In early April I went to the Eastern Cape of RSA on a 10 day hunt. This was a cull hunt that I had booked with Jeff Martinell a couple of years ago, but I had to postpone it a year due to activities at work. The outfitter was Owen Smith, who originally was at Bethaven, but is now at a lodge on a property that borders Bethaven. To start out with I want to say that it was a fantastic hunt and I would recommend both Jeff and Owen to anyone wanting to make a trip for either cull animals or trophies.

Owen has recently taken over an old lodge that was built in the 1860's, which has all the comforts of home except being hooked to the power grid. We ran a diesel generator morning and evening, so everything was OK there. The lodge had not been used in a few years, but the landowner came by several times and talked with us about what improvements needed to be made, so I am sure that by next hunting season the lodge will be at the "international" standards that Owen requires.

For those of you who have not been in the Eastern Cape, we were in mountains from 2,000 to 4,500 feet. The lodge was on a gravel road about 20 minutes from Somerset East. We hunted on three farms, each had over 10,000 acres, with no high fences. We did shoot the blue wildebeest and kudu behind a high fence at Bethaven, but that was because it was not "kudu season" on free range land. Each of us shot 5 springbock, 3 blesbuck, 2 mountain reedbuck, 3 impala, 3 warthogs, 2 kudu, and a blue and black wildebeest. Our shots were from 40 yds out to about 250 yds. No animal was shot from the vehicle, all shooting was from sticks or natural rest in the field.
My partner was using a 300 Win Mag with 180 Accubonds. He fired 22 shots to kill 20 animals (two needed follow-up shots), then shot 8 monkeys in a row. That made 30 shots without a miss! Owen called him "the old geeser" because he is 69 years old. I used a T/C Encore with a 26" Custom Shop barrel with break, in 280 Ackley. My 160 Accubonds chrono at 2950 fps. We
Americans were impressed with the Accubonds, but all three PH's said that Accubonds, Barns-X, or Trophy Bonded are the bullets of choice.

The only real complaint was the cost of having Hunter Support help us in Johannesburg. We faxed them paperwork, then sent originals Fed Ex, then paid their fee. One of their guys met us at the baggage claim and took us by the hand through all the necessary places, and got us on our connecting flight in 2 hours. We would not have made it without him, and his service was excellent. But when you consider one person worked 2 hours and we paid him over $450, I don't know how much behind the scenes work was done, but someone made good money on this trip. Add in over $150 for faxing and mail charges, and it cost us about $200 per person to get our guns into RSA.
For you guys that have never gone to RSA but want to, our trip cost in total right at $8,000. That was $4,500 for the ten day 1X1 hunt, $300 for an extra two days of touring, $50 for one night motel, $1,500 for airfare from Dulles to Port Elizabeth, $250 domestic air from Houston, $200 for Hunter Support, $100 for tips to staff, $300 tip to PH, $800 for everything else. The only trophies we brought back were pictures.

I wil try to post some of the pictures later.

I wouldn't complain about paying for Air2000 support in Johannesberg. We arrived there on May 2, 2007, and guess what? No rifles!!! Our Air2000 rep really pitched in to move us through all the hoops to expedite finding and delivering the guns, which was especially helpful since I had signed on with Air2000 for $150.00, and my buddy had not. At least I had my paperwork all done and waiting. Anyway, our rifles arrived at the ranch located three and a half hours away from JoBerg about 36 hours later with all paperwork completed. I don't think we could have done that on our own. While I know that lost guns is not an everyday affair, it does happen. Without Air2000 my trip and investment would have been a real mess. In my opinion, it was $150.00 worth of excellent insurance!
LLS
Mannlicher Collector
(and one of the missing rifles was a Mannlicher)

On my first trip to the Cape 4 of us hunted at Bethaven, Owen Smith was the manager at the time and his son Rowen was my PH for the hunt. We had a great time and took some realy nice heads, way better than any of us had figured we would get. We hunted Bethaven and 2 other ranches. That was in 04 and I and another of my hunting partners went back in 06 and hunted with Owen as our PH on Karoo, again a very nice hunt and some quality trophies. I can't think of anyone I would rather hunt with than Owen, he knows the Eastern Cape and its game very well. The first trip we did all the paperwork to get our guns through on our own "did not know better" last time used air 2000, cost $150 each and well worth it.

Jim

Seems like you guys had a great hunt! Eastern Cape is just wonderful!
Any pictures?

You are not only paying for Air 2000 time but also their knowledge. I was happy for their assistance this past spring, first time I used them - this was my 7th safari but first in RSA after the new guns laws and with the construction at the airport I was happy I did.