Ladies and Gentlemen,

I was just reading the hunt report Gary just filed Gary's Hunt Report.

It would be interesting to know just how many people have gone on safari in Africa because of AR. I know that first one has to have the interest in hunting Africa, but it would be nice to know how many were finally pushed over the edge by what they read and learned here on AR.

Regards,

Terry

Sorry, I had already been before knowing of AR. However, my three day safari of late 2005 was directly as a result of contacts I made here (Jaco Human) and probably wouldn't have happened without AR.

AR gets partial credit ... along with Rick R. Had I not been reading AR I might not have talked to Rick about it. Had I not talked to Rick I would not have had a partner who was making plans.

Am very grateful to both. AR certainly made it more likely and a better trip. Getting to hunt with Rick made it a great trip!

Terry,

I had already made my decision to go to Africa. AR helped with all of the details, from when, to air travel, packing list and tips, to what questions to ask and what to expect once I got there. That was 2002, I had such a wonderful time that only those that have gone can truly understand. I continue enjoyed all of the information, insight, entertainment AR has brought to me since my sign on.

Best regards
Carl

AR was instrumental in preparing me for my first hunt.

Quite the reverse! I was attracted to Accurate Reloading because I had been to Africa a few times, and live to absorb anything concerning Africa!
I did make some contacts, I'd not had before, from AR, though!

I have, for one.

Boha

I found AR because I have always wanted to go to Africa and stumbled across it while daydreaming about it and surfing the net.

I will make it there someday. But it will be several years unless a long lost rich relative kicks the bucked and has put me in their will.

Count me as one of those who went to Africa because of AR. I had an interest in shooting and was referred to AR because of that. I did not frequent the African Hunting forums because I thought it was out of my reach. However, once I started reading the forums, posting, asking questions etc. I finally went to Namibia in 04 based on recommendations from folks on this forum. I own several rifles that I would not otherwise have bought, and am hoping for a DG hunt this year.
Peter.

I am going because of AR. I had always wanted to go, but just did not know where to start other than spending a lot of money with an outfitter. AR provided me with all the information and hunting reports I needed to feel comfortable booking a hunt. If I remember correctly, I stumbled on AR after doing a search about whitetail hunting.

I am going to Namibia in May with Vaughan Fulton for leopard and plains game; the hunt was booked through Wendell Reich.

Well, I guess you count me as old and been there many times before I heard of AR. Stumbled on it in looking for some .600 Nitro loads when I was about to buy another one. Long and short of it was I let the rifle slip away, haven't had a chance since then. Probably couldn't handle it now days, but I wanted to try one again, not having used one since about '78.

I was going anyway but the info on AR made prepping a heck of a lot easier. Invaluble info all for the reading or asking.

JPK

Count me in with Mac37. I had been to Africa and became interested in AR because of my prior safaris.

I haven't been yet but my hunting partner and I booked our first hunt at the SCI show, for Buff in Sept 07 in the Selous with Game Trackers Africa. I was interested before finding AR but the info here has made it easier and answered alot of questions and let me know which questions to ask. Had a great time at the show and met alot of members at the Giraffe bar and the dinner. See y'all there next year!

A friend hooked me into going, but he also hooked me into AR which helped greatly and has become addictive

Before I went the first time, I all ways wanted to go but did not have much info. AR provided me with tons of info that helped me make my first trip. Now, I have been twice.

No, my '04 safari was planned before I found this place, but T. Carr's tips sheet and check list made the planning stage so much easier and less stressful.
Oh, and I can't forget the thread on how to make up my own shooting sticks...learning how to shoot fast (and accurately) off of sticks was the #1 reason I bagged 14 animals.

I can claim my hunt as a success because of all the up-to-date info gleaned from AR. Booking agent, travel agent and PH contributed some info but not near what I got from this site.

AR allowed me to see that I actually could go. Then AR was my source for most of the planning, inculding finding my PH. Now I have my first trip under my belt and am working on #2.

Bob

I had made up my mind to go on an African hunt and was in the begining stage of planning when I found AR. Since then, there have been few days I have not visited this site. I read practically all the threads on this forum (good and bad).

I compliment the host and the many individuals who make this site a great resource for all things pertaining to African hunting. From my first post, I have received clear factual answers as well as different opinons from which to compare and arrive at my own decisions.

If I had not stumbled across AR, I would probably be scheduled for a Cabelas brokered plains game hunt instead of the Selous buffalo hunt Wendell Reich put together for me this Sept.

Thanks AR.

I can safely blame AR for going to Africa.
While hunting here in NA I kept an eye on the biggest forum page from time to time.Slowly it dawned that Africa is not for lords and kings only.
I am grateful for all the education I received here - still working at it though

I stumbled across AR while digging around on the internet for information on the .577 Tyrannosaur.

I've always hoped to go to Africa. I don't care about elephants, buffalo or rhinos, but I would love to shoot a big lion. I've also dreamed of a big tiger-skin rug, but I'm not sure if tigers are a "shoot-able" species anymore or not.

I'd like to go to Africa if my budget would ever allow, but for now I have kids to raise. AR has certainly been instrumental in helping keep the dream alive for me though.

Let’s see; I came to Accurate Reloading in 2001 after doing a search for reloading sites. I was new to reloading and looking for any information available. As far as African hunting was concerned, I didn’t even have a dream of ever going there because I thought that was reserved for English aristocracy and certain outdoor writers. When I discovered the African Hunting forum, I lurked around every now and then and discovered that there were middle class folks (like me) actually going to Africa and hunting. Soon, I was asking stupid questions, and you guys actually gave serious and thoughtful answers. Suddenly the idea of an African safari didn’t seem so unobtainable and actually became entered on my things-to-do-before-I-die list.

Then, early in 2002, I joined the Georgia Chapter of SCI (which I learned about here) and found myself bidding on a Safari to Namibia at the annual banquet and auction (Namibia being the place you guys recommended to me as the perfect place for a first timer to Africa). I won the bid and in the Summer of 2003 took the entire family ($ouch!).

In the mean time, some old fart who used to post on this board from time to time, kept talking about the 404 Jeffery being the best and most classic of all the African big game calibers. Being the owner of a couple of rifles chambered in calibers derived from the 404 case, I became intrigued with the idea of owing the parent itself. So, in 2002, I contracted to have one built. Later, because of you guys, I decided that I needed a .375 H&H in my arsenal and bought an old (immaculate) FN Browning in that caliber. Then I found an Interarms Mark X, also in .375, and bought it, too.

Now I owned three big bores. So the next logical step was to go on a Dangerous Game hunt. Using your suggestions and an outfitter recommended by a board member (butchloc), I went to the Save Conservancy in Zimbabwe. There, I killed a leopard, shot a buffalo (sad story) and took all the plains game my wallet could stand.

Upon returning, I decided to add another big bore to my collection and told my wife to buy me a .458 Lott for Christmas, which she did. Before coming here, I never even heard of a .458 Lott!

As I am writing this, I am less than an hour away from leaving for Dallas Safari Club meeting and the meeting with all you AR members. While in Dallas, I will be negotiating on my next DG safari, TO INCLUDE A FREAKIN’ ELEPHANT!!! I’m planning on using an outfitter and PH, you guessed it, I learned about here!

So, you might say that Accurate Reloading has had a SLIGHT influence on my decision to take up African Hunting.

For me, it started with SBT. He and his wife came for a visit and they showd us their video from his Cape Buffalo hunt with Ridge Taylor in Tanzania. Until then, I had no interest in going to Africa but the video really got me excited.

Then SBT told me about AR. I became a member and mostly read all of the threads to learn. I was hooked!! I now own a .375 and a .416.

In 2004 I made my first safari to Namibia with SBT and our wives. In 2005 I returned with my son. Now, this year, its Zambia for big cats and buff.

What a blast I have had!!! Thanks SBT and AR members!!

John

Long ago I made a vague commitment to take my father (the man responsible for my love of hunting and the outdoors) on a grand hunt to an exotic destination. That promise remained in the back of my mind for many years. I linked to AR from another site while looking for reloading information. Lo and behold I found the African Hunting forum and started checking it near daily. Within a few months I decided that Dad and I were going to Africa! All because of AR. I used this site to find my outfitter (Vaughan Fulton), talk with references, get all the Africa info I needed, and plan the trip. AR was my virtual "one-stop-shop" for all issues related to my trip. It was a wonderful experience. So wonderful, in fact, that I returned just a year later for safari #2. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to talk Mama out of her planned trip to Europe so I can go again! It's all AR's fault.

I'd already booked my first African hunt (Namibia, PG, June 2006) before finding AR. Because of AR I found short buffalo hunt that became my first African hunt last fall. While sorting out the details of that hunt, I got my uncle involved. He hadn't seriously considered Africa before but now is very likely to go himself.

By my count AR gets credit for getting me to Africa sooner, likely more often and may ultimately be able to claim some of the credit for my uncle going to Africa.

Dean

Terry - Good post, and point. While not "responsible" for my first trip, AR certainly contributed to my African-addiction. Recent hunts with guys like Buzz Charlton and Adam Clements have been booked in part because of the info posted on AR.

I wouldn't book a hunt w/o first soliciting the AR members for references. AR has been absolutely instrumental in allowing me to make good choices - which was not necessarily the case before I joined. Ditto w/rifles, loads, equipment, etc.

And I have met some really terrific guys via the forum, who I stay in touch and consult with on a regular basis.

Bill

While AR got me really interested, I had always wanted to do a safari after first reading some books about the continent.

Many of you fine folks out there helped me with packing lists, forms and other things in that nature. I truly appreciated the help and it made the hunt that much more succesful.

Count me in with the crew who had already contracted Africa fever before finding AR. While AR did not cause the addiction it has been a key to coping with the withdrawl symptoms. Family and friends have reached the point where their eyes glaze over when the dark contenant is mentioned. Here, however, I've found a group who never tire of reliving the sights, sounds, smells and taste of Africa. While AR didn't get me on my first safari, it has sustained me between the first, second and third, and is helping me plan the fourth.

Thanks to all

TerryR

I too, am with the crew that had already been there and done that many times before I was referred to AR by fellow AR member Brad Rolston. However, it has proven invaluable for advice, issues and ongong questions that many of us have or have had regarding our repeat trips to the Dark Continent. Although I do not agree with every post made and stay away from the useless banter, it still is a great site with valuable information.

I was there twice several seasons ago. I thought I had little interest in going back untill I happened onto AR while doing reloading research. I kept an eye on the Africa hunting forum for sometime while being interested more in the reloading info on AR.Before I knew it I had the bug once again .

Is AR giving out free trips?

I always had the dream of hunting in Africa. AR gave me the obsession of trying to get there.

Now the trophies from the first trip are a few weeks from shipping!

Trying to figure out how to get back...

Accurate Reloading gets "FULL" credit for my first Safari to Africa and the planning of my second. I would not have gone without the encouragement of this talk forum.

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!

quote:

Originally posted by shootaway:
Is AR giving out free trips?

Speak to Retreever about this one. He can give you some insight.

I went to Africa in 2003 for the first time. Some time passed after I returned before I found this site. There is lots of great information from experienced people here if one wades throught the distractions.

I went to africa not because of the AR forums but because of the AR website which I found by accident back in 2000 while looking for reloading info on different calibers. Most of my reasearch was firstly on just the companies and what contries they were in. Back then I was mainly interested in what the cost of A vs B were. Once I got serious about it I then started to look at info on the various companies through hunt reports on AR.

I found the greatest information from the AR forums was on regulations on travel which is sort of a grey area up here in the north when you talk to travel agents.

I think that AR definatly did help to make my trip an uneventful one thanks to the in depth info that Terry has researched and posted along with other peoples info and experences.

I can't wait till my next trip to Tanzania and will have to live vicariously through others hunt reports till then.

I'd already been to Africa and had other trips planned when I stumbled across (a friend's referral) AR.

AR helps keep me sane between all my, not just Africa; hunting trips.

NRA Life Member

I would say AR gets 50% of the credit for pushing me over the edge,I am going on my first trip in less than 2 months to SA for PG,Kudu,wildebeest,Cape bushbuck,bushpig,
steenbok,warthog maybe 1-2 more.

Sean

Absolutely. I read the African forum for three years which gave me the confidence to make the plunge and this forum was/is most invaluable in all considerations of planning and executing the most memorable trip of my lifetime.

Well Done Saeed!!

I can't say I went to Africa because of AR, but I can say I found AR because I had hunted Africa. I think I joined in the Spring of 2003 and already had five trips to Africa under my belt. However, the one thing I've learned in hunting Africa is that it is a vast continent with many types of terrain and species of animals...the more I go the less I realize I know about all of them.

So I find AR a very valuable resource on the latest news on travel, gun regs, area opening and closings, PH's, guns, terrain, etc. Just think how well prepared you were the last time you flew through South Africa and knew what to expect from the SAP!

Again, AR is a great tool and most folks who post do an excellent job of adding to the collective intelligence of us all.

Not to mention some of the great folks I have met and talked with over the last few years who all share my same addiction - hunting the land of the Masai, Zulu, Xhosa, Shona, N'dbele, San, Kikuyu, Samburu...!

Without AR, I wouldn't have gone on my plains game hunt in the Limpopo last year.

And....

Without those great "How To" lists by T. Carr, I probably would have forgot my socks and those other things I couldn't remember, or didn't know I needed. And I probably would have shown up at the SAP office without the proper paper work, like the 30 plus knuckleheads out of the 40 plus hunters on my SAA flight.

Thanks to Saeed and T.Carr and all the rest of AR

Elmo