NAMIBIA: First Safari Lessons Learned

[PARA45]

Enjoying your report, and that Gemsbuck is a stud, congratulations. Like other have said, too bad the about the PH. I can completely understand, and I relate to your situation.

When I hunted Limpopo (my first safari) back in 2012, we had been looking for Kudu real hard with no luck. The owner told us to go to a different property, and we sat in a Hide/Blind. This was because my wife was with me, and she wanted to take pictures. Well, a truck with no muffler comes in and drops a bunch of feed on the ground, and leaves. The truck was not even 50 yds away when the Kudu showed up to feed. One beautiful bull stepped in, and my PH said shoot that one. I said no, and he said shoot again, I firmly said no. I told him I came to Africa to hunt not to shoot. My wife took some pictures of the Kudus, and then I said let's go. The PH was pissed at me for not shooting the bull. I spoke to the owner and explained what happened, and he apologized and understood. The Kudu I shot, was spotted by my wife.

 

[migrabill]

June 2024 - in the Limpopo. My PH and I were hunting for a Golden Wildebeest. We came across a herd of probably 8-10 bulls. They were all milling about interweaving with each other and occasionally going behind a copse of trees. There was one magnificent bull. That bull, and a couple others, went behind the trees. A few minutes later one bull stepped out broadside. My PH said to shoot him. I did not question him , and I put a single killing shot on the bull. Upon recovery my PH noticed this was not the correct bull. He had told me to shoot the wrong animal.
Well.. that one ended up being free. He admitted his mistake and made up for it. We went out the next day and I shot an SCI record book Golden Wildebeest. 2 for the price of one. I had a knife handle made with the horns from the smaller Golden, and a rifle case made from the hide.

 

[buck wild]

About night 2, I would have played the blindfold game with the PH around the campfire. You know the one, the PH is blindfolded, then you try to direct them around to do different things. You quickly realize how inadequate most of our communication really is. Maybe after almost stepping into the fire, he would have literally opened his eyes about HOW to properly, verbally walk you through what is seeing and wanting you to see.

I always tell my guide, I need distance FIRST, then landscape markers, then animal description. I also try to do the same when I'm guiding here in Texas.

Congrats on joining the rest of us retired fed LEOs. TSP is rocking right now

 

[Red Leg]

I have been very fortunate on all my adventures in Africa, and have always had great luck with my PHs - those have included a lot of young guys along with the very experienced ones.

That oryx is exceptional. In fact, until I read your narrative, I assumed it was a cow, but looking more closely, the bases do look like a bull.

I had a wrong animal experience in Mozambique. My PH and I were walking the edge of a huge grass flat which was dotted with spots of brush. A bedded reed buck stood up next to one of the bits of shrubbery, and the PH set the sticks saying he was a good one. He was nearly two hundred yards away and the grass covered a good bit of his body. But I was shooting a .375 and was confident the bullet would reach him easily. At the shot, the animal - no bigger than a small Texas whitetail - calmly walked behind the bush. A moment later, he stepped out the other side and the second shot flattened him as one would expect.

Setting out across the flat, I noticed a faint smile on Boet's face. As we walked up to the reedbuck, he said. "They'll make nice bookends." Sure enough, not twenty feet away, lay the first one.

I am with the others here, if there is no question that you shot the wildebeest indicated by your PH, then I am confident, the outfitter would have made that up to you with a bull. Bull or cow, their hide makes a wonderful rug. We have several around the place, and I think they are more interesting than a zebra.

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

My most recent hunt in NZ was physically demanding. I had a lengthy and detailed conversation with my young guide about expectations to include my physical condition and abilities, shooting and hunting experience, trophy expectations, shot placement, shooting a rented right hand rifle left handed and sometimes the need to shoot right handed, shooting prone (90% of our shots were prone), validating the rifle and DOPE, and my desire to hunt TAR and Chamois without the use of a helicopter.

Communication was key. We got it sorted up front, established mutual trust and respect, and had an amazing trip and hunt together. Taking 10 exceptional animals when I was booked for 5…

I’m 54 and @NZ Jack is 21. He can run straight up and down any of the alpine terrain we hunted. I need to demonstrate to him that I could shoot and hunt in those conditions and that I wouldn’t be pressured to make a shot that wasn’t comfortable with. That NZ hunt was one of my most memorable!

 

[Doug3006]

I have also had a “twofer.” In my case, it was Eland. I shot the first one. Then we ran to the top of the rise and the PH frantically set me up for a second shot on the Eland that was now standing at the base of the hill. “Shoot him again” says the PH. So I did. Then we discovered the 1st bull not 20 feet from where we stood and realized I had 2 down. The PH needed a moment to himself, but to his credit, admitted that it was his fault. The truly bad part was having to skin and quarter 2 Eland with just 4 guys!

 

[crossfire3006]

Excellent and informative report, Duke1966. The animals you took are fantastic! You took lemons and made lemonade out of your trip. Congratulations on the success of your hunt and thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I had the same situation on my last trip. First, the property manager told us a lone bull wildebeest was up this valley and another lone bull up that valley. Go ahead and take one if you want. We run onto the HERD looking for a designated bull waterbuck. "Okay, let's get you a bull." But wait, didn't the guy say the shooters were lone bulls up in those other valleys? "Don't worry about it. When we take out this guy, one of them will move in." I know something about how game management works. Don't want the same bulls on the property too long or they start breeding their progeny. This doesn't sound right but I went along with it. You do what the PH tells you. He puts me on the sticks and I have a clear shot at only one animal and it didn't look right. Very dark skin and seemed short. "The one on the left?" Yes. "Are you sure?" Yes, shoot! Down it goes. "Great shot." We walk up and he says "You shot the wrong one." It's a YEARLING COW! "What happened to 'Great shot'?" Okay, he'll fix it up with lodge owner. But when it's time to pay up at the end of the safari, I'm getting "taxed" $600 for shooting breeding stock. "You shot the wrong animal." Well, needless to say I came a bit unglued. If the PH had simply asked if I'd help out with this screwup I would have paid the bill and kept my mouth shut. PH banged up his rig on second day and wife expecting a baby in a couple of months. But pulling that panty-dropper stunt after he told me he'd fix it ... not smart. I was so ticked off I missed leaving a tip for tracker which lodge owner reminded me when we were at the airport. Very embarrassed. I only had $40 left in my wallet and that won't work. So I wired it to him after I got home. He was okay with that. The PH got half tip and he's lucky he got anything. He was a piece of shit for a whole lot of other reasons but I just blew it off. I'm there to relax and see new country and that we accomplished. Only shot three trophies and okay with it. But not okay with PH making me take the blame for his screwup.

I never ride in the back of the truck. Leave the guys with good eyesight and spotting expertise up in the high seats. I'm not shooting anything out of the truck anyway. I ride up front with the PH driver.

 

[Firebird]

When I was doing research for a safari one of the most common complaints was that the hunter expected to hunt with the safari operator but was given a different ph without any notice.
The other common complaint was freelance ph’s not knowing price structure-having to send pix to the owner to find out price structure, especially in areas where prices increased by the inch (kudu especially.)
I love your gemsbuck and have no issue with your wildebeest. The skin will be beautiful and even a shoulder mount will be a crowd stopper-

 

[TRAVEL EXPRESS]

Thanks for sharing! We appreciate your trust in us in helping plan this adventure, and are happy to hear you had a (mostly) great time. Looking forward to helping on the next one

 

[Duke1966]

Day five (June 5). Kudu was number one on my list and my PH assured me that we were going to get a great trophy. We drove miles on the dunes with me on the back of the truck hanging on for dear life. I'm not exaggerating one bit. My ribs were still sore a week later from banging into the rest while trying to protect my gun from too much damage. It's really hard to explain just how aggressive this driving was. I thought I could hear my rifle start to "rattle" but couldn't tell where is was coming from. (more later)
At some point that afternoon we stopped by his (my PH's) farm and had some coffee and I met his wife and family. I must say that they were all very lovely. His children were polite and respectful. His dogs were another story. Wow. It's always been a pet-peeve of mine when dogs jump up on people and the owners just expect you to accept it. These were all some sort of mixed breed "hunting" dogs and wound up tight. So, I was a bit surprised when we got back in the truck and I found myself surrounded by four crazy dogs, two trackers and my PH's young daughter.
We did spot several kudu bulls and a couple that I was sure were bigger than the ones the other guys in camp had already taken. Sometimes the trackers would see the kudu so far away and I still can't comprehend how they could tell that were cows or immature bulls. Just about the time I figured the day was over the PH swung around and yelled up to get ready. I really hated the thought of shooting out of the truck again but as soon as I saw the bull I knew that this was a good one, his horns were probably a foot higher than any other I'd seen all week. Then I heard that now familiar voice yelling "just behind the shoulder", the dogs started whining and there seemed to be a lot of movement in the truck. The bull was broadside but looking straight at us. His horns seemed to go on forever. He was standing in some brush and I wasn't sure how much of his vitals were exposed. I aimed right on his shoulder. I felt good but the rifle seemed to go off before I really expected it to. Then all hell breaks loose. I didn't see him fall but I couldn't see him in my scope and I knew he wasn't running. I looked back at the trackers and they both signaled that he was down. The PH floored it as the dogs all simultaneously jumped out of the back of the truck. As we get up to the bull we all jump out and almost as soon as I got down I realized it wasn't an ideal situation. This bull was not fatally wounded. I know that the topic of "no man's land" has been discussed here and I've never had much of an opinion one way or another. But I knew that this bull needed another round in him. The problem was that I left my rifle back on the truck and there were four dogs unsuccessfully trying to hold the huge bull down. I saw the smallest dog get kicked back flying through the air 15-20 feet, another had him by the nose and one had the tail. The PH was yelling and trying to scoop up the dogs. For a reason I'll never understand one of the trackers grabbed the bull by the horns! It was a cloud of dust and blood. As the kudu thrashed around I knew he was going to be up on his feet any second. I ran back to the truck and grabbed my rifle. This is a Bergara HMR 300 win mag with a 26" barrel. It's not a gun I'd ever really consider shooting off hand and I never fired it off hand not even once. I had a good vantage point now from the truck. It only took a second or so and the bull was free and clear of the commotion. Just as he circled I did my best to follow him in the scope and fired one just ahead of his rear leg as he quartered away. It was a perfect shot. He went straight down on his nose. I racked another round and waited. My PH (in his kind and gentle voice) yelled "Don't shoot, don't shoot him again". I swear almost shot him again out spite. It's not how I imagined getting my trophy kudu but he is a trophy and it's a hunt I'll never forget.

All four dogs present and accounted for.

 

[Hunt anything]

Fine bull!

 

[PARA45]

Beautiful bull, congratulations!

 

[crossfire3006]

What an outstanding Bull. Congratulations!

 

[Duke1966]

That night back at the new lodge I was going to wipe down my rifle and found where the "rattle" was coming from. The two main bolts that hold the barrel to the stock were about to fall out. I thought I had the right driver in my little tool kit but I didn't. Luckily, one of the other PHs did and we got it tightened down.
This lodge was a little older but had a great main gathering room and there were a bunch of other "meat" hunters there from South Africa. It was fun visiting and talk hunting and rifles and bullets.
I asked a group of five PHs what they thought about the Barnes TTSX bullets. My PH immediately responded "shit bullet!" I found this ironic because when I met the outfitter at the SCI convention this was the bullet that he recommended. My PH said they either penciled through or they caused too much meat damage. That seems contradictory to me. Two of the other PHs said they were "okay" and the two younger PHs said that's what they prefer. The older PHs seemed to favor older bonded bullets and specifically Federal Fusion premium ammo.
I also learned a little more about "concessions" and what happens to the game meat and how everyone makes their money. I tried not be too intrusive but they basically just started talking freely about it and I listened. So what I gathered and later confirmed is that the animals that I shot at this second location were actually concessions of my PH and not my outfitter. And, that he got most of the meat. Now it made more sense to me that he was concerned about me shooting the animals on the shoulder. It doesn't make it right in my eyes, but it explained it.
He later said the my bull weighed 452 pounds without the head and hide. He immediately followed that with "but you did hit the front of the backstrap, so we lost that". I hung out while they skinned out the bull and was able to recover the "shit bullet". It went through the guts, through the heart/lungs and stopped in the hide in the neck. Perfectly mushroomed.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Great bull! So sorry about the continuing shitshow. Wow. That is not hunting. I have had three PHs on four safaris and never anything like that. I did shoot a dandy springbuck from the truck on third safari but only because he was already hit and we were trying to catch him before he got to the fence. Still, I'm sure I could have dismounted and got him but the sub-contracted PH who was driving told my PH that I would shoot it from the back of the truck. He thought I should get in back and do the same when we spotted lechwe the next day but my PH told him in no uncertain terms (I learned later) that's not the way his lodge operated.

Was your PH a smoker? I've heard some that smoke are prone to throwing their clients up in the perch. I guess some clients figure riding up top in the wind is just part of the image. Imagery has never been important to me. I prefer to be safe and sound and warm.

You should not feel fast driving was unusual. Quite the opposite. That seems to be a PH characteristic. It really unnerved me too, especially on dirt roads. I didn't hesitate to say something if it got out of hand. Diplomatically of course. Those guys must go through half a dozen sets of shock absorbers per season.

 

[Duke1966]

Day 6 (June 6).

Great bull! So sorry about the continuing shitshow. Wow. That is not hunting. I have had three PHs on four safaris and never anything like that. I did shoot a dandy springbuck from the truck on third safari but only because he was already hit and we were trying to catch him before he got to the fence. Still, I'm sure I could have dismounted and got him but the sub-contracted PH who was driving told my PH that I would shoot it from the back of the truck. He thought I should get in back and do the same when we spotted lechwe the next day but my PH told him in no uncertain terms (I learned later) that's not the way his lodge operated.

Was your PH a smoker? I've heard some that smoke are prone to throwing their clients up in the perch. I guess some clients figure riding up top in the wind is just part of the image. Imagery has never been important to me. I prefer to be safe and sound and warm.

You should not feel fast driving was unusual. Quite the opposite. That seems to be a PH characteristic. It really unnerved me too, especially on dirt roads. I didn't hesitate to say something if it got out of hand. Diplomatically of course. Those guys must go through half a dozen sets of shock absorbers per season.

Yes, he was a smoker. I could handle the fast driving while sitting in the passenger seat, but standing up in the bed of the truck trying to hang on while protecting my rifle was just a bit challenging.

 

[Duke1966]

You should’ve talked to the owner about the cow wildebeest, I definitely see how it can happen though. Wildebeest, hartebeest and gemsbok can all be difficult to sex for even some really experienced hunters but aPH should not make that mistake but if they do they should own up to it.

My PH and I basically "settled it" in the field. He asked me several times if I was ok with it and I told him that I was so I didn't feel right going back to the outfitter to complain.

 

[Hunt anything]

In my opinion it’s better to gain a whole animal with a little meat damage than loose the whole thing!
Don’t let this yaahoo sour you on Africa, he seems to be the exception to the rule.

 

[Arctic97]

I have to tell you that although you clashed with your PH a bit, you ended up with some great first safari trophies. I do have to agree with you that having a younger PH, as long as you a fairly fit, is WAY better than an older PH that is used to letting "the boys" do all the physical work. Also, the younger guys get more excited and are more fun to be around. They aren't jaded from decades of clients.