New Member from GA

Welcome WebleyGreene455 to AH! Yes you can hunt a lot of African game in the US. No, it’s not nearly as fun as going to Africa! You really should do your best to get to the Dark Continent to have a grand adventure! JMO.

Welcome!

Ridgewalker said:

Welcome WebleyGreene455 to AH! Yes you can hunt a lot of African game in the US. No, it’s not nearly as fun as going to Africa! You really should do your best to get to the Dark Continent to have a grand adventure! JMO.

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Hi Ridgewalker. I certainly hope to one day! Maybe you and some other folks around here could give me some suggestions sometime about how to make my potential adventure as enjoyable as possible!

Welcome to AH.

Welcome to AH sir. I was born and raised in the Augusta area. I’ve been gone for some 38 years but still recall many a great day hunting the fields and woods.

Welcome to AH. Grew up just north of GA in Chattanooga. Lots of hunting in the southeast before Africa became a reality. Since moving to Nashville in 1986, made that African dream a reality and been now 8 times. You will find a wealth of information here. Best of luck in fulfilling your dreams.

Welcome, just above you in SC!

Giday @WebbleyGreene455 and welcome to the A H frums

Welcome to AH! Fire away with your questions, it's what this place is for.

Welcome to AH WebleyGreene455!

Welcome aboard WG455. Please tell us a little more about yourself as a hunter. Things like what have you hunted in the past, what kind and caliber rifles do you own, do you reload. AH is a great place to learn about hunting in Africa. Not to mention it makes for interesting reading as well.

Welcome to AH.

Shootist43 said:

Welcome aboard WG455. Please tell us a little more about yourself as a hunter. Things like what have you hunted in the past, what kind and caliber rifles do you own, do you reload. AH is a great place to learn about hunting in Africa. Not to mention it makes for interesting reading as well.

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Well I'll be completely forthcoming: I've never hunted in my life, not unless shooting at some nuisance raccoons counts. I've mostly been a fisher and crabber, and while my dad used to go marsh hen hunting in his younger days, he never took me. (Not that I would've wanted to, because getting in a dinghy with guns in seemed like an accident waiting to happen.) Unlike many of my classmates growing up, I never went deer-hunting nor for anything else. In fairness, I never asked to but I always figured it was "That Thing Your Dad Takes You On" and mine never seemed interested in volunteering me for it. On the other hand, he insisted on taking us to Europe nearly every summer and that gave me a healthy love for history and architecture, having trod where Caesar and Napoleon and so forth have done before me. Maybe that was a fair tradeoff. So, as a complete hunting novice, I plan on getting myself in gear and trying my hand on game here in GA first with my cousins, and graduating eventually to whatever and wherever else, up to and including Africa.

But I do collect firearms, most of which are milsurp and that's what I'm most familiar with handling. I've got SMLE No. 4 Mk I, one unaltered and one sporterized; sporterized Springfield 1903A3 that's unusable until I get a decent Unertl-type scope for it; Kar98k; M91/30 with a repro PU scope; M1 Garand; M1 carbine; semi-only Suomi KP/31 (9mm submachine gun, heavy as absolute hell as it's all milled steel and strong birchwood); Winchester 1897 riot gun. I think you can see a trend there, right? Last couple I bought were reproductions of the Colt Lightning slide-action rifle in .44-40 and the Trapdoor Springfield in .45-70, to have some extra-oldschool fun. I plan on adding a 9.3x62mm Mauser sporter to the collection soon enough.

Reloading is a new game for me. My cousin has offered to help me out with it, though, since he does it. I don't actually shoot enough to warrant it; I sure wish I did. Biggest problem for me is actually finding ranges that allow those older full-sized calibres. I haven't found many that do, not near me.

I'm sure this is hardly confidence-inspiring, but honesty counts, no?

~~W.G.455

Welcome to AH !

WG455, everybody has to start somewhere, and yes honesty counts. The one firearm that I didn't see mentioned as part of your collection is a good 22 LR. It is indispensable for learning how to shoot. Where do you live in Georgia? The only reason I'm asking is that you might be living near another AH member that can help you gain the experience you are looking for. Another thing you can do is to get an accurate air rifle (Olympic Grade if possible) and practice shooting in your basement, back yard, garage, barn or where ever else it might be possible. Have you contacted the DNR to see if there is a range or sportsmen's club near you? BTW it is probably best if you learn how to shoot with Iron Sights prior to using a scope.

Shootist43 said:

WG455, everybody has to start somewhere, and yes honesty counts. The one firearm that I didn't see mentioned as part of your collection is a good 22 LR. It is indispensable for learning how to shoot. Where do you live in Georgia? The only reason I'm asking is that you might be living near another AH member that can help you gain the experience you are looking for. Another thing you can do is to get an accurate air rifle (Olympic Grade if possible) and practice shooting in your basement, back yard, garage, barn or where ever else it might be possible. Have you contacted the DNR to see if there is a range or sportsmen's club near you? BTW it is probably best if you learn how to shoot with Iron Sights prior to using a scope.

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Oh I learned how to shoot when I was but a wee lad of 6 or 7. Started with Red Ryder, then an old Remington semiauto .22 (which we still have and plink with, just not as part of my personal collection; it's my dad's and isn't good for anything but .22 short after many, many years of weekend can-shooting), and now I've got my own little arsenal of wood and steel to enjoy. It's just the hunting part I'm a complete novice at doing, plus I don't get much opportunity for real range time.

There's a DNR range across the river from me, in SC and about an hour's drive away. I'll need to check on permits n stuff for that one, though, since I'll be going over state lines and better safe than sorry. Might as well get a SC carry permit, if they'll give me one, sooner rather than later anyway. Ft Stewart here in GA has a range and I'd planned on using it, but they have so many calibre restrictions that the only rifles I'd be able to use would be my M1 carbine, Lightning, and Trapdoor carbine. I'll check with some of my family to see if they have any ideas (or have friends with land enough to shoot on).

I'd certainly welcome some IRL help from anyone on here, though! I'm located in Savannah currently and I'll see about posting a thread to find anyone near me.

~~W.G.455

EDIT: There are apparently some other DNR ranges here in GA, more or less the same distance away; I shall look into them!

WG455, as long as the firearms are cased and the ammo is in a separate container with both being inaccessible i.e. in the trunk of your car or at least the furthest point from you, the guns can be transported across State lines.
Check with range personnel to see if there are any ammo restrictions. For instance AP rounds are not allowed on most public ranges. There is generally no restrictions on caliber. BTW the closest range to me is an hour away.

Shootist43 said:

WG455, as long as the firearms are cased and the ammo is in a separate container with both being inaccessible i.e. in the trunk of your car or at least the furthest point from you, the guns can be transported across State lines.
Check with range personnel to see if there are any ammo restrictions. For instance AP rounds are not allowed on most public ranges. There is generally no restrictions on caliber. BTW the closest range to me is an hour away.

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From what I can figure, the only calibre restriction I see is no centrefire rifles of .50-cal or up. Which I don't have one of, so that's fine. Ammo type shouldn't be an issue either; I'll check when I've settled on which locations I wanna try.

Welcome to AH! It’s never to late to start planning and start hunting in the USA.