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Why are you doing multiple posts of the same thing?

quote:

Originally posted by Express_Rifles:

Folks,
FWIW, I had a long phone call with Alaska1972 last night and after good discussion with him about this I'm pretty well convinced that stotgun46 and this gentleman are telling a more accurate story of this story. I wasn't convinced until I had this talk.
Mike

nice trophy's, looks like you had a good hunt

best

peter

Hello members,

I have been hunting big game most of my adult life. I live in the mountains of New Mexico where elk, black bear, cougar, mule deer & antelope are quite abundant. I generally hunt with muzzle loader or rifle.

In 2003 a friend had booked a hunt in South Africa for two hunters and the other guy had to cancel due to family problems. I agreed to take the spot as a favor to my friend. I only agreed because I knew that my friend was a little "anal" when it came to researching the outfitters and suppliers that he is going to spend his money with. He has hunted all over the world and his house looks like some sort of wildlife museum.

The only thing that I was concerned about was the type of hunting we were going to be doing. I am a "spot and stalk" hunter. I don't hunt from blinds, over bait or at waterholes. If I want to shoot "sitting ducks" I'll call the local zoo and see if they have any elderly animals that need to be put down. Some of the hunts I see on the outdoor channels where the animals are just watering during the heat of the day or feeding on huge bait cans make me ill. My friend assured me that our hunt would be "fair chase", so I agreed.

This was 2003 and the hunt was booked with Valley Bushveld Safaris. We had booked a ten day package for eight animals. My wife went along as an observer. Before she agreed to tag along, I had several conversations with Kerneels about whether or not there would be enough activities in the area to keep her entertained and he assured me that there would be plenty for her to do.

The whole trip turned out to be a WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE. The lodge was terrific. Kerneels and his staff made sure the wife and I had a private bath and anything else we required. The food was absolutely wonderful! We both gained weight on the trip. The staff were friendly and helpful. Visiting with the Kerneels, his wife Vanessa, the PH's and the other hunters each evening were very interesting and entertaining.

Vanessa and Kerneels arranged for my wife to go horseback riding, visit Addo Elephant Park, a large cat Sanctuary, shopping trips and she even got to shoot a Common Blesbuck as part of her trip. She had a great time thanks to their extra effort.

Now to the hunt. It was everything I had wanted it to be. Every animal was a spot and stalk situation. It required a lot of walking. Sometimes a LOT of walking! I think I covered an entire 25,000 acre concession trying to get an ethical shot at my Black Springbuck. As I recall, we only hunted a total of three different areas to get all of our animals. I didn't mind the road trips at all as I am a tourist at heart and enjoy every opportunity to visit the local areas. Also, I am intelligent enough to realize that no single concession can possibly provide adequate hunting opportunities for all of the 30 plus species that are available in South Africa.

As I said before my wife got a really nice Common Blesbuck. I got a Bushbuck, Gemsbuck, Red Heartabeast, Impala, White Blesbuck, Blue wildabeast, and a Zebra stalion. All were very, very nice animals. The only disappointment was that I wounded a really nice Kudu, but I am man enough to admit that it was my fault! I should have never taken the shot, but I got caught up in the excitement of seeing such a magnificent animal. Here we call it "buck fever". The PH and the trackers spent hours tracking him. They even brought in dogs to help, but it rained and we lost the trail. I really hate wounding animals, but sometimes it just happens.

Now to the cost and payment. All of our price negotiations were based on Kerneels' web site, emails between he and my friend and numerous telephone conversations. I don't have anything against booking agents, but I always deal directly with the outfitters. I have found that accurate communication is one of the most difficult tasks to perform in any activity. The more people involved in the dealings the more opportunity there is for miss communication, misunderstanding, errors and hard feelings. The total costs that we had agreed to prior to the trip were what Kerneels asked me to pay when the hunt was over. The only additions were for the Zebra that I decided to add to my package during the hunt. I was not surprised that I had to pay for the lost Kudu that was part of my package. The website made that perfectly clear, and like I said it was MY fault.

Since my wife and I had scheduled a cross country horseback ride on the Eastern Coast of South Africa immediately after our hunt, we had an extra day to kill after the hunt. Vanessa and Kerneels offered to let us spend that day and night at their home in Port Elizabeth with their family. We had a wonderful time with them and their children.

As I said before, everything about the trip far exceeded my original expectations!

So much so, when I decided to give myself another African hunt for my 65th birthday this year I immediately got in touch with Kerneels to see what we could work out. Another reason for this, was he knew how badly I wanted a Kudu to add to my trophy room since we lost the last one on the previous hunt. Since it had been over seven years since my last African hunt I still did a lot of research on other outfitters and current prices. My research indicated that Valley Bushveld Safaris was still the best bang for the buck. I booked a hunt for the end of April 2010.

This time I only wanted two specific animals. A trophy Kudu and a Nyala. I found out that Kerneels had built a new lodge since my last visit and that he and his family actually live on the property. Kerneels and I worked out a very fair price for my specific hunt and we made the deal. Thanks to Kerneels help, getting through customs with my rifle and baggage was effortless and David Lloyd, my PH for this hunt, arrived just I was finishing all of the associated paperwork. The new lodge is absolutely wonderful! All new and fresh and set in beautiful surroundings. Vanessa has taken over the kitchen duties and the food is unbelievable! We had some type of game as the main course every night and it was always prepared to perfection. Even Kerneels did some of the cooking on the beautiful outdoor grill!

Fortunately I had great weather for the entire hunt. The Kudu hunt was in a very beautiful area. We saw lots of different game, but I was only after two species. We even saw giraffe and rhino. Spot and stalk meant lots of walking and climbing, but worth every strained muscle.
I got a really nice Kudu! We were quite lucky with the Nyala hunt. We spotted a nice bull almost immediately after arriving at the concession. Unfortunately he took off before I could manage a shot. We spotted him again about 30 minutes later across a valley and I made a nice 250 plus yard shot. The Trackers that helped us on both animals were great. Very friendly and worked very hard getting my animals back to the skinning shed, especially the Kudu. He was big, heavy and fell in a very steep thick covered mountain side.

Since I had a few days left, I decided to see if I could add a REALLY big Kudu to my trip. We saw lots of Kudu, but nothing really stood out as a real trophy. I did get a really big Wart Hog on the last day just because I had never shot one and we had seen hundreds during the last few days.

All in all, another great hunt with a Class A operation! First class lodging, gourmet meals and top notch staff! Everyone went out of their way to make sure that my trip and my hunt were as perfect as possible and I can highly recommend Valley Bushveld Safaris to anyone interested in a quality hunt at a fair price.

None of the extensive research that me and my friend did prior to our 2003 hunt or the research prior to my hunt this year uncovered any negative publicity about Valley Bushveld Safaris, Kerneels Scholtz or any of his staff.

My only connection to Valley Bushveld Safaris or Kerneels Scholtz is as a very satisfied client and my only reason for this somewhat lengthy support letter is to let people know that the negative comments made by the two dissatisfied individuals should be weighed against the comments of people with positive experiences before the business is crucified by the internet jury.

Thanks for you time and good hunting to all,

Ron A.
575/258-3947

Nice looking trophies. Glad you enjoyed your hunt. When are you going back?

Very nice report Chad. Excellent photos and very well done on those great trophies