I thought I'd post a few piccies of our recent trip out to RSA. Our main aim was to find out about the wingshooting availability. I put together a team of 8 freinds and we headed over for a short 5 day trip, but Dig, his father and I stayed on to look at another area and shoot some plains game. I took a couple of cull impala over the three days, and it seemed that we only saw stuff that I wasn't interested in shooting!!

Either way, it was awesome fun hunting in the chest high grass and and thick bush. The shots we managed to get up to were some of the best hunting fun I have ever had. It was a real plus point for all those guys out there wondering if shooting non trophy animals is worth their consideration.

Anyway here's a few pics i wanted to share:

Rgds,
FB

Awesome photos.

Looks like you guys had a great trip and busted a lot of feathers....

Fan-bloody-tastic!

Nice one mate, looks like a great time.

You look dangerous in the first pic.

Great photo's mate!

Was that the dog btw?

Thanks for sharing Kiri, looks great, my guns are howling in the cabinet for another trip

Is this the same area that is ment for the upcoming 2010 challenge?

Amir,
Which dog is THE dog?

The terrier was Dennies new Jack Russel who was great to have around. He's only young but had either of the animals run in the high grass we were in then the dog would have found them.

We tested him on a trail and he did well.

The other dog was a GSP that was lucky not to end up in the "various" column of the game book after it ate a few of the birds Dig had shot.

Over the trip I think 6 guns shot in excess of 2,500 shells over two days dove shooting. We shot for two and a half hours the first day and three and a half hours the second day!!

These birds were clocked with the car at 80km/h out of the wind then the "breeze" started. The first pack that came past me I led at 25m with about 10ft of lead. I killed the 6th bird in the line. after doing the same thing twice more I thought it was time to re-evalutate things!!

I averaged something like 4-5 shots per bird. Dig averaged 1.8 shots per bird. As much as it pains me to admit but I think it was one of the finest displays of game shooting I have ever witnessed on the most sporting birds I can imagine,and i count myself lucky to know some good shots out there. I'll let him tell you all about the geese though!!! I think we took just over 400 doves in all and that number could have been much larger if we specifically wanted to hunt them, we just used it as a filler really.

The goose shooting was very good with everyone getting a number of chances on the first day and then less so on the second.

Unfortunately we didn't get into the Francolin and Guinneas like we would have liked as the guy that was organising it hurt his back moving a Lathe a few weeks before we got there. Either way the doves more than made up for it, and you have to kind of roll with it when these things come up out there I suppose.


Rgds,
FB

The tick dog mate.

Tell Denny he has a very fine dog there btw....

Arild,

The wing shooting may be in the same area for the doves, but the plainsgame will be elsewhere.

There is a possibility that the wig shooting may be an optional add on though, as I'm still negotiating the terms. I'll post full details when I get them.

Rgds,
FB

Amir the likely ood is that we picked up the ticks in the long grass. It was quite wet while we were hunting, and the grass was often chest high.

Dennie was complaining that in 20+years he had hunted a total of 3 days in the rain, then I come over and it rains every day that I want to hunt!!

FB

Thanks for sharing -looks like you had a blast!! Now my mouth is watering for smoked dove breasts; over the coals grilled duck and guinnea fowl stew!!! Man oh Man!!!

Cheers
Gail

quote:

Originally posted by Fallow Buck:
Amir the likely ood is that we picked up the ticks in the long grass. It was quite wet while we were hunting, and the grass was often chest high.

Dennie was complaining that in 20+years he had hunted a total of 3 days in the rain, then I come over and it rains every day that I want to hunt!!

FB

We brits are rain gods, I have spoken

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
Fan-bloody-tastic!

Steve,

We need to go and bust some feathers when I get back in Sept or Oct....

quote:

Originally posted by Gerhard.Delport:

Steve,

We need to go and bust some feathers when I get back in Sept or Oct....

Sounds good to me mate....... I should have my Dickson by then!

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:

quote:

Originally posted by Gerhard.Delport:

Steve,

We need to go and bust some feathers when I get back in Sept or Oct....

Sounds good to me mate....... I should have my Dickson by then!

Steve, call me when you plan this ...

Righto mate. Will do!

Anyone else interested?

Don't know much about photography, but my father is a professional photographer so he's attempted to give me an eye for a good pic... those are some fantastic pictures. Really great lighting etc., etc.

Well done.

Great photos...looks like a blast!

Very nice and thanks for sharing them with us!

Looks like you had a great trip... congrats!

Looks like fun trip,can we have some more photos??

great pics, looks like a great trip

Yes it was all great fun, and we learnt a lot about hunting gamebirds etc in RSA. It is something that the team have done a huge amount of in various places but for most of them, it was their first time to south africa.

I think the rock pigeons were about the best sport that a guy could ask for and I'm putting a team together to go back and shoot some more again next year.

TP,
I've got some more pics going up on my new website soon. When it is up and running I'll post a link.

FB

Thansk for sharing, Kiri!
Wonderful photos. Seems like a nice experience!

Blatently in the wrong forum.
This is a Hunt Report.

DON'T use illness as an excuse for sloppyiness!

I'll be there next year though....

quote:

Originally posted by UKhunter:


I'll be there next year though....

Not if you carry on like that you won't!!!

It's a (mostly) civilised bunch of trouble makers over here you know!!

Rgds,
FB

As a matter of interest, can someone please tell me what the going rate per bird is for a reasonably good driven pheasant or partridge shoot in the UK nowadays?

quote:

Originally posted by Fallow Buck:


Not if you carry on like that you won't!!!

It's a (mostly) civilised bunch of trouble makers over here you know!!

Rgds,
FB

Hmm? who woke me up?

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
As a matter of interest, can someone please tell me what the going rate per bird is for a reasonably good driven pheasant or partridge shoot in the UK nowadays?

£25

Boghossian,

Thanks, a lot of money but I'm not really that suprised at the cost.

Steve,

That's relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things. Some of the westcountry shoots were in excess of £45 +vat, but then you get what you pay for. I have a keeper freind who had a season average of 17 shots per bird... That's another issue altogether though.

The biggest problem is feed cost over here. So Grain is £130-150 per tonne and cover crop costs over £350/acre. You know the scene so you'll know that cheaper rough sport can still be had.

This is the reason why I was interested in setting up the agency for African wingshooting, as well as other destinations including the UK, because I think done in the right way guys can have excellent sport for a relatively sensible price. Judging by the fun we had on the "exploratory" trip I think we might be onto something.

Rgds,
K

Kiri,

At UKP45 + VAT in the UK, I should think you're African wingshooting agency should do very well indeed!!

Steve,

Driven grouse this year are touching £150 a brace on the big moors, that's before the hospitality!!

I think it might have been Wemmergill (sp?) that broke te record for the moor last year with a bag of over 500 brace between 8-10 guns. The thing is that those birds must be shot otherwise the overpopulation causes worm infestation and virtual local extinction of the grouse. Regardless of the price, getting a day on the grouse is still not so easy.

The flip side is that I think those rock pigeons are about as sporting a bird to shoot as anything you could ever want topoint your gun at so I can't wait to get back out there and get involved!!

Hopefully we'll be able to get a beer sorted for this time too!!!

rgds,
FB

Excellent photography, FB.

Being a gun and game bird fancier, I especially like this one.



What make is that gun? It's beautiful. Very classy. Love the Jones underlever, exposed hammers, sidelocks and straight grip.

FB is that a Greener?
I have one similar to it but with a top lever.
Absolute pleasure to shoot with and believe it or not I shoot better with it than any of the others I have. I think it is mostly due to the fact that i have to cock the hammers before the shot, slows me down and makes me think I guess.
Great post, really enjoyed the pics
Ian

The Hammer gun is a Thompson.

Great story of how Dig found it a couple of years ago on an old lady's coal shed. He gave her about fifty quid and did a lot of the renovation work himself. The gun now shoots most of the UK game shooting he does here and travels to various places around the world with him.

Generally it seems to getthe job done too!!

We get to play with some very interesting guns throughout the year, and each year I organise a days pheasant and duck shooting for anyone that wants to coma and paly with old guns and black powder. I think last years event was written up in the Double Gun Journal, and we spent last night arranging this years plans.

We are also arranging a 2 week UK bird shooting safari for a freind from the US where we will travel around the UK useing vintage guns almost exclusively, (apart from the Punt gun!!). That should throw up some good pictures!!

I'll see if I can get a few more pictures posted.

FB

quote:

Originally posted by Fallow Buck:
Steve,

Driven grouse this year are touching £150 a brace on the big moors, that's before the hospitality!!

rgds,
FB

Makes me helluva glad I managed to shoot a (very) few back in the days of 19blackandwhite when they were a tad more reasonably priced.

quote:

Originally posted by Gail Selby:
Thanks for sharing -looks like you had a blast!! Now my mouth is watering for smoked dove breasts; over the coals grilled duck and guinnea fowl stew!!! Man oh Man!!!

Cheers
Gail

Gail,

You're gonna have to give us the recipes because I've never managed to cook a guinea fowl and had it taste like anything other than cardboard!

Otherwise, maybe we should bring some up to you so you can cook them for us!

Steve,

The dovebreasts were great. I cooked them in a "oriental" type glaze with the limited ingredients we had available. I heard of a texas recipe where the bresats are stuffed with cream cheese and Jalepeno's, wrapped in bacn and cooked on the grill.... I'm planning to bring some ingredients with me next time.

Gail, any other ideas would be great as the guinneas and francolin were definately a bit on the tough side, although we didn't get a chance to hang them after shooting.

Rgds,
FB

Fallow Buck,

It seems that you enjoyed a good wingshooting safari, despite not visiting the guinea fowl hunting Mecca in South Africa! Please do include a few days at Mervilla in planning your next trip.

Shakari, Gerhard, Bahati, Vlam and all other shotgunners in South Africa that are interested, and 375 fanatic,

Why do we not plan to bust some guinea fowl feathers in one weekend in September here at my place? Free State bird season ends 30 September 2009! Gerhard, I hope you can be here by then?

Once you have surrounded the flocks here you will agree that this place is the Mecca for guinea fowl surround shooting! There are dozens of flocks to surround in the very large hunting area where I hold full hunting rights!

Both the Swainsons’ Francolin and Orange River Partridge, that are normally present in quite low numbers in this area, have bred well the past season and there are some in reasonable numbers. Lots of young tasty birds!

I await your collective suggestions / proposals of a selected weekend in September. Any one of the September weekends will do for me.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

Andrew,

Sounds like a helluva good idea to me....... maybe we could try to make a plan when we're together at Luan's place next month?