica.
It was Maxwell who reported that the
explorer Mungo Park (1771-1806) was,
indeed, dead. Upon returning to England,
an American whose African factories
he had burned down in his fight against
slavery sued Maxwell, for whom the duiker
is named; the American was awarded
compensation by the British government.
Scottish naturalist and explorer Colonel
James August Grant (1827–1892) fought
in India during the Sikh Wars and the
Indian Mutiny, before spending three years
with John Speke (1860–1863), looking for
the source of the Nile; coincidentally, both
were big-game hunters. Debilitated by leg
ulcers during the last stretch to the source,
the modest Grant was really a botanist and
never really claimed to have discovered
Grant’s gazelle or Grant’s zebra! A truly great
man, interested in the customs and habits
of the tribes the expedition encountered,
you can find a brass inscription in his
memory at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Director of the Dutch National Museum
of Zoology at Leiden, Dr. Fredericus
Anna Jentink (1844–1913) was also a
member of the International Commission
on Zoological Nomenclature, a still
existing organization charged to “achieve
stability and sense in the scientific naming
of animals” – probably an arch-foe of SCI’s
highly personalized taxonomy. He was
the first person to collect the eponymous
Jentink’s duiker in 1884. The species sort
of disappeared from scientific literature
until a skull was found in Liberia in 1948.
Colonel J. H. Patterson, of Tsavo lion
fame, for whom East Africa’s Patterson
eland is named, not only had a client
die of a gunshot wound, he then buried
him and continued the safari with the
widowed Mrs. Blyth, giving Hemingway
his story, “The Short Happy Life of Francis
Macomber.” In WWI, the pro-Israel Irish
Protestant commanded the Jewish Legion
of the British Army. Patterson lived in
California for a number of years, and his
Pictured here in 1863, Maria Emma of
Mrs. Gray’s lechwe fame, was 13 years older
than her husband, John Edward, and the
widow of his second cousin. Unfortunately,
most hunters now refer to her lechwe as the
Nile lechwe.
ashes are interred in Israel.
Not to be forgotten is Hon. Edward
Smithy Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby
(1775–1851) who fathered a future Prime
Minister, but never visited Africa. At his
death, he owned 1,272 birds and 345 live
mammals at his estate, hopefully including
a few Lord Derby eland!
But Mrs. Gray seems to have lost
her lechwe, and Maria Emma’s famous
husband, John Edward, Keeper of Zoology
at the British Museum, gets all the name
credit for everything from bats to whales,
while she was his artist and often coauthor. At least Dr. George Hartmann,
who sent two zebra skins to the Berlin
Museum, had his sub-species named after
his wife, Anna. An official in the German
South West Africa government, he died in
a refugee camp in Schleswig-Holstein in
1946; Anna died in 1941.
There’s also A. H. Neumann (hartebeest),
Grevy (zebra), the mysterious and wealthy
F.R. Roberts (gazelle), entrepreneur and
sportsman Sir Robert Harvey (duiker),
who made his fortune in mining gold and
diamonds in South Africa and, of course,
Teddy Roosevelt himself, with five species
to his name.
In good hunting,
News & Letters
On Linda Lemon, Artist in Africa in AHG Vol. 20, Issue 3
Dear Brooke,
First of all, I think the African Hunting
Gazette is one of the finest conservationminded magazines I’ve ever subscribed to.
The articles are well written, poignant to our
times and, most importantly, informative.
The photo and advertising layouts are very
well done, and both speak volumes as to the
professional care you all give to bring the
very best to like-minded conservationists
and hunters. I look forward to receiving
each issue of the AHG and read it from
cover to cover.
In the Spring, 2015 issue, you published
a very informative article about one of
Africa’s most talented artists, Linda Lemon.
As a lover of fine art, I truly appreciated
reading about Linda’s life and artistry. This
article brought my mind’s-eye back to
January, 2010, when I harvested my second
“problem” elephant in Botswana.
I had my trophies, including the
elephant’s left ear, transported to Highveld
Taxidermists, Inc. in South Africa. When
I told the fine folks at Highveld that I
wanted an oil painting of the Big Five on
the elephant’s ear, they gladly and without
reservation recommended Linda Lemon.
When I returned to the United States,
I e-mailed Linda, introducing myself and
asking if she could help me. Her answer
was affirmative. We exchanged a few e-mails
regarding the layout, and we soon came
up with an excellent plan. Linda did a few
When three crates of African trophies
arrived at my doorstep, one held my longawaited African elephant ear-painting. This
highly prized piece of African artwork now
adorns my African and North American
Wildlife Museum.
Everyone who views the many specimens
I’ve collected from around the world feels
that Linda’s Big Five painting is one of the
finest examples of African art they could
imagine, which says a lot about Linda’s
talent.
To me, it’s one thing to paint a likeness
of an African animal on a piece of canvas,
and yet another to do it on an elephant’s ear.
Linda does both with admirable charm and
grace.
Respectfully,
Artist Linda Lemon was highly
recommended by Highveld Taxidermy,
who matted the elephant-ear painting on a
red felt background and framed it in Cape
ironwood before shipping it to the States.
Lloyd L. Smrkovski, Ph.D.
Commander, United States Navy-retired
Claremont, New Hampshire, USA
sketches, e-mailed them to me, and we put
the final touches on the project.
A few months later Linda e-mailed me
a photo of the finished product. It was
magnificent! Highveld expertly matted it on
a red felt background and, per my request,
framed it in my favorite African wood,
Cape ironwood.
The objectives of
this program are:
• To help clients make a better
a decision when selecting
their outfitter
• To offer clients greater
peace of mind when actually
booking their safari
• To help professional hunters
and outfitters save money and
When hunter Lloyd Smrkovski killed a problem elephant in Botswana in 2010, he wanted
a Big Five painting to be made on the elephant’s left ear.
8
get more clients.
News & Letters
A Family On Safari
Hi Brooke! I’m glad to send you and your readers this
photo of a father and his two sons on safari
in Namibia.
The dad, Manny Perregil, shot a gemsbok
at 150 metres with a single lung/heart shot
on a hunting farm near Fochville. The
bond between the two boys, Cielo (left)
and Vinancio (right) with their dad at that
moment was so moving for me to witness.
Manny’s two sons were so proud of their
dad. And dad, having that special moment
with his children was priceless, as you can
tell from the expressions on all their faces.
In today’s world, children are too involved
in technology (iPads, PlayStation, etc.) so
that nature and outdoor activities are all but
forgotten by this generation of young people.
Hunting is a sport that can bond families
together and, in some small way, bring
families closer. Please publish this picture
to encourage family bonding through the
experience of hunting.
Mrs. Luisa Perregil
Alberton, Gauteng, South Africa
Cielo and Vinancio with their father, Manny Perregil, sharing a close family moment
when dad took his gemsbok with a single shot.
Another Response to Brooke’s Editorial, “What
Would Teddy Say?” (AHG 20.1)
Dear Brooke,
I totally agree with your point of view in your editorial: Shooting game at extreme
distances with “sniper” rifles and high-powered scopes is hardly sporting.
In my opinion, this is simply killing – not hunting. I feel the same way about the
unfortunate trend affecting muzzleloading rifles. Many states have special seasons for
hunters who wish to replicate the techniques of our ancestors, which hardly accords with
bolt-action muzzleloaders firing sabots and equipped with telescopic sights.
I like the British term to describe the hunt: Stalking. That says it all.
Best wishes,
Bill Heubaum, a.k.a. Lincoln Hughes
South Dakota, USA
Lincoln Hughes is the author of, Zimbabwe, an adventure novel of big-game hunting set
against the background of African revolutionary activity.
Hunters Do Good
Update on the Chiredzi River
African Wildlife Trust
(Zimbabwe)
By Nick Ohanesian
For the last years, “AHG” readers have been following news from the CRBRCT
– recently renamed CRAWT.
I
have to report to you that 2014 was
the roughest year we have experienced
since 2008 when the Chiredzi River
Black Rhino Charitable Trust (CRBRCT)
was created. We had been advised to stop
using the word “rhino” so as not to identify
to poachers that the area carries rhino, and
thus we have changed to the Chiredzi River
African Wildlife Trust (CRAWT).
As reported at the end of 2013, the
Chiredzi River Conservancy (CRC) was
free of illegal settlers, and the game and
habitat were in the best condition in years.
Unfortunately, the CRC was invaded,
primarily the Ruware property, with
another round of illegal settlers. About five
ringleaders, who assumed that Zimbabwe
had enough political turmoil going on that
they could pull off their own personal “little
coup,” brought the illegals to the CRC.
These individuals “sold” plots of land to
60 or so families, and began harassing PH
and safari operator Barry Styles of Buffalo
Range Safaris, our Game Scouts, employees
of Buffalo Range and the CRC, legal
occupants on the CRC, and the teachers
at the local schools that we have supported
with your donations over the last six years.
This invasion was a huge disappointment
to all of us, to say the least. Several Trustees
and I visited the CRC in June/July 2014 to
assess the situation. We found that Barry and
our Game Scouts were very upset, but not
about to “throw in the towel.” Their positive
attitude and willingness to work even harder
encouraged us to go the distance with them.
Here are the main points on what we did to
save the CRC.
• We met with Aaron Marumba, the local
Chief’s representative, and formed an
alliance to clear the CRC of the illegal
settlers before they caused permanent
10
Buffalo Range Safaris has been supporting schools in the Chiredzi River Conservancy
(CRC) with donations for the last six years. Recently, illegal settlers began harassing
the schoolteachers and other legal occupants on the CRC.
damage to the habitat and game
population.
• We sponsored meetings that included
wildlife biologists and government
ministers to once again outline the
importance of the CRC as being a Core
Wildlife Area.
• We sponsored Barry, Mr. Marumba, and
other key individuals to go to Harare to
attend meetings with ministers and retain
legal representation to plead our case to
the High Court.
• We sponsored the local Chief, other
Chiefs in the adjoining areas, and CRC
representatives to attend meetings with
government officials demanding the
removal of the illegal settlers.
• We increased the Game Scout patrols in
the invaded area to discourage poaching
as much as possible.
• Barry and his people worked in shifts
around the clock in conjunction with the
local police and Game Department to
keep the illegal settlers contained.
As a result of the above efforts:
• Three of the five ringleaders have been
imprisoned.
• The High Court has once again ruled
in favor of the legal owners of Ruware,
Hunters Do Good
The Chiredzi River Conservancy (CRC) is taking measures PH Barry Styles and the CRC Game Scouts are not about to “throw
to increase Game Scout patrols in the area invaded by illegal in the towel,” and will continue to go about their tasks, including
gathering snares in what is a vital “Core Wildlife Area.”
settlers in order to discourage poaching.
allowing them to keep Ruware as a wildlife
conversancy and not a re-settlement area.
• The Court has issued orders to the Sheriff
to remove the illegal settlers from the CRC.
• The area Sheriff is working with Barry
and the legal owners of Ruware to remove
any of the illegal settlers that have not
voluntarily vacated the CRC.
• The permanent validation of the CRC as a
Core Wildlife Area is underway.
• AND the wildlife and the habitat have
not experienced any irreversible damage.
If you would like to make a donation, please
make your check to CRAWT, and mail it
to: Lori Kutter, 1607 W. Central, Andover,
Kansas 67002.
Where you experience the luxury of the African dream…….!
Contact Apie & Yolande Reyneke +27 82 556 0760 • +27 82 440 3937
www.lionhuntingsafaris.com
AHG245
[email protected] • [email protected]
[email protected] • [email protected]
The Elephant and the
Pauper: The Movie
By Zig Macintosh
In releasing the latest Hunter Proud production, “The Elephant and the Pauper: The
Ivory Debacle,” we decided to distribute it using the power of the Internet to maximize
the circulation.
T
he movie was uploaded to the videohosting Internet site Vimeo. Allies
such as the African Hunting Gazette,
Dallas Safari Club, SCI Foundation, The
African Hunter magazine, African Indaba
e-Newsletter, Conservation Force, and
the Accurate Reloading Web-forum were
then mobilized. Posts and shares on social
media such as Facebook and Twitter helped
to increase exposure. The various hunting
organizations hit their influential mailing
lists with an e-mail blast.
Conservation Force sent the movie link
to members of the IUCN Sustainable
Use group for consideration. National
Geographic picked up on the movie, and
an article was written about it in a blog on
their Webpage.
12
Within a few days, we had over 4,500
plays on the Vimeo site. Most of the
feedback from the movie was positive. One
of the members of the IUCN Sustainable
Use Group said it was a realistic film
that showed the problems facing local
communities in Africa. Another was not
so complimentary and complained that it
was partisan and didn’t give the other side
of the story.
But therein lies the rub. When antihunters spew out propaganda claiming
that hunting is bad for African wildlife,
they don’t ask themselves: “Why don’t we
listen to the other side’s point of view?”
Day in and day out, we are force-fed a diet
of anti-hunting garbage on TV channels
such as Animal Planet, Discovery and
National Geographic. Unknowingly, the
general public has been, and continues to
be, brainwashed.
Several years back, we were in discussions
with the Discovery Channel about the
possibility of airing another Hunter Proud
production, “The Fate of the African
Lion.” I was asked if the movie highlighted
the “fact” that the lion was endangered. I
replied that, in fact, the movie’s theme was
that the lion is not endangered. That was
the end of the discussion; they didn’t even
bother to watch the movie.
The negative blog on National
Geographic’s page was entitled, “Slick
Hunter Proud Video Uses Bad Ecology
to Promote Elephant Culling, Trophy
Hunting and Ivory Trading.” It was
written by Phyllis Lee, Keith Lindsay, and
Katarzyna Nowak. This trio considers
itself enlightened and doesn’t believe in
such 20th century concepts as “carrying
capacities” and “overpopulation.”
Instead, they say: “Ecological researchers
and, increasingly, wildlife managers have
recognized that ecosystems are shaped by
self-regulating processes, and that diversity
across landscapes and change through time
are essential features of natural landscapes,
rather than ‘disruptions’ to be beaten back.”
Furthermore, they contend: “Much
of the research community – and many
managers – accept that ecosystem structure
and function are not about elephant
numbers but instead about elephant
distribution across a landscape and in
relation to plant communities. Elephants
are architects of plant diversity rather than
simply ‘management problems.’”
According to the trio, culling should be
According to the negative blog about the Hunter Proud Foundation movie on
“National Geographic” magazine’s Website, culling should be replaced by waterpoint management and the establishment of corridors.
“Please watch the movie
and pass the link to as many
people as possible, and ask
them to do the same. We need
to make this movie as viral as
possible.”
replaced by water-point management and
the establishment of corridors. When I
asked in a comment on the blog – Where
would the corridors lead to? And how
would the animals and people react to the
new arrivals? – there was silence.
I pointed out that the problem with
their water-point management plan in
Hwange National Park is that it is an “all
or nothing” deal. If you turn off, say, 10
water points, the elephants from those
pans simply move from them and create
more congestion at others. All of the many
smaller animals – warthogs, baboons, etc.
– don’t know where the other waterholes
are, and probably wouldn’t be able to get
to them, if they did.
So you are essentially punishing the
animals that are not the problem. The
waterholes closest to the tourism areas
are the ones that would not be turned
off, for obvious reasons. It is here that the
elephants would congregate, and then die
If you turn off 10 water points in Hwange National Park, the elephants from
those pans will simply move to others and create congestion there.
When asked where these corridors would lead to, and how the animals and
people would react to the new arrivals, there was silence.
“Ecosystem structure and function are not about
elephant numbers but instead about elephant
distribution across a landscape and in relation to
plant communities. Elephants are architects of plant
diversity rather than simply ‘management problems’.”
like flies from starvation. Tourism would
collapse, which would have a devastating
effect on the local human communities
that are dependent on tourism.
So, if we want to turn off the water, it
has to be all of the pumps, which would
cause the collapse of the biggest elephant
population in Zimbabwe, along with
the tourism industry. The park could no
longer justify its existence as a functioning
protected area.
After reading my comment, the authors
basically dismissed it and insisted that their
theory was right.
Their article continued, dissing the
role that CAMPFIRE plays in rural
14
communities and rejecting the idea that
the legalized trade in ivory could stop the
present elephant-poaching problem in
other parts of Africa.
They finished with the statement: “If the
pronouncements of this film are heeded,
we strongly believe it will be extremely
dangerous for the future of African
elephants.”
If you read the comments on the article
on the National Geographic Website, you’ll
see that they mostly come out in support
of the principles laid out in the movie.
One can only imagine how exceedingly
irritating this must be to the authors!
Please watch the movie, and pass the
link to as many people as possible, and ask
them to do the same. We need to make this
movie go as viral as possible.
http://vimeo.com/user17366897/
review/116473289/88ae4be861
You can post your comments on:
http://voices.nationalgeographic.
com/2015/01/21/opinion-slick-hunterproud-video-uses-bad-ecology-to-promoteelephant-culling-trophy-hunting-and-ivorytrading/
The Hunter Proud Foundation is
a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable
public foundation based in the USA.
The foundation’s principal aim is
the use of charitable tax-deductible
donations to produce educational
documentaries
promoting
the
success of the conservation through
a utilization model. For more
information please visit the Website
at www.hunterproud.com.
KIMBER MOUNTAIN RIFLES.
Unequaled accuracy, dependability & light weight.
The lightest production hunting rifles ever offered,
Mountain Ascent™ (top) and Montana™ models
weigh as little as 4 pounds, 13 ounces. They are
chambered in 13 proven calibers.
Mountain Ascent rifles have custom touches
like fluted bolt handle, bolt body and barrel;
plus a hollow bolt knob. This cuts weight
without compromising accuracy.
Mountain Ascent models feature a muzzle
brake to reduce felt recoil. A cap to protect
threads if the brake is removed and matte
black ring mounts are also included.
Kimber® mountain rifles combine classic features in a light weight, stainless steel
and Kevlar/carbon fiber package that guarantees performance. Actions offer the
unequaled dependability of controlled-round feeding and extraction, and safety
levers are the positive 3-position wing. Match grade barrels, chambers and triggers
ensure accuracy. The new Mountain Ascent models go even farther. Fluting on
the barrel, bolt body and bolt handle cuts additional weight, and a removable
muzzle break cuts recoil. Stocks even wear Gore™ Optifade™ Open Country
Concealment. Weigh the options, then visit a Kimber Master Dealer to pick
up your next rifle.
Kimber mountain rifles have premium
Kevlar/carbon fiber stocks with both pillar
and glass bedding to lock in accuracy
regardless of hard use or conditions.
T H E C H O I C E O F A M E R I C A’ S B E S T
kimberamerica.com
(888) 243-4522
Kimber offers nearly 200 purpose-built pistols and rifles to meet any need.
©2012, Kimber Mfg., Inc. All rights reserved. Information and specifications are for reference only and subject to change without notice.
Gear & Gadgets ...
Leica Sport Optics – ER 5 Series Riflescopes
Performance imported from Germany, proudly crafted in the U.S.A.
L
eica’s new ER 5 Series Riflescopes feature Leica’s
legendary German engineering, superior optical
performance, and unmatched mechanical precision
in an American-made product that meets the unique needs
and demands of the North American hunter.
Six new models – from the close-quarters 1-5x24 to the
long-range 5-25x56 – are each packed with sophisticated
features designed for outstanding image quality, quick and
precise target acquisition, and accurate shot placement, no
matter the hunting conditions.
The ER 5 Series features extended 5:1 zoom ratios,
ideal for any shooting application, while the higher
magnifications cater to longer distances common to the
North American hunter.
Features at a glance:
- highly versatile 5:1 magnification ratio
- 4” of extended eye-relief
- precise, highly tactile ¼ moa turret adjustments
- finger re-settable turret calibrations
- balanced turret and main tube design for mounting
flexibility
- rugged one-piece main tube of aerospace-grade
aluminum
- waterproof and fog-proof go-anywhere performance
- low-profile turrets perfect for saddle scabbards
- g enerous windage and elevation adjustment ranges
-L
ifetime Limited Warranty – plus 3-Year Leica Passport
Protection
- r ugged good looks – after all, it is a Leica!
Check out: us.leica-camera.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LeicaHunting
GASTON J. GLOCK style LP – Excellent Hunting Jacket
M
ade in Poland from a cotton blend, this jacket’s wax finish keeps
you protected from wind and other elements. The functional and
durable lightweight jacket is ideal for hunting in warmer regions.
GASTON® is the brand for high quality shooting and hunting apparel.
Our range includes products for a variety of climates and is manufactured
with functional yet fashionable details.
We place great emphasis on quality standards and our products are
manufactured exclusively within Europe and the United States.
Wherever possible, we use only natural raw materials, such as eco-friendly
cotton and wool. Traditional fabrics such as Loden or the dry-wax finishing
of cotton makes it possible to meet the highest requirements for hunting
regardless of where your next adventure may take you.
In our online store you will find only the highest quality products for your
next hunting excursion: WWW.GASTONGLOCKSTYLE.COM
GASTON J. GLOCK style LP
300 Lake Ridge Dr., Mailbox 1
Smyrna, GA 30082
Email: [email protected]
16
Meopta –
MeoStar
R2 1.7-10x42 RD Riflescope
M
eopta adds to its highly acclaimed, European-made 30mm MeoStar R2
riflescope line with the introduction of the new 1.7-10x42 RD.
The MeoStar R2 1.7-10x42 RD is particularly well suited for hunting
plains game in Africa and also ideal for close- to mid-range hunting in North America
and beyond. Designed for the most demanding hunters, this premium scope features a
6x variable magnification range, wide field of view, and exceptional light transmission.
MeoLux, Meopta’s most advanced lens coating, combined with SCHOTT glass and expert
design, enables 99.8% light transmission per lens surface, allowing hunters using MeoStar
R2 riflescopes to see better and hunt longer.
Available in two illuminated reticle options – 4C-RD or 4K-RD – this new riflescope
allows for extremely fast and accurate target acquisition. All MeoStar R2 riflescopes are
parallax free to 100 yards and have Meopta’s MeoDrop hydrophobic lens coating, which
repels rain, snow, skin oils and dirt. Additional MeoStar R2 models include the 1-6x24
RD, 2-12x50 RD, and 2.5-15x56 RD.
MSRP: MeoStar R2 1.7-10x42 RD = $1,666.35
Tel: 1.800.828.8928
Website: www.meoptausa.com
Ripcord – Comprehensive Travel Insurance
Ripcord is the comprehensive travel insurance led by physicians
and special-operations veterans.
R
ipcord is powered by Redpoint
Resolutions, an elite team of
problem-solvers available 24
hours a day, 7 days a week. We offer
the only one-stop comprehensive travel
protection product that combines elite
evacuation and rescue services with the
fully insured benefits of a traditional travel
insurance product.
Together and through our contacts
across the globe, we provide unparalleled
travel insurance and intelligence, plus
medical, security, and evacuation solutions
when you need them most.
Travel Insurance.
Ripcord covers you for trip cancellation,
trip interruption, medical and dental
expenses, baggage loss, delayed necessary
sports equipment, and more.
Medical & Security Evacuation and
Rescue Services.
In case of a medical, security, rescue,
or involuntary detention emergency,
Ripcord’s team will act quickly to get you
to safety.
24/7 Intelligence & Assistance.
Enjoy access to critical intelligence, advice,
and assistance before and during your trip.
Whatever problems may arise before or
during your trip: We will find a solution.
Tel: 1.415.481.0600
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: ripcordtravelprotection.com/ahg
Our valued members
Joe Ring
Shawn Lucas
Michael Plaisance
Hugo Portillo
David Scott
Robert Weissinger
Cliff Langenfeld
Alden Glidden
Ross Nielsen
Carel Nolte
Dag Karlsen
Bruce Worthington
Greg Hill
Ricaard Haykel
Mário Jorge Dos Santos
Jonas Gillow
Benjamin Banks
Julian Hammerson
Alan Hamberlin
George Gehrman
James Bryant
James White
Brian Welsh
Jeffrey Bertsch
Don Parks
Molly Millis Hedgecock
If you are as passionate
about hunting in
Africa as we are, see
inside back cover.
Gear & Gadgets ...
Clint Orms
Engravers &
Silversmiths
C
limpopo safaris
SIZE DOES COUNT
...especially in the hunting world. The number of different biomes you can
experience on the 45 000 hectare privately owned Nature Reserve in the far
northern corner of the Limpopo Province, bordering Zimbabwe. The range of
birds you can watch, the trees you can rest under, the expanse of wilderness
for hunting and photo safaris, with families welcome all year round. The quality
of trophies on offer, 4 of the Big 5, along with the investment in your comfort
in our luxury camps all add up to making the experience, quite literally, unique.
(References going back 15 years available).
+27 15 534 2403 | [email protected]
www.limpoposafaris.com
18
ustomer service and satisfaction is a priority
for Clint Orms. All products are designed
and made with the best craftsmanship
and materials possible. His team of highly skilled
silversmiths, engravers, and polishers meet Clint’s
exceptionally high standards in order to present
almost faultless products. With the name, Clint
Orms Engravers & Silversmiths, you know you are
getting a beautiful work of art, made in the gorgeous
Texas Hill Country, from a gentleman who loves
what he does and loves to share it with everyone.
“There are a million ways to make our products,
but there’s only one way to achieve the look we
accomplish. I want to create that look and make it
last. I would hate to see one of my buckles, money
clips, or bracelets 75 years from now and find that
it has not aged to perfection. We are proud to say all
our products are solid gold and silver, hand made and
hand engraved in Texas.” Clint Orms
Visit:
Clint Orms Engravers & Silversmiths
229B Old Ingram Loop
Ingram, Texas,
Tel: 1.8303.367.7949
Website: clintorms.com
PML7015-1 Rev(15.0)
cape fear
overcome your
SEE THE
LINK
TRIJICON ACCUPOINT® RIFLESCOPES
1-4x24, 2.5-10x56, 3-9x40, and 5-20x50 Models Rugged & Dependable
Trijicon Fiber Optics & Tritium-Phosphor Lamp Manual Brightness Overide
Multi-Layer Coated Lenses Aircraft Quality Hard-Anodized Aluminum
© 2015 Trijicon, Inc.
Wixom, MI USA
1-800-338-0563
www.trijicon.com
The Wildlife Game
Extending Tanzania’s
Hunting Season –
Two Points of View
When Tanzanian PH and Executive Officer of the African Professional Hunters Association (APHA) and Secretary General of Tanzania Professional Hunting Association Mike
Angelides wrote to me, I knew I had to get expert thinking on the matter and turned to
Rolf Baldus and Henry Brink.
Angelides wrote: “The decision to extend
Tanzania’s hunting season by three months
– January, February, March – has been
met with some negativity from within the
hunting industry. There are claims that
hunting during this period interferes with
the health and breeding of some game species;
this is also when they fatten up for the season
during those months of rains.
Hunting done correctly should have zero
impact on the numbers of the general herd.
We are not out there chasing animals around,
and given the same quotas for each species, as
far as I am concerned, the impact is the same
whether or not a trophy male is killed two
days or two months before breeding.
Have you heard of any studies of the criteria
for determining open and closed hunting
seasons, when to hunt or not hunt? I know
that in Europe, red stag are hunted during
the rut, and the same for elk in the States.”
One must question why Tanzania has decided to extend the hunting season by three months, adding January, February and
March. Is it needed? Is it for biological reasons? Or economic ones? Or is it to fix a system that already was not working?
20
The Wildlife Game
Is Tanzania’s decision to extend the safari season from six to
nine months a year a good idea?
An Argument
Against.
By Dr. Henry Brink
T
he hunting or open season is a
time of year when it is legal to
kill a particular species. The nonhunting or closed season is a time of year
when it is illegal to hunt a given species.
Typically, closed seasons are designed
to protect a species when they are most
vulnerable, for example during their
breeding season.
Tanzania’s hunting season ran six
months, from 1 July to 31 December.
Over the last few years, amidst much
controversy, it has been extended a further
three months, adding the dates 1 January
to 31 March. This had led to the extension
being cancelled and re-instated on several
occasions.
It now seems “on” again, and I’m here
to argue that it’s a bad idea. The first
key question to be asked is: Why is the
extension needed? Is it for biological
reasons? Or economic reasons? Is it to fix a
system that was not working? Let’s try and
answer these questions.
In North America, the hunting of
mammals, depending on species, may last
from one to seven months. The hunting
season is very much species-specific, with
larger mammals tending to have shorter
seasons. In Tanzania, it will now become
legal to hunt all 74 species of big game
(from elephants to crocodiles) for nine
months of the year. There has been no
biological consideration given to the needs
of the different species; it is a blanket onesize-fits-all rule.
It’s true that many species show a
breeding peak during the main rainy
season (March-May), and this is still
mostly within the closed season. However,
this is also the time of year when it is
almost impossible to get around many of
the hunting concessions because of the
rain.
There are no biological reasons for
extending the hunting season, but there
may be economic reasons.
These economic arguments include that
the extension season be good for seasonally
employed staff (e.g. trackers, skinners,
camp and cook staff), as it would provide
longer employment, which is good for the
rural economy. Similarly, this may benefit
the general economy by giving more work
to service providers of the hunting industry
(e.g. hotels, suppliers of goods and services,
transport). This may all certainly be true,
but if extending the hunting season has
harmful biological impacts leading to
wildlife population decreases, we will
have sacrificed the potential for long-term
benefits for a quick buck now.
Criticism of hunting in Tanzania
generally focuses on the government’s
“The extension of the
hunting season will be
viewed by people outside
the hunting industry
as nothing more than
the industry trying to
change the law so it can
hunt more animals.”
HB
over-reliance on trophy fees (i.e. the fee
paid once the animal is dead) to generate
income;, and the fact that hunting
outfitters are required to kill at least 40%
of their quota or face fines/penalties. The
quota, or number of each species that can
be shot per concession during the annual
safari season, in most cases is set through
educated guesswork.
The bottom line is that the more
animals shot, the more money generated
by the outfitter for himself and for the
government. If the hunting season is
being extended for no other reason than
to allow outfitters to better meet their
quota fulfillment requirements, then the
extension of the hunting season is a very
bad idea.
One of the more compelling arguments
for the extension of the hunting season is
that the prolonged presence of outfitters in
the field will be a deterrent to poaching,
in particular of elephant. This to me is a
nonsense argument.
The management authority (the Wildlife
Division of the Ministry) should be
handling this during the closed season
anyway; and the better safari companies
already expend considerable resources
patrolling their concessions in the closed
season. What is clear is that the less
reputable hunting outfitters will have
longer access to harvest their blocks.
If the idea behind this “reform” is to
improve the system, there are many other
reforms that I would suggest before this:
• Increased transparency (all information
pertaining
to
concession/block
allocation, quotas, and numbers of
animals hunted to be made available to
any interested party);
• Greater scientific involvement in quota
setting;
• Increased
use
of
management
monitoring tools (e.g. SMART: Spatial
Monitoring and Reporting Tool) to
assess the effectiveness of management/
anti-poaching efforts.
Because of the lack of transparency,
hunting in Tanzania has a serious PR
problem. The extension of the hunting
season will be viewed by people outside the
hunting industry as nothing more than the
industry trying to change the law so it can
hunt more animals.
It is strongly hoped that the soon-tobe-created Tanzania Wildlife Authority
(TAWA), a parastatal to replace the
Wildlife Division, will embody many
of the suggested reforms surrounding
increased transparency and management
monitoring. If these reforms were enacted,
it would be easier to make the case for
extending the hunting season.
Biologist Dr. Henry Brink has worked in
Tanzania for over 10 years. He has studied
lions of the Serengeti and Selous since 2003,
and is passionate about making sustainable
resource utilization work in conservation.
***
The Wildlife Game
An Argument For.
By Rolf D. Baldus
T
raditionally, Tanzania’s hunting
season was from 1 July to 31
December. This was introduced
under colonial legislation and chosen to
coincide with the main dry season when
hunting areas were easily accessible, rather
than for conservation reasons.
In recent years, the season was extended
until 31 March, but this was discontinued.
Now, the Government has once again
extended the season for the three months of
January, February and March. The question
that any wildlife manager/conservationist
has to ask is: Is this extension justified?
In most countries, hunting seasons are
species-specific; females can be hunted as
part of the game management plan, but not
during the breeding season. Tanzania has a
fixed season for all 50 of its game species,
because it would be too complicated to
introduce a species-specific system; females
are not hunted at all.
In general, any disturbance caused by
human activities is negative for wildlife.
Selective trophy hunting for old males is
undoubtedly such a disturbance, though
not a particularly important one. Such
hunting affects only relatively few animals,
is practiced mainly on foot, and females
and their offspring are not hunted.
Nevertheless, it is generally agreed
nowadays that disturbance caused by
hunting should be as limited as possible,
and that hunting seasons should be as short
as possible. And any professional hunter
worth his money will reduce his impact
as much as he can, not least because too
much pressure makes the game shy.
The most common argument used
against the extension of hunting seasons
is that it interferes with rutting, breeding,
and the upkeep of calves and cubs. This
argument does not stand up to scrutiny
since the rut and breeding seasons of many
species rarely peak between January and
March. Furthermore, it can vary depending
on the region and rains. For some species,
breeding peaks during the hunting season
in July to September.
Those who object to hunting anyway will
consequently also object to any extension
of the hunting season. Their arguments
are mostly ideological, and to argue with
anti-hunting activists will not lead to any
conclusion that is helpful for the practical
wildlife manager.
If the extension of the hunting season is
22
Some wildlife specialists hold for true, and others don’t, that the extension of the
hunting season would allow for an extended presence of outfitters in the field, which
acts as a deterrent to poaching, especially of elephant.
not determined for biological reasons, but
for management and economic reasons,
it must be weighed whether the positive
factors outweigh the negative ones.
First of all, wildlife is killed in Tanzania
through four types of hunting:
• Selective trophy hunting of a relatively
small number of adult males; this results
in the smallest take-off numbers and by
its nature creates the least disturbance.
• By contrast, year-round poaching takes
by far the most animals of all sexes,
ages and classes; it is highly wasteful
of wildlife resources and stressful for
animals;
• The same refers to legal crop-protection
by authorized officers and landowners
who kill wildlife (male and female) in
order to protect lives and property.
• Resident hunting is also highly stressful,
as more often than not, animals are
chased and shot at from vehicles; it is
good that the resident hunting season
remains restricted to six months or less.
Trophy hunting produces high revenues
that finance conservation to a great extent;
has substantial multiplier effects for the
economy; and provides incentives for the
rural communities to conserve game in
wildlife management areas. Organizing
expensive hunting safaris is a challenging
management task for the private sector,
and the operators should be allowed to do
this with as much flexibility as possible.
Let me sum up some of the more
important factors:
• In many hunting blocks, if there are late
rains, hunting cannot start in early July.
Most often, hunting only commences
in mid-August. The actual hunting
season is, therefore, rather short, and
consequently it is difficult for the
operator to manage the quota efficiently,
especially in smaller or marginal blocks.
• In contrast, there are blocks, in particular
semi-desert ones, where the best hunting
conditions are during the first months
of the year. With an extended season,
outfitters in these blocks can utilize this
time period, and consequently will hunt
less during the last half of the year.
• A longer season spreads the hunting
pressure more evenly.
• The extension does not necessarily lead
to more hunting, as the given demand
for safaris in Tanzania is not determined
by the length of the hunting season.
However, it does give the operator the
liberty to manage his hunting according
to the individual needs of his particular
enterprise. This possibility for optimal
management is actually the main
supporting argument; even marginal
blocks, which under the present system
The Wildlife Game
cannot break even, would benefit and
could be maintained in the long run.
• For the blocks in Southern Tanzania,
including the Selous, the extension is
not very relevant, as these blocks are
often not accessible January through
March due to rains.
• The presence of hunters in the blocks
suppresses poaching. Nowadays, some
of the more dedicated operators keep a
skeleton staff in their blocks during the
closed season, in order to support the
anti-poaching activities by the Wildlife
Division. A full presence is, however,
more effective.
My arguments are valid, of course, only
in the case of the law-abiding operators.
Those who overshoot and neither respect
the law nor the game are, in any case,
an intolerable burden on nature, and
they cannot be kept at bay by a shorter
hunting season.
The Tanzanian hunting industry
undoubtedly needs further reforms
in order to become more sustainable,
although some reform steps have recently
been implemented. The length of the
hunting season is not a primary issue.
“If the extension of
the hunting season can
support an effective antipoaching presence on
the ground, and greater
economic stability
and benefits to local
communities, then it is
worthwhile to have it.”
RB
More important is transparency; a more
effective tendering system in order to select
better operators and obtain competitive
prices for the right to hunt;, and dropping
the present system that links the number
of animals killed/requirement fulfillment
of quota to government earnings.
Much has been proposed in the past, but
these proposals needs to be accomplished.
(See Tanzania Tourist Hunting Analysis:
http://www.wildlife-baldus.com/tanzania.
html)
The paramount problem in Tanzanian
wildlife conservation is, presently, the
absence of an effective anti-poaching
system. More than ¾ of the elephants have
been slaughtered in recent years. Plans
have been announced and promises made,
but the Government still has to prove that,
from now on, it will perform substantially
better in fighting poaching on the ground.
Government authorities and the hunting
industry must cooperate to eradicate the
poaching plague. If the extension of the
hunting season can support an effective
anti-poaching presence on the ground, and
greater economic stability and benefits to
local communities, then it is worthwhile
to have it.
Dr. Rolf D. Baldus is an economist and has
worked for 13 years in wildlife management
in Tanzania, in particular in the Selous.
He authored the authoritative book on the
Selous: “Wild Heart of Africa.” He lives
now as an author, consultant, and hunter in
Germany.
• Archerly Only since 1986
• One Hunt Per Month
Exclusively During the
Dark of the Moon
• Wildlife Only Habitat
Since 1982
• Over 335 Top 25 Placings
• USA Office
Bushmen Safaris, PTY, Ltd.
3405 E. Overland Road, Suite 150, Meridian, ID 83642
Travis Anderson | [email protected] | 208-322-5902
Shannon Van Zyl | [email protected] | 27 82 616 1942
www.bushmensafaris.com
Mammal Profile
Giraffe
Based on Chris and Mathilde Stuart’s book, “Game Animals of the World,” published by
AHG, here’s everything hunters need to know about giraffe.
English:Giraffe
Latin:
Giraffa camelopardalis
Afrikaans:Kameelperd
German: Giraffe
French: Girafe
Spanish: Jirafa
MEASUREMENTS
Total length:
Male: 4.6 to 5.7 m (15.1’ to 18.7’)
Female: More than 5 m (16.4’)
Tail:
Male: 96 to 150 cm (37.8” to 59.1”)
Female: 75 to 90 cm (29.5” to 35.4”)
Shoulder Height:
Male: 2.6 to 3.5 m (8.5’ to 11.5’)
Female: 2 to 3 m (6.6’ to 9.8’)
Weight:
Male: 970 to 1,400 kg (2,138 to 3,086 lbs)
Female: 700 to 950 kg (1,543 to 2,094 lbs)
DESCRIPTION
World’s tallest mammal with very long
legs and long neck. Body covered with
short hair that forms a lattice pattern
consisting of large, irregularly shaded
patches separated by a network of lightcoloured bands. Colour and structure of
the patterning variable, but up to nine
subspecies have been recognised. Some
authorities believe that as many as six full
species of giraffe should be recognized, but
this line of thinking has to date not been
finalized.
Old bulls often darker in colour than
females, and most marked in southern
populations. Both sexes carry one pair of
skin-covered horns, but in northern races
additional horns may be present. In young
animals, the tips of the horns are usually
covered by longish dark to black hairs, but
in adults they are usually just ringed with
hair and the points are bare.
Measuring from 15 to 18-plus feet in height, the giraffe is the world’s tallest mammal.
The color and structure of the lattice pattern that covers their body is variable, and up
to nine subspecies have been recognized.
24
DISTRIBUTION
Once had a more or less continuous range
throughout the savannas of sub-Saharan
Mammal Profile
Africa, but today most populations
isolated and restricted to conservation
areas. Giraffe can be hunted as a trophy
species on private game ranches in South
Africa, Namibia, and Botswana, and in
Zimbabwe.
CONSERVATION STANDING
Some races threatened by illegal hunting,
with reticulated (<>3,000), Maasai
(<>50,000), and southern (<>35,000)
occurring in good numbers.
Although restricted to Zambia’s Luangwa
Valley, Thornicroft’s giraffe numbers
(<>1,200) are stable.
The most threatened races are the West
African and the Nubian, each with possibly
fewer than 250 surviving.
In 1999 overall giraffe populations were
more than 140,000 strong. but by 2012
this had fallen to fewer than 80,000. Large
numbers survive in several savanna
national parks and on South African and
Namibian game farms.
HABITATS
Dry savanna woodland, particularly where
Acacia, Commiphora, Combretum and
Terminalia trees are dominant. Regular
access to drinking water is essential.
BEHAVIOUR
Giraffe occupy large home ranges of 20
km2 (7.7 mi2) to >120 km2 (46.3 mi2)
but do not establish or defend territories.
Mature bulls occupy smaller ranges than
Shot placement
Giraffe not only make a beautiful contribution to the trophy room, they often serve as lion bait, as did these three specimens taken
in Zimbabwe’s Bubye Valley Conservancy by PH John Sharp’s hunters, Don Anderson, Christoph Ruppmann and Tobias Fischer.
Mammal Profile
cows, although young bulls may move over
considerable distances. Often seen in herds
up to 30 strong, these groups are relatively
unstable and there is much movement and
interchange between herds. The only stable
grouping is between a cow and her calf,
whilst adult bulls are mainly solitary.
There is a complex dominance hierarchy
between bulls, with a dominant bull having
mating rights. Establishing dominance is
largely a process of ritualised fighting and
true aggression is minimal.
Day and night active, giraffe tend to rest
during the hottest hours. In some areas
giraffe concentrate near river courses
during the dry season, but disperse into
surrounding woodlands at the onset of
the rains. These seasonal movements rarely
cover more than 50 km (31.1 miles).
Although a strong runner, with a recorded
top speed of 56 km/h (35 mph); over a
moderate distance, it can keep ahead of
horse and rider; in some areas they are
hunted from horseback.
BREEDING
Mating season: In some areas throughout
year; others births mainly in dry season.
Gestation: 450 days
Number of young: 1
Birth weight: 100 kg (47 to107 kg) (104
to 236 lbs)
Sexual maturity:
Male: 4.5 years (reach adult size at age 7)
Female: 3.5 years (reach adult size at age 5)
Longevity: 26 years in the wild; in
captivity, one lived 36 years 2 months.
Africa’s Legendary
Professional Hunters
Volume 1
1000 years of hunting experience
FOOD
Almost exclusively browsers, taking tree
leaves, flowers and pods. In many areas
they show a strong preference for feeding
from Acacia thorn trees.
RIFLES AND AMMUNITION
Suggested Calibre: 9.3mm to .375
minimum.
Bullet: Very tough expanding bullets or
non-expanding solid bullets.
Sights: Low-range variable scope.
Hunting Conditions: Close to medium
shots; precise placement required.
Brooke ChilversLubin
Africa’s Legendary Professional
Hunters
Now available visit
www.africanhuntinginfo.com
Although giraffe can be seen in herds of up to 30, the only stable grouping is between a cow and her calf, as these groups are relatively
unstable.
26
L’ATELIER VERNEY-CARRON
54, Boulevard Thiers - BP80072
42002 SAINT-ETIENNE Cedex 1
France
Tel. +33 477 810 121
[email protected]
SAFARI & OUTDOOR
Lynnwood bridge centre
PRETORIA
AFRIQUE DU SUD
Tel +27 82 569 5108
Email : [email protected]
KEBCO LLC
PO BOX 300 - 17331 HANOVER
PA - USA
Tel +1 301 460 9563
MULIMO - PLOT 140 GREAT
NORTH ROAD
670043 MAZABUKA - ZAMBIE
Tel +260 977 776010
TRADE EX CANADA
1460 Main street east
K6A 1C7 HAWKESBURY,
ONTARIO - CANADA
Tel +613 632 48 48
TROPHY ARMS ESSENDON
1130b Mt Alexander Road
3040 NORTH ESSENDON VIC
AUSTRALIE
Tel +61 3 9379 4616
27
Zimbabwe 2012
28
Zimbabwe: 2012
This Could
Have Been
the One!
By PH Ernest Dyason
As we crouched, hidden
from view from the
elephant bull, watching
his restless trunk fingering
the dusty earth, I pondered
on how easy the tracking
had been until…
W
e’d started on the track from
where he crossed from the
Hwange
National
Park
boundary into the hunting concession
in the Deka Pool Safari Area (part of the
Matetsi Safari Area). His unusually strong
musky smell helped us locate the path he’d
chosen to follow. The bull had meandered
through the mopane forest, feeding during
the night until he reached this dense thicket
where he now rested. We couldn’t see all of
the ivory he was carrying, but judging by
his tracks and the thickness of his tusks, we
knew he was old. But was he to be the one
my friend and hunter, Carl Pennella would
take on this safari?
Also with us was our Zimbabwean PH
Mitch Bunce from Nengasha Safaris. Mitch
and I have hunted quite a few elephants
together, and Carl and I had discussed
the hunt at length before we decided on
an early-season hunt in the Deka Safari
Area. It was hot in April of 2012, but the
decision looked like it was paying off, as
there were plenty elephant around.
As we watched the bull the wind shifted
ever so slightly, just enough to alert him,
and he started to move off. We followed
him, as we still hadn’t been able to assess
the desirability of the ivory for sure. We
were tracking purely by means of the
rustling sounds he made as he moved
through the dense cover. At one stage, we
actually walked into where he was standing
still, listening to the hints of our closing
presence.
We retreated, but he was sure about
us now, and quickly decamped. As a last
resort, we chased after him for a final effort
to check out his ivory that I suspected was
good. We moved across a small clearing,
and then finally we could clearly see his
Zimbabwe: 2012
The hunters started the chase by picking up the elephant’s tracks from where it had crossed from Hwange National Park into the Deka
Pool Safari Area, then followed its unusually strong, musky smell through the mopane forest.
CALL US TODAY (570) 368-3920
MEOPRO SERIES
MEOPRO
Assembled in the USA and
THE BRIGHTEST OPTICS
IN HUNTING.
MEOSTAR R1
MEOSTAR R2
designed for the way
Americans hunt. The MeoPro®
MEOTAC
line delivers optical and
mechanical performance
well above its price point and
dominates competitors optics
costing up to 3X more.
BRIGHT, SHARP, RUGGED
& READY TO HUNT.
MEOPRO HD
MEOSTAR SERIES
European built optics
featuring our most advanced
ion-assisted multi-coatings
MEOSTAR B1 HD
and optical components
MEOSTAR B1
delivering incredible
low-light performance and
accuracy.
30
tusks. But they were not quite what we
wanted this early in the safari.
He now moved downwind of us, stopped
dead in his tracks, and turned to face us.
What happened next was the typical
three paces he moved towards us in mock
charge, with his head raised high and his
ears spread wide. We were a mere 30 yards
away. Mitch shouted at him in defiance,
but the bull just lowered his head, put his
ears back, and screamed as he started a
determined charge.
We tried to get out of his way. I moved
about 15 yards sideways to our right, Mitch
moved backwards about 10 yards, and Carl
another 10 yards or so behind him. As I
spun around, rifle at the ready, I noticed
that the bull was not following me. In that
moment, I wasn’t sure of the positions of
the rest of the hunting party.
Then there was the report of a .416 rifle,
and I saw the huge animal plough into the
earth, head first, his right tusk throwing a
cloud of dust up into the air. I could just
see Mitch, but to me it seemed that he was
trapped under the head of the enraged bull.
I shot into the shoulder area with my .458
Lott, where I imagined the bull’s spine was.
He slumped sideways, and Mitch stood up
and shot him in the head. I shot him again
in the spine, just back of the shoulders.
It was all over in just a few seconds, for
the bull in full musth.
TWILIGHT
OPTIMIZED
OPTICS
M E O S T A R
®
R 2
R I F L E S C O P E S
TWILIGHT
OPTIMIZED
OPTICS
MeoStar R2 1-6x24RD
®
NEW
MeoStar R2 1.7-10x42RD
®
NEW
MeoStar R2 2-12x50RD
®
MeoStar R2 2.5-15x56 RD
®
DOMINATE
ON THE DARK CONTINENT.
MeoStar R2 Series 30mm Riflescopes. Whether you choose to hunt fast moving dangerous game or a trophy that lurks in the dark shadows of early morning or dusk – a
MeoStar R2 riflescope with ground breaking MeoLux coatings (99.8% transmission per lens surface) 6X magnification range and precision RD illumination will get you
on target. Built to our legendary quality standards, each MeoStar R2 delivers exceptional brightness and clarity with smoothly operating mechanics and are designed to
last a lifetime in the field. Meopta riflescopes, binoculars and spotters let you hunt earlier, stay out longer and see more detail. Guaranteed. Built in the heart of Europe
and backed by Meopta’s lifetime transferable warranty. Meopta . The Brightest Optics in Hunting.
®
®
TM
®
®
®
1- 8 0 0 - 8 2 8 - 8 9 2 8
| w w w. m e o p t a u s a . c o m
Zimbabwe: 2012
PH Ernest Dyason followed his hunter’s
shot with a shoulder shot from his .458
Lott, where he pictured the bull’s spine.
PH Mitch Bunce then made a head shot,
followed by Dyson’s final shot into the spine.
This wasn’t the elephant that PH Ernest Dyason would have selected for his hunting friend
and client, Carl Pennella, but when the mock charge turned into a real one, there was no
choice but to finish what the hunters had begun.
“It was all over in just a few seconds,
for the bull in full musth.”
The aggressive elephant had charged us
from a distance of about 30 yards. By the
time Mitch got his shot off, the bull was
no more than about six yards away. Where
he came to a dead halt Mitch could reach
out and touch him. A little too close for
comfort!
This elephant bull could have been the
one to give me a near-death experience – it
was certainly a very close call for Mitch.
Like every professional hunter, at some
point in his career, my turn to face down
death will come. I know that for sure.
PH Ernest Dyason started hunting at age
six and is still going strong more than four
decades later. He resides in South Africa
near a small town called Gravelotte from
where he and Marita Dyason operate Spear
Safaris, a small personalized hunting outfit
that arranges hunting and photo safaris,
primarily in RSA and Zimbabwe.
PH Ernest Dyason and his client hunted out of the comfortable camp in the Deka Pool Safari Area, which is part of Matetsi Safari Area.
32
noitulove ruo & ,emit revO
,
euqinu dna nredom gnihtemos uoy gnirb ew
ot derrefer yletanoitceffa si aera siht sa ,”eldarC ehT“ ,gruboJ fo tsewhtroN
dlroW siht raeN .detanigiro evah ot dias si naM erehw si ,acirfA htuoS ni
nrut ew erehw yrotcaf ruo dnfi lliw uoy ,emoh llac ew taht ,etiS egatireH
.yrotsih fo eceip nwo ruoy otni ecneirepxe gnitnuh ruoy
dlrow a ni pu nworg nam gnuoy a ,namffoH dnomyaR yb dednuoF
ega-wen ,detarepo-renwo siht ,noisiv dnarg a htiw sedih gninnat fo
gnitaerc no tes si tub ,yrotsih fo eceip a no detautis si ynapmoc ymredixat
.yrotsih fo eceip nwo sti
,gniyrd ,gnivahs ,gnippid ,gninnat eht morf ,foor eno rednu lla s’ti dnA
dna gnigakcap ot hguorht ,spu-hcuot dna yrtsitra ,gnitnuom ,gnidluom
. Z-A morf yhport ruoy rof ytilibisnopser etelpmoc ekat eW .gnitarc
.devlovni seitrap rehto on ,sesucxe oN
slluks denaelc fo ytilauq tsenfi eht gnirevileD • )gninnaT sisaO snur dad s’dnomyaR( tuo edisni ssenisub gninnat eht gniwonk fo ecneirepxe eht htiW • ?WOH
South Africa: 2012
How to Spend
24 Days in
South Africa
By Rick Batten
My first plains-game hunt in South Africa
had been a good one. Why else would my
mind refuse to consider hunting caribou in
Alaska or red stag in New Zealand for my
next trip?
34
South Africa: 2012
South Africa: 2012
W
hy else would a part of every day
at my Missouri farm be spent
homesick to see red dirt or to
hear the call of a laughing dove? No, I had
to face the truth: I was hooked, obsessed,
ruined for life! Cynthia Stockley’s novel, The
Claw, tells of an Africa that embeds her claws
deep into a man’s soul. Just as the impala has
little hope of escaping a lion’s grip, to try
to struggle free of Africa was pointless. She
had me! If anything, the tug at my heart to
return only got stronger, her alluring cries
only louder and more demanding.
So I more or less took over my wife’s
computer and begun the search. Like a
drug addict craving his next fix, safari #2
just had to be booked! I knew I wanted
to hunt dangerous game – a buffalo like
Ruark’s, a lion like the one Capstick had
to shoot off the thatch roof of his hut in
the night, and a 100-pound tusker any
porter would be honored to bear. It’s
just about here where reality sets in, and
I discover that Mrs. Batten doesn’t make
enough money for Yours Truly to bag a
100-pounder! Undaunted by this minor
setback, I remained diligent in my cyber
probe, determined to plan an outstanding
second experience on the Dark Continent.
I was going to “go big” or stay home. And
I wasn’t going to stay home!
“I may live to hunt, but I do
taxidermy to live, and I know
a good cape when I see one.
Perfect color, great size and
shape on that noggin, no rubs
or bald spots.”
They say that cream always comes to
the surface, and the more I googled, a
certain PH/outfitter kept winding up on
the computer. So with 1,000 questions, I
contacted Mr. Henry Griffiths of Henry
Griffiths Safaris. I had a few doubts about
Henry at first. For one, where was the
leopard-banded safari hat that had seen
50 years of service in the bush? And the
mustache thicker than the bristles of a
thatch broom used to sweep the fire pit?
And, for that matter, the chest hair pushing
up from under the collar; or eye-patch,
courtesy of a wounded leopard followed up
on a moonless night? Oh well, I thought,
let’s give him a chance anyway and see
what he has to say.
36
PH Henry Griffiths (L) guided Missouri hunter and taxidermist Rick Batten (R) to
this lioness who was lying up in thicket only 30 yards from the hunters.
With the understanding that I was on a
budget, greatly to my delight Mr. Griffiths
informed me that, while I couldn’t retrace
Roosevelt’s steps, I could pursue a Cape
buffalo cow, a lioness, and the gemsbok
I’d been wanting for some time. Throw in
a few cull animals and all the jackal and
baboons you can handle, and you’ve got
my attention! But the thing I wanted most
of all was a lot of time just to enjoy South
Africa. Henry offered it all, and at a price
that wouldn’t cause a divorce. So I let the
chest-hair thing drop and booked a safari
with Henry and his wife Tanya.
The 21 hours from my home in Missouri
to OT airport was uneventful, yet still
made an old man sore. True to his word,
Henry showed up bright and early on 1
May 2012. Fast enough, we were off to
Hoedspruit in the Limpopo province for
my Cape buffalo.
I suppose travel days are not high up
on any “normal” person’s list of things to
do but, then again, being normal never
appealed to me anyway. Like a golden
retriever drooling with his head out the
window, we crossed mountains, waited at
road works, traversed banana plantations –
and I enjoyed every mile. Soon enough, it
was time to settle in at the lodge and drive
around the ranch to see if the place really
had buffalo. Yep – that big, mean thing
trying to ram the truck surely was a buff!
(Note to self: Next time, hold on, so you
don’t fall down and embarrass yourself in
Batten took his gemsbok trophy at
Gellhout Safaris’ hunting lodge – “a slice
of heaven on earth” – after PH Henry
spotted a male whose longest horn would
measure 39 inches. “I’m sure glad my
PH can see good!”
front of your new PH.)
After several failed stalks and close
encounters, we found ourselves glassing
a herd of about 50 animals. Several cows
on the fringe presented a good shot
opportunity but, of course, I had to be
difficult and wanted to take the huge cow
right in the center of it all. Her horns
weren’t better, and maybe not even as good
as some of the others, but what a head! I
may live to hunt, but I do taxidermy to
live, and I know a good cape when I see
one. Perfect color, great size and shape on
that noggin, no rubs or bald spots. Little
by little, the herd drifted and thinned until
South Africa: 2012
When the hunters spotted an impala with the widest spread Batten had seen until
now, he forgot about the cull-hunt and went trophy hunting instead, even though he’d
already taken impala on a previous safari.
CALL US TODAY (570) 368-3920
available at
38
at last my Browning X-Bolt in .375 H&H
spoke up. One more shot for insurance,
and my first buffalo was in the salt.
Day 3: Time to travel again, this time
to the North West province, home base
of Henry Griffiths Safaris. The plan was
to settle into the tent camp at Phomolong
Game Reserve, then cull-hunt for a few
days prior to my quest for lion. It was
nearing full moon the first night I bedded
down in camp. The tent flaps open,
moonlight drenched the bushveld, all the
night sounds welcome to ebb in. It was
enough for a God-fearing man to praise
his Maker – and an atheist to reconsider.
Only two things got in the way during
my cull hunt: the bush deflected the
150-grain soft point launched from my
Remington .308 – you can shoot either
blesbok or bush, but not both at the
same time. The blesbok seemed happy!
Obstruction #2 arose when we rounded a
bend and came face-to-face with an impala
ram with the widest spread I’d ever seen.
Yes, dear Mrs. Batten, I know I already
have an impala – but, honey – not like this
one! Truth is, I never asked her and just
said to my outfitter, Forget the culls – let’s
hunt this ram! Next day… ram in the salt.
When we went for her, we found my
lioness in a thicket, laid up for the day. Or,
rather, PH Casper says: “I see her.” PH Henry
says: “Yes, just there!” Meanwhile, rookie lion
hunter, Yours Truly, reaches for the Nikon
binos to verify professionals’ #1 and #2.
Mathematically speaking, with five
people on the spoor – two trackers, two
PHs, and oneself – you should relatively be
safe. But then again, this was a big lioness!
And at just over 30 yards and at such an
angle as to make a shot almost impossible,
especially in such dense cover.
After a quick consultation (I just
listened), the decision was made to throw
a rock, in hope that she might stand and
present a better angle. Tracker #1 was
sure we were going to get eaten; Tracker
#2 pleaded no rock throwing to be done
lest the lioness go even deeper into cover,
where he really had no desire to track her.
But the rock got thrown anyway. So much
for the element of surprise.
She politely stood up, moved a bit to the
left, turned around, and laid up again in
a good position to keep an eye on these
rock-throwing, would-be lion hunters.
The message was unmistakable: This is my
thicket, and if you’d like to use up your
entire lifetime supply of Band-Aids all at
once, please come in.
I could see her through the binos, right
A CC U R ACY
Kodiak.de 2014
Unapologetically
Grandiose
Rifles can only be sold to permit holders.
The R8 Trigger breaks like glass
at 1.5 lbs.
The fundament of success.
Desmodromic design for
reliability under all conditions.
Learn more about R8’s meticulously
engineered accuracy at:
www.blaser-usa.com/accuracy
Blaser USA, Inc. · Phone (210) 377 2527
10 Year Warranty on all Blaser Guns
Made in Ge r ma ny
South Africa: 2012
eye glaring around the stem of the bush,
her tail twitching as she waited. The ball
was in our court, so I moved forward about
eight feet. Eight feet can be a long way! I
cradled my .375 across some limbs and put
a .300-grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw
through both lungs. Three roars later, I was
running my fingers through the fur of my
first lion. No Band-Aids necessary.
Henry had a trip planned into the
Kalahari with some meat hunters, and I was
invited to go along. I did want a gemsbok
and the Kalahari is a good place to get one.
This also offered the chance to see a part of
Africa few people get to experience.
We loaded everything into the bakkie
and headed northwest. Noon saw us at the
gate of Geelhout Safaris’ hunting lodge – a
slice of heaven on earth. The next morning,
as we bumped along in the safari truck
drinking coffee and solving the world’s
problems, PH Henry abruptly injected
into the conversation, “Gemsbok!”
Naturally, I hadn’t seen the thing, but
Henry seemed certain, so off we went.
Sure as shooting, after a short tracking job,
there stood a fine-looking oryx, browsing
away. He surrendered to my shot. The tape
measure on the old bull’s left horn said 39
inches and a smidgen, which nearly sent my
white hunter into convulsions. All I thought
was, I’m sure glad my PH can see good!
Time and space refuse to allow for
all the details of a great hunt. There was
Pilanesberg National Park; an ongoing
chess game between hunter and jackal that
I sometimes won; baboon sniping; great
friends; food and drink; guineafowl and
francolin shooting; books and biltong –
the list goes on and on.
But I will say this: If you ever find
yourself with too much time on your
hands, I know a great way to spend 24 days
in South Africa.
Rick Batten is not only a hunter, but
a full-time taxidermist with a limited
safari budget. Although other Cape
buffalo cows had equally good, or even
better horns, Batten appreciated this
specimen’s huge head and perfect cape.
Rick Batten lives in Missouri on a farm where
he is a full-time taxidermist. He has hunted
South Africa three times and on his last safari
spent 30 days hunting and camping in the
Kalahari area near Piet Plessis. He loves
spending time in Africa, always counting the
days to his next adventure.
The Original Spirit of the True African Safari
P.O. Box 13226 • Arusha • Tanzania
Cell: +255 783 309309
40
AHG574
DANNY MCCALLUM SAFARIS
V-MAX
®
Ideal for varmint and
predator hunting.
Rapid fragmentation upon
impact for all varmints
big or small.
SST
®
Super Shock Tip™
for rapid expansion
and energy transfer.
Hard-hitting performance for
all medium and large game.
InterBond
®
GMX
®
InterLock
®
Bonded bullet for
high weight retention.
All copper-alloy
expanding bullet.
Classic spire point
bullet design.
Controlled expansion and
90% weight retention for
all medium to large game.
Tough monolithic bullet
delivers high weight retention
and maximum penetration.
InterLock ring keeps
core and jacket together
on medium and large game.
THE PERFECT BULLET
Whatever the quarry, Hornady has a bullet suited for every application. Plus, we offer accurate
and dependable factory-loaded ammunition and innovative reloading products that satisfy
even the most demanding hunters and shooters. THE CHOICE IS YOURS!
Find the bullet that ﬁts your hunt at hornady.com.
Zimbabwe: 2014
Fourth Time’s
Charm
By Mike Ambrose
Boarding my flight from the States to Africa, I contemplate what awaits me in
Zimbabwe’s Bubye Valley Conservancy (BVC) as I commence my fourth attempt to
complete my “Big Five.”
42
Zimbabwe: 2014
U
nusually large amounts of rain
have fallen there in the last week,
with more in the forecast;, and I
wonder if I should have packed a set of
Swim Fins, which would have served me
well in 2011, as I had to swim a swollen
river four times before scoring on my huge
leopard.
This was the same safari during which
I declined a shot on a huge, seven-plusyear-old male lion in the company of three
other lions on Day 20. It was a decision
made in the moment and, although never
regretting it, with the effort expended on
two subsequent attempts, the thought of a
jinx had crossed my mind as time passed.
A second full-bag safari to Tanzania in
2012 produced no male lion sightings, and
a 21-day, safari in Zimbabwe’s Matetsi 5
concession in 2013 saw me also lose the
chess game that is cat hunting.
I’ve known PH Shaun Buffee since we
shared camp Tanzania in 2008, and I’ve
been trying to get a lion tag in the BVC
since he started hunting there five years
ago. The single tag, annually issued to
Shaun Buffee Safaris, is in great demand,
and none had been available until this year.
After clearing customs, we headed south
to the BVC. Shaun had arrived at the camp
earlier in the day and gave the word we
could drive the van all the way to camp.
The BVC is 1,000,000 contiguous acres
of private land, a conservancy operated by
Mazunga Safaris and a legendary figure,
fondly known as “Blondie.” The main ring
road was in great condition and we made
it to Lamulas Camp, one of seven on the
property, as the sun was setting.
It was an early start with the mission for
both hunting vehicles. I’d hired an extra
PH to assist with the bait, to drop a giraffe
and get the baits up in the designated areas
Shaun had targeted. With eight baits in the
trees, we all settled down to cocktails and
dinner and watched the fireworks in the
sky off in the distance. “I believe it’s just
heat lightning,” I remember saying.
I thought we’d hit it perfectly this time,
that the rains were gone and we were in for
unobstructed hunting. A crack of thunder
at about 3.00 a.m. made me levitate from
my bed. The 5.00 a.m. wake-up found the
storm in full gale; we returned to bed, as
there was nothing we could do in such a
downpour.
The storm started to subside near
lunchtime. Shaun announced we’d leave
camp by 1.00 p.m. to see if we could make
our way to check the baits, for the area had
Zimbabwe: 2014
received 35 to 70 ml of rain.
All of the bait sites had trail cameras. The
first revealed that two young males had fed
heavily overnight. We were unable, maybe
unwilling, to attempt to get to two of the
other sites, and the other two had recorded
no hits; but Mark Bristow had four males
feeding at different times at one.
The next morning we replenished this
bait with a freshly taken zebra. (I was to
take three on this safari to fill a rug order
for my nieces.) The following morning
found this bait had produced more lion
– including one black-maned lion that,
although it appeared to Shaun to be “light
of mane on top” was of enough interest.
We decided to check it out at next dawn.
That afternoon we encountered three large
males, and I was in as much awe of their size
and majesty as I’d been four years earlier on
my last daylight sighting, although Shaun
decided they were nowhere what we were
looking for, and we moved to finish our
rounds.
Nearing the bait the next morning in
the dark, we could tell the lions were still
there. As day broke we saw three large
males still feeding and periodically going
to lie down and rest while the others took
their turn. We watched them for more
than an hour and, although one appeared
to be exceptionally black, Shaun again
determined these were not for us. We left
them and continued on our bait run.
Another day produced similar results,
and Shaun decided to abandon some sites,
move others, or establish baits in a different
area. I had Mark take another giraffe and I
took another zebra. We exchanged some
bait responsibilities and place some baits
near the Bubye River in a more southern
sector.
Day 7 produced a hit on the zebra; we
took the camera chip with us in order not
to disturb the area. I could see a more
intense review of the photos and a different
demeanor in Shaun as he analyzed them.
We’d seen and judged 16 males to date.
When Shaun said he thought the two
lions on the chip were shooters, the mood
changed dramatically.
We returned to the bait that afternoon
to make preparations, only to find the lions
had returned and nearly finished the zebra.
Shaun concluded we would make a screen
of tarps and camouflage material, with
natural foliage cut and placed across the
road to cover our next morning approach.
Shaun did not want my expectations to get
too high and said the final decision would
be made when he saw the lion. If he started
to walk away, I was to follow without
question. Then he added, “I’m confident
when we see these lions, we will take one.”
The 4.00 a.m. wake-up call came at
the end of a long night, and outside my
bedroom I was greeted by a heavy fog with
visibility down to maximum 10 yards. I
settled for a cup of tea before we hauled
out of camp at 5.00 a.m., trying my best
to convince myself the fog was a plus and
would not prove an obstacle to my 72nd
day of lion hunting.
We slowly drove to a point one kilometre
from the bait, stopped the truck, and
silently started our stalk. Becki, the tracker,
led the way with Shaun’s shooting sticks in
case we encountered the lions on the way in,
followed by Shaun, myself, videographer
Danielle Stewart, and Boniface the game
scout.
About 200 yards into the stalk, I got a
punch on my arm – Shaun was pointing
to the ground and then out in front
of us, indicating the lions were ahead,
location unknown. This sent the level
of concentration up another notch for
everyone. As daybreak came, the visibility
improved to about 30 yards. An open,
backward-facing palm, along with the
abrupt halt of Shaun’s movement, made me
stop in my tracks. His hand slowly moved
to his left ear and then pointed straight
ahead, verifying the sound I’d heard was
indeed that of our lions in front of us.
We slowly moved forward, and within
a couple steps could see the screen that
guarded the approach. As rehearsed, Shaun
moved forward and positioned himself
This photo was taken of the waterhole from Ambrose’s cabin during his unsuccessful attempt at lion in Matetsi 5, the day before he
arrived for his 21-day safari. “We tracked him for 14 days without success.”
44
Zimbabwe: 2014
directly behind a covered view port in the
barrier; Danielle moved to her position on
the left, and I to mine to the right, then
placed the butt of my gun on my foot. My
shooting sticks were directly in front of me
and the porthole. The sound of lions was
the soft, constant rasp of their breathing.
I watched as Shaun cautiously cracked
opened his port and looked through his
binos at the scene before him. It wasn’t
long before he turned, and with two fingers
indicated, one on the right and the shooter
on the left, then motioned for me to move
forward and get my gun on the sticks.
I did so very cautiously, and as I placed
my eye to my illuminated Schmidt &
Bender, I could see both cats, the shooter
on the left lying in the middle of the
road in clear, open view, 21 yards away. I
nodded I had him and all was good. Shaun
then got Danielle into position for the
video coverage of the events.
We made no noise or movement, and
“The impact was solid and
the roaring electrifying as I
worked the straight-pull back
action, chambering another
round.”
the lion stared at us and periodically lay
back down, but always kept one eye in our
direction. Suddenly he was half up, turned
90° looking away from us, then back in
the prone position in what was one of the
most powerful and coordinated moves
I’d ever seen – all in the blink of an eye,
accompanied by a chest-rumbling grunt.
Whatever startled him was apparently
non-existent, and he again returned his
focus in our direction.
At this point Shaun turned his attention
to where Becki and Boniface were squatting
and moved them forward right up behind
us. Later he explained that if the lions had
come around the screen, they would see
them and not us, and we would be in a
poor position to defend them. Minutes
went by when, for no apparent reason,
the lion on the right quickly loped away.
Shaun told me later that he’d felt a cool
breeze on the back of his neck at this exact
moment, but I remained oblivious to all
but the lion’s departure.
I settled in behind my Blaser, expecting
the targeted lion would now likely move.
The Matetsi “waterhole lion” was photographed at a bait on Day 13 of Ambrose’s safari
– the only time he visited a bait. “He did not eat and we suspected he had his own kill.”
On Day 14, when the hunters were 50 to 100 yards from him, a small herd of elephants
disturbed the scene. “He blew out of there and into the park, and was never seen or heard
from again.”
As he stood and took one step forward,
quartering away, I place the red dot on a
point intersecting with the offside shoulder
and squeezed, releasing 400 grains of 416
RM Swift A-Frame down range.
The impact was solid and the roaring
electrifying as I worked the straight-pull
back action, chambering another round.
Re-acquiring the lion as he landed on all
fours biting at his chest, I placed another
round directly in the center of mass, and
again heard the sound of impact and
renewed objection from the lion. As I
chambered the third round, Shaun pulled
me back to face the opening to the right
side of the screen and started motioning
everyone else to move back. The lion was
heading toward the right side of the screen,
and I caught a glimpse of his tail in the
head-high grass as we tried to acquire the
target. No more movement was seen, and
Shaun continued to move us all back and
left. We departed the area, leaving it in an
eerie silence. We intersected a road and
made our way back to the truck.
“How did you feel on the first shot?”
Shaun asked.
“Good,” I said. “Offside shoulder should
be shattered.”
“The second? Did you hit him with that
also?”
“In the head, I’m pretty sure, but
definitely center of mass.”
“Good,” said Shaun, “that’s what we
need to know – the rest we’ll deal with.”
We talked and let our emotions speak,
Zimbabwe: 2014
Having turned down an excellent lion on a previous safari, hunter Mike Ambrose (L)
worried he was jinxed after two subsequent safaris produced no results. Finally, on
his 72nd day in quest of lion, this time with PH Shaun Buffee (R) in the Bubye Valley
Conservancy – success on a 9-year-old cat with a great mane.
Professional Grade Firearms Cases
Designed to Travel the World
•
•
•
•
All Cases Approved For Air Travel
Over 120 Standard Case Models
Custom Cases are our Speciality
Crafted in Waxahachie, TX
1-800-972-2737 www.americase.com
46
while everyone re-lived what they saw
and felt. Shaun questioned the trackers
about their final sightings of the cat. The
consensus was we’d find the lion dead
where we’d last see his tail in the long grass.
At the 30-minute mark we mounted
the hunting vehicle and returned to the
scene. “If he’s here and alive, he’ll come
for this truck,” Shaun said. We took
our positions in the back as Becki went
off-road in the direction we’d last seen
movement. We slowly eased forward in the
heavy undergrowth, backing up to avoid
obstacles, and forward again.
We’d not gone 20 yards when Shaun
made me change places, and elevated
himself on the cab for a better view.
“Come on,” he said, crawling off the truck.
Right behind him and covering his right
side, I spotted the lion. Shaun verified his
demise with a poke of his rifle to his hip
and barrel tap to the eye. I exhaled a sigh
of relief, and started to feel my face flush
as the adrenaline was finally released. At
this moment, the release of tension was
almost visible as everyone clamored to
congratulate me, and each other, on a job
well done. The lion had not made it 35
yards and was indeed hit twice, the second
time just above the right eye.
The BVC has an intense lion research
program that deals with the effects
of controlled hunting on a large lion
population. Biologist Paul Trethowan,
who runs the Lion Research Program,
determined this lion was more than nine
years of age. The skull measured 25¼
inches.
I’ve hunted some of the best lion
territory with some of the top PHs on the
continent – including Harpreet Brar and
Dean Kendall – in my quest, but nothing
compares with the BVC with Shaun. His
insight, knowledge and strategies were
well conceived and flawlessly executed. I
can recommend the genetic quality and
quantity of game in the BVC. We’ll test
his leopard tactics when I will bring my
nephew and entrust him to Shaun for his
crack at chui.
An ex-US Navy Seal who served in the
Vietnam conflict, Mike Ambrose is an oilfield
service company executive. He started biggame hunting eight years ago at 60 years of
age. Since then, he’s hunted six continents,
been on 15 African safaris to seven countries,
and has taken 119 species of game. Mike is a
life member of SCI, HSC, DSC, and NRA.
Over time, & our evolution,
we bring you something modern and unique
Northwest of Joburg, “The Cradle”, as this area is affectionately referred to
in South Africa, is where Man is said to have originated. Near this World
Heritage Site, that we call home, you will find our factory where we turn
your hunting experience into your own piece of history.
Founded by Raymond Hoffman, a young man grown up in a world
of tanning hides with a grand vision, this owner-operated, new-age
taxidermy company is situated on a piece of history, but is set on creating
its own piece of history.
And it’s all under one roof, from the tanning, dipping, shaving, drying,
moulding, mounting, artistry and touch-ups, through to packaging and
crating. We take complete responsibility for your trophy from A-Z.
No excuses, no other parties involved.
HOW? • With the experience of knowing the tanning business inside out (Raymond’s dad runs Oasis Tanning) • Delivering the finest quality of cleaned skulls
• Offering the fastest turnaround of trophies • Being close to Joburg (the hub from where the majority of every Southern African trophy is exported)
• All on camera, all live…giving you 100% peace of mind.
Pinch
Me!
By Dan Cantlon
I live in Fort St. John in northern British Columbia, Canada
and have always been an outdoor enthusiast who truly loves
Mother Nature.
B
ut through my many years of
hunting, I’ve found that Mother
Nature can be very beautiful but
also very cruel. I believe that one must be
able to embrace both the beautiful and the
cruel to truly understand Her power.
I consider myself to be a well-seasoned
hunter – I began hunting at age eight,
starting with squirrels, grouse and rabbits.
By the time I was 15, I’d moved on to
larger game, such as deer, moose and elk.
That’s also when I began to dream of one
day hunting Africa.
48
This is a story of fulfilling that dream
with two safaris in South Africa with PH
Ewert Vorster of Sadaka Safaris.
I first met Ewert and his lovely wife
Karen at an African hunting convention
in Texas where I’d stopped at their booth
and chatted with them. Immediately
liking them, I told them of my quest for
an African safari. One year later, I phoned
Ewert and booked a hunt, informing him
that I’d be bringing along my 12-year-old
twin boys.
The 10-day safari started exactly on my
50th birthday. Soon enough, I had taken a
kudu with very large horns and a beautiful
gemsbok. Klayton bagged an impressive
impala and a large male baboon, and Kyle
landed a blesbok and a massive caracal
cat that placed #5 in the Rowland Ward
trophy record book. Indeed, I’d fulfilled
my 35-year-long dream of hunting Africa,
and I’d done it with my two young sons. It
just couldn’t get any better – or could it?
I’d stayed in close touch with Ewert,
and we both attended African Hunting
Gazette’s 2014 Hunting Expo in Calgary
where I booked a leopard hunt for May.
Time dragged by slowly for me until the
beginning of another amazing adventure.
Ewert was there when I landed in Joburg
and we drove about three hours to his lodge.
Namibia: 2011
I’d decided to bring my own 20x50mm
Trijicon scope renowned for its lightgathering capability in low-light conditions
– to use on Ewert’s Christensen Arms .300
Win. Mag.
Day 1, we started the morning fitting
the rifle with my scope and mount and ran
off around 15 rounds, but I couldn’t group
the shots at all. Something was wrong with
the scope mounts! We concluded that we’d
have to drive two hours to Pretoria to get
a gunsmith to fix it, sacrificing a precious
day of hunting.
With the proper mounts in place, the
rifle bore sighted, and we were ready to go.
We began Day 2 by checking one of
the leopard baits that Ewert had put out.
Checking the trail camera, we saw that a
mature tom had been coming in on a regular
basis, consuming about eight impalas.
Studying the images, we determined
the cat weighed approximately 150 lbs. I
recall telling Ewert that I wished it were
a little bigger, but since it was a good
representative of the species we decided to
build the leopard blind. The hunt was on
for the next night, as this would allow the
cat to get accustomed to the new blind.
The next morning at the breakfast table,
Ewert said we were going to visit the
adjacent property to look for tracks and
would be back in time to sit in our blind.
After a 1.5-hour drive, we arrived at the
property at about 11.00 a.m.
Only 20 minutes after driving through
the gate, we came upon a drag and
blood crossing in the road in front of us.
Stopping, we quickly found a large set of
leopard tracks in the dirt.
After loading the rifle, we slowly made
our way through the tall grass and bush
when, all of a sudden, the trackers stopped
and said, “Flies.” My heart pounding, I
could hear the steady drone of a thousand
flies. We’d stumbled upon a dead, halfeaten waterbuck cow jammed under a
large tree. The cow was too big even for
this large cat to pull into the safety of the
tree branches. We couldn’t believe our luck
in finding a fresh leopard kill – what were
the odds?
We decided to quickly drive back to
the ranch and get everything we’d need
to hunt this cat. We’d have to hurry as it
was already noon, and the sun sets at 6.00
South Africa: 2014
“I thought to myself, ‘It’s a
good thing I have a strong
heart. Otherwise, a heart
attack would be imminent!’
But my heart kept pounding
harder and harder in my
chest.”
Only 20 minutes after driving through the gate of a neighbouring ranch 1.5 hours away,
the hunters came upon a large set of leopard tracks in the dirt.
When the leopard showed up at about
7.45 p.m., Dan Cantlon was ready to go,
using his own 20x50mm Trijicon scope
mounted on PH Ewert Vorster’s Christensen
Arms .300 Win. Mag.
50
p.m. As we were loading for the blind – red
LED lights to shine on the carcass, motion
sensors, batteries, wires, etc., – Ewert had
an idea. He’d killed a large leopard the
previous year and had saved its urine. As
leopard are very territorial, he decided to
use it now to spray the base of the tree to
throw the cat for a loop.
We arrived back at the kill at about 3.30
p.m. and had only two-and-a-half hours
of light to put our plan together. Two of
the trackers quickly began to assemble
the blind while Ewert and the other two
trackers began the task of moving the halfeaten cow from the ground up to about
15 feet into the tree, on the underside of a
huge branch – the branch that we wanted
the cat to stand on, if everything went
according to plan.
After the carcass was secured to the
branch, we cleared a shooting path to the
blind, and began putting up the wires for
the LED lights and a motion sensor to alert
us when something moved in the darkness.
Everything came together like clockwork,
as I watched professionals do their work.
The final touches were being applied –
including spraying the base of the bait tree
with the cat urine – just as the sun began
to slide over the horizon. I couldn’t believe
we’d done it. All was ready for the big cat.
Now the question was whether he’d be
back tonight or had been lying up on the
hill in the thick undergrowth watching us
prepare our trap for his demise.
We crawled into the ground blind that
the trackers closed by applying a thick
blanket of thorn bush over the door for our
protection, in case the leopard decided to
come for us.
Time ticked away. Very tired from the
long flight and busy days, I began to doze
off. At about 7.45 p.m., Ewert poked me
and whispered, “Dan, two things: One,
you are snoring, and two, I just heard
something in the bush behind the blind.”
Obviously, this got my full attention. We
sat in total silence listening to the sounds
of the African night, when suddenly the
buzzer went off indicating something was
moving at the carcass. Ewert slowly turned
the knob of the power supply for the LED
lights on the bait. I had my face close to the
peephole, with the rifle already pushed out
aiming at the waterbuck.
As the light grew brighter, I looked
through the scope. I could see the carcass
very clearly, but there was no movement
there. I whispered to Ewert, “I don’t see
anything.”
He started lowering the lights, and said
quietly, “I don’t see anything either. Maybe
it’s a genet. They’re quite small and hard
to see.”
Another minute or two ticked by when
the buzzer went off again. I buried my
face into the scope as Ewert began to turn
the lights up again. We both saw a huge
leopard jumping down from the branch.
It looked a mile long as it was stretched
out, leaping to the ground from the high
branch.
Ewert turned the lights off again, and
whispered to me, urgently: “Dan, don’t
make a sound! It’s coming our way, and
if it knows we’re in here, it may try to dig
us out!”
Now, let me explain the repercussions
of this comment. First, you can’t see your
hand in front of your face because it’s so
South Africa: 2014
heart pounding, all I heard was “NOW.”
I took two deep breaths and squeezed the
trigger. The rifle thundered and jumped
in my hands. I saw the big cat fold to the
branch and roll off, falling to the ground.
I couldn’t believe it – we’d done it – we’d
taken one of the world’s most dangerous
cats off his own kill in the first two hours
of my first leopard hunt!
We waited for the trackers to come and
remove the thorn wall from the door,
and then approached the fallen beautiful
creature at the bottom of the tree. Weighing
in at 175 pounds, it would score in the top
30 leopards in all of Africa.
I felt very blessed to have experienced
these two amazing hunts, both while I was
50 years old, in South Africa with Ewert
who has become like a brother.
It just could not get any better – or
could it?
What were the odds of hunter Dan Cantlon taking a record-book trophy leopard, on its
own kill, on the first day of his second safari in South Africa with PH Ewert Vorster of
Sadaka Safaris?
Capturing Natural
Beauty
Don’t Compromise.
For honest, affordable,
high quality workmanship
and a quick turnaround
time, use Bull’s Eye.
Bull’s Eye Taxidermy
Corner Melkrivier &
Sterkstroom Roads,
Vaalwater, South Africa
www.bullseyetaxidermy.co.za
Tel: +27 14 755 4945
Fax: +27 86 660 7069
Craig: +27 82 775 8489
Trish: +27 83 690 0061
AHG733
dark. Second, your heart is pounding so
loud and fast, you’re sure the huge cat will
hear it. Third, you’re sitting cross-legged
on the ground and begin to hear a deep,
guttural growl that words cannot really
describe; it grows louder and louder and
you know you can’t move a muscle because
the cat will hear you.
I thought to myself, “It’s a good thing
I have a strong heart. Otherwise, a heart
attack would be imminent!” But my
heart kept pounding harder and harder
in my chest.
The leopard slowly prowled around the
side and back of the blind, continuing with
its guttural growls. Then, it slowly turned
back towards the tree and the carcass. He
was very pissed off and we knew it!
All went quiet for about 30 seconds.
Then the buzzer went off again. I was like a
cat on a hot tin roof – it scared the crap out
of me! I’d been so caught up in listening to
this cat prowling the area that the buzzer
caught me off guard.
I quickly put my face to the scope as
Ewert began turning the lights back up.
There it was – the amazing full figure of an
enormous cat, standing exactly where we
wanted it to be – on the branch right over
the carcass.
Ewert said: “If you can take him, take
him now!”
With the adrenaline pumping and my
British Columbian hunter Dan Cantlon has
hunted extensively in Canada. This was his
second safari in Africa, and certainly not his
last!
Zimbabwe: 2011
A Cowboy Gun
in Africa
By Brett Valette
52
Zimbabwe: 2011
Five bull elephants smashed and crashed through the jesse. And
then there was silence.
“Y
ou shoot like a cowboy,” PH
Bruce Watson quietly said, as
I lowered my .475 Turnbull
lever-action rifle from my shoulder. “You
got off three shots in about three seconds.”
Bruce gave me a sideways look. “Fast as a
double, plus an extra shot.”
“I have one more in the chamber,” I
told him. My voice was tremulous, the
wilderness silent. Then a sound came
through the thicket: a stumbling crunch
of dried brush; a cracking thunder of
snapping branches and gnarled trees
splintering; and then again, silence.
“Looks like you got your elephant.”
Bruce slapped my back and we shook
hands. “That’s a really nice cowboy gun.
Let’s go see how it performed.”
I’m a traditional bowhunter, but I also
own and hunt with various rifles. My crazy
dream was to hunt dangerous African
game with a traditional rifle. An Old West
rifle. President Theodore Roosevelt loved
his .45-70 lever action rifle and named it
his “Big Medicine.” He used it successfully
on lion and other tough African animals,
but not on an elephant or hippo. I needed
something more powerful, but there wasn’t
an Old West rifle out there in which I had
enough confidence to meet the challenge
of some of the most ferocious game on the
planet.
Then I met gunmaker Doug Turnbull at
an SCI Convention, and he showed me his
new lever-action rifles. Doug titled his rifle:
“The New Big Medicine.” I knew I’d found
what I was looking for – a new design on
an old classic: the .475 Turnbull leveraction, with iron sights. A cowboy gun for
Africa! I found it. I loved it. I bought it.
***
“You can’t hunt with that!” I heard while
trying to book an elephant hunt with my
.475 Turnbull. “You can’t use a lever-action
for elephant,” one outfitter told me. “Not
enough power, and it’s illegal. It doesn’t
even stack up to a .375, and that’s the
minimum caliber allowed for dangerous
game in Africa.” I checked the stats again and emailed
him: “The .375 with a 300-grain bullet
averages 2700 fps and has 4300-4500
foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. A
.416 with 400-grain bullet has about 2400
fps and 5000 foot-pounds of energy. The
.475 pushes a 400-grain bullet at 2150 fps
and has 4200 foot-pounds at the muzzle.
How is that not enough power, and how is
that illegal?” The outfitter wrote back: “My
mistake.” I did not book with him.
Very quickly I discovered that many
experienced booking agents and PHs
had the same impression of my “cowboy
gun” as they did of my longbow: “It’s not
powerful enough.” But was it really? Or
was the .475 simply new and unfamiliar?
Longbows have been around since
the Stone Age; but compound bows are
“I wasn’t after a trophy
bull – I was here to
fulfill my dream, so I
was seeking a broken
tusked, non-trophy
elephant.”
now the “in” weapon-of-choice, and my
longbow is looked upon with suspicion.
Yet both traditional longbows and recurves
have successfully taken every dangerous
animal on this planet. Two months earlier,
in Zambia, I’d successfully shot a huge
hippo bull on land, eye-to-eye, with my
86-pound Ferguson longbow.
So why the suspicion on a lever-action
rifle for dangerous game? Probably because
this powerful lever-action never existed
before. But it does now, and I wanted to
enjoy the challenge of a dangerous-game
hunt with it.
After several failed attempts at locating
a booking agent who believed in the .475
Turnbull, I phoned Wes Hixon who had an
outfitter in Zimbabwe who would take us,
“no problem and no concerns.” I’d found
Zimbabwe: 2011
Valette’s quest was for the experience of his performance, and that of his material, in the
field, not for the weight of the ivory. But he was also glad to know that the meat was
used to feed a community living in elephant territory.
the gun I wanted, and now I’d found the
outfitter I needed! I felt confident in myself
and with my choice of weapon, and I was
thrilled that Impondo Safaris, near Victoria
Falls, trusted us both.
My .475 arrived in Zimbabwe inside
the Pelican gun case in perfect condition,
and with no scope to be knocked around,
I sighted in the rifle with a single round.
Only a half-hour from camp and we were
crouched along one of the winding roads
that invade the wilderness. “My morning
newspaper,” said Bruce as we studied the
red dirt road crisscrossed with the tracks of
elephant, lion, impala, eland and hyena. “I
read this and I know what’s happened all
night long.”
“Simba,” said our tracker casually
pointed to the tall grass 150 yards away.
Lying low, its ears barely visible above the
blonde, dry stalks, a young lion watched
us. As I brought up my binoculars, he
vanished. Bruce chuckled, “Better than
a strong cup of coffee in the morning.”
He was right – my adrenaline had spiked
through my caffeine buzz.
We hopped into the jeep to look for
HEYM “EXPRESS” Rif le
& Swarovski Z6i Scope
LIMITED SPECIAL OFFER
$10,750
($12,500 purchased separately)
Z6i 1-6 EE
(2nd gen) with
Illuminated CD Reticle
3-POSITION SAFETY
INTEGRAL SCOPE BASES
4+1 MAGAZINE CAPACITY
BARREL-BANDED SIGHTS & SWIVEL
SQUARE BRIDGE MAGNUM MAUSER ACTION
375 H&H | 404 Jeffery | 416 Rigby | 458 Lott
HEYMUSA.COM | 214-606-2566 |
54
Zimbabwe: 2011
elephant. I wasn’t after a trophy bull – I was
here to fulfill my dream, so I was seeking a
broken tusked, non-trophy elephant.
We followed tracks, stalked small herds
of bulls, stalked both small and large family
groups, and at one point were surrounded
by elephants. Each day, we arrived back at
camp exhausted and fulfilled. Dinner, wine
by the fire, and the sounds of the African
bush made every day feel complete.
“Want to have some fun tonight?”
Bruce asked me. Of course, I’m game for
anything unusual. “It’s a full moon. I know
a large platform by a waterhole. Let’s go sit
in it a while and see what shows up.”
The jeep bounced down the rutted road
and we stopped near an open savanna.
Above me was a huge platform fashioned
from the local trees; 20 yard away was a
small watering hole. We climbed the rickety
ladder, sat on the small stools, and waited.
One of the trackers drove off with the
jeep, Bruce checked the radio, and we
settled in.
Eerie quiet. A few odd sounds in the
night. We chatted in whispers.
The sound started softly. A scuffing sound.
Soft padding in the sand. Nothing more.
Then it drew closer, the sound of many
pads kicking up sand. I peered through
the darkness as the muted sound came
right towards us. Suddenly, hulking
shapes materialized. Even as the elephants
walked right in front of the platform, they
were silent.
Suddenly, their huge feet entered the
water. The rules of the night were gone and
the trumpeting began. Showers of water
sprayed onto dry backs and into thirsty
mouths, gushing down throats and spilling
back into the water below. Twelve adults
and three babies drank and splashed about,
not aware of the humans only 20 yards
away. I could see a trunk snaking skyward,
sniffing. The dark night, the glow of the
moon, the sound of thirst, another sudden
trumpeting – so close, so threatening, both
magical and exciting.
Then, as quietly as they’d arrived, they
left the water, walking in single file back
toward the safety of the bush. The night
again was still.
“How was that?” Bruce asked.
“I don’t have words to describe it,” I replied.
“I know. And you’ll never forget it.”
We tracked a group of five elephant for
about three hours. The entire hunt had
been surreal. Most of the time when I’d
hunted Africa, my PH would steer us clear
of the elephants. On this safari, we walked
right up to them. When we finally got
PH Bruce Watson agreed with Valette’s decision to go first for a heart shot on the
elephant, and then to try to break its hip with a solid. Brett loaded his .475 Turnbull
with two 400-grain Barnes Triple-Shock X-Bullets, followed by two solids.
The hunters covered a lot of ground looking for an appropriate broken-tusked, nontrophy elephant that also offered the hunters the right conditions for the .475, the
“Cowboy Gun” Valette had brought on safari, in which few PHs had confidence.
Zimbabwe: 2011
The safari was accompanied by an
armed Zimbabwe government game
scout, pictured here next to Valette’s .475
Turnbull.
close, we saw one had a broken tusk! He
was the one…
Tony Makris and Craig Boddington had
both used the Turnbull .475 on dangerous
African game and I’d discussed shot
placement with them. I had decided on a
heart shot instead of a brain shot, and to be
within 30 yards of the elephant. PH Bruce
Watson agreed, saying, “Go for a heart shot
first. Then try and break a hip with a solid.”
I pushed two 400-grain Barnes TripleShock X-Bullets, followed by two solids,
into the chamber of the .475.
With the wind in our faces, we carefully
made our way toward the group. The
elephants were feeding, stripping bark and
breaking branches while Bruce instructed
me on where to hold. I raised the Cowboy
Gun and leveled the iron “V” on the crease
behind the bull’s front leg. Fifteen yards
away and the first shot went off. Without
moving the rifle butt from my shoulder, I
worked the lever and chambered another
round, and fired again as the elephant
turned. Trumpeting and brush cracking,
the elephants scattered. My third shot
went into the elephant’s hip, but too high
to break it. Then the silence.
An hour later, the locals were butchering
the elephant while we ate elephant kabobs
by an open fire in the Zimbabwean bush.
When the elephant’s chest cavity was
opened up, they presented the heart to
me. I struggled to lift it with both hands.
And there, neatly in the center, was a bullet
hole from the 400-grain Barnes. The first
bullet had entered the heart; the second
had shredded its lungs; and the third had
penetrated deeply above the hip.
My .475 Turnbull revealed its power on
dangerous game that day. And the Old
West was alive and well in Africa.
Brett Valette is an SCI Life Member and hunts
frequently with his son, Dalton Valette. Father
and son both write hunting articles and are
currently writing a novel together. Brett’s novels
include “Come Together” and “Soul Murder,”
both available on Amazon.com.
An oasis in the middle of true
African Bushveld, is what adventurers
Will find with Eland Safaris.
[email protected]
www.elandsafaris.co.za
56
AHG1003
Alex Thomson +27 82 493 6216
Having visited 140
help you make the right
decision and, based on
what we know, ultimately
give you peace of mind.
Tel: 1 877 378 4440
[email protected]
BRUSH COUNTRY STUDIOS SA
Modimolle/Nylstroom, South Africa | Tel: 079 228 1744 / 087 802 7801 |
E-mail: [email protected] | www.thewaterberggorgebushcamp.com | www.brushcountrystudiossa.com
Namibia: 2013
A Really
Good Rifle…
By Brian “Wato” Watson
58
Namibia: 2013
On annual pilgrimage
to the SCI Convention, I
went with high hopes and
a hip pocket with all the
cash I could muster, hoping
to find a nice, dangerousgame rifle that would be
my new best friend for the
rest of my hunting days.
I
desired a minimum .400 caliber rifle
that was accurate, lightweight and,
above all, totally dependable.
I already owned, and had used extensively
on various big-game animals, an utterly
dependable rifle in .416 Rigby that most
of my African PH friends coveted, as they,
ironically, did not seem to be able to access
especially fine arms. Problem was, the gun
had what I considered an overly heavy
barrel. Possibly the manufacturer reasoned
that the rifle’s design would mean less
recoil and barrel lift on firing.
I reasoned that the gun had to be carried
by me, mile after mile, day after day, in
extreme heat and, when finally, a week or so
later, presuming all went well, I would fire
perhaps two, maybe three rounds. It seemed
much more sensible to own a gun that was
a little easier to carry rather than one that
didn’t boot me as much. The discomfort of
recoil is measured in seconds; the pain of
tracking lasts considerably longer.
Additionally, the heavy barrel was
becoming, as I grew older and my strength
diminished, more difficult to hold on
target. The last, the undeniable last
thing you want on dangerous game is a
misdirected first shot.
Having spoken to several customgun makers in Australia, who all quoted
manufacture times of two years or more,
made it increasingly attractive to buy a
rifle off the rack as long as all criteria could
be met and the gun fitted me. Crickey, at
my age, even though my fitness level is
well above average, there was always the
possibility that I could fall off the perch.
I wanted this gun now, not in a couple
of years. And most enthusiasts instantly
recognize the difference between need and
want. I didn’t need a new rifle, I wanted a
good rifle, a REALLY GOOD rifle.
The search revealed several excellent value
items that probably would have fitted my
wish list of features. But, just as I thought
that a deal was to be done, I spied the John
Rigby stand, surrounded by a small crowd
of onlookers. The reason for their interest
was not immediately apparent, and then
I saw that Rigby had set up their stand
with a superb demonstration of hands-on
riflemaking.
John Rigby & Company is about as
famous a name in guns and hunting history
as it is possible to imagine. Revered since the
company’s advent in 1775, a Rigby firearm
holds a special place in the minds of those
hunters who demand the best. A Rigby is
especially cherished by hunters of large,
dangerous game, not for its fine looks and
beauty, but for the more important quality of
flawless functionality. Even so, when the time
came for me to search for a new magazine
rifle of exceptional quality, it never occurred
to my feeble brain that a Rigby might be
affordable. A pre-used item, maybe. But
brand-new? Only in my dreams.
Mark Tremant, master craftsman, was
busy at a workbench carving out the bones
of a brand-new Rigby stock. Fascinating
to watch and a truly innovative display, it
still retained all the qualities necessary for
a serious dangerous-game unit, it sported
a Mauser-type Gol-Matic action from
Germany, and barrel from Austria.
Oh boy! Oh joy! Just what the doctor
ordered. A gentle caress and appraisal
before a perfunctory sighting on some
imagined beast in the roof of the building.
Perfect, almost. To cut a long story short,
after some alterations, including a H&Htype quick release scope mount, the
engraving of a charging elephant on the
magazine floorplate, and soul-searching
over funds (or lack of them), “She” was my
new best girlfriend.
Throughout this process, Managing
Director Marc Newton kept me advised,
informed, enthused, and supplied with
photos via e-mail of the work that was being
undertaken. I owe Marc a great debt for what
he achieved for me; it seemed no obstacle in
the Rigby workshops was too difficult.
Delivery occurred only two weeks before
a hunting trip to the Caprivi Strip (Zambezi
Region) in Namibia. Unfortunately, Marc
had to decline an invitation to join us due
to his increased commitment to the Rigby
From the small but comfortable camp mess tent, Wato spent many enjoyable hours
watching birds and the movements of elephant along the Linyanti River in Namibia’s
Caprivi Strip, now known as Zambezi Region.
was easy to see why the crowd had gathered
for this hands-on demonstration of the
gunmaker’s skills. Along the rear wall, in
a typical gun display rack, was an array of
finished Rigby products. And here was a
new item, just completed – a lightweight
Rigby .416. Made as an experiment in the
possibility of a faster handling rifle that
firm. For both my hunting mate Ian and
me, this was a much-anticipated safari to a
highly iconic African hunting destination.
I had fired less than a dozen rounds in
preparation, much less than I would advise
others; but She just seemed to shoot where
I intended. Obviously, She was destined to
take an elephant on her maiden outing.
Namibia: 2013
“But then a new tension erupted! More bulls came out
of the wallow they’d been concealed in and quickly
moved away – except one.”
Wato gave Miss Rigby a big kiss on her action after a flawless performance on her
maiden outing for bull elephant in Namibia.
Arriving in camp, we did the usual
familiarization with PH Felix Marnewecke,
his staff, and the camp surroundings. The
Linyanti River, which becomes the Chobe,
was to the south of camp, and elephant
were there in large numbers. Buffalo also
abounded, but they were very secretive
and did not venture far out of the high,
protective reed beds, and then, only to dare
you to come closer. The swampy ground
below camp was home to some fascinating
birdlife that became a regular midday
feature. Relaxing after the morning’s
hunt and pleasant lunch, we’d lounge in a
comfortable chair, armed with a bird guide
and binoculars and glass the area.
First day out, we scoured an area to the
north that was dotted with islands among
the swamps. The first crossing was just over
ankle deep, but this soon changed to shin
deep, knee deep, then thigh deep. Each
subsequent crossing increased in depth until
at one time I complained laughingly over
my shoulder to Ian that my crotch was a bit
damp. A bitter grumble followed. Turning
around, I could only snigger on seeing
Ian had slipped into a hidden elephant
footprint, and was almost up to his armpits
in black, smelly water. Thank you, God, for
60
This big elephant was not impressed with
the hunters’ presence in his domain, and
made a determined effort for more than 10
minutes to follow them before backing off.
making me 6’ 3” tall and Ian 5’ 5”.
In the depths of the swamp, on a small
area of high ground, we found timber racks
and other equipment used by poachers.
We gathered all the materials together and
set fire to the lot. The blaze was spectacular
but sobering, as there is also a spectacular
lack of small animals that once abounded
in the area; poaching has almost eliminated
all but the elephant and buffalo herds. Over
the border, the Botswana Defence Force
is starting a concerted effort to control
poaching, and some of their successes are
starting to make a difference in the “Strip,”
but there is a long way to go.
We were granted an audience with the
local chief, Kingi Georgie, and after all the
preliminary bowing and clapping expected
of us, poaching was discussed along with
other matters. The status this man possesses
is extremely powerful, so I hope that he is
serious about his intention to eliminate
the poaching-mindset of his people that is
absolutely devastating for the local wildlife.
Apart from scouring the swamps and
reed beds daily, part of our routine included
travelling up and down river in our search
for a suitable cull bull elephant. One
bull was located at close quarters on the
riverside. Chasing him through the ninefoot high reeds was a special experience.
In that eerie wall of green an elephant can
disappear from view in a matter of feet,
so one can only wonder what strength of
will is required when pursuing a wounded
buffalo in that verdant hell.
A small herd of bulls was located on Day
Seven. They were observed moving into
a massive reed bed by trackers who had
climbed a tall tree. Positioning ourselves
downwind, we moved into the reeds.
Once in their center, we found the bulls
wallowing in a depression holding water
close to a small clearing.
We waited. Moving into the clearing with
the wind in the wrong quarter would create
too much of a risk of the elephant detecting
us. The game trail through the reeds that
I was kneeling on was one elephant’s foot
wide and about the same depth.
A large bull came out of the depression and
moved straight towards my position. It was
obviously coming down the trail we were on.
No escape. “Is he the one?” I whispered back
to Felix. “It is now,” he answered.
The bull walked to within 16 paces before
seeing a strange object squatting before
him. He paused, started to raise his head,
extend his trunk and spread his ears. As
Miss Rigby’s ivory front bead centered on
the imaginary broomstick passing through
Namibia: 2013
Wato took a non-trophy elephant bull, whose meat would feed the village of Chief
Kingi Georgie. He was satisfied with his shot placement on the elephant coming
towards him through the thick reeds, as well as the performance of the 400-grain
Woodleigh hydrostatic solid bullet.
Hashem Ghali
Mob Tanzania:
+255 6 89828888
Mob UAE: +971 50 6160212
Email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.shangrilawildlife.com
62
his ears, She spoke, sending a 400-grain
Woodleigh hydrostatically stabilized solid
bullet through the brain. The effect was
instantaneous and breathtakingly effective.
The back haunches collapsed, the trunk
flew upwards, and the great beast sank
to its knees, then, slowly, ever so slowly,
toppled over.
The obligatory insurance shot was
delivered, then smiles and handshakes
were exchanged, now that all tension had
dissolved.
But then a new tension erupted! More
bulls came out of the wallow they’d been
concealed in and quickly moved away
– except one. The biggest bull looked at
his departing fellows, then at his fallen
comrade, back at his rapidly disappearing
mates, then at us – and charged. The
speed at which this large animal ran was
amazing. As we made a judicious exit, our
tender persons were probably saved by the
fact that his companion had fallen over
the main game track and momentarily
thwarted his attempt to deal with the
pesky humans.
We backed off some 200 metres to the
edge of a waterway, and the angry bull
tracked down the trail after us. We retreated
through the waist-deep water another 200
metres and waited, watching very carefully.
Three times the bull came to the water’s
edge looking for us. Finally, he gave up and
moved away. We were then able to go and
inspect our trophy and start butchering the
carcass, for all that meat that was destined
for Kingi Georgie’s local villagers.
The bull was shot perfectly, testimony
to the superb balance of my new best
girlfriend. From a kneeling position I was
able to aim and fire with no loss of balance
or undesirable barrel lift. She felt more like
a pussy .375 than a .416. I guess She’s my
best girlfriend forever, now.
Some weeks later, while in camp with
two experienced PHs who were casting
an appraising eye over Miss Rigby, one
of them remarked, “Beautiful! Now that’s
what a rifle is supposed to look like.”
Couldn’t agree more, but then, I wanted a
good rifle... a really good rifle...
Australian hunter “Wato” lives in Victoria
and describes himself: “I’m just a more-thanlucky average bloke who’s been smacked fair
between the eyes with a less-than-average
passion. Hunting the earth’s mother country,
in particular for big dangerous beasts, was a
boyhood fantasy that I’m still living. When I’m
on my death bed I definitely won’t be saying,
‘Gee, I wish I had...’ Cause I’ve done it!”
Namibia: 2013
®
®
Namibia: 2012
Botswana:
2010
Biggest Is Not
Always Best –
An African Lesson
By Donald Roxby
I’ve made a number of African plains-game
safaris over the years. After each trip, a short
period of satisfaction is followed by a sudden
longing to go back.
64
Botswana:
Namibia: 2010
2012
Botswana
Bulls
By Tony Masino
It was the middle of April when my buddy, Alan Jackson,
and I flew to Botswana for an 18-day elephant and Cape
buffalo hunt.
W
e’d be hunting with Kgori
Safaris in the 855,000-acre
NG43 concession between
Moremi Game Reserve and Nxai Pan
National Park. We’d both hunted Africa
before: Alan in Namibia and Botswana,
and me in Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
We spent the first three days in beautiful
Cape Town, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch,
then flew to Joburg to overnight at the
Afton Guest House where we found the
good company of fellow hunters, then
on to Maun, stepping out into the bright
Botswana sun. PHs Jack Franklin and
Wilton Raats of Kgori Safaris were waiting
for us; Jim van Rensburg, owner of Kgori
and an all-round good guy joined us at
lunch. After finalizing some paperwork,
we started the three-hour drive to Tuskers
Camp, our home for the next 18 days.
Away from the center of town, Maun
became very rural – small farms with cattle
and goat kraals (stockades) were common,
and we had to slow a few times for the
donkeys that roam freely. In due time, we
cleared the veterinary fence and were in
Kgori’s hunting concession, stopping at
Kwatale Camp so Jim could check on things.
Soon enough, we were back on the track
in the waning afternoon. This is always
a pleasant time of day as the air grows
heavier and cooler, and the smells of the
bush intensify. We arrived at Tuskers Camp
after dark to the welcoming singing and
dancing of the camp staff. I met my PH,
Corne du Plessis, a friendly and likeable
South African who would prove to be an
excellent hunter and bushman.
The camp was appointed with very nice
tents, en suite bathrooms, and paraffin
lamps giving off a soft, nostalgic glow. Camp
manager Werner Lombard was an efficient,
friendly young man in his twenties. After
dinner, we gathered around the campfire to
get to know each other better and take in
the wild Africa around us.
Day One began with a cool morning,
starting out after breakfast with Corne,
head tracker Sanga, tracker Boyson, and
the government game scout. We spotted
and stalked in on several bulls till late
afternoon, but saw no shooters. On one
stalk in an acacia flat after two bulls, we
started for the truck, about a mile away.
All around us were giraffe, elephant,
zebra, kori bustards and jackals – it was
like walking through Eden. Then Boyson
stopped and pointed off to our right.
At first glance, there appeared to be a
mud-covered hippopotamus about 300
yards away. Putting glasses on the animal
revealed a solitary buffalo that had just
left a mud wallow. Corne said that it was
an old bull with very good bosses. The
bull was walking in our direction and we
moved towards him, using the acacias as
cover. I removed the 500-grain Hornady
solid from the right barrel of my .470
Chapuis double rifle and replaced it with
a 500-grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw,
leaving a solid in the left barrel.
The buffalo eventually stopped behind
a large acacia just in front of us, 20 yards
away. For the first time he seemed to sense
something amiss and held for about 10
minutes behind the acacia, looking in our
direction. He then started walking toward
us. Kneeling, I eased out from behind the
Botswana: 2010
On Day 11 of the 18-day safari with Kgori Safaris, Masino’s six-hour stalk over
13 miles resulted in his taking a elephant bull, at 16 yards, with 30 inches of ivory
showing out of the right lip and 40 inches out of the left lip.
66
acacia and brought the .470 up on him. He
noticed and stopped, 15 yards away, and
looked at me, head up. I settled the sights
where his neck joined his body. At the
shot, he rocked backward, nearly knocked
off his feet. Recovering quickly, he ran at a
quartering angle to my left. Standing now,
I hit him on the run in the left shoulder
with my second barrel. Reloading quickly, I
watched as the bull went about 60 yards and
turned to face us, unsteady. I had the .470
on him, but it was unnecessary – he fell.
We approached the bull and, although
mortally wounded, he tried to stand.
Another solid between the shoulder blades
finished the job. Handshakes, smiles, and
excited laughter erupted from all of us as we
relived the whole episode. The bull, quite
dead, was still bleeding heavily from my
first shot, which had taken out his heart.
He was big-bodied, about 1700 pounds,
with a solid 16” boss. After gutting him,
and then using a winch and a lot of effort,
the bull was on the truck and we headed
for camp in a glorious sunset.
Later, around the campfire, I had a fine
cigar and a glass of Bushmills with friends
in honor of my Cape buffalo.
Alan had a terrific second day, bagging a
big bull elephant they’d spotted 100 or so
yards off the track. Stalking to within 25
yards, Alan was on the shooting sticks for
20 minutes while his PH, Wilton Raats,
evaluated the bull. Alan finally got the
word to shoot and ended up taking the
biggest bull of the season for Kgori with
his Ruger .458 Lott.
Another treat that day was spotting a
leopard in broad daylight, which we were
able to photograph quite well – the first of
four daytime leopards I’d see on safari.
It would be nine days before another animal
was in the salt. In the meantime, every day
was a new experience: sightings of elephant,
buffalo herds, kudu, oryx, steenbok, lions,
leopards, giraffe, puff adders, chameleons,
and a young African rock python that I
caught and released. There were great meals
and conversation, and the freedom one feels
when in the wilderness.
On Day 11, we headed out with much
expectation. My whole crew had the feeling
that today was my day for elephant. The
previous afternoon, we’d seen a very large
bull elephant just inside our concession.
We put on a stalk, but the bull crossed into
an adjoining concession.
While approaching the area on the
boundary road, we spotted another
elephant feeding away from the road, in
our concession. He was still close to the
Botswana: 2010
other concession, so we give him our scent
and he moved deeper into our area at a
brisk walk. We started tracking him and
flushed some guineafowl, which he heard.
He stopped and lifted his head showing a
long left tusk.
“That’s your bull,” said Corne, and
so began a nearly six-hour tracking that
wound through terminalia, wild lavender,
bushwillow, and very fresh lion tracks. Some
cows and young bulls joined the bull, too.
Temperature was in the mid-90s F, and we
maintained a steady pace. The herd seemed
calm, just feeding its way along.
At about one o’ clock Corne heard them
ahead of us, breaking branches as they fed.
We continued until a lone, tall mopane
tree came into view.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if he were under
that tree resting?” remarked Corne. I
agreed. After all, it was hot and it was the
only shade around. The track did lead to
the tree, and soon we hunkered down
behind lavender and bushwillow, 20 yards
from the herd. We moved a bit closer and
saw they were facing us; but the wind was
good and they were relaxed, their huge ears
flapping as they cooled off. Corne was to
my right, glassing. I made out two bulls in
front of me, but not shooters. We slowly
eased to the right and up a few more yards.
The area around the mopane tree was
clear and flat from generations of elephant
gathering here.
Corne glassed a bull I couldn’t see as we
were still kneeling behind thick bush. He
wanted Sanga to look at it. Sanga did, and
smiled. Then I checked the bull – he had
about 40” out of the lip on his left tusk.
“He looks good to me,” I said.
The bull wasn’t in an ideal position
for a frontal brain shot, so Corne and I
eased to our right behind a lavender bush
where there was an opening. The bull then
moved to his right and it was a perfect setup for a perfect shot: Corne to my right
rear, both of us kneeling. Hit the brain
and it’s all over. Miss it, and you have an
angry elephant with a bad headache and a
dangerous situation.
I brought up the .470, settled the front
bead in the center of the bull’s forehead,
and pressed the front trigger. Despite
the recoil from the rifle, I saw a puff of
dried dirt where the 500-grain Hornady
solid hit. The bull’s trunk went up and
his hindquarters down – a perfect frontal
brain shot! We waited as the herd milled
about, trumpeting. We shouted at them as
I reloaded my right barrel, and they headed
into the bush where we could hear some
“Hit the brain and it’s all over. Miss it, and you have an angry
elephant with a bad headache and a dangerous situation.”
After easing to within 15 yards of his Cape
buffalo, Masino replaced the 500-grain
Hornady solid in the right barrel of
his .470 Chapuis double rifle with a
500-grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw,
leaving the solid in the left barrel.
SAFARI-AHG ad Q-page.indd 1
Tracker Sanga has been hunting since
1969, working with such famous PHs
as Harry Selby, John Dugmore, Dave
Lincoln, and Joe Coogan. “I find it
fascinating and well worth the time to
get to know these men,” writes Masino.
2/28/12
3:10 PM
67
Botswana: 2010
Tony Masino’s (L) PH for his elephant and buffalo
safari with Kgori Safaris was Corne du Plessis, “a
friendly and likeable South African who proved to
be an excellent hunter and bushman.”
cow elephants trumpeting. Although the
bull was killed instantly, I put an insurance
shot in his chest.
Now it all sank in: six hours of tracking
covering over 13 miles. No lunch and very
little water. My voice was hoarse from
dehydration as I thanked the guys who had
made this possible.
On Day 2 of the safari, Alan Jackson (L) took the biggest bull of Kgori’s season
with PH Wilton Raats (to his right), commemorated in the company of Annie
Franklin and PH Jack Franklin.
He was a good bull, with 30˝ of ivory
out of the right lip and 40˝ out of the left,
which was his broomed working tusk. We
estimated his weight at six tons. I paced off
the distance from where I’d shot – 16 yards.
It was another celebratory evening in camp,
with a toast of champagne to the elephant. I
fired up another cigar after dinner as the day
scrim
Art
Nkosi Jubane 076 502 7267
[email protected]
www.kgsa.co.za
/member/jubanenkosi
68
was retold around the campfire.
The next couple of days were days of rest
for me, catching up on my journal and
letting all the men in camp shoot my .470
double rifle, which was a hell of a lot of
fun! On Day 13, Alan finally connected
on an old buffalo bull with smooth, worn
horns. That evening at camp he arranged
to purchase another buffalo tag, and three
days later took a nice bull with 41” horns.
We spent the final days trying to connect
on oryx. Alan’s party saw oryx nearly every
day, whereas we saw only two and they
were not sticking around.
This safari was extremely well run and
enjoyable. My head tracker, Sanga, has
been in the game since 1969. He’s worked
for Harry Selby, John Dugmore, Dave
Lincoln, and Joe Coogan. He was also
mauled by a wounded lion, and I have
found his name mentioned in several book
and magazine stories. Often, the history
regarding the trackers is overlooked, but I
find it fascinating and well worth the time
to get to know these men.
Tony Masino retired from police work after
25½ years and lives in Maryland with his
wife, Anne. They have four children and two
grandchildren. Since the age of six he’s been a
hunter of upland birds, waterfowl, small and
big game in the United States and Canada,
as well as safaris in Zimbabwe, Tanzania
and Botswana.
Keep calm and carry a Rigby
Rigby Gunmakers Ltd, 13-19 Pensbury Place, London SW8 4TP.
Phone: +44(0)207 720 0757 Email: [email protected] www. johnrigbyandco.com
South Africa: 2004
Cattle
Raiders
of the Kalahari
By Bruce Parker
70
South Africa2004
South Africa2004
From the airplane above Joburg, miles of sheds and busy antlike trucks on the cloverleaf ribboned below. My excitement had been building for months, imagination guiding
expectation, but, nowhere, predicting another world just like my own.
I
smiled, realizing I must wait a little longer
before freeing myself of civilisation.
Soon, I would cross into an untamed
Africa, a desert teeming with game,
tempered only by the presence of lion.
I climbed into the charter plane, bound
for the Kalahari and Mankwe Lodge, just
south of the Botswana border and west of
Tosca. The noise in the Cessna’s cabin made
speech impossible, and sleep came easily in
the droning warmth of the late afternoon
sun. Then, at around 1,000 feet, the pilot
gave me a jab and pointed out the window.
In a moment, Out of Africa came to life, with
antelope racing away from beneath us, the
dust from their mad dash hanging in the still
air, long after our shadow had won the race.
Drifting over the desert with throttle
reduced, my forehead against the scratched
plexiglass, I stared in disbelief. We were
flying over a red land, one stretched with
shadow and glowing in the late afternoon
sun. Valleys of pale tussock grass, stands of
green camel thorn and, in a lonely place
between some dunes, burnt-black trees
pointed skywards. A salt pan come into
view, brilliantly white and green-edged.
Through the haze of the whirling
propeller, a small herd of springbok
appeared on the edge of the landing strip. I
turned in shock, but the pilot just nodded
and continued making yoke and pedal
adjustments against the slight crosswind.
In a moment, we bumped to a stop.
I felt pretty perky by the time I took
the path to the thatched lodge. Seeing no
one, I strolled over to the fire pit, grabbed
a chair, a cold beer, and took stock. This
Booked on a plainsgame hunt with Mankwe Lodge, Marty’s Kalahari adventure took
place in the South African Kalahari, south of the Botswana border.
72
was definitely not like home. Everything
felt strange: the sounds, the smells, and the
hugeness of the darkening African sky.
My host Joe and his PH Christo arrived,
and with drinks sorted, they joined me at
the fire.
“How are you feeling?” Joe questioned.
“Simply stunned. I’ve talked to guys,
seen photos and hunting promos, but they
simply can’t prepare you for this.”
“Glad to hear it. Anything you want,
just ask. Christo’s going to take you out
tomorrow. Starting time: 05h30. After
breakfast, you’ll take a drive to get the feel
of the place.”
Moments later, gentle chimes warned of
dinner.
“No hurry, that’s our 15-minute call,
time to finish our drinks and wander over,”
said Joe.
Just as a huge bat zigzagged by, out of
the darkness on the far side of the camp
came a grunting cough. Moments later, it
was repeated.
My body froze, my mind emptied in
shock. I could hear voices around me, but
no screams or shouts. Slowly coming back
to earth while pretending to be part of the
conversation, I asked, “That a lion?”
No one answered. Their heads had
turned to one another, and were tilted to
best catch the slightest sound. Only the fire
crackled softly.
If this was Africa, I thought, it was
not for the weak-hearted. Not crafted or
choreographed – it just happened around
you, dragged you in like the swirling
current of a world millions of years old.
Christo spoke first. “There, Joe,” he said,
“I told you they’d cross again. This time
they’ve come in a straight line from the
border, passed the lodge, and now they’re
headed for the feed lot.”
“Take the truck and warn Sambala,”
Joe said, tossing the keys at Christo and
turning to me, “Sorry about that, but from
time to time males drift through here,
looking for a meal. Our cattle promise easy
pickings and I guess they think they can
stay over for a while.”
South Africa2004
When the Cruiser returned, Christo
dropped into his seat, looking grim.
“I’ve put all the lights on,” he said, “The
cattle are scared and are hard up against
the fencing, and if we don’t stop this we’ll
have broken legs and goodness knows what
other injuries.”
“You mean the lions deliberately panic
the cattle?” I asked.
“Well, maybe, but the cattle see and
smell them walking along the fence and
panic. You start dinner while I call Fanie at
Conservation and tell him we’ll be giving it
a go tomorrow,” said Christo.
“We start at first light, get out there and
follow the tracks. Enough is enough,” said
Christo, looking at me.
Suddenly, I was a part of an ancient
struggle. The need to take immediate
action was obvious, and lining up with the
frontier ranchers seemed so natural. Africa
seemed to be stealing into me, igniting
little fires of forgotten knowledge. Plans
were being made and my contribution
seemed to consist of a pair of wide eyes,
and a nodding head. Was I now a hunter
of lions? Picked to face the most powerful
predator on earth? In this corner, a middleaged barefoot executive holding a halffinished beer...
Around 22.00, an unarmed African
appeared at the fire – my camp guide to
escort me to my bungalow. I didn’t say
anything, but sobered up fast. He led off
along a path that seemed to head nowhere,
his urgency betrayed by a quick step. It
was obvious he was listening and very
ready to leap backwards, leaving me to
face the malevolence that would breach
the dark with unimaginable ferocity. He
said nothing, but appeared to hurry more,
when the outline of my bungalow appeared
ahead. Safe behind my door, I listened to
his receding steps. Nothing else stirred…
The knock on my door woke me
instantly. A beaming black face and a
tray with coffee and biscuits. “Breakfast is
ready, sir,” he said, and was swallowed by
the gloom. Pre-dawn desert cold swirled
into the room with the smell of coffee, and
I remembered then where I was, and what
was to happen this day.
Breakfast: the others – bright eyed,
talking strategy and provisions; me –
listening and trying to swallow the driest
cereal ever shaken onto a plate.
Buttoning my overcoat against the
freezing air, I walked over to the vehicle.
The rifles were cleared, loaded, and passed
up to Christo. I joined him and wedged
myself in. With a shudder, the Cruiser
settled into the deeply rutted sand track,
the two of us standing like centurions,
in the cold, early dawn. Christo told me
that the trackers had left earlier and were
following the lions along the cattle fence.
Leaving the truck changed me from an
observer to one with the same chances
as any creature in this semi-desert. Lion
tracks were all over the place. Seemed they
couldn’t decide where to cross the fence.
Just standing there pushed my heartbeat
up a few notches.
Walking over to the fence, I fingered
my first strand of lion hair. I reached for
another, struggling to break it free, when
Joe said, “Not long now and you won’t
need to pull them off a fence.” I laughed,
An offer you can’t afford to miss!
The Hunting Report will save you $$$,
time and aggravation by:
The Hunting Report delivers the facts you
need to find hunts that are right for you
and avoid the ones that aren’t. If you
travel to hunt, you need The Hunting
Report!
• Helping you avoid scams, bad operators,
travel and trophy import problems
• Giving you critical reports and analysis
on hunts around the world – from the
arctic to Zimbabwe
• Serving as YOUR watchdog, an
independent monthly newsletter and
hunting information service keeping a
sharp eye on the hunting world for you
We have 30 years experience serving hunters
who travel.
We dig beyond puffed up headlines, biased blogs,
and slick web sites.
We identify new hunting opportunities
as they develop.
We issue stay-away warnings, ID bad
operators and problem areas.
We give you advice on how to handle
problems.
www.HuntingReport.com
facebook.com/HuntingReport
To y
our
ubs
$65 s
cript
ion
Subscribe now to The Hunting
Report for $64.99 and get a free
Email Extra upgrade - that’s a
$39 value!
With Email Extra, you get:
• 24/7 access to our online database of
hunt reports and past articles
• Weekly email bulletins on breaking
developments in the world of hunting
• Early bird delivery of The Hunting Report to
your computer or mobile device with extra
details and reporting not included in the
printed version.
Don’t delay – Subscribe now!
This offer is available only by telephone.
Please call to receive the special pricing offer.
1-800-272-5656 / 305-253-5301
twitter.com/barbaracrown Fax: 305-253-5532
The Independent News Service For Hunters Who Travel
South Africa2004
“Leaving the truck changed me from an observer to one with
the same chances as any creature in this semi-desert. Lion
tracks were all over the place.”
Marty Akins (L) with his magnificent black-maned lion with his PH Christo Gomes (R).
Perhaps it started with the morning light, but slowly Marty became more attuned to the
colors and subtle shades around him and began to feel more a part of the hunt.
74
feeling my body become less my own, the
deeper into this unreality I got.
The first hour passed quickly. I felt good
keeping the pace set by the African tracker.
Not much later we all stopped for a drink.
When it was my turn I poured a cup down
the back of my neck. Christo grabbed the
canteen so fast I jumped back, startled.
“Sorry,” he said, “We’re carrying the only
water we have.”
Trying to regain some face I asked, “How
much further?”
“To what?” he asked.
“Until we see them, you know.”
Eyeing the acacia scrub, Christo said,
“When they know they’re being followed
they’ll increase the pace for a while, and if
we press them they’ll go for deep cover. We
want them hot but not too bothered, that
is, not feeling threatened enough to take
us on.”
Another hour passed. My rifle was
catching on more thorn bushes now, and
once I’d stopped too late and walked into
Christo. Sweat ran into my eyes, and my
legs were battling with the deep sand,
while the sun fried my exposed skin. I was
nearly out of the “I am a hunter” mode
and into that “Please stop and let me out
of here” time.
Half a mile back, while moving along
a dry riverbed, we bumped the lions for
the first time. They were in the shade
of a bank undercut, and invisible. Our
sudden appearance should have triggered
a charge, but with an angry grunt, they
were gone. Walking into two black-maned
lions showed me just how fast accidents
can happen. For myself, I stumbled and
tripped, in a state of shock. The trackers
froze and Christo had his .458 Lott up
in a flash, but two lions? Where was Joe?
The tall rancher looked totally unfazed,
standing quietly on our back trail with his
lightly shouldered .470 double. He was
grinning.
We pressed on, more quickly now,
swimming in adrenaline and a curious
sense of déjà vu. Was an ambush now a
certainty, I wondered? Following their
track easily, we moved as a team, searching
for the least sighting – a flick of an ear, a
tail tip, perhaps a shadowy movement in
the long grass. How would this turn out?
Joe joined us now, saying we’d had our
only warning and that cool heads were
now critical.
For myself, I felt more attuned to color
and subtle shadings and was seeing deeper
into the brush than at the start of the day.
My state of exhaustion seemed to have
South Africa2004
levelled off, supported by the salt
tablets and sweets handed back by
Christo.
We were closing and seeing the lions
more often, when Christo abruptly
called a halt. “Let’s give them time to
rest, they need it, and we want them
a little stiff,” he smiled, “and, we’ve
been going for four hours.” I sat and
leant against the rough bark with real
pleasure.
When it was time, I managed to
stand, but not without a hand from
Christo. We checked and doublechecked the gear, my rifle, a Model 70
Safari Express .375, in particular. My
scope was turned down, 300-grain
RN softs in the magazine. Christo
leaned over to check, and said,
“When I tell you, breech a round,
but keep the safety on. Don’t rush it,
we want a smooth feed.”
“Christo,” I said, “I’ve a question.
There are two lions. How are we going
to manage that?”
“OK,” he said, “it works like this.
If we find them together, one will
present the better shot. Once you
fire, the second lion will vanish.
Joe will cover us from behind with
the department’s observer. I will be
supporting you. Good?”
I thought back to last night,
remembering the executive with half
a beer. Was this me? I felt sure I was
no longer that man, maybe greyer,
definitely exhausted, but not the same
at all.
Off we went at a slower pace. It
wasn’t 15 minutes before our tracker
froze, his hand behind him, making a
slow downward movement, finishing
with a finger pointed to the sand. One
lion sighted, close by. We edged up
behind the tracker. Not 30 yards away
was a massive, black-maned lion,
standing side-on, his tail whipping
from side to side. I looked quickly to
our left and right, half expecting the
other lion to be tearing down on us
in a flank attack. There was only the
sandy riverbed and a stand of dry
reeds. There was no cover between
us. I watched the huge head, trying
to read intent, while the yellow black
eyes stared directly at me.
To this day, years and years later,
I remember Christo speaking, ”You
have only a moment, you must raise
your rifle, chamber a round, release
the safety, and aim where we showed
you. You do not have time to think and let
him make you his. He is going to charge,
shoot now.”
I’ve never been able to recall how and
when I fired. Neither do I truly remember
more than the heavy jolt of my .375, the
sight picture ruined by the surging barrel.
There were flying movements screened by
a curtain of dust, growling, and breaking
thorn. Somewhere in time, my brain
stopped recording and replaying the scene
in front of me – triggered, perhaps, by
the utter silence that surrounded us. The
birds had flown or fallen silent, the insects
too, including the little ones that had been
worrying my ears and nostrils.
It was done.
Bruce Parker has filmed for Craig Boddington
and contributed to Tracks Across Africa in a
life spanning the corporate world and the
African bush. His stories percolate through
40 years of hunting and filming in Southern
Africa.
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
COME AND EXPLORE SOME OF THE
MOST INCREDIBLE PLACES ON
EARTH.
African Safaris are filled with awe-inspiring experiences. We will
help you plan an unforgettable journey to Africa for the lowest
possible price. THE COST ARE THE SAME, whether you book
with an African Outfitter directly, OR THROUGH AFRICAN
DREAMS, the only difference, WE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
FOR YOU.
We hold ethics, honesty and integrity in high regards and strive to
deal with each client on a personal and individual basis.
We invested the time, effort and financial resources necessary to
develop an outstanding and diverse array of outfitters designed
solely to fulfill your hunting and safari dreams.
CONTACT ME FOR THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME
AND MEMORIES OF A TRADITIONAL SAFARI.
LET ME BE YOUR GUIDE AND FRIEND IN A
GREAT ADVENTURE.ELAINE
Elaine Ness: Cell: +1 403 877 2706
Website: www.africandreamshuntingandphotosafaris.com
76
AHG1081
Tel: +1 403 887 6007
Welcome to AFRICA …
…SOUTH AFRICA …NORTH WEST
…MOSITA WILDLIFE
Y
ou are here to experience, exactly what the name says
– wildlife. Mosita Wildlife offers all plains game with
outstanding trophies, including free-range kudu and
hartebeest, plus dangerous game.
Mosita Wildlife also has 17 years’ experience in driven game
birds and leads the way in this field throughout Africa - driven
guinea fowl, driven doves (one of a kind in the world) flighted
sandgrouse, duck and geese.
While relaxing around a campfire in the evening you do not hear
any sounds except for the occasional call of a distant jackal. You
can also hear the roar of the lions in the evening dusk as well as
just before sunrise!
Fortunately, Mosita Wildlife is in a malaria-free area, and a
combination of game-bird and game hunting would produce
an unforgettable experience. We recommend you pre-arrange
for gun hiring.
Mosita Wildlife’s policy is friendly, efficient
and committed SERVICE .
Tel: 27 (72) 587 2683 | 27 (82) 944 5796
|
24 46’ 27” E
AHG1041
Coordinates: 26 8’ 41” S
Bowhunting: Namibia (2004)
I’d already hunted successfully
with bow and arrow several
times in Europe, when a
friend of mine and outfitter
I’d hunted with in France
asked my thinking about
an even more exciting
and challenging hunt – a
bowhunting safari on African
plains game in Namibia.
S
ounds good, I thought, and after some
research and phone calls I told him:
“OK, I’ll join you!” Immediately
the planning, checking, and preparing for
this great new adventure started. Several
months later, I travelled in April 2004 to
the Dark Continent for the first time.
During the 390-km drive north from
Windhoek airport, I enjoyed the diversified
landscape while becoming acquainted with
Namibia. For me, as a newcomer to this
country, it was stunning, and I soaked up
every impression. Our final destination
was the Okapunja Hunting Farm, close
to Etosha National Park, about 30 km
northwest of Otavi. Okapunja, at that
time, was managed by the experienced
PH Gustav Bauer and his wife Uschi –
two especially nice and lovely people – as
well as their complete lodge and hunting
teams. The warm welcome and hospitality
was outstanding, and Uschi´s kitchen
produced delicious food.
The old, but wonderfully maintained
and fully equipped farmhouse, with its
big jacaranda tree on one side, looked
beautiful, like an oasis in the bush. The
vehicles, abattoir, cold store, and additional
buildings were all in a good shape, and the
inviting pool was enjoyably refreshing after
being outdoors – not to mention an icecold Savannah Dry or Windhoek Lager.
As a novice African bowhunter, we spent
the first day on extended game drives over
the huge property to get acquainted with
the wonderful farm, the beautiful landscape,
and the different game species. At this time
of the year, the African bush was green and
abundant with magnificent wildlife.
After being familiarized with the
hunting blinds and hides, the anatomy
and behaviour of the various animals I was
seeking, and the surroundings at different
spots I’d be spotting from, plus some nice
stalking for two days, we settled in a blind
78
First African
Bowhunting
Safari
By Frank Berbuir
“Good things come to
those who wait, and finally
the gemsbok stood slightly
quartering away at 22 metres.”
Berbuir spent the first days of the hunt driving around Okapunja Hunting Farm with his
PH to become familiar with the hunting blinds, the different game species, and Namibia’s
beautiful landscapes.
80
After two days of driving around the
hunting area, studying the game and the
different kinds of cover, on the third day,
the hunters settled into a blind.
Berbuir used Beman ICS Camo Hunter arrows tipped with 125-grain
Muzzy Broadheads to hunt his gemsbok in northern Namibia.
on the morning of the third day.
Birds and butterflies gathered in throngs at the
waterhole, and a tortoise made its burdensome way from
the nearby bushes through the grassland. A young kudu
bull showed up for a quick sip. Then, at 9.00 a.m., a
trophy gemsbok bull – this amazing Namibian heraldic
animal – came into sight around 100 metres from
our location. Gustav and I checked him out with the
binoculars, and he whispered: “That is a real good one.”
Oh yes, I thought by myself, and the next second I felt
my heart pounding like a sledgehammer.
“OK, Frank stay calm and get ready,” I mumbled
to myself as this magnificent antelope continued to
approach. My adrenaline level accelerated like a rocket
into the sky when the bull came within shooting distance.
The gemsbok was nervously checking the situation and
walking around the waterhole and salt stone. Thanks to
Gustav´s patience and experience, I stayed calm, and we
kept so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop. Good
things come to those who wait, and finally the gemsbok
stood slightly quartering away at 22 metres. I pulled my
65 lbs. Mathews SQ2 bow with the Beman ICS Camo
Hunter arrow tipped with a 125-grain 3-blade Muzzy
Broadhead to full draw, and aimed with my pin sight
onto the vitals. It was deadly silent when I released the
arrow for its lethal mission.
The arrow was placed well and hit both lungs of the
US mobile number: 2146017610 • SA Mobile Number: + 27823742643
Email: [email protected] • Website: www.garyphillipshunting.co.za
82
AHG1022
Gary Phillips • Assegai Bush Game Reserve • Po Box 136 • Grahamstown 6140
animal. But the gemsbok pulled up like an
aircraft and disappeared into the bush. After
the shot I felt all my tension melt away and,
together with Gustav´s appreciation of the
shot placement, I felt safe that the flight of the
bull would end not too far. We waited for half
an hour, which felt like eternity for me, before
we followed the tracks and the blood trail.
Luckily, the gemsbok had gone down only
200 metres from the shot, and when we found
him, I felt like the luckiest guy on earth – I
had become an African Hunter.
I had a fascinating, exciting, and challenging
time on my first African safari, and the
decision for me to come back the next year
was crystal-clear. And again. And again. But
those are other stories.
Shoot straight!
German hunter Frank Berbuir is passionate
about the outdoors and hunting – especially
bowhunting, which he has practised for more
than 15 years. Although he’s bowhunted in
several countries, he’s become addicted to hunting
in Africa since his first safari in 2004. Frank is
a supply chain risk manager in the automotive
industry.
A trophy gemsbok bull appeared at 100 metres and slowly approached to where the
hunters were hiding in their blind. When it was within 22 yards, Berbuir pulled his
65-lb Mathews SQ2 bow, and the animal expired only 200 yards farther.
With over 50 years in the industry, we offer you stability and performance.
Our ammunition is loaded one cartridge at a time
to assure that each round exceeds your expectations, from
varmints to dangerous game.
• Specializinginbigboreammo
• Customloaddevelopmentavailable
Phone:240-347-4883www.hendershots.net
84
YOU CAN FIND OUR PRODUCTS AT
AUTHORIZED DEALERS AND ONLINE
AT WWW.SWAROVSKIOPTIK.COM.
SLC 42
ONE FOR
ALL
Come rain or shine, day or night, SWAROVSKI OPTIK’s slim,
compact SLC 42 binoculars provide maximum comfort regardless of
whether you are carrying them or glassing with them, and even on lengthy
hunting trips. They also impress with their outstanding optical quality. Their
perfect contrast, high color fidelity, and large field of view make them a
pleasure to use when dealing with diverse challenges faced while hunting.
Reliable, multipurpose binoculars that will accompany you for many
years. SWAROVSKI OPTIK – allows you to determine the moment.
SEE THE UNSEEN
WWW.SWAROVSKIOPTIK.COM
Bowhunting: South Africa (2012)
I had been to Africa several times before and thought I needed to
a new adventure – a bowhunting adventure!
I
found myself sitting in a booth at the
SCI convention, turning the pages of
an old SCI trophy record book in the
booth during one of those inevitable lulls
during these shows. One thing that caught
my attention: When I started examining
the archery section, the same few names
were always in the Top 10, names like
Kobrine, Nesbit, and Anderson.
At some point, archery was still new to
Africa, and many animals had never been
shot at with a bow. Shooting any trophy
animal at all was quite an accomplishment
and often secured the bowhunter’s spot in
the Top 10 SCI Bowhunting records. Even
“Before long, I had 40 animals
within 30 yards! Most were
on my trophy list, but judging
trophy quality can be tricky, so
I took my time looking over
each potential specimen.”
now, 25 years later, some of these trophies
are still in the Top Ten – a testimony to
the skill and resolve of these hunters, when
bowhunting was rarely the focus of an
African safari.
Today, wherever it is legal, archery is
evermore present in Africa. The booth I
was in – Bushmen Safaris – is probably the
first bowhunting-only concession in South
Africa, owned by one of those archery
hunters whose name kept appearing
in that SCI trophy record book: Roger
Anderson. Roger, who is from Idaho, had
the vision to buy a small ranch in South
Africa back in the early 1980s and make
it into a bowhunter’s paradise in Africa.
When it was nearly unheard of to operate
archery-exclusive hunting, it was even
more unheard of for an American to buy a
hunting concession in South Africa.
The ranch, archery-only since 1986, has
grown to over 22,000 contiguous acres.
86
Now a family-owned business managed
by Roger’s sons, Travis and Chris, they’ve
“kept the faith” when it comes to their own
passion for bowhunting.
Clearing customs in Johannesburg with
a compound bow was a breeze, compared
with the mountains of paperwork I had to
endure when I’d brought in a hunting rifle.
Ranch manager Shannon Van Zyl greeted
us as we cleared customs, and shortly we
were headed north to the ranch in the
Limpopo province.
Once we reached Bushmen, there was
still enough light for a short evening hunt.
After a few insurance shots to make sure
that 10,000 air miles hadn’t changed my
BowTech’s zero, we were off to the blinds.
The blinds are as well conceived as the
rest of the ranch layout. Both ground and
elevated blinds are all over waterholes. The
ground blinds are permanent concrete
structures made to resemble the native rock
of the area; the elevated blinds enclosed and
comfortable. And all are positioned to make
the average bow shot around 20 yards.
I chose the elevated blind for my first
evening hunt, and it didn’t take long to
figure out that there was lots of game!
Within 10 minutes, all sorts of animals
came drifting out of the bush. Doves
were first, followed by guineafowl, then
a parade of animals began to show up in
force: kudu, warthog, impala, hartebeest,
and a few vervet monkeys, for good
measure. Before long, I had 40 animals
within 30 yards! Most were on my trophy
list. Judging trophy quality can be tricky,
so I took my time looking over each
specimen. But shooting a trophy animal
became secondary, and I found myself just
enjoying all the wildlife at my waterhole.
That was the main difference between this
and my rifle safaris. There’s so much more
time to watch and enjoy the game. These
antelope had little to fear from the sound of
the bakkie. The animals were more relaxed,
and within 15 minutes of being dropped off
in each blind over the next seven days, I had
game at the waterhole.
It’s all part of the philosophy at Bushmen,
making the safari a unique experience. It
Archery
and Antelope
By Derrek Batson
begins with the number of bowhunters
they take each year during the mid-April
to October safari season – less than 50.
And they only book these hunts during the
dark phase of the moon. Shannon explains:
“This gives the bowhunter the best chance
to have game visit the waterholes in the
daylight hours.”
I suddenly had my show interrupted by a
duiker. In the mix of dozens of larger game,
you’d think I would pass on the diminutive
little antelope. But on other safaris, it had
lived up to its Dutch name, in translation:
diver. Although I’d seen several in the past,
they were all quick to “dive” into the bush,
and none had offered a shot.
I drew back and promptly missed
the tiny antelope. My shot cleared the
waterhole of animals, and with nothing
to show but wounded pride, I suddenly
felt a little mad at myself for taking the
shot at all! But not to worry – one of the
advantages of hunting with a bow is the
effects of a missed shot are short-lived.
Within 20 minutes, a beautiful, old impala
ram became my first African bow trophy.
Bushmen Safaris has been an archery-only hunting operation since 1986, offering
bowhunting for a wide variety of species on their private 22,000-acre wildlife
conservancy.
COMPANY SERVICES
• Air charter – South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe & Namibia
• International & Domestic scheduled flight arrangement
• Firearms & ammunition import and transit permits.
• Hotel and Lodge reservations
• Transfers
Contact: Nico Pienaar
E: [email protected]
W: www.huntingsafarilogistics.com
T: +27 82 444 7994
88
ck
Di Murray
Custom Leather Company
C-3CRP Murray
Buttstock Shell Holder
C-8 Murray Rifle
Cartridge Belt
$105
New for this year, designed for no
movement on recoil with a 2-inch
width nylon strap over the recoil pad.
Available in cartridge sizes
from 270 through 577 Nitro.
10 round:
Elastic Loops $200
Leather Loops $220
Shotgun model with 5 leather loops.
A-1 Murray Quick Set Sling $75
C-1 Murray Rifle Shell Holder
Belt type made from billfold leather.
Fold-over, double layer style with
two safety snaps, 9 round capacity,
virtually rattle-proof, soft point
protection, and available in 4
cartridge sizes
Short - 243 length
Medium - 30.06,
300 Winchester, etc.
Long - 375 H & H,
300 Weatherby, 300
Jarrett, etc.
W size - 378, 460
Weatherby, 416 Rigby,
300 Rem Ultra etc.
Winchester Short Mag
$70
Up to 28" barrel length $750
Two barrel model
$1195
Two gun model
$1195
Other lengths available price on request
DickMurray
Black add $10
With US mil spec swivels add $10
Long Model for rifles with barrel band swivels add $10
$70
A1-AR15 Quick Set Sling $90
(For rifles with fixed swivels)
$70
$70
$70
S-10 Murray Takedown
Rifle or Shotgun Case
Designed for your double rifle or
shotgun, featuring two side by side
compartments. Constructed of
heavy duty saddle skirting leather
and lined with our exclusive manmade fleece. This unit can be
shipped inside your duffel.
Full length brass zippers,
Gorilla proof hinged
leather carrying
handles in rich oiled
saddle tan finish.
Try it and you'll want one for all your rifles. Made
from one continuous cut of saddle leather with a
uniquely designed blued metal friction slide, it can
be instantly set to any length and secured. No hooks
or laces to adjust. A three-way latigo knot secures the
slide and swivels eliminating any screws that could mar
your stock. Lightweight, strong, and no bulk. Comes ready
to use with US made swivels installed. Available with either
blue, stainless steel, or "mil-spec" swivels.
C-3 Murray Rifle Shell Holder
Belt type with full leather enclosure, 7 round capacity
with heavy duty elastic retention loops, rattle proof, soft
point protection, fits one row of cartridges flat against
your belt. Fully nylon stitched, available in most cartridge
sizes. Some African
calibers are limited
$85
to 6 rounds.
S-2 Murray Ultimate Saddle Scabbard
Designed for maximum protection of your big
game rifle, this case is made from the very finest
saddle leather and completely encases the gun.
Lined with an exclusive man-made sheepskin that
is breathable and non-reactive to gun oil, it will
protect the gun blue as well as the stock finish.
This scabbard will conveniently fit inside most
hard cases for travel. A detachable leather grip enables this
scabbard to be used as
a rugged year-round gun case.
S-2 designed for scoped (up to 44 mm) rifles $595
S-2A designed for scoped (up to 56 mm) rifles. $650
Custom Leather ~ Phone: 817-441-7480 ~ Fax: 817-441-5690
www.murraycustomleather.com ~ P.O. Box 373, Aledo, TX 76008 ~ MasterCard ~ Visa ~ American Express
Another benefit to hunting here is
the intimate nature of the blinds in
relationship to the main lodge. When
they drop you off at your blind, you are
given a radio. And when you have made
a kill or just need to return to the lodge,
a quick call on the radio delivers the PH
within 20 or 30 minutes to pick you up.
Sure enough, within 20 minutes Nick Van
Zyl, Shannon’s father and co-manager of
Bushmen, was there with a crew to get my
impala. It was a short tracking job – it had
not gone 30 yards.
Even though I’d shot impala before, this
was my first African bow kill. I was more
than excited, and riding back to the lodge I
felt like a kid, with my impala in the bakkie.
That evening, I was not the only hunter to
have success. Among the six other hunters,
a variety of species of excellent trophy
quality had been taken. Bushman’s hunters
have over 600 entries in the now separate
SCI Bowhunting and Crossbow categories.
Several hunters had opted to hunt
with crossbows; they were not primarily
bowhunters, but wanted the “bowhunting
experience.” With the outfitter providing
the crossbows and a little on-site
instruction, they were ready to hunt, and
all had a great archery safari.
Over the next seven days, I successfully
harvested various species. But there was
one antelope in particular I’d wanted on
this safari – a waterbuck. It was the one
trophy that had eluded me on past safaris.
Sunset from a bowhunting blind over a waterhole in Africa offers silence and
tranquility, even if it’s too late for the hunter to arm his bow.
I saw several over the next days, but my
quest for a single trophy animal with a
bow was derailed by a unique problem: too
many animals! Each day, I was tempted by
a good trophy of a different species, testing
my resolve – a test I often failed. More than
once, I had trophy-quality animals of three
MONTERRA SAFARIS
Ma
ke Af
rica your o
wn
Make Africa your own
MONTERRA SAFARIS
Ma
wn
ke Africa your o
Contact
us
Gordon Mundell : +27 82 878 4466 / Jen Mundell: +27 82 610 5227
Email: [email protected] / Visit: www.monterrasafaris.com
90
or four different species in bow range at the
same time. A record-book blue wildebeest,
blesbok, steenbok, and another impala fell
to the stick and string, but the coveted
waterbuck eluded me.
Each morning at breakfast we would
review the overall success and failures
so far for each hunter, made easy by the
large grease-board with each hunter’s name
and their weekly tally of killed, wounded,
and missed animals. It was all in good fun
and added a pleasant competitive spirit
to the overall safari. This board was often
the subject at the dinner hour around
the campfire. (I must comment that the
accommodations, food, libations, lodge
staff, and overall experience were as good
as any place I’ve been in in South Africa.)
Shannon and Nick were first-rate PHs
who were also bow-hunting enthusiasts.
Being bowhunters themselves came in
handy. Shannon has a “on site” bow shop,
complete with bow press. He was able to
help one hunter having trouble with his
bow, getting it up and shooting straight
again in no time. These are the kinds of
details that set a true archery-exclusive
ranch apart from some of the rifle safaris
companies where you take a bow.
Before I knew it, it was the last day, and
waterbuck was still on the wish list. Shannon
knew it wore on my mind and said that
Keystone, his best tracker, had seen a large
YOUR SCOPE’S WARRANTY DOESN’T MEAN
SQUAT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SELOUS.
NXS™ 2.5-10 x 42
COMPACT
So, your riflescope has a “full
warranty?” That’s nice. It
isn’t going to help you much
when you’re in the middle of
nowhere on an expensive hunt
and your riflescope goes kaput.
Nightforce riflescopes
are unfazed by the most
powerful calibers, the nastiest
environments, and the most
vicious baggage handlers. You
might have a lot of things to
worry about traveling halfway
around the world, but the
reliability of your riflescope will
not be one of them.
Sleek and light in weight,
comfortable in thick bush and
at long ranges. If you take only
one riflescope, take this one.
SHV™ 3-10 x 42
The most affordable
riflescope we’ve ever
made. Simple, versatile,
Nightforce quality. Cover
another trophy fee with
the money you save.
The Nightforce IHR™
(international Hunting Reticle)
NXS™ 1-4 x 24
One of the world’s
only true one-power
variables. Wide field
of view and extreme
durability make it ideal
for double rifles and
the heaviest dangerous
game cartridges.
Nightforce riflescopes have an
excellent warranty, too. The
best warranty, though, is one
you will never have to use.
How do you improve a
Nightforce riflescope?
There’s only one way—
with Nightforce precision
mounting solutions. For
example, our new one-piece
Mil-Std 1913 bases come in
over 80 varieties and fit a
wide range of firearms.
336 Hazen Lane, Orofino, ID 83544 n 208.476.9814 n Learn more at NightforceOptics.com
Although Batson sometimes had to wait it out for his species of choice to appear on
his first bowhunting safari, he took the species he sought, including blue wildebeest.
waterbuck track near Kudu Blind. (Each of
the 13 blinds is named after a species found
on the ranch, a simple and effective method
to remember where each blind is located.)
He thought Kudu Blind was my best chance
for a trophy waterbuck.
In the blind before dark, I had my doubts
whether a waterbuck was in the cards for
me. At first light, the usual parade appeared
from the bush to tempt me to stray from my
newfound resolve – waterbuck or nothing!
A very large warthog almost lead me astray,
but I waited it out. A couple of wildebeest
bulls started pushing each other around
and managed to clear out the waterhole.
They made such a ruckus that I wasn’t
paying attention when, all of a sudden, he
was there. I had to do a double take, but
there, at 20 yards, was my waterbuck. They
say when you see a big trophy you know it’s
a big trophy. I had no doubt this was the
case with mine. I had to calm myself down
and draw back the BowTech.
At the shot, he was gone. I played the
shot over in my mind and was sure the
arrow was true. I called my PH on the
Dallas Safari Club
OUTFITTER OF THE YEAR 2014
92
radio, and in my excited state it seemed like
an eternity before Nick and the tracking
dogs showed up.
Nick put the dogs and the tracker
on the trail where I’d last seen the bull
disappear into the bush. But the dogs took
off in the opposite direction, and within
a few minutes we heard them barking.
Sure enough, my bull had gone less than
100 yards. The shot was a little high for
African game, but lethal all the same. I still
remember it, like it was yesterday.
I felt fortunate to have spent these few
days with Bushmen Safaris and experience
this African bowhunter’s paradise for myself.
Although Batson had already collected impala on a previous safari with a rifle, this
impala was his first African trophy with his BowTech bow.
Experience the African hunting tradition
and the Lamprecht family legacy of
conservation and hospitality.
NAMIBIA
Marina Lamprecht - [email protected]
USA Representative - Paul Norris: [email protected]
Tel: 615 9748897 | www.huntersnamibia.com
‘Like’ Hunters Naimibia Safaris for regular updates on our hunts
AHG930
Derrek Batson is a lifelong hunter and
angler who enjoys hunting with a rifle,
muzzleloader, and bow. Born in Wyoming
and growing up in Idaho, he read all the
great African classics and could only dream
of some day going on safari. This trip was his
third safari and first bowhunting-only one.
Batson has a TV show, “Committed,” set to
air in 2015 on the Sportsman.
Huntress Diana: Zimbabwe (2014)
94
Huntress Diana: Zimbabwe (2014)
The
Unexpected
Wait
By Laura Barbour
Huntress Diana: Zimbabwe – 2012
In 2012, my husband Jep and I hunted for the first time in
Zimbabwe’s Save Valley Conservancy with Mokore Safaris.
M
y PH then was Gary Duckworth,
and we took a beautiful tom
leopard. From that moment, I
knew that I wanted to hunt the high point
of African hunting – a trophy lion.
With all the controversy surrounding
hunting lion, I knew the hunt might
never take place. But I e-mailed Gary,
in case a lion became available, but with
quotas and permits… When we met at the
2014 Dallas Safari Convention, Mokore
Safaris had just been issued a lion tag in
the Sengwa Research Area – a new hunting
area for them.
We decided that Jep would venture for
a few days to hunt sable in the Midlands
Black Rhino Conservancy with PH Doug
Duckworth while I started my lion hunt
at Sengwa, which was a little less than
100,000 acres and adjacent to 300,000+
government-controlled acres. There were
no fences and the animals roamed freely
from one conservancy to another.
In camp, I began to settle in. I would
depend on my Dakota Model 76 in .375
H&H with a Leopold VX-R scope to
keep me on target. I’d really gotten in
tune with the rifle in the months before
the safari, with help from L. D. McCaa
of Gulf Breeze Firearms in Florida. L. D.
had selected Federal Premium 300-grain
Trophy Bonded Bear Claw ammunition
for the trip. I was confident in both rifle
and ammunition.
My PH this time was Neil Duckworth,
Gary’s brother. I’d been forewarned that
he’s a “hunting machine,” so I hoped I
could keep up with this 6’ 6” fellow! Our
hunting party counted six: Neil; Jordan,
our videographer; Nhamo, our tracker;
Mapatta, our government game scout; and
Sam, our driver.
We headed out into the beautiful
sunrise with lion bait on the agenda.
When Nhamo spotted fresh buffalo tracks
crossing the road, we made a plan to stalk
them. After a 30-minute walk, we came
upon a herd grazing in thick mopane
shrub, and carefully approached but were
winded. We let them settle down a bit
and made a second approach. This time,
a smaller group of the herd split. Since we
were after a cow for bait, we could be less
choosy in sorting out a trophy.
We came within about 50 yards of the
small herd, and a window quickly opened
96
to reveal the cow’s vital areas. “Shoot when
you’re ready Laura,” Neil whispered. I
squeezed the trigger of my Dakota, and
the cow burst into a gallop with the rest
of the herd. Twenty yards from where I’d
shot her, she went down, badly wounded
but not finished. I ran quickly behind Neil
and rested my gun on a tree stump to put
a solid in her vitals. She was down! We
ran up closer to put another solid into her
for insurance. We’d take the tenderloins
back to camp and make baits during the
afternoon.
After lunch and a nap, we were off to
the Sengwa riverbed to hang the cow’s
hindquarters in a tree. The meat was hung
by a rope, six foot from the ground, and
to monitor the animals that checked out
the site.
Early next morning, we grabbed coffee
and huddled around the campfire. It was
beautiful watching the brilliant orange sun
peek up over the horizon to greet the day.
Two minutes of daydreaming, then Neil
said, “All right, let’s go.” We jumped into
his
Cruiser and sailed down the road.
Since we had zebra on the bait menu,
all eyes were peeled for fresh tracks, and
Nhamo’s quick eye spotted some about 30
minutes out of camp. We hopped out of
the vehicle and prepared for “a little walk,”
as Neil always put it. After three-and-a-half
hours of tracking, we discovered the zebra
had watered and taken off to the hills.
To make the most of our hunting day,
we decided to cook lunch in the bush. In
a shaded area, the guys built a fire using
mopane sticks. Soon we were grilling
kudu steaks and mixing up a pot of sadza,
On Laura Barbour’s safari with PH Neil Duckworth of Mokore Safaris, this Mississippi
mother of two also took a 12-foot crocodile.
covered with leafy tree limbs so vultures
wouldn’t disturb the fresh meat and to
keep off the flies that would quickly putrify
it. Then we continued down the riverbed.
Neil said cats really enjoy walking the
riverbeds looking for food. The second site
was where a leopard bait had been placed
the previous year; we had a good 80-yard
view to the bait tree. After hanging the bait,
we placed a trail camera in an adjacent tree
which is similar to grits – all delicious after
a morning of stomping around looking
for zebra. I ate every bit. After a nap, we
returned to our first bait, only to discover
things exactly as we’d left them the day
before.
We threw some fresh scent on the
bait tree and headed to our second bait
downriver. There, we checked the cameras
and freshened our baits. Neil decided
to go ahead and build a blind about 80
yards from the bait tree. He said with the
waterhole nearby, we might get lucky. The
blind was constructed between two trees
and was well concealed. We built a path
about 120 yards upwind from the blind so
that we could quietly make our way to sit
for the evening.
Nhamo, Mapatta and Jordan cut a
shooting lane from the bait to the blind.
Then Neil put two folding chairs in the
blind behind two poles that stretched
horizontally in front of the chairs, so we
could put a sandbag on them to use as a
gun rest. I hoped this would help ensure
I had a solid shot. We placed my gun on
the bag, with the barrel and scope peeking
through the burlap slits we cut through the
canopy, and made sure we all had a perfect
view of the bait tree. This whole process
took about four hours. The bait resembled
a theatre in which we would wait for the
lead actor to appear. All we needed now
was Mr. Leo!
The next morning was just as beautiful
as the previous, as the sunlight played
upon the horizon with its pink, orange and
purple haze. Neil greeted me in the lounge
area for our morning powwow. He said
So that they could silently walk to the
blind, the hunting team cut a 120-yard
path between the blind and where the
vehicle would drop them off on the trail.
he’d had a crazy dream, that a lioness was
after him, and he woke up just as she was
closing in for the bite. I thought that was
a fine announcement for starting a day of
lion hunting.
After breakfast, we headed out in search
of zebra. We immediately came across fresh
buffalo spoor that we tracked for several
hours. They winded us as we were making
our stalk, so we radioed Sam, who picked
us up to go check the baits.
We ran across a herd of zebra, so out
of the truck we jumped. Nhamo, with
his African GPS ability, took us straight
to them. The area was filled with pretty
thick brush, so a shot in the vitals was
difficult. When we were about 40 yards
from the stallion, I pulled the trigger. The
whole herd ran to the right. We saw a zebra
standing to the left; he wasn’t down, but
he was wounded. We ran to within 60
yards where Neil saw him for a moment,
and raised his Gibbs .505 to make a “Texas
Heart Shot.” Loading up the zebra, we
returned to camp for a bite, followed by an
afternoon of bait checking.
No new bites at the first bait, so off to our
“theater bait.” While everyone studied the
After taking a tom leopard in 2012 with Gary Duckworth, Laura Barbour fulfilled her
dream of returning to Africa to hunt the ultimate trophy: a mature, good-maned lion.
For lion, Barbour used a Dakota Model 76 in .375 H&H with a Leopold VX-R scope,
loaded with Federal Premium 300-grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw ammunition.
cow’s head and Nhamo and Neil carefully
glassed it, everyone began speaking in
Shona, including Neil. “Look at this hair
that was on your cow, Laura!” he said. I
wasn’t sure at first. Then it registered – it
was the hair of a huge-maned lion. “This
cat is a giant shumba,” said Neil, meaning
lion in Shona.
I marveled at the long, tawny strand with
98
a black tip. My stomach then completely
dropped. It was now all beginning to get
very real, very fast. Neil assured me that
even though he’d hit the bait, we’d still have
to play our cards right to get our boy on the
bait at the right time. We left the site and
drove around for a while pondering a plan.
“I think we should sit on the bait tonight
for a practice,” Neil said.
“Do you think he’s likely to come in
tonight?” I asked.
“Well, seeing that he’s fed sometime
early this morning, it’s not likely he’ll come
back tonight. But I do think we’d better be
here at first light, as we could have a good
chance of catching him at the bait.”
We drove a good distance and I asked
Neil if I could shoot a practice round. He
agreed that anything to calm my jitters
would be helpful. Sam cut a bull’s eye in
a tree about 60 yards away. Neil carefully
aimed my Dakota .375 and hit the mark.
He passed me the rifle. “Shoot.” I put the
rifle on the hood of the truck and took a
deep breath, then pulled the trigger. Sam
inspected the shots. They were almost
intersecting each other. The gun was fine,
so I just needed to relax.
Just before 5.00 p.m., we loaded into the
Cruiser and made our way toward the blind
for our trial run. The wind was gentle and
the sun was beginning to set. Neil stopped
the truck about a mile from the bait, and
Jordan, Neil, Mapatta, and I quietly made
our walk to the blind. As we came to the
little path Sam had made the day before,
we carefully tiptoed to our chairs.
I put my gun on the sandbag and stuck
my scope through the slit. Neil and Jordan
did the same with cameras and binoculars.
We were just getting comfortable when
Jordan whispered abruptly to Neil, “He’s
in the grass behind the tree! Do you see
him?” Neil took a good look. The silence
seemed to last forever. Then Neil saw him.
He wasn’t supposed to be here tonight –
this was supposed to be a practice sit!
“Laura, do you see him?” Some leaves
on the outside of the blind were shading
the light entering my scope. I could barely
make out the big cat in the tawny-colored
grass. You could cut the tension with a
knife while the cat stretched lazily on the
ground behind the tree.
Neil asked me more urgently, “Do you
see him?”
“I’m trying to make him out, but no,
not yet!” Frustration for Neil, and panic
for me.
Suddenly, the cat got up and walked to
the right, then gave three roars that made
the ground beneath us shake! The cat
clearly knew something wasn’t right. He
walked out of sight, and my heart sank. All
was silent.
Then he casually waltzed back onto the
stage for an encore performance.
“Now, do you see him?” Neil asked.
“Yes. Tell me when to shoot.”
“Wait and let him get fully broadside,”
he whispered. “Shoot him in the crease.”
I took a deep breath and squeezed the
trigger. Boom! The big cat lunged at the
bait with a roar I’ll never forget, then
ran to the left. All was deathly silent for
a moment as we all froze. Then, from 60
yards, a deafening roar, then another, and
another. We couldn’t move out of fear of
a charge.
We heard the huge cat roar once more,
but this time it seemed to end in a gurgle.
After what seemed like eternity, Neil
motioned for us to quietly step slowly
down the path with our guns pointed
in the direction of the cat. It was almost
evening, and the path was barely visible as
we quietly made our way to the Cruiser.
Neil radioed Sam to meet us at the
path, and later radioed Gary to help in the
search. So many questions and emotions
were going through my mind. Did I make
a good shot? Why was he roaring if he was
hit properly?
I sat in the front of the Cruiser with Sam;
the others in the back were heavily armed
with guns and spotlights. We started our
search at the bait site to see if there was
any blood. Slowly the vehicle inched
through the long grass around the bait. A
bloodstained trail lined the grass to the left
of our blind. We followed it. At 60 yards
lay a huge, tawny mass under a tree. It’s
him! But was he dead?
“All was deathly silent for a
moment as we all froze. Then,
from 60 yards, a deafening
roar, then another, and
another.”
Neil said wounded cats will sometimes
wait and spring out in full charge. The
Duckworth brothers cautiously moved
forward with their Gibbs .505s ready for
action. Jordan threw a stick at the cat to
see if he was dead. No movement. They
continued to approach with extreme
caution until Gary said, “Come look at
your cat, Laura.” I ran over and hugged
those brave boys and marveled at the huge
lion. He was the most beautiful creature,
and he was mine. It was an honor to have
hunted and taken a mature lion that would
be the fourth-largest in Zimbabwe that
season!
As we traveled back to camp along
the bumpy road in the African night
air, I wondered if my children or future
grandchildren would ever get the chance a
free-range lion hunt – or any lion hunt, for
that matter.
I only knew for sure that Sengwa
confirmed to me how much wlld game,
including dangerous big game, needs the
hunting industry for its long-term survival,
because it affects everything from local
employment, to protein for communities,
and financing anti-poaching. Or had I
experienced something that now would
only be read about in books, and magazines
like African Hunting Gazette.
Laura Barbour is a native Mississippian
and longtime hunter who has traveled North
America and Africa in search of big game.
Laura is married and is the mother of two
grown children.
One of East Africa’s most reputed PHs, Eric Rundgren did a good job in finding the finest trophies for his hunter, Bill
Delaney. The ivory on his elephant, killed in Tabora in 1955, weighed 110 and 106 pounds.
In the Tracks of Robert Ruark
By Roger Wiltz
Eric Rundgren, a professional hunter once considered by some to be the best in the business,
maintained that a PH was judged not only by the quantity of the trophies he produced for his
clients, but by the quality and size of the trophy.
I
n looking at the Dr. William Delaney,
Jr. safari in the 1950s, it’s obvious that
Rundgren practiced what he preached.
I first met Delaney, a retired Mitchell,
South Dakota physician, in spring 2002.
He’d learned through my weekly outdoor
newspaper column that I would be making
an African safari in July, and wanted to
share his own African experience with me
prior to my departure.
During our first meeting, in his home,
I learned that Bill Delaney and Dr. Yale
Charbonneau had made a month-long
safari to East Africa in 1955. We viewed the
35 mm slides, the quality of which would
still be excellent by today’s standards.
While most of the trophies had long since
gone to his children or museums, there
were artifacts from his safaris, including
spears, bows, and arrows.
100
I had a new friend in Bill Delaney. As I
writer, I felt I had struck gold.
Bill had kept a notebook, and he still had
some of his licenses. But what I remember
most were the giant elephant tusks that
straddled the living-room fireplace. We can
only imagine what it must have been like to
collect all of the Big Five on a single safari, as
recounted by Brian Herne in White Hunters
– The Golden Age of African Safaris.
Bill showed me the rifles and shotguns
he’d taken on that safari, including the
.404 Jeffery he used on elephant, rhino,
and Cape buffalo. Doc used a .300
H&H Magnum to take the remainder of
his game, including a lion and leopard.
Though Bill was modest and soft-spoken,
he confided in me that he’d taken 102 biggame animals with 109 shots. Delaney’s
outfitter was Ker & Downey Safaris Ltd. of
Nairobi, and his PH was the legendary Eric
Rundgren, whom we discussed at length.
In Horn of the Hunter, Ruark had
commented that if you wanted to hunt
with Ker & Downey, you had best put your
name on a five-year waiting list. Doctors
Charbonneau and Delaney obviously had
done their homework.
From my own reading experience, I knew
that Rundgren could be both intolerant
and obnoxious. This wasn’t the case with
guiding Dr. Delaney. Rundgren quickly
gained confidence in Delaney’s skill with
rifle and shotgun, and Rundgren devoted
himself to finding the finest trophies
available for Delaney, as evidenced by his
elephant – the ivory went 110 and 106
pounds. The doctor’s slides often depict
Rundgren in a clowning-around mode –
photos rarely seen.
By 1955, the days of walking safaris
with hundreds of porters were past. With
the help of a large Chevy truck and British
Land Rover, the safari, led jointly by
Rundgren and Charbonneau’s PH Chris
Aschan, still had a sizeable staff with
trackers, skinners, gunbearers, camp help,
cooks, and trophy prep personnel.
Bill Delaney passed away on July 9,
2002 while I was in Africa. He was 86
years old. The doc had given me a wealth
of information, but there were many more
things I still wanted to discuss. I knew
bits and pieces about his four weeks in
the bush, but I had failed to put together
a sequence of places and times. The
hundreds of 35 mm slides helped with that
task, but I would need help in connecting
the pieces. For this, I sought and received
assistance from noted hunter and writer,
Joe Coogan, who in turn shared Delaney’s
photos and story with Harry Selby, the PH
made famous by Robert Ruark’s classic
hunting book.
Selby commented that Delaney’s claim of
102 kills seemed excessive, but added that
we must consider the number of different
species legally hunted at that time. Many of
the animals were also taken for camp meat
as well as bait for the big cats. The license
allowance was generous in the early days.
The number of game animals allocated to
a license was originally formulated on the
need to feed 100 or more porters during
the days of the walking safari. The powersthat-be were slow in reducing that number
even after the advent of motorized safaris.
In Herne’s book, he states that Rundgren
killed more dangerous game than anyone
on earth, including over 3,000 Cape
buffalo and 434 lions between the end
of WWII and the beginning of his PH
career in the early 50s. Selby apparently
took issue with Herne’s statement when he
looked over my story’s initial draft.
While Selby admits that Rundgren did
work as a game department control officer,
he points out that a PH actually does very
little shooting while on safari with clients.
After Eric became a PH, there would not
have been the opportunity to kill so many
animals. Selby was in a position to know as
both he and Rundgren worked for Ker &
Downey at the same time. Unfortunately,
we’ll never hear Rundgren’s thoughts on
Selby’s comments as Rundgren passed
away some years ago.
PH Eric Rundgren had a reputation for being both intolerant and obnoxious, but he was
also one of his generation’s finest PHs, preferring the quality of his hunter’s trophies over
the number of animals killed.
The “golden era” 1955 safari consisted (clockwise) of: waiter, PH Eric Rundgren, Dr.
William Delaney Jr., Dr. Yale Charbonneau, and PH Chris Aschan on far left. In those
days, supper was elegantly served in the dining tent by well-dressed staff.
The Delaney-Charbonneau safari started
out badly with both doctors spending three
days in a Nairobi hospital with dysentery.
After being dismissed, they and their
company crossed the Kenya-Tanganyika
border in the Chevy truck and Land Rover
en route to Arusha where they purchased
their licenses on 15 August 1955. In today’s
Tanzania, a hunter would be limited by the
borders of a designated hunting concession.
In following the route of our doctors, it
appears they knew no such boundaries.
Bill talked little about his shooting,
although he did mention that as tough
as African game is said to be, correct
placement with the right bullet handled
all game well; I couldn’t agree more. When
Marjorie, Delaney’s widow, asked me to
help with the dispersal of the doctor’s guns,
reloading equipment, and components,
I discovered boxes of Nosler partition
bullets. Doc knew about high performance
slugs long before they were in vogue.
I asked Bill about his seven “extra shots,”
but he didn’t remember much other than
those on his lion. From his notebook, I
learned that it took three shots to kill his
second zebra on his first day of hunting.
On the eighth day, he completely missed a
reedbuck as it ran through heavy cover. On
the eleventh day, he missed an off-hand
shot at a running baboon. On Day 13, it
took four shots to put his lion down for
the count. Otherwise, there were no close
calls with dangerous game, as his first shot
counted with all of his Big Five. Delaney’s
great elephant folded from a frontal brain
shot at 15 yards.
The Rundgren/Charbonneau safari route
is relatively easy to follow on a map. From
Arusha, our hunters traveled south on The
Great North Road and then turned off
at Lake Manyara. Then they climbed the
Western Rift en route to Ngorongoro prior
to their descent of the Mbulu escarpment
into the Yaida Valley. From Lake Eyasi they
went to Singida and then to Tabora. The
elephant came from the Tabora area; the
rhino was collected north of Lake Manyara.
Delaney’s camera captured the splendor
of the Tanganyika landscape. Some folks
say that the bottom of the Ngorongoro
Crater was the location of The Garden
of Eden. Bill’s photography could bear
witness to that.
In sharing a campsite, Delaney and
Rundgren could go one way while Aschan
and Charbonneau went another. It was an
optimal situation as the two hunters and
PHs could share their day’s experience by
the campfire at day’s end. Photos reveal
102
South Dakota physician William Delaney Jr. killed his rhino with a well-placed shot from
his .404 Jeffery. Delaney had great esteem for using the right bullet and correct bullet
placement to drop hard-skinned African game.
“Delaney’s outfitter was Ker & Downey Safaris
Ltd. of Nairobi, and his PH was the legendary Eric
Rundgren, whom we discussed at length.”
The American hunters purchased their hunting licenses in Arusha on August 15, 1955,
before hunting was restricted to designated hunting concessions and they could travel
overland between Kenya and Tanganyika, hunting along the way.
The 1955 Delaney-Charbonneau safari, with PHs Eric Rundgren and Chris Aschan, used a Chevy truck and a British Land Rover to
transfer the hunting camp, staff and supplies from place to place.
Delaney, Charbonneau, and their PHs
being served supper in the dining tent by a
waiter in white jacket and fez.
Both Ruark and Delaney hunted
Tanganyika with Ker & Downey during
similar time periods. While going through
the doc’s photos, I discovered something
noteworthy that we had never discussed.
His kudu was an immature single-curl bull.
A mature kudu’s horns make two full curls.
If you recall, Ruark took an immature kudu
bull. He cried. He wished he could trade
10 years of his life to get that shot back!
He discarded the head, refused to eat any
of his kudu, and hit the toddies hard that
night. Bagging a mature kudu bull must
have been far more difficult in Tanganyika
then than on a plains-game safari today.
While Dr. William Delaney was good
with a rifle, he was the consummate hand
with a shotgun, and his favorite part of the
safari was the late afternoon wingshooting.
Quoting Delaney’s notes of Day Two,
“Many sandgrouse – many, many shots.”
Photos reveal that geese were also bagged.
He also talked of the spectacular meals
on safari, especially the grouse, and he
immensely enjoyed the various antelope.
My friend Bill Delaney was not a celebrity,
but he was quietly one of the most gifted
hunters to grace the African hunting scene
during its golden age.
As a retired educator of 40 years experience
in South Dakota public schools, Roger
Wiltz continues to write the weekly outdoor
column, which appears in many of the state’s
newspapers, Rog’s Rod & Nimrod that he has
penned for 43 years. His 60 years of carrying
a hunting rifle include three hunts on African
soil. He and his wife Betsy have been married
for nearly 50 years.
Xosha
Bushveld
Hounds
“
Gavin Lipjes of Xosha Bushveld Hounds is unique in his understanding of
leopard and has located leopard for me in tropical coastal forest without
the use of bait and bayed them in extreme difficult conditions.
I highly recommend Gavin and his extremely well trained, well-disciplined
and well cared for hounds to anyone who is looking for professional fair chase
and exciting leopard hunt. Gavin is very dedicated, hardworking and very
knowledgeable.
“
Boet van Aarde - (Zimbabwe Professional hunter License No 374)
A great hunt! Very ethical and professional. Dogs are well trained and well
behaved and I will certainly be using Xosha Hounds again in the future.
Grant Taylor - (Mashambanzou Safaris)
www.xosha.co.za | [email protected]
Hunting Stories of Yesteryear: The Early Boer Hunters of Southern Africa
Part II:
The great hunting era
of the 19th century.
By PH Willem Frost
After the Nine Days’ War of October 1837, when the Voortrekkers drove the Matabeles of
Mzilikazi out of the Transvaal to the Matobo Hills in what is now Zimbabwe, the first whites
started to settle in the Marico district.
A
mong them were Jan Viljoen and
Piet Jacobs – two close friends and
two of the most successful hunters
of the 19th century. Viljoen settled on the
farm Vergenoeg and Jacobs on Jacobsdal,
but they spent most of their time in the
hunting fields to the north and the west.
Hunting was free and game was plentiful.
All the farmers hunted – some just hunted
more than others. By the second half of the
19th century, hunting had become a major
industry in the Transvaal.
It is believed that Jan Viljoen and Ockert
Oosthuizen first visited the Matabele
king, Mzilikazi, in his kraal (village) near
Bulawayo in 1840 to obtain permission
to hunt in Matabeleland. The next year
they were back, and Jan Viljoen, Ockert
Oosthuizen, Piet Jacobs and Hans
Engelbrecht probably became the first
white people to set eyes upon the Victoria
Falls – the world’s largest waterfall.
Years later, Viljoen met with a young
Frederick Courtney Selous in Matabeleland
during the latter’s first African trip. Viljoen
apparently took a liking to the young
Englishman and invited him to stay for a
while in the Viljoen camp, during which
time the hardened old veteran taught
Selous a lot about hunting elephant and
the handling of firearms.
In 1853, the brothers Pieter, Jan,
and Frans Joubert also undertook a
very successful and profitable hunting
expedition to Matabeleland and probably
also saw the falls. Years later, Dr. David
Livingstone claimed to have “discovered”
the falls in November 1855, and he named
them in honour of his Queen Victoria – a
name that has stuck to this day.
104
Many Boer hunters followed Viljoen
and Jacobs to hunt in Matabeleland. In
1849, Jan Nel and Kallie Swart, with their
families, hunted up north to the Victoria
Falls (then only known by its Matabele
name Mosi-oa-tunya), and from there they
apparently followed the Zambezi River to
its mouth in the Indian Ocean. On the
return trip, Jan Nel was captured by some
naked tribesmen somewhere along the
Zambezi. Fortunately, he was released after
a couple of days. Sadly, there is no record
of this most fascinating expedition. The
Swart family from the Marico (Marthinus
and his sons Jurgens and Pieter, and his
brother Jan) were renowned hunters and
also hunted regularly in Matabeleland.
Piet Jacobs and Jan Viljoen were the
renowned and celebrated hunters of
the time. They knew the land from the
Marico Bushveld to Lake Ngami and the
Okavango, and eastward to Matabeleland
and Mashonaland, and south to the
Soutpansberg, like the back of their hands.
They knew all the tribal chiefs in this vast
stretch of land and made it their business to
maintain friendly relationships with them.
Consequently they obtained hunting
concessions where few other white people
could hunt. They even befriended the
fearsome Mzilikazi, King of the Matabele
and murderer of many – especially the
Shona. It is not known how many elephant
Viljoen and Jacobs killed. When asked
about it in the 1870s, Jacobs mentioned
that he must have taken at least 500 bulls
himself. Viljoen took about the same
number. Including the females, they must
have killed close to, or perhaps more than,
1,000 elephants each.
Two Transvaal Boers with what seems to be
a .303 falling-block Martini-Henry rifle.
After the Second War of Independence
(1899 – 1902) .303 ammunition was
freely available and widely used throughout
Southern Africa.
Viljoen retired from hunting in 1880 and
spent his last years on his farm Vergenoeg,
where he passed away in 1893 at the age of
81. He also had an active public life, and
in 1881 he still commanded a Boer force in
the First War of Independence.
Very little is known about Piet Jacobs.
He was born in the Eastern Cape, but
it is unclear how he ended up in the
Marico – most probably with one of the
Voortrekker parties. He was a modest man,
a remarkable shot, and an exceptional
horseman. In 1872, he was badly mauled
by a lion in Mashonaland and he never
really fully recovered. He retired to his
farm in the Waterberg where passed away
in about 1882.
The Boer hunters of those days did not go
hunting as individuals, but always in small
groups. Their families would go with them
and sometimes also their livestock. The
oxwagon was home, and they would take at
least two wagons: one for the parents and
daughters to sleep in, and the other to load
the ivory, biltong, skins and horns.
They preferred to go out hunting on
horseback, and when a shot was to be
taken, the hunter would dismount and
shoot over the back of the horse using the
saddle as a rest for the heavy old rifles. The
horses were specifically trained for this.
Hunting expeditions usually lasted all
winter. During the rainy summer months,
the tsetse fly forced the hunters to return
to more healthy climes. There would,
however, always be a few hunters that
continued to hunt a while longer, on foot,
in the “fly country.” Most of them spent up
to eight months of the year hunting.
Some of the largest hunting operators got
other hunters to hunt for them. Perhaps
they can be regarded as Africa’s first hunting
outfitters. Typically they would provide
horses, rifles and ammunition, and in return
receive 50% of everything that was hunted.
In many instances the hunters were also
required to sell their 50% to the “outfitter.”
The proceeds of this 50% were often shared
equally amongst the employee hunters.
Up until the latter half of the 19th
century, game was abundant almost
everywhere. The gregarious animals
formed herds so vast that trekkers often
had to wait for the mass of wildlife to pass.
Predators were equally plentiful. In those
days it was not unusual to see prides of 40
or more lions.
In 1844, Jan Nel and Kallie Swart
saw a pride of at least 100 lions along the
Crocodile River. In 1855, Jan Viljoen had
an encounter with a pride of about 100
lions at Victoria Falls. The pride attacked
his oxen and killed seven before they could
be driven off.
In 1860, Willem Gronum was hunting
along the Matlabas River with a friend
when they were surprised by a pride that
they estimated at 90 to 100. They got back
to their camp late one afternoon, just in
time to see the lions attack their oxen.
Three oxen were killed and some of the
lions started to feed immediately while
others were pursuing the rest of the oxen.
Fortunately, it was full moon and the
hunters set off after the lions with their
rifles and their horsewhips.
When they heard the oxen, they fired
into the air, called the oxen by their names
and cracked their whips. This calmed the
frightened oxen, and they started running
back to the camp. How many of today’s
hunters would pursue a large pride of
hungry lions at night with a muzzleloader
and a whip? Lion skins were sought-after
and fetched good prices. As a result, lions
were hunted at every opportunity. For
example, Jan Viljoen’s grandson, also Jan,
killed 108 lions during his career towards
the end of the 19th century.
Bêrend Bouwer was most probably
the first white man to visit the elephant
paradise that became known as the
Tebraveld – the stretch of land between the
Okavango Delta and Damaraland. It was
in the 1860s. The country was crawling
with large herds of elephant everywhere.
Initially Bouwer hunted the Tebraveld
alone, but was later joined by Hendrik van
Tanzania
Big Game
A SAFARI TRADITION
AHG1083
Safaris
Exclusively owner-operated by Raoul Ramoni in Tanzania since 1988
Website:.www.tanzaniabiggame.com
Jan Viljoen, pioneer and elephant hunter
extraordinaire, was also a natural leader
of men. He retired from hunting in 1880
and passed away on his farm in 1893 at
the age of 81.
Zyl, a wealthy trader and hunter from the
Cape Colony. Their base was to the south
at Ghanzis in what is currently Botswana.
Bouwer got married in 1870 and two years
later had to return to the Transvaal for his
wife to give birth. But he soon returned
to his elephant paradise. In 1872, Van Zyl
settled permanently near Ghanzis where he
built a beautiful, large double-storey home
for the family. He hunted elephant in the
Tebra from 1865 to 1880. It is not known
how many elephants fell to his rifles, but
he had many others hunting for him, and
collectively they must have killed far more
than 1,000 elephant.
Hendrik van Zyl is, amongst other
things, remembered for shooting 103
elephants on a Sunday afternoon in 1877.
They had shot nine elephant bulls the
previous day, and Sunday lunch included
baked elephant foot, rice, vegetables, and
raisin pudding for dessert. They had just
finished lunch when one of the Bushman
trackers came running to tell them about a
herd of elephant not too far away. Hendrik
van Zyl and five others (his three sons,
plus Pieter Botha and Bêrend Bouwer)
immediately set off on horseback.
Soon they found the herd which had fled
into a swampy pan where they got stuck in
the mud. All 103 elephants were shot on
the spot, and the place became known as
Olifantspan. During that particular 14-day
period, the six hunters killed no less than
178 elephants.
During a hunting trip in 1880, Hendrik
van Zyl was murdered by one of his servants
near Ukuambi in Ovamboland. Here he
was buried by one Flip Scheepers and a
few Bushmen in a lonely grave in a faraway
hunting field. A few years later, his son
Andrew was also murdered by a Hottentot
employee and a Bushman gunbearer.
About four decades after the Great Trek,
there was another emigration of Boers –
this time from the Transvaal, across the
Kalahari to the Okavango, then westward
to Damaraland and the Kaokoveld, and
eventually northwards into Angola. This
was the famous Dorsland Trek of the 1870s
(“Dorsland” meaning Thirstland).
The reasons for this trek are not quite
clear. According to some sources, these
farmers were unhappy with the liberal
ideas of their then president, Thomas
Burgers. The annexation of Transvaal by
Britain in 1877 was the final straw that
broke the camel’s back. Some of the Boers
stated openly that they were not prepared
to live among the English. So, they decided
to sell their farms, pack their wagons, and
trek once again in search of a land where
they could live in peace without any
English nearby.
The trekkers were mostly from the
Marico and Rustenburg districts and
were quite a stubborn lot. Their assembly
point was at the confluence of the Marico
and Crocodile Rivers. While they waited
for friends and family to sell their farms
and finalise all their affairs, they hunted
[email protected]
[email protected]
Tel: +27 53 204 0042
www.wintershoek.com
WB Safari Company (Pty)LTD
Reg. Nr: 2008/009806/07 t/a
Whenyou've
youíve tried
the the
rest, rest,
come on
safarion
withsafari
the BEST!
When
tried
come
with the Best!
106
extensively in the area as far north as the
Matlabas and Mogol Rivers.
By then, Jan Viljoen knew the Kalahari
very well and he gave them some sound
advice (such as travelling in small groups
from one waterhole to the next, and buying
more horses), but this was largely ignored.
The result was that many succumbed
from thirst and exhaustion in the endless
sands of the arid Kalahari. When they
eventually reached the Okavango, malaria
took a further serious toll. The story of the
Dorsland Trekkers is, however, not only a
story of hardship and suffering, it is also a
story of fascinating hunting by remarkable
hunters in a wild, untamed land.
Pieter Botha first hunted elephant for
Hendrik van Zyl (who was not a member
of the Dorsland Trek, but who settled near
Ghanzis before the trek took place), and
he participated in the hunt at Olifantspan
when 103 elephant were killed. Botha also
hunted for the Swede, Axel Ericksson, for a
short time. A year or two later, Botha joined
the trek and married one of the young ladies
who was on trek with her family.
Botha
hunted
the
Tebraveld,
Damaraland, the Kaokoveld, and southern
Angola, and soon became, together with
his friend Bêrend Bouwer, one of the
most competent hunters of the time. He
also played a major role in establishing the
trekker town of Humpata in Angola.
Botha and Bouwer took an unknown,
but certainly large, number of elephant,
rhino, hippo, lion, and other game. This
was quite an adventurous life, and they had
many narrow escapes from wild beasts as
well as hostile tribesmen.
During the Second War of Independence
(1899 to 1902), Pieter Botha and Bêrend
Bouwer were back on commando in the
Transvaal and served the Republic with
honour and distinction.
Of all the hunters during the Dorsland
Trek, none was as successful in the hunting
business as Jan Robbertse. He had by far
the largest hunting operation in Southern
Africa at the time and became a very
wealthy man. He had a large number of
hunters working for him, and he hunted
for 28 years (1880 to 1908) – mainly for
elephant but also other big game. It is not
known how many elephant fell to his guns,
but it must have been several thousand.
Although his father was an experienced
elephant hunter, Jan Robbertse’s hunting
career only started on the Dorsland Trek.
He hunted in what are now Botswana,
Namibia and Angola. Probably most of his
elephant were hunted in the Kaokoveld in
“There were many elephant hunters amongst the
Dorsland Trekkers, but none had the resources to
operate at the scale of Jan Robbertse.”
German West Africa (Namibia).
He started out hunting on his own, but
by the time the Trek got to Angola, he was
in a position to hire other hunters to work
for him.
His hunting expeditions from Angola
into German West Africa were quite
something. He provided his hunters
with everything they needed. The hunter
usually had his own rifle, but was provided
with ammunition, a salted horse, and
provisions. Often the families would
accompany the hunters and would camp
near the Kunene River while the men
would hunt to the south across the river.
They would also take a couple of
wagonloads of maize to feed the horses, a
few milking cows, some slaughter-stock,
and a few extra horses. Robbertse would
also hire 100 to 200 porters to carry the
elephant tusks back to camp and to carry
provisions between the camp and the
hunting patrol deep in the Kaokoveld.
Jan Robbertse and his hunters shared
the ivory on a 50/50 basis. The hunters
were, however, required to sell their half
to Robbertse at a predetermined price.
The hunters usually pooled their ivory and
shared the money equally. Other hunting
proceeds, like ostrich feathers, whips,
hides, and skins were dealt with in the
same way.
There were many elephant hunters
amongst the Dorsland Trekkers, but none
had the resources to operate at the scale of
Jan Robbertse. Over the years, many of the
Robbertse hunters started to hunt on their
own.
Although Jan Robbertse was a very good
hunter himself, he did not personally shoot
as many elephant as Bêrend Bouwer or
Stephanus Oosthuizen, who were already
hunting the area years before.
Jan Robbertse was a born hunter and an
astute businessman. He not only hunted,
but was also a trader and farmer. Elephant
hunting, however, was almost an obsession
with him, and during his hunting career
this enabled him to buy nine farms in the
Transvaal, to where he returned in1908.
PH Willem Frost of Matlabas Game Hunters,
South Africa, is a regular contributor to
African Hunting Gazette.
COMPREHENSIVE TRAVEL PROTECTION
Led by Physicians and
Special Operations Veterans
The only travel program that combines
elite evacuation and rescue services with
the benefits of traditional travel insurance.
TRAVEL INSURANCE
MEDICAL & SECURITY EVACUATION
AND RESCUE SERVICES
24/7 INTELLIGENCE & ASSISTANCE
WWW.RIPCORDTRAVELPROTECTION.COM/AHG
EMAIL: [email protected] PHONE: +1 415 481 0600
AHG.indd 1
107
2/2/15 9:45
PM
The Gnu’s World –
Serengeti Wildebeest
Ecology and Life History
By Richard D. Estes
Reviewed by Brooke ChilversLubin
Richard Estes, chairman emeritus of the Antelope Specialist Group of the International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has been studying the western white-bearded
gnu for more than 50 years.
H
e is the author of the indispensible
and immensely valuable Behavior
Guide to African Mammals and The
Safari Companion – A Guide to Watching
African Mammals. Estes’s new book, The
Gnu’s World, is the first comprehensive study
of the wildebeest intended for a broader
audience than just his peers. Written in
language and presenting arguments that
make sense to serious sportsmen, The Gnu’s
World is great reading for hunters who
wish to extend their understanding of the
bush beyond the minimum measurement
requirements for trophy record book entries.
Estes arrived at Ngorongoro as a Cornell
University graduate student in 1962, and
lived on the Crater floor, first in a tent and
then in a cabin, over the next 2½ years.
No mzungu (white man) had done so since
1928, when an ex-British army officer was
allowed to occupy the farm first built by
Aldolf Siedentopf when Tanganyika was
part of German East Africa, explains Estes
in one of his many delightful anecdotes
and asides that accompany the broadly
scientific text.
Estes brings the crater to life, describing it
108
as “a vast diorama of the East African plains
populated with living animals.” In many
ways, it is a microcosm of the great Serengeti
plains. At an altitude of 6,000 feet with an
average temperature of 65°F, it is a 10 x 12mile amphitheater with 25,000 four-footed
“players.” About half of its 20,000 ungulates
are wildebeest, so it’s natural that Estes wrote
his dissertation on their territorial behavior;
he also studied Grant’s and Thomson’s
gazelles, and a resident pack of wild dogs.
For the next 50 years, Estes had the
good fortune to resume fieldwork in areas
classified as World Heritage Sites and
International Biosphere Reserves, including
30 months (1979–1981) at the Serengeti
Research Institute, where he placed radio
transmitters on, then followed a dozen
wildebeest bulls, one at a time, during
the annual rut. He saw the Serengeti’s
wildebeest population grow from a quarter
million to some1.5 million. As resident
naturalist at Governors Camp in Kenya’s
Masai Mara Reserve in June/July from
2004-2007, he witnessed many spectacular
wildebeest crossings of the Mara River.
Estes brings his broad knowledge
enveloped in immensely readable language.
This book is a pleasurable and enriching
read for anyone with eyes and heart opened
to fully experience the bush.
Estes defines things, using the clearest
terminology to support his well-organized
text. In Chapter 1, he describes the traits
of the various subfamilies and tribes of
the Bovidae, comparing body shape, horn
configuration,
markings,
coloration,
distribution, and social organization. In
the excellent Chapter 3, “Introducing
the Wildebeest Tribe,” he discusses the
interesting similarities and surprising
differences between the tribe’s four genera
and seven species that comprise hartebeest,
topi (tsessebe, tiang), blesbok/bontebok,
hirola/Hunter’s
antelope,
common
wildebeest, and the black wildebeest/whitetailed gnu. Then, in Chapter 5, he examines
the status of each wildebeest subspecies in
the eight countries in Africa where they
are present. The account summarizes and
updates Working Paper 37 published by
the Wildlife Conservation Society in 2009:
Status of the Wildebeest in the Wild 19672005, by R.D. Estes and R. East.
Coming from different directions and
disciplines, Estes starts by answering the
question: What, exactly, is an antelope? His
response makes the connections between
Africa’s 72 to 75 antelope species (depending
on who’s counting), then places them in
the context of their habitat. (Eurasia has
only 12 antelope species, and the American
pronghorn is not a true antelope at all, but is
in a family all its own.) Today, DNA decides
who exactly is related to whom.
To provide context for the muchmisunderstood and sometimes laughed-at
wildebeest, Estes incorporates the many
factors that affect population dynamics.
He paints a picture of the morphological
(appearance) and behavioral (digestion,
reproduction) adaptations evolved for the
wildebeest to occupy the environmental
niche that is acacia savanna and open plains.
(Savanna occupies about 37% of Africa,
compared with 39% desert, 18% forest, and
5% treeless grasslands.)
Estes is clearly pro sustainable
consumptive use of wildlife and analyzes
the role of hunting in game management,
including the income, employment and
protein it generates for local communities
– as well as the cost to the international
sportsman of a standard 21-day Tanzania
safari; the figure, not including trophy fees,
will make you swoon.
To understand the Serengeti, Estes reaches
back to the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs.
For a region with 28 herbivore species, he
adds to the equation the roles played, in a
plains ecosystem, of the ruminant digestive
system versus the hindgut fermenters; the
relationship between chewing methods and
the absorption of protein; and the difference
between sweet and sour grasslands. He
studies the effects on wildlife of European
colonialism and the devastating late 19th
century outbreaks of rinderpest, the
bushmeat and poaching industries, and the
conflict over water between Masai cattle and
wildlife.
Estes examines the spectacular, 350-mile
(each way) annual migration of millions
of wildebeest north through Tanzania’s
Serengeti National Park to Kenya’s Masai
Mara Reserve, as well as its hugely important
financial contribution to the economy in
the form of tourism.
Interestingly, how land is held in Africa,
its so-called land tenure systems, affects
the future of vast populations of Africa’s
ungulates, especially migrating ones. Thus,
Estes clarifies country-by-country the
government departments responsible for
determining land use, and defines the terms,
“The Gnu’s World” by Richard Estes contains many useful maps and diagrams that deepen
the hunter’s understanding not only of wildebeest, but the dynamics of Africa’s savannas.
(Thanks to Laura Maestro and Joe LeMonnier, Natural History, September, 2006)
Estes describes the blue wildebeest or brindled gnu; Zambia’s Cookson’s wildebeest; Nyassa
or Johnston’s wildebeest of Mozambique and southeastern Tanzania; and Tanzania’s
western white-bearded wildebeest, and the eastern white-bearded wildebeest pictured here.
“Today, DNA decides
who exactly is related to
whom.”
The wildebeest inhabits arid to moist savannas with rainfall averaging between 19 and
32 inches. A quintessential plains antelope, it is a pure grazer with a preference for short
pastures and is closely associated with acacia savanna.
for example in Tanzania, of Game Reserve,
Game Controlled Area (GCA), Open Area,
and Wildlife Management Area.
What is the ultimate fate of species that
require trans-frontier migratory corridors?
There is talk of building a tarmac highway
and a railroad straight across the Serengeti.
More important, how will humankind not
continue to “squander Africa’s heritage of
large mammals” in countries like Tanzania,
whose population has tripled from 12
million to 34.6 million since 1967 and is
expected to reach 56 million in 2020?
The Gnu’s World is no dry and boring
treatise on wildebeest. Rather, every hunter
who reads this book will better understand
the dynamics behind habitat diversity
and wildlife sustainability. How much
more profound for the hunter to actually
understand nature when his rifle sights are
fixed on the animal he intends to kill.
Buy a copy of The Gnu’s World to read in
the leopard blind. Buy another as a gift for
your PH; he will surely appreciate it.
The Gnu’s World – Serengeti Wildebeest
Ecology and Life History, by Richard D.
Estes, published by University of California
Press in 2014, counts 350 pages with dozens
of black & white photos, drawings, charts
and maps. It is available online in either
hardback or paperback edition, and costs
$30 to $60.
Over 75% of protected areas in Tanzania were originally set aside for trophy hunting. Economically, this represented 180 hunting
blocks selling approximately 20,500 hunting days sold to 1,370 clients generating a gross income for the safari industry – from daily
rates alone – of over US$27 million.
110
ALL NEW SAFARI ACTION ON DVD
Historic Rifles
Safari veteran and collector Bill Jones hunts again
with the personal rifles of legendary hunters
Hemingway, Selous, Keith, Jamisen, and others. 6
hunts dangerous game.
Apx. 90 mins $39.95
Use Enough Death
13 hunts for old “dagga boy” bulls, lions,
elephants. Exceptional shooting scenes with
double rifles. Hi-def. Sullivans newest and best!
Apx. 3 hrs $49.95
Sunset on Botswana
Famous PH’s Johan Calitz & Ivan Carter hunt the
last of Botswana’s big bull elephants. Great “in
your face action” of 7 trophy hunts. Very well done.
Highly recommended.
Apx. 90 mins $39.95
The Cape Buffalo
6 hunts for Africa’s most desired dangerous game
trophy. Action packed with excitement as some
bulls taken too close for comfort!
Apx. 60 mins $29.95
Death in Full Charge
Famed P.H. Mark Sullivan takin on Africa’s most
dangerous big game head-on. CHARGING Hippos
and Buffalo; magnificent trophy Lion and Leopard.
This is a true heart stopper!
Apx. 105 mins $49.95
The Best of Tracks Across Africa
21 hunts featuring PH Ivan Carter in pursuit of the
deadly six: elephant, lion, Cape buffalo, crocodile,
leopard, and hippo. Action packed hunts with
suspense and excitement.
Apx. 90 mins $29.95
African Plains Game
Filmed in the three top destinations for trophy
plains game: Namibia, Tanzania, South Africa.
Taken are kudu, gemsbok, eland, hartebeest, and
many more!
Apx. 60 mins SPECIAL ONLY $19.95
The Big Four
Charging buffalo, lion, leopard, and elephant
plus croc, hippo and rare puku antelope. Filmed
in Tanzania with Luke Samaras Safaris. Adventure
and excitement galore!
Apx. 60 mins $29.95
A Most Dangerous Africa
GREAT VALUE! 10 safaris, 32 animals taken,
charging lion and rhino! Buffalo, leopard,
elephant, much plains game. 2 DVD set.
Over 3 hrs $29.95
MAIL ORDERS TO:
508 Lookout Drive, Suite 14, Richardson, Texas 75080
MasterCard • VISA • American Ex press
Shipping & Handling Charges, Depend On Destination
TO ORDER BY PHONE:
TOLL-FREE: 800-424-6652
OUTSIDE USA: 972-235-9619
FAX: 972-235-8377 (8 a.m. – 6 p.m. CST)
WE SHIP WORLDWIDE. • SEE OUR COMPLETE SELECTION OF TITLES AND ORDER FORM AT:
WWW.OUTDOORVISIONS.COM
EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE IN SOUTH AFRICA FROM SAFARI & OUTDOOR COMPANY
Safari & Outdoor
Pretoria 0861 222 269
Stellenbosch 0861 114 330
Johannesburg 0861 143 545
www.safariandoutdoor.co.za
[email protected]
PH Q&A
PH Dawid Muller (Namibia) –
“Make sure that every trophy you allow your client
to take is one that you’ll be proud to admit he shot it
with you.”
Lately, I’m doing most of my hunting in
my area in the Eastern Caprivi (now called
Zambezi Region) and on my farm in the
Khomas Hochland in Central Namibia.
BCL: If you could return to any time or
place in Africa, where would it be?
DM: It would be long enough ago so that
I could hunt without any borders, in and
around the same areas I’m hunting now,
between Namibia, Botswana, Zambia,
Zimbabwe and Angola.
PH Dawid Muller (R) has guided hunting clients in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Botswana,
Mozambique, South Africa and Namibia.
Brooke ChilversLubin: When and where
were you born? Tell us about your family.
PH Dawid Muller: I was born in
Otjiwarongo in the then South West Africa
in 1955. I have two kids from previous
marriages, David 34 and Isabel 21, and my
current partner, Laurenza, and I have been
together for eight years.
BCL: How did you become a PH? How
did it all begin?
DM: I started out hunting with clients,
for biltong during the winter months, on
my farm 34 years ago, along with taking
an occasional trophy hunter from other
outfitters. That sort of started me off on
trophy hunting – it just seemed a much
better way to utilize the game on my farm.
Also, I found that the way of hunting –
walk and stalk for a specific animal – was
much more to my liking than shooting a
112
couple of animals a day just for the meat.
I hear that my grandfather on my
mother’s side was quite a hunter.
Unfortunately, I never met him as he died
before I was born. It was my grandfather
on my father’s side who accompanied me
on my first successful “big-game” hunt –
for a warthog with a .22 rifle, when I was
seven years old!
BCL: Which countries have you hunted,
and where are you hunting now?
DM: With clients, I’ve hunted in Tanzania,
Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, South
Africa and Namibia.
I’ve also been fortunate enough to
experience overseas hunts myself, in
Denmark, Sweden, France, Quebec and
Russia. They made me realize that we have
the best hunting right here in Africa.
BC: Which guns and ammo are you using
to back-up on dangerous or wounded
game?
DM: I started out with my .375 H&H,
then upgraded to a .416 Rigby. Lately, I’m
using a .470 NE Heym double rifle.
As for ammo, unfortunately here in
Namibia, we can’t always get what we
want; but, if possible, for softs I prefer
Barnes TSX or Swift A-Frame bullets, and
I prefer any good monolithic solid to a full
metal jacketed bullet.
BCL: What are your recommendations on
guns and ammo – for dangerous game and
for plains game – to your hunting clients?
DM: Legally, there are minimum calibers
for different species, dangerous as well as
plains game, so within those guidelines use
any rifle that you know and can shoot well.
But don’t go out and buy a BIG-caliber
rifle especially for your African safari, and
you can’t hit a barn door with it! Any PH
who’s been hunting dangerous game for a
while will tell you he prefers a .375 bullet
in the right place than a .500 in the gut.
As for ammo, ask your PH, as he’s the
one who will have to follow up on any
wounded animal.
BCL: What was your closest brush with
death? And looking back – anything you
should have done differently?
PH Q&A
things: honesty and integrity, and being
outfitted and organized. For instance,
don’t sell a hunter who’s looking for an
80-pound elephant a hunt in an area where
the biggest elephant you’ve ever seen was
50 pounds; or a Cape buffalo hunt in
an area where the only buffalo seen were
before the last rinderpest outbreak in the
early ‘80s, and that goes for every game
species in the book.
Always have your client’s best interest at
heart because they will sense that, and we
all know that, word of mouth is still the
best advertisement anyone can get.
PH Dawid Muller notes that, “There are very few hunting clients nowadays who will be
able to be completely out of contact with the outside world for an extended period.”
DM: It was a wounded buffalo charge that
I only stopped at my feet with the third
and last shot in my .416 Rigby.
I probably should have aimed better with
the first two shots, ha-ha, so my advice is:
Don’t shoot at the animal: Wait, take your
time, and aim specifically for its brain.
BCL: How has the hunting industry
changed over the years? And the hunting
clients themselves?
DM: I would say that the most significant
change has been on the amount of time that
clients can afford to spend on a safari.
Regarding the clients themselves, there
are very few hunting clients nowadays who
will be able to be completely out of contact
with the outside world for an extended
period. So you wouldn’t have heard the
question: “In camp, will I have Internet or
cell phone connection?” from a client not
too many years ago.
BCL: In your opinion, what qualities go
into making a successful PH, and/or a
successful hunting company?
DM: Honesty, integrity, experience,
patience, tact, knowledge – all of these, but
also being able to judge your client’s abilities,
and to try and fit the hunt to his ability, not
yours. He’s not paying you to show him
how tough or good a shot you are.
Also near the top of my list for a good
PH, I would say, is the ability to be calm
and thus calm down your client in the
final moments before he takes his shot, as
there can be nothing worse, in my mind,
at that stage, than a PH standing next to
or behind his already-nervous hunter and
urging him to “Shoot, Shoot!”
For a successful hunting company, same
BCL: Which qualities go into making a
good safari client? If you should suggest
one thing to your hunting clients to
improve their safari experience, what would
it be?
DM: A good safari client for me is one who
comes for the experience of the hunt and
not only for the size of the trophy; that will
happen by itself, or not.
Find out who the PH is with whom you’ll
be hunting with, and see if you connect
with him, as you will be spending most of
your time on safari with him. Then do your
homework on him and on the outfit.
BCL: Based on your recent experience in
the field, do you think that any species
should be upgraded to CITES Appendix I
or downgraded to CITES Appendix II, or
be closed all together?
DM: For now, no, but I do think that if an
WILD HEART OF AFRICA
The Selous Game Reserve in
Tanzania
By Rolf Baldus and 18 more contributors
A Rowland Ward Publication
A classic for your library
and a must
for your next hunting safari to
Tanzania
70 US$ plus shipping
Order from: [email protected]
114
PH Q&A
“Also near the top of my list for a good PH, I would say, is
the ability to be calm and thus calm down your client in
the final moments before he takes his shot.”
animal can be legally hunted in a country,
the hunter should be allowed to take his
trophy home.
BCL: What do you feel the hunting
industry can do to contribute to the longterm conservation of Africa’s wildlife?
DM: First, just by being present in remote
areas, where poaching would flourish were
it not for hunters being present there. Our
presence in these parts can do a lot for the
long-term conservation of our wildlife.
But just as important, if not more, we as
hunters should push for a new scoring
system that promotes the hunting of old,
post-breeding animals.
BCL: Ask Laurenza, if she could do it all
over again, would she still…?
And what is her advice to future wives
of PHs?
Laurenza: The long spells on my own on the
farm can be tough, especially when things go
wrong; but I enjoy the rest of the business,
working with the clients and the lifestyle.
My advice? Make sure you are prepared to
spend some time alone, and be ready to cope
with things on your own.
For backing up his clients on wounded dangerous big game, like elephant, Muller carries
a .470 NE Heym double rifle.
BCL: Are any of your children following in
your footsteps?
DM: Yes, my son David is a PH as well.
BCL: Anyone you want to say thanks to?
Or to GTH (Go to Hell)?
DM: I would like to say thanks to all my
clients whom I’ve hunted with over the
years – and are still hunting with, some for
more than a dozen times already. I have
met and made some incredible friends.
Also, thanks to Laurenza for her support
and keeping everything together for the
long periods I spend away from home.
GTH? Sure, a few, but I prefer to tell them
to their face.
BCL: Any Last Words of Wisdom?
DM: Make sure that every trophy you
allow your client to take is one that you’ll
be proud to admit that he shot it with you.
For Muller, a good safari client comes to Africa not only for the size of the trophy, but also
for the entire experience of the hunt.
BCL: Do you promise to write a good
hunting story for our readers soon?
DM: If I could write a good hunting story,
I’d probably be swapping notes with Craig
Boddington and some others. So the good
hunting stories about near misses and
close escapes will have to be saved for the
evenings around the campfire for now, after
another “tough day in Africa!”
116
Rifles in Africa
In 2014, 30 years after Jones’s first 1984 safari in the presence of PH David Ommanney and his .470 Rigby #17772, Jones bought the
rifle and returned to Africa to hunt with it, this time to Namibia.
A Professional Hunter’s Rifle –
David Ommanney’s .470 Rigby NE
By John Mattera
When international hunter Bill Jones handed me the well-seasoned Rigby double rifle, an affable
smile spread across his cheerful face. If ever a rifle could speak and regale us with stories of its time,
tales of the adventures forgotten, what a story this Rigby could tell!
I
turned her over in my hands,
appreciating her beauty as only a hunter
could: the engraved sidelock receiver
long faded of case color. Barrels once the
deepest of black, now fading to grey. The
wood warm to the touch, still rich in color
and luxuriant in grain, sharp checkered
edges polished smooth by thousands of
days in Africa’s game fields long past.
This rifle that has seen the charge of the
elephant and stood fast time and again – it
was humbling to imagine.
The .470 had spent 30 years afield as the
primary tool of a legendary professional
hunter, chasing dangerous game in faraway
118
places. My mind took off at light speed with
thoughts of adventures gone by.
Then Jones told me of how he’d first
come to know the rifle, as a new and
apprehensive hunter on his first African
adventure with a PH who even then was
a living legend. An impromptu side trip
had forestalled their scheduled departure,
when an understaffed Game Control
Department called to report a man-eating
lion in Moyowosi, Tanzania, not far from
where they were.
It wasn’t until the lion almost hooked the
American ambassador to Argentina from a
truck while on safari that he became such a
focal point of attention. It seemed that this
old boy had been on a steady diet of Bantu
poachers for some time, finding them easier
to catch than Cape buffalo. He was plying
his trade with ever more brazen attacks and
had no fear of humans at all, - nor trucks for
that matter, as the next day the lion jumped
onto the back of a second safari truck, but
lost his claw grip on the rear-mounted spare
tire, falling off as the truck sped away.
The lion was now a problem that needed
sorting out.
Jones and his PH rolled up on a group of
Arusha natives hovering over the lion’s fresh
spore, carrying on a conversation in high-
Rifles in Africa
The Wildlife Game
With our sound methodologies and statepitched Swahili. A more unearthly scene the
and Rourke, legends were men who walked
“Ommanney
may
have
of-the art modelling techniques, there
untested hunter could not imagine. Three
with big rifles among dangerous animals.
was no doubt that when we submitted a
days prior he’d been enjoying the beaches
Ommanney’s ever-present big double side
been ‘The Man from
population report to the IUCN estimating
of Rio de Janeiro, and now he was about
lock .470 was already old when he first put
3,500 and 4,000 mountain nyala,
Winchester,’ but he was a hisbetween
to go into the bush after a man-eating lion.
hands upon it. It left the John Rigby &
our report carried more weight. As a result,
For better or worse, khaki hunting clothes
Company London factory on December
further action was taken to up-list the
double rifleman at heart.” 23,no1912,
had replaced tiny bikinis and the girls from
20 years before Ommanney was
mountain nyala and ban hunting it. To this
Ipanema that wore them. The year was
born, shipped to Lord Altamont of London,
day, TMF’s population estimate is widely
1984, and the hunt was on.
doubt a Christmas present to himself.
a policeman in the Indian Colonial Civil noaccepted
as the most accurate.
One of the great realizations that a first- Service before moving his family to Nanyuki, It sported 28-inch chopper-lump barrels,
TMF’s more recent work is showing
time big-game hunter discovers is the speed Kenya. With an Ivy League degree in London-proved at 14 tons, a one-quarter rib
that more mountain nyala actually live
at which Africa can transform him from hunting dangerous game, his field education with one standing and two folding leaf rear
outside of Bale Mountains National Park,
passenger to hunter. There is often little or had started when most kids were playing ball sights and a ramped front post. The action
mostly in controlled hunting concessions,
no transition. First blood can be sobering in in the schoolyard. As a young boy he was a was forged by E. Chilton & Son and had a
demonstrating that if the hunting had been
its swiftness and ferocity.
head third bite extension for strength,
friend of the famous tiger hunter Jim Corbett, doll’s
banned, it would have been detrimental
Sliding his rifle out of a leather gun who’d retired to the foothills of the Aberdare bushed strikers, and double triggers. The
to mountain nyala populations. This is a
sleeve, Jones gave a tug, and a well-worn Mountains. He began his professional Rigby has 94% coverage of period scroll
classic example of how scientists conducting
.375 H&H Winchester came free. The PH hunting career just out of school, working for engraving by Stuart Miller, with the safety
good research in conjunction with the
gave a knowing wink and a smile as only the renowned safari firm of Lawrence-Brown controls dressed in gold inlay.
knowledge and experience brought to the
“Winchester’s Man in Africa” could, and and Lunan Safaris Ltd.
The wood is deep and inviting, with
table by PHs, saved a species.
said, “Now that’s a nice rifle.” As his gaze fell
wrapped grip and a horned grip
Ommanney became the East African checkered
For
more
information
about
upon the PH’s big Rigby double for the first Professional
cap,
a
shadow
line cheekpiece, and a 15⅜Hunter’s
Association’s
TMF’s mountain nyala conservation
time,
thatvolunteers
was just what
he was thinking.
length of pull, the stock ended at a
TMF
collecting
vegetation and
wildlife Hunter
data using
intensified
(EAPHA)
of the
Year in modified
1958. inch
project please visit the following
PH
David plots
Ommanney
was Mountains,
already a Ethiopia.
S.W. Silver & Co. recoil pad, and
Soon billed
Winchester’s
Man
Africa, ¾-inch
Whittaker
in the Bale
The asdata
they collect
hasinsupported,
link:
http://www.murulle.org/projects_
celebrated
member
of theresearch
swing lever at the forend.
he graced
the advertisements
of a hundred
and will card-carrying
continue to support,
scientific
on habitat
quality, distribution,
and life checkered
mountainnyalaconservation.html.
old guard of East African hunting. Born in sporting magazines. In the days before the
As spectacular as the rifle was, the
history of the mountain nyala.
Jalgaon, India in 1931, his father had been Marlboro Man, in the days of Hemingway relationship with the first owner was short-
33 years of experience
serving the discerning sportsman
Air Charter - plus intl & domestic ticketing
Meet & Greet - from the aircraft door on arrival
Firearms - permits, storage, transportation
Accommodation -hotels, transfers, tours, shopping
Corporate Partner
26
AHG713
Tel: + 27 11 659 2649
www.hunterssupport.com
Rifles in Africa
Alabama hunter Bill Jones honored Ommanney’s .470 Rigby by taking a respectable old
Cape buffalo with it – the first big-game species to fall to the rifle in many years.
lived. In August of the following year, the
Rigby was sold to A.E. Hughes of Bristol.
The stewardship of this fine double becomes
clouded through two world wars, the golden
age of African safari, and the gilded age of
lost records throughout post-war Europe
and Africa. We do know that sometime
during this blurred 40-plus years, the big
Rigby made its way to the Dark Continent
where David Ommanney first saw it in the
Nairobi gun shop of Shaw and Hunter Ltd.
Ommanney and his understanding
wife Dylis put themselves in hock for the
Rigby, which he described as the rifle of
his dreams, requiring over six months to
pay it off. Taking possession of the rifle in
1959, it was a welcome accompaniment
to his hunting battery. Ommanney may
have been The Man from Winchester, but he
was a double rifleman at heart. Replacing a
heavy Harrison & Hussey .470 double gun,
the lighter, sporty Rigby weighed only 10
pounds and one ounce, making it a pleasure
to carry in the field.
Ommanney’s first safari with the Rigby
did not go as well as he had hoped. It was
with anthropologist, author and big game
hunter Dr. Frank Hibben, of the University
of Albuquerque, in New Mexico.
The pain of all pains, the sin of all sins
occurred when Hibben squared off against
a monster bull elephant with his Holland &
Holland .600 Nitro Express. Hibben placed
two rounds in the bull with little to show
for it save wobbly legs. It then fell upon the
PH and the Rigby to handle the problem.
120
Ommanney fired two rounds into the
elephant’s skull with no better result than
his client’s.
The elephant turned and left post haste
never to be seen again. Ommanney judged the
elephant to be carrying 120 pounds of ivory
per side. The trophy of a lifetime became the
loss of a lifetime – hence the “pain.”
Ommanney knew all was not right in
the world with his “pet,” as he called his
new Rigby. Here is where the “sin” part
takes hold: Afterwards, he tested the rifle
on paper, something that should have been
done before the elephant hunt. One barrel
was a foot low and 18 inches to the left at 25
yards; the other, a foot high and 18 inches
to the right.
The dejection almost overwhelmed
Ommanney. It began with the loss of an
elephant of mythical proportion, and
now the rifle that he had longed for was
unacceptable for hunting.
Ommanney soon discovered that the
Rigby had been the victim of a buffalohunting accident, where the muzzle was hit
with a round fired from another big rifle in
the heat of battle.
What happened next was a travesty. A
local garage gunsmith hacked off four inches
of the reliable 28-inch tubes and re-soldered
them in place! The term “regulating the
barrels” must have escaped him – one barrel
wall-eyed and the other cock-eyed – neither
able to hit its mark.
So the PH packed up his prize Rigby and
sent it back to England to be fitted with a
new set of barrels. He’d requested 26-inch
tubes as the rifle was a little butt heavy, but
Rigby erred in installing another set of 24inch barrels.
1961 saw the rifle and Ommanney
reunited again. Neither the PH nor Rigby
wanted to remedy the mistake of barrel
length as the .470 now shot with a vengeance
and handled like a dream. Over the next 30
years in the field, rifle and hunter acquitted
themselves proud, hunting in Masailand,
Kenya, Tanganyika, Sudan, and Zambia,
collecting many impressive trophies along
the way.
Both wounded leopard and lion fell to
the big .470. The most impressive was on
camera for ABC TV when a lion, well shot
by actor/hunter Robert Stack, took off for
the heavy brush just as a .470 Kynoch bullet
from the Rigby anchored it in its tracks.
Numerous elephants fell as well, many over
the magical 100-pound-per-side status. The
rifle even achieved retribution for its 1959
failure by collecting a Kenyan giant tusker
with ivory that weighed out at 123 and 124
pounds per side.
Amazingly, the Cape buffalo harvested
didn’t even warrant a number. Ommanney’s
six-page letter detailing his adventures with
the rifle just says “many.”
This was the storied Rigby that backed
up Alabama native Bill Jones on his quest
for a man-eater through the tall grass of
African summer.
They weren’t on the spoor long before
the Kimakia tracker stopped dead still. If
fear were a measurement as it grips hold
of a brave man, the old tracker would have
been off the Richter scale. He froze solid
then seemed to slink away, pointing to the
other side of dry creek bed as he did. There,
40 yards away, lay the killer cat in a small
scrub of shade. His tawny coat was all but
invisible, camouflaged in its surroundings
save for the swish of his tail as it flicked
about. The wind swirled and, as if the
hunters had announced their presence, the
lion turned, now fully aware of them. He
rose to his feet, and gave a defiant glare, as
only a beast with no fear can.
David Ommanney stepped aside, and
Bill Jones stepped forward, facing his trial
by fire. Sweeping the safety off of the old
Model 70, Jones lined up on the lion’s
chest and delivered a .375 H&H Silvertip
through his vitals.
The fight was on. The lion roared in pain,
jumped, and then came for the hunters
down the steep bank on the far side and into
the creek bed. Jones was able to get two more
300-grain Silvertips into him as he charged
CONSERVATION
EDUCATION
PROTECTING HUNTERS’ RIGHTS
It’s who we are.
It’s what we do.
JOIN
Greatest Hunters Convention on the Planet™ January 7-10, 2016
For more information, go to www.biggame.org
©2015 Dallas Safari Club
Rifles in Africa
across the sandy earth. The big cat died 10
yards from the hunters, facing uphill along
the berm. It was then that Jones noticed
the menacing but silent twin muzzles next
to him. Ommanney looked over the top of
the Rigby with a knowing smile; the first
test of friendship came to pass between the
hunters with the death of the man-eater.
To everybody’s surprise, the cat was a very
healthy eight- or nine-year-old male with no
ostensible reason for hunting humans, save
for laziness or an acquired taste.
Through the remainder of their 31-day
safari, the ever-present Rigby was a source
of reassurance watching over Jones, as the
very next stop on the hunt was a Watusi
village with a need to deal with some
cattle-killing lions.
This time the hunting party expanded
to include a Game Department official
and a medical missionary who was dying
to witness a lion hunt. The giant, sevenfoot-tall Watusi tribesman rejoiced in the
death of each of the four lions as they were
brought to the hunting camp, one by one.
Lion hunting could never be termed easy,
Over some 30 years, PH David Ommanney
hunted with his .470 Rigby double rifle in
the gamefields of Kenya, Tanganyika, Sudan,
and Zambia, collecting many impressive
trophies for his clients along the way.
but it is greatly aided when the hunters
spoor the remnants of a livestock-killing
predator’s last meal, then sit and wait for the
cats to return.
Eleven days of hunting brought the tally
to: Christians, five; lions, zero. The Rigby
brought such a feeling of comfort to Jones
that a kindred relationship with it was
burned into Jones’s soul.
I can only imagine the days when hunting
problem-lions was a free public service. The
Game Department even reimbursed the
ammo expended!
Full circle arrived for Bill Jones and Rigby
#17772 in 2014, 30 years after their first
hunt, almost to the day, when rifle and
hunter ventured to Namibia to reacquaint
themselves. But this time, it was Jones who
was pulling the double triggers on the trail
of Cape buffalo.
There is a gold oval inlaid into the stock
of the Rigby. Considering that there have
been at least five known owners of this
fine double, it carries no initials. Maybe
they understood that they were simply
custodians of its legacy for a time, after all.
It’s what hunters do with rifles that tell
its story, not the owner’s initials scratched
into gold.
John Mattera is a regular contributor to
African Hunting Gazette.
The most trusted name in security
Build your perfect safe with the Fort
Knox Vault Builder
Tel: 1-800-821-5216
visit www.ftknox.com
122
Geoff Broom
Joof Lamprecht
Russ Broom
Clive Lennox
Johan Calitz
Rudy Lubin
Dirk de Bod
Danny McCallum
Franz Coupé
John Oosthuizen
Barrie Duckworth
Don Price
Simon Evans
Jeff Rann
Warwick Evans
Nassos Roussos
Wayne Grant
John Sharp
Lou Hallamore
Tony Tomkinson
Robin Hurt
Coenraad Vermaak
Peter Johnstone
Johnny Vivier
Garry Kelly
Erik von Eckhardt
Q: What have these professional hunters got in common?
A: More than thirty years of professional hunting experience in Africa.
Now you can read all about them!
From the home of big-game hunting and, undoubtedly, the home of the original
safari, Africa’s Legendary Professional Hunters has a story to tell. With
contributions from this elite group of professionals, each with 30-plus years
amounting to more than 120 000 hunting days in the African veld, there has never
been a book quite like this. Twenty-six professional hunting careers, 312 full-color
pages, and with the quality that you have come to expect when brought to you by
the publishers of Africa’s finest hunting magazine, the
African Hunting Gazette
$80
plus shipping
Another AHG Publication
To order your copy visit
Afri
welco can Hunt
ing
mes a
new Gazette
O
m
Find
b
y
Johan n Shooti agazine
Terry
van W ng colu
Wiel
mn
and
yk.
One ’s new ba
for th
ck-pa
e Roa
ge co
d.
lumn
,
Practical Rifles
for Difficult Conditions
The Maluti Mountains in the eastern Free State of South Africa can be a
daunting place to hunt.
W
hile the area is known for its
beautiful sandstone cliffs, many
of which are adorned by the
unmistakeable paintings of Africa’s original
inhabitants, the San, the hills are steep,
covered with thick grass and liberally strewn
with ankle-snapping boulders.
In spite of the drawbacks, many areas
in the Malutis are home to game species
such as blesbok, springbok, Vaal rhebok,
mountain reedbuck, black wildebeest, and
the mighty eland. Hunting any of them
in such daunting terrain by the traditional
method is backbreaking work, and your
chosen hunting rifle must, of necessity, be
adapted to the circumstances.
As I’m not known for my regular
participation in ultra-marathon events and
only avoid getting kicked out of the local
gym for poor attendance by the skin on
my teeth, I have, over the years, given more
than a liitle bit of thought on the matter of
equipment for hunts in real tough terrain
such as the mountains of the eastern Free
State or the Karoo.
In addition to suitable clothing and the
best boots that money can buy (both topics
best discussed on their own), I endeavor to
carry the lightest and most accurate rifle
that I can lay my hands on whenever I’m
confronted by a couple thousand feet of
steep mountainside. Please note that the
operative word in this instance is carry, as
over the course of my travels in Africa, I
have encountered very few gunbearers at
7,000 feet above sea level!
During a recent shooting competition,
I watched some of my fellow competitors
with a keen eye. One in particular made
it plain to whoever was unfortunate to be
within earshot that he was a headshot man
and nothing else. His equipment consisted
of a heavy-barreled .243 fitted with a
wooden laminate thumbhole stock. The
scope that rifle was hanging from (really
no other way to describe it, I’m afraid)
“And even though my FN
.30-06 was by no means a
heavy rifle, I still uttered an
out-of-breath curse every now
and then, each time I had
to schlep it, a camera, and a
pair of binoculars up another
mountain.”
Johan van Wyk with a nice red hartebeest hunted in very broken terrain in South Africa’s
Karoo region. A longish stalk over very rocky terrain brought him within 200 metres, and
a single shot from van Wyk’s custom 7x64 Brenneke dropped the bull in his tracks.
124
had considerably more magnification than
the average spotting scope, and as many
potential adjustments as a modern flatscreen television. To round off the whole
look, a silencer was threaded to the barrel,
making a package that was bulky to begin
with even more ungainly.
To make matters even worse, my
competitor failed to make much of an
impression on the targets, and ended up
very near the bottom of the pack after
everyone’s scores were tallied.
Headshots on what, I wondered? I
Johan van Wyk with a nice red hartebeest hunted in very broken terrain in South Africa’s
Karoo region. A longish stalk over very rocky terrain brought him within 200 metres, and
a single shot from van Wyk’s custom 7x64 Brenneke dropped the bull in his tracks.
126
scratched my head for a long time afterwards
in an attempt to come up with any possible
sensible use for my headshooting fellow
competitor’s pride and joy, but the only
application I could come up with had more
to do with sniping bad guys than shooting
springbok, in the head or otherwise.
I first started making mental notes about
hunting rifles for rough terrain in 2004.
Early one windy morning, I found myself in
the mountains of northern Natal searching
for a blesbok ram wounded by a friend the
previous afternoon. The animal made us
work very hard indeed before we were finally
able to end matters. And even though my
FN .30-06 was by no means a heavy rifle,
I still uttered an out-of-breath curse every
now and then, each time I had to schlep it, a
camera, and a pair of binoculars up another
mountain. I have since downsized on
equipment and, in addition to a rifle, carry
nothing but a compact rangefinder and a
small set of binoculars. With technology
being what it is, a cell phone doubles
handily for a camera as well, so there’s one
less item to worry about as well.
Where the rifle itself is concerned, I
recently traded in the FN .30-06 for a
lightweight Kimber in the same caliber. It’s
about as slim and trim as a hunting rifle can
be; even topped with a 3-9x Zeiss scope and
fitted with a sling, it barely weighs seven
pounds. Swopping the fine walnut stock for
one made from synthetic material would
probably shave off a couple of extra ounces,
but as I’m a wood aficionado, that’s one
sacrifice I’m not prepared to make.
It’s accurate as well. If I do my bit, it
will put three bullets into less than an
inch at 100 metres. That’s plenty good
enough for just about any critter out there.
Caliber choice depends to a large extent on
the chosen quarry, and something along
the lines of a .243, 7x57, .270, or even a
.300 Magnum will do fine, depending on
whether you are searching for a mountain
reedbuck, kudu or eland.
These days, a number of makers specialise
in producing lightweight rifles. Many of
these are mainstream manufacturers such
as Remington and Sako, while many others
are small, custom operations that offer a
myriad of options to their customers. The
choices are legion, and there are rifles out
there to suit every taste and budget.
Whether you’re planning a safari that will
likely entail hunting in rough terrain or, if
like this writer, you prefer your rifles on the
skinny side, I can highly recommend a walk
on the light side!
“The accommodations
were absolutely top
notch and the hunt
had been planned
out perfectly by Eli.”
“The camaraderie was
one of family while in
camp and we are already
planning our next
adventure with Superior
African Hunting Safaris.”
Cameron Michael
Susie Ellwood
www.superiorsafaris.com
US Contact: Jeffrey Austin Email: [email protected] Phone: 830.313.8724
Wieland On Ammunition
New Woodleigh Manual
a “Strong Buy”
There are two men to whom
shooters of big-bore rifles, and
especially old British doubles,
owe a huge debt: Geoff
McDonald, of Woodleigh
Bullets, and Graeme Wright,
author of a landmark book,
first published in 1996, entitled
Shooting the British Double
Rifle.
W
oodleigh bullets are unique
in that they duplicate the
diameters,
weights,
and
configuration of the original nitro-express
bullets as loaded by Eley-Kynoch. Without
them, it would be next to impossible to
even shoot many of the old English guns,
much less get them to put their bullets
where they’re supposed to go.
But McDonald’s Woodleighs, in both
the bonded (Weldcore) softs, and FMJ
solids, are more than that: They are also
made to hold their own with the very best
controlled-expansion bullets for hunting
dangerous game. In other words, this is not
just an exercise in nostalgia. Nor are they
limited to arcane diameters like .411 and
.489. Woodleighs are available in standard
diameters as well.
Graeme Wright’s book, now in its third
edition, explains a great deal about double
128
Wieland On Ammunition
rifles and how to get them shooting, and
provides a great deal of loading data to
get you started. It includes black-powder
loads, as well as nitro-for-black, and fullbore nitro-express loads with smokeless
powders.
Now, McDonald and Wright have
collaborated to produce Woodleigh’s first
loading manual, covering all its bullets,
and providing data for most modern
cartridges with which you might want
to load Woodleighs. And believe me,
Woodleighs can compete in performance
with the best hunting bullets produced
anywhere, even in such all-American
diameters as the .270.
Over the past 40 or 50 years, Australia
became the pre-eminent spot for English
doubles, partly because of its large
populations of imported animals like
Asian buffalo, and partly because of
the influx of old doubles from India, as
that country outlawed hunting and gun
ownership. Australians learned to shoot
these arcane weapons, and it was almost
as normal for an Australian hunter to
own a British double as for an American
to own a Winchester or Sharps. They
became experts in their use.
The buffalo population allowed Geoff
McDonald, a big-game hunter himself,
to field-test his bullets and perfect their
designs based on actual experience, not
merely on shooting into ballistic gelatin.
Today, we have a plethora of loading
manuals available from bullet and powder
companies, but Woodleigh’s book is
different in several ways. First, it provides
data for many cartridges not found
elsewhere, such as the .275 H&H and
.280 Flanged (using a .287 bullet), and
the .333 Jeffery. Second, it provides data
for doubles that closely approximate the
original ballistics, with which the rifle was
regulated. You are not left to use trial and
error, and hope for the best.
As with Graeme Wright’s book, where
appropriate, the new manual also gives
black-powder and nitro-for-black loads
using Woodleigh bullets.
Australia
produces
many
fine
smokeless powders, some of which are
imported to the U.S. by Hodgdon. In
the modern world, no matter what the
name, it is difficult to know whether
you are shooting an American powder,
or Australian, Canadian, Scottish, or
Finnish. Woodleigh gives loads for such
stalwart American powders as H4831 and
IMR-4350, as well as Reloder, Accurate
Arms, Vihtavuori, and the Norma line.
I do have one tiny cavil: In their
introduction to the .280 Flanged (Charles
Lancaster’s adaptation of the .280 Ross
for double rifles), they perpetuate a
couple of the myths about both the .280
Ross cartridge, and the Ross rifle. Since
Woodleigh .288s are one of the few
commercial bullets now available that
allow you to shoot the Ross, this is not
“The buffalo population
allowed Geoff McDonald,
a big-game hunter himself,
to field-test his bullets and
perfect their designs based
on actual experience, not
merely on shooting into
ballistic gelatin.”
helpful, and it would have been nice if
they had provided load data for it, as well.
However, for Ross lovers out there, the
.280 Flanged data is a good starting point.
In the first section, dealing with
modern rifles and cartridges, the book
follows standard practice in giving both
starting and maximum loads. In the
second section, on older cartridges and
those intended for doubles, they give
just one load – that which approximates
the original ballistics. These can be finetuned, of course, to adjust accuracy, going
up or down a bit as necessary. MacDonald
and Wright make the point that these
cartridges were intended to reach a certain
level of performance, and there is no good
reason to try to exceed this. Also, this is
the velocity range for which Woodleigh
bullets are designed. I believe they’re right.
Finally, Woodleigh has ventured into
more modern bullet development with
their new “Hydrostatically Stabilized”
(Hydro) solid, and the book covers its
history, theory, and loading as well.
Altogether, this is a well-done,
exceedingly useful book, put together by
hunters and shooters who really know
their field. It belongs on the shelf of
any hunter or shooter, whether he owns
a Holland Royal, merely wishes he did
(that’s most of us), or sticks to modern
bolt-action hunting rifles. Paired with
Wright’s Shooting the British Double Rifle,
it is a compendium of history as well as
a source of excellent data with modern
powders.
african hanting gazette Feb2015.indd 2
24/02/2015 12:18
Knife Guide
Arno Bernard Knives
K N I V E S
A
rno Bernard is proud to introduce
his 2015 Featured Knife. Although
it was created with the professional
hunter in mind, everyone will want to
carry this perfectly balanced new model
into the field.
The S35VN steel is high-quality
performance steel, known for its superior
edge retention, toughness, and incredible
stain resistance in corrosive environments.
Each knife is hand-polished and then
finished with a ceramic bead tumbler to
give it a high polish that is more resistant
to scratching and wear. Exotic warthog
ivory tusk and durable sheep horn were
selected as handle materials because of
their ability to hold up to heavy use and
still maintain the beautiful luster that is
indicative of an Arno Bernard knife. As
an extra touch, each knife has a lanyard
hole, and comes with a horizontal side
sheath made from Cape buffalo hide.
2015 Featured Knife
Model #: 2015FK
Handle Material: Warthog ivory tusk or
sheep horn
Steel: S35VN
Hardness: 59-60Rc
OAL: 7.5”
Blade length: 3.75”
Sheath: Horizontal side sheath
Arno Bernard USA
10044 Hooper Road Suite A
Baton Rouge, LA 70818
Tel: 1.225.308.9301
Website: www.arnobernard.com
Carlton R. Evans – The Bobcat Knife
N
amed “Bobcat,” this knife is a dual-action Linerlock
folder, with serial number 551. You can open the knife
two ways: manually or by pressing the oval shield
inlay. The knife’s features include: a stainless Damascus blade,
bolster, spacer, and oval shield inlay. The handle and the beads
on the lanyard are ancient mammoth ivory.
There are many ways to personalize your knife. For example,
this client has chosen to have his name on the oval shield inlay in
the handle.
Carlton’s trademark is the leather lanyard with beads made
from the same material as the handle. Each knife is individually
handcrafted by Carlton from the design concept to the meticulously
hand rubbed finish. A Certificate of Authenticity is included with
every knife. Carlton’s knives are signed and numbered; and will come
equipped with a handmade leather sheath.
Blade Length:
2.68”
Closed Length: 3.78”
Overall Length: 6.46”
Carlton R. Evans
Phone: 817.886.9231
Website: carltonevans.com
130
Knife Guide
Dennis Friedly Knives – “Birds”
Welcome to a true handmade adventure.
F
riedly Knives has been an industry mainstay in
the field of handmade knives for over 40 years.
Putting his work in collections and in the field,
Dennis is recognized worldwide as one of the top makers
of the trade. Combining the advanced technology of
modern steels with the finest handle materials, Dennis
offers knives of superior quality and craftsmanship
to meet every need of both the collector and the
outdoorsman.
‘’Birds’’ is a museum-quality lockback folder. Designed
with 5’’ stainless steel scales, it lends itself to full coverage
engraving from one of the finest artisans cutting today.
It is completed with an engraved lock bar and spring
encompassed by full file-worked liners. Whether a highend art piece or for utilitarian needs, don’t settle for
anything but the finest – insist on a Friedly knife.
To view more fine work, go to the web gallery at www.
friedlyknivs.com
Friedly Knives
Tel: 1.307.527.6811
Gaétan Beauchamp
K
nifemaker Gaétan Beauchamp
lives in the city of Stoneham,
Québec, Canada. His home is
nestled in a picturesque valley with the
Huron River in his backyard. Stoneham is
about a 15-minute drive north of Québec
City, one of the most historical settlements
in the province.
As a talented artist, Gaétan has gained
international fame for his award-winning
knives and scrimshaw, including in 1995
the Judges Award (Detroit) and the Prix
Coup de Coeur (Cannes, France). In
2014, he won Best in Show and Best Full-
Color Scrimshaw in Wickford,
Rhode Island for his twin-knife,
Tiger. At the 2014 Italian knife
show in Milan, he won Best
Straight Knife of the show.
Though each of Gaétan’s
creations is different, his work
is easily recognized, especially
in his depiction of wildlife and
human faces. His steel choices
include ATS-34, 440 C, O1, and
Damascus. Bolster material is
usually 416 stainless steel. Handle
choices are almost unlimited,
ranging from stabilized wood,
ivory, and water buffalo horn
to malachite and lapis lazuli
gemstone.
Gaétan Beauchamp
Tel: 1.418.848.1914
Website: www.gbeauchamp.ca
Knife Guide
Loyd McConnell’s Cactus Custom Knives
M
y knife-making career started as a result of a
broken hunting knife. I couldn’t afford to buy a
new one, so I decided to make one myself. That
beginning was 40 years ago! I went full-time in 1989 – I
enjoy the process so much. I’ve made knives for Beretta,
Orvis, Tiffany’s, gunmakers E.J. Churchill, and I still make
them for Holland & Holland.
I’ve used just about every type of handle material, but I prefer
fossil ivories. Bowies are a favorite of mine, with dirks and
daggers a close second. I also make a variety of folding knives
with exotic materials such as Timascus™ (a type of forged
titanium), gold quartz, and different stones such as jasper,
lapis, and others.
In 2009, I started doing my own engraving after daily
practice for more than three years. The hunting knife pictured
here has a 4½” blade and measures almost 10” overall, with
Cape buffalo horn and my engraving.
Loyd McConnell
Cactus Custom Knives
Website: www.ccknives.com
Thomas & Debi Rucker Handmade Knives
O
ur award-winning team, Debi
and Thomas Rucker, builds
some of the finest hunting and
utility knives available today. Our designs
are unique and are highly recognized by a
wide range of users and collectors.
Whether you seek a trophy knife, a
solid user for the field, a collection or
investment knife, we offer what few
other knifemakers can: award-winning
scrimshaw and engraving. Our steel is the
finest available and always made in the
USA. Our handle materials range from
exotic woods to fossilized ivory.
You can find us online, or exhibiting at
a safari or sportsman’s show. Or, just call
us, and let’s design together the knife you
want to use or collect. Our knives pass
from generation to generation.
Thomas and Debi Rucker
Tel: 1.832.216.8122
Website: www.knivesbythomas.com
132
A Hunter Speaks Out!
What we Hunters are Facing
By Jerry Bullock
I’ve read and reread William Frost’s column, “Separating Fact from Fiction,” in
AHG 19.1, and, like him, have struggled with the same issues for the past 45 years.
A
s an active member and officer
in a long string of conservation
organizations, starting with a small
sportsman’s club in 1968 to a 10-year stint
as president of a SCI chapter, I battled with
the same anti-hunter irrationalities.
What exactly are hunters facing? What
is at risk?
The obvious irrationality of antihunting organizations is purposeful and
deliberate.
The leaders of these organizations know
that the facts hunters present about the
benefits of sport trophy hunting in Africa
to wildlife and to local communities are
true. But they’re not interested in facts
or reasonable, open discussion. They’re
pandering to their donors’ primarily urban
ignorance to keep the donations coming,
most of which do not end up benefitting
the animals they claim to be helping.
Most individual donors don’t know how
these anti-hunting groups spend their
money. The majority is consumed in staff
salaries and perks, and non-stop litigation
clogging the courts. They must keep the
money-pipeline full, and search for each
new controversy to confront. Then they
spout lies and dupe their supporters into
making contributions.
Two major organizations in the States,
134
the Humane Society of the United
States and PETA, combined raise over
$150 million dollars annually. Their
membership, or rather constituency, is
estimated at 13 million. They swarm the
courts with lawsuits and continually create
ballot initiatives to stop or hinder some
form of hunting or trapping in several
states each year.
They find issues to fight, like the black
rhino hunt donation, initiated by the
Dallas Safari Club, as a major fund-raiser
for rhino conservation and anti-poaching
in Southern Africa, which also serves as a
good example of hunting’s financial role
in wildlife conservation. The antis choose
hysteria, and attack or omit scientific or
economic facts; they prey on the ignorance
of their “followers” and celebrate their
self-serving feeling of moral superiority
by trumpeting their intention to stop “all
the slaughter.” They are rich and they are
dishonest, and they are not willing to
accept hard facts.
For these groups, the ends justify the
means. In this case: ending all hunting,
fishing and trapping, and giving animals
equal legal status with humans, which
could lead to mandatory vegetarianism
or veganism. To stop the use of all
animals in medical research, regardless the
contribution it makes to the reduction
of human – and animal – disease and
suffering. The outlawing of pets.
Antis keep people completely ignorant
of the benefits of hunting for the future
of wildlife.
Our task should be to educate against
the duplicity of these groups.
Children and older students are prime
targets.
Anti-hunting voices have infiltrated
our 35,000 classrooms and their 868,000
students, spreading their lies with shiny
pamphlets and supposed curriculum
content.
Pamphlets like Your Mommy Kills
Animals and Your Daddy Kills Animals
contain graphic images of Mommy and
Daddy killing animals with a knife. College
students receive pamphlets to teach them
how to become vegan.
These publications represent the
long-term investment being made in
mis-educating young people about the
sustainable use of animals.
What are we to do?
First, know our enemy!
This quick summary represents a much
bigger and more diabolical enemy than
many of us may understand. All who hunt,
fish, trap, eat meat, use materials of animal
origin, and own pets, must understand that
The “antis” omit, overlook, or attack scientific evidence
and economic facts. If they could, they would stop all
hunting and fishing, circuses, animal testing, and the
owning of pets.
these individuals intend to dupe enough
people with their worldview to power the
snatching away of our liberty and impose
their worldview on us – to control everyone
according to their own image.
Our enemies are patient. They can wait.
They know time is on their side. And when
the wildlife begins to suffer, as it inevitably
will, like in Kenya since the 1977 hunting
ban, all we will hear from them is silence.
Understand the threat.
If you knew for certain that in 12
months from now, government minions
would outlaw all hunting, fishing, meat
consumption, and pet ownership – would
you act? That’s the reality we are facing.
It may not be in 12 months, but it’s
already happening incrementally, a tiny
slice of liberty at a time. And our future
is somewhere out there in time. They are
working at it every day, while we don’t
know enough about their power and
blind ourselves to the threat, and content
ourselves with our limited, too-little-toolate measures.
What are hunters doing to counter the
anti’s propaganda campaign?
I’m unaware of what’s being done overseas,
but there are some good programs in the
United States. Many of our conservation
groups have excellent youth programs
in which young people can join outdoor
sessions where they fish, hunt, pull bows
and fire various hunting weapons.
SCI has programs like “Safari in a
Box,” when a hunter gives a teacher a big
box containing antlers, skins, and animal
skulls, along with lesson plans and games
that involve facts about wildlife and
information about game management.
SCI also has its AWLS program, which
provides a week-long training session in the
Wyoming mountains for teachers from all
parts of the country, including inner-city
teachers who’ve never been out of town.
In addition to class time, the teachers tie
flies, fly fish, pull bows, and shoot hunting
shotguns and rifles.
Teachers often have an intense fear of
weapons, but most get over their fears and
participate in the entire curriculum. Most
go back to their classrooms saying they
better understand the needs of wildlife,
especially the financing for anti-poaching
initiatives and the preservation of habitat,
and the role of sportsmen and the income
they generate for local communities.
This protects teachers from being duped
by their urban press and animal rightest
groups. Although many hundreds of
teachers have been reached, we need to
reach tens of thousands more, everywhere
in the country.
NEW!
Conceived in Germany.
Born in the USA.
Introducing: Leica
ER 5 Series Riflescopes
We’ve taken all that’s great about Leica’s
world-renowned German engineering, optical
performance, and mechanical precision and
created an all-new riflescope lineup, specifically
for the demands of the North American hunter. Six
models, from the close-quarters 1-5x24 to the long
range 5-25x56, each loaded with an extended 5:1
zoom ratio, 4-inch eye relief at all magnifications,
extended windage and elevation adjustment range,
a wide variety of reticles, and much more.
Find out more at leica-sportoptics.com
or visit your Leica dealer.
Leica ER 5 models: 1-5x24 | 1.5-8x32 | 2-10x50 | 3-15x56 | 4-20x50 | 5-25x56
In the United States, the Humane Society and PETA together raise over $150 million dollars per year. Their membership is estimated at 13 million donators.
These are great efforts, but they affect
only a tiny piece of the urban world’s
massive ignorance. For hunting and
wildlife habitat to be robust 50 years
from now, we must multiply 100-fold our
support for effective programs – and to
constantly produce new and better ones.
Organize and attack.
If we want to protect our freedom to
pursue our sport and our wildlife, we
must act now and on a much larger
scale. If “they’re” spending $100,000
per year on advertising their cause, then
we must spend $1,000,000! Our yearly
hunting, fishing, and trapping worldwide
represents hundreds of millions of dollars
in economic activity!
We have the resources.
Raising our spending by 5% or even 1%
would allow hunters to bury anti-hunters
with a widespread, informational program
appropriate for schools at every level, as
well as in print, electronic, and social
media. At present, 70% of Americans
support the right of hunters to hunt, even
though 60-80% of those polled don’t
hunt themselves.
In other continents, I daresay the
numbers might well be much lower. The
majority of people don’t feel strongly either
way. We must focus on that group, before
they are lost to our opponents, because
these anti-hunting groups are focusing on
them to turn them against hunting.
We need a world summit of all true
conservation organizations. In the States,
that would include SCI, DSC, National
Wildlife Federation, Rocky Mountain
Elk Foundation, NRA, and every state
agency of Fish and Game. In Europe: the
CIC. In Africa: PHASA, NAPHA and
136
all other countries’ hunting associations,
and sportsmen’s and tourist federations.
Also every outfitter, game farmer and
rancher, professional hunter, taxidermist,
trophy shipping agent, safari company,
and every company providing equipment
to sportsmen.
These must all put down petty jealousies
and self-serving interests, and combine
forces of trust and cooperation in a
worldwide education effort.
Funding must be forthcoming to
establish an effective strategy for a properly
placed staff to execute through an effective,
worldwide plan that is customized for each
country. “The hunting story” should be
in classrooms, and all over TV and other
media. Mentoring and education for new
hunters must be expanded. Anything less
will fail.
We cannot expect the international press
to cover the good story about hunting.
Most are ignorant of wildlife issues and
many are aligned and staffed by people
sympathetic to anti-hunting groups. We
will have to buy our access to the media.
If we do not act, I assure you we will
lose both our freedoms and our wildlife.
President Obama has stuffed his agencies
with people sympathetic to HSUS and
PETA, and stacks the courts with judges
who hold these same views.
Harvard University created an animal
rights course in 2000. Currently 120 of
196 American law schools have followed
suit. In Austria, Spain, Germany, and Israel
some form of animal rights laws have been
adopted, including primary and secondary
schools prohibiting animal dissections
in biology classes. Circuses with trained
animals have also been banned.
The battle is for the hearts and minds
of everyone. We can’t just shrug off these
people as crazy, fringe minorities. As the
earth’s population shifts to most humans
being city dwellers, the ground becomes
increasingly fertile for these “progressive”
dictators to dupe the ignorant and take
over our lives.
We have an effective story to tell about
how sportsmen originated and funded
almost all the wildlife conservation
worldwide, and the role hunting plays in
the future of conservation. We just need to
tell that story more effectively.
We must realize that the final unraveling
of our freedoms will not be linear. Once
the ignorant among us reach critical
mass and the insidious propaganda finds
increasing numbers of vulnerable minds,
the end will come in an overwhelming
tsunami, a wave so big and high that our
freedoms will be gone in an instant and we’ll
be left bewildered after reaching a point
where nothing can be recovered.
We are in a war to ensure the
continuation of science-based wildlife
management – a point of view our enemies
do not support. If they could succeed at
it, they would end hunting, triumphantly
go home, and leave the wildlife to fend
for itself, both financially and in the
field. That plan’s end-game resulted in a
disastrous decline in wildlife numbers in
Kenya. Like it will in Botswana. We hear
that the Botswana military will take over
the country’s “elephant control.”
We’ve seen this scenario before in so
much of Africa, especially back in the
1970s and ‘80s, with its cruelty, waste,
corruption, criminality, and massive
destruction of wildlife.
Idaho hunter Jerry Bullock has hunted for
more than 60 years, and is a life member
of SCI, NRA, and the Rocky Mountain Elk
Foundation.
For a list of anti-hunting groups
and their activities, to go:
www.boone-crockett.org/images/editor/
file/baier_fairchase_reprint.pdf
This site was created and is maintained
by the Boone and Crockett Club,
the first conservation organization,
formed in the United States in 1887
by Theodore Roosevelt. Their record
book and organization supports only
fair-chase hunting.
Knives in Africa
The Knives We Take to Africa
A glimpse into the blades a hunter can put to use on safari.
By Gary Lewis
T
hree days before I boarded the
plane for South Africa, I got a call
from Jim Allen of Three Sisters
Forge, in Bend, Oregon. Jim said he
wanted to loan me a knife to take on safari.
This particular blade had already seen
action in Afghanistan. Now, it was headed
back into harm’s way. It was no trouble to
add another tool to my kit; it packed easily
alongside my rifle in the gun case.
But this was not just any knife. It was
a big knife! If you want to be called a
greenhorn, carry a big belt knife. At over
17 inches from tang to tip, this was the
longest-edged weapon I’d carried since I’d
cut brush with a machete as a teenager.
There was a moment when one of
my partners started to chide me, but he
stopped when I handed it over. Something
in his combat training past told him this
was no knife to trifle with.
No matter how much experience you
have, when you go someplace new, you’re
a tenderfoot. It takes a few days on the
ground to get comfortable, to learn the
difference between a nyala track and a
waterbuck’s, to spot the biggest ram in a
herd of impala, or catch the shine of kudu
horn in the mopane.
Over the course of the next 10 days of
safari, the big utility blade was used to trim
grass for trophy photos, clear a path for
the vehicle, cut brush for a ground blind,
disable a poacher’s snare, and to dispatch
a black mamba and a baboon. The lesson
was not lost on my PH, Wighardt van der
Gryp. A big blade that can do the work of
an axe is a welcome addition on any hunt.
In truth, a hunter could go on safari
and never employ more than a table knife
to spread butter on his toast at breakfast.
People who like to watch other people
work for them don’t need to bring a knife.
On the other hand, the hunter who travels
without a blade is probably not a hunter
at all.
“The Leatherman Multi-tool took over a
lot of knives’ positions,” Wighardt said. “A
guy should bring two multi-tools, one for
himself and one for the PH,” he joked. On
Four fixed-blade sheath knives (R to L): Knives of Alaska, Three Sisters Forge,
Bitterroot Blades, and Puma. “If a guy wants to carry a knife for self-defense, a fixed
blade is a good choice,” says PH Wighardt van der Gryp.
safari, there’s always something to tighten, a
rattle on the back of the hunting vehicle to
fix, scope mounts to secure, fence wire to
cut, poaching snares to render useless. And
twist-off caps are in short supply; you’ll
want the bottle opener when the sun is up
and there are cold drinks in the chilly bin.
If the hunter wants to help with
skinning, Wighardt recommends a knife
with a gut hook. There are a lot of gut
hooks on the market, and most are suitable
for unzipping small to medium-sized
antelope. The gut hook is also useful for
the initial cuts on back legs and front legs
when not needed for a mount.
On my last hunt, to skin out two wild
hogs, I used the new RaptoRazor, a gut
hook with a skinning blade on the obverse
angle. In less than an hour, I gutted and
skinned them both. The offset handle
is easy to grip and makes it easy to put
pulling power into the cutting stroke. The
skinning blade is employed on a push
stroke.
Wighardt likes to see hunters help in the
construction of hides. “We normally build
blinds out of wet wood, and a saw works
well for that.” In addition to the pangas in
the back of the truck, he likes a cable saw
or a folding saw to make quick work of
branches and, on game, brisket and bone.
A good machete can come in handy. I
like the SOGfari, which measures 23.95”
long, with an 18-inch blade. With a price
of $33.00, it’s not a budget breaker. With
a straight edge and a saw back, the steel
is stainless with a rounded tip to bear the
brunt of a downward stroke. As we expect
from SOG, there’s more to this tool than
its cutting edges. Out of the back of the
Knives in Africa
PH Wighardt van der Gryp’s tracker/
skinner, Phineas, was never far away
from his traveling kit that included
14 knives and a hammer, each with a
specific use in his bush craft.
handle juts a spiked tang for scraping,
gouging, pounding, or worse. The designer
left holes in the handle to accommodate a
length of parachute cord for twisting, tying
and pulling.
Whether it’s brush to clear, trails to blaze,
or wood to chop, in the extreme, a long
blade that’s easy to carry and stow alongside
a rifle in a gun case could be used to build
a shelter or protect oneself in hand-to-claw
or hand-to-fang combat.
“Hunters should bring a knife for cutting
jerky, biltong, and oranges,” Wighardt said.
And a celebratory cigar might need to be
trimmed. “A seven- or eight-inch folding
knife is always useful. If a guy wants to
carry a knife for self-defense, a fixed blade
is a good choice,” Wighardt added.
Another that is very helpful is a
thin knife with a strong blade, “for
administering last rites.” Such a blade
should be six inches long and measure no
more than ¾-inch at its widest.
There’s always a need for a small knife
Contracted to build a survival knife prototype for a search and rescue team pilot, Jim
Allen of Three Sisters Forge built this concept knife. This blade has seen action with a
helicopter pilot in combat, and has now been on safari in Southern Africa.
Knives in
Checked Luggage
When taking knives on safari, the
biggest danger to the collection is in
transit from airport to airport. Knives,
of course, are not allowed in carry-on
bags in the passenger compartment.
Instead, they should be stored away in a
suitcase or in a duffel bag with a lock.
The best bet is to lock knives in a
gun case or carry the blades with your
bullets in a secure box inside of the
checked luggage. For extra insurance,
zip-tie or padlock each zipper pull. GL
138
In less than two hours, Lewis skinned and gutted two wild hogs with the RaptoRazor
system. The easy-to-grip offset handle makes it comfortable to put pulling power into
the cutting stroke. The skinning blade is employed on a push stroke.
sharpener in camp, and a fire starter tool.
I like to carry a roll of Camo Form from
McNett. A reusable heavy-duty fabric
wrap, it comes in handy for quieting gear
or making an expedient handle for a knife
or panga.
There are lots of reasons to take a knife
on safari. One hunter said he only used a
blade at the dinner table; another used his
knife and fire starter to build a blaze when
Knives in Africa
A Tracker/Skinner’s Knife Collection.
“P
hineas wants to show you
his knife collection,” said
Wighardt. Phineas was
Wighardt’s assistant, tall, dark, quiet,
soft-hearted, a good tracker with a ready
smile. I knew him from our first safari.
He started his present career when he
was 14. Now in his late 30s, his large
family includes three wives. To keep all
the mouths fed, he tracks, skins, salts,
and packs hides from May through
October every year.
“Of all the places I’ve been, all the
people I’ve seen, I know only one
guy who can skin faster than him,
but that guy puts holes in the skin,”
Wighardt said.
Phineas sat on his haunches away
from the fire. When Wighardt called, he
retrieved his backpack and laid out the
tools of his trade. As far as I could tell,
there was nothing else in the backpack
except a water bottle.
Some were blades he’d been given as
gifts from clients, others he’d traded for,
but each one had a purpose. In total, he
carried 14 edged tools and a hammer on
every outing.
He arranged the implements in a
circle, and in a low, soft voice explained
how he used each one, starting with
the hammer and proceeding counterclockwise.
• With the hammer, he makes
specialized tools out of thick copper
wire, tools to separate hide from home
in places where knives can’t reach,
primarily on warthogs and baboons,
Shopping
Bitterroot Blades
406-529-0848
www.bitterrootblades.com
Gerber
Myth Field Dress Kit
855-544-0150
www.gerbergear.com
Knives of Alaska
903-786-7366
www.knivesofalaska.com
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
to get into the small places without
cutting holes in the skin.
The next was a simple kitchen blade
for cooking and eating.
Then a combat-style knife with a
paracord handle and a curved blade;
this one and the next one, a purposebuilt fixed blade knife, are his favorite
skinners.
Next was a length of stiff wire with a
flattened point and a wooden handle
wrapped in electrical tape.
The third skinning knife was a folder
that sees duty when the other two
knives grow dull.
The razor blade he uses for precise
straight-line cuts on small animals like
duiker and steenbok.
A small “separating” blade we might
call a caping knife for skinning around
the horn.
The next blade showed extensive
sharpening, a folder he uses to “cut fat
and sinew away from thick skin so salt
can penetrate a centimetre.”
Then a dual-edged blade that looked
like it could stand a paracord handle
wrap; he uses this one to start the ear
and skin it out.
A sidecutter he uses for cutting wire.
The wire implement is a “spoon” he
uses for skinning out ears on animals
like kudu and eland.
The final three knives – a folder and
two fixed with fine, detail-oriented
blades – he uses to cut skin in blocks
and do the close work around the
horns.
McNett Corporation
360-671-2227
www.mcnett.com
RaptoRazor
808-638-8281
www.raptorazor.com
SOG Specialty Knives & Tools
888-405-6433
www.sogknives.com
Three Sisters Forge
541-382-7388
www.threesistersforge.com
Gary Lewis found that a Leatherman
Multi-tool on safari always served one
purpose or another, including rending
useless a poacher’s snare made from
border fence wire.
On his safari for nyala and waterbuck
with PH Wighardt van der Gryp, the
discussion often turned to the most useful
knives a hunting client can bring on
safari.
his PH and trackers left him alone in the
bush with the carcass of a buffalo. In the
dark of night, he was glad he had a blade to
make tinder and get the blaze going.
Bring at least a multi-tool and a folding
knife for camp chores. If you want to help
out, bring a machete or a saw, a gut hook,
and a skinning knife.
From the airport to the tented camp in
the Kalahari, somebody will be there to
take care of you. Or maybe they won’t.
Many of us feel unprepared without at least
one knife on hand. To my way of thinking,
the bush is not a place to be unprepared. I
take my best rifle to Africa and blades I can
depend on.
Gary Lewis is an award-winning author,
TV host, speaker and photographer. He has
hunted and fished in seven countries on three
continents, and in the islands of the South
Pacific. He is a past and current president of
the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association
and a recipient of NOWA’s Enos Bradner
Award.
All photos in this article are by courtesy of
Gary Lewis.
BUBYE VALLEY
CONSERVANCY
All trophies taken in the Bubye Valley Conservancy
Rusty Smith with a good Kudu - PH Mark Brewer
Lynda Havens with an old Giraffe bull – PH John Sharp
Tobias Fischer with a stunning Lion
- PH John Sharp
Lynda Havens with her nice old daggaboy
Matt Kunard with a nice Impala – PH John Sharp
- PH John Sharp
Bill Clark and “Dog” Walker with Bill’s broken pelvis Lion
– mercy
Doug Leech with a nice Jackal
- PHkilling…
John Sharp
John Sharp Safaris
AHG1075
22 Hoopoe Hollow, Burnside, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Zim Cell: +263 712217067 • SA Cell: +27 83 661 5318
Tel: +263 9 246 620 • RSA E-Fax: +27 86 621 2753
E-mail: [email protected] • Website: www.john-sharp-safaris.com
140
Become part of the Motsomi Family!!!
Contact : Pieter and Ria Potgieter
Cell : +27 83 442 0578 (Pieter)
US Cell : 215 317 6274
Cell : +27 83 404 0111 (Ria)
Fax : +27 866 138 799
Website: www.motsomi.com
AHG1023
Motsomi Safaris
AHG1087
Safari Taxidermy
47 Goud Street, Laboria, Polokwane, Limpopo, South Africa, 0699
PO Box 235, Ladanna, Polokwane, Limpopo, South Africa, 0704
Tel: +27 15 293 2674/5 • Fax: +27 15 293 1246
Email: [email protected] • Website: www.safaritaxidermy.co.za
142
“Illusive…? Make your african dreams a reality!”
Doug Bezzant – [email protected]
Dan Cantlon – [email protected]
Ron Seaton – [email protected]
Rill Banks – [email protected]
Anastasia Pjevach – [email protected]
Sadaka
Safaris
Contact Person: Ewert Vorster
Office Phone +27 14 735 0113 • Cell: +27 82 459 4436
Email: [email protected] • [email protected]
Website: www.sadakasafaris.com
AHG999
Dan Cantlon – [email protected]
This is a first for the hunting industry, and a first for Africa:
Because we are financially and editorially independent, publishing our own magazine and hosting our
African Hunting Expos - along with being based in Africa as well as in North America - this unique
outfitter verification program answers a call from the international hunter.
Whether you’re a serious big-game hunter, or dreaming of your first African safari but believe it’s too
difficult to make it a reality - think again!
Africa is the ultimate destination and home to the widest variety of game available. Equally diverse is the
range of hunting experiences offered by the numerous outfitters across the continent, and which you need
to assess when making your choice. Our job here is to help you make the right decision, based on the
information we provide, having visited the following outfitters and compiled the profile independently.
Over the next few pages is the list of members and please visit
www.africanhuntinginfo.com for more information and complete profiles.
Motsomi Safaris
Pro Hunting Africa Safaris
MEBENCA in Afrika Safaris is Spanish owned,
on 10000 hectares of pristine African savannah.
The ranch is in South Africa’s Limpopo province,
near the Botswana border. Enjoy luxury
accommodation with 34 animal species to hunt.
Motsomi Safaris is a family run outfit. Pieter & Ria’s
beautiful lodges are in pristine African bush veldt,
catering for rifle and bow hunters, guaranteeing
an unbelievable hunting experience, nothing is too
much to ask; even the blinds are comfortable!
Kobus Potgieter, with an extensive knowledge
of the African Wildlife, will ensure Pro Hunting
Africa Safaris is a memorable experience and
believes selective hunting plays a major role in
maintaining natures balance.
Tel: +27 81 018 1771
Web: www.mebencainafrika.org
Tel: +27 83 404 0111
Web: www.motsomi.com
Tel: +27 82 822 0850
Web: www.prohuntingafrica.co.za
Mebenca in Afrika Safaris
144
AAA Serapa Safaris
AAA Serapa Safaris ensures a safe and
exclusive hunting safari, with the highest
quality personalized service offering you an
unforgettable experience & they will make
your hunting dreams come true.
Tel: + 27 82 556 0760 (Apie)
Web: www.lionhuntingsafaris.com
Quagga Safaris
Magersfontein Safaris
Quagga Safaris has been offering quality and
affordable safaris since 1991. Over the years it has
built up to one of South Africa’s premier Safari
destinations and they fine tune all the little detail
that make each client have a dream hunting
experience. It’s all about personal attention.
Magersfontein Safaris offer hunters the choice
of bow, handgun or rifle hunting with various
game packages and no hunt is ever too big or
small for them. They also pride themselves in
that they can assist handicapped hunters to
enjoy a great hunting experience.
Tel: +27 83 668 3240
Web: www.quagga.co.za
Tel: +27 83 251 6122
Web: www.magersfonteinsafaris.co.za
Dries Visser Safaris
Tsessebe Safaris
eZulu Safaris
Dries Visser Safaris combines the hunting experience
and dedication with the art of hunting, with personal
care and attention to provide hunters with an
experience of a lifetime. The best concessions, skilled
and experienced professional hunters are used.
Tsessebe is a 100% Spanish company managed
from South Africa. Jose’s goal is to make safaris
an unforgettable hunting experience for his
clients, always finding a high quality trophies as
well as offering a good service.
Our hunting areas are located in South Africa’s malaria
free Eastern Cape province, home to unique African
species, and we offer some of the very best dangerous
and plains game hunting in the country. Our
magnificent trophies have been carefully preserved.
Tel: +27 83 282 4822
Web: www.dvisser-safaris.com
Tel: +27 78 580 0104
Web: www.tsessebe.com
Tel: +27 40 845 1100
Web: www.ezulugamereserve.com
FM Safaris
FM Safaris Private Game Ranch has very unique
vegetation types, which broadly classified into
Nama Karoo, Kalahari and Karoo mountain
vegetation. This variety of vegetation creates rich
biodiversity, which provide suitable habitats for a
wide variety of fauna and flora.
Tel: +27 83 264 8725
Web: www.fmsafaris.co.za
Greater Kuduland Safaris
Southern Cross Safaris
Greater Kuduland Safaris owns 70 000 acres, with
over 35 species of game. They offer fair chase on
large unspoilt areas. Not only will you be hunting
on some of South Africa’s largest privately owned
reserves, but will also be amongst 4 of the “Big 5”.
Southern Cross Safaris is a family owned
business in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.
Our clients will enjoy superb hospitality with
the best hunting opportunities available here, as
well as in Mozambique & Tanzania.
Tel: +27 15 539 0720
Web: www.greaterkudulandsafaris.co.za
Tel: +27 48 886 0606
Web: www.southerncrosshunting.net
Lalapa Safaris
Mabula Pro Safaris
Wild Footprint Safaris
Hunting with Lalapa Safaris is an experience
unlike any other available. From the first time
hunter looking for an experience of a lifetime to
a seasoned veteran looking for a new adventure,
we have got you covered!
Christo, Stella and the Mabula Pro Safari team
will ensure that your African Safari will be the
experience of a Lifetime. We offer the discerning
hunter - both bow and rifle - the opportunity to
take home the best while catered for in luxury.
Pieter-Louis started doing hunting safaris in South
Africa professionally in 1992. Now situated in the
North West of South Africa, Wild Footprint offers
you a personally guided experience of a life time on
hunting safaris throughout Southern Africa.
Tel: +27 83 654 3697
Web: www.lalapasafaris.co.za/
Tel: +27 832555069
Web: www.mabulaprosafaris.co.za
Tel: +27 14 594 1901
Web: www.wildfootprintsafaris.co.za
Kwalata Wilderness
Daggaboy Safaris
Authentic African Adventures
Kwalata Wilderness, a true hunters’ paradise, hosts
4 of the big 5 on its privately owned 32 000 acre
expanse in the Waterberg mountains of South
Africa’s Limpopo province. Here you will not only
enjoy fair chase hunting but admire prolific wildlife
and some of the most scenic terrain in Africa.
Daggaboy Safaris, under the expert guidance of
owner outfitter Gerhard Vos plus the luxuriously
comfortable lodge, will give any hunter and
unforgettable experience!
Owner Hanno van Rensburg has a special passion
for people, nature and the African Bush, where he
grew up. He later became a Professional Hunter
and Outfitter and has given over 300 clients an
unforgettable experience in Africa.
Tel: +27 14 755 4104
Web: www.kwalata.com
Tel: +27 71 656 1914
Web: www.authenticafricanadventures.org
Trophy Safaris cc
Safari Trails International
Eulalie Safaris is in the Limpopo province of
South Africa and the lodge is on the side of
the Koedoesrant Mountain, an area known for
notoriously large kudu. Isan’s wealth of hunting
knowledge will make your dreams come true.
Trophy Safaris is privately run by Douw & Bekker
Pelser, a professional hunting company, which offers
its clients a unique and exclusive adventure, whilst
maintaining the highest standards in personal service
and hunting ethics.
Tel: +27 82 375 7244
Web: www.eulaliehunting.com
Tel: +27 14 763 5598
Web: www.trophysafaris.co.za
Russell Lovemore is the owner, Professional
Hunter and outfitter of Safari Trails International.
With 15 years’ experience in the Safari Hunting
industry he is therefore well equipped to make sure
you have a wonderful hunting experience and a
truly memorable safari.
Eulalie Hunting Safaris
146
Tel: +27 82 653 3129
Web: www.dbsafaris.com
Tel: +27 83 303 7600
Web: www.safari-international.com
Savannah South Safaris
Adansonia Safaris
TDK Safaris
The Eastern Cape boasts healthy herds of more
than 30 species of antelope as well as numerous
game birds varieties. Our hunting areas, rich in
both historical interest and scenic beauty, are
carefully selected to offer the highest quality in
trophy hunting.
Overlooking the Waterberg Mountains, Mof
& Minnie, your host and hostess will give you
a great South African welcome and guide you
with your choice for an unforgettable African
Safari experience.
TDK Safaris is built on trust and integrity
and believe in ethical and responsible hunting
through sustainable utilization. They operate
in South Africa on their own property as well
as carefully select their concessions offering
an amazing 35 different species!
Tel: +27 82 567 4973
Web: www.savannahsouthsafaris.com
Cheetah Safaris
Tel: +27 82 898 1974
Web: www.adansonia.co.za
Johan Pieterse Safaris
Cheetah Safaris and Sable Safaris Zambia is a
company that can offer you all the dangerous and
plains game of Southern Africa. Situated on the
banks of the Matlabas River, guests can fish, game
view and bird watch from the luxury lodge.
Johan, owner of Johan Pieterse Safaris, will be
your host during your safari. He will take you
hunting with camera, rifle, handgun or bow.
Experience the abundance of African Wildlife,
traditional cuisine and magic sunsets.
Tel: +27 82 576 2043
Web: www.cheetahsafaris.co.za
Tel: +27 83 268 6524
Web: www.jpsafaris.co.za
Wintershoek Safaris
Wintershoek OWN over 110 000 acres in four
unique areas in the Northern Cape Province of
South Africa. We also have access to some of the
best Big Game Hunting/Hunting areas in the rest
of South Africa.
Tel: +27 53 204 0042
Web: www.wintershoekjvs.com
Phillip Bronkhorst Safaris
Tel: +27 73 368 4190
Web: www.tdksafaris.com
Bandur Safaris
Bandur Safaris has for the last 22 years
established a reputation for sustaining large
herds of game that can be hunted as well as
offering top quality trophies.
Tel: +27 82 775 8045
Web: www.bandur.co.za
Spiral Horn Safaris
Phillip Bronkhorst Safaris is renowned for their
personal attention to detail letting you enjoy a truly
memorable experience and a lifetime of friendship are
just some of the factors important to them.
Spiral Horn Safaris is three miles from the border
of Botswana on the Limpopo River. Join Louis for
a true hunting experience! They specialize in both
bow hunting and rifle hunting in South Africa.
Tel: +27 82 552 7269
Web: www.pbsafaris.com
Tel: +27 76 577 6292
Web: www.spiralhorn.co.za
Tusker Safaris
Limcroma Safaris
Tusker Safaris offers a focused bow hunting
service. Jan and Hettie thrive on realizing their
clients’ primary needs with personalized attention.
They take the expectations of their clients and turn
them into reality.
Limcroma Safaris is situated in the Limpopo
Province of South Africa. Professional Hunter
Hannes Els will be your host for an unforgettable
African safari vacation. This region is one of the
best hunting destinations in South Africa.
Tel: +27 83 730 1297
Web: www.tuskersafaris.co.za
Tel: +27 83 627 0350
Web: www.limcroma.com
With over 40 years combined professional
hunting experience between them, Nico and
Will guarantee to share their skills and make
your bow hunting dreams a reality.
Tel: +27 82 6145731
Web: www.pelserbowhunting.com
Bushmen Safaris
Sadaka Safaris
Liam Urry Safaris
Bushmen Safaris has years of experience in
Africa and our trips will evoke a lifetime of
memories. As bow hunters, our clients have
placed more than 125 animals in the top 10 of
the World Record Books.
Situated in untamed Africa, Sadaka Safaris is a
mere 2 hours from Johannesburg. Your hosts,
Ewert and Karen will personally insure that all
your requirements and needs are catered for and
guarantee to exceed all your expectations of an
African Hunting Safari.
Liam Urry Safaris is privately owned and take
pride in providing a quality of service and a level of
exclusiveness guaranteed to give you a true “African
experience”. We operate throughout South Africa
and Africa, with many prime hunting areas.
Tel: +27 82 616 1942
Web: www.bushmensafaris.com
Dumukwa Safaris
148
Pelser Bowhunting Safaris
Tel: +27 82 459 4436
Web: www.sadakasafaris.com
Kuvhima Safaris
Tel: +27 82 390 5861
Web: www.lusafaris.co.za
Graham Jones Safaris
Dumukwa Safaris is literally on the banks
of the Limpopo river. Thick riverine bush
and open savannah for hunting and a
comfortable lodge will make this a truly
unique hunting experience.
Kuvhima Safaris provide hunters the opportunity
to hunt a wide selection of game on various
concessions. From the main lodge the hills are
home to leopard and have caves with ancient
Bushman paintings. The accommodation is 5 star.
“Over the years, it has been invaluable to hear
from our guests that what they will treasure most,
is knowing they lived a safari the way it once was
offered and are both grateful and delighted they
experienced it The Proper way”.
Tel: +27 82 378 0733
Web: www.dumukwa.com
Tel: +27 14 765 0252
Web: www.kuvhima.co.za
Tel: +27 82 343 7663
Web: thesafarisofgrahamjones.com
Numzaan Safaris
Rhinoland Safaris
Impisi Safaris
Numzaan Safaris’ main lodge is top class and the
food is traditionally South African. The big 5 and
all the plains game are offered under the guidance
of experienced professional hunters.
Rhinoland lodge offers 5 star accommodation
that will make your hunting experience even
more memorable. The diversity of terrain
supports a large variety of mammals, including
elephant and rhino.
Family-owned Impisi Safaris, a world-class
hunting destination on 13000 acres of private
land in the Limpopo Province, offers over 25
different plains-game plus Big Five species.
Tel: +27 82 498 7061
Web: numzaan.com
Tel: +27 83 230 1998
Web: www.rhinoland.co.za
Tel: +27 72 803 4723
Web: www.impsisisafaris.com
Limpopo Safaris
Otterskloof Safaris
Stanley Pieterse Safaris
Limpopo Safaris is 45 000Ha lies in South
Africa’s northernmost corner, and here you can
hunt in magnificent and undisturbed bushveld.
It has been known for its great wealth of game,
and the high quality of it trophies.
Otterskloof Private Game Reserve is on 14000
ha of pristine bushveld and is located in one of
the most scenic biodiversity’s in South Africa
and have three luxury and exclusive lodges in
the southern Freestate province.
Stanley Pieterse Safaris is in the heart of the
South African Limpopo valley and numerous
species of animals occur in this area. We cater
for rifle and bow hunting, from the beginner
to the serious trophy hunter.
Tel: +27 15 534 2403
Web: www.limpoposafaris.com
Tel: +27 82 697 6014
Web: www.otterskloof.com
Tel: +27 82 484 1826
Web: www.spsafaris.com
Kikuyu Lodge
Shi-Awela Safaris
Intrepid Safaris
Kikuyu Lodge is in the Eastern Cape Province
on the Bushman’s river and encompasses over 30
square miles of pristine wilderness. This is truly a
natural paradise with over 200 different species of
birds and a large variety of game animals.
Ken and Jo Ball offer guests a home away from
home. With 23 years catering to the international
hunter, they truly believe in Conservation through
Utilization, celebrating each animal harvested as
part of managing their “5th generation” property.
On our private preserve located a mere 5 miles
from the Limpopo River, our guests can view
and hunt a huge variety of game animals. Among
these are Cape Buffalo, Rhino, Sable, Leopard,
Giraffe, Kudu and many, many more.
Tel: +27 82 578 1827
Web: www.kikuyulodge.com
Tel: +27 82 549 9500
Web: www.shiawela.com
Tel: +27 83 633 5197
Web: www.intrepidsafaris.co.za
Roger Whittall Safaris
Didimala Safaris
Falcon Safaris
Founded in 1977, Roger Whittall Safaris is in its
4th decade of big game hunting safaris. Roger
and Guy operate in prime areas in Zimbabwe and
Mozambique, providing quality fair chase hunting
safaris to the discerning African hunter and an
adventure of a lifetime.
It would be a pleasure to have you join Didimala
Safaris in creating the most memorable African
Safari Experience possible. We believe that we are
able to offer you an unforgettable Safari whilst
operating under the highest ethical standards.
Falcon Safaris is a privately owned Game Reserve
encompassing 4000 Hectares of pristine Bushveld,
ranging from open savannah to mountainous
terrain. We have in excess of 15 species available
for hunting for bow and rifle hunters.
Tel: +27 83 294 5347
Web: www.didimalasafaris.co.za
Tel: +27 14 786 0238
Web: www.falconsafaris.co.za
Tel: +263 774 186 005
Web: www.rogerwhittallsafaris.com
J P Big Game Safaris
Ekland Safaris
Bush Africa Safaris
J P Big Game Safaris is a company specializing
in African trophy hunting safaris. We pride
ourselves as leaders in our field as we specialize
in Big 5 hunting adventures. Our staff has vast
experience in the ability to guide clients on a
once in a lifetime big game safari.
Highly-skilled hunters, personalized service and
customized packages make Ekland the hunting
destination of choice, where a unique link between
wildlife conversation, sport and safety is carefully
managed for sustainability and enjoyment.
Owned and operated by Schalk and Terina van
Heerden, safaris are conducted from the main
(5 star) lodge on 10 000 acres of private land as
well as many thousands of acres privately owned
under concession of Bush Africa Safaris.
Tel: +27 15 517 8300
Web: www.eklandsafaris.com
Tel: +27 82 452 0749
Web: www.bushafricasafaris.co.za
Tel: +27 73 213 7902
Web: www.jpsafaris.com
150
Omujeve Hunting Safaris
Bergzicht Safaris
Realise your lifelong dream of a perfect African
Safari. We cater to your hunting needs and to your
spouse and children with Windhoek city tours
and shopping, game drives and fishing; all of this,
luxury accommodation and exquisite cuisine!
Bergzicht Game Lodge is a beautiful Namibian
hunting ranch containing 22 different species
of African plains game and offers you an
opportunity to experience a trophy hunting trip,
specifically planned around these African animals.
Discover the exotic, breathtaking country of
Namibia. Share in the excitement of stalking
magnificent trophies through the brush veld,
one-on-one with your guide. Hunting on this
private game farm is a dream come true.
Tel: +264 811 280 041
Web: www.omujevesafaris.com
Tel: +264 81 128 4825
Web: www.bergzicht-hunting.com
Tel: +264 62 560 007
Web: www.namibiahunting.net
Klawerberg - Namibia
Westfalen Hunting Safaris
“DON’T CHANGE YOUR HUNTING
STYLE, CHANGE YOUR HUNTING
DESTINATION”. Situated in North Western
Namibia, Westfalen is a private hunting area
of 37 000 acres, offering FREE RANGING
plains game.
Aru Game Lodge
Etosha Heights Game Safaris
Covering an area in excess of 65 000 acres, the two
well established game farms, Veronica and Kalakwa,
diverse in landscape and natural surroundings,
offer an unforgettable and truly African hunting
experience...a piece of heaven in Namibia.
Treat yourself to a hunting safari operating out of
the luxurious Etosha Heights Game Safaris base
camp with a selection of two lodges bordering the
renowned Etosha National Park in Namibia, with
a vast 65,000 hectare private wildlife reserve.
Tel: +264 62 560049
Web: www.arugamelodge.com
Tel: +264 81 262 4 372
Web: www.etoshahunting.com
Uhlenhorst Safaris
Nick Nolte Hunting Safaris
Daggaboy Hunting Safaris
Uhlenhorst Hunting Safaris has been a family
business for over 40 years. Here you will
experience a variety of landscapes from red sand
dunes, dense bush to open acacia veld. Uhlenhorst
is on the border of the beautiful Kalahari Desert.
Nick Nolte Hunting Safaris invites you to
experience a hunting safari in magnificent
Namibia, one of Africa’s most politically stable
countries. Hunt more than 20 species of plains
game available on free roaming concessions of
approximately 100,000 hectares.
Daggaboy Hunting Safaris is in the mountainous
area known as the Khomas Hochland & offers
plains game on a 8000ha ranch as well as
concessions for dangerous game in the Eastern
Caprivi of northern Namibia.
Tel: +264 81 278 2764
Web: www.westfalenhuntnamibia.com
Tel: +264 812 944 676
Web: www.huntuhlenhorst.com
Tel/Fax: + 264 64 570888
Web: www.nicknoltesafaris.com
Tel: +264 81 128 1215
Web: www.daggaboy.com
OtjiruzeJagd Guest Farm
Hunters Namibia Safaris
Arub Safaris
Otjiruze was registered as a hunting farm in 1974.
Today we offer you 245 000ha of hunting areas in
Namibian conservancies, with more than 25 species
of game. Here you can hunt limitlessly, and not
see a boundary fence. Since 1990, over 80% of the
trophies taken were awarded a gold medal.
Hunters Namibia Safaris is one of Namibia’s
most experienced and respected safari companies,
offering exceptional trophy game hunting,
luxurious accommodations and a full range of
truly exciting options for the hunter.
Managed by owners Malan and Barista Lambrechts,
this professionally run hunting outfit has been
Malan’s passion for more than 20 years. Our Safari
Ranch is yours while are with us and will make your
walk and stalk hunt one you will never forget.
Tel: +264 81 303 3010
Web: www.huntersnamibia.com
Tel: +264 61 238 772
Web: http://arubhunt.com
Tel: +264 62 503106
Web: www.otjiruze.com
Khomas Highland
Game Hunting
152
Byseewah Safaris
Welcome to Khomas Highland Game Hunting, a
family business run by Dietmar Hennings and his
son Philip. Namibia is, in many ways, the perfect
country for guests who are visiting Africa for a first
time hunting experience.
Ken Morris, founder of World Wide Ethical
Hunters with over 45 of experience, welcomes you
to Byseewah Safaris, covering an area of over 28,000
ha and is situated close to Etosha Pan. The terrain
is diverse, with Mopane forests, acacia woodlands,
open savannah, hills, valleys and a large pan.
Tel: +264 61 232 633
Web: www.khomas-highland-hunting.com
Tel: +264 67 31 2117
Web: www.byseewah.com
Leopard Legend
Hunting Safaris
Leopard Legend Hunting Safaris prides itself
on offering a truly unforgettable lifetime
experience. We go one step further to
accommodate your hunting needs.
Tel: +264 81 236 0833
Web: www.leopardlegend.com/
Afrika Jag Safaris
Gras Hunting Ranch
Onduri Hunting Safaris
Afrika Jag Safaris is based on a hunting farm 100
km south of the Etosha National Park near Outjo.
The Ugab River and magnificent Ugab Terraces
forms a spectacular setting for a unique Bow and
Rifle hunting experience at a competitive price.
The Gras Hunting Ranch is located 232km south
of Windhoek. The hunting area covers over 92,800
acres of pristine savannah. Known for its abundant
wildlife and majestic views, it is considered one of
the most beautiful game ranches in Namibia.
Onduri Hunting Safaris lodge is located 450 km
NW of Windhoek on a 13,000 ha farm, near
Outjo and the Etosha National Park. Due to its
location and hilly landscape, a huge variety of
plains game is offered.
Tel: +264 81 127 2571
Web: www.afrikajag.com
Tel: +264 63 264 141
Web: www.grashuntingranch.com
Tel: +264 67 312 125
Web: www.onduri.com
Progress Safaris
Shona Hunting Adventures
Rosslyn Safaris
At Progress Safaris, we take great care in scouting
each hunting area beforehand and ensuring a
sustainable off take. Mature trophies are our aim
combined with an exhilarating stalk. Each hunting
safari is planned individually.
Shona Hunting Adventures started in 2005 when
Johann Veldsman and his wife, Vera, turned their
ten years’ experience in the tourism industry into a
new venture. They focus on providing an affordable,
personal hunting experience.
Tel: +264 62 560 033
Web: www.progress-safaris.com
Tel: +264 64 697 038
Web: www.shona-adventures.com
Operating for over 40 years, Rosslyn Safaris offers
professional and responsible hunting. Fabulous
leopard, sable and plains game can be hunted
with either bow or rifle. A large, good quality
tented camp and high populations of animals
allow for large groups or individual hunters.
Tel: +263 778 486493
Web: www.rosslynsafaris.com
John Sharp Safaris
De Klerk Safaris
Pro Safaris Africa
John Sharp is one of the most experienced big
game hunters operating in Southern Africa today
& while adhering to his strict ethics, he epitomises
the authentic ‘Great White Hunter’ of legend. John
is a true gentleman and puts the client at the centre
of everything he does.
Pro Safaris Africa is a Zimbabwean hunting
company with access to the best hunting
concessions throughout Zimbabwe and Namibia
for both dangerous and plains game. Every client
gets a personalized, unique hunting experience &
De Klerk Safaris is situated in South Africa in the
Kalahari Desert, a unique ecosystem famous for
its huge, black-maned lions, enormous gemsbok,
Tel: +263 77 221 7067
Web: www.john-sharp-safaris.com
Tel: +263 9 236894
Web: www.pro-saf.com
Tel: +27 82 828 4899
Web: www.dksafaris.com
Eland Safaris
An oasis in the middle of true African bushveld,
Stormberg Elangeni
Tinashe Outfitters
birdwatchers, wildlife photographers, adventurous
African explorers and trophy hunters. Our
luxurious African hospitality awaits you.
At Stormberg Elangeni Safaris, where over 40
species of plains game occur, we ensure your
safari is professionally organized. Most safaris are
from our lodges in the Kat River
and Stormberg Conservancies.
the Botswana border and is renowned for its
large Kalahari lion. Clayton and Sabrina will
ensure clients and families have an unforgettable
experience in pristine African bushveld.
Tel: +27 82 493 6216
Web: www.elandsafaris.co.za
Tel: +27 46 622 9828
Web: www.stormberg-elangeni-safaris.com
Tel: +27 82 339 3124
Web: www.tinashegroup.co.za
Monterra Safaris
Monterra Safaris, on the Limpopo river bordering
new luxury lodge, surrounded by diverse hunting
areas and many animals, will give any hunter a truly
memorable experience.
Africa offers a range of hunting experiences provided by numerous outfitters to match every
need. Based on who we know, what we do and who we have visited, our job is to help you make
the right decision when coming to hunt in Africa.
Our job is to help you make the right decision and, based on what we know,
ultimately give you peace of mind.
Tel: 1 877 378 4440
AHG1001
Tel: +27 82 610 5227
Web: www.monterrasafaris.com
S
AAA Serapa Safaris
Cell: +27 82 5560760 | +27 82 4403937
Email: [email protected] | [email protected]
Website: www.serapasafaris.co.za | www.lionhuntingsafaris.com
AHG749
erapa is an indigenous word that means “the chase” and embodies
all the finer points of the hunt. For almost three and a half
decades, the Reyneke family has been welcoming visitors to their
own piece of Kalahari Eden. All 46000 acres of it. Now its Apie and
Yolande Reyneke’s turn to personally invite you to experience one of the
last great tracts of hunting land. A place we call home, and where we
offer you and your family an unforgettable experience.
O
ur pride – your hunting adventure. Take home rich memories
of adventure and luxury in the African wilderness from our
two Aru Game Lodges on game ranches spanning 147500
acres, two hours’ drive from Windhoek. Here and in the Caprivi, where
we hunt for dangerous game, you’ll encounter an incredible diversity,
guided by skilled professional hunters.
Cell: +26 4(81)129 5536 | Fax: +26 48 864 5376
Website: www.arugamelodges.com
AHG665
Welcome to our family-run, sustainable Namibian hunting experience,
where we take pride in everything we do!
Bergzicht
Game Lodge
B
Hannes & Geraldine du Plessis
Tel: +264 81 128 4825 | +264 81 128 5164
Email: [email protected] | Web: www.bergzicht-hunting.com
154
AHG1071
ergzicht Game Lodge, privately owned by the Du Plessis
family, offers exclusive, custom-made safaris for families,
friends and individuals. Available on 60 000 acres, we
offer 22 plains-game species for rifle and bowhunters. An hour
away from the airport, in a malaria-free area, makes this the ideal
hunting destination in Namibia. Hunting with us will exceed your
expectations.
B
Bobby Hansen
Tel: +27 83 702 1804 | Tel: +27 82 320 5504
Website: www.bobbyhansensafaris.com
AHG771
obby Hansen Safaris has been operating now for 16 years and is
a privately owned and operated business with a reputation for
value for money and exceptional quality animals. Bobby Hansen
was born and raised in Zimbabwe and now operates primarily in South
Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. He personally guides most of the
safaris and, where unable to do so, has other hand- picked competent
guides who have the same ethics and professionalism as himself.
B
Meyrick Bowker
Cell: +27 82 940 3779
Email: [email protected] | Website: www.bowkersafaris.co.za
AHG735
owker Safaris was established in 1970 and has hosted hunters
from six continents, including several Weatherby Award
winners. Many families have hunted with us, with children
often experiencing hunting for the first time. We offer a large variety of
game, as the Eastern Cape has such a vast number of different habitats
all within the areas we use exclusively for our safaris. Bowker Safaris,
Great Hunting, Great Hospitality.
B
Tel:+27 14 755 4945 | Cell: +27 82 775 8489
Email: [email protected] | Website: www.bullseyetaxidermy.co.za
Physical address: Open Season Farm, Corner Melkrivier & Sterkstroom
Roads, Vaalwater, Limpopo, RSA 0530
AHG616
ull’s Eye Taxidermy is a dynamic, family-run company that
strives to put out the best quality trophies to hunters worldwide.
We give our clients the best, not only artistic masterpieces but
also value for money, honesty, and exceptional service. Our factory
in the Limpopo Province of South Africa is state-of-the-art, and with
our in-house tannery we are able to offer a quick turnaround time.
S
USA Tel (Travis): 1-208-322-5902 | RSA Tel (Shannon) +27 82 6161942
Website: www.bushmensafaris.com
AHG1070
ince 1986, Bushmen Safaris has provided an archery-only
wildlife habitat of more than 22,000 contiguous acres featuring
16 watering holes. Our hunters have placed more than 125
animals in the top 10 SCI World Record Books. We schedule one
hunt a month during the dark of the moon, which leads to great
success because of low hunting pressure, and gives us the ability to
hunt year-round.
O
Chris Troskie Safaris Africa
Tel: +27 14 763-2207 | Cell: +27 82 859-0771
email: [email protected] | web: www.ct-safaris.com
AHG1076
ver the past twelve years, Chris Troskie Safaris has gained a
reputation for setting new standards of service excellence and
unsurpassed quality in the hunting industry. We focus on
private and exclusive safaris where our guests are not expected to share
camps or hunting areas with people they don’t know. We only hunt
large areas and importantly – we hunt animals in their natural habitat.
For this reason we limit the number of safaris we conduct in a year so
that we can personally host every safari we book. For us the phrase:
“The customer comes first” is not a tag line – it is a philosophy!
I
Mike Angelides
Tel: +255 736 500 568 | Cell: +255 789 531189
Fax: +255 736 500 513 | Email: [email protected]
Website: www.dannymccallumsafaris.com
156
AHG1074
n the heart of Africa’s last great wilderness, Danny McCallum
Safaris offers a wildlife experience that reflects the original spirit
of the true African Safari – a spirit of adventure and excitement; of
solitude and companionship, and of the splendor of the natural world
We outfit both hunting and photographic safaris in the old traditional
style, and provide the reliability and personal service that is needed to
make your safari successful and memorable.
F
Website: www.etoshahunting.com
AHG741
rom the coast of Virginia to the plains of the mid-west, Carolyn
German has painted the wildlife and inhabitants of America.
Two journeys to Africa, however, have sealed her affection for
that land forever. These resulted in a collection of watercolor paintings
radiating with the life and love of what has been called the Dark
Continent but which, in reality, glows with a light unlike anywhere
else. Come revel in God’s creation!
E
Eulalie Hunting Safaris - Isan van Zyl
E-mail: [email protected] | [email protected]
Website: www.eulaliehunting.com
AHG824
xperience Africa’s warmest welcome at Eulalie Hunting Safaris,
where Southern Hospitality takes on a whole new meaning.
Let your hosts Isan & Chantel van Zyl make you feel right at
home and make your African dreams come true. Let us cater to your
every need in our quest to make your trip an unforgettable experience
in our new lodge, from where you can pursue your hunting activities
in comfort, yet fully experience the African wilderness with all its
prolific wildlife it is known for.
O
Cell: (403) 860-7364 (Namibia) | Cell: (076) 346-4655 (RSA)
Tel: 403-860-7364 (Canada) | Email: [email protected]
Website: www.extremeoutdoorsafaris.com
AHG625
ver the years we have hunted a variety of different regions
throughout South Africa. Working directly with the
landowners, we have established untouched, pristine locations
that harbor trophy-quality animals. These exceptional properties range
from 44,000 acres to as small as 1,500 acres, and are hunted out of three
provinces: The Limpopo - subtropical woodland; the Northern Cape in
the Karoo - a semi-desert area, and in the North West, in the Kalahari,
a semi-arid savannah. These diverse landscapes challenge our clients to
experience the very best that Africa has to offer.
T
Tel: 877 969 8150 | Tel: 205 969 8150
Website: www.familyexpeditions.com
AHG675
he trusted source for families and couples to book hunting,
adventure, and fishing vacations that the whole family will
enjoy. It is possible for everyone in the family to be happy on
the same trip! Our family has been traveling the world searching for the
perfect destinations for your family!
P
Jaco and Magdel Oosthuizen - Namibia
Cell: +264 81 481 9222 (Namibia) | Cell: +255 75 644 1250 (Tanzania)
Cell: +27 82 905 1366 (RSA) | Fax: +27 86 672 2921
Email: [email protected] | Website: www.gametrackersafrica.com
AHG1039
rofessional hunter and outfitter, Jaco Oosthuizen, a founder
member of GAME TRACKERS AFRICA, which is currently
the marketing agent for both ONDJAMBA SAFARIS, PORI
TRACKERS OF AFRICA Ltd and EAST AFRICA TROPHY
HUNTERS Ltd. All these companies are owned and operated
under the professional guidance of Jaco & Magdel Oosthuizen in
Southern Africa and Tanzania, in order to cater for your specific
needs. Our team of professional hunters will ensure that you will
enjoy a most memorable time in Africa, taking you right into the
heart of the action!
Experience the Lamprecht family legacy of conservation, hunting
and hospitality at Hunters Namibia Safaris.
Marina Lamprecht
Cell: +264 81 303 3010 (Namibia)
USA Mobile: (615) 975 6169 (January)
158
Paul Norris (USA Rep)
Tel: 615-974-8897
Website: www.huntersnamibia.com
AHG1066
Founded in 1984 by Joof and Marina Lamprecht, HNS offers 23 species
of plains game, plus a variety of game birds for wing-shooting enthusiasts
on the Lamprecht’s privately-owned 80 square mile contiguous
dedicated wildlife land in malaria-free eastern Namibia. The ideal
hunting destination for first- time African hunters, experienced welltravelled sportsmen as well as non-hunting observers and family groups.
A
Tel: +27 11 659 2931 | Cell: +27 82 770 24 80
[email protected] | www.hunterssupport.com
AHG826
ir 2000 (Pty) Ltd is a non-scheduled Air Service licence
holder authorized by the SA Civil Aviation Authority to
operate aircraft for charter services. For many years Air
2000 has actively pursued the US and European leisure hunting
markets, offering a safe, cost-effective and convenient travel option
for visiting hunters. In 1989 Air 2000 launched the Hunters
Support Service to provide hunters with a comprehensive range
of services, all helping with arrangements for a trouble-free safari.
All trophies taken in the Bubye Valley Conservancy
E
stablished in 2010, Impisi Safaris is a world class hunting
destination offering more than 25 different plains game and
‘Big five’ species. Situated in the Limpopo province of South
Africa on 13000 acres of private land, we are a family owned and run
business born out of a passion for hunting and conservation. Simply the
best – all inclusive -value for money - African hunting safaris available!
Rusty Smith with a good Kudu - PH Mark Brewer
- PH John Sharp
AHG1027
Tobias Fischer with a stunning Lion
- PH John Sharp
Anton Taljaard
24 Hours: +27 72 803 4723 | Cell: +27 83 449 6263
Email: [email protected] | Website: www.impsisisafaris.com
Doug Leech with a nice Jackal - PH John Sharp
BUBYE VALLEY CONSERVANCY
A
John Sharp
Zim Cell: +263 77 221 7067 | USA Cell: +1 713 498 8196
E-mail: [email protected] | Website: www.john-sharp-safaris.com
www.bubyevalleyconservancy.org
AHG1072
ppearances can be deceptive, and John Sharp is the rule not
the exception. His long hair and bandanna distract one from
the courteous and softly spoken gentleman with old-fashioned
values and a passion for doing things the right way. Much too has been
said about John’s extensive experience, especially with dangerous game,
and cool headed courage in tight situations. First time clients can expect
meticulously maintained equipment, a small super-efficient crew, very
comfortable accommodation and excellent genuine African cuisine.
H
Ray & Samantha Kemp
Tel: +27 (45) 843 2112 | Cell: +27 (0) 83 654 3697
Email: [email protected] | Website: www.lalapasafaris.co.za/
AHG687
unting with Lalapa Safaris is an experience unlike any
other available. With our 136 year Kemp family legacy in
the Eastern Cape and years of networking in the hunting
industry, clients can relax knowing that our facilities, large concessions
and experienced professional hunters are tried and tested. From the first
time hunter looking for an experience of a lifetime to a seasoned veteran
looking for a new adventure, we have got you covered!
O
ur main lodge and our two conservancies (Sesfontein and
Otjikondavirongo) are situated in the northwest of Namibia.
The conservancies cover more than 1 million acres of free-range
hunting…no fences!
The tented camp at the conservancy can accommodate six hunters, and the
main lodge can also accommodate six hunters. World-class Kalahari springbok
and gemsbok.
Big Game PH and Owner - Lwyk Jansen van Vuuren
Mobile number: 00264 81 236 0833 | 00264 81 284 7843
email: [email protected] | www.leopardlegend.com
AHG1077
Your dream adventure awaits you.
A
t Liam Urry Safaris we pride ourselves in providing a
superior quality of service and a level of exclusiveness that
is guaranteed to give you, our valued client, a true ‘African
experience’. We operate throughout South Africa and Africa, with
many concession areas, hunting from the smallest – the blue duiker
to the largest – the elephant. We have many satisfied clients from
around the world returning year after year.
Liam Urry Safaris
Tel: +27 82 390 5861 | Fax: +27 538321559
160
AHG1084
• disease/malaria free
• abundance of game
• picturesque surroundings
• safe and friendly environment
• quality trophy animals
• lots of experience/comfortable
accommodations
M
Christo Gomes
Cell: +27 83 255 5069 | Email: [email protected]
Website: www.mabulaprosafaris.co.za
AHG737
abula Pro Safaris, established in 1996, is located in the
Limpopo province of South Africa, Mabula Pro Safaris can
offer the discerning hunter access to thousands of acres of
prime hunting area. Experience the African Trophy Hunting Safari of
a lifetime. We offer outstanding quality Big Game and Plains game
hunting for both rifle and bow hunters alike. Hunt the Big Five or
Plains game in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe or Zambia and enjoy
your stay in our luxury lodges and feast on great cuisine.
M
Mashambanzou Safaris
Cell: +258825330796 | Email: [email protected]
Web: www.mashambanzousafaris.com | Skype: grant.taylor470
AHG1067
ASHAMBANZOU Safaris has been operational for more
than 10 years in Mozambique. Currently, with our exclusive
areas, we are hunting in excess of 2 million acres of the finest
free-range big-game hunting available in Africa today. All our staff are
well-trained to ensure that you, the client, have a memorable experience.
Our long list of references proves our ability to continue to produce
some of the best quality trophies at some of the most competitive prices
you will find today.
Please feel free to chat with us and see that big-game hunting in
Africa is not as far out of reach as you may think.
MONTERRA SAFARIS
M
Ma
ke Af
rica your o
wn
Gordon Mundell : +27 82 878 4466 | Jen Mundell: +27 82 610 5227
Web: www.monterrasafaris.com
AHG1086
onterra is a privately owned 14 000 acre game ranch in the
Limpopo Valley.
Monterra was established as the exclusive hunting
ground of an American business owner in the 1980’s. Out of his
MONTERRA SAFARIS
passion for hunting and conservation
we are proud to offer you the
M a ke
n
Africa your ow
exclusive opportunity to make Africa your own. Monterra offers the
service and facilities to create a personalised safari in your own special
part of Africa. You will be guided by our professional management
team through the entire process of journeying to Africa to hunt its
illustrious big game. Our ethical hunting and conservation practices
have preserved the natural environment here for over thirty years.
ROSSLYN
SAFARIS
R
Juliet Johnstone
Cell: +263 778 486 493 | Email: [email protected]
Website: www.rosslynsafaris.com
AHG746
osslyn Safaris is the longest-established hunting safari company
in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa. Its owner, Peter Johnstone, is
a key founder of the hunting industry in Zimbabwe. With a
wide range of free-roaming wild animals and bird life, there is much to
see. Fantastic bowhunting from any of the dozen specially built bow
blinds is available, as well as excellent rifle hunting on foot. Sable herds
originate from the famed Matetsi sable genes; good quality leopards are
available and our plains game trophies have won four out of five years
of Zimbabwe bowhunting awards.
S
Ewert Vorster
Cell: + 27 82 459 4436 | Fax: + 27 14 735 0723
Email: [email protected] | Website: www.sadakasafaris.com
[email protected]
|
www.sadakasafaris.co.za
AHG1021
adaka Safaris’ main lodge is situated in the heart of virgin South
African bushveld in the malaria-free Thabazimbi district of the
Limpopo Province. This starkly beautiful savannah area abounds
with indigenous thorn trees over a rocky, undulating landscape. It’s the
perfect family hunting destination in Africa – warm and personal!
Enjoy outstanding South African cuisine, traditional meals and BBQ in
our boma around an open fire under the African sky. Thatched, en suite
bathroom chalets, provide every home comfort after a hard day on safari.
Arriving as clients – departing as friends, after you have experienced
the real meaning of Sadaka: “Having the time of your life”…
O
Adrian Purdon | Lauren Purdon
Cell: +27 82 567 4973 | Cell: +27 83 389 7867
162
AHG1068
wned by Adrian Purdon, Savannah South, offers exclusive
safaris on over 150 000 acres of diverse hunting grounds.
The terrain varies from coastal forest to Karoo plains and
mountains, offering the tiny blue duiker to the dangerous Cape
buffalo. The luxury accommodation and professional service ensures
a wonderful time for the whole family. Our vast experience in the
field guarantees great trophy quality, whether you hunt with rifle or
bow. Over 85% of our clients return year after year.
CFIA certified taxidermy/disinfection facility
S
AHG1085
[email protected]
Tel: 403 319 0915 | home: 403-291-0162 office | cell: 403-615-6741
web: www.selectworldwidehuntingsafaris.com
AHG840
elect Worldwide Hunting Safaris was established in 2009 by
Mark and Cindy Zimmermann, and we have been sending
satisfied clients to Africa for many years. We are the Canadian
office for Tinashe Outfitters in South Africa, and represent Leopard
Legends out of Namibia and Gary Herbert’s mountain hunting out
of New Zealand. There is no other agent/outfitter that can offer
the following services as part of your booking: travel arrangements;
Canadian gun permits; African gun permits; meet and greet service
right off the plane; help with importation of your trophies back to
Canada, and CfIA inspection fees. These services are all standard
procedure, and we are always there to answer your questions
S
Office: James or Nicola
Tel: +27 (46) 622 9828 | Cell: +27 83 441 5536
Fax: +27 (86) 532 1112 | Email: [email protected]
Website: www.sesafaris.com
AHG1069
tormberg Elangeni Safaris was formed by a group of like-minded
ranchers in the Eastern Cape with a passion for wildlife and
hunting. From small beginnings, SES has evolved and diversified
to offer some of the finest big-game, bow, bird and plains-game hunting
available in Africa. Most safaris take place in the Kat River and Stormberg
Conservancies within the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
Dangerous game is hunted in the Timbavati and Kalahari areas. SES also
hunts in Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Namibia.
T
Clayton: +27 82 339 3124 | Sabrina: +27 82 850 2537
E-mail: [email protected] | [email protected]
Website: www.tinashegroup.co.za
AHG700
inashe Outfitters is owned by Clayton and Sabrina Fletcher
and is one of the most sought-after hunting destinations
in the world. You will be overwhelmed with its sights, and
this hunting paradise hosts many species of plains game and is wellknown globally for its lion hunting with bushman trackers. You
are promised a memorable time. Luxury accommodation, mouthwatering cuisine, picture-perfect surroundings and quality trophies
all add to the unforgettable African experience.
S
A
F
A
R
I
S
Y
Hoekus van Niekerk (Jr.)
Tel: +264 63 265336 | Fax: +264 63 265364
Website: www.huntuhlenhorst.com
AHG682
ou will find our family-operated hunting lodge on the edge
of the Kalahari in beautiful Namibia. I, Hoekus, my wife
Connie and our son Hoekus (Jr.) will see to it that you leave
Africa with fond memories as well as a lifelong friendship. Whether
you are looking for a trip with friends or as family, Uhlenhorst is
just the right place. With an option of custom packages we will meet
your African desire!
U
Tel: +27 82 826 5580 | Email: [email protected]
www.umlilosafaris.co.za
AHG801
mlilo Safaris (owners, brothers Francois & Johan Dorfling)
hosted almost 700 different hunters from across the globe
since 2000, many re-visiting annually or bi-annually….this is
your golden opportunity to share our passion in hunting Plains Game
or Dangerous Game at its best. Based near Port Elizabeth, Eastern
Cape, we offer over 40 species to be hunted in various parts of Southern
Africa, including the best plains game hunts in the Eastern Cape, Lion
hunting in the heart of the Kalahari, Buffalo hunts next to the Kruger
National Park.
W
Izak and Linky Kirsten
SA Tel: +27837321179 | USA Tel: +1702 350 7730
Skype: izak.kirsten1 | Website: [email protected]
164
AHG636
ith a name like WOW Africa, it is difficult not to
stand out from the rest. Since 1996 we specialise
in safaris in the southern parts of Africa including
South Africa, and Namibia, plus Mozambique, Zimbabwe and
Tanzania. In the winter of 2012 we relocated our business to
Madaka Game Ranch, Louwsburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South
Africa, where we operate most of our safaris from. Contact us
for your next trip to Africa.
AHG1004
Coming Soon
Directory of Advertisers
African Hunting Gazette wishes to thank its advertisers for their support AHG 20.4
AAA Serapa Safaris................................................................11
Africa Buffalo Safari Trackers.................................................14
African Dreams.....................................................................76
African Hunting Gazette – African Oasis Oasis.....................165
African Hunting Gazette – Africa’s Legendary Professional
Hunters, edited by Brooke ChilversLubin..............................123
Afican Hunting Gazette – Hunt Africa Direct.......................57
African Hunting Gazette – Hunter’s Guild............................IBC
African Hunting Gazette – Hunter’s Guild Members............17
African Hunting Gazette – Visited and Verified.....................8
Aimpoint...............................................................................33
Americase..............................................................................46
Big Bore Productions............................................................97
Blaser USA............................................................................39
Brush Country Studios..........................................................57
Bull’s Eye Taxidermy..............................................................51
Bushmen Safaris....................................................................23
Carl Zeiss Optics...................................................................6
Clint Orms...........................................................................9
Craddle of Man Taxidermy...................................................47
CZ-USA USA.......................................................................37
Dallas Safari Club.................................................................121
Danny McCallum Safaris......................................................40
Double Gun Imports, LLC...................................................54
Ekland Safaris........................................................................IFC & 1
Eland Safaris..........................................................................56
ESP America Electronic Shooters Protection.........................80
Etosha Heights Game Safaris.................................................61
EuroOptics............................................................................30 & 38
Explorer Satellite Communications.......................................66
Fort Knox..............................................................................122
Gary Phillips Hunting Safaris................................................82
Gaston J. Glock.....................................................................63
Hendershots..........................................................................84
Hornady................................................................................41
Hunters Namibia Safaris.......................................................92 & 93
Hunter’s Support/Air2000.....................................................119
Hunting Safari Logistics........................................................88
John Rigby Co......................................................................69
166
John Sharp Safaris.................................................................140
Julian & Sons........................................................................133
Kimber Mfg..........................................................................15
Krieghoff...............................................................................81 & OBC
Leica Camera, Inc.................................................................135
Limpopo Safaris....................................................................18
Madubula Safaris...................................................................83
Meopta USA, Inc..................................................................31
Monterra Safaris....................................................................90
Monty Kalogeras’ Safari Shooting School..............................67
Mosita Wildlife.....................................................................77
Motsomi Safaris....................................................................141
Murray Custom Leather........................................................89
Nightforce Optics.................................................................91
Northfork Technologies.........................................................126
Otterskloof Private Game Reserve.........................................129
Outdoor Visions....................................................................111
Ratelfontein Safaris...............................................................75
Rolf Baldus’s Wild Heart of Africa..........................................113
Ripcord.................................................................................107
Sadaka Safaris........................................................................143
Safari Taxidermy....................................................................142
Scrim Art..............................................................................68
Shangri-la Wildlife Game......................................................62
Stormberg Elangeni Safaris....................................................125
Superior African Hunting Safaris...........................................127
Swarovski Optik....................................................................85
Swift Bullet Company...........................................................5
Tanzania Big Game Safaris....................................................105
The Courteney Boot Company.............................................114
The Hunting Report..............................................................73
Tinashe Outfitters.................................................................116 & 117
Trijicon, Inc..........................................................................19
Verney-Carron......................................................................27
Westley Richards...................................................................3
Wild Images In Motion Taxidermist......................................99
Wintershoek Safaris...............................................................106
Xosha Safaris.........................................................................103
Terry Wieland’s One for the Road
go to Africa, to hunt big game, to see the
country, to know the people. And, because
of Ruark, I found myself one bleary
morning in September, 1971, waking up
on the Paris-Athens Direct Orient Express
outside Trieste, sprawled on the floor of the
train beside an army pal from Canada and
a new acquaintance who turned out to be
a French paratrooper. There were a couple
of empty bottles (Gaston de Lagrange
V.S.O.P. cognac, to be precise.) It had been
quite a night.
The train was packed solid when it left
the Gare de Lyon, and we had to sit on
our luggage in the corridor. From there,
the trip was a blur of Yugoslav soldiers,
farmers with chickens, a sheep, Belgrade
in the rain, warm “Bip” beer, stale ham
sandwiches, the Greek frontier, a sleazy
pension in an old part of Athens, and a seat
on a cut-rate charter bound for Khartoum,
Entebbe, and Bujumbura. All because of
Robert Ruark. I thought of it then, and
I’ve thought of it many times since, in
good times and bad.
Ruark brought two things to his writing
that set him apart from others in the trade.
One, he adored Africa – every bit of it, the
beautiful and the ugly, the people (black,
white and brown), the animals, the “tiny
gleaming campfires.” It showed through
in everything he wrote. Second, he had a
feeling for the real meaning of hunting,
beyond any question of horn length or
record books. What counted was being
there, seeing it all. An animal, if you killed
one, was something to mark the day in
your memory.
You hunted for good horns, sure, but
horn length hardly mattered. What did
matter was the work you put into it, the
effort, the disappointment, sore feet, tsetse
flies, dust, and heat stroke. He despised
high-fence hunting and easy shooting.
“Nothing is any good unless you work
for it,” he wrote, “And if the work is hard
enough, you don’t need to possess the
trophy to own it.”
The idea that personal expenditure
of effort might be the real trophy – selfknowledge of your own capabilities – could
hardly be more at odds with the modern
approach to trophy hunting, where the
goal is to get the biggest horns with the
least effort, spend as little time in the field
as possible, and get the hell back home so
you can brag about your exploits.
Ruark managed to communicate his
philosophy to a whole generation of
hunters, many of whom took it to heart.
He knew how life should be lived. The
only thing he didn’t know was how to do
it himself. Always a prodigious drinker, he
smoked heavily, drank even more, and died
of liver failure, in 1965, at the age of 49.
By that time, the decolonization of Africa
was almost complete, the Africa he loved
was disappearing before his eyes, and life or
death hardly mattered any more.
His death came just as The Honey
Badger was published, became a book-club
selection, and was delivered to me like a
letter from beyond the grave.
***
Robert Ruark wanted to be remembered
as a novelist. His outdoor writing was a
sideline, almost a hobby. After his death,
his finances were in complete disarray
and his executors put together several
anthologies of his work, including one
called Use Enough Gun. The expression has
since become a cliché. They wanted to cash
in while people remembered him. He then
went into eclipse.
It was not until the 1980s that interest
in Ruark began to revive, and then it was
only among the hunting community. The
first anthology of his Old Man columns for
Field & Stream was published in 1958, and
has never been out of print since. First, his
hunting books began to command high
prices in used-book circles, then Safari
Press reprinted both Horn of the Hunter and
Use Enough Gun. These were later followed
by two more anthologies, one of them –
Robert Ruark’s Africa – edited by Michael
McIntosh, himself a talented writer who
shared some of Ruark’s demons.
Now, his memory is once again fading,
pushed aside by a flood of artificial hunting
shows, self-aggrandizing videos, and a
relentless pursuit – often behind high
fences – of record-book entries in what has
become, to use an indelicate phrase, one
big dick-measuring contest.
Two of Ruark’s pieces stand out. One,
near the end of The Honey Badger, is a
description of an ancient elephant bull, in
the Northern Frontier District of Kenya,
long past his time, living out his days
by a waterhole. It is one of Ruark’s most
profound pieces of writing.
The other is a short article called A
Leopard in the Rain that appears only in
the later anthologies. I never saw it when
it first appeared in Field & Stream. By the
time I read it in the early 90s, I’d been to
Africa many times. On safari in Tanzania
and Botswana, on assignment as a reporter
in Rhodesia, Uganda, and the Sudan,
sweating out the big rains in Kampala,
and later in Nairobi. I’d even stayed at the
Norfolk Hotel, and visited Ruark’s favorite
cottage there, No. 7, on the left as you go
out into the courtyard.
Leopard in the Rain is short, and nothing
much really happens. Ruark and a white
hunter put together an impromptu safari
to escape the pounding rains in Nairobi,
and find an unexpected paradise near
Amboseli. They hunt a little, drive around,
look at the country, and return to town
with their spirits renewed. And that’s it.
It was a respite from reality, with the
leopard as a reminder. Such was Robert
Ruark’s idea of paradise, and a fine idea it
is, too.
Terry Wieland’s
One for the Road
Af
welco rican Hu
ntin
m
columes Terry W g Gazett
e
n, On
ie
e for land’s ne
w
the R
oad
An Old Africa Hand
It is customary for columnists in a new spot to introduce
themselves, and give the readers some idea what to expect.
I
n that regard, I can do no better
than quote Robert Ruark, one of the
foremost newspapermen of the 20th
century: “A columnist,” wrote Ruark, “is a
reporter with a point of view.”
The key word in that simple statement
is “reporter” – someone who tells you
something you didn’t know before. As
for the point of view, it is more than just
gratuitous opinion: It is putting the news
in some context.
Originally, I planned to begin with
my first trip to Africa, in 1971, at the
frighteningly tender age of 22, leaving
home with a one-way ticket to London
and $210 to my name. But that always
seemed to trail back into what led me to
want to go to Africa in the first place. And
that leads straight back to Robert Ruark.
For readers who are not familiar with
Ruark, he was not only one of America’s
foremost journalists, from the Second
World War until his death in 1965, he was
also the man who put Africa on the map
for the average American hunter, writing
regular features for Field & Stream, as well
as a column called The Old Man and the
Boy. In the outdoor field, Ruark was a
rarity in that he was a highly successful
mainstream journalist and, as a nationally
syndicated columnist with ScrippsHoward, a household name.
Growing up in North Carolina, hunting
quail and deer, and fishing in every patch of
water, developed his love of the outdoors.
He served in the U.S. Navy during
the Second World War, on the North
Atlantic convoys, and returned home in
1945 determined to make it really big in
newspapers, and fulfill a lifelong dream: a
full-scale African safari.
He made that safari in 1951, with the
168
young PH Harry Selby. Back in New York,
he wrote a book called Horn of the Hunter.
It is the finest account of a modern safari
in the days when there were still genuine
safaris. With its publication in 1953,
Ruark’s reputation as a hunting writer was
instantly established. He caught on with
Field & Stream, doing the Old Man series
soon after. From that point, Africa became
his second home, and he made one or two
safaris every year for the next decade.
Ruark was in Kenya during the Mau Mau
Emergency, and turned his experiences
into a devastating, best-selling novel called
Something of Value. It was published in
1955. From that point on, Ruark was a
novelist first, a columnist second.
***
All of this was unknown to me when,
one day in 1966, the postman delivered
a book from the Doubleday Book Club,
which I hadn’t ordered and didn’t want. I’d
neglected to inform them in time, and they
sent the monthly selection automatically.
The book was Ruark’s last novel, The Honey
Badger. Absently, I opened it and began
to read. I hardly put it down, and when I
reached the end, turned back to page one
and started all over again.
Through that novel, a thinly veiled
autobiography, Robert Ruark influenced
my life more profoundly than any person
I ever knew. What might have happened,
I wonder, had I returned the book-club
notice in time, and never read the book?
Such a small thing, to have such a great
and long-lasting effect.
Because of Ruark, I decided to become
a newspaperman, and a writer. Largely
because of him, I became determined to
If you are as passionate about hunting in Africa as we are,
then we invite you to join the African Hunting Guild.
Receive this special offer valued at $2210 for... $1250
•
•
•
Calendar
Personal subscription for 10 years
@ $45 a year (value $ 450)
Receive two one-year gift
subscriptions for a family
member or hunting buddy
(value $ 90)
Listed and recognized in the
Hunters’ Guild
Roll of Honor
•
AHG Original Calendar each year for 10 years @ $15
a year: (value $ 150)
January 2015
11
Calendar 2015
- HEINZ.indd
1
2015/01/02
2015 - HEINZ.indd
26
25
1:57 PM
www.arugamelo
dges.com
20
1
27
21
28
15
22
29
zette.co.za
ricanhuntingga
17
16
24
23
31
30
odges.com
www.arugamel
2015/01/02
1:57 PM
www.af
Hunting Gazette
Calendar 2015
- HEINZ.indd
3
2015
•
Receive 1 copy of signed
and numbered limited
edition of The Best of
AHG ($ 125)
Receive 1 copy of the
hard-covered reference
book Game Animals of
the World (value $ 85)
13
10:28 AM1:57 PM
2015/01/05
2015/01/02
Calendar
Untitled-2 1Hunting Gazette
AHG972 - African
AHG972 - African
•
19
dges.com
www.arugamelo
Hunting Gazette
Books
18
12
14
10
9
8
7
6
5
2015
3
2
1
4
Saturday
Friday
Thursday
Wednesday
Tuesday
Monday
Sunday
AHG972 - African
African Hunting Gazette
Hunters’ Support
Exclusive Meet & Greet service from Africa’s premier service
provider – PLUS Gun Permit when you arrive at Africa’s
gateway: Joburg Airport.
• For 3 hunters for 1 time, or for 1 hunter 3 times @
$220 per hunter (value $ 660)
Exclusive Gifts
“Face to Face”
Signed, numbered, limited print on canvas:
Kobus Muller painting
50cm x 50cm (20” X 20”)
AHG1010
USA: [email protected] | Nicole Kelly: +1-855-528-332
SA: [email protected]
[email protected] | Esther Sibanda: +27-11-280-3415
170

Southern African Outfitters

Transcription

Similar documents

African Outfitter Profile

south africa - choronga safaris

Australia`s Premium Hunting Website

Hunter x Hunter: The Last Mission

complete book

40. Cabela`s Pivoting Shooting Bench 39. Premium African

4TH ANNUAL HAYNHOGDOGS PIG HUNTING TOURNAMENT IN

ross barnett reservoir hunting areas

Finished Master - In Pursuit of Legends