Hello fellow travelling hunters,
The same as with some others here within The World's Greatest Forum, I'm a firearms enthusiast.
I don't own a baseball glove or a hockey stick, neither can I tell you what teams are playing each year in ... (name your world championship sports game event).
If conversations are on about pretty much anything other than firearms, angling tackle, hunting, fishing, or cooking wild game and wild fish, I get bored pretty fast.
My detractors and there are many, might say that I'm narrow minded.
(I have no response to that - lol).
Began hand loading at age 16, now I'm a pruneface and still at it (much to the chagrin of Barry and Hillary, no doubt).
Until 12 or 13 years ago, I had owned over 100 firearms simultaneously.
Steadily, from then to now, I have sold almost all of them, to pay for my multiple hunting trips in Africa.
About 2/3 of these were always hunting rifles, as they are my #1 preference in firearms.
If I were stuck with but one firearm, it definitely would be a hunting rifle (preferably a Model 98 Mauser).
However, after pulling my own hair out and practically getting ulcers, over the stress of shipping my pet rifle du jour, I no longer try to bring one across International Borders.
Thanks to the Internet (and this forum specifically), it is possible to find a Safari Company that is all things proper, to include finding one that has a decent rifle to rent.
Requires some research but, for my blue collar money, it is worth the extra effort to me.
In fact, I rather enjoy scrolling through the various offers set forth by different Safari Companies then, weeding out the one's who's web sites don't really hold my interest, finally narrowing it down to the point that I'm corresponding directly with PHs, their Hunt Managers and especially with their former clients, it's part of the fun.
In my experiences of travelling to and from 5 African Safaris so far, I conclude that it is definitely worth the extra homework, to find just the right outfit to hunt with, including offering you a good deal on renting a specific rifle to your liking.
For me personally, it sure beats dealing with the crooked Border Police and painfully stupid airline employees, in regards to my valuable firearm in transit.
If you negotiate well your rental price, the cost is similar or at least not much more than all the extortion fees for bringing a firearm that, one must pay to some airlines and to each corrupt country that you must pass through anyway.
I once threw quite a few .450 No2 NE cartridges into a garbage can, in OR Tambo Airport, rather than to pay the armed robber's (South African Police) one US dollar "Tax" for each round.
Live or not didn't matter to these thugs, they demanded one buck a piece for my ammunition, just to let me bring them back home in my checked bag.
At that time (or perhaps with that specific shift of "Officers") they also required me to keep my locked ammunition box out as a separate item of checked luggage.
Imagine my delight when the Airline also said they must charge me the same price as for an extra piece of full size luggage (it was about 12"x 8"x 4" and might have weighed around 6 or 7 pounds at most).
Instead of paying both sets of bandits, I went round the corner and dropped the whole thing into a garbage can.
Probably lost money over all (.450 No2 brass is spendy) but the principle of the matter made me feel a little better anyway.
This is not to mention the stress of worrying over the high risk of theft, vandalism and "lost" rifle box and / or "lost" ammunition - refer back to painfully stupid airline employees (some of which are also evidently just as crooked as their Border Police are in .... name your so called "developing country").
I have in years past, hunted and fished in other USA states and also out to many remote places within my home state.
All of which require airline travel, at least for the main distance traversed, before switching to a small "bush plane" or jet boat, whatever to finally reach the specific hunting / fishing spot.
For this, bringing my own firearm is acceptable to me.
But the airline employee factor still gives me the creeps on domestic flights, as I watch my rifle box (or expensive contents fly rod case), disappear on the belt and into the belly of the beast, also known as: "lair of the thief and vandal."
All that having been sufficiently ranted about, if fishing is available in whatever International spot I'm visiting, I do bring my own fly reel and line, tippets, etc., to fit whatever fly rod the PH has for me to use.
This I put into my carry on bag, to keep my binoculars and camera company on the two days each way flights from Alaska to Africa and back.
If those water-heads in the airline industry decide fishing reels are dangerous, I will use whatever complete tackle the PH provides.
They already forbid any part related to firearms, including a detached rifle scope, to be in your carry on bag.
Well anyway, it works for me.
Your results may vary.
(This offer void in Cuba, Venezuela and Illinois).
Cheerio,
Velo Dog.