Got back home yesterday at 2 pm EST after the Phwalabora-Jo'berg-Atlanta-Pittsburgh run. Still in zombie mode so a detailed report and pics will wait a day or so. Highlights were 7" Mtn. Reedbuck, 18&1/4 Male Hyena, and 200 lbs bushpig shot in my socks while slipping through rows of macadamia trees in the pitch black, listening for "crunch crunch" and dodging hippos who came to feed in the mac trees as well. Also made it to the highvelt for the first time. Common Springbuck, Zebra, Blesbuck and Black Wilde. Shot like crap on the Blesbuck and Wildebeast, but we recovered the animals. Also saw Gennet, 2 types of mongoose,civet, OTTERS (???)(very cool!) ect. It was my second trip and won't be my last. Good nite (until 3 am probably) for now.

Dear Penny

Look forward to the report.

I still can't figure out the pic thing but here is the story and a link

Outfitter: Duke Safaris
PHs: John Lyut, Hannes Swamponel, Roelof Nieman
Areas: Limpopo and Mpumalanga
Weapon: 30/06 .200
Species Hunted and Taken: Hyena, Mtn Reedbuck, Bushpig, Springbok, Blesbok, Black Wildebeast, Zebra

Targets of Opportunity: Warthog (back leg rotten and cut to the bone w/ a snare)

Species Not Hunted But Seen: Civet,mongoose (2 kinds), genette, blue wilde, giraffe, eland, red hartebeast, hippo, otter, impala, kudu, nyala, gemsbok.

Species hunted but not taken: Bushbuck, Steenbuck, Duiker.

Amazing trip. My second with Duke. The 5th or 6th by friends and family. Top notch hunters with top notch staff. Great accomodations and meals. These guys consistently work their butts off. No bakkie blasting. Walk and walk and sometimes stalk! Hunted with a bow with them in 2008 and took a 13 inch warthog at a hole. This trip was much more challening physically and all the shots were off the sticks,which I'm still very average at. Returning next year for the bushie and hopefully leopard. Here are the links to photos of hyena. More to come. Hopefully Shakari will come along and post them properly.

The heyna was taken in a blind after 4 days of baiting. I cannot describe the feeling of the bush growing dark and quiet and hearing the hyenas start with the "woooo oooop." At 8:30 from the Double Bull Blind (just like home!) we heard a call at the bait, at 100 yrds away. Then "crunch crunch crunch" - my PH said it was time to get into the gun, pre-aimed on the bait. I clicked off the saftey and the crunching stopped for the longest 5 minutes of my life. Then the crunching returned and the red light was on. PANIC!!! Nothing at the bait. The animal had ran about 40 yds to the left and stopped. Swing. Boom. Down. I shook like I haven't since god knows when. It was wonderful. 18 & 1/8 skull. Link below. More stories to come.

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapf...BRAND_NAME=snapfish/

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapf...BRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Sounds like you had a great time (other than the plane flight from hell).

I met the fellows from Duke Safari at the Eastern Hunt Show and they seem like they'd be a hoot to hunt with.

Ty--hyena was taken in Limpopo. The calling in the pitch black (no moon) was just unreal. I can't imagine what a leopard hunt would be like-listening for a call and then "scratch, scratch, scratch" up the tree!.

Rick- I'm assuming you were in Harrisburg? Nice blizzard eh? I was working a friend's whitetail booth. John and the boys are truly a hoot to hunt with and good people to boot. I've referenced it before on this site, but I'll say it again, John took care of my terminally ill father on his last hunt. Drove him around the Free State on his green Rhino hunt and then to Limpopo and watched after him every bit as well as "mum" could have. Good people to the core.

Yep, that was a good flurry y'all had up there.
Sounds like they treated your dad to the time of his life, I'd imagine that they had everyone laughing the whole time to boot.

Here's the buspig. A nice boar w/ a great coat. The first pic shows the key to our success --- "sock n' stalk." After our first two attempts resulted in the sounds of pigs running off in the dark, it was decided that our boots had to go. So I found myself running around in the dark in my socks trying to kill a pig. Being from the upper end of America's rust belt, it kinda felt like home!
After being warned about the hippos that came into the mac plantation to graze at night, guess what the first was that we hit the lamp with? Hippo at 50 yds. As the hippo spun and crashed off into the dark, my immediate thoughts were: (i) damn, hippos are FAST; (ii) i'm glad it ran; (iii) i hope that doesnt happen again. Thankfully, it didn't.

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapf...BRAND_NAME=snapfish/

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapf...BRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Here's the Mtn. Reedbuck. Great stalk lead by Hannes started with a fantatic spot by Sipu our tracker. A ewe was spotted at around 400 yds on the top of a point and Hannes made the call the move up the side of the point just next to it to see if there was a ram in the bunch. After some great glassing, he picked out the ram, just the head and shoulders in long grass, at about 150 yrds from one point to the next. First pic is on the ground, second in the salt, 7 inches. One of the best hunting experiences I've had all in all.

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapf...BRAND_NAME=snapfish/

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapf...BRAND_NAME=snapfish/