Uncle Sauce
AH elite
South Africa – Eastern Cape w/KMG - First Safari
Outfitter: @KMG Hunting Safaris
PH: Nick Neuper
Tracker/Skinner: Timba
Rifle: Winchester M70 300 Win Mag w/ suppressor
Scope: Leupold VX5 3-15x44
Bullets: Nosler Accubond 200gr reloads with H1000
Flight Itinerary: Spokane (Alaska) – Seattle (Qatar) – Doha (Qatar) – Johannesburg (Airlink) – East London
I’ve been back almost a week now trying to get caught up with work so the installments may not be in a timely manner but I’ll give it a go as time permits.
This hunt was supposed to be the AH group hunt in 2020 but was cancelled due to COVID. I’ll add some unnecessary details regarding the flights with the hope that it helps other members.
Travel Days – 2
For all the travel details I let @TRAVEL EXPRESS take care of that. Good thing too, since there were many cancellations and rebookings over the last year – it took out a lot of stress to let them handle it.
For my COVID test I had ordered the COVID Consultants home kit. Flight left on Saturday so I took the nasal swab and dropped off at Fedex on Wednesday early afternoon. Received my results back via email on Thursday evening.
I started to get pretty excited when Marius had sent me a message a few days before I left saying that they had spotted some bruisers in the areas I would be hunting. Finally, this was going to happen!
First flight with Alaskan Airlines to Seattle was no issue. Checked in right at noon on Saturday with my rifle and got my boarding passes. Asked the ticket agent if I needed to reclaim my rifle & luggage in Seattle but she stated multiple times “No”. I thought it was odd but thought I’ll get confirmation from Qatar in Seattle. After the TSA rifle check no issues and boarded the flight.
Landed in Seattle and proceeded to the Qatar gate and asked that agent if I needed to reclaim my rifle & luggage, once again the answer was empathatically “No”. Waited at the gate for an hour until I was paged and was told that I needed to reclaim my luggage at Carousel 1. Good thing I heard the page so out through the terminal to hop on the tram rail to try and find my luggage but there was nothing at Carousel 1. Finally I went to Alaska baggage claim and found an agent, who after walking around asking multiple people they asked if I was from Idaho and owned a black bag and a tan rifle case – ‘Yes’ I replied and they said someone had already claimed my luggage (@Patrick Hargan!). My jaw must have hit the floor and I probably soiled my drawers. But after a bit more checking they said that I needed to hurry to Qatar ticketing counter and that they had my luggage. Found it there and pulled my ammo box from my luggage for a weight check then put it back in my luggage then went through the 45 minutes of Qatar paperwork then to TSA for another rifle check.
I had a 4-1/2 hour layover in Seattle but after going through this and security I made it back to the gate with only about 20 minutes to spare. Finally boarded for the 14 hour flight to Doha.
Landed in Doha and thank goodness no more rifle checks but we deboarded and did have to go back through security to board the next flight of 8-1/2 hours to JNB. They did check my COVID test paperwork though.
Landed in Johannnesburg about 4:00AM and was promptly met by a Riflepermits representative off the jetway. They escorted me to the SAPS office and waited for the rifle case for almost an hour. Turns out that Qatar had tried checking it directly on to East London. After Riflepermits got that handled and the rifle & luggage came back to SAPS for a SN# check then on to Airlink to get checked in. We checked in but didn’t receive boarding passes since I had to remove the ammo box (to fly separately) and had to go to another counter to pay excess baggage fees. Or it might have been the Airlink firearm handling fee – a bit unclear on what exactly happened in JNB. Once that fee was paid we had to go back to the check-in counter and receive boarding passes. Quite a hassle but once that was completed we had some time to kill so I had breakfast / lunch with @Patrick Hargan and talked about our upcoming safaris. We parted ways since he was flying to Port Elizabeth and I was continuing to East London. The small fee paid to Riflepermits in my opinion was well worth it!
SAPS office JNB
Airlink flight to East London
Landed in ELS exactly at noon and picked my rifle / luggage up from the carousel and escorted to a small room to have another rifle check. No issues and went outside to meet with Nick the PH who was waiting on me and head to the lodge. I had Nick stop by a hunting store so I could pick up a jacket since I had left my coat on the SEA to DOHA flight in the overhead bin. It was interesting to see the selection of sporting goods they have there.
*Side note: Wearing a mask the entire trip was annoying. The only time you can remove it was if you were eating or drinking. Qatar wasn’t strict in enforcing because I caught myself waking up on the plane with my mask around my neck more than once. I highly recommend buying a nice comfortable mask that doesn’t constrict you too much. Also, since I rarely wear masks in Idaho if I go somewhere that requires it I typically use a neck gaiter. Throughout the airports they state on the intercom that if you wear a neck gaiter you need to wear two. Well, I lost my mask somewhere on my hunt and I wore a neck gaiter the entire flight back home and nobody said a word.
Arrived at the lodge and unloaded my gear and grabbed my rifle to see if we could get it sighted in before it was too dark. By that time it had started pouring rain and was gusting winds but after a bit of a struggle we got it dialed in and headed back to the lodge.
Outspan Lodge 1
Outspan Lodge 2
Outspan Lodge - Room
Outfitter: @KMG Hunting Safaris
PH: Nick Neuper
Tracker/Skinner: Timba
Rifle: Winchester M70 300 Win Mag w/ suppressor
Scope: Leupold VX5 3-15x44
Bullets: Nosler Accubond 200gr reloads with H1000
Flight Itinerary: Spokane (Alaska) – Seattle (Qatar) – Doha (Qatar) – Johannesburg (Airlink) – East London
I’ve been back almost a week now trying to get caught up with work so the installments may not be in a timely manner but I’ll give it a go as time permits.
This hunt was supposed to be the AH group hunt in 2020 but was cancelled due to COVID. I’ll add some unnecessary details regarding the flights with the hope that it helps other members.
Travel Days – 2
For all the travel details I let @TRAVEL EXPRESS take care of that. Good thing too, since there were many cancellations and rebookings over the last year – it took out a lot of stress to let them handle it.
For my COVID test I had ordered the COVID Consultants home kit. Flight left on Saturday so I took the nasal swab and dropped off at Fedex on Wednesday early afternoon. Received my results back via email on Thursday evening.
I started to get pretty excited when Marius had sent me a message a few days before I left saying that they had spotted some bruisers in the areas I would be hunting. Finally, this was going to happen!
First flight with Alaskan Airlines to Seattle was no issue. Checked in right at noon on Saturday with my rifle and got my boarding passes. Asked the ticket agent if I needed to reclaim my rifle & luggage in Seattle but she stated multiple times “No”. I thought it was odd but thought I’ll get confirmation from Qatar in Seattle. After the TSA rifle check no issues and boarded the flight.
Landed in Seattle and proceeded to the Qatar gate and asked that agent if I needed to reclaim my rifle & luggage, once again the answer was empathatically “No”. Waited at the gate for an hour until I was paged and was told that I needed to reclaim my luggage at Carousel 1. Good thing I heard the page so out through the terminal to hop on the tram rail to try and find my luggage but there was nothing at Carousel 1. Finally I went to Alaska baggage claim and found an agent, who after walking around asking multiple people they asked if I was from Idaho and owned a black bag and a tan rifle case – ‘Yes’ I replied and they said someone had already claimed my luggage (@Patrick Hargan!). My jaw must have hit the floor and I probably soiled my drawers. But after a bit more checking they said that I needed to hurry to Qatar ticketing counter and that they had my luggage. Found it there and pulled my ammo box from my luggage for a weight check then put it back in my luggage then went through the 45 minutes of Qatar paperwork then to TSA for another rifle check.
I had a 4-1/2 hour layover in Seattle but after going through this and security I made it back to the gate with only about 20 minutes to spare. Finally boarded for the 14 hour flight to Doha.
Landed in Doha and thank goodness no more rifle checks but we deboarded and did have to go back through security to board the next flight of 8-1/2 hours to JNB. They did check my COVID test paperwork though.
Landed in Johannnesburg about 4:00AM and was promptly met by a Riflepermits representative off the jetway. They escorted me to the SAPS office and waited for the rifle case for almost an hour. Turns out that Qatar had tried checking it directly on to East London. After Riflepermits got that handled and the rifle & luggage came back to SAPS for a SN# check then on to Airlink to get checked in. We checked in but didn’t receive boarding passes since I had to remove the ammo box (to fly separately) and had to go to another counter to pay excess baggage fees. Or it might have been the Airlink firearm handling fee – a bit unclear on what exactly happened in JNB. Once that fee was paid we had to go back to the check-in counter and receive boarding passes. Quite a hassle but once that was completed we had some time to kill so I had breakfast / lunch with @Patrick Hargan and talked about our upcoming safaris. We parted ways since he was flying to Port Elizabeth and I was continuing to East London. The small fee paid to Riflepermits in my opinion was well worth it!
SAPS office JNB
Airlink flight to East London
Landed in ELS exactly at noon and picked my rifle / luggage up from the carousel and escorted to a small room to have another rifle check. No issues and went outside to meet with Nick the PH who was waiting on me and head to the lodge. I had Nick stop by a hunting store so I could pick up a jacket since I had left my coat on the SEA to DOHA flight in the overhead bin. It was interesting to see the selection of sporting goods they have there.
*Side note: Wearing a mask the entire trip was annoying. The only time you can remove it was if you were eating or drinking. Qatar wasn’t strict in enforcing because I caught myself waking up on the plane with my mask around my neck more than once. I highly recommend buying a nice comfortable mask that doesn’t constrict you too much. Also, since I rarely wear masks in Idaho if I go somewhere that requires it I typically use a neck gaiter. Throughout the airports they state on the intercom that if you wear a neck gaiter you need to wear two. Well, I lost my mask somewhere on my hunt and I wore a neck gaiter the entire flight back home and nobody said a word.
Arrived at the lodge and unloaded my gear and grabbed my rifle to see if we could get it sighted in before it was too dark. By that time it had started pouring rain and was gusting winds but after a bit of a struggle we got it dialed in and headed back to the lodge.
Outspan Lodge 1
Outspan Lodge 2
Outspan Lodge - Room
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Waiting excitedly for more!
