Here are some photos of the animals harvested on my Namibian Safari.

Great pics! It looks like you pretty well took care of mose of the Namibian menu of animals. Where were you hunting?

Well done, Scott!

Details Man!

What caliber of rifle is that?
nice animals also
PRICE,- days out,- living arrangements,- etc

Looks like a great hunt, give us the scoop.

Very nice hog, Gemsbok looks big too.

Nice tease with the photos, now give us the details.

Looks like you had a great trip from the grin in the pix.

Great Kudu. Where were you hunting in Namibia? I just did a hunt with Boet Nel near Steinhausen. Realy nice Oryx. Lee from Alaska

Looks lie a good time was had! Great trophies! Thanks for sharing!

Great photos, will try to get some of my pictures posted today. Look forward to hearing about everything.

Scott,

Very nice! Three of the small guys on one short safari is really great. Duikers etc. seem to avoid me like the plague. Nice you guys and your wives could go together. I'm sure you had a ball.

Regards,

Mark

Our 10 day safari was with Otjandaue Safaris in the Omaruru area of Namibia. My PH, and the safari operator, was Ecki (Eckhardt) Meyers. The ranch had a reputation for large kudu, but has subsequently had a die off due to rabies. This has also effected the eland population. Ecki has access to other ranches for kudu, and I saw some whoppers. I paid a plains game price, but my primary hope was for a leopard. Ecki had no leopard hunters last year, but the year prior he went 4 out of 5, one of which was a Namibian top 10 leopard. I did not get a leopard, but the ranch was crawling with them. My wife saw one in the darkness one morning, and we saw fresh, large, tracks of at least four different leopards each day. There were also smaller tracks. We found one natural leopard kill, but from the tracks, we determined it was a female with kittens. After the first day, we never had a leopard come to the bait and we were working five baits. One element that may have prevented the leopards from coming to bait was the timing of the safari. It was gemsbok calving season, and the ranch is over populated with gemsbok. There were so many calves, we even caught one our selves and it is being raised at the ranch. Subsequent to our trip, the next hunter did take a leopard.



Secondary to the leopard, I was looking for a large kudu. I turned down a couple of good ones, and finally settled on the one in the photos. We guessed him at 53 - 55". After I shot him, we saw even larger Kudu. We were hunting the ranch of a retired German doctor and saw 9 kudu bulls before 11 am.



After kudu, I wanted oryx, a Hartman's zebra, a warthog, and the three small Namibian antelopes. I was succesfull on all.



Additionally, I passed on the the opportunity to collect blue wildebeast, blesbok, impala, ostrich, giraffe, a good eland bull, baboon and jackel. Never saw a good red hartebeast, but would have shot one.



The accomodations were wonderful, the food great, and Ecki was a very knowledgeable PH. The ranch was said to be 35,000 acres, but Ecki said we were hunting on around 13,000. I learned that this is a huge number of acres and definetly fair chase, but I didn't like the feeling, or knowing that I was hunting behind high fence. We hunted on foot, from a vehicle and from hides at waterholes. On foot was the most rewarding. While Ecki doesn't use trackers every day, he was phenominal as we tracked mountain zebra for over three hours, almost at a trot, through the thick stuff. Jumping them twice, but never losing their track.



I shot the worst I ever have, and if it wasn't for the Fox Terrier and the Jack Russell, I may not have collect my kudu and zebra. However, no animals were wounded and lost. I also made a rookie mistake on a dik-dik that was an absolute monster. He'd make Rowland Ward with out even breathing hard. However, I put one in the chamber, and slowly, quietly closed the bolt. When I squeezed the trigger, nothing happened. The way I had put the bolt down did not cock the rifle. The dik-dik ran off.



I shot all animals with my Remington model 700 mountain rifle chambered in 30-06 using Federal Premium with 180 grain Nosler Partitions. It was topped with a Leopold 2.5 - 8 and most animals were shot at 4-6 power. While all animals died, I would not use the Nosler Partitions again. I now believe they are too soft and open too soon. I would use a Trophy Bonded Bear Claw if they shoot well in your rifle.



While our contract said we would bird hunt and hunt small cats at night, this was not to be. The guinea fowl and francolins all had chicks and night hunting in Namibia is illegal. Besides, after the fact, I learned they did not have serval cat in this area, and I did not want an African Wild Cat. Genet can not be brought back to the US. This was mis-information from the booking agent, not the PH. The booking agent is not an AR member.



Our wives went to Etosha Pan and had a great trip. This was arranged throught our PH. They were charged by elephant and took a photo of a lion on a zebra a few yards from the car. They had a grand time.







Below are the green measurements of each animal above:





NAMIBIA SAFARI-2004



ANIMAL LFT HORN RT HORN BASE SCORE MEDAL



KUDU 48.03" 48.82 10.24 298 BRONZE



ORYX 38.8" 38.4 7.48 234 GOLD



STEENBOK 4.33" 4.33 1.58 30 GOLD



DUIKER 4.13" 4.13 2.17 32 GOLD



DIK DIK 2.56" 2.56 1.58 21 GOLD



WARTHOG 11.22" LENGTH 4.13" CIRCUM. 39 GOLD



* Hunt dates of May 18, 2004 through May 27, 2004. All animals taken with a 30.06 rifle and

180 grain Nosler Partitions manufactured by Federal.



I'll close with a Namibian Sunset:

Scott,

Nice report! I'd be very interested in more info. on why you thought the NP's opened too soon. Was the destruction on the small guys too severe? I'm hunting some small antelope this year and will be using the SAF just because the NP's can be nasty on the smaller stuff.

I hear an elephant may be in your future. Of course you still need to get that leopard.

Regards,

Mark

Mark,
FWIW I was hunting eland and hartebeest and had a buff on license as well. I had a NP on top and Sledgehammer solids below when I bumped a group of buffs at about 35 - 40 yards. I shot at a buff that was broadside with the NP (I was inexperienced then ) and ended up losing him. never forgot the dissapointment. Nowadays i know and steer clear of NP.....cause I am always hunting Buff and one never knows when you come across one!

Sounds like a great trip SBT. It is an amazing place.

I don't know much about bullets, but what I do know is that they seem to be more of a personal preference than anything else anymore. There seems to be an equal amount of support for and against most of the better bullet manufacturers. I used hand loaded Partitions in my 9.3X62 and they knocked the snot off 3 gemsbok and a zebra. Now, the Federal factory (with Sierra Gamekings) ammo I took along for my 25-06 for the little guys did ok as nothing escaped, but the bullets expanded pretty quickly. They weren't my first choice, but time caught up to me so I didn' get everything loaded I wanted to. Next time though it will be a different story!!

Glad you had a great trip. I hope to return to Namibia someday soon....Just have to see how much I can get for one of my wife's kidney's to pay for it

K

SBT, you did really well on your hunt. Congratulations, you took some very fine trophies!

Namibia's a lot of fun, isn't it?

AD

Mark,
I believe they opened up too soon and did not get as deep of penetration as I'd like to see. I recovered one from each of the gemsbok and one from the zebra. None were found against the hide on the off side. Each bullet did, however, open nicely. So nicely, that on the small antelope, they blew a very large hole on the off side. I'm glad I did not want life size mounts, and that I held well behind the shoulder.

SBT,

I asked about the NP's destroying your small stuff because I really blew up an oribi once with an NP in 338. As for the bigger stuff perhaps the X bullet would have given you the desired penetration. I have shot several zebra and gemsbok and never had an exit with 338 SAF and NP's or 375 SAF. Those guys are just tough.

Bwanamich,

I personally have never shot the 300gr. 375 NP at game. I know it has worked well for many but that story that Boddington wrote about that bullet failing to penetrate and almost loosing him a giant eland has nagged at me. Perhaps it was a freak or perhaps your experience is not so unusual. The NP has always been my favorite bullet but not in 375.

Regards,

Mark

Here are some photos of the recovered bullets.