From May 25th to June 3rd, 2009 my wife and I were joined by mstarling (Mike) and his wife in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The original plan was that my wife Jill would try for the one African animal she wanted, a gemsbok and then she would play tourist. We took older ironsighted rifles, her's an 8x57 and mine a 9.3x62.

I started off with a kudu using my Husqvarna Model 146 which has been rechambered to 9.3x62. This fellow was first shot thru the chest at around 60 yards with a 286gr Nosler Partition. When he started running towards us I decided that there was a LOT of territory he could get lost in and let him have the remaining three rounds in the magazine. No "trophy fee gone bad" here.



The best laid plans often go astray, Jill first decided to try for an impala and had a few false starts. Then while driving thru one part of the hunting area our PH Bennie Osmers stopped the bakkie, got out and ran a bit ahead, he quickly returned and asked "would either of you like to shoot a bushpig?".

My wife said "sure" jumped down and after a short stalk she bang-flopped this fellow with one 200gr. Nosler Accubond.



Congested roadways were a problem at times.



But my wife managed to take an impala at about 25yards.



And then a gemsbok at around 40 yards with a single shot. He didn't even know we were there and the PH estimated him at over ten years old. He was even missing a few teeth.



The pace was tough and there were casualties:


Mike suffering from jetlag.

But the living conditions were adequate



We were then off to the "High Veldt" where I took a Red Hartebeest.



And a Springbok, had a few problems with this little fellow and had to finish him off at around 200 yards with the PH's .300 H&H.



Instead of just hunting a "little bit" my wife spent all but one day of the hunt with me and now has her own list of tropny animals that's really going to add to the next safari cost. We've explained "PSD" to her and she understands the proper treatment so she's already planning our next trip.

As for me, I found the inspiration for my next hunt in Kruger Park:



We had an excellent trip and I'd highly recommend Mafigeni for anyone who wants to be treated like royalty while chasing plainsgame in the Limpopo area.

Very nice

Sounds like an excellent safari, and good times had by all!

Congrats,

Really like the kudu, the bushpig, and that great hartebeest. Were the hartebeest or the oryx the most vigilant of the group?

The hartebeest were used to seeing people at a distance. We started stalking them and they had a "comfort zone", as long as you were a couple hundred yards away they felt safe. It was like a chess match, they would see us and calmly walk or trot away if we were too close. We'd move trying to use the terrain to get closer and get a shot.

The oryx were in the bushveldt and when they saw anyone they kicked in the afterburners and were gone. It took a few days for us to learn how to properly stalk in the brushy conditions. On the day that my wife took the Oryx the wind was blowing and that helped us get in range.

I believe we gave poor Bennie a few gray hairs over the course if the hunt but he's a patient soul and managed to put us in some pretty good animals.

It looks like you had a great time. Now, the cost of all future safaris with be double 'cause you'll never be able to go back alone! That's a great bushpig! Lucky that no one decided to pass that one up!

Nice trophies. I guess the moral of the story is:
Never let the wife shoot, NOT even once!

Thanks for the kind comments.

I guess I should have also added that we overnighted at Afton House and had them obtain the firearms permits. There was a snag at the SAPS office (looked to me like the Xerox was down and no one knew how to fix it) and some of the folks who didn't have pre-approved licenses took two hours to get thru.
Afton House was a very nice place to spend the first night and much appreciated.

Tickets were booked thru Gracy Travel and they did the same good job that they did in 2004. SAA cancelled our original flight and Shawn at Gracy got us rebooked without any heartache (on our part).

While SAA is a pretty efficient airline the Airbus still sucks. My wife and I have decided that we're flying some other type of plane the next time. Heck, the commuter plane from D.C. to Philly had a wider seat and more legroom!

Congratulations.

Brett

I've known Claude and Jill for a long time. Some of the finest folks Peggy and I have ever met. I'd hunt the long grass with Claude or Jill any day!

Glad you had a great time!

Glad my wife does not shoot!
More for me
Love the kudu
Congrats

Congrats on a great trip. Also congrats to your wife on getting the bushpig, I have been trying to get one on my last two trips and have failed to get one. Hopefully I will suceed on my next trip which if plans go good it will be this fall.

I love that bushpig! Like David...one of these days... Congrat's on the hunt.

quote:

No "trophy fee gone bad" here.

HA! I am sure that Surestrike will be most gratified to know that his message helped at least one person!

Congrats - Sounds like a great hunt, and like the other guys...love that bushpig!

Congrats on some nice trophies!

Nice hunt, Rick-

-What a super experience to share with Jill and the Starlings!

Glad to hear that the ol' iron-sighted rifles [her Mauser 8x57 and the Husqvarna 9.3x62] performed with bang-flop panache as well as offering the added excitement of effectively emptying the magazine on that big beautiful kudu!

'Bravo' to all the Safari participants!



-Thanks for sharing the joy.

I'm sure your trip was about much more than just trophies and scores, but I'm particularly impressed with the appearance of the hartebeest, the impala, and the gemsbok. I'm not sure that the hartebeest and gemsbok have super length, but they have wonderful mass and are clearly very mature animals. The springbok and kudu are also beauties.

What a great trip!

Stonecreek,
After we'd convinced the PH that "yes, we ONLY brought iron sighted rifles" I told him we just wanted mature representative animals but we didn't want to measure anything, the hunt was the object. He seemed pleased and we spent a lot of time actually walking thru the bush. My wife's bushpig wasn't a particularly large animal but it was her first African animal and the PH and Outfitter were having a great time with it. I wouldn't trade that trophy for anything.

Our PH went above and beyond the call to duty for us and got us some pretty cool trophies. The Gemsbok had worn his horns down in his estimated 10 years and was missing some teeth. The Hartebeest had broken an inch or so off one horn tip and was a brute compared to the others in the herd. The Kudu was an older animal and had the scrapes and worn horns to prove it. In the process we all had too much fun.

One more picture, the Airport at Phalaborwa:



Does anyone else think this looks like a Putt Putt golf course?