SOUTH AFRICA: My Hunt With White Lion Safaris

salesman

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Just wanted to post a quick report on my hunt with White Lion Safaris.

This was my first trip to South Africa and I think the above pic shows it to have been a successful one. This was the culmination of a cancellation hunt post by White Lion on this site the end of March. Ricus de Villiers owner of White Lion Safaris was able to shift the dates slightly to the first week of May. I cannot say enough about how accommodating Ricus and his staff were in making this trip a success.

Since this trip was planned on such a short timetable I expected quite a few pitfalls along the way, especially as this would also be my first experience with international travel. To make a long story short everything went flawlessly in no small part to the professionalism and excellent communication with Ricus and White Lion Safaris.

From being picked up in Johannesburg, to the appearance and comfort of the lodging, and the reliability of the rifle I rented from Ricus for this hunt...it was all great.

I had planned for a buffalo hunt to be my first and last trip to Africa, but may have gotten myself hooked.

In summary I am hopeful when I return for another hunt I will be able to make arrangements to hunt with Ricus and White Lion Safaris.
 
Congrats and thanks for sharing!
 
Very nice buff. Glad your hunt went so smooth and ended so well for you.
 
Congrats!

I had planned for a buffalo hunt to be my first and last trip to Africa, but may have gotten myself hooked.

And funny how that happens.... I did the same thing, but ended up planning number two before the first one was completed, number three is this summer, and number four being planned. It is definitely an addiction.
 
I agree hunting In Africa is an addiction. So many animals to choose from! Glad you had a great trip. Perhaps tell us a little about actual hunt and stalk. What rifle did you use. All would be nice to know. Congrats. Bruce
 
Heck of a buff! Congratulations!
 
Diving in the deep end. First trip and chasing Buffalo sounds good to me.
I did the same thing. :)

Congratulations and glad your hunt came off without a hitch.
 
Beautiful cape buffalo, congrats!
 
I agree hunting In Africa is an addiction. So many animals to choose from! Glad you had a great trip. Perhaps tell us a little about actual hunt and stalk. What rifle did you use. All would be nice to know. Congrats. Bruce

I have a little more time this evening and can give a few more particulars to those that may be interested.

As I stated above this was a cancellation hunt advertised on this site by White Lion Safaris that was set up very quickly. The hunt was 7 hunting days with an arrival and departure day on each end...so 9 total days in RSA. I left Atlanta, GA on May 1 and arrived in Johannesburg on the evening of May 2. I had made arrangements to overnight in Johannesburg with Africa Sky Guest House. They met me at the airport and transported me to their property without any problems. Would not hesitate to use them again as the food was good and the accommodations more than satisfactory.

May 3 - Ricus de Villiers (owner & outfitter/PH) of White Lion Safaris sent one of his PH's (Jaco) to retrieve me from Africa Sky in the morning and transport me to the hunting area outside of Kimberly in the Free State. Since it was almost a 5 hour drive to the hunting area I had a nice time just observing the countryside. Jaco was very knowledgeable and more than accommodating in answering my many questions. We arrived at the area the hunt was to take place about 1:30 pm local time. Here I met Ricus for the first time as well as PH and property manager Dewalt Theron. As we drove down the dirt track towards the lodge Ricus told me about the property, it was fenced and approximately 15000 acres. I asked and he told me what species of game I could expect to see besides just buffalo. We saw a few different species on the way to the lodge. Upon arrival the entire staff greeted me and my baggage was hustled off to one of the client cottages. I was to be the only client at the lodge, and was told that it was newly constructed...it was spectacular. The staff was very nice and made me feel right at home. After a lite lunch we went for a drive of the property and to let me shoot the rifle I was renting from Ricus. Since the trip was such short notice I decided to not bother traveling with a rifle. Ricus let me use his CZ chambered in .416 Rigby. If I had brought my own it would have been either my .375 H&H or .416 Rem., both Model 70 Winchesters, so I was familiar with that size rifle. After two shots at 60yds off sticks I guess Ricus was satisfied I could shoot. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking things over and checking waterholes for buffalo sign. I saw many different species of game and everything looked to be in fine condition. The only thing I did not see were the buffalo. We returned to the lodge for sundowners and an excellent dinner. I then retired for the evening and actually slept well with the thought of my first African hunt looming the next morning.

May 4 - Was up before daylight with thoughts of Hemingway & Ruark going thru my mind. After a lite snack we piled in the hunting vehicle and were off. After quite sometime looking for fresh tracks we found some worth following. Ricus and Dewalt cast about trying to stay on the track and we eventually found where we had spooked a couple of buff ahead of us. Back to the truck and more searching. We left out on three more walks that day and came up dry. We also spent some time glassing from kopjes late in the afternoon. I was disappointed that I had not seen a buff yet, but that is why it is called hunting. We decided to check some more waterholes at dusk and as we drove past one off to one side we saw two buff standing in the edge of thicket. WOW...I never imagined them to be the size they were, they did look big in the binos. Ricus looked at them and said one looked 38-39" and the other was bigger. It was however to late for a stalk as they had spooked and it was almost dark. Back to the lodge for sundowners and another great dinner. I was happy to retire as I felt I had walked my legs off to the kneecaps.

May 5 - We were out at it again as the sun was rising and I was aching a little from all the exercise I had gotten the day before. On the way to the first waterhole we found where 3 bulls had crossed shortly before. Ricus and I immediately took up the tracks. Dewalt left to climb a kopje to see if he could spot them. After an hour or so of following one bull had broken off and we were now following two. They were now in what I was told was heavy bush and looking for a place to lie up for the day. We had lost the track as they seemed to be meandering all over. I was somewhat disappointed at not being able to at least get a glimpse. We came out in a truck track and started down it. After going about 150 yds we came around some large bushes and there stood a buffalo bull looking the other way. He was partly obscured by bush and Ricus quickly told me he was a definite shooter. The bull took one step forward and turned and looked right at us, facing us head on. I made the instant decision to shoot and took the shot offhand at 30yds. The shot felt good and the bull jumped straight in the air and turned and jumped again in a bush. I was busy racking the bolt to get another one in him as he turned to run. As he did Ricus fired at him with a .500NE. I had told Ricus beforehand that if I got a shot and if the buff tried to run after I shot to go ahead and feel free to fire. The buff was then gone along with his buddy that we did not see until the last second. After waiting 2-3 minutes, me getting my blood pressure back on the scale, we heard the death bellow...it does sound just like described in books I have read. We also heard the second bull grunting and moving in the bushes. We continued to wait close to another 5 min and then took up the blood trail which I considered extremely little. Ricus told me that my shot had looked great, but he was concerned about the second bull. After going in the first time we lost the track and came back to the place where the bull had been standing when shot. Off we went again and after 50-60 yds I saw something on the ground 50 yds further on. Ricus looked thru the binos and turned and congratulated me again, he said there is your buff.
The other bull was long gone and all that was left was my buff. Kind of like when you kill your first buck deer, but even better. Upon examination we found my bullet had entered the chest and taken out the top of the heart. Ricus had hit the bull low a bit far back as he jumped in the bush broadside. After the backslapping and pics we were able to get a tractor in for recovery, the whole operation was very smooth and efficient. The rest of the day was spent around the lodge capped off with another excellent dinner.

May 6-10 - Ricus and I changed locations in the morning to another property south of Jacobsdal. Ricus owns this one, about 10000 acres and with a diverse amount of game as well. Since I had gotten my buff so quick I had the better part of five hunting days left. I had told Ricus that the only other species I had any interest in was warthog. So we set about finding one. Easier said than done. Especially since the weather had turned and we actually had some rain the next few day with very little sun. The lodging, meals and company were great though. We did get the warthog on day six. On day seven told Ricus let's try for a nice impala just for something to do. We had one within the hour, 22 1/8" horns and 6" bases, which Ricus said were quite heavy bases. After lunch I told Ricus I would try for a zebra stallion just to be doing something. After driving and glassing we found a small herd of zebra mixed in with black wildebeest. We walked about a mile to get the wind. We stalked to within 400yds with no more cover available. For the plains game I had switched to using a M77 Ruger in .338 Win Mag that Ricus told me was zeroed at 200yds. It shot well as the impala and warthog had both fell to single shots. It was breezy and I told Ricus I would not shoot at game with a loaner at 400yds, but if I could get a solid rest I felt confident at 300yds. A solid rest was not to be found. We waited and waited and finally the stallion got in to approximately 250-260yds, I asked Ricus to set the sticks low and I would shoot from my knees. Figured the wind drift and slight holdover and squeezed off. The zebra went right down and then got up and went 20-25 yds and fell for good.

All in all a great week of hunting and I cannot say enough good about White Lion Safaris. Thank you Ricus and your whole staff for a job well done.

One last thing I will comment on. The one thing that made me hesitate about the whole trip was the idea of hunting in a fenced in area. Honestly I never saw the fence on the buff hunt, and only a few times while hunting plains game, and that area was more open. So while I would prefer hunting free range, I would not hesitate hunting larger high fence areas, 10000 acres or more.
 
Nice report. Thanks for the details. Great observation about fences. Those animals have plenty of room to roam. They can escape you just as easily as if there was no fence. Nice job. Bruce
 
Nice buff....congrats.
 
Congrats on the plains game as well!
 
Congrats on the great buff. I remember when that special was posted and glad you could make it happen!
 
I sarted off wanting to hunt Buff in Africa .
But I lacked the balls to do it for years .
Only now after a trip hunting plains game have I got the confidence to go back and hunt dangerous game .
Mine will be mr spots in Namibia .
Well done Mr salesman , love a guy who just goes for it .!!!
Awseome hunt and interesting your opinion on the fences ?
Still can't get my head around hunting behind a fence , but ??
 
Well Done and thanks for sharing your story
 
Congrats! Ricus is first class!!
 

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