FINALLY.......

Well, I finally got my wife to commit to a trip to Africa. Looks like its going to be 2015 and we are both going, mostly because I would never go somewhere like Africa and not take her. She still hunts with me, although not a whole lot
these days, so it will be mostly other things (sight-seeing, game drives, etc.) that she will be interested in. I think I can talk her into a day or two of hunting with me, but not much more. I have been doing a pile of research, for quite some time,
and I think I have it narrowed down to the company I want to go with. Cruiser Safaris seems to have a good blend of hunting, other activities and some very good reviews about their operation. I haven't got the total budget worked out yet,
but I think I'll be able to do what I want, and give the wife a very nice holiday, too. I'm thinking Kudu, Gemsbuck, Blue Wildebeest, Red Hartebeest, Impala, Blesbok, Springbok and Warthog, over 10 days or so. I want to use a
Husqvarna Model 98, in 9.3x62, that I'm working on right now. I'll use handloaded 286 grain Partitions for everything so theres no screwing around with different ammo issues. Any thoughts ? Can someone talk me out of going with
Cruiser's? I appreciate any info.

Gord

Cruise has had some good reports. I think it will be very nice for the 2 of you. Best of luck. Bruce

Celebrate! You're going to Africa.

Take your wife along hunting with you and she will see game up close and personal, not just from a bakkie.

Good luck planning.

The hardest part is done... well not quite... the wait begins! Enjoy AH in the meantime...

Jerome has it right, the hardest thing will be the wait! I like all of your choices for the trip to Africa.

Originally Posted by enysse

Jerome has it right, the hardest thing will be the wait! I like all of your choices for the trip to Africa.

+1.

Well done for making the descision on coming to africa and especialy for bringing the wife ! Good luck on the waiting part!
Regards

Welcome to AH, Gord !

Welcome to AH and good luck on your safari. Im sure the wait will kill you though! LOL

Welcome to AH Gord

Good on you for taking your wife along she might just be surprised and enjoy it more than you ha ha!

Best Regards
Louis van Bergen

Welcome to the forum Gord!

Sounds like you have a hunt planned!

Take Care,

Marius Goosen

Welcome to AH Gord! You guys are going to love Africa and you've picked a good Outfitter, now for the wait I've only got 4 months before my return and its killing me but it does give you plenty of time for packing and re-packing. Good luck

Gord,

I did a plains game hunt with Cruiser Safaris last July (2012). My wife and I went for a 7 day hunt and we (really "I") ended up shooting 11 animals (Bushbuck, Waterbuck, Hartebeest, Warthog, Kudu, Zebra, Gembok, Nyala, Impala, Wildebeest and Eland). 5 of the 10 (Zebra doesn't score) were min SCI record book - 3 of those "Gold", 1 Silver and 1 Bronze. Not that the record book matters but just wanted to mention it so as to reflect the quality game that they have in the concessions.

My wife was with me 100% of the time as an observer and was very comfortable the entire trip. She's not a hunter but loved the experience. She even liked going to the skinning shed with me to check out the "action".

Overall, I have to say that the overall experience (save the two points described below) was fantastic. Pieter (the owner), the PH's and staff were great! The accommodations and food were also very good. You will be hunting either on Pieter's concessions (privately owned game land) or on others' concessions. Some are better for certain game than others so you will be no-doubt going to at least 4-5 different properties during your stay. You will work for your quarry as no shot of mine was particularly easy. The shots were either very long pokes (200+ yards) or very "rushed" shots at about 100-150 yards. This is NOTHING like typical deer hunting from a stand. You will walk and stalk all of the time. My buddy (whom I also went with) was in a blind off of water hole a few times but I never did this. The local rep told me that the average was about 100 yards! I'm glad that I had taken my relatively flat 300 Win Mag and had it sighted in to zero at 200 yards. I had a 3X15 scope which was plenty.

DO plan on taking more animals that you expect! There will be tons of opportunities to see other really nice trophy-quality animals that aren't necessarily on your "list".

DO PRACTICE shooting off of sticks. Buy your own (I got mine from Longgrass) and practice a lot. Also practice taking hurried and rushed shots. You'll be lucky if you get more than 3-5 seconds on the sticks before having to take a shot. As I indicated, I took one rifle to simplify my life - a Browning A-Bolt 300 Win Mag - and used factory 180 grain Nosler Partitions. All of the animals (except for the Gemsbok) were taken with one shot kills. The Eland (which are about 1500-2000 pounds) was taken with a double lung shot at about 125 yards while he was running (those things always seem to be running!). Found him dead about 100 yards away. Your 9.3 x 62 will definitely do the trick.

I had only two slight negative experiences. The first was with their US representative. I won't name names but you know who it is if you're booked with them. He's basically an "order-taker" and spends the least amount of time possible answering questions in advance of the hunt. 2-3 word answers for questions in emails was the norm. If I would have based my decision on solely speaking with him, I wouldn't have chosen them. The second negative experience was on the last day of our trip. I obviously shot way more than my 3-animal package and owed them some trophy fees. I felt as though they forced me and my wife in a van and took us to a bank in town to use a credit card for purposes of a cash withdrawal. This was on a HUNTING DAY - so in essence, I lost a 1/2 day hunting just to pay them. I didn't expect this at all. I would have just preferred to send them a check when I got home. They had all of my trophies as "collateral" anyway so I didn't appreciate that detail.

PM me with your phone number if you want to chat a bit more about my experience with Cruiser and just chat about hunting in Africa in general.

Good luck!