My wife and I arrived in Windhoek, Namibia on Friday, May 29th. Our PH, Gerrit Breedt, picked us up from the airport and we drove north towards the town of Grootenfontein. After a 4 1/2 hour drive, we arrived at Gerrit's ranch, Mooilaagte. We quickly changed clothes and I headed out to the shooting range w/ Gerrit and Jacobus van der Merwe, also a PH.



We had time for an evening drive before the sun set. Tomorrow the hunting begins!

Day 1 Eland was at the top of my "critter list" on this trip, so we spent the morning looking for spoor and then tracking. Couldn't find them that morning, so we returned to the ranch and ate lunch. Later that afternoon, we began tracking a small herd of eland through thick, thorny bush. After a long stalk, my PH, Jacoby, quickly prepared the sticks and once the crosshairs steadied on my target, I shot - I felt the .375 H&H thunder off a 270 grain soft point. The bullet double lunged the eland and we heard him crash a few seconds later.

33 1/2" and 35 1/2" Eland

Day 2 We left after sunrise to hunt for oryx. My wife and I were accompanied by both PH's to a blind positioned 75 yards from a waterhole. After 2 hours of waiting, a nice bull oryx appeared. With Jacoby running my video camera, I shot the gemsbok once and he collapsed seconds later on camera.

33" Orxy

Day 3 Kudu was our target on the third day. We stalked within 100 yards of a magnificent 54" Kudu bull, but the wind was swirling and they caught our scent and vanished. After 3 hours of tracking Kudu, a nice steenbok appeared, and I decided to take him. We crawled within 60 yards of the tiny antelope and I (body) shot him once using the .375 H&H.


That evening while sitting in a blind, a nice 52" Kudu with very narrow horns gave me a perfect broadside shot at 60 yards. I took the Kudu with a double lung shot and he ran less than 75 yards before expiring.

52" Kudu

Day 4 After an hour drive looking for springbok, we found a nice herd with a shooter ram. We stalked within 80 yards of the herd before they started to get nervous and walk away. At 100 yards, Jacoby, identified the shooter, and I shot. The ram collapsed as the 270 grain bullet blew though both lungs.
Day 5

We, too, have been with Gerrit. We were very happy with the experience.

Will be going back in late Sept. to do a leopard with the dogs with him.

He is also a strong supporter of the various SCI chapters.

Jerry

Awesome pics.

Congratulations.

Brett

Congratulations.
Nice trophies. I like the kudu, looks nice with the narrow horns.

Congrats on your hunt, looks like you enjoyed every minute.
LDK

Well done.

Congrats and Well done.

Day 5 We spent the morning stalking zebra, but couldn't get close enough for a clean shot. After lunch we decided to try a mid-day blind hunt for warthog. As we approached the waterhole, we saw a small herd of zebra were near the "warthog" blind. Jacoby quickly opened the sticks and I prepared for a shot while he glassed for a stallion.



He identified the stallion and I pulled the trigger on his command to shoot. Unfortunately, my shot was not true and I cleanly missed the zebra at 85 yards!


I was disappointed in myself for missing such an "easy" shot, but that's hunting! We regrouped for an evening zebra hunt, but couldn't get a second chance this day to harvest a zebra.

Day 6
We took a day off from hunting and Jacoby drove us 2 1/2 hours to the Etosha Pan National Park. We saw an amazing assortment of African animals.....





Day 7
Our final day of hunting was spent in pursuit of zebra and/or a warthog. We tracked a herd of zebra, but couldn't close the distance for a shot. A good warthog was identified and I anchored him w/ the final shot of my first African safari.

Here's a few pics of Mooilaagte (means beautiful wide open spaces) which is Gerrit's ranch.





Eland Pro has 3 seperate chalets that are "attached" to his family home by a fantastic outdoor gazebo. This was where we'd spend our evening eating dinner and telling stories after a few drinks. Very relaxing atmosphere and pure Africa!




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Our chalet was quite comfortable.


the beauty of African hunting.....

What loads were you shooting in your .375 for your hunt? Looks like whatever the load was, it did the job. Congrats on a nice hunt.

Excellent safari, congratulations!

Thanks for sharing your nice hunt and nice trophy pics!

jpj3