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it might be your first safari or maybe your 100th. doesn't make any difference, you're doing it, enjoy it. Life without humor would be very dull, not worth living, so take things on your safari with a light heart. That is not to say that serious moments will not arrive. they will. Your PH made a mistake and you shot a 24" impala when your heart was set on a 25". BIG DEAL - your new truck gives you 5 miles a gallon less that you thought it should too. Live with it and be glad you got a 24" ram. That doesn't mean that you must put peri peri in the ph's toothpaste (which as i recall did happen to someone here) but the levity involved made the trip more enjoyable. The squirtguns and water balloons we brought on the last trip certainly did increase the joy around the camp. So have some fun. Yeah, its costing a lot of money, but that will be the same whether or not you have fun. So you shot the francolin with your 470, he deserved it for being there. Enjoy yourself. Africans love practical jokes, and are the first in line to play them. I think at times they even outdo saeed and walter. if you watch one of saeeds videos you will see right away that the trip is enjoyed by all, not only for the hunting but for the comradeship. I must sound like a dumb chit for bringing this all up, but i have seen to many go back home without the gleeful memories, without the thoughts of the fun they had, with only some game animals, that won't even smile at them when the taxidermist is done. so this is just a reminder to go and have fun, it's your safari, your memories | ||
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What a great post - I don't regret all the small things I have done on a hunt. Shooting contests are some of the most enjoyable. The gamescout crept up on my 416 Ruger last year, and it took 20 minutes to get the bleeding stopped from the scope cut. Just how enjoyable are early brie's and sundowners, when you have taken a good trophy? You just don't have to be out there all the time. If you have never just flipped off the safety, said "Bang", and then said lets go - you've missed out on some things. Says a lot to the team at times, too. Last trip, the camp managers grandkids were there for holiday - I had as much fun with them as I would have with my own. Having my friends go to the trouble of picking up my wife and bringing her all the way out to see my leopard and participate in the photos was really special for me. So what if we waited an extra hour? My first trip to Namibia, the RSA was playing Namibia in rugby, I explained that if we could go out at 0430 and try for that 63" kudu seen hanging around a waterhole, I would give up half a day's hunting to let them explain the "finer" points of the game, and I would pretend to pay attention. We didn't get the kudu, but saw a wonderful sunrise and Nam kicked butt! Make it the special trip it deserves to be. | |||
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That's what I'm talking about  | |||
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Well said.  DRSS Searcy 470 NE | |||
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Well said. DRSS Searcy 470 NE | |||
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Life gives you what it gives you. Nothing more, nothing less. What we CHOOSE to do with it is what we CHOOSE to do with it. Very well said. On my first hunting trip I spent 13 miles of hiking on blistered feet and didn't see a single living animal. On my second major hunting trip I spent 5 days in blinds looking for Texas piggies. Never saw a single animal. My third trip wasn't much better. And that's what life gives you. Life. Life is what happens when your best made plans go awry. When we are old and gray it won't be the good times we reminisce about. It's the crap situations that we got into and got out of that we remember. Life. Smile and live it to the fullest. Good post. Regards, Robert ****************************** H4350! It stays crunchy in milk longer! | |||
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Butch, that stupid Guinea Hen was CHARGING! cryin out loud, how often do I have to tell you that!  | |||
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brilliant post. and this quote cost me a mouthful of wine. i think your advice is something that we all need to remember from time to time. | |||
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+1 Nec Timor Nec Temeritas | |||
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Some of the best memories I have are of very expensive hunts where I came home with "tag soup"! Gentlemen it is the experience that is worth the cost, of time and money! ....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1 DRSS Charter member "If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982 Hands of Old Elmer Keith  | |||
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Butch, Your post goes along with the dead horse I've been beating concerning letting yourself experience your safari. Back off a little on the goals, relax and take a minute to smell the elephant shit. Safari is supposed to be fun. Mark MARK H. YOUNG MARK'S EXCLUSIVE ADVENTURES 7094 Oakleigh Dr. Las Vegas, NV 89110 Office 702-848-1693 Cell, Whats App, Signal 307-250-1156 PREFERRED E-mail markttc@msn.com Website: myexclusiveadventures.com Skype: markhyhunter Check us out on https://www.facebook.com/pages...ures/627027353990716 | |||
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I have done both ... Johan | |||
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Great post butchloc, and great advice! | |||
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Great thread, and one that brings back a lot of great memories that had little or nothing to do with the game we were seeking, like: *Digging truffles in the Kalahari right after a June rain. And then enjoying them each night at dinner, while under the stars many miles from anywhere. *Toasting the passing of the Ayatollah Khomeni with a good single malt, after hearing the news over the SSB that evening back in camp. *Chasing guineas with Roy Vincent, armed only with a Ruger 10-22, and you got to keep shooting them until you missed, then you had to hand the gun over to the other guy till he missed and had to hand it back. We got over 1/4 mile from the truck before we thought about nobody having a bigger gun in case we ran into some nasty creature. *Watching the bushman trackers chasing a Honey Badger, and then getting chased themselves when it got pissed and put them all up on the truck's hood, hoping not to get eaten by that little devil! It was funny as hell. *Encountering a Black Rhino, cow, calf and bull at close range while hunting bushbuck in Charara, back when Charara still had Black Rhinos. We were on one side of a stream, and they on the other at about 25-30 yards. They never knew we were there, and it was a game viewing experience I'll always remmber. *Finally, seeing the sheer glee that Roger(one of Roy's trackers) felt upon my fiancee getting chased up a tree by a cape buffalo bull. It WAS funny, mostly because the bull wasn't really chasing her, but she didn't know it. How about some of your great memories? Let's hear 'em. | |||
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The long drive up from Windhoek to camp in the desert and the tiny gleam in the distance of the campfire at the end of the road. The very start of a wonderful trip. The scream of a bull elk in the middle of the night while we lay in our sleeping bags. The shimmering green curtain of the northern lights arcing from one horizon to the other on the first night in caribou camp. The look on my son's face as his first buck lay on the ground. (I wish I could have seen my face!) The sound of thick wet snow falling in the marsh after I snuck out of work early one of the last days of the duck season. No ducks, but a perfect evening just the same. | |||
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Well said! There really is a lot to be said for the idea of looking at life as a glass half full rather than half empty. To encourage first timers - My first was an absolutely perfectly happy experience -from the time I got on an SAA plane at JFK -to the conclusion of three weeks in "the bush". Nothing went wrong - I swear it -nearly 20 years later. Fact. Oh, yeah, I also got my buff and he made the SCI record book -and I was just happy to have stood and faced and shot a buff. The experience of the hunt is what you want and nothing else matters. (Just to rub it in - I also ate well out in the bush and not at any "lodge"- possibly because my outfitter was an Italian although born in what was once Rhodesia -and his wife was a continental Italian lady (she could have been a model for looks) who taught the cooks how to do cooking -and even had them raising a vegetable and herb garden. In plain words, gentlemen, in three weeks in the bush I did not eat hash and beans. Yeah, I had one great safari!  | |||
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One of my highlights was taking the day off and fishing. We took the cook and she cooked the fish over an open fire as we caught them. It's not a hunt it's an adventure, enjoy it. | |||
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Hmmmm! Shooting an elephant bull in the first hour of the first day of my first safari. Actually it was the first wild elephant I had ever seen. It was unreal. Having a mating pair of lions copulating directly under my machan in the black of the night. You know your alive in that situation. I can promise you. Laying in bed on the luangwa in the first grey light of day listening to the lions calling, the hippos carrying on and the gurgle of the water flowing by the camp. Peace! Sadie finding the track of my first buffalo after the trackers had lost it. Very lucky but a special moment. Sadie swatting the Cameroon tracker with her hat when he was talking trash about America. He was speaking in French and thought we could not understand. Seeing the sand along the Zambezi carpetted in crimson from the falling sausage tree blossoms. Spooking a big croc off a half eaten hippo calf. Having a croc open his eye and look at me after I had blown his brain pan away and he was in the boat. Watching a timid bushbuck feed directly below the deck at the Mokore camp in the Save. Being at the grand opening of the Kafunta Lodge on the Luangwa. What a grand place. Africa is just a continuing source of amazing events to me. Mark MARK H. YOUNG MARK'S EXCLUSIVE ADVENTURES 7094 Oakleigh Dr. Las Vegas, NV 89110 Office 702-848-1693 Cell, Whats App, Signal 307-250-1156 PREFERRED E-mail markttc@msn.com Website: myexclusiveadventures.com Skype: markhyhunter Check us out on https://www.facebook.com/pages...ures/627027353990716 | |||
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Hunted the Rooiport Nature Reserve out of Kimberly, home Cecil John Rhodes "Shooting Box". The home is stunning. Spent quite a bit of time at the Bushmans Fountain, The Elepahant Blind, and an African Heritage Site covered with petroglyphs. The hunting was great,our ph's asked if we would like to hunt one of the other concessions since we had several more days. Sure! Load up and went north to Venitia in the Northern Province. What a place! Stayed a DeBeers Little Muck Lodge. Pretty nice digs! We saw first hand the African Wild Dog Project. About 10 of 12 wild dogs caught an impala. It was over in about 10 minutes. These are free ranging on 30,000 ha, not in a small enclosure. Got some super pictures. Tracked a Black Rhino about 5 miles, just to see if we could catch a glimpse of him. We diden't, but what a rush thinking he could be around the next bush! Had a very attractive young biology student ask if I would mind terribly, if not to much trouble, shoot her a wildebeast or impala for her research project on lions? Sure honey, want me to bring it to your house? Driving from Kimberly thru Johanasburg to Alldays took all day, but got to see a lot of South Africa some of us never get to see. It was a great trip, would do it again in a minute, will do something like it again soon I hope. | |||
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salute! | |||
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Well said, Butch ......also, I'm glad you & Diane are coming back to Dallas this January ..... we look forward to seeing you guys again. FRANK ____________________________ .470 & 9.3X74R Chapuis' Tikka O/U 9.3X74R Searcy Classics 450/.400 3" & .577 C&H .375 2 1/2" Krieghoff .500 NE Member Dallas Safari Club | |||
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Butchloc, You are welcome in my camp any day. ROYAL KAFUE LTD Email - kafueroyal@gmail.com Tel/Whatsapp (00260) 975315144 Instagram - kafueroyal | |||
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