Just returned from a hunt in South Africa with Deon Cillier of Hunters Safaris. We hunted in the North West Province a few killometers from the Botswana Border. I will post a complete Hunt Report in that forum.

I used Air2000 to obtain the firearms permits. I was met by a very efficient young lady when I got off the plane. She directed me through immigration and to the SAP Office. She had all of my paper work completed, and while approximately 30 others went through the process, I was issued my permits and met my PH before they received their firearms off the cart. Well worth the $70.

The SAA flight on the MD 80 is really bad news for anyone over 5'10". While I had the emergency exit row on my flight to SA, the return was a mess and was in a regular seat. I am 6'3" at 220 lbs and was to tall to see the TV screen. If I hunched down to see the screen, my knees jamed into the seat in front of me. Did I metion that my hip bones hit both sides of the seat?

Returning to the US was a no brainer because I had the 4457 in hand with passport and was ready to unlock my Travel Vault. The agent smiled and said welcome home, have a great trip. Bottom line, have your "stuff" together, be polite, and and don't try to hurry.

We called in the Jackal with a distressed Rabbit call, what a thrill!

Hope you enjoy the pics.

Congratulations on a great hunt!

You took some very nice trophies; I particularly like the old "blue bull" eland with the thick, dark tuft on his forehead.

How do you contact Air2000 to assist with the gun clearance fiasco? We didn't have any problems with the process during our recent trips through Joburg to Namibia, but it took FOREVER. I would gladly pay $70 to expedite the process and spare myself the aggravation. Traveling is tough enough these days without enduring any preventable delays or hassles.

Fortunately we flew into Joburg from Paris and aside from Holly and me, there were only two French hunters on the plane. We waited over 20 minutes for them to get their permits, then spent another 20 minutes waiting for ours. The black cop filling out the permits was cordial enough, but it appeared that he could not even read.

We would have been there all day if it had been a flight from Atlanta with 20 hunters on board.

Hi Mark. Try www.hunterssupport.com You can also E-Mail ann@air2000.com

Jim,

Nice trophies. I particularly like the eland. I second the AIR 2000 recommendation. It appears as you say that all will be in readiness when we arrive in JIA saving a lot of time and frustration.

Regards,

Mark

Nice trophies and well arranged for pictures. Congratulations Jim.

Congratulations, looks like a great hunt.

Your flight from the US to Africa was on a MD80 and not the new Airbus?

How did Air2000 get your guns before the other hunters got theirs? Didn't you have to have your guns for the police to inspect?

Regards,

Terry

JB,

Congratulations. Looks like you had a great time once you were able to straighten out from the MD80 seat!

Beautiful pictures.

Beautiful animals!

Give us some details when you get the chance, please.

Congrats!

I used Air2000 as well and was greeted and escorted right from the end of the jetway through arrivals. I was glad to have them for my first time through the process and will use them again. When my tuffapk failed to show up with the other gun cases after we had collected our bags, I was really happy I had someone who knew where to go and who to talk to first. It turned out that I almost tripped over it while we were walking to another deask to check where it came out, it was just sitting in the middle of the floor near the baggage carousel!

Thanks for posting your photos, congratulations on a fine hunt.

MarkinSC,
I would never knock another guys trophy but I saw you mention a "blue bull eland" here. While his eland is very nice and I'm sure easily outscores mine, I don't think it meets the definition. As I understand it it must be an old bull, who usually has horns worn to the point where the score suffers quite a bit, that has a thinning coat and appears very much darker than the cow eland, thus actually taking on a bit of a blue gray tinge. Very much like the difference between a high scoring buffalo and an old dugga boy. I hope the picture shows the difference(and that I'm not making a fool of myself by being overly proud of my eland)

Kevin, you're right. I used the term "blue bull" inappropriately.

Jim's bull is an excellent trophy and obviously a good, mature bull by virtue of the dark tuft on his forehead.

But he hasn't quite reached the stature of "blue bull" yet since his coat is still full and rather light colored and his horns have not been broomed down much yet.

What do you think about these two old bulls, do they qualify for "blue bull" status?

Hey Mark, There is a hole in the top eland. Nice trophies. When I heard blue bull, I thought this was going to be something like the red wildebeest.

Sevens

Terry, sorry on the missinformation about the aircraft. It was the new Airbus. I have never been on a buss with seats that small or close together.

As far as getting through SAP with the firearms, it was obvious the Air2000 rep knew the officials, and was getting priority treatment.

Mark,

Those are both beauties. The first one has really great horns but I would think he is too young and unbroomed to make the "blue bull book", fantastic trophy though. The 2nd bull is more like it, well broomed tips though his ridges are still pretty sharp and his hide is getting there. I'd say he is on the edge, but you have at least twice the eland experience I have. Did your's smell. The mat on mine absolutely stunk of musk and was like greasy hair. They are fun to hunt. I am curious where you got yours, some never get the "good hair" some of us look for. Mine was taken at Silent Valley about 20 miles south of the Botswana border in Limpopo.

I shot both of them in South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park while hunting with Coenraad Vermaak Safaris in September of 2001. Coenraad's safari camp in Pilaneberg is perhaps the only safari camp in Africa where all of the Big 5 can be hunted at once. It's a high-fence area, but it encompasses 55,000 hectares!

Yes, the dark tuft hair did have a distinctly musky odor and a greasy feel.

In addition to being very challenging animals to hunt, they are also great on the plate.

Our friends Jim and Anita McChesney have hunted Pilansberg with Coenraad as well, what a beautiful place, we took a drive through on our sightseeing day. Coenraad is actually married to the cousin my outfitters wife Lenette.



Eland was the best game we ate. The night after I got mine they served it as our appetizer, the whole filet stuffed with mushrooms and onions and sliced, the meal was worth the trophy fee.

Those photos are making me jealous.....I so dearly want to go back!!!

Congratulations on a fine hunt.....your smile tells it all.

I hunted Pilanesberg with Hans Vermaak in '98. That's a great place for hunting and/or sight seeing.

Jim, did you get the little dark haired girl?

I was about ready to bring her back with me

Looks like a great bag of trophies; very nice.

Great trophies, Jboutfishin! Looks like you took some very nice animals. I sympathize with you on the plane ride. At 6'4" and 235 lbs. the old planes were bad enough. The new airbus sounds like a medieval torture chamber! Congrats again on the safari!

GMaxson, Sounds like maybe all of the folks at Air2000 are charmers. My rep was tall, maybe 5'10 �. Did I mention a real cutey? How do you say... made my day

JBoutfishn

All of your trophies are very nice and good pictures. I hope to get as nice an Eland in June. How did your binocular harness work out? I am wondering whether to use that type or just carry them across and under the arm.

CFA

Jim,
Great looking trophies! Thanks for sharing!

CFA, I have been using the "Bino System" for two years now. There is no weight on your neck, they don't drag on the ground when doing the low crawl, and they don't bounce around if you need to move quickly.

My local gun shop carries them, although I got mine as a promotion from Animal Artistry. I had enquired about some work and they sent it out with their information.

Jim,

You got some real nice trophies. Say, that jackal looks like he would make a fine full body mount.

Thanks Jim, I am going to give it a try. I prefer to use my 10X40 Zeiss and they need some support.

Fred