WAB
AH ambassador
We have just returned from a great trip to Botswana. This was my 6th safari and the first in which I would not be hunting Cape Buffalo. I love classic tracking hunts for free range game. In my experience this meant buffalo and elephant. On this hunt we would be using the same technique to hunt eland in the Kalahari desert. Our tracker, Benna, is a bushman and the same tracker who proved infallible on a previous hunt for buffalo and elephant. My good friend Frans van der Merwe (Franshunter.com) was my PH. Werner Lombard guided my wife and son.
Forewarned by others experience, I did use TSA locks on my pelican cases, four per case to fill all the holes, but had a set of standard locks as backup. I appreciate the warning posted on AH but I chose to stick with the TSA locks as TSA had previously jimmied the locks on a very good Americase takedown shotgun case for me. If they will accept them, I prefer to use the TSA locks and avoid a repeat of that debacle! I don't think security is any less with the TSA locks as I suspect that anyone who chooses to steal your guns will simply take the case and cut the locks off at their leisure.
I avoid airline connections when traveling with firearms like the plague. The only time I connected in Jo'Burg my ammo decided to spend an extra night there as opposed to accompanying me to Lusaka. Since then I overnight in Jo'Burg at Africa Sky guest house. If you have never used Africa Sky I highly recommend them. The wife of another guest best described it as 'a little piece of heaven'. The staff have become friends and I would have a rebellion on my hands if I suggested a safari without stays at Africa Sky on the front and back end!
Following a fabulous meal and great night at Africa Sky, we were off to Maun, Botswana. Frans and Werner were at the airport to meet us. After a mere hour of calculating, the customs folks determined that I owed them $22 duty for the ammo I had brought along. I was tempted to ask if I would be repaid for the ammo I took home with me, however, I suspect my entertainment would have been jaded by another hour of calculations!
We drove South about two hours into the Haina Hills just North of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. We were hunting a 66 km2 property owned by good friends. Frans and I were laser focused on eland, while Sue and Ben would hunt with Werner and take what the bush offered.
The first day we tracked a herd of roughly 15 bulls. Late in the day we got a good look at them. There were two good bulls in the group and we could have harvested either. However, it was the first day and Frans felt we could do better. With some misgivings, we backed out.
We hunted hard on day two and three. We passed on any number of good trophies encountered while on the trail of old eland bulls. We had opportunities at lesser bulls but that was not what we were there for. In the meantime, Ben and Sue were keeping the skinners busy with zebra, wildebeest, oryx and kudu!
On day four we managed a stalk on a large group of eland. There was at least one very good bull in the group. The final stalk involved roughly half a mile bent double at the waist followed by 400 yards or so of crawling and for good measure a final 100 yards of full leopard crawl. Finally in position a wildebeest moved in and pinned us. Frans told me that I would have to move slowly on to the sticks and shoot quickly as the wildebeest was about to out us. The only complication was that it would require a neck shot. I moved slowly up on to the sticks, picked out the bull, and killed him cleanly with a shot through the neck at what I thought was 80 yards. However, the size of the eland totally fooled me as it turned out to be a 160 yard shot. I was pretty confident in an 80 yard neck shot, its probably just as well that I didn't know it was actually 160 when I was making the shot!
Forewarned by others experience, I did use TSA locks on my pelican cases, four per case to fill all the holes, but had a set of standard locks as backup. I appreciate the warning posted on AH but I chose to stick with the TSA locks as TSA had previously jimmied the locks on a very good Americase takedown shotgun case for me. If they will accept them, I prefer to use the TSA locks and avoid a repeat of that debacle! I don't think security is any less with the TSA locks as I suspect that anyone who chooses to steal your guns will simply take the case and cut the locks off at their leisure.
I avoid airline connections when traveling with firearms like the plague. The only time I connected in Jo'Burg my ammo decided to spend an extra night there as opposed to accompanying me to Lusaka. Since then I overnight in Jo'Burg at Africa Sky guest house. If you have never used Africa Sky I highly recommend them. The wife of another guest best described it as 'a little piece of heaven'. The staff have become friends and I would have a rebellion on my hands if I suggested a safari without stays at Africa Sky on the front and back end!
Following a fabulous meal and great night at Africa Sky, we were off to Maun, Botswana. Frans and Werner were at the airport to meet us. After a mere hour of calculating, the customs folks determined that I owed them $22 duty for the ammo I had brought along. I was tempted to ask if I would be repaid for the ammo I took home with me, however, I suspect my entertainment would have been jaded by another hour of calculations!
We drove South about two hours into the Haina Hills just North of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. We were hunting a 66 km2 property owned by good friends. Frans and I were laser focused on eland, while Sue and Ben would hunt with Werner and take what the bush offered.
The first day we tracked a herd of roughly 15 bulls. Late in the day we got a good look at them. There were two good bulls in the group and we could have harvested either. However, it was the first day and Frans felt we could do better. With some misgivings, we backed out.
We hunted hard on day two and three. We passed on any number of good trophies encountered while on the trail of old eland bulls. We had opportunities at lesser bulls but that was not what we were there for. In the meantime, Ben and Sue were keeping the skinners busy with zebra, wildebeest, oryx and kudu!
On day four we managed a stalk on a large group of eland. There was at least one very good bull in the group. The final stalk involved roughly half a mile bent double at the waist followed by 400 yards or so of crawling and for good measure a final 100 yards of full leopard crawl. Finally in position a wildebeest moved in and pinned us. Frans told me that I would have to move slowly on to the sticks and shoot quickly as the wildebeest was about to out us. The only complication was that it would require a neck shot. I moved slowly up on to the sticks, picked out the bull, and killed him cleanly with a shot through the neck at what I thought was 80 yards. However, the size of the eland totally fooled me as it turned out to be a 160 yard shot. I was pretty confident in an 80 yard neck shot, its probably just as well that I didn't know it was actually 160 when I was making the shot!
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