SOUTH AFRICA: BOTSWANA: Kruger N.P., Chobe N.P. & An Excellent Hunt With Numzaan Safaris

[cpr0312]

Congrats on the cats also!

 

[ActionBob]

Wow, congratulations again! What a hunt and what a finish!

Hope your back didn't suffer too much on the ride home... i know exactly what you felt, always my biggest fear on a long trip, that my back goes out to one of those points I can't hardly move for two weeks. Always take enough pain killers with

 

[BRICKBURN]

Shot clock ran out and nothing but net. Swoosh!
Congratulations.

 

[enysse]

IdaRam, I bow down to you! You got my most wanted animal in RSA, congrats! I can't begin to tell all the heartache I have over not getting a serval. I'm happy you got one.

 

[gillettehunter]

Wow. You got it done! Beautiful cat. Gotta say I was worried for you. Love the Bushhbuck. Congrats on a great hunt. I shouldn't ask, but I'm going to anyway. It seems that your PH was always looking for a place to go to look for Serval. Do you think they were properly prepared for you? That is having enough hunting ground and areas ready beforehand..... Great report and well done on your animals. Bruce

 

[LivingTheDream]

Glad it all came together! You definitely put in the work! Congratulations! I really enjoyed reading the report.

 

[tarbe]

Great report Dan...epic hunt in a number of ways!

I think if the average non-hunter read this report, they would probably wonder how anyone could call this a "vacation". You and the crew worked your collective butts off.

You got some amazing animals, had some tough breaks, but really persevered.

Congratulations on a helluva hunt.


Tim

 

[Ragman]

What a great hunt! I got exhausted myself just imagining how few hours of sleep you must have had the entire trip! And to get that serval at the buzzer....awesome!

 

[AZDAVE]

Great hunt thank your for sharing. All those small cats and one big one are on my list for next year. Love the Serval and Civiet.

 

[IdaRam]

To all you guys who have posted such kind replies and many words of congratulations, THANK YOU! It is much appreciated and has added greatly to the enjoyment of reliving this hunt. AH members are some of the best people around and I'm grateful to be part of the group.

 

[IdaRam]

Wow. You got it done! Beautiful cat. Gotta say I was worried for you. Love the Bushhbuck. Congrats on a great hunt. I shouldn't ask, but I'm going to anyway. It seems that your PH was always looking for a place to go to look for Serval. Do you think they were properly prepared for you? That is having enough hunting ground and areas ready beforehand..... Great report and well done on your animals. Bruce

Hi Bruce, that is a totally fair and reasonable question. You are most certainly welcome to ask and I'm glad you did. So, no worries at all my friend. I will do my best to answer with some detail. I'll try to include some facts as well as my opinion and you can draw a conclusion from there.
Because I'm at work right now I have very limited time and your question deserves an adequate response, so please bear with me and I'll get back on it later tonight.
My Best

 

[cpr0312]

AH members are some of the best people around and I'm grateful to be part of the group.

No doubt! I am also grateful to be here, well said!

 

[Bsto270]

That sounds like a seriously awesome trip! I definitely love that civet and serval. All that persistence paid off. Now you got the next phase, figuring out where you want to put everything and planning the next trip!

 

[Red Leg]

The hell with those horned critters (well, ok - the bushbuck is spectacular) - but congrats on TWO incredible cats. Who accomplishes that on the same trip - and particularly such huge ones. Really, really well done! Promise that you will not skimp on the taxidermy. I have seen so many "stuffed" cats that look like skin hung on sausages. These deserve the best artist you can afford. What a great hunt, and how fortunate to be in the hands of a PH who was as passionate about your goals as you were. And great job telling it!

 

[IdaRam]

Thank you @Red Leg , your kind words are much appreciated.
You certainly have a promise from me on the taxidermy! And you are spot on, cats are the toughest to get the right look. I will probably never take another Serval and I'm quite certain I will never shoot another civet that big, so great care will be taken in selecting both a taxidermist and the details of the full body mounts. Of which I now have three to do! Serval, Civet and Bushbuck. Gonna have to space those out a bit...

 

[mdwest]

Awesome report. I really enjoyed the read!

 

[IdaRam]

Wow. You got it done! Beautiful cat. Gotta say I was worried for you. Love the Bushhbuck. Congrats on a great hunt. I shouldn't ask, but I'm going to anyway. It seems that your PH was always looking for a place to go to look for Serval. Do you think they were properly prepared for you? That is having enough hunting ground and areas ready beforehand..... Great report and well done on your animals. Bruce

Hi Bruce, thanks again for the question and the respectful manner in which you approached it. I'm happy to answer as best I can.
I'll give you the punch line first:
Yes, I believe they were properly prepared for me. However, I must add a qualifier or two, and then I will get into my long winded reply
Here is the qualifier; My expectations of preparedness were met and I am satisfied. Everyone is different and it is definitely possible someone else may feel otherwise. I will do my best to express why I feel the way I do.
In telling about the hunt there are a ton of details I haven't thought to include, but they definitely help shape answer your question, so I will relate some of them now.
There was quite a bit of communication that took place before I headed over on my hunt. A little bit on whatsapp between Jean-Louis and I, a little bit with a couple of the ladies in the office via email, and a whole bunch between my buddy Jim and I, who was over there helping out as a camp host and "gofer". Jim was giving me pretty regular updates on serval arrangements and plans, as well as letting me know about a serval that one of the PH's had seen in the headlights one night. Also letting me know they had seen the big bushbuck for the second time. Stuff like this.
I knew from messages we were exchanging there were plans and preparations under way for quite a while.
There were solid arrangements/plans in place for at least three separate places for us to hunt when I arrived. I'm not sure what another client's expectations would be in this regard. I know everyone would be different, however this seems reasonable to me.
BUT! When it comes to serval I would politely suggest it is impossible to be over prepared with hunting options
Serval habitat is pretty specific. They just don't live everywhere. My understanding is that they are fairly non-existent in the area immediately surrounding Kamboo, Jean-Louis' camp and base of operations. We would need to drive at least an hour, generally closer to two, to get to our hunting areas. Given everything else we were chasing, mostly near home base, I understand the need to drive rather than basing out of a different camp closer to serval.
Also, and this is a big also, there were some landowner "issues" that arose along the way. I will relate the story, but please remember, you are getting it third or fourth hand. I believe I can convey the message accurately, but please don't quote me on the detail.
To begin with, this is why I trust and respect Jean-Louis. He will give it to you straight and unwatered down. Whether you like it or not.
Here's my re-cap of a conversation
There is a property that I really want to hunt for serval. It may be our best bet, actually. I know they have a lot of serval, but the landowner is being a pain in the ass. I'm trying to work it out, but his price keeps going up and I'm not going to play that game.
I ask a bunch of questions...
Here's the deal. I refuse to do business that way. Dan, I want more than anything to get you a serval, but I can't play this game. First off, this guy now wants more for a serval than I've ever paid for a damn leopard. If I start "negotiating" this way, every landowner we do business with with start jacking me around. We have a level playing field and we work from the same price sheet with all the landowners we work with. Oh yeah, there are some exceptions with a few specialized animals based on location, size, yada, yada, yada, but generally speaking we pay this price or we go elsewhere. Believe me, if we were paying more to Bob than Joe, everyone would know it. No, we will not be playing that game.
Here's a story you may have heard before. When three Irishmen get together, they go to a Pub. When three Americans get together, they open a business. When three South Africans get together they go their separate directions. We simply cannot work together in a way that everyone prospers. So, we will come to terms or we will hunt elsewhere. Sorry, that's just the way it is.
Sorry, I'm getting long winded here, but there was a lot of effort expended in many ways to achieve success and ultimately we were successful beyond my imagination. I got a monster cat and serval ain't easy. So I do feel satisfied that adequate efforts were made to be prepared.
Also, on every property we hunted there were ALOT of rodents. Serval food. I have no doubt based on the habitat and food supply, we were hunting good areas. In addition, we saw two serval, shot one, and saw what we believe was probably another. I have heard and read of people hunting serval many times and never even seeing one.
I could type a lot more, but I don't know that I would "say" a lot more, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, thanks for asking the question. It gave me another good excuse to go all "Velo Dog" @Velo Dog on you Thanks Velo Dog!
My Best

 

[tarbe]

I'm going to use that "three South Africans" joke at work tomorrow!

And of course, it will be funny, because of the element of truth.

 

[IdaRam]

I'm going to use that "three South Africans" joke at work tomorrow!

And of course, it will be funny, because of the element of truth.

Yeah, it made me laugh too It may be especially true of South Africans, but it certainly applies to us Yanks as well!

 

[gillettehunter]

Thanks for the reply. You answered that question well. I will be quick to say that you took some exceptional animals. You worked long and hard for them and seemed to be well prepared. I appreciate the candidness and class in your answer. I did not want to offend. Congrats Bruce