Just got back today and couldn't wait to share our trip with everyone!!

Area hunted: Messina and Hoedspruit areas, Limpopo Province, South Africa
Spear Safaris: Spear Safaris
Professional Hunter: Koos Moulder
Dates: June 28th thru July 8th
Firearm and Ammo Used: Hill Country Custom Rifle in .300 RUM with Safari Grade Remington Ammo with 200 grain Swift A Frame bullets.
Animals hunted but not taken: Grey Duiker and baboon.

Travel Arangements: We used Desinations Southern Africa for our airfare arangements.

Day 1:
We fly out of Tucson and make the quick jump over to Phoenix. From there, we make the flight into Washington DC. We round up the baggage and jump on the the shuttle to our room. Eat some good dinner, have a few drinks and call it a night.
Days 2 and 3:
We get to the airport and get on the South African Air 747 and start the big pond jump to Joburg. Along the way in the airport, TSA agents were friendly and had no problems with the rifle. Security check took no more then 15 minutes from beginning to end. No problems on the flight, other than the knee room ( I'm 6' 3"), service was pretty good, the quick fuel stop in Dakar, Senegal was less then 40 minutes.

Arrival in South Africa- took about 5 minutes to clear thru customs where we then headed off to the new SAPS office. I was one of the first one’s there and one of the first rifles to come off the plane. I already had all of my paperwork done and processed in less then 20 minutes to get the permit. As long as your paperwork was in order things went well.

After getting thru all the hassle, we got over to the domestic terminal and got checked in for our flight over to Peitersburg. We got all that taken care of and had a good steak from Spur Restaurant. If you haven't tried a Spur steak, you don't know what you're missin!

Caught our flight into Peitersburg and was met by our PH for the hunt. We all hit it off and in minutes, were on our way up the road to the Messina area to hunt Kudu and warthog for a couple of days.

Day 4:
It was cold and rainy!! I couldn't believe it. I had promised my new wife that the winter weather in SA is perfect, but I was proven wrong on this day. It rained and dizzled on us all day long. But we were still seeing plenty of animals. Finally, at around 3 PM, the waether started to break and the Kudu began coming out of the wood work and into the open areas to dry out. At around 3:45, we found a group of 4 bulls that had a tremendous bull in the bunch. We off loaded from the truck and got to within 125 yrds of them and I got ready on the sticks.. took a quartering away at the big bull and felt really good about it. But when we walked up to the area, the trackers began laughing and pointed to a 1 inch limb that was cleanly killed with one shot!! At least it was a clean miss! We decided to try an area of the concession that was thicker but held lots of Kudu. We made our way over there and began seeing Kudu everywhere.. And eventually, we saw the right one. Long story short, I made a 100 yrd shot off the sticks and redeemed myself with a great first Kudu bull! He ended up measuring almost 56" on the long side and 54 1/2 on the short. And I couldn't be happier with him!


After the hunt, we went to the house of the consession manager and had a few beers and got to play with their pet Klipspringer!! She was a handful to say the least! She really liked my wife, but everytime I got close, the thing would charge me!
My wife with the Klipie..

And the damned thing charging me!! Note the blurriness!!



Day 5:
The weather is now picture perfect and we hunt for a big warthog all day but without success. Saw alot of pigs, but no shooters. We did see a monster bushbuck that had my trigger finger itchin' though! After the hunt, we made the 3 hr drive to our main concession near Hoedspruit, right near Kruger Park.

Day 6:
Today was the day that I have been waiting for since I can remember. I was going to get the chance to harvest a mature, black bull giraffe. The area was absolutely loaded with giraffe and it was just a matter of finding a bull that was dark enough. After a few hours, we finally found the right bull standing in a dry river bed alone. My PH and I got out of the Cruiser and put the sneak on him and our cover was blown by 3 waterbuck cows. The giraffe then ran out into an open area and spotted us instantly. He was about 75 yrds away and broadside and about to run when I put the rifle on the sticks and said those magical words.. " I'm gonna take him.." I hit him squarely in the shoulder on the first shot and he took off like it was a mosquito bite. We ran for all we were worth and caught him out in the open running full tilt. Sencond shot was quartering away, and hit him high in the shoulder. This one hurt him. He really slowed down and began to falter. And before he fell, I put another one into his backside right above the tail. This one crumbled him. And just like that, I had my trophy! And he was everything I could have asked for and then some. He will have a special place in my hunting memories..
And here he is...



paying my respects...

And a pretty intresting pic I took. In only a matter of minutes after the bull was down, the vultures began circling us.. I was amazing how fast they came to the kill site. And how many came so quickly..


Needless to say, the rest of this day was spent tending to the giraffe. To say that they are a big job is an understatement!!

Day 7:
We started the hunt again for warthog, Impala and a zebra if we could find any of the 3. There were literally hundreds of good impala rams on the property. I was just a matter of picking out a nice mature ram that you liked. And this worked out perfect for my still novice hunter wife.. We found a good ram and she really liked him. She got a good rest and make the 50 yrd shot with no problems. Dropped her first African animal with the first shot! A really good Impala ram was now hers.. She is now 4 for 4 on one shot kills on her animals she's harvested..
Here she is with our PH and our tracker, James posing with her 22 inch ram..

We hunted for the rest of the afternoon, but no shots were taken the rest of this day on my end.

Day 8:
Pretty much the same as the day before, but this time it was me that found a decent Impala the was mature. And my wife beat me! and believe me, she did not forget to rub it in that her Impala was bigger! But hey, you gotta let 'em win every now and again! But my ram was plenty good for me.
Here he is.. a hair over 20"..

After we loaded him up, we stumbled into a herd of over 200 Cape Buffalo in an open area near a waterhole.. We were busy taking pics of the buff when we finally noticed the decent warthog boar in amongst them. Considering he was the best seen so far on the trip, and the fact that I had to put my crosshairs over some great Cape Buff bulls to get to him, I decided he was good enough and that it was a unique opportunity to take a warthog..
Here are a couple of pics of the Buff herd before seeing the hog..

the big boys..

And my piggie that thought he was a " Dugga Boy'!!


Day 9:
The last animal on my wish list was another zebra.. I had already taken one on a previous trip, but I wanted another to do a ped. mount with.
We hunted all day and saw 0 zebra. Lots of sign, but no luck seeing any.

Day 10:
Hunted all day AGAIN and saw only one herd right at dark.. And what do I do.. I miss a slam dunk shot at 100 yrds. No limbs to blame it on this time.. Just a good 'ol fashioned miss..I felt like an ass. But hey, its hunting...

Day 11:
It the last day of hunting and we get up with the mission of finding a zebra. And luckily we accompished that feat.. At around 9 in the morning, we finally found a good herd of them near a watering hole. And I made the shot count this time and was rewarded with another striped donkey.. they are alot of fun to hunt over there..


The next few days we did a couple of game drives and took lots of pics of all the critters.. we saw 4 of the big 5 (didn't see a leopard), hippo, giraffe, and just about every type of plains game that are in the area.. Nyala, impala, warthog, bushpig, blue wildebeast, kudu, duiker, monkeys, baboons, etc..
here is a pic of one of the male lions we saw out of the 2 prides that live on the concession we did the game drives on..

We also did a tour of a wildlife rehab center. It was quite educating on the local wildlife, with the raptors in particular. Very cool to see all of the animals up close and personal.

And we did a couple of days of just shopping around and haggling with the natives for the best prices on gifts to bring back..


All in all, we had a wonderful time on our honeymoon. We had a great time hunting and relaxing in the South African velt. I was so happy that she enjoyed Africa as much as I do. She is already thinking of our next trip over there!!
I feel like the luckiest guy in the world right now!!

Congratulations!! That is a great giraffe and I really liked the picture of the klipie charging!

Scottyboy,

What a great Honeymoon! The report and photo's are excellent, one question, why didn't you squeeze off on that monster Bushbuck?

Another question, what's up with the shoulder on the Klippie, I never saw a Klippie as a pet before. I like the Dugga-boy you shot

Super Giraffe, love the color. I took one close to the color of yours, they are a tuff critter to take down aren't they!

Scotty, well done, please tell your wife I said excellent going on the Impala! Keep it up!

Congrats to the both of you!

Outstanding report and I like the Buff pictures alot. The bull in the second photo got my attention.

Most excellent sir!

Congrats to you both on the nuptials and an outstanding hunt.

I concur with your assessment - you are indeed one of the luckiest men on the planet. My advice is that the two of you should continue to return to Africa on a very regular basis!

Best,
Jeff

Congratulations for both things !!
That picture of the charging Klip is great
Thanks for sharing.
L

Congrats on a GREAT couple of weeks.

Drum

What a wonderful way to celebrate your marriage. Congratulations on your successful hunt.

Congrats! Great pictures!!!!

Thanks for sharing

Scottyboy,

Congratulation on your hunt and what a great way to spend your honeymoon.


Hamdeni

Thank you very much guys.. I was a wanderful trip and I am already thinking of ways to get back over there for a 4th time!! Hopefully next year if all works out. Again, thanks for all your kind words..
Widowmaker, I didn't shot that big bushbuck because for some reason they just don't do it for me. I just can't get into them.. Don't ask me why. I guess its just a complex I'm gonna have to get over. Next time I think I'm just gonna take one and see what it feels like!
The hair missing on the shoulder of the Klipie was on account that she liked to play rough with the Geman Shepard that it shared the lawn with. And the Sherpard got a little too rough with her.. Plus that Klipie hair falls out really easily..


Here are a few more pics for all of you buff lovers to enjoy. the property I hunted was covered in Buff. And we saw more than a few "big Boyz"..
Enjoy and thanks for lookin'..

Here's a good "up and comer"..


And here's his daddy!!


A decent waterbuck we saw.. Narrow, but still a shooter in my book..


And just a pic of one of the young male lions we saw. I thought this pic came out nice and just wanted to show ya'll this one..

Congrats on acquiring two types of trophies! The kind you hang on the wall and the obvious one that will spend time enjoying the great outdoors with you! Gals like that can be hard to find so hold on to her. Good hunting!

Congratulations on a great safari! Those seem like some exceptional buffalo for South Africa.

On a honeymoon safari in Africa with a beautiful woman; just doesn't get much better than that! Thanks for the report and photos.

Congatulations on your marriage and a great hunt
You both have something wonderful in common with a love of outdoors don't ever lose that.
I recognize that Baobob tree.I stood under it in Sept 2005
Good luck in future and GREAT HUNTING.
Dave

Scottyboy,

Congratulations on your marriage and a great honeymoon/hunt.

Good report with great pictures and fine animals.

I especially liked the picture of your wife with James and Koos. It brought back fond memories of my hunt with them last July in Natal and the Free State. Koos is a good PH and great to hunt with.

Congrats on the hunt and the pretty catch you took with you. I, too, have a wife that loves to accompany me on my adventures. I count myself a lucky man. Welcome to the club.