When Tom enquired about a hunt for his two grand nephews from a tented camp in a large area I suggested my area in the Tuli Block of Botswana where we hunt on some 30,000 acres of land.



The tented camp is situated on the banks of the Limpopo River and gives a real "African feel", yet it has all the amenities that make your stay there very comfortable (en-suite bathrooms, air conditioning and all the services one would expect in a top quality safari camp such as daily laundry service, properly prepared meals etc.)

Tom doesn't have any children of his own and he loves hunting. So Noah and Samuel (two of his sister's grandkids) became the "grandchildren" he never had and the ones he elected to pass his legacy as a hunter on to. (Noah and Sam's father is not an anti-hunter but does not hunt himself).

With this in mind...

Tom, Christine (Tom's life partner), Noah and Sam arrived just over a week ago for the kids' first African hunt. Not only was this the kids' first African hunt but also 16 year old Sam's first hunt ever.

Right from the beginning Tom made one thing clear: Trophy quality would be a bonus to the two young gentlemen. It was not as important as was harvesting mature animals and it was far more important to get the two boys into positions from where they could get clean kills than get their names into the record books.

And so the hunt commenced...

Day 1

On our first day out we saw many, many Impala - some of them being real monsters (typical to Botswana). However; the monsters eluded us and we could not get into position to shoot one of them. Noah finally got an opportunity to shoot the ram below just before noon. Typical to a spine shot the ram dropped in his tracks and Noah had bagged his first African animal.



Not a record book animal by any means - but his first African animal and as per his uncle's request - nice and mature.

Sam was up next and bagged the Impala ram below with a perfectly placed heart shot.



Another animal that won't reach the record books but a kill that will be engrained in Sam's heart and mind for as long as he lives - being not only his first kill in Africa but his first kill ever!

Day 2

Noah and I saw a herd of Wildebeest the following day and decided to get on their tracks after they scurried off. Not 5 minutes into the stalk and we found the herd out in the open about 70 yards away. The bull we wanted was quartering towards us heavily and I told Noah to put the 300gr TSX from my .375 H&H Ruger right in the middle of it's chest. Unfortunately Noah's shot didn't hit the mark exactly but fortunately I had Sammy my tracker to sort things out and much later that day we finally found and dispatched of Noah's second African animal.



The picture was taken with my phone right before sunset - hence the quality not being 100%. However; a 28" Blue Wildebeest is nothing to be shy of for a lad of eighteen and his second African animal. Plus, he got to witness the extraordinary tracking skills of Samson in the process... A very memorable day indeed!

Day 3

After a careful stalk on a Waterbuck bull we'd seen from the road, Noah connected with this specimen. Noah didn't feel good about the previous day's mishap on the Wildebeest but he had every reason to feel great about the perfect shot he made on this bull.



He had even more reason to feel great when I measured the bull - taping out at 30"!

Noah bagged a decent Warthog later that afternoon and as such was quite a ways ahead of his younger brother as far as bagging trophies were concerned so we decided it was about time to give Sam a chance...

Day 4

Sam's second kill was a nice old Warthog around noon...



But he was still two animals "behind" so we concentrated on trying to find him something else for the rest of the day.

Many miles were put on his sneakers that day and finally culminated in this beautiful Gemsbok bull measuring 39"!



What made the day even more memorable was the fact that both his Uncle and brother could witness his perfect kill!

Day 5

Still being Sam's turn to hunt, he shot a nice old Blue Wildebeest bull that afternoon so the two brothers were now "even".



What a wonderful privilege to play a part in introducing two young gentlemen to hunting!

Thank you Tom for passing on your hunting heritage to your two grand nephews and for choosing Chris Troskie Safaris in doing so!

Some very nice trophies there Chris.

Working with young people and introducing them to African hunting can be very rewarding. Good job man.

It's great to see young people out hunting instead of more photos of us old farts.

First off that waterbuck is a dandy! Great job Chris, I wish my first trophy had been that fantastic. I shot a rag horn elk and a one horned two point my first year hunting when I was 13(which was more than a few years ago),and thought I would probably win hunter of the year for the whole world that year because of my fantastic trophy hunting. These Boys are off to a start all of us wish we had. I think the first hunts produce the greatest "trophies".
Thanks Chris for getting the boys of to a great start.

good work. Congrats!!!

Well done Chris !