SOUTH AFRICA: Tootabi Valley Safaris, LBG Safaris & Hunting With Friends

[buck wild]

very nice- i spent 8 days chasing honey badger my last trip with no showings only to have them "trap" one the day I left I missed a genet sitting on a termite mound at 50 yds with a double trigger 22 hornet- AARRGGG !!!

 

[Clayton]

....the bolt is on the wrong side of your rifle!!! ...

That was my first thought too.

 

[Royal27]

Nothing like giving a tough quarry a chance!
Well hunted!
Nothing like a PH knowing his critters and his concessions.
Anything over 9 is an incredible trophy. Congrats.

Thanks Wayne! I'm tickled with both the critters and the PH.

That was my first thought too.

I figured out the problem....the bolt is on the wrong side of your rifle!!! Just kidding. My father, main hunting partner and step-son are all lefties. I'm the odd man out! Beautiful rifle by the way...love Browning.

During my one trip to Africa I made some stupid misses too. Hartebeest and Impala gave me fits! Drives you crazy, but you just focus on the next opportunity.

Great report. Tootabi Valley now joins my list to choose from on my next trip!

You guys just wish you had a rifle with a bolt on the "right" side! Until a couple of years ago I had always shot right hand bolts, but I've made the switch now and my three main high, medium, and heavy rifles are all left hand.

And you'll definitely see me recommending TVS a lot in the future!

 

[Royal27]

So I do want to talk about the rest of the Vallie day real quick.

I'd told Beans I wanted to see some of the "backend" of the business and he has several friends (childhood best friends) that are involved as well. Go figure!

The first friend we met has a game meat business. Holy smokes....I've been in meat plants before, but only domestic. I've never seen this much game meat and was told it was an average day, nothing special. I would love to spend a few days there. Maybe I've found my new retirement job?

Had to grab some supplies while there as well!

Next we went to another friend's house who does game capture for a living. This guy LOVES to hunt as well. He had an incredible trophy room and was a great guy. It was fun just talking hunting, his work, and the industry in general. He had great insights and it was fun to get another perspective.

We also stopped off at AWA taxidermy (I think before actually) and got the tour of the place from Carloine and Rudolph. My taxidermy is still going to come to @The Artistry of Wildlife , but AWA will do the D&P. I had a bit of a challenge that I didn't expect by trying to consolidate two provinces worth of hunting into one shipment. Caroline was very helpful and got with Bossie to get the trophies down. They have a truck that goes up to Limpopo regularly, making the shipping charge very reasonable. In fact there wouldn't have been any charge at all, but Bossie is anotther 2.5 hours from their normal pick up point. I didn't know I was going to need the help and was very grateful to get it.

That night was another fire and more great conversation. I believe this was my favorite day of the trip.

 

[Royal27]

So finally, the blue duiker.

As many of you already know I didn't get one, so I will be anti-climatic and say that up front. Bad wind two days and cold weather two other days hurt us and that's hunting. We were in blinds (two) over water and it just didn't work out for the ram we were looking for. Even when we thought the wind was right we heard duikers whistle behind us as they got our wind away from the water and then didn't come in.

We were also picky and didn't just shoot anything we saw like you have to over dogs. We actually saw three different duiker, but didn't shoot as they were either young, or almost no horn. The cool part of this was getting to sit and watch the little critters and some amazing birds (Louries) as well. The experience was great and is after all why I was there. I'll get a duiker yet, but it seems my personal white whale is just small and blue.

This focus meant the final four days with no animals. No issue at all, but it does bring up a point for folks that are planning. Make sure you have more time than you think you need and especially if you're looking for more than just a representative animal! I knew going in that by spliting time between Bossie and Beans that I'd likely not get everything, and especially because there were a couple of key animals. This turned out to be true. I wouldn't change a thing as this hunt really and truly about spending time with two great friends and that ball got knocked out of the park!

So that's it for the hunting. I got some OUTSTANDING trophies and had a fantastic time. I'll make a final post with some general thoughts next and then I'll pretty much be done here.

 

[cpr0312]

Thanks for sharing the game meat plant tour, pretty cool

 

[BRICKBURN]

That rack full of meat were all neck or head shots. It is quite an industrial operation to see them at work. Tonnes head to Europe constantly. It is amazing.

"Whistling by! " That describes Blue Duiker from a blind or with dogs. It is an interesting sound.
Glad you got to see some standing or walking slowly.

Many hunters do not run into the issue of a multiple province, multiple Outfitter shipment issue. You apparently just got your first encounter. Extra permits and extra transport, but when you are going after those specialty critters that is how the cookie crumbles. Good to know you have someone working on it that has a clue.

Note for next time: Get the camera off auto focus and take your time manually focusing on the target.

 

[Royal27]

That rack full of meat were all neck or head shots. It is quite an industrial operation to see them at work. Tonnes head to Europe constantly. It is amazing.

"Whistling by! " That describes Blue Duiker from a blind or with dogs. It is an interesting sound.
Glad you got to see some standing or walking slowly.

Many hunters do not run into the issue of a multiple province, multiple Outfitter shipment issue. You apparently just got your first encounter. Extra permits and extra transport, but when you are going after those specialty critters that is how the cookie crumbles. Good to know you have someone working on it that has a clue.

Note for next time: Get the camera off auto focus and take your time manually focusing on the target.

It really is amazing... And each one of those blocks was 22 kilos of bulk meat. Not used to seeing frozen hamburger that looks like a bag of fertilizer!

The extra transport I was prepared for. That someone wouldn't want to have the business due to extra paperwork I was not. Luckily for me AWA was, so I didn't have to scramble.

Totally agree on the auto focus and not the first great photo that has messed up... unfortunately I just use a point and shoot and it happens... I know myself, if I took a good camera like you use I'd never get it out of the truck...

 

[Wheels]

I'll get a duiker yet, but it seems my personal white whale is just small and blue.
.

It is always good to have dreams. The blue will come soon enough Ahab.

Glad you had a great trip and had a good time with Bossie and Beans. You got some fine animals.

Going to the packaging plant, visiting with the game capture guy and other behind the scenes experiences seem to really make the trip for you.

Congrats!

 

[Royal27]

It is always good to have dreams. The blue will come soon enough Ahab.

Glad you had a great trip and had a good time with Bossie and Beans. You got some fine animals.

Going to the packaging plant, visiting with the game capture guy and other behind the scenes experiences seem to really make the trip for you.

Congrats!

Thanks Bob!
I was thrilled with every trophy I took. I was very fortunate to take a few really outstanding ones. And who knows how heavy that Civet would have been with four legs.

The behind the scenes stuff was special to me and made the trip. I will talk about that a little more in my summary later today. As you well know i have "dreams of Africa" that go beyond just hunting there so it was indeed nice to see.

 

[Clayton]

This has been truly nice to keep up with you Royal.

 

[Bullthrower338]

Great write up Royal. Sounds like a great trip, your Blue Duiker is hanging out with my monster Kudu somewhere in the Tootabi Valley, definately not the last time my boots will meet the ground there! What a wonderful place it is.
Cheers,
Cody

 

[Royal27]

So in final summary of a great trip:

The time spent on duiker kept us from doing some other things that were intended for the trip. Main of which was hunting bushpig over dogs with some of Beans friends (whom I mentioned earlier actually) and perhaps a game auction. The pigs in particular had been of real interest to me as it would have been hunting with the local guys and not a "client" hunt. I would have just been another hunter. This will be "on the list" for my next trip to TVS.

After my horrific shooting I'm an even bigger beleiver now in taking my own rifle. I candidly didn't have enough rounds through this one and as I mentioned the trigger needs some fine tuning. I am NOT blaming my poor shooting on the equipment. It was on me, but additional prepartion with the specific gun and a better trigger wouldn't have hurt. Leson learned and I wont make that mistake again.

I made a purposeful decision to focus on the critters and less common animals this trip. For me this was the best decision I could have made and it will continue in the future. I still have a lot of "common" animals to hunt, but for the time being they will continue to be more targets of opportunity than an actual plan. In the same vein, I don't think I will ever again hunt a "package" or have a "list" other than primary focus animals. It took all pressure off of me and allowed me to truly enjoy the duiker hunt as a prime example as I wasn't worried about what I needed to get in the salt. I could have truly not shot an animal this trip and had just as good of a time (unless it was because I missed everything I shot at, I'm still annoyed at myself over that in case you can't tell ).

So I said I have "dreams of Africa" that go beyond hunting. Well, another part of this trip was just about that. It is truly funny how life works.... I started talking to @Tootabi Valley Safaris when I sent Beans an e-mail to apoligize for something I had thought that was wrong. I candidly didn't expect him to reply even, but he did and we really hit it off, resulting in him coming by Atlanta last year as well as this trip.

So... There was a little more to this trip than meets the eye. Beans and I have been talking about my representing him and helping out with marketing his business. We mutually decided that a visit was in order before we formally agreed to anything. The visit wa far from over though before we decided to work together. So you'll soon see Tootabi in my signature. So let me know if you want to book a great hunt!

I'm really excited to see where this leads and want it to be a long term deal. So we will see where it leads!

Thanks to all for reading. I've enjoyed writing this as always.

 

[Clayton]

Boy you just keep making this one better and better!

 

[Royal27]

Great write up Royal. Sounds like a great trip, your Blue Duiker is hanging out with my monster Kudu somewhere in the Tootabi Valley, definately not the last time my boots will meet the ground there! What a wonderful place it is.
Cheers,
Cody

It truly is a wonderful place. We may just have to get together a group hunt with Beans and Andri and add to the local political instability! LOLOL!

Boy you just keep making this one better and better!

Thanks! It was a blast and so was writing the story.

 

[gillettehunter]

I'm glad you had a great trip. Always fun to hunt with friends. As to the Blue Duiker.... Well when you do get one it will be a VERY special trophy for you. The harder you have to hunt the more they mean. I have some experience in that arena..... Bruce

 

[enysse]

Congrats on the trophies, I have seen civet cats that big in the Limpopo Province. I really like that vaal rhebok. It's on my bucket list.

 

[Neale]

Great report Royal. I enjoyed reading your adventures and misadventures.

 

[Mekaniks]

Congratulations Royal Thanks for the great report!

 

[huntermn15]

Royal,
Congratulations on a great hunt and thank you for an outstanding report.
Mike