Hunting & Fishing My 1st Africa Trip....New pics added

[Ghogs Nightmare]

Launched plans in Feb. and started got to camp on the Fri 3rd.
It was a rough camp, I got stuck roughing it in a two man tent all by my lonesome:

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After a suprisingly cool night we had breakfast an then went to verify zero on our rifles. Fortunately my Starlight case took a lickin and protected my bullet launcher well. The Leupold 4.5-14x40Lr atop my 700 Sendero SF in 300RUM was securely maintained via SEEKINS Base and Rings (Thanks Scott).
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At this point the hunt began we began stalking some Impala at one point having some walk within 15yds of us. After they turned around we stalked some more and found one who was unaware of our presence and of sufficient quality. One shot later my first African trophy is down.
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The 200gr Accubond with 94.7 of Retumbo made quite an impact. It apparently doubles as a shaver/hair remover. Exit hole (shot was apx 45yrds):

 

[Ghogs Nightmare]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

Following this was two and a half days of hiking all over the place, sitting at water holes and seeing lots of interesting game BUT NOT putting anything down. This was somewhat of an oddity, according to my PH, so we started trying to think of what the problem might be. I was asked if i had ANY money in my pockets as the locals believe this to be bad juju because if you have money in your pocket it that means you can buy food and dont need to hunt. NO MONEY CHECK. Prior to coming in I had noticed the tip on my chambered round to be a lil banged up from chambering and rechambering etc (cant have round chambered while riding from place to place). So we left the "jinxed" round at camp. Here it is in a piece of lead wood:

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Dunno if was true or not but after going out that afternoon I earned the title of "Slayer of Swine" from the other PH, heres the "swine":

The accubond hit pretty hard, it didnt take a step but did flop a bit:

 

[Ghogs Nightmare]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

Next day was quite cold so unlike here the animals werent moving. so we swung over to the one big bao bab tree on the property and took some photos, these things are pretty big:

You could actually stand inside it too, its not a redwood but still pretty impressive:

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The following day(5) was uneventful other than several sessions of the kudu shuffle. (Spot an stalk repeat repeat repeat...they are big animals but disappear very well. The bit of advise I heard regarding them was "Think about it this way, their feet are the size of your ear....an their ear is the size of your feet" Which with my size 12 boot thats a pretty good bit of hearing.
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The next day I wanted to verify the zero on my rifle just for peace of mind, so far both my shots were 1 shot kills no problem, but they were back a little further than i wanted. There was a small bit of brush in the area but I wanted to make sure that was the issue and not me or my equipment. Well on the way to the range we found a Gemsbuck and the stalk began. Got on the sticks and was waiting for it to step up just a lil more into an opening. Well it looked clear enough to my PH who said to shoot, an I did. Bang Gem's runs off...after a short track we find it with a hole right where I wanted it, range trip cancelled, accuracy verified:

Went to the skinning shed for a min. afterwards and found just how thick the side hide of a Gemsbuck is, notice how it tapers once it gets lower on the animal. They are to be quite proficient in the use of their horns and this thick skin adds some protection from pred's as well as while sparing. They are also supposed to have been known to kill lions and kneel when injured tilting their head down to give a spike full of trouble to would be aggressors.

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Continued hunting after leaving the skinning shed and ran into some Zebra, this stallion was the longest shot of my hunt at apx 250yds.

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With the exception of the Impala all accubonds were recovered under the hide on the far side weighing in at 131grs, 133grs and 133grs. All shots were under 100yrds with the exception of the Zebra at apx 250yrds. I hunted with Nhoro Safari's apx 2hrs north of Pietersburg/Polokwane.
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Any questions fire away. Thanks to all who helped with my questions via PM prior to hunt.

 

[Rhys]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

Don't you just hate those rough uncivilised camps? They're just so hard to deal with. Only been once so far, and next time I intend to do a tented camp.

 

[long range dogr]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

Congrats bro!

I'm green with envy........

 

[mauritz45]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

thanks for sharing your trip. africa is on my bucket list--cam

 

[CMKnives]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

That is just AWESOME. Nice kills err umm....trophy's. I can;t imagine the feeling of killing something you see on the discovery channel. I too envy you sir.

Great looking pics and overall just looks like a damn good old time.

Congrats on an opportunity that many of us dream of.

Good stuff here!

Chris

 

[Ghogs Nightmare]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

"dream" hunt is kinda easy when ya sell a motorcycle. Covers the cost pretty easily. Well that and just a lil overtime, appropriately allocated.
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Here's the "AFTER" pics of the 200gr Accubonds:
<span style="font-weight: bold">"Top View"</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">"Side View"</span>

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If anyone wants a no worries hunt I'd highly recommend Nhoro
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In case anyone is wondering:
<span style="font-weight: bold">Gembuk : apx 45yds
Warthog: apx 80yds
Zebra: apx 250yds</span>

 

[BOLTRIPPER]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

luv them accubonds.

 

[OneLunG]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

Thats pretty cool man. How much does an Africa hunt run anyways?

 

[Ghogs Nightmare]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

Lung, depends on what you want to hunt, how long etc. As well as Airfares...I didnt do a package deal just told'm plains game and kinda chose what i wanted while there. Most animals will have a "trophy" fee attached to them, which may vary from place to place. Not much of an expert but I've been told most of what I shot is of good quality. Some of the fee's on the animals were I was at was a little more but the quality was better as well. If you go look at www.nhorosafaris.com you can click on the price list and get an idea. Most will work with what you want to do regarding cost of animals etc. The only ones they need to know bout are for sure ahead of time would be something like elephant, buffalo, lion. Airfare from DC was around 16 or 1800 with tax. So easy thing to do is add your "day" fee of the lodging/guide fee up then pick what animals you want. I got out a little cheaper than I was planning since I couldnt find a kudu that was willing to provide any opening for me to thread the accubond through. But want to take the bow back and resolve that issue. If taking a rifle you'll need to get a 4457 from US customs which is your proof of ownership on entry/exit, and if going to South Africa a firearms permit which is free.

 

[Peter Hogarth]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

Thanks for sharing. Maybe someday I will get to stop living through others and get there myself.

 

[LegioX]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

Hey Ghogs.
I noticed you called it your FIRST African hunt. I recently went on my 1st one also and there will definitely be a second!
Thanks for the cool pics!

 

[head2h2o]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

Looked to be an awesome trip. That zebra is beautiful.

 

[Ebby]

Re: My 1st Africa Trip....

Nice. Very pretty animals. I've been twice and just got back about 4 weeks ago from a Buff hunt in Zim.
Lee