My report of 3 weeks of hunting and exploring in BF to follow......here is a cool pic of wild warthogs in a remote village.

Another herd of the Oh so common Roan in these parts!!!


Arjun Reddy
www.huntersnetworks.com

Great pics Arjun.

How about some more

Two pics....Come on Mr Reddy

Arjun
More pics!! What are the rules re: bowhunting in Burkina Faso?
JCHB

Arjun!

Can´t wait to see the rest


CF

If you don´t post a report ASAP I will fly to the states so you give it personally!

Wow you guys don't cut a man any slack! I was gone for 3 weeks so will try and break it down in to manageable bits instead of one monster report.

While I arrange safaris all over Southern Africa, I enjoy arranging hunts off the beaten path and I have worked with a few top operators in Burkina over the years. This year I decided to formalize my relationship and have now obtained the exclusive marketing rights to some of the best concessions in the country, hence the purpose of my trip. Burkina is a relatively unknown destination for American clients and I know of only a handful of hunters who have hunted there over the years. The hunting industry is very very small when compared to Southern and East Africa and one has to take this in to account and go with an open mind and not compare everything to your favorite concession in Zimbabwe. Furthermore being an old French colony "Haute Volta" some things are done slightly differently. If you don't like French bread don't go. Beyond this however is probably one of the last African destinations devoid of mass tourism and commercialism, which offers true hunters a fantastic African hunting experience, if you go the right area.

Lets start with the day or the Roan. Within 10 minutes of camp we spotted a herd of eles and then a lone Roan by himself. They are wary animals and he melted away before I could really look him over. Yet a fleeting glance is all that was needed by my black PH to ascertain that he was not the Roan we wanted. About half an our later, we spotted a roan moving quickly around 150 yards. Even to my untrained eye I could see that it looked like a nice male and my PH motioned to me to get off the truck and follow him quickly. Within a few yards we saw the Roan sky lined at about 200 yards. The shot felt right and the sound of the bullet was good but the Roan sauntered off like nothing happened! Within 50 yards we spotted him again facing us at about 150 yards. A quick second shot in the chest dropped him where he stood and we walked up to admire a splendid old roan which they estimated to be about 15 years old! One could see that he was past his prime and the horns measured right on 28"..

Western Roan



Another angle



The horns came together at the top, which is unusual



On our return to camp we discovered another hunter had also shot a very nice roan and here is the proof!



The trophy fee on this great beast was a princely sum of 490 euros, about the cost of an impala in Southern Africa! And much cheaper than the $5500 trophy fee you will pay in Zambia! We saw Roan every day and herds of up to 35 animals. We counted 3 easily shootable top class trophy bulls one morning, of course we were not hunting Roan.


To be continued........


Arjun Reddy
www.HuntersNetworks.com
30 Ivy Hill Road
Brewster, NY 10509
Tel: 845 259 3628

Great roan, Arjun, congratulations. In the rest of the report can you outline the logistics and costs of hunting there?

Thanks,

I hunted in Burkina Faso in 2009, and had a great hunt.

A last frontier for modrn day hunters, abundant game, good true hunting.

Together with a friend we took lion 2 buffalo, 2 roan, several oribi and saw hundreds of elephants as well as hoards of other game.

It was just one of those memorable trips with no set plan, no expectations, that worked out beautifully.

Well done Arjun.
Which area did you go to?

Nice Roan Arjun!
Can't wait to hear more from your trip.

Day of the Oribi! I particularly don't like to shoot small antelope. I know they are more difficult trophies to obtain and its just me. As a kid I shot a lot of all sorts of jungle cats, foxes, jackals, monkeys and so on so tend to stay away from the little fellows. I once had a chance on a damara dik dik at 20 yards but let him go!

Anyway, we were driving along in the hot midday sun when neither man nor mouse should have been moving and saw this Oribi under a bush. On the urging of everyone in the car I got down and let fly, missed him clean at 30 yards. He ran and stopped at 150 yards and I smacked him hard, so now have a full Oribi mount in the not too distant future. For those that care the horns measured 4.25" in length.

We also saw both red flanked and grimms duiker (western bush duiker), in fact lots of grimms and oribi.





Red flanked duiker - sorry for the poor pic but he was far off.


The scars on this mans cheeks, tells you which tribe he comes from. Many locals have different scars denoting the tribe they come from. I offered to cut a few lines on my clients cheek but he would not go for the whole experience





Arjun Reddy
www.huntersnetworks.com
30 Ivy Hill Road
Brewster, NY 10509
Tel: 845 259 3628

Next installment Arjun. . . . . .we're waiting!

Where in Burkina Faso did you hunt?

Lions, Lions and more Lions!

I don't claim to be a lion expert but I know enough that when different lions (males, females and cubs) are seen on 9 different occasions in 8 days when not hunting lion, there are lots of lion about! Everyday more or less we would see fresh lion spoor when driving, not even bothering to look for them. Burkina has a very small quota of lions and most of the hunts are booked a year or more in advance. The lions here are not huge mained lions, but these are 100% wild lions, hunted on foot at close quarters. A lot of hunters who have shot lion over bait will say right that means your chances are slim to none. However in the right area in Burkina the success rate on getting in front of a lion is 100%. I don't think this is for everyone as you have to track them all day sometimes in the heat. So a bit of physical fitness is required and then the skill to take a quick shot as I am sure they don't hang about. The PH there told me he has been 100% on lion as long as he can remember and he has been doing it a long time. I don't know how many of the top PHs can make that claim on tracked lion hunts! I know another PH personally who shot 4 lions this year all tracking hunts. There are places in Burkina where you will not shoot a lion, but that's because they don't want you to shoot one, but that's a different story!!

There is pressure to shut down lion hunting in Burkina as well, so if this is something you want to do, don't dwell on it!

A female lion track, note the F on the left



A male lion track for comparison, note the M on the left. The lions in Burkina initial their tracks as they go along



One afternoon when driving back to camp we saw this lioness under a tree in the shade. I got some footage of her at 25 yards. That evening BA arrived in camp and we went for a short drive and I pointed out the place we had seen the lion that afternoon, no sooner had I said it we saw her on the opposite side of the road and I got some more footage of her.. She does not look to happy at being disturbed twice in one day!

CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO PLAY THE VIDEO

Would love to do this hunt one day!!

Great report, Arjun.
Great hunt.
Congratulations.

BUT IM A LITTLE SAD THAT YOU DONT USE YOUR BEAUTIFULL AND LOVLEY H&H DOUBLE...
:-)

Best wishes.

Bockhunter

Arjun enjoyed the read and look forward to more.

Mike

Having hunted cape buff I was looking forward to hunting the Western Savannah Buffalo. For those who have not hunted them the W. Savannah buff are about 70% the size of a cape buff. The horn configuration is also different. The fun part to me is the different color of the trophy. From what I could make out and understand and things maybe different in Cameroon, but in Burkina there are two distinct colors the red and the black and then they freely intermingle so you end up with a red buff with black in them and so on. The pure black buffs seem to be larger animals both in body and horns. The pure red seem to be slightly smaller and have a different horn shape. And you will see herds with both red and black mixed in them.

I was pretty keen on a good red buffalo and on the day we decided to hunt buff, within a mile from camp the PH stopped the car as he had seen some tracks from the seat on top of the cruiser. He got down gave the tracks another look over and told the driver to turn off the engine as he knew the buff were not too far away! To see a man interpret the spoor to that degree was pretty cool. Sure enough as we sat quietly in the dark with in a few minutes we heard buffalo sounds from about 150 yards away! We waited till light and got on the tracks, about 40 minutes later we caught up to the herd a red bull in the rear was the one I wanted. He was quartering away about 120 yards and I thought I had a shot but the angle was not good, so I motioned that we should move forward and within 10 minutes we were in position to see the same bull crossing at about 60 yards in the grass. A shot to the shoulder with a Swift 300 grain A frame, did the job and the buffalo staggered and walked away slowly. I put in a TX heart shot and it turned again offering the other shoulder, one more and it was all over. In terms of tenacity these smaller bodied buff don't give up anything when compared to their bigger southern cousins! Its basically the same hunt. There are a lot of buff in the concession and I would say the shot opportunity is 100%.




Buff being loaded in to a BBT (Burkina Battle tank), note the hand winch!



Oh I just love those ears!




A black Burkina buff for comparison




For those who enjoy buff hunting, a Burkina buff hunt is hard to beat. The trophy fee on a buff at todays exchange rate is US $624!!! I wonder which year in the distance past a buff cost that much in Southern Africa!



Arjun Reddy
Founder
HuntersNetworks.com
Http://www.HuntersNetworks.com
30 Ivy Hill Road
Brewster, NY 10509
Tel: 845 259 3628
Email: arjun@huntersnetworks.com

Kob Everyday!
Kob de Buffon as they are known are the equivalent of the Southern Impala. You see them in herds as well as solitary males and females. I did not see very big herds, probably about 15 or so on the top side, like one would see Impala. They are a lovely looking antelope, bigger and beefier than the Impala though and just as good eating!

The horns measured 14.75 inches. BA who hunted with me shot an even bigger one with more mass to the horns.



Here is another image showing the black markings on the legs



Arjun Reddy
Founder
HuntersNetworks.com
Http://www.HuntersNetworks.com
30 Ivy Hill Road
Brewster, NY 10509
Tel: 845 259 3628
Email: arjun@huntersnetworks.com

Some images from Burkina:

Local gas station!


Guess you know you are in Roan country when a local roadside hotel has a mount thrown to the side!


Carrots are good for your eyes


Note the tribal scars on her cheek as well


Sunday market


Bustard (legal to shoot here)


A typical village


A honey gathers pot


Arjun Reddy
Founder
HuntersNetworks.com
Http://www.HuntersNetworks.com
30 Ivy Hill Road
Brewster, NY 10509
Tel: 845 259 3628

Absolutely stunning - those Buff are something else. We have some of them at Woburn, but they are nowhere near as impressive as these. They do look very out of place during an english winter!

Great report Arjun! Looks like a MUST destination for the seriuos collectors! Cheers Buzz

quote:

And much cheaper than the $5500 trophy fee you will pay in Zambia!

We don't have Western Roan mate. Ours are the very rare and collectable Southern variety.

Excellent report and trophies.

Arjun,
It appears you had a great hunt! Well done. I agree that hunts like this off the beaten track are the ones I anticipate the most. It seems you do too!

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:

quote:

And much cheaper than the $5500 trophy fee you will pay in Zambia!

We don't have Western Roan mate. Ours are the very rare and collectable Southern variety.

Excellent report and trophies.

Are they much different to the Western roan? What size are the horn length?

Very interesting report. Sounds like a lot of fun.

quote:

Originally posted by vvreddy:

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:

quote:

And much cheaper than the $5500 trophy fee you will pay in Zambia!

We don't have Western Roan mate. Ours are the very rare and collectable Southern variety.

Excellent report and trophies.

Are they much different to the Western roan? What size are the horn length?

No not really and I would say the Western has a couple of inches on the Southern. My average in Zambia is about 27 inch. I have seen a couple of 30 inch but not many.

Congrats on a great trip Arjun. Love the red buff and really enjoyed the report.

Good stuff Arjun! Some day Ill call on you to get me there.

Great photo's thanks for sharing

What an adventure! Well else cause you come accross free range roan like that? Something I need to stop putting off.

Western Hartebeest



I was especially keen to shoot a good Hartebeest after the Roan. However for some reason they said that Hartebeest had been a bit scarce this year with only a few taken all season. We saw them 3-4 times in 10 days so I guess that's not too bad! Anyway one day we came across a group of 3 and the good male was right at the back. At about half the distance to the H/beast a thin tree branch ran right across its shoulder. I waited for him to take another step, but the PH who had a clear shot told me to hurry up and shoot as he thought I was taking my own sweet time! Against my better judgment I took the shot attempting to go below or above the branch and ending up hitting the branch smack on! When we walked up looking for blood we spotted the 3 H/beasts again around 300 yards I hurled two more at them off sticks, but off they went untouched!

To rub salt on my wounds on return to camp I discovered a French hunter had shot one! I was amazed to see how much bigger it is in body when compared to a red hartebeest! They are called Bubale Major and I am not sure but might be the largest H/beast! Just a fantastic West African antelope with a lovely coat and horns. Hopefully next year!

MY PH and Tony with my Sing Sing waterbuck!


One evening we spotted this w/buck a long ways off, unfortunately we did not see his bigger buddy until after the shot was fired. It was a nice long shot (about 200 yards off sticks) and I was very pleased anyway. But the Sing Sing are a lovely chocolate colored waterbuck, they do not have the white ring on the rump like the common waterbuck. Body size and horns are a bit smaller also. we saw lots of Waterbuck and if someone is looking for a good one, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

A few of you have emailed about the PH and the hunting team in Burkina. So here is the scoop. Most hunts are done using local black PHs. Your hunting team consists of a PH, a tracker and driver. Your PH will be armed with an old rifle of unknown vintage, 458s seem to be common. He certainly does not have the latest attire and equipment of your favorite White Hunter, but the PH I hunted with has been 100% on lion since he can remember [and that's tracked lion] and the same with buffalo. As the saying goes you can't argue with results. The way he approached my buffalo before and after the shooting started was no different to any PH I have hunted with. He was very cool, calm and collected and took absolutely no chances even when the buff was down and made sure about the Insurance shot.

For those clients who don't speak English you will have an English translator with you on your hunt and I hunted with a few different ones without any problem. I also hunted alone with my French only speaking hunting team and I had no problem. Of course you cannot share the same jokes and experience of the hunt, but as far as hunting goes I did not find sign language to be a handicap. I am putting together a sheet with a few words of English to French for next seasons clients which will also make life easier!

Never considered a hunt in BF before until now... You've really showed this place for all its worth...Thank you....its high on the list thanks to you....Well Done

What's the travel like in getting there...say from the West Cost USA,,,how many connections and where does one fly into?

Thanks

What an interesting place. Thanks for posting it.

Reddy...great post..thank you.

Could you give us an idea of the size and scope of sport hunting in BF? Specifically how many hunting areas in different regions and the size of the hunting areas.

Thanks again

Quite interesting report Arjun, enjoyed the write up and pics, thanks for sharing your experiences in Burkina.

Nice looking animals. Looks like its a good place to go hunt. Definitely off the beaten path. Good job. Bruce

Arjun;

Now you've done it....another place on my bucket list.

Great report. Would love to hear details of the travel, airport and camps.

Best regards, D. Nelson

Thanks for bearing with me while I take my time getting this report done!!

Getting to Burkina is pretty straight forward from North America. Basically you fly to Paris (7 hours from NY) and if you time it right with a 2 hr layover you can catch the daily flight from Paris to Ouagadougou the capital of Burkina which is about 6.5 hours. So it is a shorter journey than flying to Southern Africa. You will be met by our English speaking ground staff who will assist you with clearing of your guns, which is very straight forward, They will then take you to your hotel (these range roughly from $150-$275 per night). The next day you are picked up early AM to drive to camp which takes about 7 hours. For 2014 a charter flight option is being looked in to.

The food was excellent with a French twist to it. We ate a lot of game which was all very well prepared. Buffalo fondue was so good we requested it a second time! Fresh French baguettes were served with every meal. We had French fries quite a few times, rice, potatoes, cous cous was also served with some meals.

The guest chalets are thatched, with ensuite western style bathrooms and showers. A great plus is the chalets have air conditioning which is very enjoyable after a hot days hunt. Power is provided by generator which is run for a good portion of the day but not 24 hours. They also have a small but well maintained pool which is great to cool off in with a beer!

The hunting vehicles were pretty beat up but they ran perfectly. The hunting concession has 400kms of trails so the hunting area is very accessible. A lot of game is spotted from the vehicle and then a stalk is made.

Contrary to the general perception of American hunters, I would have to say that Burkina Faso should not be viewed only as a specialized hunting destination like CAR or Congo which attracts veteran hunters. But its a suitable destination for any hunter looking to hunt lion, buffalo and also collect some real cool West African species of antelope, including of course the majestic Roan.

Hunt costs are on a par with a Zimbabwe hunt, however the trophy fees are a fraction of what you can expect to pay in Southern Africa!

Yes language is an issue but you will have an interpreter with you at all times, the camp staff are very friendly and look upon American hunters as a bit of a novelty!

Thanks for reading my report!

Arjun Reddy
www.huntersnetworks.com
30 Ivy Hill Road
Brewster, NY 10509
Tel: 845 259 3628
email: arjun@huntersnetworks.com