Waterbuck
New member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2016
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 9
- Hunted
- SA
I love true hunting and family and all that it stands for. I loved what I saw of South Africa in the 9 days I was there. Landed in J burg, then off to Limpopo. I thought our camp and the professionals who provided service were great. However, we had a poor experience and want to re group and try again. Day 1, Property owner makes numerous comments on our package being too good of a deal. A deal he no longer offers. He wants to make certain trades, i.e.: one plains game animal for another. We think about it but decide to stay with our original package of 7. Day 2 , great day. 4 animals down between my buddy and I. Day 3, a full day of hunting and it is dusk. The PH points to a heard of Wildebeest, says to my buddy, shoot the second from the tree. They confirm back and forth several times, the shot is taken from the truck. Upon closing 200 yards on the downed animal it is discovered that there may be two trees, and two separate groups of wildebeest in the same vicinity, a miscommunication and a golden wildebeest down and not a blue. Panic among the trackers and our PH immediately ensues. We are unaware why as we have never heard of a golden wildebeest before. A radio call to the Owner occurs, and he quickly arrives on scene and comments of a mandatory meeting at the bar before dinner that night. Tensions are high. At the meeting we are informed of an up charge of 13,500. for the golden. My hunting companion is told that someone has to pay, either the PH or him. Day 4, our hunting suspended a court is to be set up at 9:00 am after breakfast and other parties depart. The owner examines and his elderly father like companion takes notes and explains governing camp rules to us. We are thoroughly and repeatedly questioned as to the events leading up to the shot. It is determined that the 13,500. must be paid by my buddy. We are given the option of trading our package plains game animals back to contribute to the new fee. We give back 2 Nyala, 2 greater Kudu, 1 impala and a wart hog and still owe about 3 grand. In the process we lost a whole day of hunting. the hearing took about 3 hours, the deliberation and the written verdict took another 3. while we waited in our room. Day 5: Owner decides to burn some fields to aid in grass re growth. Fire becomes out of control and covers entire property in a layer of smoke and odor. We see no animals that day. Day 6: another group enters the camp. A father and 3 boys with a seemingly unlimited hunting budget. They shoot at anything they see move. A giraffe goes down, a zebra is wounded and flees, an eland is wounded and flees. The owner gets in his plane and does low flights over the property looking for the wounded game. Everything else is spooked. We see nothing that day. Day 6: The party of boys with Dad shoots a Cape buffalo at morning. We hear on the radio that there is not a PH with them, only a tracker. Our PH is immediately summoned to the other side of the property to be onsite to apparently abide by the rule that a PH must be present on a buffalo hunt. We rush across the property shooting dust and rocks from our land cruiser. We have yet another day without spotting game. Day 7: Last day. I spot and shoot a small Nyala. The owner makes arrangements with his wife to do the taxidermy. I have now received photos of it and it is not what we agreed to. Oh yeah, 2 meals a day, not three. Game stew and rice mostly. We spent over 20,000 dollars not including airfare. Expressing myself here does help a bit. I want to book a new trip and have a better and completely different experience. I found myself really guarded at the SCI show this year. Any suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated.
