Noah Hutchens
AH member
Hello all, I just completed my first African Hunt and wanted to share how it went!
I booked my hunt in November last year after considering doing one for over 4 years now. I booked a package through Matswani Safaris in the beautiful Waterburg mountains in Limpopo. The price the Matswani package offered was far cheaper than anything else I could find considering my circumstances and hunting wishes. I traveled with my Wife, our two young children and I paid for both my parents to come along as bribe for free babysitting/help tor the wife while I hunted lol.
The package included 2 all inclusive rooms included alcohol for all members of my party, 7 days of hunting, trophy fees included for a Zebra, Blesbok, Springbuck and Impala, rifle rental for the full week, So for 1 hunter 3 adult observers and two kids it was $3.550 for the entire stay. The meals were excellent. Breakfast was a buffet every morning and the lunch and dinner was 3 course meals. Everyday we were served amazing game meat including Impala, Kudu, wildebeest, warthog and ostrich. The chefs would accommodate anything you needed diet wise and made my kids their own meal every time. Also the lodge offered a great companion program which was very important to me as I didn’t want my wife and kids restless (and my 2.5 year old son LOVES animals). They offered game drives every day, some free on their own property which sported the “normal” game animals, and other were an additional fee where they took them to either Kaingo or Welgevonden for a big 5 safari. My kids(and wife and parents) had a blast on the free excursions and saw a lot of animals but we had relatively poor luck on the paid big 5 safaris seeing no elephants at all(much to the detriment of my 2,5 year old son).
Now the hunting portion that everyone cares about:
The first day of hunting started with my PH named Dewald and the Lodge manager taking us to the "Animal museum" where they had full mounts of just about every animal in the region. There they went over my package and handed me an additional price sheet for the other available game. Dewald then took me through each animal I was interested in shooting and showed me exactly where to aim at each angle we might come across. It honestly was very nice to have the chance to do this on full mount animals because most of the ideal positions for me to shoot wasn't what i expected at all. I was used to shooting white tail a little behind the shoulder to preserve as much meat as possible but it seemed these animals i needed to shoot straight through the shoulder. After the enlightening experience Dewald and his tracker Thomas took me to the rifle range. He told me we would be using his 300 Winchester magnum for the hunting. This at first gave me some worry as I wasn’t quite used to shooting a rifle of that caliber. At home I mostly hunt with a 308 or very seldom a 30-06 and in my head a 300 winmag was a solid step above both of those. At the range he pulled out a Howa rifle with a BIG FAT suppressor on the end of it. I had never shot a suppressed rifle so I was excited. I would say their rifle safety was a bit lacking at some times(at least less than what has been drilled into me as a enthusiastic firearm shooter since a very young age) as the PH had his tracker run down to the 100 meter target and put up a target, but just had him stand 50 meters to the side or so instead of coming back up to us where the muzzle wasn’t pointing in his direction. This was a little off putting to me and I asked the PH about and he laughed and said as long as you don’t miss by 50 meters we are good. Still a little off put, I sighted in the target and shot, the rifle was dead on and amazingly my ears didn’t even ring and the recoil felt less than my normal .308 I shoot at home. I was instantly hooked on the suppressor and vowed to get one when i got home.
Later that evening we departed the lodge and drove around 30 minutes to a farm where they had an abundance of springbuck. We got caught in a rain squall on the way and Dewald said it would lower our chances but we would still try. Apparently where I was located they were supposed to get their last rains sometime in February and now it was mid April and it was still raining constantly multiple days a week(this proved detrimental on a few days of this trip) and many places were flooded and animals were harder to find(especially warthog he said). The farm we came too was nothing short of beautiful. It had open "savannahs" that was in my mind quintessentially Africa. The owner had 5 pet White Lions and Thomas showed me them while Dewald confirmed everything with the Owner. The fencing for the lion enclosure was tenuous at best and seemed totally inadequate to hold in full size HUGE lions. It was probably only 8 ft tall, but there were rocks on the inside the Lions could jump from that made the jump for them less than 4 ft, and it was made out of pretty light duty hardware cloth. Up close the Lions were extremely intimidating and they seemingly tried to stalk us through the fence. With the owner all sorted we loaded up into the truck and took off to look for a trophy springbuck. Dewald and myself loaded into his truck bed and he glassed for some springbucks. There was a fairly strong drizzle as we road so we got pretty wet. After around 5 minutes out of nowhere he slapped the truck, signaling Thomas to stop, and told me quietly he saw a springbuck 100 meters away laying down behind a bush. Boy his eyes must of been great because even after looking through the rifle scope i could barely discern the animal. He had Thomas creep up another 10 meters to get a better angle and i sighted the Springbuck through my rain drop fogged scope. I dialed it in to 14 power and Dewald told me to shoot a little behind the neck and a little below the top of the back(Of course we didn't go over a laying down angle in the Museum lol) and with our high angle it would go through the vitals. I got positioned on the padded shooting rack and he said to take him and i shot. After i shot i looked back through the scope and saw it in the same spot. I thought for a split second i missed but then Dewald said, " Great shot, he didn't move an inch". Elated with my fine shooting and my first African animal we rushed over quickly for him to snap a photo of it with its back fur all standing up(which he said only lasted a few minutes after death). Picture in hand he and Thomas then drug it to a better position to take more regular photos. He explained to me that his Father was the PH manager at Matswani and that he had very strict requirements on trophy photos. They had to be a certain angle and position for each species and then they all had to send them in to a group chat with all the PH's and if they weren't up to his standards they would then be roasted in front of the entire group, suffice it to say every animal i hunted has exquisite photos. After the photo session they loaded the Springbuck into the back of the truck and we drove back to the Lodge. At the lodge they showed me the slaughter/skinning house and the skinners quickly got to work on the Springbuck.
Day 2 consisted of breakfast at 7 and then headed off at 7:30. The morning goal was to target an Impala and we drove around 30 minutes once again to another beautiful farm(i was shocked on the whole trip by how beautiful some of the properties we hunted were, at least compared to my Oklahoma homeland where invasive cedars now clog the majority land around me. After checking in with the owner(who had a beautiful garden with a HUGE ponytail palm and a few date palms in bloom absolutely swarming with bees) we set off this time on foot in search of a monster Impala. Dewald said that the Impala rut was due to start soon so they might be fighting already and less aware of us walking around. After about a 1 mile walk we peered down a cleared fence line about 300 meters away was a very large Impala. It was looking through the fence toward another small impala on the other side of the road. It was thrashing its horns against the fence "fighting" the Impala that was 10 meters way from it lol. Between us and the Impala was waterbuck however so we had to sneak around the waterbuck and get closer to the Impala as i wasn't comfortable taking a 300 meter shot, especially off of sticks. We turned back into the property and slowly walked a small semicircle arc passing by the waterbuck and getting to around 150 meters from the impala. We then crept up around 25 more meters before Dewald set down the sticks and i shouldered the rifle. The Impala just then started walking down the fence towards us but its head still completely fixed looking at the other side. He told me that as soon as it turned broadside i could take him and after about 10 seconds he paused and turned and i fired. After the crack of the rifle the Impala dropped where he stood not taking a single step, boy this 300 winmag packed a punch. Dewald cracked a smile and gave me handshake and congratulations and radioed Thomas to drive the truck to us. We then walked up to inspect the Impala and it was beautiful. the horns were impressive to me for damn sure and Dewald told me it would easily score a gold metal. I didn't know what he was talking about and he said it was just the way they scored animals there, bronze, silver or gold metal. After the photo session they loaded up the Impala and Dewald and I loaded into the back of the truck and Thomas drove around while we hoped to find a nice Male warthog. At this lodge they didnt allow anyone to shoot females and only let each hunter shoot one Warthog(I was told this was because they had a group of Spaniards who came through and shot 3 warthogs each and cleaned them out of good quality males a while back). We rode and after about 5 minutes i saw a Warthog that had massive(to my untrained eye) and got excited and then Dewald laughed and said it was a female with babies so we had to pass. Other than that we saw a group of Blesbok, which was on my list but he said none of them were mature enough, and a beautiful Sable but that was above my price range. We then headed back to the lodge and on the way we stopped at a different farm and checked a game camera and dumped some bait for a Warthog at a mud wallow. The camera showed a very large warthog that was coming in fairly regularly every day or two. Dewald said we might come back and set up a blind in a day or two to give it a chance to find the bait. Back at the lodge I had lunch and a short break and then we headed back out again around 3:30 in search of a Zebra or Blesbok. Now 25 minutes to another different farm we loaded up into the truck bed and Thomas slowly drove us around the more brushy/wooded property. After around 15 minutes and after dumping more feed/bait at a waterhole we saw a group of wildebeests running around 75 meters away and at the tail end of the group was around 6 or 7 zebras. It looked like they were going to cross the road around 100 meters in front of us and Dewald proactively told me that if a zebra stopped in the road and i had a shot to take it. Less than 10 seconds later they went billowing past the road running full speed without a chance in hell for me to get a shot off. We dismounted the truck and tried unsuccessfully for 30 minutes to stalk and get closer to the group but they were aided by the thick brush/trees and were incredibly skittish not offering a shot. While stalking the Zebras we did come across a group of Blesbok again they were skittish and in thicker cover. We went back to the truck and started riding around again and found another group of Blesbok at 150 meters. Thomas stopped the truck and Dewald called out to shoot the on in the middle that was broadside and I rested my rifle on the rack while we waited on two smaller females in front of it to move out of the way. They finally moved and I fired. Right away i knew i pulled the shot a little bit and the blesbok took off running but Dewald said he saw a good hit just a little far back. We drove up a little further and finally Thomas had some tracking to do. Around 40 meters further he whispered and motioned and showed me the and Dewald the Blesbok that was down but its head was raised and looking around. Dewald had me rest the rifle on his shoulder and said to shoot i had a clear shot but i was obstructed by brush. We side stepped 5 meters to find a better angle and the Blesbok leaped up and ran through the brush again. We walked up a little bit further for a minute or two and we saw a glimpse of the Blesbok through the brush and i had a small window and i shot once more. The Blesbok dropped where it stood. Dewald walked up and confirmed it was dead by touching its eyes and my mother, who attended the hunt as my observer, freaked out as it went through some minor death twitches. Dewald congratulated me and gave me a handshake and told me it was a very old male. The horns were white on the ridges which he said indicated age. The sun was setting fast so Dewald and Thomas hurried to carry the beast out of the woods to the road(stopping for two breaks along the way as the beast was fairly heavy) and loaded the Blesbok onto the truck and hurried to find a clearing to take good photos(clearing was one of the requirements for a photo from his father). We made it to a clearing and they unloaded and posed the Blesbok and just then a herd of Blue and Golden Wildebeests came running through all majestic and beautiful and we joked that they knew we weren't hunting them and showed off. After the photos we headed back to the lodge and on the way on a farm they had hunting in the past Dewald spied a really nice male Warthog he said he had seen on and off for the last two weeks. It was in a clearing near the road and accompanied a female and 4 or so babies. He said we might try to set up a blind and hunt him tomorrow if he could talk to the landowner.
On day 3 I didn't hunt in the morning and helped my Wife with the kids while my parents went on a Big 5 safari to Kaingo. After lunch we did go out hunting, this time with my Dad tagging along to try to get the Warthog we had seen the day prior. Arriving at the farms gate Dewald honk the horn and after 5-10 minutes the owners came driving up and they talked in Afrikaans for bit seemingly giving us permission to hunt it. We then loaded into the back of the truck and Dewald said we would drive down the road and if it was in the same place we had seen it the night before i would just shoot it through the fence. This definitely felt weird to me as Road Hunting was highly illegal where I was from but he said it was ok here. So down the road we went and after rounding the curb before the clearing, my heart pounding in anticipation........, it was clear. Mr. Warthog hadn't come by yet so we went back to the Farms gate and traveled down an interior road to the clearing and set up a blind. Dewald laughed and said his Temu camo net was about to get its money worth and we set it up, about eye level from sitting in a chair, between two trees about 50 meters from the clearing. He didn't know if the Warthog came from the road or the interior of the property so we attentively watched both sides. After around 45 minutes we saw the kick of a cloud of dirt from the road and out popped the Female and babies who squirmed under the fence and started grazing in the clearing. We watched attentively waiting and hoping the Male would soon follow and I my heart dropped for a minute, when the Female and babies suddenly sped away, thinking they had smelled us. However they stopped at the far edge of the clearing and continued on like nothing happened. Dewald was glassing them when out of the corner of my eye I saw the Male kick up dust on the road and run under the fence. I tapped his leg to get his attention and he quickly glassed the Male and said it was him and i readied the rifle. On the stick it pulled the netting down and the suppressor stuck out in front past the blind. The warthog paused at around 60 meters from us and I confirmed with Dewald, who started recording for me, and with my heart pounding i steadied my breath and I shot. He dropped where he stood and started his death twitches. Dewald immediately congratulated me a laughed saying he was happy to take the Male finally. Funny enough the Female and babies stood still, seemingly in shock, until we got up and started walking toward the Male. Walking up to it the tusks immediately stood out and Dewald said that for this area this was a really good Warthog. We pose for some pictures and then left, and only made it 5 minutes down the road before the heavens opened up and it poured for an hour or so. Later that night at the bar i was talking to another PH and his Danish client about the day and he asked what I had shot and I told him a Warthog and he pulled up the picture on their group chat and immediately looked shocked and said again for this area that was a stud. Come to find out when talking to Dewald the next morning he caught a lot of shit from the other PH's over the warthog. I guess they all had seen the same one a couple times when they had driven past but had no idea it was available to shoot and were mad that he didn't tell them that he had permission to shoot it. Dewald told me this and then laughed and said," If only they had the balls to talk to the Owner they could have scored it for their clients" and it was at that point i was really glad he was my PH because after talking to some of the Danish clients at the Lodge(19 Danish were staying there) some had gone out 3 days without shooting a single trophy. I don't know if Dewald just that much better or if I just had some dumb luck......
On the morning of Day 4 it was pouring rain and at breakfast at 7 i was worried we might not be able to hunt that morning. I asked Dewald and he said with bravado, "We aren't scared of rain". I mean i wasn't either but this was some serious rain lol with a mix of thunder every so often. Dewald had arranged for me to go to a farm and hunt a very old and very dark Giraffe bull so we went to the PH huts and loaded up their trailer(in the downpour) to haul the Giraffe back and set off to the farm around 35 minutes away. The drive was crazy, the rain intensified and the already poor dirt roads turned to flowing rivers of mud and water. some portions were 3 ft deep of water and his Toyota was sliding and fishtailing all over the road. Finally after 25 minutes of hell he decided to call it and turned back for the lodge going back through the mush we had just traveled. We hung around the bar for 2 hours or so(enough to eat a second breakfast with the observers and my family at 9 lol) and finally around 10:30 or so the rain had dissipated and we set off again for the farm with another PH and 3 hands from the skinning shed coming along to assist with the Giraffe. The road was still horrendous and now quite washed out in some places although not as much as a river. after around 45 minutes we made it to the farm which was the must beautiful i had seen yet and met the farm manager. He told us where they had seen the Bull the day before and we set up a game plan. He showed us some pictures of the Bull and my oh my was it beautiful. Compared to the other giraffes standing next to it it was night and day on the color. The manager said that he had been there for 17 years and this specific Giraffe had been there since then so he estimated it at over 20 years old. He said that honestly he was quite sad to see it go but that the Owner was worried it would die on its own and didn't want to risk it so he had to make it available for hunting(I guess a few years back they had a big bull die fighting another bull and they lost a bunch of money from what they said). We hoped in the truck and drove until we sighted them on the open savannah and then set off on foot to close the distance. We found them after a 30 minute search around 500 meters away. The target bull was in a group of 4 and they seemed to be standing still feeding. We dismounted and I carried the 300 winmag while Dewald carried a 375 in case it was necessary(he said he had never seen a Giraffe shot with a 300 and wanted to see how it did and if it didn't work too well we would use the 375 for a follow up shot). Before we left he quickly pulled up a picture of a Giraffe with its vitals overlaid and showed me where to shoot(I didn't come into the trip expecting to shoot a Giraffe so we didn't discuss it at the Animals museum). Dewald, Myself and my Wife in tow(her first hunting experience ever) slowly stalked up to the group and after about 5 minutes at around 150 yards he set down the sticks and i tried to steady my breathing. The group seemed to finally give us notice and began to walk away but the old Bull stood still seemingly in defiance. However he too then started moving with the group and they stopped around 50 meters further away. We then stalked up back to 150 meters away and once again the sticks when up and i shouldered the rifle. The bull was standing out in front and there was a younger one behind him. Dewald said to take him when i had a good shot. I questioned him about the younger giraffe behind him but he said the bullet wouldn't go through and to not worry. So took a deep breath and steadied the crosshairs and pulled the trigger. The first thing i remember after was watching through the scope and seeing the ripple of hide, indication of a good shot. The giraffe took off, almost in slow motion, and i watch it run around 50 meters then drop slamming into a small tree which shook violently. I finally remembered to breath and Dewald seemed ecstatic, as was I. My wife however, seeing he first animal being hunted(looking back maybe a Giraffe as her first hunting experience was a bit extreme) was sobbing feeling pity for the majestic beast. I quickly hugged her and then Dewald wanted us to move in to confirm it was down and dead. We walked up slowly rifles at the ready and say it lying down but still slightly kicking. It seemed to be death throws but Dewald wanted to take no chances so I put another round in its chest(He said that last time he hunted a Giraffe it had dropped like mine after one shot and when he and his client went in to confirm its death he tapped its eyes and it immediately jolted to its feet in between him and his client. He didnt have his pistol on him and was unarmed so he shouted to his client to shoot it again and his client quickly shot it in the head. Because of that he said he was always going to put an extra round in the chest to be safe lol). I could hear the lungs deflate after the second shot and the kicking stopped pretty fast. We could see both bullet holes and Dewald told me that the first shot obliterated the heart and that i did a great job. The immense size of the Bull standing not 5 feet from it was mind blowing. Dewald said he personally hadn't hunted a client on such a Bull in his 10 year career and that it was a monster(I'm sure they sugar coat it for every client and every animal is the best they have ever saw but I was more than happy to believe him). What also shocked me was the sure number of ticks crawling all over the Bull. in some spots like the top of his head between the "horns" they were so thick you couldn't see the hide. Coming from Lymes disease territory( and much worse conditions such as losing the ability to eat meat from hoofed animals, which happened to a family friend) it was terrifying to see. Dewald radioed the others to come in the trucks and it took the team of 6 around 45 minutes to position the bull with winches and pure manpower for the photos. While they were hard at work the farm manager who was obviously teary eyed himself saw my wife crying and went over and comforted her with a hug saying he was sad too but at least it died a quick and painless death rather than a drawn out painful death otherwise it probably would've endured, funnily enough he also joked, after showing us the long coarse black tail strands, that we should turn it into a kinky sex toy/whip. We all had a chuckle and the laughs helped my Wife stop crying which was a relief. After the has the Bull positioned I somehow convinced my wife to join me for a few of the pictures and Dewald had us pose in about 5 different angles. They then labored for close to an hour, cutting a road, backing in the trailer and winching the giraffe onto it. After their toils we set off into the trucks and took it slow back to the lodge towing the ~4,000 pound beast. Back at the lodge seemingly the entire group(19 Danish, My kids and Parents and some Staff) came out to see the Bull on the trailer. The Danish were busy taking pictures of it with each other and the staff were all congratulating me. My Parents were aw struck and luckily my children were too young to be scarred(lol) and my son thought the giraffe up close as awesome. Thomas then drove the truck to the slaughterhouse while Dewald and I had a celebratory drink. The butchers would later the next day tell us that the heart was obliterated by the first shot and the lungs were blown through by the second, too say I was proud of my shooting would be an understatement. The butcher also found the initial bullet in the heart, all mushroomed, and gave it to me as a souvenir. I was incredibly happy to have it as i also have the bullet that i shot my first Buck with as well that we found when butchering it.
Day 5 I skipped the morning hunt again to go on a Big 5 Safari with my family and with only 1 animal left on my list(Zebra) and still 3 days to hunt i wasn't in any hurry. After lunch we set off back to the Farm with the White Lions and went searching for some Zebra. We passed a heard of wildebeest, Impala, Blesbok and a few lone Gemsbuck, Sables and Nyalas before we turned a bend and I spotted a herd of Zebra around 100 meters down the road. Dewald slapped the roof of the truck and I readied the rifle while he picked out the optimal specimen. He told me the brownish one of the right but i couldn't see as the scope had fogged from the light drizzle/humidity. He quickly fetched a cloth and cleaned the glass for me but the Zebras had gotten uncomfortable and started moving, albeit slowly, away from us. Dewald had Thomas move up around 25 meters and we stopped again and I readied the rifle. Dewald pointed out the Stallion on the right and I steadied the rifle and my breathing and pulled the trigger. After the shot the group, and target stallion, took off and i was a little worried. Dewald said he believed he had seen a good hit and rewatched the video he recorded for me and showed me the hit and the ripple and said he should be down. Just about then we heard the other in the group start call out and Dewald said he knew for sure it was dead as they were trying to call out to it to not avail. Thomas drove to where they were standing and got out tracked the Stallion and about 60 meters later we found it laying dead as a doornail. They they cleared out the brush in the area and posed it up for some pictures. Afterwards they slashed a small road to the Stallion and winched it into the back of the truck. Before leaving we made another stop to see the White Lions again and then took off back to the Lodge. The lodge had received a good amount of rain while we were gone and the river we had to cross to get back was flowing over the low concrete bridge/ford we had to cross. There were two locals, carrying plastic grocery bags, who were on foot who put their thumbs out to catch a ride with us in the truck to get across. They hopped in the bed with the Zebra and we rode precariously across. At the other side we dropped them off at the lodge they were headed too and when they dismounted we could see their plastic bags dripping with the blood of the Zebra. It was hard not to chuckle because we were sure in their minds it was better than getting swept down the hippo and crock infested river. Afterwards we dropped the Zebra off at the slaughter house(it was then the Butcher informed us about the Giraffe and gave me the bullet) and when they were unloading the Zebra from the truck it fell onto the tiled floor and splattered blood all over my mother who stook nearby and who shrieked in disgust. Thomas and the skinners had the look of "OH SHIT" on their faces and i busted out laughing(as did my mother after a few seconds of turmoil). Dewald chastised them from the other room(he was doing paperwork) and they all laughed it off, probably extremely relieved. Dewald showed me the salt house and the giraffe skull and skin, which took up the entire floor of the room. The smell was intense but it was better than the buzzing pile of entrails next to the slaughter house.
With all my target animals in the salt(and my wife not consenting to me hunting anymore) i spent the rest of my few days with my family relaxing and enjoying Africa. And on our last day they gave us a tour of their in-house taxidermist. They employed around 20 people in the building and were planning on expanded further to catch up with the demand. They showed us the entire process and explained that they even sculpt and make their own molds and mannequins for all their mounts and can custom make a certain pose and or size each mannequin to specifical what the animal was. It was very professional indeed.
Overall I would rate my PH and hunting experience a 10/10. Every time we went out we came back with a Mature Trophy animal. My PH worked hard and had the right connections to get me in front of abundant and amazing animals. The Springbuck, Impala and Blesbok all got Gold medals and the Warthog Got silver(not that any of the medals mattered to me) so the trophy quality was great(especially for the efficiency in which they were taken). Im already planning a return trip in which I will hopefully target a Wildebeest, Gemsbuck and a nice Kudu. Thanks to all the wonderful and extremely friendly staff at Matswani for an amazing first African trip with my Family, especially to my PH Dewald and the Assistant manager at Leopard lodge named Sagrys who went above and beyond to make sure we were happy during our stay.
I booked my hunt in November last year after considering doing one for over 4 years now. I booked a package through Matswani Safaris in the beautiful Waterburg mountains in Limpopo. The price the Matswani package offered was far cheaper than anything else I could find considering my circumstances and hunting wishes. I traveled with my Wife, our two young children and I paid for both my parents to come along as bribe for free babysitting/help tor the wife while I hunted lol.
The package included 2 all inclusive rooms included alcohol for all members of my party, 7 days of hunting, trophy fees included for a Zebra, Blesbok, Springbuck and Impala, rifle rental for the full week, So for 1 hunter 3 adult observers and two kids it was $3.550 for the entire stay. The meals were excellent. Breakfast was a buffet every morning and the lunch and dinner was 3 course meals. Everyday we were served amazing game meat including Impala, Kudu, wildebeest, warthog and ostrich. The chefs would accommodate anything you needed diet wise and made my kids their own meal every time. Also the lodge offered a great companion program which was very important to me as I didn’t want my wife and kids restless (and my 2.5 year old son LOVES animals). They offered game drives every day, some free on their own property which sported the “normal” game animals, and other were an additional fee where they took them to either Kaingo or Welgevonden for a big 5 safari. My kids(and wife and parents) had a blast on the free excursions and saw a lot of animals but we had relatively poor luck on the paid big 5 safaris seeing no elephants at all(much to the detriment of my 2,5 year old son).
Now the hunting portion that everyone cares about:
The first day of hunting started with my PH named Dewald and the Lodge manager taking us to the "Animal museum" where they had full mounts of just about every animal in the region. There they went over my package and handed me an additional price sheet for the other available game. Dewald then took me through each animal I was interested in shooting and showed me exactly where to aim at each angle we might come across. It honestly was very nice to have the chance to do this on full mount animals because most of the ideal positions for me to shoot wasn't what i expected at all. I was used to shooting white tail a little behind the shoulder to preserve as much meat as possible but it seemed these animals i needed to shoot straight through the shoulder. After the enlightening experience Dewald and his tracker Thomas took me to the rifle range. He told me we would be using his 300 Winchester magnum for the hunting. This at first gave me some worry as I wasn’t quite used to shooting a rifle of that caliber. At home I mostly hunt with a 308 or very seldom a 30-06 and in my head a 300 winmag was a solid step above both of those. At the range he pulled out a Howa rifle with a BIG FAT suppressor on the end of it. I had never shot a suppressed rifle so I was excited. I would say their rifle safety was a bit lacking at some times(at least less than what has been drilled into me as a enthusiastic firearm shooter since a very young age) as the PH had his tracker run down to the 100 meter target and put up a target, but just had him stand 50 meters to the side or so instead of coming back up to us where the muzzle wasn’t pointing in his direction. This was a little off putting to me and I asked the PH about and he laughed and said as long as you don’t miss by 50 meters we are good. Still a little off put, I sighted in the target and shot, the rifle was dead on and amazingly my ears didn’t even ring and the recoil felt less than my normal .308 I shoot at home. I was instantly hooked on the suppressor and vowed to get one when i got home.
Later that evening we departed the lodge and drove around 30 minutes to a farm where they had an abundance of springbuck. We got caught in a rain squall on the way and Dewald said it would lower our chances but we would still try. Apparently where I was located they were supposed to get their last rains sometime in February and now it was mid April and it was still raining constantly multiple days a week(this proved detrimental on a few days of this trip) and many places were flooded and animals were harder to find(especially warthog he said). The farm we came too was nothing short of beautiful. It had open "savannahs" that was in my mind quintessentially Africa. The owner had 5 pet White Lions and Thomas showed me them while Dewald confirmed everything with the Owner. The fencing for the lion enclosure was tenuous at best and seemed totally inadequate to hold in full size HUGE lions. It was probably only 8 ft tall, but there were rocks on the inside the Lions could jump from that made the jump for them less than 4 ft, and it was made out of pretty light duty hardware cloth. Up close the Lions were extremely intimidating and they seemingly tried to stalk us through the fence. With the owner all sorted we loaded up into the truck and took off to look for a trophy springbuck. Dewald and myself loaded into his truck bed and he glassed for some springbucks. There was a fairly strong drizzle as we road so we got pretty wet. After around 5 minutes out of nowhere he slapped the truck, signaling Thomas to stop, and told me quietly he saw a springbuck 100 meters away laying down behind a bush. Boy his eyes must of been great because even after looking through the rifle scope i could barely discern the animal. He had Thomas creep up another 10 meters to get a better angle and i sighted the Springbuck through my rain drop fogged scope. I dialed it in to 14 power and Dewald told me to shoot a little behind the neck and a little below the top of the back(Of course we didn't go over a laying down angle in the Museum lol) and with our high angle it would go through the vitals. I got positioned on the padded shooting rack and he said to take him and i shot. After i shot i looked back through the scope and saw it in the same spot. I thought for a split second i missed but then Dewald said, " Great shot, he didn't move an inch". Elated with my fine shooting and my first African animal we rushed over quickly for him to snap a photo of it with its back fur all standing up(which he said only lasted a few minutes after death). Picture in hand he and Thomas then drug it to a better position to take more regular photos. He explained to me that his Father was the PH manager at Matswani and that he had very strict requirements on trophy photos. They had to be a certain angle and position for each species and then they all had to send them in to a group chat with all the PH's and if they weren't up to his standards they would then be roasted in front of the entire group, suffice it to say every animal i hunted has exquisite photos. After the photo session they loaded the Springbuck into the back of the truck and we drove back to the Lodge. At the lodge they showed me the slaughter/skinning house and the skinners quickly got to work on the Springbuck.
Day 2 consisted of breakfast at 7 and then headed off at 7:30. The morning goal was to target an Impala and we drove around 30 minutes once again to another beautiful farm(i was shocked on the whole trip by how beautiful some of the properties we hunted were, at least compared to my Oklahoma homeland where invasive cedars now clog the majority land around me. After checking in with the owner(who had a beautiful garden with a HUGE ponytail palm and a few date palms in bloom absolutely swarming with bees) we set off this time on foot in search of a monster Impala. Dewald said that the Impala rut was due to start soon so they might be fighting already and less aware of us walking around. After about a 1 mile walk we peered down a cleared fence line about 300 meters away was a very large Impala. It was looking through the fence toward another small impala on the other side of the road. It was thrashing its horns against the fence "fighting" the Impala that was 10 meters way from it lol. Between us and the Impala was waterbuck however so we had to sneak around the waterbuck and get closer to the Impala as i wasn't comfortable taking a 300 meter shot, especially off of sticks. We turned back into the property and slowly walked a small semicircle arc passing by the waterbuck and getting to around 150 meters from the impala. We then crept up around 25 more meters before Dewald set down the sticks and i shouldered the rifle. The Impala just then started walking down the fence towards us but its head still completely fixed looking at the other side. He told me that as soon as it turned broadside i could take him and after about 10 seconds he paused and turned and i fired. After the crack of the rifle the Impala dropped where he stood not taking a single step, boy this 300 winmag packed a punch. Dewald cracked a smile and gave me handshake and congratulations and radioed Thomas to drive the truck to us. We then walked up to inspect the Impala and it was beautiful. the horns were impressive to me for damn sure and Dewald told me it would easily score a gold metal. I didn't know what he was talking about and he said it was just the way they scored animals there, bronze, silver or gold metal. After the photo session they loaded up the Impala and Dewald and I loaded into the back of the truck and Thomas drove around while we hoped to find a nice Male warthog. At this lodge they didnt allow anyone to shoot females and only let each hunter shoot one Warthog(I was told this was because they had a group of Spaniards who came through and shot 3 warthogs each and cleaned them out of good quality males a while back). We rode and after about 5 minutes i saw a Warthog that had massive(to my untrained eye) and got excited and then Dewald laughed and said it was a female with babies so we had to pass. Other than that we saw a group of Blesbok, which was on my list but he said none of them were mature enough, and a beautiful Sable but that was above my price range. We then headed back to the lodge and on the way we stopped at a different farm and checked a game camera and dumped some bait for a Warthog at a mud wallow. The camera showed a very large warthog that was coming in fairly regularly every day or two. Dewald said we might come back and set up a blind in a day or two to give it a chance to find the bait. Back at the lodge I had lunch and a short break and then we headed back out again around 3:30 in search of a Zebra or Blesbok. Now 25 minutes to another different farm we loaded up into the truck bed and Thomas slowly drove us around the more brushy/wooded property. After around 15 minutes and after dumping more feed/bait at a waterhole we saw a group of wildebeests running around 75 meters away and at the tail end of the group was around 6 or 7 zebras. It looked like they were going to cross the road around 100 meters in front of us and Dewald proactively told me that if a zebra stopped in the road and i had a shot to take it. Less than 10 seconds later they went billowing past the road running full speed without a chance in hell for me to get a shot off. We dismounted the truck and tried unsuccessfully for 30 minutes to stalk and get closer to the group but they were aided by the thick brush/trees and were incredibly skittish not offering a shot. While stalking the Zebras we did come across a group of Blesbok again they were skittish and in thicker cover. We went back to the truck and started riding around again and found another group of Blesbok at 150 meters. Thomas stopped the truck and Dewald called out to shoot the on in the middle that was broadside and I rested my rifle on the rack while we waited on two smaller females in front of it to move out of the way. They finally moved and I fired. Right away i knew i pulled the shot a little bit and the blesbok took off running but Dewald said he saw a good hit just a little far back. We drove up a little further and finally Thomas had some tracking to do. Around 40 meters further he whispered and motioned and showed me the and Dewald the Blesbok that was down but its head was raised and looking around. Dewald had me rest the rifle on his shoulder and said to shoot i had a clear shot but i was obstructed by brush. We side stepped 5 meters to find a better angle and the Blesbok leaped up and ran through the brush again. We walked up a little bit further for a minute or two and we saw a glimpse of the Blesbok through the brush and i had a small window and i shot once more. The Blesbok dropped where it stood. Dewald walked up and confirmed it was dead by touching its eyes and my mother, who attended the hunt as my observer, freaked out as it went through some minor death twitches. Dewald congratulated me and gave me a handshake and told me it was a very old male. The horns were white on the ridges which he said indicated age. The sun was setting fast so Dewald and Thomas hurried to carry the beast out of the woods to the road(stopping for two breaks along the way as the beast was fairly heavy) and loaded the Blesbok onto the truck and hurried to find a clearing to take good photos(clearing was one of the requirements for a photo from his father). We made it to a clearing and they unloaded and posed the Blesbok and just then a herd of Blue and Golden Wildebeests came running through all majestic and beautiful and we joked that they knew we weren't hunting them and showed off. After the photos we headed back to the lodge and on the way on a farm they had hunting in the past Dewald spied a really nice male Warthog he said he had seen on and off for the last two weeks. It was in a clearing near the road and accompanied a female and 4 or so babies. He said we might try to set up a blind and hunt him tomorrow if he could talk to the landowner.
On day 3 I didn't hunt in the morning and helped my Wife with the kids while my parents went on a Big 5 safari to Kaingo. After lunch we did go out hunting, this time with my Dad tagging along to try to get the Warthog we had seen the day prior. Arriving at the farms gate Dewald honk the horn and after 5-10 minutes the owners came driving up and they talked in Afrikaans for bit seemingly giving us permission to hunt it. We then loaded into the back of the truck and Dewald said we would drive down the road and if it was in the same place we had seen it the night before i would just shoot it through the fence. This definitely felt weird to me as Road Hunting was highly illegal where I was from but he said it was ok here. So down the road we went and after rounding the curb before the clearing, my heart pounding in anticipation........, it was clear. Mr. Warthog hadn't come by yet so we went back to the Farms gate and traveled down an interior road to the clearing and set up a blind. Dewald laughed and said his Temu camo net was about to get its money worth and we set it up, about eye level from sitting in a chair, between two trees about 50 meters from the clearing. He didn't know if the Warthog came from the road or the interior of the property so we attentively watched both sides. After around 45 minutes we saw the kick of a cloud of dirt from the road and out popped the Female and babies who squirmed under the fence and started grazing in the clearing. We watched attentively waiting and hoping the Male would soon follow and I my heart dropped for a minute, when the Female and babies suddenly sped away, thinking they had smelled us. However they stopped at the far edge of the clearing and continued on like nothing happened. Dewald was glassing them when out of the corner of my eye I saw the Male kick up dust on the road and run under the fence. I tapped his leg to get his attention and he quickly glassed the Male and said it was him and i readied the rifle. On the stick it pulled the netting down and the suppressor stuck out in front past the blind. The warthog paused at around 60 meters from us and I confirmed with Dewald, who started recording for me, and with my heart pounding i steadied my breath and I shot. He dropped where he stood and started his death twitches. Dewald immediately congratulated me a laughed saying he was happy to take the Male finally. Funny enough the Female and babies stood still, seemingly in shock, until we got up and started walking toward the Male. Walking up to it the tusks immediately stood out and Dewald said that for this area this was a really good Warthog. We pose for some pictures and then left, and only made it 5 minutes down the road before the heavens opened up and it poured for an hour or so. Later that night at the bar i was talking to another PH and his Danish client about the day and he asked what I had shot and I told him a Warthog and he pulled up the picture on their group chat and immediately looked shocked and said again for this area that was a stud. Come to find out when talking to Dewald the next morning he caught a lot of shit from the other PH's over the warthog. I guess they all had seen the same one a couple times when they had driven past but had no idea it was available to shoot and were mad that he didn't tell them that he had permission to shoot it. Dewald told me this and then laughed and said," If only they had the balls to talk to the Owner they could have scored it for their clients" and it was at that point i was really glad he was my PH because after talking to some of the Danish clients at the Lodge(19 Danish were staying there) some had gone out 3 days without shooting a single trophy. I don't know if Dewald just that much better or if I just had some dumb luck......
On the morning of Day 4 it was pouring rain and at breakfast at 7 i was worried we might not be able to hunt that morning. I asked Dewald and he said with bravado, "We aren't scared of rain". I mean i wasn't either but this was some serious rain lol with a mix of thunder every so often. Dewald had arranged for me to go to a farm and hunt a very old and very dark Giraffe bull so we went to the PH huts and loaded up their trailer(in the downpour) to haul the Giraffe back and set off to the farm around 35 minutes away. The drive was crazy, the rain intensified and the already poor dirt roads turned to flowing rivers of mud and water. some portions were 3 ft deep of water and his Toyota was sliding and fishtailing all over the road. Finally after 25 minutes of hell he decided to call it and turned back for the lodge going back through the mush we had just traveled. We hung around the bar for 2 hours or so(enough to eat a second breakfast with the observers and my family at 9 lol) and finally around 10:30 or so the rain had dissipated and we set off again for the farm with another PH and 3 hands from the skinning shed coming along to assist with the Giraffe. The road was still horrendous and now quite washed out in some places although not as much as a river. after around 45 minutes we made it to the farm which was the must beautiful i had seen yet and met the farm manager. He told us where they had seen the Bull the day before and we set up a game plan. He showed us some pictures of the Bull and my oh my was it beautiful. Compared to the other giraffes standing next to it it was night and day on the color. The manager said that he had been there for 17 years and this specific Giraffe had been there since then so he estimated it at over 20 years old. He said that honestly he was quite sad to see it go but that the Owner was worried it would die on its own and didn't want to risk it so he had to make it available for hunting(I guess a few years back they had a big bull die fighting another bull and they lost a bunch of money from what they said). We hoped in the truck and drove until we sighted them on the open savannah and then set off on foot to close the distance. We found them after a 30 minute search around 500 meters away. The target bull was in a group of 4 and they seemed to be standing still feeding. We dismounted and I carried the 300 winmag while Dewald carried a 375 in case it was necessary(he said he had never seen a Giraffe shot with a 300 and wanted to see how it did and if it didn't work too well we would use the 375 for a follow up shot). Before we left he quickly pulled up a picture of a Giraffe with its vitals overlaid and showed me where to shoot(I didn't come into the trip expecting to shoot a Giraffe so we didn't discuss it at the Animals museum). Dewald, Myself and my Wife in tow(her first hunting experience ever) slowly stalked up to the group and after about 5 minutes at around 150 yards he set down the sticks and i tried to steady my breathing. The group seemed to finally give us notice and began to walk away but the old Bull stood still seemingly in defiance. However he too then started moving with the group and they stopped around 50 meters further away. We then stalked up back to 150 meters away and once again the sticks when up and i shouldered the rifle. The bull was standing out in front and there was a younger one behind him. Dewald said to take him when i had a good shot. I questioned him about the younger giraffe behind him but he said the bullet wouldn't go through and to not worry. So took a deep breath and steadied the crosshairs and pulled the trigger. The first thing i remember after was watching through the scope and seeing the ripple of hide, indication of a good shot. The giraffe took off, almost in slow motion, and i watch it run around 50 meters then drop slamming into a small tree which shook violently. I finally remembered to breath and Dewald seemed ecstatic, as was I. My wife however, seeing he first animal being hunted(looking back maybe a Giraffe as her first hunting experience was a bit extreme) was sobbing feeling pity for the majestic beast. I quickly hugged her and then Dewald wanted us to move in to confirm it was down and dead. We walked up slowly rifles at the ready and say it lying down but still slightly kicking. It seemed to be death throws but Dewald wanted to take no chances so I put another round in its chest(He said that last time he hunted a Giraffe it had dropped like mine after one shot and when he and his client went in to confirm its death he tapped its eyes and it immediately jolted to its feet in between him and his client. He didnt have his pistol on him and was unarmed so he shouted to his client to shoot it again and his client quickly shot it in the head. Because of that he said he was always going to put an extra round in the chest to be safe lol). I could hear the lungs deflate after the second shot and the kicking stopped pretty fast. We could see both bullet holes and Dewald told me that the first shot obliterated the heart and that i did a great job. The immense size of the Bull standing not 5 feet from it was mind blowing. Dewald said he personally hadn't hunted a client on such a Bull in his 10 year career and that it was a monster(I'm sure they sugar coat it for every client and every animal is the best they have ever saw but I was more than happy to believe him). What also shocked me was the sure number of ticks crawling all over the Bull. in some spots like the top of his head between the "horns" they were so thick you couldn't see the hide. Coming from Lymes disease territory( and much worse conditions such as losing the ability to eat meat from hoofed animals, which happened to a family friend) it was terrifying to see. Dewald radioed the others to come in the trucks and it took the team of 6 around 45 minutes to position the bull with winches and pure manpower for the photos. While they were hard at work the farm manager who was obviously teary eyed himself saw my wife crying and went over and comforted her with a hug saying he was sad too but at least it died a quick and painless death rather than a drawn out painful death otherwise it probably would've endured, funnily enough he also joked, after showing us the long coarse black tail strands, that we should turn it into a kinky sex toy/whip. We all had a chuckle and the laughs helped my Wife stop crying which was a relief. After the has the Bull positioned I somehow convinced my wife to join me for a few of the pictures and Dewald had us pose in about 5 different angles. They then labored for close to an hour, cutting a road, backing in the trailer and winching the giraffe onto it. After their toils we set off into the trucks and took it slow back to the lodge towing the ~4,000 pound beast. Back at the lodge seemingly the entire group(19 Danish, My kids and Parents and some Staff) came out to see the Bull on the trailer. The Danish were busy taking pictures of it with each other and the staff were all congratulating me. My Parents were aw struck and luckily my children were too young to be scarred(lol) and my son thought the giraffe up close as awesome. Thomas then drove the truck to the slaughterhouse while Dewald and I had a celebratory drink. The butchers would later the next day tell us that the heart was obliterated by the first shot and the lungs were blown through by the second, too say I was proud of my shooting would be an understatement. The butcher also found the initial bullet in the heart, all mushroomed, and gave it to me as a souvenir. I was incredibly happy to have it as i also have the bullet that i shot my first Buck with as well that we found when butchering it.
Day 5 I skipped the morning hunt again to go on a Big 5 Safari with my family and with only 1 animal left on my list(Zebra) and still 3 days to hunt i wasn't in any hurry. After lunch we set off back to the Farm with the White Lions and went searching for some Zebra. We passed a heard of wildebeest, Impala, Blesbok and a few lone Gemsbuck, Sables and Nyalas before we turned a bend and I spotted a herd of Zebra around 100 meters down the road. Dewald slapped the roof of the truck and I readied the rifle while he picked out the optimal specimen. He told me the brownish one of the right but i couldn't see as the scope had fogged from the light drizzle/humidity. He quickly fetched a cloth and cleaned the glass for me but the Zebras had gotten uncomfortable and started moving, albeit slowly, away from us. Dewald had Thomas move up around 25 meters and we stopped again and I readied the rifle. Dewald pointed out the Stallion on the right and I steadied the rifle and my breathing and pulled the trigger. After the shot the group, and target stallion, took off and i was a little worried. Dewald said he believed he had seen a good hit and rewatched the video he recorded for me and showed me the hit and the ripple and said he should be down. Just about then we heard the other in the group start call out and Dewald said he knew for sure it was dead as they were trying to call out to it to not avail. Thomas drove to where they were standing and got out tracked the Stallion and about 60 meters later we found it laying dead as a doornail. They they cleared out the brush in the area and posed it up for some pictures. Afterwards they slashed a small road to the Stallion and winched it into the back of the truck. Before leaving we made another stop to see the White Lions again and then took off back to the Lodge. The lodge had received a good amount of rain while we were gone and the river we had to cross to get back was flowing over the low concrete bridge/ford we had to cross. There were two locals, carrying plastic grocery bags, who were on foot who put their thumbs out to catch a ride with us in the truck to get across. They hopped in the bed with the Zebra and we rode precariously across. At the other side we dropped them off at the lodge they were headed too and when they dismounted we could see their plastic bags dripping with the blood of the Zebra. It was hard not to chuckle because we were sure in their minds it was better than getting swept down the hippo and crock infested river. Afterwards we dropped the Zebra off at the slaughter house(it was then the Butcher informed us about the Giraffe and gave me the bullet) and when they were unloading the Zebra from the truck it fell onto the tiled floor and splattered blood all over my mother who stook nearby and who shrieked in disgust. Thomas and the skinners had the look of "OH SHIT" on their faces and i busted out laughing(as did my mother after a few seconds of turmoil). Dewald chastised them from the other room(he was doing paperwork) and they all laughed it off, probably extremely relieved. Dewald showed me the salt house and the giraffe skull and skin, which took up the entire floor of the room. The smell was intense but it was better than the buzzing pile of entrails next to the slaughter house.
With all my target animals in the salt(and my wife not consenting to me hunting anymore) i spent the rest of my few days with my family relaxing and enjoying Africa. And on our last day they gave us a tour of their in-house taxidermist. They employed around 20 people in the building and were planning on expanded further to catch up with the demand. They showed us the entire process and explained that they even sculpt and make their own molds and mannequins for all their mounts and can custom make a certain pose and or size each mannequin to specifical what the animal was. It was very professional indeed.
Overall I would rate my PH and hunting experience a 10/10. Every time we went out we came back with a Mature Trophy animal. My PH worked hard and had the right connections to get me in front of abundant and amazing animals. The Springbuck, Impala and Blesbok all got Gold medals and the Warthog Got silver(not that any of the medals mattered to me) so the trophy quality was great(especially for the efficiency in which they were taken). Im already planning a return trip in which I will hopefully target a Wildebeest, Gemsbuck and a nice Kudu. Thanks to all the wonderful and extremely friendly staff at Matswani for an amazing first African trip with my Family, especially to my PH Dewald and the Assistant manager at Leopard lodge named Sagrys who went above and beyond to make sure we were happy during our stay.
. Where about do you hunt in WV? My family is from there and I used to live there as a youth before the Chesapeake Energy Company went under and we were forced to move to Oklahoma where oil was still flourishing. I spent many summers on my Grandparents farm in Lewis County fiddling around. I shot my first 3 bucks on their farm as well. West Virginia will always have a place in my heart.
