SOUTH AFRICA: And The Adventure Begins

[billc]

The eland Aarons dad took when he was chasing nyala. A younger bull with nice long horns. Some other game his dad got to hunt also.

 

[Aaron N]

Side note, the day dad shot the Eland, they came across a Klipspringer, at least 6" long, and much to his PH "Prop's" dismay, he passed on it calling it a rabbit. Prop needed a few minutes alone to gather his thoughts!

 

[cpr0312]

More great trophies, congrats!

 

[Aaron N]

So I quit halfway through my story. I was going back from memory because the nights at the lodge were spent around the bar, no time for internet updates! But I feel by not finishing I would be selling the hunt, and the crew at Paw Prints short, so I am going to summarize the remaining time.

-After two unsuccessful days of chasing Nyala, we decided to change things up and go back to where I shot the Wildebeest and try for a nice Impala. Not a good day, three missed shots. It was a silent ride back to the farm, Pieter was there to put my mind back at ease. We were not going to hunt the next day, so it was a late night around the bar and by the time my head hit the pillow, missed Impala couldn't be further from my mind.

-The next day we slept in and headed to the Cradle of Humanity. I was impressed by how well done the center was, and would recommend it to anyone in the area. Then a quick stop at a Curio shop, and lunch at Chameleon Village, then back to the farm. When we got back, I headed in for a nap, the rest of the crew hunted the farm looking for Kudu. I woke up to an empty camp, so had a nice afternoon reading in the sun. Heide invited me up for coffee with the family, the first grandchild was to be delivered the next day so both families were together. The hunting party returned with an empty truck box, so it was the usual routine of good food, drinks, and friends.

-The remainder of the trip was spent chasing the elusive Nyala. lots of country crossed, no shots fired. Well one, at a sow warthog.

She won't break any records, but she's ugly, and that's the main thing! If only I could sell the wife on the rocking warthog that Dennis posted a few weeks ago....

As far as Nyala hunting goes, by the end I was beginning to hate them! When we would see them, they were already hightailing through the bush, or if they were still, it was always in the perfect position as to never offer a shot! There was one bull on the property that new he was safe, and could have cared less if we were around, an old bull with both tips broken off. In hindsight, I guess this is where "beggars can't be choosers" came from. Then the rains came, and that slowed everything down.

Our final day at the lodge, we loaded up and headed to Pilanseberg National Park with Jonothan as our guide. This was a very worth while trip, as I wouldn't be following my parents on to Kruger. The park didn't seem overly busy, and we saw plenty of game including loins, elephant, hippo's, croc, plus the usual plains game. Jonothan was my PH, but before he got into that, he became qualified as a tour guide, and is also an avid birder. So if there is one person you want to tour you around a park, it would be him. He really made the trip, and without his eyes, who know how many animals we would have missed.




Some take-aways

-Going into this, I wasn't sure how I felt about fences. Hunting in Alberta, especially around a tiny farming community, I was always able to go 20 miles in any direction at will. I will say now that never once did I feel like a fence swayed the odds in my favor.

-This hunt was far harder that I had ever expected. In my opinion, but the Wildebeest and Kudu were well earned. We logged many miles every day through the bush as well as up and down the mountain. The Warthog was more of an opportunistic trophy. I think going into the hunt, I had envisioned "Discovery Channel" Africa with game everywhere. We did see plenty of game on a daily basis, but when targeting a specific species, the challenge was surely on.

- Thorns suck, enough said.

It's no surprise to any member on here the reputation Paw Prints has on this forum and the long list of happy clients that would highly recommend them as an outfitter. I can now say that I am lucky enough to be part of that club! Pieter runs a first class operation. Speaking for myself, Jonothan was an excellent PH, tour guide, and friend. My dad was very happy with his PH Prop, and all I can tell you is that there was never a dull moment around the table or bar with him around! And the folks at Flintbeck were truly the icing on the cake. They took in three strangers, and made them feel like we were part of the family. I can't stress enough how this lodge exceed our expectations. Even if I never hunt the property again, I don't think I could go back to Africa without stopping to see the family.

I'm having trouble uploading more pictures, but there are more to come

 

[Aaron N]

Does anybody know how to resize images? I think the ones took with my SLR are too big to upload.

 

[billc]

I am so glad you had a great hunt and it was a pleasure working with you as you made the plans to hunt with paw print. I wish you would of had some better luck with the nyala but there is always next trip.

 

[Nyati]

Congrats Aaron, for a great hunt and very nice trophies !

 

[edward]

nice pics.

 

[rinehart0050]

Great report! Great pictures. I've really enjoyed sharing in your adventure. How was the shark diving? Something I definitely want to try one of these days!

 

[Aaron N]

Great report! Great pictures. I've really enjoyed sharing in your adventure. How was the shark diving? Something I definitely want to try one of these days!

It was a blast, but cold. Something to do once, that's for sure!

 

[Aaron N]

Aaron. What ranch was that big Giraffe on?

The giraffe was on Cliff's place. If you look Pieter had an offer on here not long ago for free range plains game. That would be the same location. We saw 14 milling around one morning.

 

[Bhfs300]

Hi
I would say it isn't the size of the pictures it is the number of pictures. You have 200 Mb of pictures added to that post. If you are moving pictures to your desk top to attache to the posts you shouldn't save them as max you should save them as high maybe even lower if you camera is doing 24meg per picture or higher?

 

[Aaron N]

They are already on my computer. The pics from my regular cameras or phone loaded no problem.

 

[Bhfs300]

Some of them are loading at 10-12 MB. What kind of phone do you have? If you are downloading them from what ever you are storing them on. You should load them at a lower res or not put as many pictures on a post!?
When you put twenty photos on a post it could be a problem.

 

[Aaron N]

I guess I shot them as large and best quality I could. I'm sure I could resize them in paint, but that seems like a lot of work...

 

[Bhfs300]

Just put six or eight pictures with each post! Then put the same with the next post. I am a Mac person and I use Iphoto to down load the photos but if I save them to my desktop I have the options if saveing them at a lower level.
My camera saves at 25 MB each. You couldn't email one picture at a time that large. The shark pictures are a 3 or 4 MB camera but the rest are higher than that. Don't post so many pictures or save them at a lower size!!!!!!

 

[cpr0312]

Thanks for sharing Aaron

 

[Lrntolive]

Great hunt report! If these reports keep coming like this, I'm going to lose my mind as my trip is a year away. Thanks for the report and all the great images.

 

[peras]

Thank you for the report and sharing lifelong memories with us. It was an honor having you!

 

[Aaron N]

Thank you for the report and sharing lifelong memories with us. It was an honor having you!

Thank you for all the memories and best of luck with the remaining season!