NAMIBIA: First Safari Lessons Learned

[spike.t]

Sorry stopped reading at the wildebeest fiasco.....shooting off back of vehicle didn't help either.......and the older phs I know are still capable of walking your ass off ....

 

[Zinz]

That Kudu is a whopper, sorry about all the troubles, though. Not entirely ideal, for sure.

As for the Barnes TTSX... I've used 180gr TSXs in my .30-06 for decades on everything from feral hogs to Mountain Zebra. Excellent performance, every time.

Ed Z

 

[Duke1966]

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.

Yes I agree. Overall, I'm happy with the outfitter and I'd even hunt there again. The property that is his is amazing. I think it's over 110,000 acres of the most rugged terrain I've seen. The animals on this property were very difficult to hunt and very wild. If I went back I'd only want to hunt there. Only this time I'd want to pick my PH and we wouldn't shoot from the truck at all.

 

[Duke1966]

Sorry stopped reading at the wildebeest fiasco.....shooting off back of vehicle didn't help either.......and the older phs I know are still capable of walking your ass off ....

I am sure that there are older PHs in excellent physical condition. But I've never had anyone "walk my ass off". Well, maybe my daughter who is a PT instructor at a law enforcement academy.

 

[Bandera]

I will be hunting in Namibia in 27. Just curious as to the outfitter you hunted with.

 

[Sika98k]

I will be hunting in Namibia in 27. Just curious as to the outfitter you hunted with.

You are not alone !

 

[Jeff505]

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!

And carry all the meat to the truck.

 

[Badjer]

I read your experience with great interest as my only African hunt was such a mess I didn't even want to try to (post) explain a hunt report. I may be the only person on this forum who came back from Africa and isn't sure I want to return.
I'm glad your trip overall was a success!! Best of luck on trip 2!

 

[Pablo]

Very nice kudu! You had a helluva lot more patience with that PH than I would have. You definitely made lemonade out of lemons.

 

[BRICKBURN]

................
I asked a group of five PHs what they thought about the Barnes TTSX bullets. My PH immediately responded "shit bullet!"..............

Beyond the rest of the twattle from this guy, that stupid comment sinks the battle ship for me.
That twit would not know the difference between a TTSX, TSX and a rock.

Nice shooting and congratulations on some very nice trophies.

 

[TnKen]

I read your experience with great interest as my only African hunt was such a mess I didn't even want to try to (post) explain a hunt report. I may be the only person on this forum who came back from Africa and isn't sure I want to return.
I'm glad your trip overall was a success!! Best of luck on trip 2!

There are several good outfitters here that can be recommended. I’m sorry that your African experience was a bad one, maybe it’s a good thing and save you a lot of money . If you want to try again, I’m sure you could get severe good referrals here.

 

[PARA45]

I read your experience with great interest as my only African hunt was such a mess I didn't even want to try to (post) explain a hunt report. I may be the only person on this forum who came back from Africa and isn't sure I want to return.
I'm glad your trip overall was a success!! Best of luck on trip 2!

Don’t let one bad experience kill it for you. Not pleasant, I know. But, there are quality outfitters here and I’m sure you would enjoy a safari with them. Don’t give up.

 

[mark-hunter]

Great trophies. Especially Kudu, oryx and steinbok!
Now, about PH.
PH is a person that you usually meet first time, when you get out of plane.
You dont know him, in advance. Yes, due diligence can be done, and it reduces the chance of "misalignment", but before you get on the ground, you never know.

So, there are 4 options:
Client and PH get well along, and have successful hunt.
Client and PH do not get too well along, but have successful hunt
Client and PH do not get well along, have unsuccessful hunt
Client and PH get well along, and have unsuccessful hunt.
So take your pick.
All in all, all went well on option 2.

Congrats!

 

[Duke1966]

Day 7 (June 7)
After finding the loose bolts on my gun I wanted to shoot it just to ensure it was still on. Two rounds touching two inches high at 100 yards confirmed it was good to go.
After rereading my post I've decided to spare y'all the details of my unsuccessful black wildebeest hunt.
That day we headed back to the main camp in the mountains. About halfway (I only assumed that it was halfway based on how long we had been traveling) my PH says "I don't know, does this look familiar?" HUH? Really? I said "Yeah, I remember that rock right there"..It took him just a minute to realize my sarcasm. It did feel like we heading too far south for too long and I'd assumed that we needed to head in a more westerly direction. Finally we came to a very small town, maybe 10-12 houses and spotted a three young guys walking. We spun back around to ask for directions. The boys were very friendly and full of smiles. I couldn't understand the conversation in Afrikaans but I gathered from the hand gestures and pointing in the direction we had come from that we had missed our turn, then more pointing in the direction that we were heading. As we were leaving I could tell that they were asking for a little "compensation" for their assistance. "NEIT!" the PH wasn't having it and off we went. It turns out that we were only about an hour off course and could circle back around up the road a ways. We'd be back at camp just before dark.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Great trophies. Especially Kudu, oryx and steinbok!
Now, about PH.
PH is a person that you usually meet first time, when you get out of plane.
You dont know him, in advance. Yes, due diligence can be done, and it reduces the chance of "misalignment", but before you get on the ground, you never know.

So, there are 4 options:
Client and PH get well along, and have successful hunt.
Client and PH do not get too well along, but have successful hunt
Client and PH do not get well along, have unsuccessful hunt
Client and PH get well along, and have unsuccessful hunt.
So take your pick.
All in all, all went well on option 2.

Congrats!

What is a "successful hunt"? Therein lies the problem with your analysis. If it's the quality of the horns on the wall, then the hunt could be a success even if the PH was a bipolar lunatic who kept the client constantly on edge of his seat but got him to shoot a couple of spectacular specimens from the back of the truck. For me the memories are more important than the wall hangers. Much more.

I appreciate that I'm not everyone's cup of tea and relatively few are mine. But I have learned to bend ... a lot actually. Especially after failing to bend too often over the years and paying the price. But there is a limit to what I will "accommodate" even now in my more mellow golden years. Being blamed for shooting the wrong wildebeest sent me over the line. Fortunately it happened at the end of the safari.

That clown stiffing the three kids who put him back on course to get home would have been enough to finally let the genie out of my bottle. Those boys will grow up associating client hunter with asshole. That country has enough problems. I don't want to be a part of more trouble. A couple pieces of candy or even some entrails for them to take home would have turned them in the right direction (entrails are a delicacy).

 

[Duke1966]

What is a "successful hunt"? Therein lies the problem with your analysis. If it's the quality of the horns on the wall, then the hunt could be a success even if the PH was a bipolar lunatic who kept the client constantly on edge of his seat but got him to shoot a couple of spectacular specimens from the back of the truck. For me the memories are more important than the wall hangers. Much more.

I appreciate that I'm not everyone's cup of tea and relatively few are mine. But I have learned to bend ... a lot actually. Especially after failing to bend too often over the years and paying the price. But there is a limit to what I will "accommodate" even now in my more mellow golden years. Being blamed for shooting the wrong wildebeest sent me over the line. Fortunately it happened at the end of the safari.

That clown stiffing the three kids who put him back on course to get home would have been enough to finally let the genie out of my bottle. Those boys will grow up associating client hunter with asshole. That country has enough problems. I don't want to be a part of more trouble. A couple pieces of candy or even some entrails for them to take home would have turned them in the right direction (entrails are a delicacy).

I agree 100% and I even told him that I would thrown them a few bucks if he’d given me a minute.

 

[Dinsdale]

I read your experience with great interest as my only African hunt was such a mess I didn't even want to try to (post) explain a hunt report. I may be the only person on this forum who came back from Africa and isn't sure I want to return.
I'm glad your trip overall was a success!! Best of luck on trip 2!

My first hunt was just OK. Just overall not what I had in mind for this grand first trip to AFRICA. I had a PH that wasn’t really all that experienced and looking back should not have even been in the business.The outfit he worked for had burned so many landowners over game payments they had a hard time finding me a place to hunt. Food was just average fare at best, same I could have made at home.

But I did take some good trophies and worked for them, did some non hunting activities that were terrific. I credit that non hunting part of the trip to keeping my interest to go back. Otherwise I may well have been one and done.

So I came home and figured what I really did wrong was ask the wrong questions, and listened to the wrong people; basically just guys looking for free hunts by finding other hunters to book with that company. One of the reasons I dont bother with references by folks who hunt the same place a couple times and have no broader reference to countries or multiple outfitter experiences.

Best money I ever spent was going to SCI and booking two hunts back to back with two smaller outfits, one in SA and one in Namibia with the actual people who owned the properties they hunted and would actually do the hunts. And I had plenty of time to get my thoughts together and a list of questions to ask for what I really wanted before booking. I spent all 2 days interviewing a half dozen places to narrow it down. Fantastic 30 days of hunting and sight seeing, and not a hiccup start to finish.

After that, booking hunts became easier, because my questions became better and so was my instinct on how they were answered.

Now Ive used a couple dozen outfits for hunting and fishing all over and there are very very few bumps in the road.

 

[MacJenkins]

Well Duke like you I had a terrible PH on my first safari. Was in a fantastic area in Tanzania in 2008, it just came down to the guy should have retired years before I got to camp.

Don’t let it sour your desire to hunt Africa again, I am finishing my 12th safari in the coming days and headed to Zim next week for my 13th. All of my PH’s after that first have been way better.

Keep going would be my suggestion. Some of my best hunting has been in Africa. I think I still have a good 20 trips left in me as my kids are in their later teens and I can get away more in the coming years.