I will start my hunt report with a test picture from Photo Buckett. Here goes

Might be the sage brush in Montana. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

Mike

Dates of Safari - September 20 throuhgh 26,2009

Location - southwestern Botswana in the Kalahari Desert. This area is just shy of 200 miles southwest of Maun and about 37 miles west northwest of Ghanzi. Travel was by very good ashphalt road from Maun and then two track to the safari camp.

Safari Operator - Tholo Safaris, run by Clive and Linda Eaton. Hunts are on their own property. Roughly, we were on 110,000 acres of single fenced wildlife reserve adjacent to another 110,000 acres of cattle ranch also populated with wild critters of all kinds. Tholo also has access or leases on an adjacent 400,000 acres of land if you really need the room.

Booking Agent - Safari Trackers(Adam Clements) and his able staff, our own Mark Young in Cody and Jamie Cowan in Texas. Many of you on AR know Sadie, Mark's long time "sqeeze", so I got the added benefit of Sadie taking me under her wing to steer this miscreant Montana boy through the intracies of international travel. I enjoyed both their company for 5 of the 7 days.

Travel Arrangements - Shawn Kennedy, Gracy Travel, San Antonio. She planned everything to a nearly flawless flight plan.

Animals hunted and taken - Cape eland, kudu, gemsbok, blue wildebeest, and warthog.

Animals seen over the course of the week - Red hartebeest, sprinbok, blesbok, ostrich, Burchell's zebra, black wildebeest, giraffe, duiker, steenbok, impala, waterbuck, jackal, bat eared fox, lots of cheetah tracks, and a fair number of leopard tracks.

I have probably forgotten some, except the pet hippos, but the variety and density of game in such a harsh landscape is incredible. It is very thick brush country, silverleaf terminalia, wait-a-bit and lots of other nasty "stuff" with some grassland, but it is high grassland. Scattered camel thorn and blackthorn acacia sprinkle the countryside. Reminds me of south Texas mesquite without the water. Waterholes dot the area, fed by wells, and all the watering holes that I saw had attendent blinds for bowhunters.

I'm working on it Mike. I'm technically challenged!!

THE HUNT -

Armament was Winchester Model 70, .375 Holland & Holland, with 300 grain Swift A Frames. I made a few very good shots, an equally few very good misses, and a lot of indifferent hits through the dense brush. At least I got what I came for.

My PH was a nice young man named Steven Vandermerwe. This voortrekker is a product of his environment and is very very good at what he has decided is to be his lifelong pursuit. His youth belies his abilities without question. The Bushmen trackers were Bessa and Morethwa, along with a Dumara driver and pretty good tracker himself named George. Yes, I can testify to their fabled abilities. Good Grief!! If those guys were on your trail, you'd be dead meat. It is humbling to tag along behind this crew. I respect these mens' talents to the fullest. They are the true hunters. I was only an indifferent marksman on their heels.

I won't go through the laborious day by day blow of the hunt, but just summarize my thoughts while they're still fresh. Like nearly everyone on AR, Africa becomes an affliction, one to be savored and nourished as the pocketbook and family ties will allow. This plains game hunt showed up from Mark Young about 4:30 on a Friday afternoon with an offer I couldn't refuse. So, by 8:30 Monday morning coffee I was off the deep end for a go at plains game.

I'm not a collector per se, but none of us want to take home subpar trophies. Tholo has lots of good quality animals............period. Mark seemed to go gaga over the kudu. Some might look askance at a ranch hunt, but at 110,000 acres plus another 110M and 400M you can do the whole wasteless trek without water in merciless sun,blah, blah, blah, blah if it makes you feel like Allan Quatermain. I didn't bag 'em and stack 'em. We worked for the trophies.

Our daily routine was to drive along the two track (we call 'em jeep trails in Montana) early in the morning, with Cape eland high on my priority list, find fresh tracks, and barrel off the land cruiser into the pucker brush after them. Eland are very elusive, alert, skiddish, fast, and smart. Hunting these guys was a challenge and most stalks lasted from 2 to 6 hours. Also, most stalks were blown, either by watchful eland themselves or those damn goofy wildebeest that are the eland's safety net. As you can see below, I was finally successful with what I consider a very nice old blue bull with a good topknot. Three rounds in the front half of the big hairy part finally did the trick.

The kudu is 52" and wide - one shot.

Blue Widlebeeste - 29+" width - one lucky hit from a deflected bullet.

Gemsbok - 34" length with 10 2/8" bases - that was a feaking gunfight with the last and #6 coup de gras up close in the heart to end the shootout.

Warthog - I didn't measure him. I always wanted one and this one according to Steven was the biggest of the season at Tholo. 2 shots, one being the finisher. PUMBA is going down! Or didn't you see the Lion King?

Safari Camp - The accommodations were super. There is well water piped into the camp and the drinking water is perfectly safe. Chalets are air conditioned. There's a pool. Full complement bar, wine with dinner, well balanced meals including fresh vegetables, salads, and deserts. We ate a lot of kudu, eland, and gemsbok, even chicken a couple of times. Daily laundry and maid service, excellent equipment in the land cruisers. And efficient skinning and salt shed.

Mark and Sadie arrived from Mozambique two days after I did so we were able to share the camp's amenities together. We flew back home together at the end of the trip. Mark and I both are more deaf than a murdered monkey so thankfully Sadie translated all that pigeon English into something that I could understand.

We were joined at the evening sundowner by Clive and Linda and Clives 84 year old father, Dick. They are all very gracious hosts and I really enjoyed visiting with the senior Eaton. It just isn't often that you can get first hand stories from a true pioneer of Africa. He still walks 4 miles a day, swims two miles a day, and flies his own twin engined Piper. Geez! He surveyed Bechuanaland from 1955 to 1961, and I guess in payment he got hold of the land. Great stories from this quiet unassuming gentleman.

This was a package deal for me, although I could have shot lots of other things for the cost of the trophy fee. Steven was surprised when I passed on some world record steenbok type and there are duikers hauling as through the catclaw all the time. Mark, in his usual gentle and diplomatic way said I was a dumb M----r F----r for not taking the smaller game, but I don't have any interest in goats. One more day and I'd gone after the black wildebeest and/or the red hartebeest.

All and all, a great safari experience with good people and friends, culture, game, travel, weather, price, geography, and geology. It even rained on day! And no snakes.

That is a great eland mature and a big boy. Good shooting...

Mike

FINAL THOUGHTS
Tholo also offers dangerous game hunts, but I don't really have the specific details. However, Clive and the senior PH guide for elephant and leopard, etc.

Maybe someday - Here kitty, kitty, kitty.

Mike,

Hey! Your hurting my feelings with these implication that I would use coarse language particularly with a delicate client such as yourself.

Kidding aside it was a pleasure to help you arrnge your safari and to share a camp with you.

Great report and pix. (Fantastic camp) Loved the captions although less than complimentary to me.

Mark

I sure enjoyed your report and beautiful photos. Fantastic eland! It's fun seeing Wyoming and Montana so nicely represented in Africa.

Matt

Mark,
My apologies for intruding upon your more sensitive nature. I also enjoyed your company and all your help and advice.

I hope you get up from the croup soon, and back in full swing. We never really spent a lot of time talking about Mozambique so I look forward to it.

Snow heading into Billings tonight as we speak. Quite the change from southern Africa.

Best Regards to all,

Mike aka Yellowstone

Great pictures congrats.

Mike- Congrats on the fantastic hunt. I think you were actually a bit too kind to Mark. . .
BTW, nice hat!

Tholo is a great place. I've yet to report on my August hunt there, though.
I, too, had Bessa and George on my "team" and they are truly amazing.

Steven was the PH for the other hunter in camp and is quite a character.

We did, however, come across a mamba or two.

Great eland you got, there!

Very Nice...

Mike: Great report and great pics! Africa is however, an addiction, not an afflication! By the way, no one needs to wonder what Mark was contemplating or thinking in the pic-just look at where his hands are! Poor Sadie!