What took you by surprise on your first DG/PG hunt?

My first hunt was pretty spur of the moment, and I had not discovered AfricaHunting.com! So I did not know that a herd of buffalo will regularly line up in front of you and then take steps toward you as the rearmost animals jostle forward to get a look, too. Imagine the rising blood pressure as you wonder if you will be over run in a mass charge? What a rush....

Did not know that a wounded buffalo, when it charges can sometimes bring a friend along for the ride!!!!

steve white said:

My first hunt was pretty spur of the moment, and I had not discovered AfricaHunting.com! So I did not know that a herd of buffalo will regularly line up in front of you and then take steps toward you as the rearmost animals jostle forward to get a look, too. Imagine the rising blood pressure as you wonder if you will be over run in a mass charge? What a rush....

Did not know that a wounded buffalo, when it charges can sometimes bring a friend along for the ride!!!!

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Wow. It sounds like you had an exciting one!

How utterly important reading the wind was.

How awesome the Blacks were in general, from cooking in little stacked brick ovens with coals, (my girlfriends always complain about my ovens when they ruin meals, burn cakes & such) Tracking on mere specks of blood, sorting out the right tracks from a maze of prints - waking you up with “Boss” & coffee in the morning & mostly just being good folk !

How ingrained into the community the hunting industry is. It’s very professional and societal.

Goodness where do I begin. Well first trip was 2023 and we are headed back in July and already contemplating 2029……..or maybe 28? I went from “just wanting to experience it one time” to “I cant wait to return”. I had no idea the allure, the immediate addiction that is wild Africa. It wasn’t until my first trip to Mozambique that I began to truly understand what I had been reading for months from Capstick, Roosevelt, Hemmingway and Ruark. I understand it pales in comparison now to what it was when these men experienced it. I also understand how many that had same experiences never truly left Africa afterward.

My trackers experience bar none on all my hunts

Rare Breed said:

My trackers experience bar none on all my hunts

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So true. Think back to the first time you heard their fingers tap on the roof…what do they see…and then it’s how can they possibly see that while the truck is moving and yet they can see buffalo over a mile away under the trees? That sound of fingers tapping still makes me jump a little bit each time. I hope I never get over that.

I imagined I would like it, but I was astonished at just how utterly incredible the whole experience was. All of it.

As for DG, I was a little surprised at how much time we spent running away from elephants. It's just not like any other kind of hunting.

just how good the trackers were.

How beautiful and exciting it all was and how sad it was taking such incredible animals in such an amazing setting. I fell in love with it and broke my heart at the same time.

I just remembered how sneaky the mosquitos were. They don't whine like the ones back home, and they land on you light as a snowflake. You don't even feel them until they are done with their business. Even if they try to light on the hair of your arm, it is barely noticeable. And they might carry malaria, so....

3 things come to mind:

* How frank and honest the boers are. Deals made with a handshake. Like going 50-60 years back.

* How amazingly good some african trackers are. Wish I had their eyesight *SIGH*

* How silent elephant move..almost spooky..

I have been lucky to have had experiences in Africa I never dreamed should happen..

My first animal on the first evening I hunted in Africa in 2010 was for one of the two nyala bulls that crossed the two track we were on. My PH stopped the truck, actually he had the driver just slow it down and we hopped off the right side while still moving. The idea was to no spook the bulls who had headed up the hill to the left.

We circled back on them and managed to sneak up on them as they were actually headed back in our direction. The first bull offered me a frontal shot, but with the light fading and the darkness of their coat I was not comfortable with the shot and shortly thereafter he turned to his left and moved away quickly to our right.

The second bull stepped into the spot and stopped after turning to his left, offering me a broadside shot. I took the shot but immediately knew I had pulled it back just a bit. My PH asked me how I felt about the shot after the bull bolted in the direction the first went. I told him that I was sure it was hit but marginally so and that it would be a little back of where it should've been.

Oh well, what can you do. So we moved up to where the bull was when I shot and picked up his track. We hadn't gone 20-30 yards and there in front of us a bit further he lay but still kicking a bit.

We approached and could see that indeed the shot was as I called it, but not so bad that it didn't get the back of the lungs, but again he was still kicking a bit. My PH told me he hated for me to put a second shot in him and that he would die. But I told Ian, I didn't care and that I wanted to put him down as quickly as possible.

So we discussed where to put the next shot and so I did. At the shot, the bull immediately let out a death bellow that was so loud and so unexpected it actually made me jump a little bit. I had never heard an animal make a noise like that and it was completely unexpected. It was the first time I heard the term "death bellow" when my PH explained it to me. I will never forget that very sad sound.

The Trackers

How sad I was to have to leave.

I had no clue that my bullet (an RWS 300Gr round nosed steel jacketed FMJ solid factory load fired from a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum BRNO ZKK602) would end up wounding a Cape buffalo cow behind my target bull.

Immigration chat with immigration officer excited I had travelled from Iceland to hunt in his country.

Holy cow! I forgot to mention the stars at night. Could see the whole Milky Way. Could have navigated by the southern cross. They looked close enough to touch. Beautiful.

The smells and the light along with the sounds.

For example Mopane wood smoke over a dawn coals, Africafe brewing and doves in the trees, hippos and leopard bark or lion call.

Heard of elephants to me I was so surprised that they smelt so similar to a heard of cows.

Then it’s just all the little stuff. Coming from a country that has no snakes and only two poisonous spiders. I was like wow look at that bug ant spider wonder how bad death from that bites going to be?

Then all the thousands of different birds. Could go on for ever but it all came down to the first three, the smells that dawn/dusk light and the sounds.
You sure know when your back waking to those!