Outfitter: Motshwere Safaris
PH/Owner: Werner Lewies
Country: Limpopo Region South Africa
July 3rd-17th 2011

Some dream of hunting Alaska, others the Yukon, many a certain state. Mine was to hunt Africa. I'll be the first to admit that this has not always been the case. However, over the past few years, I started to think about it.

Actually, after reading other stories on this site and others, over the past few years, I became even more determined.

I spent the the last three years going to different booths at at our Hunt Expo in Salt Lake City and spoke with several Outfitters about going. Most seemed very good. However, I still couldn't make up my mind as to when I could actually go. There are always things that seem to get in the way. My biggest concerns were time and money.

Fast forward to last October. My best friend unexpectedly passed on a deer hunting trip at the age of 39. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with. He lived a great life and always took care of his family. He also always found some time to make it on a few hunts every year as well. Right before his death, he went on his dream grizz hunt.

As a few months passed by, I decided I was not going to wait any longer to go on this hunt. With what had happened, I decided now was the best to go. I had pretty much made up my mind about an Outfitter around January of this year.

I was still a little uneasy about it and held off making the commitment. As February came, I left for a New Mexico Oryx hunt and spent a few days hunting with new friend that decided to help us on this hunt. Without knowing I was even interested in hunting Africa, this friend asked if I was interested in a hunt. I said I was and he referred me to an Outfitter he had talked to.

As soon as I got home, I called the Motshwere Safaris. Without going into detail, this Outfitter answered all my questions and concerns. I could immediately tell he loved to hunt and had a great operation.

He only had two open dates for the year, so me and my wife decided we would go the first part of July.

It was a little stressfull getting everything ready- passports, gun registrations, etc. But is wasn't too bad. We used travelwithguns.com to help us with airline tickets and paperwork and they were nothing short of amazing to work with. I will always use them in the future!!

We left that Saturday morning, July 2nd from Salt Lake City. The gun check in, was easy and went well. I was glad we went with Delta. We flew to Atlanta and had a few hours Layover. We then took a direct 14-15 hour flight to Johannesburg.

We finally arrived and we were TIRED! However, we were excited just the same. As promised, our Outfitter was there waiting for us. After a quick introduction, we were off to retrieve our guns. We picked them up, and were off to the lodge.

This being my first guided hunt, I wasn't sure what to expect. We finally arrived, and I could see that we were going to be well taken care of. This was going to be a little different than staying in my wall tent!

We quickly went to sleep and were excited to wake up the next morning and start hunting. About 7:00 the next morning we heard a knocking on our door. Our PH, who is also the Outfitter, said "Welcome to Africa"! I was still having a hard time believing we were actually doing this.

After a quick breakfast, we left. It was surprisingly colder than I thought it would be. Werner, our PH said that there wouldn't be a lot of animals moving. I saw a cow Kudu, and we saw a few other animals. About an hour into our hunt, we saw a single warthog. To my surprise, Werner immediately said "Shoot it"!
It was facing me at only about 75 yards. I can't tell you how strange it was to be resting my crosshairs on a warthog. I aimed to the left side of its chest and fired. It immediately took off running. We started tracking and it wasn't long until I had my first African animal.

After some pic's and a few handshakes, we were back hunting. We soon saw a blesbok. Werner was excited and said it was huge. It was walking slowly away from us. He said shoot it right in the back. I shot and its head immediately dropped. However, it kept going. I shot two more shots. I missed and was disgusted with myself. Werner said I missed, so we started again. The rested of the day was uneventfull for the most part. Then, about 15 mminutes before dark, we saw some zebra and waterbuck standing. We quickly found the right zebra and I rested my crosshairs low on its front shoulder. I fired and it immediately went down.

It had been a long day. However, being as the time was 8 hours ahead of mountain time, I slept very little that night. However, that didn't stop us from being ready the next morning. A short time after getting started, we came upon some blue wildabeest. It was an animal I thought would be easy to hunt. I was wrong, they were some of the most skittish animals that we hunted on our trip. The herd finally stopped and Werner was having a hard time picking one out. He finally said: "shoot that one" I fired, and it ran about 50 yards and dropped. We got there and it was a cow. He knew he was taking a chance when he told me to shoot. However, I guess you can do that when you are the owner. He said I guess that ones free. It will be leopard bait for a future hunter.

We hunted the rest of the day. Once again, as it was getting dark, I had another shot. We saw this steinbuck and after a quick shot, we had our second animal for the day.

The next day, would be our best- so far. We had barely started and it was my wifes turn. She fired, and harvested the second animal of her short hunting career; a nice warthog. It was a perfect shot and it dropped in its tracks. Of course, Werner reminded me that my warthog ran a ways before it dropped.

We took the warthog to be skinned and quickly returned. We hadn't gone far when we saw a great blesbok. I fired, and it went a few yards and dropped. My wife had the camera before I shot and took a quick pick before I shot:

Amazingly, it was the blesbok we thought I had missed. I had shot a few inches high and took out a big part of its neck. I have know idea how it lived. I'm sure it only had a few hours of life left. Whats amazing is that it was about 1.5 from were we first saw it. It was so brushy and thick on this ranch, its a miracle we found it. My blesbok:

We dropped it off, and quickly found our last animal for the day. After a short stalk, I thought we had lost them. Werner found the imapala and said shoot. Although just an average ram, I was glad to have taken it:

The next day didn't go as well. However, we saw a much bigger impala than the previous day. I was surprised when he said "shoot". So, what did I do? I shot lol... I was very happy with this impala:

We were tired and ready to get back to eat. I'll readily say that the food was much better here, than when I am cooking at elk camp! One of our great meals:

Next day would prove to be our best. It was nothing short of amazing; one that I will always remember. Without going into too much detail I'll post the animals in order that they were taken.
My Duiker:

My wifes impala:

My Bushbuck:

My Nyala:

My wifes 2nd warthog:

And finally, my favorite trophy- My Kudu:

Another pic of my kudu:

The next few days of hunting were tougher. I was able, the next day after shooting my Kudu, take this baboon. It will also be my last, most likely. I'm probably a little weird, but a baboon is just a little over the top for me lol... My wife wouldn't even look at it:

Werner was doing his best to find a bull Wildabeest. I was happy with what I had but he persisted. Evertime we would find them, they would blow out of the country. We finally got a herd to stop. Again, it was hard to determine the size. I told Werner the one I was looking at was considerably larger than the other two. He took another chance and said "shoot". I fired, and could tell it was a good hit. It should of went down sooner IMO, but it didn't. The so called "Premium" bullets I took were not performing as advertised. But thats a whole different story.
However, my shot was a little high.
After about 15 minutes of tracking we found it. It was a bull. It wasn't huge, but it was a nice average bull.

As I said the hunting conditions were tougher the last week. My wife missed a monster gemsbok and I felt really bad for her. It was the one animal she really wanted to get. We spent two more days hunting and tracking them all day. We had a few close calls but could never get a clear shot.

The last animal we were after was an eland. We hunted them for two days and only saw one cow. Werner, easily talked me into staying for two extra days in order to keep hunting for the eland. My wife agreed, and we called our travel agent and he quickly changed our flight.

We were down to the last day and Werner got us permission to hunt his friends ranch. He was more obsessed than me, to get one. We started that morning, and after an hour or two, Werner saw something. I assumed he meant an eland because that is what we were hunting. I didn't hear him say "caracal". He was going crazy trying to get me to shoot. I finally saw it, shot and missed. I was sick. It was at or near the top of my wish list.

For those that have hunted for them, they will tell you how rare it is to see one in the day. Werner had only seen 2, in two years... Oh well, on with the hunt...

We finally found eland; about 40 of them. I could not believe how they could run. They would never stop. When we would get close, they would bunch up and move together. We could not get a clear shot. We followed them, and followed them. I was tired and had just about given up. We finally saw them again as the sun was getting close to setting.

The only clear shot was at a huge cow. The cows have long horns, that are not as heavy as the bulls. We were sure it was taking this, or not getting an eland. I really wanted one, so I decided to take it. It was about 200 yards away, slighlty quartering away. I fired, and it tried to keep up with the herd, but soon fell.

We got to it and Werner showed me its teeth. The front teeth were loose and it definately had been near the end of its life. I felt fortunate to take it:


I feel very fortunate and lucky to have found such a great Outfitter. Food, Lodge, Trophy quality were all top notch!

Being the the first time hunter in Africa, I had no idea what was big and what wasn't. I looked at a lot of different pic's and mounts before I left. However, it was still tough to tell what was big (except for the Nyala which I was sure was big as soon as I saw it).

I saw several 48-50" kudu that Werner would not let me shoot. He insisted we wait for a larger animal. Fortunately, mine ended up being 54" which made me more than happy!

What once I thought would be a once in a lifetime hunt now has me planning on a return in 3 years. And, of course it will be with the same PH/Outfitter.

I think I have my 2 friends talked into a leopard and Buffalo hunt as well. My wife, 3 sons, and father will be joining us as well.

Thanks for all the great advice I received here, to help me prepare for the hunt!!

Congratulations on an excellent first hunt. Loved the Nayala and Kudu pics. Great report too, thanks for sharing.

quote:

And, of course it will be with the same PH/Outfitter.

I think I have my 2 friends talked into a leopard and Buffalo hunt as well. My wife, 3 sons, and father will be joining us as well.

This hunts reminds me of our first hunt, we also planned to return with the same outfitter again for our second African Safari, however, we ended up in Zimbabwe for our Leopard / Buffalo hunt it was even more enjoyable than the first. somthing for you to consider.

Very good report and excellent pics, well done!!

Nice trip.

Ahmed:

Good advice; our PH actually runs hunts in Zimbabwe. My friend may end up there hunting for buffalo. I would definately try to go with him.

Thanks for the nice comments.

Jason,

Congratulations to you and your wife!

I could feel your emotions as I read your hunt report and viewed your wonderful trophy pictures...Thank you for sharing your safari..I enjoyed it...

Africa is in your blood. Get to work! The next ten years is going to be expensive!
Congratulations on a great hunt.

Ski+3

Big congratulations to you and your wife. Sounds like you were both bitten by the African bug!!!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Congratulations on your hunt, and thank you for the report and photos.
I did a PG hunt in RSA in 1993, thinking I would "get it out of my system." Wrong. Africa will be in your system the rest of your life. I have been back four more times, and will go again in 2013.
I hope this is the first of many safaris for you and your wife.

I think the first-timer hunts are always the most fun to read, great pigs!

Great report Jason. Beautiful pictures, thanks for posting.

Congrats ona great hunt. that second impala is a very nice one and so are several others of yoru animals.

So when are you going back>?

Thanks for sharing a great hunt. Congratulations.

Looks like a great hunt!

quote:

I think the first-timer hunts are always the most fun to read

I agree with Ann
Loved your report,and Congratulations on being infected with the Africa bug.

Hasher:

I'm going back in June 2013.

Thanks again for the nice compliments. Although trophy size wasn't our priority, I think it's ok to post some of the sizes in order show the trophy quality, of animals on this Outfitters ranch:

Here is a few I can remember:

Kudu- 53"p
Blesbok- 18.5"
Nyala- 28 3/8"
Bushbuck- 15.5"

If I remember right, the biggest impala was about 24.5".

The advice on these forums was a big reason we enjoyed our hunt.

I'm really looking forward to 2013 since a few friends, my dad, and three sobs will be joining me and my wife.

Waidmannsheil Jason, good report, Dom.

Enjoyed reading your eport. I too had an epiphiny after going through my own cancer treatment. My wife very prudently ointed out to me that I was not going to live forever. My son and I hunted the Sijirira area for buffalo in 2010 (sucessfully) and, I don't regret one dime of the expense. We came out of it with a new understanding of each other and, a wonderful experiance.

Looks like a wonderful time, Congratulations.

Jason, great report. Yup, yer addicted. African Safaris are worse than crack....ya just never get over the addiction!


Mad Dog

Congratulations Excellent report and photos I the first plains game hunt of many to come I would guess

Sorry about the addiction ...... Congratulations on a successful safari!

Sounds like a grate trip. Some grate animals and smokin warthogs

You know, the whole African hunting trip was amazing. As I was planning the trip, I wondered if it would really be worth spending $$$$ on a trip that would last a little more than two weeks....

Since I have been home for a month, I now realize that the trip has lasted more than two weeks. I continue to think about it and talk about it frequently with friends and family (maybe too much lol..)

With all the hunting opportunities here in the West states, I have found very few who have ever been, and many cannot believe I would go over to Africa to hunt (when I can hunt deer, elk, etc.... here at home).

As much as I like hunting at home, Africa was just a unique experience in itself. Very much worth the cost!!!

I'm sure the 2nd trip will be as good or better. I'll have a few friends going with, in addition to my 3 son's, father and wife. It will be great to see them share the excitement of their first trip to Africa...

Thanks again for the nice comments. This site has definately become one of my favorites!

Good to know that you became another African addicted as most of us are.
Nice photos.
Good trophies.