I just got back from Namibia a few days ago after hunting with Vaughan Fulton’s Classic Safaris. I don’t think I could not have asked for a better hunt. This was my first trip to Africa and I have to give a big thanks to Wendell Reich of Hunter’s Quest International for helping me get organized, putting me in touch with a travel agent, sending me all the necessary documents and answering all my questions (some of which bordered on stupidity). Thanks again Wendell!

I hunted Vaughan’s concession area near Etosha National Park in northwestern Namibia. While I was not able to hunt with Vaughan, I got to spend time with him before and after the hunt in Windhoek and really enjoyed his company. He paid very close attention to what my goals were and wanted to make darn sure I was satisfied before I left. Vaughan set me up with a PH by the name of Thorsten Meier. Thorsten in an excellent PH and truly loves spot and stalk hunting, which is exactly the way I wanted to hunt. I credit Thorsten with the quality of the trophies I got and my overall African experience. Not only is Thorsten an excellent hunter, he has a great depth of knowledge of Namibia, its people, history, customs, animals, etc.

The camp was a tent camp with only generator and battery power but very comfortable with running water, flush toilets, hot showers, daily laundry and housekeeping (or is it tent-keeping?) and three well prepared hot meals per day. This area is very remote and we saw numerous elephant and leopard tracks and saw both lions and elephant near a water hole on the adjoining concession. All the hunting was by spot and stalk. The concession is huge. We hunted hard and travel a lot of ground while I was there, but bet I did not see a fifth of the concession area I was on.

I was after kudu, gemsbuck, Mountain Zebra and springbuck and was successful on all the animals. I was fortunate that I shot very well and took each animal cleanly with one shot each from my Winchester Model 70 chambered in 300WM shooting Federal 180 gr. Trophy Bonded Bearclaws.



I shot this nice stallion on the first day of the hunt after luck swung my way. On the left is my PH - Thorsten, my tracker - Elia and me on the right. As I mentioned, I got lucky and got him on the first day. We had started a few stalks before this one which ended almost as soon as they began with extremely wary animals picking us off soon from distances of up to a mile away. We stalked up to within about 30 yards of the herd this stallion was in but had to move around the mares to get a shot at him. We got about 1/3 of the way around the mares without being detected when luck went my way. The stallion started to walk around the top of the herd and then moved straight towards us. I took him at about 70 yards.



The next day I took this fine 16.25-inch, old springbuck. He had a large herd of females with him and you can see by the scars on his face that he has done a lot of fighting. I shot him at about 180 yards after a long stalk that took us up and over the top of a mountain (a hill by my PH’s standards) while trying to intercept the herd, which stayed down on the plain.



On day 3 we located an exceptionally large kudu bull with several cows and a young bull, but we lost them after stalking for a couple of miles. The next day (4), I took this great gemsbuck. He had 38†and 40†horns but what impressed me most was the size of the bases. This was the shortest stalk of only several hundred yards over about 30 to 45 minutes at the most. However, the last couple hundred yards was duck walking through deep, loose sand in a dry creek bed to within 150 yards and a wait for him to turn broadside that seemed like and eternity.



I got this kudu on day five. I was sweating it because we had already had a couple of blown stalks on previous days and passed up several that were slightly longer but younger with shallower curls. He only went 50†but was a nice old bull and is a great trophy. This stalk was the most difficult of all of them. We spotted them about 300 yards away as they were coming down a mountain. However, the turned and started back up the mountain. It was getting late in the day and we had to do something quick. We stalked slowly out of the herd’s line of sight and ran, trotted, climbed and scrambled as quickly as possible up the mountain. About an hour later we got on a ridge that extended perpendicular out from the mountain about midway up it and found the bull on the same plain as we were at about 150 yards away and facing me. The wind was in our favor and we had the sun at our back making it difficult for him to tell exactly what we were. I made a straight on shot which dropped him quickly, although he got slightly banged up as he tumbled down a short rocky shelf just below him. It was late in the day and we had just enough time to cape him out and get down the mountain to the landcruiser by dark. The next day we returned with some villagers from the area and packed the rest of the meat off the mountain, which they kept.



I decided that I wanted to mount my springbuck male on a pedestal with a female and took this mature female on the last day of my hunt off a ranch near Windhoek.

All in all, I don’t think the trip could have gone any smoother. While I would have liked to take a larger kudu, it was not below the minimum size I was willing to take. I plan on returning to hunt eland in the next year or two and will be looking for another kudu as well. They are too much fun to hunt just one time.

I highly recommend Vaughan Fulton’s Classic Safaris. Especially to those who want the experience of hunting a remote tent camp and the challenge of spot and stalk hunting.

George

Hi

It looks like you had a great hunt. My son and I leave in a couple of weeks, on our first safari, to the same general area near Etosha Park. I could only hope to come home with the same quality of animals as you have.

Where did you actually hunt?

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by ilw:
Hi

It looks like you had a great hunt. My son and I leave in a couple of weeks, on our first safari, to the same general area near Etosha Park. I could only hope to come home with the same quality of animals as you have.

Where did you actually hunt?

Thanks

I hunted Vaughan Fulton's concession which adjoins portions of the western bondary of Etosha.

Good luck to you and your son on your hunt.

I really like the picture of the springbok with the hair ridged up.I was told hy a P.H. that you should smell your animals.I believe he said that the springbok smell like honey when their hair stands up at death.

quote:

Originally posted by baboon:
I really like the picture of the springbok with the hair ridged up.I was told hy a P.H. that you should smell your animals.I believe he said that the springbok smell like honey when their hair stands up at death.

Yep, smells like honey or cotton candy. Does not really matter whether the hair is standing up or not.

Great animals! I'm glad you had a great time. The name of the conservancy is Ehi-Rovipuka.

Jorge400,

Congrats on the hunt. Seems to have been an enjoyable time.

Thank you for fixing my African crave today!!

Congratulations on a great hunt and some fine trophies. Namibia is fantastic hunting country and one of my favorites. I've never hunted with Vaughan but have heard great things about him from those on this forum who have. Congrats again!

Nice trophy Mt. zebra. Did you shoot him on a black stripe or white stripe? My PH offered me a wager: hit on white stripe, I owe him $1, hit on black stripe, he owes me $1. I had him sign the Namibian note.

George,

Nice critters! congrats on a super safari! I love that Mountain Zebra, I got to get myself one for sure!
The Kudu is alsome! looks alot bigger then 50 inches! Great animal

Onefunzr2,

I like that little bet you made with your PH! I'm going to try that next time, add alittle extra to the hunt!

George,
Great photos - congratulations on a super trip. I agree with Widowmaker416 about your kudu - sure looks like a very nice one to me. The springbok ram has some real "character" and will look great mounted with the female.

Phil

Great trophies! You were right about the oryx, great bases and a tremdous trophy! They're all great trophies! Time to start thinking about sheep while you're young enough to do it.

Congratulations on a fantastic safari!

I must compliment you on your photos and report. They are excellent. I love the details and enjoyed them very much. You made me feel as though I were back there with you.

Nice job!

51 days and I will be there myself, I hope I have as much fun as you did.

good luck,

Hi Jorge400

What was the weather like? I noticed that you were wearing shorts in some of the pictures. Did you hunt in shorts? Was there any bugs? Did you take anything for malaria?

I am leaving in 17 days and can't wait.

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by DocGlenn:
...Time to start thinking about sheep while you're young enough to do it.

Glenn,

It ain't my age that's keeping me from sheep hunting.

George

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:
Nice trophy Mt. zebra. Did you shoot him on a black stripe or white stripe?...

Both. The zebra was quartering towards me on the shot. I hit him just off the shoulder on an angle and split the hide across both a black and white stripe. I guess we broke even.

quote:

Originally posted by ilw:
Hi Jorge400

What was the weather like? I noticed that you were wearing shorts in some of the pictures. Did you hunt in shorts? Was there any bugs? Did you take anything for malaria?

I am leaving in 17 days and can't wait.

Thanks

ilw,

It was cool in the mornings but warmed up quickly. I zipped off my pant legs after the first stalk the first day at about 9 am and never put them back on the whole trip. Hunting in shorts was not much of a problem although I did get fairly scratched up on the kudu stalk busting through thorny bush. However, I would highly recommend bringing good quality gators to cover your ankles. My socks were filled with prickly seeds and grass stems all the time. It was like having hundreds of needles in you ankles all the time.

There was no water and no mosquitos where I hunted. However, I did take malaria medication (malarone) only because I was not sure if I was going to visit malaria areas if I concluded my hunt early and did some traveling.

Good luck on your hunt!

George

Congratulations, it sounds like you had a great trip. You went for the same game I am planning on going for, but I would like to take an eland also.

George,

How many pairs of boots did you bring?

I bought two pairs of Cabelas zip off pants and 5 pairs of shorts. I think I am going to bring 3 pairs of shorts and the two pairs of pants. How many shirts did you bring?

I bought two pairs of the cabelas safari shirts and I am going to bring 2 other similar shirts from my Camel Trophy fan-geek days.

For shoes I am wearing Bellvue desert boots they issue to troops with units that don't have small OPTARs. We ordered the wrong desert flight boots and I kept a pair for myself.

I am also going to wear my Courteney Hippo hides some and might bring a pair of whitewater sandals. Or I might buy a pair of Shaka sandals there.

What else would you pack that you forgot to pack or didn't bring?

Jorge400,

Congratulations on your hunting trip and nice trophies.


Hamdeni

Three pr pants or shorts, three shirts, three t shirts, two pr boots, one heavy shirt or jacket, 5 sets under shorts (including the pair you wear) and head gear. Then there is your travel clothes.

Jorge- Very nice! That Gemsbok is super!
I too just returned from Namibia and my PH said if I could shoot my Zebra on the black or white stripe and the bullet exited on the same color as it entered I would get the Zebra for free! Well, guess what, my bullet entered and exited on the same color stripe! Problem was, I forgot about the bet and we didn't shake hands on it. Damn!!

Glad you had such a great time. Sure is fun!!

John

Didn't sound like any kind of bet, just a promise from the PH regarding the trophy fee. If he has any balls he would have taken care of it with out your reminding him.

D99,

I packed pretty light. 1 pr. of long pants, which I wore on the flights and in Windhoek, 2 pair of zip off pants, 4 shirts, 1 sweat shirt, 5 pr. underwear, 5 pr. socks, 1 pr. hunting boots, 1 pr. chukas which I wore on the flight and could have hunted in if needed and 1 pr. Tivas for around camp. If you are hunting the same area I hunted, a thick shirt is not necessary and a quick drying cotton shirt will do nicely. However, if you are hunting ranches around Windhoek, you will need thicker shirts as the vegetation is mostly very thorny.

I had just about everything I needed although I would have taken one more pair of socks and a pair of gators.

I am not sure if you are hunting with Classic Safaris or not, but I gather from your first post that you might be. If so and you booked with Wendell, his packing list is pretty complete except for gators.

Good luck on your hunt and let us know how you made out when you return.

George

Congrats on a great hunt. Those are really trophy quality animals! Very good photos and story as well.. Thanks!

Both the kudu and gemsbok seem to have unusually thick horns. Congratulations.
Also a well put-together report.

Are there any species that eluded you this time?

Gabriel B

Wow great trophies-my wife and I were with Vaughan this time last year and had a great hunt as well. The Gemsbok really brings back memories and from the look of your picture I am quite sure I shot my 40.75 by 41.75 bull about 300 yards from where you did a year later!!!! I also took my Springbok in the same huge field three days later.

Jorge,

Congratulations, great trophies.

I can't believe Wendell doesn't have gaiters on his packing list. Going to have to talk to that boy about that.

Here are some gaiters I have had used a lot in Africa.

Gaiters



Regards,

Terry

I am hunting with Kalahari Hunting Safaris through da Costas.

August 3rd to the 16th.

George great hunt and good shooting. I really like the idea of having the pair of springbok mounted together. Small animals (in body size) but beautiful trophys .