Well my first day hunting in South Africa with Mayogi Safaris was a great one. Shot a nice Impala and then 30 minutes later a Blesbuck, both around 200 yards, DRT with 375 H&H. Connection is slow,pics when I return.

Congrats. If this your first time to Africa you will be planning your (hopefully soon) return by day 3 of your hunt.

Excellent! Enjoy!

2d day, Kudu, 15 y/o bull, only one tooth, 375 H&H ,270 yards on a trot.

3d day Springbuck on the plains @ 100 yards with a 30-06, neck shot DRT.

keep shooting and you will be hooked for life!!!

quote:

Originally posted by airgun1:
2d day, Kudu, 15 y/o bull, only one tooth, 375 H&H ,270 yards on a trot.

Excellent! I love the old boys.

Glad to hear you are enjoying your hunt.

Have a great time, and as some have mentioned.

You are in big trouble now

I hate you, but only because you're there and I'm not.

Good job well done.

Day 7, finally the elusive Duiker, one shot to vitals with 30-06, 190 yards, DRT. One horn, old buck(ram), few teeth and all very loose; one more season was all he had left.

My son shot a trophy class Black Springbuck.

Good to see you're having fun Sir. As it should be. How old is your son ? Father and son hunt -- great stuff. I use every opportunity I get to do same.

My son is 34 and he took me.

quote:

Originally posted by airgun1:
My son is 34 and he took me.

I have ambitions that my son and/or new son-in-law will one day do the same for me!!

quote:

Originally posted by airgun1:
My son is 34 and he took me.

That's fantastic.

Have a fantastic time, the two of you.

Lucky you two. Mine all think I should foot the bill and have rifles built for them too...

These three animals were shot with my pre 64 Win 70 in 375 H&H, Leupold VX3 in 1.75-6x; 260 grain Nosler Partitions over 70 grains of IMR 4064, Fed 215 Primer, 2710 feet per second.



This is my Impala, a pretty nice one. Shot at around 200 yards, entered right chest exited in front of left hindquarter.


The Blesbuck was shot at 200 yards right in the sweet spot and exited the opposite side.



Here is my Kudu, shot way up on top of a mountain, across a canyon at 270 yards on a trot; the wind was blowing hard opposite his direction of travel. I did not lead enough, hit hard in both hindquarters(entered/exited), missed a rushed 2d shot and then in shoulder and out of the neck.

These two were shot with my pre 64 Win 70 Featherweight 30-06, Leupold VX2, 2-7; 180 grain Nosler Partition over 55 grains of IMR 4350, CCI-200 Primer, 2650 fps. All of the neck shots left huge exit holes (2 cull Springbucks not pictured). The Duiker was the only shot that didn't exit.



This is my son's Black Springbuck. First shot to the hindquarters at 200 yards, 2d shot to the neck on the run with the aid of the tracking dog, an amazing Jack Russell!



The Duiker was shot in the vitals at 190 yards and did not exit??? The Duiker must have lost his horn years ago as there was no evidence of it. He was old, on his last season.

Hey, that is wonderful! Very happy for you and your son! Great pictures, great rifles, great countryside. I loved hunting in South Africa with my Dad and brother, and hope to do more of the same in future - and take my own son! Kind regards, Ben

Love African mountain hunting.
You guys enjoy

Outstanding! A great trip!


.

OK, now here is my review of the entire adventure and some background.

I live in a rural part of PA in the mountains, where many people have hunting cabins. I meet a fair amount of people through that and also our two local gun shows annually. Two friends, whom fit both categories have always told me to go hunt Africa with them with. They told me prices, father/son specials, etc. and always told me that I would not need to bring another penny to spend.

Earlier this year, I figured I had been without a pre 64 Win 70 in 375 H&H long enough; I have owned a few through the years.
Well I found one very reasonably priced as it had been reblued, $1,100.00 shipped. Three days after the gun arrived, my son called and said Dad, I have a lot of time and quite a bit of extra money, "Let's go to Africa." Without any hesitation, I replied, "Let's Go!"

I contacted my friends, one of whom went 3 times with Mayogi, and the other with 7 trips with Mayogi! I got the contact information and we settled on a date.

We booked the trip ourselves through American Express and found the cheapest fare was South Africa Airways, SAA, out of Dulles. I used Riflepermits.com for a pre-approved import permit for my two guns. Either would have done the job, but wanted to give them both an African pedigree for the future. We went as cheap as we could and cut it kind of close as far as the connecting flight from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth. There was a huge plane load from Australia in front of us in customs plus we were in the back of our plane. Thank goodness for Riflepermits.com, as Anne greeted and hustled me where we needed to go.

The next reply will cover the wonderful Mayogi experience.

Well done Airgun. Love the pictures. First Deer I ever killed was with a bow near Asaph out of a cabin as you put it.


Cheers
Jim

Congrats on your safari! And I loved the phrase "giving your rifle an African pedigree". A perfect summation of why I have done that same thing with a number of guns over the last 20 years!

Now for a review of Mayogi Safaris,http://mayogi-safaris.co.za/

First and foremost, I have absolutely nothing negative to report. Mayogi Safaris is a first class family run business. The entire staff are competent, friendly, and professional. The lodge is in a canyon surrounded by foot hills and mountains of various elevations. They have 35,000 acres of various terrain that is teaming with many species of wildlife. The property has been in the family since 1881. The foot hills had a lot of game, Kudu, Giraffe, Eland, Blesbuck, Bushbuck, Waterbuck,Zebra, Nyala, Springbok, Impala, Steenbok, Warthog, Duiker, Baboon, Monkeys, Blackback Jackal, Aardwolf, Red Hartebeest, Blue and Black Wildebeest, and Red Leitchwe. I am probably forgetting some. I saw everything that I listed.

We hunted common Springbok and Black Springbok both on Mayogi property in the foot hills and also on the plains on a nearby sheep farm.

The hunting party consisted of PH, Tracker, Tracking Dog, Camera Man, Hunter, and Observer. They film and photograph the hunts and camp life for you. This is fair chase hunting. The PH puts you on game, they did not spoon feed me. They only ever told me the yardage after the fact. I guess if I would have asked they would have told me. The brochure stated to be prepared to shoot from 100-350 to 400 yards. The PH had high tripod and low sticks to shoot from.

The daily schedule was up at 7am, Breakfast at 7:30, and then out hunting until 11:30-1:00 depending on what was going on. Lunch at the Lodge, rest until 2:00PM and then hunt til dark.
Lounge, snack, and cocktails from 5pm until 9pm in either the trophy room or barbecue house depending on the day. Great fellowship and stories/jokes abound here! Supper at 9pmand then back to the cocktails until 11pm - 11:30pm depending on energy level.

Daily laundry service and room serviced daily as well.

The last night during the cocktail hours your video is shown.

The icing on the cake was the last day. We asked the owner what his tip procedure/preference was. He replied tip who you want directly and what ever amount you want. We had a hard time finding one tracker and asked the PH to give it to him for us. He refused and said some people may not think he gave it to the person and also the person may think he withheld some; he helped us find the tracker. Now that is a first class operation in my book.

ETA: We took a day trip to Addo Elephant National Park on Thursday. It was perfect as it rained that day anyway!