SOUTH AFRICA: Elephant Hunt With Paw Print Safaris 2015

Folks Bryson and I both made it home for a late breakfast Tuesday morning! Lots of unpacking was accomplished here in Kansas and everything made it home.
The Gun room in Atlanta was not manned as several of us lined up to get our guns. The sign said ring the bell. We did! We waited. About ten minutes a TSA lady with rank of full COL happened by and asked how long we had waited? We told her and she made a call to get agents there! Five minutes later we went from nobody in the room to four agents! Then we waited some more while they took one at a time! The four mostly just talked among themselves! Can you say slow? But in the end I got the guns had my boots sprayed and we were on our way to recheck everything!
An interesting side note to the trip home was that a lady sitting in front of me from OR Tambo sat next to me on the way to Kansas City from Atlanta also. She is an engineer working on power plants in South Africa and works for an Overland Park based firm. She indicates the power plants over there are in very bad shape! Lots of issues coming down the road due to maintenance being deferred for years! Southern Africa should brace for more load shedding!!! The big power plant near ORTambo has seven coal fired generators of which only three were working when Pieter took us to the airport! Go figure!!

CAustin said:

Folks Bryson and I both made it home for a late breakfast Tuesday morning! Lots of unpacking was accomplished here in Kansas and everything made it home.

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Glad you are back safe.

CAustin said:

The big power plant near ORTambo has seven coal fired generators of which only three were working when Pieter took us to the airport! Go figure!!

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BRICKBURN said:

Glad you are back safe.









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We're going to need a bigger candle....

Welcome back Charlie I'm glad you and Bryson made it home safely, we'll have to get together after you adjust to the working world.

Welcome back! Glad you made it ok and with only routine government delays.

That power thing is typical TIA. I was told they are thinking of shutting down some major industrial plants to get power to the people... Shows some clear thinking and concern for the economy and jobs... NOT! They bitch about jobs and then destroy the ability to do business.

We drove by an area that a huge wind farm.. They built the windmills, but never built the infrastructure to get the power from them to the grid.

welcome home charlie,now the wait begins.but sooner than you think you will be sitting in front of your tusks with a glass of wine in your hand and a smile on your face!!!how are you going to display your tusks?

Edward I am taking your idea and having a floor stand made for them. I will put them near my fireplace in the den!

ActionBob said:

Welcome back! Glad you made it ok and with only routine government delays.

That power thing is typical TIA. I was told they are thinking of shutting down some major industrial plants to get power to the people... Shows some clear thinking and concern for the economy and jobs... NOT! They bitch about jobs and then destroy the ability to do business.

We drove by an area that a huge wind farm.. They built the windmills, but never built the infrastructure to get the power from them to the grid.

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ActionBob the day we hot on the plane to come home they gave us a SA newspaper if you can call it that. One of the articles was about the fact that the power company, state owned, is several billion dollars in the hole. Seems they can not get the city's they send power to to pay the bills! Top it off with the fact that the power company had to borrow a chief executive from another state owned business to try and get things straight. At the end of the day corruption is a big factor in the problems and lack of productivity. Watched a crew of seven electrical workers beside the road on a project of which two were actually doing anything! One was under a tree asleep!

Welcome Home! They will look great near the fireplace.

CAustin said:

ActionBob the day we hot on the plane to come home they gave us a SA newspaper if you can call it that. One of the articles was about the fact that the power company, state owned, is several billion dollars in the hole. Seems they can not get the city's they send power to to pay the bills! Top it off with the fact that the power company had to borrow a chief executive from another state owned business to try and get things straight. At the end of the day corruption is a big factor in the problems and lack of productivity. Watched a crew of seven electrical workers beside the road on a project of which two were actually doing anything! One was under a tree asleep!

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Sure sounds like it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.... And we think that infrastructure here in the States is a problem!

CAustin said:

Edward I am taking your idea and having a floor stand made for them. I will put them near my fireplace in the den!

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not to close to the fire,they can become brittle.i rub mine with olive oil every now and then.this i was told by my p.h. on my elephant hunt.

Glad you made it home safe Charlie. Next time your down this way give me a call. I want to hear all about it. I know a great place to eat.

In the gun check room in Atlanta, did it look like they were recording serial numbers in the computer?

On a Jo-Atlanta flight they should have officers waiting to clear firearms. My experience is 10 minutes is just about right before they show up. Have had a guy in the gun room in Atlanta go on and on about what a great rifle my $1000 CZ was and completely ignore a 100 year old Jeffery.

Yep they were in fact recording serial numbers and taking a scan of your passport ! Wheels I will let you know when I can get down to Edmond so we can have dinner one evening.

CAustin said:

ActionBob the day we hot on the plane to come home they gave us a SA newspaper if you can call it that. One of the articles was about the fact that the power company, state owned, is several billion dollars in the hole. Seems they can not get the city's they send power to to pay the bills! Top it off with the fact that the power company had to borrow a chief executive from another state owned business to try and get things straight. At the end of the day corruption is a big factor in the problems and lack of productivity. Watched a crew of seven electrical workers beside the road on a project of which two were actually doing anything! One was under a tree asleep!

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Have seen a power plant in Mpumalanga with a coal plant next door and a two mile long conveyor belt setting idle. Evidently a politician has an interest in a coal mine 20 miles away and all the coal is trucked in from that mine.

Not sure I would want to be in an industry that relies on power in Africa. Load sharing.....brown outs......black outs.....machinery down.....company closing......no money.....no funds to hunt with.

One of the things I wanted to share with everyone is the results I got with the Hornady ammo. As previously posted the 416 Ruger 400 grain DGS brought the elephant down with one shot and the bullet looks almost like it could be used again.
I have posted the picture of my Nyala. He was taken with Hornady 416 Ruger DGX bullets. The animal was facing me on the first and second shots but slightly angled so the first round hit him on the front of the right shoulder leg joint destroying that and the heart and lung behind it in the chest cavity but the animal was trying to get up so I put another round in right behind the shoulder very quickly. I really didn't need to shoot again but Pieter was walking towards him and so for safety I shot. Folks you can not Imagine the damage those two rounds did to the inside of that animal. The skinner started to peel back the outer hide but when he got into that area there was literally nothing behind it to peel it from. Gaping holes was all that was there.
My son actually blew the back two legs off a big male warthog with the DGX ammo the last day we hunted. Both legs were just hanging on with a few skin attachments.
I could not be happier with the performance of my Ruger Guide Gun and the Hornady ammunition taken to South Africa. In fact in the moment of thrill when asked to say something on video about the elephant hunt I ended my statement praising the gun and the ammo. They both did exactly what they were intended to do and that's drop big game.

CAustin said:

I could not be happier with the performance of my Ruger Guide Gun and the Hornady ammunition taken to South Africa. In fact in the moment of thrill when asked to say something on video about the elephant hunt I ended my statement praising the gun and the ammo. They both did exactly what they were intended to do and that's drop big game.

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That says a lot right there! Confidence in your firearm is everything. I see a lot of questions regarding which gun is the best for (insert species). The answer is the the gun and ammo combination that you are most comfortable using that is appropriate for the species. I am glad your rifle/ammo combo lived up to your expectations. Congrats again on a great hunt.

Today I made final arrangements with Mike at Capricorn for all the taxidermy work. He still has to go down to Hodespruit to pick up the giraffe skin and various bones. This should be accomplished In The next week or so!

life at home will seem so mundane after ,this adventure , charli........

CAustin said:

Today I made final arrangements with Mike at Capricorn for all the taxidermy work. He still has to go down to Hodespruit to pick up the giraffe skin and various bones. This should be accomplished In The next week or so!

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you will not be prepared for the size of the giraffe hide.

edward said:

you will not be prepared for the size of the giraffe hide.

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So after a shoulder pedestal mount I should get a couple of rifle bags out of this skin???