- Joined
- Apr 13, 2013
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- 8,810
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- Location
- Delaware, USA
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- Member of
- Atglen Sportsmen's Club, NRA, SCI
- Hunted
- RSA, DE, NJ, PA, KS, TX, ME
Just returned from completing a twenty animal management hunt at @Nick BOWKER HUNTING SOUTH AFRICA venue with my good buddy, DJ, who hadn’t been back to RSA in nine years. Two hours up the New Jersey turnpike, we arrived at our off airport parking site. Five minutes to the airport, we unloaded and checked in with the United people who were efficient at getting our rifles and bags squared away and we were off to the short TSA-Pre security line. After a twenty-five dollar hamburger meal at one of the eateries, we were set for the fifteen hour flight to Joburg. Gracy Travel did all the pre and post hunt travel and lodging arrangements and the ever present “Mayor” of Tambo, Bruce Mhduli was there to greet us, get our rifles at SAPS and settled in to the adjacent CitiLodge hotel. After a great breakfast, Bruce met us and got us checked in with our rifles and up to the security queue.
As there were others with one day remaining at Nick’s, arrangements were made to stay overnight in Port Elizabeth. The prearranged shuttle took us to the Raddison Blu, across the street from the beach with a nice view of the Indian Ocean. Like the CitiLodge, Gracy handled the transfers and reservations for this stop. If anyone needs another day to get acclimated, or just wants to explore some of the local attractions, I highly recommend this hotel.
Up the next morning and after another fine breakfast, our ph for the hunt, Ben Pringle arrived, loaded our gear and we were off to Olive Fountain Ranch. As Nick was working with two other hunters in camp, Ben, an accomplished and highly experienced PH, worked with us for our entire hunt. We nicknamed him Eagle Eye because he could spot animals at long distances, determine their sex and if they were cull candidates. This was a medium range hunt with the mission to remove excess female animals in specific areas. Trophy animals were off the table giving us a high value, good bang for the buck experience. The weather gods looked over us for all but one of the nine days with almost zero wind, cool temperatures and clear blue skies. Over the course of nine days, we took our limit in kudu, impala, warthog, blesbok and springbok. The second evening, although not on the list, I took a caracal tom.
My rifles were self built 30-28 Nosler and 6.5x47 Lapua, both shooting Berger VLDH bullets. DJ used a 30-28 Nosler custom he built and a 26 Nosler that I built for him a few years ago. He used the same bullet style. We shot from Rudolph sticks, bipods and off the truck. Good equipment, handloads, dope charts and weekly practice with the Rudolph sticks and Harris bipods at our club’s 500 meter range were a large part of our shooting success. The 30-28s had plenty of horsepower at the longer ranges with the old kudu cows dropping like lead sinkers.
The 26 was more than enough on the springbok, impala and warthogs. DJ killed eight springbok and a warthog in two hours on an early morning driven hunt in an area with some bush and some open space at 200-300 meters. Meanwhile, I watched the hillside show another white belly after each shot. DJ was worried I wasn’t getting any shots but I joked that sometimes you get the elevator and sometimes you get the shaft. He was just in the right spot and that’s the way it sometimes works. At any rate, I was glad one of us was getting plenty of action. Later that morning and the afternoon he deferred to me and I took three springbok, one each of kudu and warthog. We ended up square on animals killed.
In addition to working with a great ph and good shooting, the food and accommodations were top shelf with appetizers, braai cooked venison or domestic meat, salads and veggies every evening, plenty of spirits and enough homemade desserts to pack on a few pounds by trip’s end. Laundry and room cleaning was done every day and wi-fi calling made for easy communications with home. For those that use T-mobile, 2G data roaming and text messaging are free in RSA using the Vodacom network with non wi-fi calls charged at twenty five cents a minute.
For anyone looking for a high value, walk and stalk, long range or limited mobility hunt, I recommend contacting Nick for a package or specialty quote.
Edit: Forgot to add, Nick had a solar panel array installed with battery backup so no effect of load shedding and power outages.
As there were others with one day remaining at Nick’s, arrangements were made to stay overnight in Port Elizabeth. The prearranged shuttle took us to the Raddison Blu, across the street from the beach with a nice view of the Indian Ocean. Like the CitiLodge, Gracy handled the transfers and reservations for this stop. If anyone needs another day to get acclimated, or just wants to explore some of the local attractions, I highly recommend this hotel.
Up the next morning and after another fine breakfast, our ph for the hunt, Ben Pringle arrived, loaded our gear and we were off to Olive Fountain Ranch. As Nick was working with two other hunters in camp, Ben, an accomplished and highly experienced PH, worked with us for our entire hunt. We nicknamed him Eagle Eye because he could spot animals at long distances, determine their sex and if they were cull candidates. This was a medium range hunt with the mission to remove excess female animals in specific areas. Trophy animals were off the table giving us a high value, good bang for the buck experience. The weather gods looked over us for all but one of the nine days with almost zero wind, cool temperatures and clear blue skies. Over the course of nine days, we took our limit in kudu, impala, warthog, blesbok and springbok. The second evening, although not on the list, I took a caracal tom.
My rifles were self built 30-28 Nosler and 6.5x47 Lapua, both shooting Berger VLDH bullets. DJ used a 30-28 Nosler custom he built and a 26 Nosler that I built for him a few years ago. He used the same bullet style. We shot from Rudolph sticks, bipods and off the truck. Good equipment, handloads, dope charts and weekly practice with the Rudolph sticks and Harris bipods at our club’s 500 meter range were a large part of our shooting success. The 30-28s had plenty of horsepower at the longer ranges with the old kudu cows dropping like lead sinkers.
The 26 was more than enough on the springbok, impala and warthogs. DJ killed eight springbok and a warthog in two hours on an early morning driven hunt in an area with some bush and some open space at 200-300 meters. Meanwhile, I watched the hillside show another white belly after each shot. DJ was worried I wasn’t getting any shots but I joked that sometimes you get the elevator and sometimes you get the shaft. He was just in the right spot and that’s the way it sometimes works. At any rate, I was glad one of us was getting plenty of action. Later that morning and the afternoon he deferred to me and I took three springbok, one each of kudu and warthog. We ended up square on animals killed.
In addition to working with a great ph and good shooting, the food and accommodations were top shelf with appetizers, braai cooked venison or domestic meat, salads and veggies every evening, plenty of spirits and enough homemade desserts to pack on a few pounds by trip’s end. Laundry and room cleaning was done every day and wi-fi calling made for easy communications with home. For those that use T-mobile, 2G data roaming and text messaging are free in RSA using the Vodacom network with non wi-fi calls charged at twenty five cents a minute.
For anyone looking for a high value, walk and stalk, long range or limited mobility hunt, I recommend contacting Nick for a package or specialty quote.
Edit: Forgot to add, Nick had a solar panel array installed with battery backup so no effect of load shedding and power outages.
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