Larry and his son Court hunted with us at Huntershill and enjoyed some good hunting, taking a number of really nice trophies. Larry asked me to post some of their pics so he could add some of their comments. We just missed each other at the East London airport by minutes. Here are their photo's. Larry used a .338 and Court used a 7mag. Their comments to follow.

Court Eland

Court Gemsbuck

Court Kudu

Court Waterbuck

Court Zebra

Court Impala


Larry Gemsbuck with a bent horn

Larry Impala

Larry Kudu

Larry Warthog

Larry Waterbuck

Very nice!

Well done! Love the gemsbok with the bent horn.

Well done!

The photos posted by David are of me and my son, Court.

Let me start out by saying that we couldn't have chosen a better Agent than David Keith. From start to finish he was there for us. He was always available if we had questions or needed help. We were extremely fortunate to have him book us with Huntershill Safaris. We thought the quality and quantity of game was excellent. The people at Huntershill were great to be with and made us feel right at home.

Hunting report:
Rifle/ammo: I took my 338 Win Mag/Federal Premium loaded with 225 gr TSX's
My son took his 7mm Rem Mag/Federal Premium loaded with 160 gr TSX's

Game taken: As you can see in the photos, I took a
Gemsbok, Warthog, Kudu, Waterbuck and Impala. I wounded an Eland and he is either still running around on a mountain or died and we couldn't find him. We looked off and on for 3 days.

My son took a Gemsbok, Kudu, Waterbuck, Eland, Impala and Zebra. He hunted for a good Warthog but we just didn't find a good one. Huntershill let him substitute a Zebra and he took him in the last hour of the last day.

It was the first time for both me and my son to go to Africa. He won 2 plane tickets to anywhere in the world. He called me and said, "Hey Dad, do you want to go to Africa?"

The tickets were on British Airways. It wasn't as bad dealing with BA in regards to traveling with guns but it wasn't easy. If anyone is going via BA contact me and I'll pass on my experience. I will say that as far as an airline we thought they were very accommodating. The flight crews were excellent. I probably feel this way because part of our legs were Business Class. Man, when you're tired, that's the way to go.

One aspect of our hunt that we really liked was hunting Huntershill's 2 different properties. They are so different in topography and vegetation that is was like going on 2 different hunts. Huntershill's main lodge is on 55,000 acres. It is mountainous and some wide open flats. Their Fort Beauford property is quite a bit smaller. The terrain is hilly and the brush is thicker.

We thought our PH and 2 trackers were excellent. We couldn't believe what they could see with their naked eyes that we had a hard time finding with binoculars. The big plus is that they were fun to hunt with and had senses of humor. A lot of funny back and forth with those guys. At the very end we had a group photo taken of the 5 of us. We didn't know what our PH was saying to one of the trackers so we asked. The PH told us that he had said to the tracker "You're so ugly that Court and Larry don't want you in the photo." At the exact time we all heard that we all broke into the biggest laugh of the trip and at that moment the guy taking the photo snapped it. For my son and I, the photo is priceless.

A side note, we had to lay over in Johannesburg and stayed at the Afton House. Our stay was very comfortable. They have changed ownership and changed names to what I believe is now Afton Safari Lodge or something like that. They acquired our rifle permits, walked us through picking up and checking in our rifles/ammo, and transporting us back and forth to the airport for $50 each. I thought that was very reasonable.

There were many highlights of the trip, but my number one is my son and I being able to experience Africa for the first time together.

Sounds like a wonderful hunt. I'm with Mark, liking that gemsbok with the bent horn. My understanding is that many European hunters actually prefer a non-typical animal.

Thank you Larry, it was my pleasure to assist you and Court with this hunt. I am very pleased that you enjoyed all aspects of hunting with us. I appreciate your kind words and will pass it along to the guys. Call me anytime.
Good hunting, David

Sounds like you had a fantastic first trip! Congratulations!

Thanks for the comments guys.

Wanted to thank Hogsbreath especially. When I posted I needed some more Federal Premium loaded with 225 gr TSX's, he came through with 2 boxes. Federal isn't offering this ammo anymore.

He also offered up some good general advise about Africa. Nothing like a voice of experience.

A couple notes about our kudus.

I was especially pleased with the age of my kudu. He had no teeth. Our PH thought he might be at least 15 years old.

If you notice, my son's kudu has a hole in the front of the left horn. He had to take a shot at the running kudu, offhand with only the kudu's neck above the bush. The trackers found one tiny drop of blood but that's all. We went back to have lunch and about 3 hours later, our PH put us on a hillside to look over the terrain thinking this was a good spot for kudu. About an hour into the hunt a kudu walked out at 200 yards and my son shot it. We walked to it and to our surprise it was the kudu he shot at earlier. It had a hole in the horn and some dried blood at the exit hole. We had no idea kudu bleed form the horns.

Well done guys, you both took some nice trophies and I was hoping you'd post the details on Court's Kudu.

quote:

We had no idea Kudu bleed form the horns.

All animal horns have a core made of bone, which is "live" and is what produces the keratin which causes the horn as we know it to grow, much in the same manner as human fingernails.

It is also one of the reasons why horned trophies of the species that cannot be removed during the curing process, are left to rest until the mucus has fully rotted and seeped out.

I continue to recall instances that happened on the trip or things I remember that were enlightening. Please indulge me to add to our report.

My son's Eland died on a fairly steep incline on the side of a mountain. He had been poised for the photo for awhile but the PH just wasn't satisfied. He and the trackers continued to discuss what he wanted them to do, but not in English so I wasn't paying attention. I turned my back to the group to fish some cameras out of the backpack. When I turned back around the PH was using his cell phone camera to take my son's photo. I stood off to the side and noticed the Eland's head slightly nodding and turning.

I kept asking if they were sure this Eland was dead? They ignored me and asked me to walk behind the Eland to get in the picture with my son. As I walked around to the back of the Eland, much to my surprise, one of the trackers was lying, hidden, the length of the Eland. He had grasped the main of the Eland and was turning it for photos at the PH's directions. We got a big laugh out of me not knowing the tracker was back there.

As I reported, my son and I both were shooting ammo loaded with Barnes' Triple Shocks. We were very satisfied with their performance. Every shot was a complete pass through. Our PH thought that when I shot my Kudu that I shot over it because he saw the dust fly behind it. I told him him I didn't think I shot over it. We drove down the mountain where the Kudu was standing when I shot. There was no blood. I felt pretty bad that I had maybe shot over a really good Kudu. He instructed the tracker to look for it and it was found 100 yards away, stone dead. I do wish they left more of a blood trail though.

What surprised me the most was that except for my son and I, I'll bet the rest of the American hunters were shooting ammo loaded with Accubonds. Not surprised that hunters would shoot Accubonds, but was surprised at the high percentage, maybe 98%. Maybe just a coincidence but it does say something for that bullet.

There was a decent size contingent of Spaniards at both lodges. My son and I enjoyed both groups. They're pretty fun loving. We killed a number of bottles of scotch over conversations with them. I'm not as sure about their ammo, but I did see a lot of Sellier and Bellot.

The Spaniards at Huntershill were after a mixed bag. Oddly the Spaniards at Fort Beauford only were after Warthogs. It was explained to us that it was important to them to display as many warthog tusks on the wall. It was a "gauge" of how good of a hunter they were. They felt that sitting in a blind and letting beaters drive wild boar to them had taken away the true hunting experience. They felt warthog hunting was for truly wild hogs and the way they should be hunted. "to each his own."

Photo's replaced using imgur.com/

Congrats to you and your son. Thanks for posting.

Proper safari and well done to you and your son on some great animals.

Damn! You shot my dream eland.
Cool gemsbok with the bent left horn. Unusual horns or very worn horns get my blook up.
Congratulations on a wonderful hunt.
Cal