SOUTH AFRICAN SAFARI 2005

THREE DAYS WITH JACO HUMAN’S SA HUNTING EXPERIENCE


I arrived in Johannesburg on Thursday evening 13 October 2005 and I departed on Monday morning 17 October 2005. I spent the three days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday on my second South African big game hunt and my first hunting safari with Jaco Human’s SA Hunting Experience. I was met at the airport on Thursday evening and dropped off on Monday morning by Jaco who took care of me completely from arrival to departure.

I was on a business trip which took me to Kenya and Malawi. By chance the most appropriate airline schedules gave me a weekend in either South Africa or Malawi, depending on whether I wanted to stay in Johannesburg or Lilongwe. I opted for the South African stopover and immediately sent out a message on the Accurate Reloading internet forum under African Hunting and asked for help in arranging a stopover hunt. I received several suggestions from forum members but the only PH to send a personal message to me was Jaco Human and we corresponded by e-mail for several days before I finally decided to go ahead with the hunt.

My contract with Jaco included the following: pick-up at JIA on Thursday evening, transport to the game farm (a five hour drive), three full days of hunting, three nights lodging at Kya Mandi Game Farm in Limpopo province and all meals and drinks (including alcoholic beverages), the loan of a Sako Model 75 rifle in .375 H&H, all ammunition, trophy preparation, transport back to his home in Centurion for overnight Sunday night, airport drop off on Monday morning at JIA and trophy delivery to a taxidermist within a reasonable distance from Johannesburg. A lump sum fee was agreed upon for all of these services ($1,100), trophy fees were separate and according to the animals wounded or killed (in my case it turned out to be $1,600 for each animal I took). The lump sum fee was paid at the airport upon arrival and the trophy fees were paid just before departure. The final total price including trophy fees for a waterbuck (PHASA Silver Medal) and an eland (PHASA Bronze Medal) was $4,300.




Since Jaco is not permanently installed at Kya Mandi, the arrangement required a sizeable logistical effort on his part; packing me and his 15 year old son Preller into the Land Cruiser pick-up and attaching a trailer with all of the gear we would need. We didn’t arrive at Kya Mandi until 02:30 on Friday morning and were all extremely tired. Nobody really wanted a 05:00 wake up and we weren’t out checking the rifles until 08:00. Saturday and Sunday mornings saw us up at 05:00 however. Too bad we weren’t too reasonable about getting to bed early. We left Kya Mandi on Sunday evening and got back to Centurion at 01:00 on Monday morning. Then up at 06:00 to finish the remaining paperwork and get me to the airport by 08:30. Jaco had to work hard to accomplish all this with very little sleep but he seemed to thrive on the excitement of a hunting weekend and the challenge of getting it done without a hitch. Jaco is only into his second year of guiding professionally, deciding at age 50 to embark on becoming a PH. He may not yet have seen enough of the gone-soft hunters who will make up the majority of his future clients and he made me hustle on the most exciting and physically challenging stalks I have done to date. The adrenaline was running so high most of time I forgot about my supposed physical ills like a bad knee and a recently sprained ankle. And for those who think that hunting on a game farm is akin to a canned hunt, I would have to say that this hunt certainly wasn’t.

I consider the hunt a total success, taking two large antelope I had always wanted to hunt, a waterbuck and an eland, and ending up with a waterbuck eligible for the PHASA Silver Medal, Rowland Ward and SCI. We did a lot more stalking than driving around and some of the stalks were as exciting as one could want. Kya Mandi is about a 30 minute drive from Polokwane, the capital of Limpopo province. There are four hunter’s cottages and a very cozy indoor/outdoor thatched firepit/dining area (closed on the windward side, open on the lee side). Otherwise it resembles what was a normal cattle ranch with the owner’s house and the barns and sheds one would expect. The weather in mid October was cool in the morning to quite hot at midday. On the first two of the hunting days there was a significant wind blowing out the East. On Sunday the breeze was slight. Conditions were very dry and the expected rains had not yet arrived.




The animals I saw on this property included blue wildebeest, zebra, kudu, waterbuck, eland, red hartebeest, blesbok, at least one gemsbok, impala and a couple of warthogs. You also see the occasional steenbok and duiker but good luck getting off a shot. There is co-mingling of the herds so it is extremely difficult to approach them without the zebra or the wildebeest seeing or smelling you and then galloping off with all of the other species in tow.

I used Jaco’s Sako Model 75 in .375 H&H Magnum. It sports a 1.75 to 5 Lynx scope. I shot his handloaded ammunition with 200 grain monolithic solid Impala bullets. You will have to contact Jaco for load data. I put two holes that touched into the target, three inches high from point of aim at 100 yards, on the first morning to confirm that the rifle and loads were accurate enough for me. I wear eyeglasses and didn’t find the scope to be particularly to my liking. I found it to be somewhat prone to tunnel vision, requiring that your eye alignment be perfect or the scope blackens around the edges rapidly as well as eye-relief sensitive, for someone used to Leupolds that is.

I had never before seen the Impala bullets I used on this hunt. 200 grains seems a little light for a .375 caliber but I can’t complain about the results. On the eland it took one side-on shot, the bullet went clean through and couldn’t be recovered from a lung shot at a walked-off 115 paces. The animal was down and dead within 30 yards. On the waterbuck, due to poor shooting on my part, it took two shots, both quartering and recovered at the other end of the animal just under the hide. But the blood spoor from the first shot was good enough to track it for several hours before finding the animal under a tree for the final shot. The entrance hole left by these bullets is quite distinct, even on a thickly furred antelope like a waterbuck, and the Impala is designed to do just that. Also, there is very little meat damage which appeals to the PH’s who split the meat with the game farm owner. It is not a bullet I would use on dangerous game, but I don’t think they are intended for that kind of hunting.




I will try to do a more complete recount of events when I have some time but the most important thing is I had a great time and Jaco does everything it takes to make sure you will have a good time. I would hunt with him again and that’s the most important endorsement. He is a prankster, likes to have a good time and his permanent good mood and smile is more infectious than aviary flu. There are quite a few pictures of us laughing so hard that I decided not to use them; we don’t look serious enough for the august forum that is AR. You will have to read between the lines.




I also took a Jackal that wandered practically right up to Jaco and me while I had the .375 on the sticks looking the other way at a waterbuck. I turned around and shot him from the standing position at what must have been only 30 yards.

A great way to mix business with pleasure. Congratulations!

Glad you enjoyed the hunt and stay in RSA.

As a local I enjoy the shorter weekend hunts and it allows one to do at least four such hunts during the winter months.

Welgedaan Jaco.

Cheers

Jan

This is the right way to spend a few extra days when in that region on business, instead of sitting in some city. Congratualtions with your fun short hunt!

Wink,

Glad you had a great hunt. I've corresponded with Jaco quite a bit and really glad to see his business taking off. He always seemed like a great guy and very into his work.

Mark

What a way to spend a weekend! Guaranteed you will remember it vs. a hotel room.

The business trip of my dreams!

Congrats on a great hunt.

Man! now thats my idea of a business trip!

You all,

You cannot imagine the amount of lies they both PMed me.

Be sure these 2 bastards are real JOKERS.

It remains they have a great hunt and a great bag.
Friendship, fair chase, physical tiredness and full success.

Is somebody insterested in the fallacious PMs they sent me?Is somebody insterested in the PMs they sent me?

Wink,

Looks like weekend well spent!

Why are my business trips never to Africa?

Jean,

I reckon PMs should remain private, but if Wink says it's OK, then I'm sure we'd all like to be in on the joke.

JB,
We got to keep you on your toes.

Congratulations for a great trip ,im planning a short trip to hunt plains game so ill contact your ph.JUAN

To those who are curious,
Just so that you will all know what Jean-Bernard is referring to concerning the PM's; Jaco played a trick on me upon arrival at the airport and then claimed that it had been suggested by JB and this is what got the whole thing started. Jaco then sent a PM to JB saying that I was basically helpless as a hunter and sadly a very poor shot as well. I sent a PM to JB saying that Jaco wasn't too organized and was incapable of getting me into a shooting position on a decent animal, or something to that effect. OK, so we yanked Jean-Bernard's leash a little but it was all in fun; one good practical joke deserves another.

Wink,
So you also pranked poor old JB

I was very impressed with the reply JB send me after I fed him a lot of BS. I then realzed what a kind and gentle person he is. What can I say, I made 2 wonderful friends, both big jokers, but very kind people.

Keep up the fun

Wink,

You did well in 3 days and nice trophes.



Hamdeni

must have been a great 3 days. Congrats.