When two AR members hunt together, who writes the hunt report? We decided to start one thread, with contributions from both of us, so this may tend to ramble, to diverge, to digress and generally fly off on unforeseen tangents. Bear with us.

To get the statutory requirements out of the way:

Outfitter: Toufic Hanna of Namoungou Safaris

http://www.yentangou.com/burkina-safari.html

PH: Idrissa

Area hunted: Pama Reserve, North Block, 81,500 hectares. There are no fences in Burkina Faso.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pama_Reserve

Dates: January 7 to 21, 2013

Rifles used: One 404 Jeffery each and Forrest also had a 9.3 X 64mm, all three by Duane Wiebe.


This was the most enjoyable hunt I have ever done in Africa. And yet, none of the obvious ingredients, like variety of species, animal density, stunning scenery, or monster trophies were part of the mix.

It was hot, bone dry and dusty. The hunting regulations are restrictive, bordering on dissuasive, and nobody speaks English.

But what matters was there: the best hunting partner, good hard hunting, the most talented tracking I have ever had the privilege to hunt with, and the most entertaining evenings at camp you could ask for. Taking a couple of hard-to-hunt animals didn't hurt, but there were some significant ups and downs for me as well. I'll post some photographs and try to get back later to add captions.


Camp Yentangou


Forrest's hut.


Our PH Idrissa


In camp Nindia was Forrest's personal assistant

Every morning we left camp around 05H30 and raced through a couple of villages to get to the hunting block. One morning we had clutch problems and had to stop. Toufic sent out a replacement vehicle, but those few minutes of waiting allowed for a little time in a typical Burkinabé village.


Dawn in a village


A typical family unit


Forrest gets the kids to pose..


and then shares the results.


The entrance to the hunting block.

This is going to be an epic report I think. I will hunt lion here one day!

Burkina Faso....Invite me to join y'all next time. It was my first safari and I've always wanted to go back.

Can't wait for more pictures.

My Roan hunt is a sad story. We spotted what looked like a very good one in late-afternoon and I set out with the PH and trackers, Forrest sat this one out. I didn't take us too long to get me on the sticks for what should have been an easy shot. I fired, the Roan bucked, with what was an obvious broken shoulder by the way it took off, and expected to find him dead within 50 meters. We tracked a good blood trail until dark, the trail went into tall grass and we had to call it a day. I was sick, this had never happened to me. The next morning we picked up where we left off the previous evening, and tracked hard, always finding blood, for several hours. We knew we were getting close and I started to feel better, in spite of the heat. I was amazed at the trackers ability to follow this animal through high grass. When we lost the trail we doubled back and started again, several times. And then, the Roan saw us and took off at high speed. I had broken its right front leg, but apparently shot too low to inflict a mortal or debilitating injury. It raced off as fast as if it hadn't been touched. We tracked into the adjacent block to follow up, finally giving up when he joined another group and the trail went cold. I was starting to think this safari would go down as the mother of all disappointment. But as I think back, I realize I participated in the most amazing tracking I had ever had the obligation to witness.

So where does my Roan souvenir come from? One morning after checking a water hole our vehicle raced up with the driver out of breath and extremely excited. A lioness had brought down a Roan next to the road, but it was still alive. We went back to find a severely battered antelope, just barely alive. Idrissa said I could put it out of its misery, which I did. We took a hind quarter for meat for the village, but left the rest of the carcass for the lion. 4 days later Forrest suggested that since I didn't get my Roan, why not go back and see if the carcass can be found and keep the horns as a souvenir. To our surprise, we did find the lion and hyena eaten remains, but the horns were intact. I had my souvenir.


The lion victim


Just before leaving it for the lions

Four days later even the trackers couldn't handle the smell so they strapped the skull and horns on the bumper. Talk about trophy prep and transport.



It's not the trophy I hunted, but it is the souvenir of a valuable lesson on shooting well and one I will never forget.

Excellent photography!

Congratulations Forrest and Wink. Forrest, I look forward to hearing the details over a beer some day. I love these reports where they are done in installments, they are the gift that keeps on giving. And yes Wink, your photography is superb.

Wink,
Thanks for getting the ball rolling on this hunt report. I have been waiting for it since I first saw pix posted in the Custom Gun Forum. Sorry about the bad luck with roan but glad it did not ruin the experience for you. Looking forward to the rest of the report! West Africa is a unique hunting destination that is a great experience and very different from southern and eastern African safaris.

One morning it was particularly windy and dusty. Idrissa felt the animals would be bedded down, not liking the lack of visibility and hot dusty wind. But we came across buffalo tracks and decided to follow up anyway. In about an hour Idrissa spotted a herd bedded down under some trees. We went downwind and circled to get closer. At about 80 meters from the herd we got behind some scrub and decided to wait until some of the bulls decided to get up. We later calculated that we remained there motionless for about an hour and a half. I finally asked Idrissa what we were supposed to do if they never got up. I suggested we get closer. Idrissa, one tracker and I crawled to about 50 meters. We waited another half hour. And then one buff got up. Others started to move, two more got up. Idrissa said the two that I could see were shootable bulls. I slowly stood up and placed my rifle in the sticks, in plain site within rock throwing distance of the herd. For once I took my time and made what I thought was an good shot. My animal, and the herd, took off. Idrissa said, "You missed".

Now, at that very moment, I was experiencing what I would describe as a new emotion and it wasn't pleasant. We stood there a few seconds watching the herd take off. It stopped and looked back at around 500 meters, we started walking toward it. At around 300 meters we found my buff, dead as can be, from a perfectly adequate shot. Redemption feels good.




Forrest awarded Idrissa a tail for the excellent tracking.

Great report. I have hunted Burkina faso myself and agree that it's a wonderful place to hunt. Toufic is a very good outfitter!

Proper.

Super. I just love the horns of those western buffalo

Good hunting
CF

As in France, animals are classified into big game and small game categories for permitting and quota management. The animals you can take on a big game license in Pama Reserve are: Northwestern Buffalo, Roan Antelope, Western Hartebeest, Defassa Waterbuck, Buffon's Cob, Harnessed Bushbuck, Reedbuck, Oribi and Lion. Forrest and I were hunting only Roan and Buffalo, but we saw or got glimpses of all of the huntable big game animals. Elephants, crocodiles, leopards and the birds of prey are all protected.

The animals in the small game category are Warthog, Western Bush Duiker and the various game birds: bustard, guinea fowl, francolin and a sand grouse they call gangas.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing - sorry about the Roan, but as you say, amazing tracking.

Great photos!

Since crocodiles are protected, just about every waterhole is full of them.






When you're taking a little nap next to a waterhole and elephants decide to stroll in to have a drink, you know you're in Africa.



We were sorry to see the damaged trunk on this elephant, probably from a poacher's snare.

We also ran into them in the high grass.



A python.



This unusual black and white Kingfisher was just a little too far away to get a nice crisp picture.

great report, keep it coming. What load were you using in your 404s?

I am so glad to see this report. Wink, beautiful photos and great commentary, as usual. Looks like you guys had a great experience.

Great report and photos

Thank you very much for posting,can't wait for my next hunt!

Enjoying your hunt report and pics

I first saw a roan in Botswana in 1999 and I've wanted to hunt one ever since. For me, this trip was a quest for a roan. I got a roan but I also got so much more out of this trip.

Wink and I have put quite a bit of time into thinking about how to frame this hunt report. Burkina Faso is VERY different from Southern and Eastern Africa. For the right hunter under the right circumstances, I would highly recommend the hunt...others may come away sorely disappointed. Fortunately for me the circumstances were nearly perfect and I had an incredible experience.

Here's the "bad" stuff:

1. You stay in a permanent camp, not a tented camp on an idyllic stretch of river.

2. No one speaks English.

3. You're going to share camp with other hunters.

4. These other hunters are going to be French and they only speak French (and a lot of it).

5. There are going to be some non-hunters in camp and they don't speak a lick of English either.

6. Your "PH" will be a guy who would only attain tracker status in Botswana, Zambia or Tanzania...and he only knows 10 words in English.

7. You're likely to have a fair amount of "dead" time on your hands.

Here's the "good" stuff:

1. The camp is very nice and has a pool, citrus orchards, great food and a very pleasant and helpful staff.

2. If you have a translator like Wink, all your tasteless poorly delivered jokes will be translated into a wry sardonic French line that will crack everyone up.

3. You're going to share drinks and meals with some very interesting intelligent people whose love of hunting will mirror your own.

4. These other hunters are going to try hard to express themselves in as much English as they can muster and will gladly tolerate your horrible French. They will share your (and their) joys and heartaches that are inevitable on a safari. They will invite you to bird hunt with them so you can share an experience that transcends any language barriers.

5. You may be as fortunate as I was and meet a non-hunter who happens to be fellow cigar aficionado who will trade fine Cubans for your pedestrian Dominicans and relish the experience.

6. You may hunt with a PH like our man Idrissa who on the scale of Hunter/Gatherer is a predator. He will show you more about tracking and hunting than you will likely ever learn from a white PH.

7. You will have time on your hunt to reflect on your experiences as they occur. You will make a life-long friend with someone you met only through AR. You'll have the opportunity to share experiences with people you would have otherwise never met.

That's it for now. I'll add more about the hunt when I figure out how to make my photos look as good as Wink's.

What a neat hunt and entertaining post!

Forrest you have marvelous wit. Bill your photography is incredible, the new benchmark on AR Hunt Reports.

Please, gentleman, keep it coming!

And there were some shared moments that are hard to put into words.

Interesting place, I'd love to see it one day.

My first day in camp I learned two new words, beurre (French for butter) and koba (local name for roan). I came to use these words a lot.

We saw koba every day but they are skittish and difficult to stalk. We looked at several good bulls before I had a shot. We saw a herd of about 15 that looked to have a good bull in it. Our stalking turned into tracking and then into stalking again. Finally, we got into position on the bull and the sticks went up. The koba was standing broadside about 150 yards away and I had a steady bead on its shoulder. At my shot the koba went down hard kicked a few times and was dead. After ten years of dreaming, my roan quest was over.

There was a good bit of congratulations and handshakes exchanged. I was elated to say the least. Then my koba jumped up and galloped off...didn't limp or walk, it galloped. I stood there in disbelief. Even if I had had a round in the chamber I don't think I would have managed to get off a shot.

I don't think I've ever had such a high high turn into such a low low. There was a little blood where the koba went down but nothing significant.

We tracked the herd for several miles and hours. We finally caught up with them and Idrissa said the wounded bull was laying down on the far side of the herd. Thank goodness for second chances. We crawled into position but it was still going to be a long shot across the herd and through a lot of brush. The bull stood up and I waited for Idrissa's prompt. It never came....this was not the wounded bull.

We went back to where we started and looked to see if my wounded bull had gone a different direction. It had and there was a little blood to follow as well. I couldn't believe how these guys could follow a track. Just when you'd think there's no way we're still on the same animal, we'd see a miniscule drop of blood to confirm that we in fact were.

After another few miles the wounded bull's tracks were overrun by another group of koba. We were hot, exhausted and defeated.
We had little daylight left and we headed back to camp. On the way back, Wink wounded the second koba he already told you about. I've experienced low points before on every safari, but this was a new low....for everyone I think.

A couple of afternoons, I went bird shooting with one of the French hunters - Guy. Guy is quite a character. He's a farmer who also leases his land to a hunting club. All I know about French farmers is that they seem to always be protesting something or another by blocking traffic. I had Wink ask Guy if he had ever driven his tractor to Paris to protest. Guy's reply was, "Never all the way to Paris but I did drive 80 km to Beauvais and dump a load of manure in front of the mayor's office." Guy didn't remember the exact nature of the offense that prompted his manure delivery, it's just "always something". I like Guy a lot.

We shot doves and pigeons early in the afternoons and just as the sun sets the ganga come in to water. The ganga fly low and fast and are tough (for me anyway) to hit; especially if they dip below the tree line.

Here's my bird girl with a few doves and a LOT of empty hulls...


This is a ganga. It's a very pretty sand grouse. I only got to see a few of these this close...



While we were big game hunting I did get this photo of a baby ganga that was following its mother across a dirt track...

Fantatsic report and outstanding pictures. What rifle has been used for the Buffalo?

Merci!

quote:

Originally posted by ForrestB:
My first day in camp I learned two new words, beurre (French for butter) and koba (local name for roan). I came to use these words a lot.

I confirm. Forrest, after tasting french bread with french butter, always had them within arm's reach at every meal.



To the right in this photograph is Toufic Hanna. His personal history is unique and merits being told. He fled Syria after the 6 Day War, a time when Orthodox Christians were getting special treatment for induction by the Syrian Army and placed in front line positions. He didn't speak a word of French when he got off the plane in Ouagadougou, starting his exile in his uncle's general store in Ouahigouya. A few years later he opened his own general store in Fada N'Gourma which is the largest town near the Pama Reserve and started hunting. He never had any plans to be an outfitter, but little by little he was organizing hunts for French friends that had come to work in Burkina Faso, but as a friends-only non-profit activity. When the government decided to put in place hunting concessions with long term leases he sold his store and made the jump.

Toufic is the money, the brains and the passion behind Namoungou Safaris. Most of his clients (such as those sharing the camp with us) come every year. Guy, the farmer, told us he has come every year for over 20 years. Toufic has never been to SCI or DSC or any other outfitter gathering in the USA and has only had a couple of US residents as clients since the creation of his outfit. The vast majority of his clients are French.

Going to Burkina Faso was a nostalgic journey to a very happy time for me. I met my wife and was married in Ouagadougou in 1985. When I showed the camp staff my wedding band made of gold from the mine at Pourra, and told them the story of how Sankara's coup d'état stranded a young french women that later became my wife, they clucked and oohed as Africans do when they hear a good story. They may also have thought that destiny and fate remain unfathomable.

quote:

Originally posted by jaegerfrank:
Fantatsic report and outstanding pictures. What rifle has been used for the Buffalo?

Merci!

The two rifles used on buffalo were built on Mauser actions by Duane Wiebe in the USA. Mine is based on a Mauser 1909 Modelo Argentino. They are both chambered in 404 Jeffery. Both Forrest and I load our ammunition and used 400 grain Barnes Triple Shock bullets (TSX). I used VihtaVouri N550 propellant (from the Barnes tables) and loaded my cartridges to approximately 2,250 feet per second.

Beautiful rifles, thank you very much for the pictures. My experience in Wset Africa is that everybody loves the 404, so a perfect environment for zhe cartrtidge.

Really enjoying the report and the fantastic photos included.
Certainly looks like a different part of Africa.
Thanks for the post.
Best
Steve

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ForrestB:
All I know about French farmers is that they seem to always be protesting something or another by blocking traffic. I had Wink ask Guy if he had ever driven his tractor to Paris to protest. Guy's reply was, "Never all the way to Paris but I did drive 80 km to Beauvais and dump a load of manure in front of the mayor's office." Guy didn't remember the exact nature of the offense that prompted his manure delivery, it's just "always something". I like Guy a lot.

quote:

Originally posted by ForrestB:
All I know about French farmers is that they seem to always be protesting something or another by blocking traffic.

Forrest, I think "Renault" is French for "road block" so blocking traffic should be easy!

Wink, Forrest, great report and thank you guys for sharing. jorge

I hunted with two rifles on this safari. A 9.3X64 built on a BRNO ZG-47 action and a 404J built on a 1910 Oberndorf Mauser. It was my first hunt with either rifle and I was more than pleased...my poor shooting not withstanding.

My 404 Jeffery load was 87.0 grains of VihtaVouri N160 with the 400 grain TSX. My rifle delivered 2,200 FPS with this load. I really like my 416 Rigbys but I must say it was a delight to carry this trim 404 in Burkina. It might be difficult to go back to the 416.

I used the Barnes TSX in the 9.3 as well; this time a 286 grain bullet. I got an easy 2,550 FPS with 67 grains of RL 15. I've used a 338 Win Mag and a 375 H&H quite a bit. They've offically been benched in favor of the 9.3X64.

The bullets we recovered looked just like in the Barnes advertisements.

Here's a partial view of my 9.3...

Dang Forrest, you always have the nicest guns! HEY! haven't I seen that Flight Jacket somehere before????

Jorge, I didn't have much to do with these rifles other than pay for them but I have to admit they are just about perfect in my estimation.

Sorry but I was wearing an imitation flight jacket on this trip. Your real one was requisitioned by my son a couple of years ago. He got the better deal for sure. Thanks again though for that nice gift.

Like you, Wink is one of my friends I would have never met if had not been for AR. There are a lot of folks here I would love to hunt with one day...this time though it required strong foreign language skills. Wink came through in spades in that regard and obviously with his photographic talent as well. What doesn't show in the photos is that Wink is a walking wikipedia of knowledge on a variety of subjects that interest me. He also has an hilarious uplifting sarcasm that is unique and universally funny. Travelling and hunting with him was a real treat.

Toufic's camp would be an ideal setting for a group hunt with 3-4 hunters. I would highly recommend coordinating with Wink to make sure he's in camp with you (whether his langauage skills are required or not).

The only problem with Wink though is that he's always tired...

Tell you what Forrest, if/when Angola ever opens up, we'll go together. yeah it's Portuguese but I can get by. As for Wink, he's probably used to naps living overseas for so long! Hey Wink, is that a Galouise (sp) between your fingers I see you smoking ??? My best to your son Forrest. j

quote:

Originally posted by jorge:
Tell you what Forrest, if/when Angola ever opens up, we'll go together. yeah it's Portuguese but I can get by. As for Wink, he's probably used to naps living overseas for so long! Hey Wink, is that a Galouise (sp) between your fingers I see you smoking ??? My best to your son Forrest. j

No, those are local weeds. The brand is Hamilton and who knows whether there is any real tobacco in them or not.

As for sleeping, Forrest snores enough to keep elephants from approaching a waterhole. He is the only person I know who actually smiles in his sleep when he's having pleasant dreams. Check this out:

Well, he must have an AWFULLY clear conscience!!! Wish I did....

When it came time for my turn at buffalo, I wasn't really ready. Wink was supposed to do the shooting and I was on deck during the tracking and stalking. We bumped and pushed a herd a few times and saw a couple of decent bulls.

Wink's rifle had hit the dirt hard the day before and we hadn't had a chance to check the zero. He didn't have a lot of confidence in his rifle at that point. I offered my rifle, but Wink wanted me to do the shooting this time and he would check his zero later. This was the message relayed to Idrissa as we were humping it to stay with the moving herd.

All I heard was a bunch of French being spoken and Idrissa pulling Wink along with him. I thought I was back on deck as we closed. The sticks went up and Idrissa was pointing and saying to shoot at the bull at the rear of the herd. I'm waiting for Wink when Idrissa snatches me up and says "shoot!".

The bull was quartering away and moving and I was rushed. I felt OK when the shot broke and we heard a solid hit. We followed up immediately and quickly found the bull still on its feet. It looked like he was facing us but I couldn't be sure because his head was down which surprised me. We moved to where I could get a better look and saw that he was in fact facing us and a quick shot between the shoulders put the bull down for good.

Given the fact that I had only a raking shot on my first shot I was surprised at how quickly the bull quit running. As it turned out, that first shot went through about 30 inches of paunch, gut and lungs and ended up lodged in the top of his heart. Talk about lucky?!! Lucky for me at least.

My final insurance shot was not so lucky, it ended up lodged in the bull's horn.

Great stuff. Keep it coming lads.