The Hardest Hunting Question There Ever Was / Is

[Second Wind]

Gather 'round gents I have a story to tell and requests to make.

First, a little background.

I am a single Dad. Raised two beautiful, smart intelligent and moral daughters. One now in nursing school the other an engineer. Proud of them both. They lived by the creed: "Time to throw out the whores and mop up the blood, Dad's on his way home"

But I digress

Well men, they have found my porn, Russian vodka and Cuban cigars. They have, for their own use over the years, pilfered my liquor and gun cabinets, turned women of questionable virtue that I chose to associate myself with into surrogate Mother figures, and grown up, as you might have expected true women of South Texas. Again I say, they make me proud.

Well tonight, we had a little intervention sort of thing that started with ...."Dad, we found the website" and I tried my best to look as innocent as history would allow

Africa Hunting.com

"Gulp"

from the youngest "when were you going to tell us?"

double gulp


from the oldest "did you think we would never find out?"

uh oh! Deep doo doo on the rise

in unison "we want to go"

crap


So here is the question and the need for advice:

They both have hunted extensively in Texas.

East Texas in the piney woods with the "other" half of the family

South Texas with me

and lots and lots of bird hunting with my sainted 86 year old Mother

the youngest, cool under fire and a pretty good hand with rifle and gun, the oldest more of a calculating operator, good at distance with a rifle not so much with a gun, however, during dove season does an impressive imitation of a waist gunner on a B-17 being ankle deep in hulls and often little to show for it.

Both have toured Europe, solo, for as much as a month at a time without a tour or outside assistance.

Both own personally a Model 70 in .375 Holland which collects dust as they prefer their 7mm08's

Both clean their own guns and field dress their own deer.

I have been told that they will both have time in March 2012

For two young women, the apple of this old man's eye, where do you send them for the perfect African Hunt / Adventure and why.

And, btw, outfitters and PH's that have thoughts are more than welcome with any offer.

Gentlemen, I said at the start this was going to be a tough one.

One more thing. This is a solo deal, they will be together but on their own. dad will not be making this trip. Other plans.

Thanks

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Well if you'll invite me to your South Texas deer lease, I'd be glad to tell you! I've always wanted to hunt those big bucks down there.....








But seriously, assuming you'd be sending them on a PG hunt and they seem like a couple of those spry Texas girls, one of which I'm married too, I'd probably send them to RSA. A direct flight from Atlanta to Jo'burg where if you sent them to Hartzview, they'd be picked up and driven to Jacque's place. The reports on Jacque is he likes to hunt, not just drive around and shoot. It seems your girls would be up for that.

And certainly there are some other notable RSA outfitter that frequent AH. Namibia might not be a bad choice either with somewhat cheaper fees.

 

[James.Grage]

Second Wind

why not make it a family on fire, go as a group.

I would suggest that you sit down with these young women and see what they want to have a go at...

Everyone on here will give you where they had a good or great time...however to be honest with you until we know what trophy they want to go after, it will be like throwing salt into the air.

Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa are great starting points...when you have time put together the selection of trophy animals, at that time then you will be able to match the country to your selection...

In the time you have to do some research prior to your sit down meeting, i would suggest that you look at the PH-outfitter section for these countries on AH and select a few to go over with your Girls.

Or if you have it narrowed down to 3 to 5 for each then let the forum know what your priority is...and you will have a field of responses to help guide you on your quest for 2012...

 

[fhm3006]

Second Wind,

i laughed when i read your post! Maybe because i know exactly how you felt when they said "we want to go". My daughter also 'informed' me earlier this season with my 1st hunt: "Daddy i am going with you"
Howeveer - in your case it will be much-much more expencive x 10 ...and you remain behind. You are going to kick yourself when they come back and you hear all the stories and see the photos / video, etc...i guarantee you will.

Ter info - should you considder Namibia as a hunting destination, there are direct flights to Namibia (Windhoek) from Frankfurt - 3 times a week (Air Namibia)

Good luck!

 

[enysse]

That is tough ???

KMG Hunting Safaris, Spiral Horn Safari, CT-Safaris, Leeukop Safaris, Savanna Hunting Safaris, Infinito Safari,SS Pro Safari. I guess there are countless outfitters in Namibia, RSA, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Mozambique that offer plains game hunts!

I guess if the young ladies had a hunt list...I could narrow down places to hunt for those specific animals.

 

[James.Grage]

Enysse

good post...

That is tough ???

KMG Hunting Safaris, Spiral Horn Safari, CT-Safaris ,Leeukop Safaris, Savanna Hunting Safaris, Infinito Safari,SS Pro Safari. I guess there are countless outfitters in Namibia, RSA, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Mozambique that offer plains game hunts!

I guess if the young ladies had a hunt list...I could narrow down places to hunt for those specific animals.

 

[vgruan]

Hey SW,

We at Hartzview will defnitely make your daughters trip one to remember and they will also shoot great trophies with excellent stalking stories between rhino and buffalo to remember the rest of their lifes as Phil said earlier. I can offer you guys a great deal. Please drop me an e-mail with animals they have in mind and I can get a qoute to you. We will make sure to keep your pride and joy safe at all times...

Looking forward on hearing from you.

Jacques

 

[Blue Skies Hunting Adventures]

Try checking out Cruiser safaris, they have great prices and even better they have fantastic animals, good folks they will take great cares of your girls.

 

[TerryR]

First, as others have say, I would not send my daughters to Africa, I would take them. Second, I would sit down with them and define the experience that they, and you want. Hard core hunting or sightseeing plus hunting. Do you want to land at your entry point, jump on a bush plane, fly to camp, hunt for ten days then fly home, or overnight in Jo berg, spend a few of nights in Vic Falls or Cape town, then head to camp? Given the former, how many days do you want/can you afford to hunt. Then what are you primary trophies of choice? What type of environment do you want: there is great hunting on farms and there is great hunting in the bush. Do you want to stay in a lodge, chalet or tents? etc. Once you have defined what you are looking for you will be able to winnow out the options to those providing the hunt that you are looking for. There is no such thing as an "African hunt" there are African hunts all of which are different depending on where they are held, what the game is, and who is holding them. No choice is universally wrong or right, but one will be clearly right for you. The problem is that you can't find it until you define what it is. Good luck, and enjoy the experience.
In my case, if I were bringing someone on a first hunt, especially a Woman, I would book with Clive Eaton on his ranch in Ghanzi in Botswana and hunt kudu, gemsbuck, eland,Zebra and wildebeest for a week. I would have Clive organize a couple of days of photo in the Okavango Delta - unfortunately about all that you can now do in the Delta - an experience that shouldn't be missed, and I would consider a couple of days in Vic Falls at the Victoria Falls Hotel. You could probably do all of this in two weeks and have a great trip. Then I would start planning my Cape Buffalo and planesgame hunt as soon as I got back.
If you are set on 2012 than you should begin contacting outfitters or booking agents soon, if you are thinking of 2013 than you should consider waiting to attend the Safari club or Dallas Safari Club show where you can meet face to face with the people that you are planning to hunt with.

 

[driehoek]

Hi SW. Have you found something suitable?
Why not combine the hunt with a small photo safari. Say go hunting for x days and then go on a sight seeing safari for x days. If you decide on Namibia, I would hunt say 7 days and then take a trip through the Etosha Pans and down to Swakopmund, say 5 days
. Do some activies at the sea.As Swakopmund lies between the sea and the desert, there is a great deal to do. But chat with your daughters. Skip Ericson from Reno SCI hunted with us and brought his family along.They had a great deal of fun!
They all got the trophies they wanted only Skip stood back and only took an Eland. He just enjoyed the joy the family had together hunting!