Honeymoon hunt?

Johnny7604

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This might be a bit of an odd question but after 7 years of making her wait I decided to break down and pop the question to the old lady before I took off for my first african hunt and in a moment of poor judgement she decided to say yes to marrying my sorry self.

My new fiance has been getting into hunting the last few years but I could quite possibly be the worlds worst guide. By myself I typically fill all my tags no problems but trying to get someone else an animal is not my forte.

Anywho...a few questions:

1) For anyone who may have done this how did it go how did the wife enjoy it and do you have any suggestions?

2) For any outfitters out there that may have experience in this or have any options that might work please let me know.

I'm pretty sure I can convince her this is a good idea....she knows I'm not a beach guy and if push comes to shove the whole I'm paying for it argument might work.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Cheers,

John
 
This might be a bit of an odd question but after 7 years of making her wait I decided to break down and pop the question to the old lady before I took off for my first african hunt and in a moment of poor judgement she decided to say yes to marrying my sorry self.

My new fiance has been getting into hunting the last few years but I could quite possibly be the worlds worst guide. By myself I typically fill all my tags no problems but trying to get someone else an animal is not my forte.

Anywho...a few questions:

1) For anyone who may have done this how did it go how did the wife enjoy it and do you have any suggestions?

2) For any outfitters out there that may have experience in this or have any options that might work please let me know.

I'm pretty sure I can convince her this is a good idea....she knows I'm not a beach guy and if push comes to shove the whole I'm paying for it argument might work.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Cheers,

John

congratulations for you and your wife to be .
theres been a few huntingmoon reports on here ..
id rekon all out fitters could get something going for you and the financee........
lad your hunting trips just got more expensive , but what a better way to hunt ,than with your sole mate beside you .:clap::clap::clap:
 
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My wife does not like shooting anything bigger than birds. But, she loves to go along on the hunting excursions.
See the wildlife, the stalking, close to nature and everything in it.

Have the PH take her hunting and she'll enjoy it. No pressure from a slow introduction and she won't feed off your desire for her success.

Congrats.
 
John over the last decade or so I have seen a real shift in hunting, hunters use to come with their friends and the wives did cruises, went to Vegas or Atlantic city.. :)

These days families and couples are a very familiar sight to most operations. I have often found (never created :) ) healthy competition between couples while on safari and have to admit it adds to the fun, :) some spouses however prefer to be pampered or to take part in non hunting activities, our industry and most outfitter fulfill this requirement as well.

There is a multitude of options available to you, the best would probably be to create a short list of not only species but of what you would expect from your safari, this way you would be able to filter through what you would prefer and find the perfect location for your, or what, could possibly be your only honeymoon.. :)

Crap I have had two but had nothing to do with the first leaving! :)

My best always.
 
Hey John,
Yeah, have to agree with Jaco on this one. Definitely a shift in the amount of partners joining. We've had from marriage proposals, honeymoons to conceptions....
Must be the clean African air... ;)

Take Care,
Marius Goosen
 
Hey John,
Yeah, have to agree with Jaco on this one. Definitely a shift in the amount of partners joining. We've had from marriage proposals, honeymoons to conceptions....
Must be the clean African air... ;)

Take Care,
Marius Goosen

DITTO
We have also had a lot of wives and partners join in in Safaris, some even taking 1 or 2 of their first ever animals.

We have just had an engagement proposal,that my wife arranged, at a local cheetah ranch. We had a ribbon on the neck with the proposal and ring.
Luckily she said YES, or this would have been a loooong safari.

Most operators will have something for observers to do
Best regards
Dave
 
Thanks for the advice so far guys. I think she would enjoy some of the extra curricular activities as well. One thing I think I would need to try and find is a place with other people in the camp, particularly women that she could socialize with. The social aspect of things seems to be what most women that I know enjoy.

Know that I think about it though maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way. Maybe I should be looking for the roughest mosquito ridden bush camp full of smelly bearded guys I can find. I'll never have to worry about it again after that.

Sort of like when they ask you to do the laundry for the first time....turn everything pink or grey and shrink it three sizes and you'll never have to do it again.

Just kidding of course, and thank God she isn't a member on this site.
 
You can book your hunt accordingly a request to have other couples in camp is not such a foreign one, of course there are limitations to everything where 1 or two other couple in camp might be fine, a group of 6 bachelors and 5 other couples might make you feel like just another number...

This is where your specific requirements and the voicing thereof to potential outfitters are so important, commencing the planing on a mutual understanding is always a good start.

My best always
 
You can book your hunt accordingly a request to have other couples in camp is not such a foreign one, of course there are limitations to everything where 1 or two other couple in camp might be fine, a group of 6 bachelors and 5 other couples might make you feel like just another number...

Sound advice for sure

Crap I have had two but had nothing to do with the first leaving!

My situation also. I like to think of the first one as being more of a learning experience / trial run. I did get a fantastic although now very teenage daughter out of the deal though.
 
Africa Trip 149.jpg
You have a great idea there! The Laundry thing is the best, but taking your new wife on a hunting honeymoon is almost as good.

We went for our 30th aniversary, and my 50th birthday. How is that for an accomplishment?

My wife had hunted whitetails as a kid with her dad but never shot and hated the sitting in stands and the cold. She liked squirrel hunting better and was a great shot. But that was a long time ago. She has also been on a real health kick the last few years and is now in great shape. (she does boot camp several times per week) She could run up and down those East Cape mountains all damn day! I think she secretely enjoyed running my ass off!

Originally she complained about a 10 day hunt and not wanting to do "only hunting". So we did 9 days. But we were gone for 23 days and did a full gammit of tourist stuff including renting a car and a leasurely drive down the Garden Route from PE to Cape Town.

We did the hunt first, but that really detracted (for us at least) from the rest of trip because even Table Mountain cannot compare to the secluded mountain tops we had to ourselves (with the PH and trackers) while hunting. And a game drive at Schotia to "shoot" an 18 year old lion with a camera is cool, but noting compared to being out with real "Wild" life. Even if we were not ever in the presence of dangerous game on the hunt.... Not much to get too excited about with a sleeping lion being circled by noisey tourists in overloaded vans. Maybe we got lucky with a nice camp, good people and a really great PH, but everything after the hunt felt anti-climatic.

Back to my wife and her expiance; A year ago she was determined to only take pictures. But then she decided she wanted a Zebra rug... I strategically refused to shoot "a damn horse" and a couple days later she decided she would shoot the Zebra but that was it. So of course she had to practice shooting... Well the guns I had did not fit her so we went shopping and found a gun and scope combo that "fit" really well. So she has her own gun, that leads to more "buy in". Took her out to practice after sighting it in and she had about a 3" 5 shot group in first time shooting anything bigger than a 22 in over 35 years. I asked her if she knew what that was and she replied "really bad? only one is in the bullseye". I told her every one was a dead Zebra! We bought a set of sticks and she practiced a lot with them. She shot a Blesbuck, Zebra, Black Wildebeest, Impalla, and Fallow Deer.

She had originally insisted that she wanted to break up the hunt and take a day or two to go sight seeing. So at day 4 or 5 the outfitters wife came and offered to take her for a day... She turned the offer down and later told me that she was afraid if she went, she might miss seeing something on the hunt. She kept a notebook and wrote down every species of animal, bird and reptile she saw. Took over 1400 pictures including some great landscapes she would never have gotten if not for going along on the hunt. And we passed on a lot of animals but she got pictures of most of them. Example is she stepped around a bush in a river bottom and got pictures of Wart Hogs right in front of her.

The PH understood this was not just about shooting animals, but rather about expieriancing them and their environment. He would pull over and let her take pictures and he actually got into ponting out the various birds, etc. Ann never got "buck fever" because she really did not care as much about shooting the animal as gaining the whole expieriance. But she explained she was going to shoot them because she really enjoyed the "sneaking" up to them and she liked being up front. And she understands the whole big picture of hunting adding value and being nessasary to manage the animals.

There was one other lady in the camp a few days but the outfitters wife showed up most days for lunch so Ann could visit with her a few minutes most days. Doing it over we would like go with my brother and his wife some time. Our wives both enjoy the outdoors and have a lot of fun together.
 
Nothing says "love" quite like "And if you screw around I'll do you like this too!"

DSCN0403.jpg
 
My wife & I did a anniversary hunt in Mozambique w/ Zambeze Delta Safaris in 2013 & it was probably the best trip we have ever been on. We both hunted hard on the safari and had an unbelievable adventure, and followed up the hunt with a few days @ Azura Lodge just off the coast. ZDS may not have been as luxurious as some of the SA lodges, but the follow up on Benguerra Island was the right decision. Azura is a small resort with only 16 rooms & they cater to mostly honeymooners. Private butler who will serve dinner or lunch on the beach in front of your room, private plunge pool, private outdoor his & her showers it was pretty amazing. A few pics of the beach portion.

link to hunt
http://www.africahunting.com/mozamb...01-zambeze-delta-safaris-2013-buff-w-bow.html
 

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John,
My wife went with me last year and had a ball. The people at African Sky Safaris made sure she was taken care of in every way. The staff at the lodge became her friends in short order. Now my wife shoots but she didn't want to n Africa. However, she shot all the pictures, 1600, for the week. Contact Andrew at Africansky.com and let him know what you want to do and they will work it out.
Charlie
 
Thanks Charlie. I've been running the numbers and it may wind up being cost prohibitive to do it. If I do it I'm pretty sure it will wind up being more of a family hunt as we would want to bring my daughter as well. Once I triple the airfare and double (at least) the daily rates it starts getting into price ranges that are more than I am comfortable spending.

I'll look at the numbers again but unfortunately I'm pretty sure it is not going to happen.
 
My husband and I went to Africa in Aug 2012, we got married in Dec 2012 and are on the way back this August again with Paw Print Safaris. We had a buffalo hunt for our honeymoon in Kansas. If you love to hunt and have a supportive spouse - GO For It. Why would you want to marry anyone else anyways. What other kind of honeymoon would be better than a trip to Africa? We are not only life partners but hunting partners too. I might not be able to kill an eland with my bow, but I can video my husband when he does. There are plenty of animals that I can shoot with a 50 lb bow. We are not sure who gets the most excited when we have a successful hunt. We make it a team effort and share the success.
 
Hey John,
Yeah, have to agree with Jaco on this one. Definitely a shift in the amount of partners joining. We've had from marriage proposals, honeymoons to conceptions....
Must be the clean African air... ;)

Take Care,
Marius Goosen
I would like to please request no conception on mine and Lana's trip in July. I am much OK with simulated trials though.
 

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