I just returned from my Bucket List Hunt with Charl van Rooyen of Infinito Safaris. We literally hunted and drove the entire country of South Africa, visiting all of the provinces on this hunt, with the exception of the Northwest Province. The hunting and the scenery proved to be fantastic, and Charl is a great PH and companion for a hunt like this. I used my .325 WSM MG Arms/Model 70 and a Browning Citori 12 gauge over and under shotgun for the hunt.

For those of you who are interested, this was not a hunt on high fenced game farms, but was conducted total free chase,on foot or from a blind(with the exception of the Serval) and in areas with, at most, an occasional cattle fence.

What made this hunt so memorable (aside from shooting my bucket list) was the shear beauty of the entire country of South Africa, the people and the food and accomodations. Here then, is the bucket list hunt:

The first animal hunted was Vaal Rhebok in the Western Cape. The area reminds me of Montana, Wyoming, Southern Idaho or Northern Nevada. The shot on the vaalie was the longest that Charl had seen anyone make off of stand-up shooting sticks. Most vaalie are shot off of a Harris or other bi-pod. This shot was 430 yards in a very quick, but fatal shoulder shot. That gun is one of my favorites, has a moa of .351 and is extremely accurate!

Here are pictures of the Vaalie country:

Our accomodations were very nice. Food was great where ever we found ourselves staying:

An interesting way to announce the weather:

Next was the Eastern Cape for Blue Duiker, Caracal and Cape Bushbuck:
The Blue Duiker taken in the "jungles" along the coast:

Cape Bushbuck are also great to hunt and are darker in color than their cousins the Limpopo Bushbuck:

Bushbuck country

Now for Caracal. Howling dogs and steep canyons always make for an exciting hunt and a great finish!

Some of the beauty of the Eastern Cape:

Sunrise on the Eastern Cape as we were preparing to hunt Caracal with dogs:

Next was our hunt for the coveted Oribi in KwaZulu-Natal. Less than a handful of Oribi tags are issued in South Africa each year. It is big, wide, open country. Hard to pick up Oribi in the long grass. Oribi are about the size of a mountain reedbuck, but the effort and outcome is well worth it.

Hilton and Charl, both members of AR:

A birthday celebration during the hunt:

Driving back to the Limpopo to hunt hyena we also saw some more beautiful and familiar country:

More good food at our destination:

The efforts paid off for the hyena:

Back at Charl's own place it was COLD! We took a Bush Pig one evening while hunting for Serval:

Charl's new friend and Jack Russell Terrier, Zulu. His other Jack Russell, Chaka, was stolen by his next door neighbor. I am sure that Charl will be getting him back(plans are in the works!):

We had fresh caught Indian Ocean fish one evening that Charl had taken in Mozambique just before I arrived. With it, freshly baked mini-loaves of bread as well.

My tangle with a thorn bush one morning resulted in minor surgery and the removal of a large piece of thorn.

The Serval hunt later that evening paid off for us!

How cold was it? You decide. But, that's frost on the windows!

We hunted honey badger from the blind and were successful on the last night of my hunt. However, the honey badger was found after I left and Charl has now subsequently sent me a pic of him after the recovery. Here is the pic of the blind, and then the subsequent picture of the honeybadger:

A great breakfast before leaving for the states.

At the airport in Johannesburg, live music!

A painting that I fell in love with! I love hunting leopard and we saw two out of our blind on the same night while hunting hyena. One crossed in front of the blind at 5 yards. The other one was a very big male that would have given anyone an easy shot three separate times as he sat like a dog twice, and then walked around and under the bait tree at no more than at 60 yards!

Great adventure!! Special trophies in unique groups....nicely done.
My guess is you added 5lbs by the end of the hunt.
Thanks for the report and pics.

Vaughn welcome home and what a fantastic hunt and to Charl outstanding. Great photos.


Mike

Thanks Mike and Bob. Yes, this was one fantastic hunt and trip! The travel and sightseeing was as good as the hunt. Charl is first class when it comes to this. What a great way to enjoy Africa after ten prior safaris. Next year back to Zim and the Bubye with Shaun Buffee for more dangerous game.

Congratulations, UEG! Sounds like you had a successful hunt. Great report.

This looks like a fun adventure. Nice photos too.

Thanks for a great report!

The pictures of the dogs hunting for the caracal, brings back many fond memory of a past long gone here in the States.

A man whose heartbeat does not increase when hearing the hounds turn up and towards him... doesn't deserve a heartbeat. He is dead in a living body. To my old and gone two and four legged friends.....

Great hunt and report Vaughn! I think Vaal Rhebuck is one of my favorite hunts in the RSA and the blue duiker with dogs is a unique experience. The East Cape is a beautiful area that reminds me of the California coast! But I am super jealous of that serval. A truly rare cat that is not found in many trophy rooms! Well done.

Vaughn: Great hunt report and wonderful pics. Heard from Charl that you had a successful hunt and good time all around. I leave for my lucky AR sweepstakes hunt with Charl in 3 weeks. Extended to full 10 days hunting and am bringing a friend for his first time to Africa. Basically, anything is fair game and we will see what you left standing for us. How could it get any better?

I've always wondered what Africa really looks like. Nothing other than the plains of the Nat'l parks are ever shown on tv or the films. Now I can relate to much of it compared to the western US I've traveled extensively.
Many thanks for sharing all the great pictures and congratulations on the fine trophies you collected.
George

Ladies and Gents (and also the couple of not so gentleman):

This is a short word of thanks to Vaughn for being a great hunter and fantastic hunting companion!

A short note on any hunter ever thinking about doing this. Most of these animals are very specialised and require special permits(tags). It is advisable, if any of you would like to do this, to book it well in advance to reserve the tags. We can also just offer two of these hunts per year.

This hunt just confirmed that AR is the best place in the world to bring hunters together!

Great photos and story. An interesting bag of beasts.
JCHB

quote:

Originally posted by bwanamrm:
Great hunt and report Vaughn! I think Vaal Rhebuck is one of my favorite hunts in the RSA and the blue duiker with dogs is a unique experience. The East Cape is a beautiful area that reminds me of the California coast! But I am super jealous of that serval. A truly rare cat that is not found in many trophy rooms! Well done.

Hmmm....I said to Vaughn that I believe no Professional hunter ever have a 100% success rate on anything, but I do not want to know who the first hunter is going to be that DOES not get his Serval with me...We are just blessed with an area that is thick with them, and we have a self imposed quota of only two per year.

Great report! Congrats on some very nice trophies

Exceptional bag of trophies. Congrats!

Chaka was stolen? What the hell?

That looks like an incredible hunt. Love the bushbuck!

Congratulations Vaughn, excellent!

What a neat trip!!! Nicely organized and executed!

Man, congrats to both you and Charl!!! Looks like a lot of success/fun.

Thanks everyone. This hunt was sooo much fun! Being an experienced dangerous game hunter and having taken most of the plains game species over the years, it was great to tour the entire country of South Africa and to hunt the few trophies that I had, in the back of my mind, always wanted. Charl is a character! He is also right about serval. They are definitely there! In fact, there is a very big male in one of his areas that is seen every morning at around 6:00 am. Someone is going to be very fortunate to take that cat. Hunting vaalie can be addictive, as can be blue duiker, or caracal with dogs! If you are one that can be ready in just a few seconds to take some fairly quick and at times difficult shots, then a hunt like this is, in part, for you! Yes, it is true that Chaka was taken by Charl's next door neighbor for the neighbor's girlfriend who lives elsewhere. The neighbor's black maid has confessed to Charl's workers. How low can a person go to steal your neighbor's hunting dog and companion? Charl has a plan, however, and I believe that Chaka will be returning.

Thanks to all for the kind words. I must stress the fact that this was a 50/50 hunt. 50% Vaughn making the shots count, and 50% my staff and support! Erika for making all the reservations and making sure we are fed right! Solly for caping all the the trophies and carrying our stuff around!

Matt, Vaughn said it all about Chaka. I was in Mozambique when he was "taken" (ever seen the movie?). Bastard lied to my face twice when confronted. He is a anti hunting fanatic and big dog lover. He knew Chaka was an excellent hunting dog. Hell, everyone around this area knows that dog.

Our plans are in motion though, so soon I will have my dog, and he something else to worry about than the everyday life on his little farm.

Thanks for the PM's folks. Only 2 hunts for 2014, that is a hell of a drive!

What an outstanding group of unique Trophies!

Congratulations Vaughn,and Charl

Fantastic! You have given us an ideal standard on how to hunt RSA. I didn't see in your report on how many days you took for this grand adventure?

What a great adventure! Thanks so much for sharing it with us and for such great writing. We couldn't ask for a better report and it's certainly got me thinking about adding similar to my own "bucket list"!

Thanks again everyone. GunsCore: This was a 14 day hunt, including all of the traveling time and travel days. If you are a good shot, hunt hard, and the animals cooperate, you can actually get ahead of the schedule, giving you more time for some of the more difficult trophies. I can honestly say that each and every animal hunted on this safari, without exception, carries its own special story and memories.

Vaughn,

Nobody should be allowed that many specialty animals on one safari. I hate you!!!!!!!

Mark

Congrats Vaughn. Glad it all went so well. You really got my family pumped with this report as we leave 2 weeks from today to hunt with Charl on my kids' first safari...

What a cool trip! Congratulations on some great animals.

Hey Tim: Charl is ready for you and your family and he and Erika are excited to hunt with everyone. We all talked about your upcoming hunt. I know that he has some special things for your boys. Have a safe trip and a great Safari! We'll all look forward to a hunt report upon your return.

Damn you talked me into booking a hunt for a serval and an anti-hunter dog thief. Don't have either one in my trophy room!!!

Russell: You won't regret it! Especially the anti-hunter dog thief! You won't have to travel far to take that one! LOL!

Vaughn this is just fantastic...I can see you folks really enjoyed yourselves

I truly enjoyed your report and beautiful photos!!!

Roland

quote:

Originally posted by bwanamrm:
Damn you talked me into booking a hunt for a serval and an anti-hunter dog thief. Don't have either one in my trophy room!!!

Russel, we await your email with great anticipation. Anti-hunter dog thief are on PAC permits only and I reserve those for my own enjoyment. Will post the hunt report when I am done!

Thanks Roland. It was a blast! (No pun intended)

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Thanks Roland. It was a blast! (No pun intended)

Yeehaw

You know with all the safaris you have done...I could feel the vibe in how this one was different and special in the field hunting, touring, and recreationally with Sir Charl...EXCELLENT

And again congrats on many beautiful difficult to get trophies

Awesome!

Nice show Vaughn. Congrats and welcome home.

Very nice trophies! I'm doing a similar hunt next year in RSA. Until then, I guess I'm stuck reading your hunt report and looking at your trophies!?

Congrats again!

Hey Cody: Hopefully you'll have as much fun on your hunt in the RSA next year as I did on mine this year! Just let that anticipation and excitement continue to grow during the next few months!

Excellent all round and a fine collection of outstanding trophies.

Thank you my friend!