The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting African Big Game Hunting My most memorable non shooting African experience...What's yoursGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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...playing Marlin Perkins holding a bushbuck down to the ground by a horn with one hand covering its eyes with my baseball cap with other while the PH used my leather to cut a wire snare from its neck that it had just gotten caught in. Then trying figure out how we would "let go" without getting gored... It all worked out okay... Mike Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | ||
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looking up and seeing the southern cross. Thinking I was very far from home, but feeling perfectly at home. | |||
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That probably would have been watching my 50+ year old head tracker hand out extra elephant meat to the 14 to 16 year old girls because he recently had an opening for one more wife. The Zimbabwe version of a "meat market" Dating Game for socially acceptable pedophilia. Kyler ___________________________ www.boaring.com I'm so old that I still have some skills even without an internet connection or electricity. ___________________________ | |||
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Delete double post. | |||
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Never having made it across the pond....Reading all the great hunting reports on AR...  How pathetic is that...?!  Regards, Dave | |||
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Growing up in Africa with only a catty. It took thirty years to rectify that "injustice". I'm over it now that I have a third trip in sight. Actually, my non shooting Africa experience(s) involve all those dreams where I don't have a gun to get the hyenas and lions out of the house!!! David, pathetic is giving up, not yourself, okay? BNagel _______________________ | |||
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That first cup of coffee the first hunting day of your safari, sitting, staring at the stars and thinking you have it all in front of you... On the plains of hesitation lie the bleached bones of ten thousand, who on the dawn of victory lay down their weary heads resting, and there resting, died. If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch... Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! - Rudyard Kipling Life grows grim without senseless indulgence. | |||
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Watching the joy on our Ndebele tracker's face as we handed him a cigar (as our PH shook his head), watching him as we smoked, just milling around the bank of a sand river, then, sadly, a year later finding out that that same tracker had died at a beer drink, probably poisoned on purpose. That's Africa. | |||
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A number, mixture of good and bad, but all experiences are to be learned from: - "surviving" a "grenade" attack in the main Post office of Dar es Salaam - "bodies" everywhere - exciting - but no one killed or seriously injured - work that one out? - hearing an elephant walk within a metre of my head while in a tent, and poking my head out of the tent to have a look at her. Fantastic. - flying around in a small chopper with Viv Bristow live game capture - chance once in a lifetime experience - Mike, being thrown off your mate's farm by warvets - a worthwhile experience of true Africa - being "robbed"/conned/"mugged" in Nairobi, but a great learning experience - listening to lions roaring in the night - nothing beats it - white water rafting the Zambezi - sitting in a blind half a day in the western parts of Hwange, near Nantwich, alone with my wife and watching the habits and mannerisms of various antelope, elephants and the like in peace Lots of memories, can't pick which is the most memorable ... | |||
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On my first trip to Africa, my buddy's buffalo was in the salt. We were going to walk the 3-4 hundred yards from the camp to the skinning shed to look the trophy over, when the PH said he'd give us a ride. Mid-afternoon, no chance of getting lost or coming up lame over that distance, so we declined the offer. He insisted, and after arguing mildly we finally agreed. On the return trip, he stopped the land cruiser and showed us why he had been so adamant. In our tire tracks made 20 minutes before were lion tracks.  Really drove home the point about not being in Kansas anymore. | |||
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Great topic!!! My first trip to Africa was with John Sharp in the lowveld of Zimbabwe back in 2002. John met me at the airport in Bulawayo then transfered down to camp in his single-engine plane. I was first struck by the lack of airplanes at Bulawayo - there were only two on the ground - the SAA commuter which brought me from Joberg and John's plane!! We flew down to the hunting area and after a short aerial tour John set-up for a very nice smooth landing. During the last twenty feet or so of altitude before landing, I saw two warthogs running - of course with their tails straight up in the air - on the side of the landing strip going parallel to and 40 or so yards in front of us. I thought to myself "what a great introduction to Africa - a warthog greeting party!!". Later that day as John and I were talking, the warthog sighting came up and I soon realized his immediate thought after seeing them was "hope they don't decide to cross the runway in front of us". Definitely made me think a little. Phil | |||
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I've Been to the Mountaintop! JudgeG ... just counting time 'til I am again finding balm in Gilead chilled out somewhere in the Selous. | |||
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My first African safari was in 1991. Was in Tanzania hunting with TGT. We were in a very dry area and entered this small valley that, for some reason, seemed to have received some rain. The whole valley was covered in flowers that had just come up. We were hunting buffalo and found a herd. We worked our way up to a large anthill where I could lie on the hill, facing away from the buffalo, and by looking backward around the edge of the mound could see the buffalo. They were passing in single file so we could check out each one individually (how often does that ever happen!) As I lay there, my double rifle in hand, I could see all of the flowers and beautiful clouds floating by. I had the very real feeling that this was a highpoint in my life and "it just doesn't get any better than this! As it turned out there wasn't anything shootable in that group, but it was still great. | |||
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Chasing a 3.5 foot Monitor lizard on foot through the scrub and sands of the Kalahari. Watching it dive into a large hole under a thorn bush, leaving only the tip of its tail sticking out. Asking my PH "do they bite" and, as he huffed and puffed running to catch up after the footrace through the soft sand. Having him yell back with irritation, "NO...GRAB HIM BY THE ******* TAIL!. Watching, in slow motion, a fist sized gaping reptile mouth coming back at my gloved hand as soon as I'd pulled his head clear of the hole. Shrieks of laughter from the peanut gallery as I tossed 12 lbs of hissing finger eater back into the sand before he exacted revenge. Watching in wonder as our tracker used six foot shooting sticks like giant chop sticks to deftly catch the same lizard by the head as it raced up a tree. Enjoying my own belly laugh when the tracker released it....At precisely the same time my PH had taken hold of its tail. Having my PH on film telling me Monitor Lizards don't bite, and replaying it for him dozens of times back at camp: Priceless. | |||
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I don't have so much experience, but what first came to mind was being with my wife and PH on the edge of a 6 or 8 foot vertical embankment of the Limpopo. A pod of Hippos not 10 yards away, below us, just basking in the water, submerging for a time and huffing as they lifted their heads or just noses sometimes to exhale and then pull in a fresh supply of air. It was pastoral with the doves making their koo-koooing call in the background. We had snuck up so carefully all were unaware of our presence and I thought, "We're in Africa"! Gary Political correctness entails intolerance for some prejudices but impunity for others. James Taranto | |||
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Watching an Ostrich walk within 10 feet of JudgeG and begin to perform its mating ritual. The bird was in love with him, and finally had to be chased away. The PH and I were literally laying on the ground laughing at the whole thing. It happened on a plains game hunt in 2004 it the Kwa Zulu-Natal. | |||
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Climbing a kopje in Zim by flashlight before dawn, then sitting shivering while it got light. The doves calling, the baboons complaining about the cold in their bones, the zebras neighing in the distance, hearing a lepoard , getting inspected by curious dassies, having a herd of impala magically materialize at the base of the kopje and feed quietly into the mopane scrub. Balm for the soul. | |||
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Stalking blue wildebeest and having a herd of the cows and calves wander past within 10-20 yards. Watching animals fight--both a bunch of young hartebeest bulls trying to drive off an old one, and this battle:  Sitting at a waterhole for an hour and just watching the world go by:      | |||
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Shaking hands with Barrie Duckworth and then sittng down at the same table with him and his elephant hunting client for a fantastic meal in a bush camp in Zimbabwe. Thinking the whole time "I am just a dumb-ass deer hunter from Texas sitting in the presence of real elephant hunters. It must be a dream." Elephant Hunter, Double Rifle Shooter Society, NRA Lifetime Member, Ten Safaris, in RSA, Namibia, Zimbabwe | |||
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Early one morning, just after first light back in February (2007), we're cruising though the Mopane forest in Zim just after daylight. I'm sitting on the top bench in the back of the cruiser with my PH's Son discussing his plans to move to America and attend college here. It's already getting warm so we're trying to find a Zebra for me before it gets too hot and not paying much attention to the huge Spider webs that were built during the night across the trail. About the time I see this hand size "garden spider" (the black, white and yellow kind we have here at home, only much, much larger) the front whip antennae catches its web in the center, forcing the giant arachnid to spew a web line from the antennae which allows it to hold on. The problem was, the damn thing was swinging in front of our faces. Both of us like Spiders about as much as a stick in the eye, so we're struggling to either crap or wind our watch! No more had this monster of horror landed on our bench, than another creature from hell came firing back between us. Our crew in the cab turned to hear what all the screeching and screaming was about and began to hee-haw with laughter. We're dodging these fanged missiles with back snapping twists, turns and jerks while these fools are peeing in their pants with laughter. I was so damned mad I would have shot every one of those Spiders with the joy that only a six year old can experience on Christmas morning. I still am cussing over that one. LDK Gray Ghost Hunting Safaris http://grayghostsafaris.com Phone: 615-860-4333 Email: hunts@grayghostsafaris.com NRA Benefactor DSC Professional Member SCI Member RMEF Life Member NWTF Guardian Life Sponsor NAHC Life Member Rowland Ward - SCI Scorer Took the wife the Eastern Cape for her first hunt: http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6881000262 Hunting in the Stormberg, Winterberg and Hankey Mountains of the Eastern Cape 2018 http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/4801073142 Hunting the Eastern Cape, RSA May 22nd - June 15th 2007 http://forums.accuratereloadin...=810104007#810104007 16 Days in Zimbabwe: Leopard, plains game, fowl and more: http://forums.accuratereloadin...=212108409#212108409 Natal: Rhino, Croc, Nyala, Bushbuck and more http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6341092311 Recent hunt in the Eastern Cape, August 2010: Pics added http://forums.accuratereloadin...261039941#9261039941 10 days in the Stormberg Mountains http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/7781081322 Back in the Stormberg Mountains with friends: May-June 2017 http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6001078232 "Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading" - Thomas Jefferson Every morning the Zebra wakes up knowing it must outrun the fastest Lion if it wants to stay alive. Every morning the Lion wakes up knowing it must outrun the slowest Zebra or it will starve. It makes no difference if you are a Zebra or a Lion; when the Sun comes up in Africa, you must wake up running...... "If you're being chased by a Lion, you don't have to be faster than the Lion, you just have to be faster than the person next to you." | |||
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My first morning in Africa I awoke before sunup and walked up a hill in a dirt track behind the camp in the moonlight. As the sun rose, I was looking across a small lake. It was surrounded by cat tails and myriad birds. So many strange and wonderful sounds! That was six safaries ago. | |||
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Reaching into my pack and being stung three times by a scorpion. Talk about a memorable experience!! | |||
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climbing up ontop of a koppie on my last day in Africa, after having been there for over 6 months, and watching the sun disappear one last time over the mopane horizon with a cold castle in my hands while listening to the go-away birds, baboons and doves call out in the waning light.. that is a memory I'll never forget. | |||
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Meeting the woman who is now my wife. Waking up in the middle of the night on my first night in the bush and hearing lions roaring outside camp. Rather than fear, my reaction was one of pure joy. One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know. - Groucho Marx | |||
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The day after shooting my first African trophy, which was also my first trophy anywhere,a Cape Buffalo, on my first day in the bush, my PH and I had lunch with Willie Englebrecht and his hunting party. Willie was a well known Botswana PH and quite a character. Upon hearing about my success he looked up and said "Why that's like going to the whore house for the first time and getting the Madam!". Sadly, Willie is no longer with us. TerryR | |||
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Delivering buffalo meat to our trackers village late at night after a 20 + mile hunt, and hearing the "ululating" women singing in the dark African night. Our PH and I were both kind of pissed off about this long "short-cut" back to our camp, until we heard the women's gleeful welcome. Andy | |||
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Standing on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater and thinking that J.A. Hunter stood right here where I was and was probably just as amazed. | |||
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Seeing 3 cheetahs sitting on a rock, just like in the National Geographic shows. Saw this only 30 minutes out from the Windhoek airport. Great fun telling the American teachers who had been on a trip to the cheetah research program about this. They only saw them at the facility. Caleb | |||
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In my paltry two trips to Africa was lucky enough to have two truly especially memorable experiences. In May of 2004, Rick Rose, the PH (Gary) and his son watched a couple of young hippos (carefully monitored by Mom) just give a Crock holy hell ... they flipped and chased this poor fella all over one end of a pretty good sized pond. Here we are watch'n and trying desperately to keep from laughing out loud so that we'd not draw unwanted attention from the obviously territorial hippos. Too funny!!! On the trip to Tanzania last year, on the last day I hit my Buff. This was great for me, but a little bit of a problem for the camp because the hunter who was to follow me had cancelled. Very shortly after we had the Buff on the ground, the base camp got a call from the local High School ... looking for meat to support a traditional ceremony for a large number of people. What great fortune for them! So a group of kids bicycled out to the hunting site and decended upon the remains of the Buff ... under the direction of the PH. This was a bunch a VERY happy kids who were gonna take all of this meat back to town (many kilometers away) by bicycle! Man, I was amazed at how thorough they were ... they barely left a wet spot where the Buff had been. Someone said that no protein goes to waste in Africa. Certainly proved it to me! Mike -------------- DRSS, Womper's Club, NRA Life Member/Charter Member NRA Golden Eagles ... Knifemaker, http://www.mstarling.com | |||
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Prior to shooting my buffin Moz. We stalked through swamp reeds & muck for 400-500 yds to get within shooting distance of a small herd of buffalo w/ a desent bull & exceptional old cow. There was a narrow reed bed between us & the buff about 50yds away. Several younger bulls were bedded & we thought we would set for awhile to see if anyhting bigger would show. We had the wind & there was a very small semidry grass "island" for me, my PH & the tracker to sit. We sat in the sun for almost an hour when the reeds behind us started to part very slowly. I was sure it must be a very large snake or a small corc. After about 15min, a very large Monitor lizard poked his head out about 4ft from our little spot & had a look around. Never saw us but I think he new we were there. The tracker reached out w/ the shooting sticks to touch his head when he turned away. He scampered off, as surpirsed as we were. Pretty funny. Often the non shooting expereinces are the best part of any hunt here or across the pond.  LIFE IS NOT A SPECTATOR'S SPORT! | |||
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It occured this year in June. My wife and I were on our first safari, hunting leopard, buffalo,and plains game in Chewore South Zim. with Roger Whittall Safaris. About the third day we were stalking into a herd of buffalo. My wife,the game scout and the two trackers hunkered down in the thick river bottom jesse while me and the two PH's Magara and Winston eased ahead. Visibility was under ten yards. Well the buffalo busted us and went crashing off in typical fashion. As the buffalo moved off in front we heard loud crashing coming right toward us from behind. We raised our rifles preparing to confront what we thought were buffalo. It was an intense few seconds as what was coming at us was big and moving fast. Two big Waterbuck materialized just yards from us coming head on. Magara was first in line to be mowed over and waved his arm and yelled some very powerful Shona/English cussing. The Waterbuck were startled and their eyes widened as they tryed to veer off. One managed to turn by us but the other one stumbled as it tryed to turn, lost it's footing, and rolled, landing at our feet. We threw ourselves back, while the Waterbuck regained it's footing and then charged off. The three of us stood there looking at each other for a moment then busted out laughing. The rest of the group couldn't see what was happening but could hear all the ruckus and came quickly to see if we were alright. It was indeed a most memorable moment. There were many memorable moments on this trip and I'll be posting the whole hunt with pictures soon. Scott Hayman | |||
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Sitting on a ridge one morning at about 10.00 resting my eyes, and arms from holding up heavy 8X56 binos, from scanning an opposite mountainside for kudu. I sence, rather than see movement to one side, and, thinking "mamba", I hold still and turn my eyes. A whole bunch of dwarf mongoose ( Helogale parvula) were feeding along towards me. I hold absolutely still. Soon I'm all but surrounded by about 12 of them. A youngster pulls on my one bootlace, and it loosens. A similar sized one comes to investigate and tries to 'snatch' the prize from the finders. Quite a pulling match develops between these two for the right to pull my bootlace. Another one, quite a bit smaller than the two fighters, seems to just get closer and closer to watch. Others start watching the fight. A very big and dominant type shows up, and the fighting youngsters scramble away. The group seems to slowly move on foraging and turning over stones and pulling at bark. I sit absolutely still and do not turn my head to see better, rather not seeing something than risk frightening them. Soon all move away and I'm alone on the ridge again. Alone? No, not alone, but filled with a wonderfull feeling of being a hunter to which such incidents happen. [Only now, as I write this and re-think about the incident, do I realize that my bootlace must have smelled of blood of an impala shot the day before.] Why not a single one became scared of my smell, I'll not be able to say. None actualy climbed onto me, only the two youngsters all over my one boot! An experience of a lifetime! Then there was the incident with the family of bat eared foxes......... But, for me, the dwarf mongooses all over my boot was surely the non-shooting experience of a lifetime! In good hunting. Andrew McLaren. | |||
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I was driving from the Lodge to the Farm Proper with the tracker Phineas; Jaco, the PH, and his mother are in his car taking another route. We are in need of an Impala for bait, so I ask Jaco if I have permission to take a shot on a mature ewe if one presents on the way to the farm. "Of course" replies Jaco, I have him explain this to Phineas as Phineas doesn't speak english and I don't speak any of his languages. Off we go with me looking for Impala from the cab of the truck. About 50 yards down the road I spot a nice Common Duiker with horns above his ears standing broadside to the road just watching us. "Stop, Stop" I say quietly to Phineas as I point to the Duiker. Phineas just keeps driving and says "Nee Duiker" without even glancing at the duiker. I decided pushing the point would only spook the Duiker anyway and Phineas is just following the instructions his boss gave him. To this day, I think Phineas was thinking "Stupid white man, spends more than I'll make in my life to come here for two weeks to shoot boks and can't even tell the difference between a duiker and an impala!" When I tell Jaco about this at the Farm, he is mad until I remind him that Phineas only had instructions about Impala and was following instuctions. We chased that Duiker for the next 12 days before bagging him on the last morning when measured he had 4 7/8" horns on each side. | |||
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We are stalking Buffalo in the Selous, the PH and trackers are hurrying me along to be able to take the shot, I get just a glance of Brown Buffalo and suddenly the four trackers all rush the Buffalo. I am thinking, what the hell is happening, are they trying to catch them by hand. Well, that is exactly what they were doing, because it was only a Calf with a severely wounded hoof that couldn't keep up with the herd. They cought the Calf and we made many pictures and a video as well as exaniming the wound up close. Then, the trick was to release the Calf, which they did, but he charged us at close range, scattering the whole Posse in every direction. One of the trackers cought it again and held it until we mounted the truck before releasing and rushing to climb on himself. The PH said we can all now say we have been charged by a Buffalo. I was thankful it was of the small variety, instead of the full blown Bull.   Good shootingphurley | |||
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The charter plane that was coming to get me at the end of the Tanzania safari crashed on landing. No one hurt, plane destroyed... | |||
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Sharing a campfire, a cigar and a cold Castle with a wonderful friend at the end of the day. Mike | |||
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Aside from the plane crash described above, I've experienced many of the same thoughts/feelings you all have posted. The most memorable non-hunting, other than waking to a true African dawn with my wife at my side was the visit to a rock kopje in Zimbabwe that was inhabited by long ago hunters just like us today. I always wanted to further research the origins, but aside from a few internet resources I was never able to pin down the approximate time or the people involved. Below's a picture you might all enjoy. jorge USN (ret) DRSS Verney-Carron 450NE Cogswell & Harrison 375 Fl NE Sabatti Big Five 375 FL Magnum NE DSC Life Member NRA Life Member | |||
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making the bungee jump from the Vic Falls bridge twice in one day. can you say adrenlin rush!!!! Vote Trump- Putin’s best friend… | |||
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jorge: Your wife is F-I-N-E!!!!!!!! You on the other hand.... J/k...about you. 577NitroExpress Double Rifle Shooters Society Francotte .470 Nitro Express  If stupidity hurt, a lot of people would be walking around screaming... | |||
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I actually have two. Both were in 2005 when I was hunting with Vaughan Fulton in Namibia.The first was viewing a black rhino that was part of a conservation project on a farm of a friend of Vaughan's. The second was taking some meat to a village on the conservancy that Vaughan leased. I was having a bad day of hunting but my troubles soon vanished as the adults and children gathered around for the meat and candy that I was handing out. It made my day!! John | |||
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