SOUTH AFRICA: A Week With The Beasts... Bos en Dal SAFARIS 2024

[mdwest]

Location: @Bos en Dal SAFARIS , NW Province, RSA
Time: July 2024
Rifle Used: Musgrave 7x57 / Swaro Optic (camp rifle)
Who: @mdwest, wife, youngest daughter & @Goopy

I'll start with the same typical disclaimer up front that Ive made with other Bos en Dal hunt reports.. I obviously have a relationship with this outfitter (see banner at the bottom of every post), and am clearly biased.. I absolutely love this camp, the staff, the animal quality, the food, etc..etc.. which is why we keep going back every year (the only year missed in recent history has been 2020 when RSA was shut down for COVID), and why I maintain a relationship with Gerrit, the owner of @Bos en Dal SAFARIS ...

All of that said, I am NOT paid by Bos en Dal either for posting hunt reports or for acting as the US Representative.. much like others here that act as US representatives for African outfitters, I have become very close personal friends with quite literally ALL of the PH's, camp staff, the outfitter, etc over the years and personally want to see their business do well.. that is my motivation... (the same motivation that sees me host parties in our home each year during DSC, etc)...

So.. with that now behind us.. on to the hunt report!

Having hunted with @Bos en Dal SAFARIS many times previously, we really didnt have much of an agenda this year.. We know the properties extremely well, and honestly between my wife and I, have taken most of the species available on the property over the years.. We really just wanted to spend time with our friends, get away from the cell phones and laptops for a week, and enjoy being in South Africa for a little while... any hunting we did would be a "bonus"....

Flights on Qatar out of DFW were completely uneventful.. Check in was easy (no firearms this year).. and as always the plane was in great shape and we were able to get really good seating (Im an AA Platinum Pro flyer and have been for years.. so grabbing bulkhead or exit row seating at normal economy rates is easy to do).... We had bulkhead seats on both flights to OR Tambo, and Exit Row seating on both flights back to DFW...

Once we arrived in Doha, we found the the Al Mourjan lounge crowded and backed up... No problem, Qatar upgraded our entire party (to include @Goopy ) to the Oryx lounge at no additional cost.. this made the 8 hour layover we got stuck with much, much easier and palatable..

We landed in Joberg around 930, and cleared the airport around 1130... After getting the mini bus loaded up with all of our stuff, we got on the road and arrived in camp a little before 130PM... a quick bite to eat, a quick unloading of our gear, and we were off to the range before 3PM.. confirming zero for everyone was a breeze, and we were all hunting by 330...

As some of you know, my wife, youngest daughter, and I all do a little work to support an orphanage in Rustenberg, South Africa and have gone so far as to set up a non-profit that we use to collect funding (much of which comes from us personally) and take on certain projects to help out the 66 kids that currently reside there.. One of the challenges they have is keeping all the kids fed...

Last year while we were @Bos en Dal SAFARIS with @roverandbrew , an idea that was fielded was to pay to cull some cow blue wildebeest (@Bos en Dal SAFARIS has huge herds of blues running around everywhere and needed some culling done this year and last), and then donate all of the meat to the orphanage... Gerrit was onboard with this idea.. so we decided we'd set out each day in search of a cull or two.. and then if we saw anything else attractive, we'd just take whatever the bush provided, and be happy..

Thinking we really only had about 2 hours before we ran out of daylight, we decided to make a cull wildebeest a priority... theyre abundant on the main property and we thought they'd be easy to find this late in the day (almost certainly going to be either at a watering hole or in a field feeding)...

Less than 15 minutes after leaving the range we spotted a fairly large herd of blues in the distance. We dismounted, and began to stalk, but before we could close the distance we were busted and they took off... we knew that theres a fairly large dam in the direction they were heading though and figured theyd probably stop there if we didnt pressure them too hard.. so we moved to circle around where we thought they were headed with the intent of being able to sneak up on the banks of the far side of the dam and ambush them when they arrived..

When we arrived we found that the wildebeest beat us to the dam and about 1/2 of the herd was already milling around the waters edge getting drinks... we were pretty close on the other side with most shots being between 100-120 yards.. so we started the process of trying to identify a cow that didnt have a calve for us to cull...

Right about the time we identified a really nice cow to take, I saw movement just off to the right of the herd, roughly 70 yards from my location... I pulled by head away from the scope, and saw a young jackal, just casually walking down the banks of the dam that was completely unaware of our presence..

In all the trips Ive made to South Africa, Ive never seen a jackal that close during daylight... certainly not one that calm and relaxed...

So our wildebeest cull hunt immediately became a jackal hunt lol... (we still had plenty of time to take the 3-5 culls we wanted to take by the end of the week)...

It only took a few seconds to get the jackal in the crosshairs.. once I told Rikus (our PH for the week) that I had him, Rikus made a light squeeking sound and the jackal stopped in his tracks, giving me a perfect broadside shot..

Jackals clearly do not enjoy 7x57 projectiles.. He jumped 2-3 feet straight up once hit, turned back toward the wood line, ran no more than 15 yards, and expired..

@Goopy also had a successful 1st day.. but I wont spoil his story in case he chooses to post a separate hunt report..

We were back in camp by 615.. were greeted with wonderful snacks and even better libations the moment we rolled in.. and hung out by the fire until about 7PM.. Dinner was a slow roasted leg of springbok with potatoes and a nice vegetable medley... After dinner we all managed to keep ourselves awake until about 9PM, but we were all exhausted from the travel, so we retired to our rooms, got cleaned up from the day, checked our gear, and hit the bed early..

More to follow tomorrow after I get some more pics downloaded from the phone and do a little better job collecting my notes from the trip...

 

[Datchew]

1 Jackal down is a great way to start the hunt! Looking forward to your report. Hunt safe.

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

Been looking forward to this report!!

 

[Graham Hunter]

I want to hunt with Bos en dal but I think you and MArk shot everthing.LOL

 

[Wheels]

I recognize that Musgrave. Looking forward to the rest of your report Dave.

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

I want to hunt with Bos en dal but I think you and MArk shot everthing.LOL

There's plenty there! But we have taken our share.

 

[AZDAVE]

I bet the jackal didn't like the 7x57
Looking forward to you report and glad you got some time to unplug and just relax.

 

[Goopy]

Location: @Bos en Dal SAFARIS , NW Province, RSA
Date: July 2024
Rifle Used: Winchester Model 70 Safari Express .375 H&H, Vortex Crossfire II 1-4X24
Who: @mdwest, wife, youngest daughter & @Goopy

Hello All- I'm Goopy (referenced above in Dave's initial post); I'd like to start this with an incredible amount of thanks and gratitude to everyone on this forum that took the time out to answer my endless questions about hunting in Africa, rifle selection, clothes to wear, etc. etc. etc.... I have reached out to many of you in preparation for my very first hunt in Africa and everyone came through wonderfully. People that need to be singled out for an extra special shout out include: mdwest, Hunter-Habib (a true gentleman and mentor), Mark Biggerstaff, Newboomer, Jimbo12, SFRanger7GP, sestoppelman and Cousin Bongo.

I met Dave, AKA mdwest, thru the forum and he was the "dealer that introduced me to the addiction" I guess it would be quite fair to say. After initial pleasantries and introductions thru the forum, we graduated to phone calls. Dave invited me down to Dallas for DSC and that really set the hook. While at the Bos en Dal party hosted by Dave and his family, I was the very fortunate grand prize winner of a Cape Buffalo Cow Hunt that Gerrit of Bos en Dal had donated. This changed my whole plan of starting out gently with a plains game hunt and instead jumping into the deep end of the pool to get up close and personal with a herd of angry horned critters that were very big.

As Dave has already mentioned, travel to South Africa was fairly easy and quite uneventful; the only difference being that I flew in from Chicago as opposed to Dallas. I'll spare everyone the repetitiveness adding only that I have to highly recommend the lounge experience for any type of layover- I think I actually ate two or three times the price of admission and was afraid that they might ask me to leave...

Upon arrival in JoBerg, we were met by Gerrit, got our bags, grabbed my rifle (after superb help by riflepermits.com) and hit the road. As Dave said before, we got into camp and, after eating a delicious lunch, changed into hunting clothes and the fun began!

My PH was Francois and to that man I owe an extreme debt of thanks. Almost immediately we became like "peas and carrots" and hit it off like we had known each other for years. The other PH, Ricus, went with Dave and his family, and was just as solid and fun as Francois. Francois and Ricus proved to be some of the finest, most easy going fellas that I've met. Both of these guys showed consummate pride in their work and strove to help the "new guy in Africa (me)" successfully navigate any turn that I encountered. I really cannot say enough about these two guys except that it was my extreme pleasure to not only meet them, but become friends with them. It actually reflects back on Gerrit, his family and the whole operation of Bos en Dal. The quality, pride and overall welcoming feeling that everyone provided was genuine and extremely well received. Gerrit was a true gentleman in bringing me into the Bos en Dal fold right from the start. I realize that this is a business, but Gerrit made it his personal mission to make me feel more than a client, more so a returning friend.

Trophies in no particular order:

First Trophy
We decided to first try our hand on Red Hartebeest. We started glassing out some thickets and saw a group of them moving out across the plain and then observed a lone bull on the other side of the thickets. He seemed to have no intention of going with the others and we had observed other bulls within the herd. We decided to have a stalk on this one and made our way thru brush, trees and thorns until we got about 70 yards from him. We could feel the wind swirling and changing direction and decided to go up on the sticks for a shot. As I placed the rifle on the sticks, the wind made a definite shift and he looked in our direction. As he looked, I squeezed the trigger into a very mild quartering away shot. My bullet entered his left shoulder and made a slight diagonal line into his right shoulder. The Hartebeest took two steps and dropped right there! It was my very first Africa trophy and an extremely beautiful animal.
That night we were able to celebrate with taking a jackal and a Red Hartebeest!

Second Trophy
We set out early the next morning with no plan other than what the bush offered. As we drove along, we saw herds of Wildebeest, solitary Kudus, Blesbok groups, giraffes and ostriches. While cresting one of the many hills on the concession, we observed two Impalas in the distance. We stopped the bakkie and got out to start a long stalk. Traveling along the trail, we could see the hoof prints going along in front of us. As we rounded a bend in a thorn thicket, a nice mature Impala stood about 400 yards in front of us. We noted the direction of the wind and cut through another set of thickets, hoping to cut this guy off as he travelled along the trail. Going through the final set of thickets/thorn scrub, we came onto an open plain and saw our guy standing a bit more than 100 yards away. He was intently watching the tree line in front of him and we were able to pop up the sticks, get a good sight picture on him and send a round. I was offered a perfect broad side shot and placed my shot right through his left shoulder. Right there he dropped and, as we paced off the shot, found it to be almost exactly at 130 yards.

Third Trophy
In the middle of the week, we decided to call it Buffalo Day. I think that maybe Francois wanted to see how this silly American shot off sticks on the two previous animals before going out on a herd of Cape Buffalo. We glassed from the side of a mountain early in the morning where we had seen buffalo the previous two days, but of course, none were to be seen. After driving off the mountain, we came onto a plain and saw the back of a herd entering yet another thicket. We drove about a fifth of a mile from where we saw the herd go in and dismounted the truck. We could clearly see the fresh hoof prints all around and decided to start a stalk. I saw Francois remove his rifle from its case as we got our gear together and knew, at that moment, that this was indeed serious business. He cautioned me to be very alert as we followed the tracks and to act quickly when he moved. As we inched along the small trail into the thickets, I could hear and smell the herd in front of us. It seemed as they were only a few yards away! We came into a small clearing and through the thorns, there was the herd. We were able to observe them for a bit and found a large cow that had no calf. She seemed older and on the outskirts of the herd and a suitable cow for us to have a go at. We came through the edge and were partially covered by a small thorn bush when Francois whispered to get on the sticks quickly as the wind was once again playing games with us. As soon as I popped on the sticks, the cow gave me a full frontal shot with no other members of the herd behind her. I was able to get a clear sight picture and pulled the trigger. CLICK was all I received!! I quickly cycled the action, popped the bad round out and reloaded another. My sight picture was still on and pulled the trigger, sending the round right through her center from about 50 yards! She moved about two yards to her left and fell. The rest of the herd now turned its attention to us as we backed away for a bit. In backing away, we heard the death bellow from my buffalo. The herd gave it a couple of minutes then started moving away. We then walked back to the truck and drove back to recover my Cape Buffalo. Upon making sure she was gone, we looked at the first failed round and found a good primer strike and what can only be chalked up as a bad primer. What a time to have a bad primer! While admiring her I realized how lucky I was, how fortunate the event turned out to be and, as crazy as it sounds, what a great story that I now had! She is not the biggest buffalo ever to grace this forum nor in possession of the widest horns, but she is my first Cape Buffalo and my trophy!

Fourth Trophy
For some odd reason, I really wanted a warthog and talked almost incessantly of finding one. I'm sure that I drove Francois crazy talking about, but he was an exceptionally fine sport and never once told me to shut the heck up! Anyway, as we hiked around the land, up and down the mountain glassing around for a warthog or "what the bush may provide", a phrase that I've come to love, we spotted a lone Blesbok walking along about a quarter mile from us. As we contemplated a plan for a stalk, we watched him go into a line of thorn trees. Francois said that he knew that there was a big clearing on the other side and that our best chance would be to stalk through the thorns and position ourselves in a diagonal intercept across the plain. We got out and hiked along the thicket for a bit and finally broke through after about twenty minutes. Glassing along the clearing we could see the lone Blesbok across the plain scanning the thorn tree line that we were in. As we came through, the Blesbok was trying to read the wind, giving us a nice slightly quartering away broadside. Up on the sticks I went, pulled the trigger and was pleased to see our guy stagger about two yards then fall. After pacing it off, we discovered that it was a nice even 175 yard shot. His long horns were beautifully worn, rings white and ears full. My final trophy and quite possibly favorite animal!

As the trip ended, we took a ride to, what I believe, was the most fulfilling chapter of the entire journey- the visit to the Lighthouse Orphanage. As we all know, the bounty of our hunts supersedes what a small party can consume. Even though we ate like kings on the animals harvested, there was still more than could ever be used by us alone. The rest of the meat was taken by us to an orphanage that is supported by a foundation here in the US guided by mdwest and carried in South Africa by Bos en Dal Safaris. Gerrit and mdwest managed to find seemingly the only McDonalds in the North West Province and ordered 75 Happy Meals to supplement the 2000 pounds of game meat donated to the kids at the orphanage. Upon our arrival, it was like Christmas, Easter and St. Patrick's Day were all rolled into one holiday for the kids (can you tell that I'm Scots-Irish from the South Side of Chicago?) and they were loving it!

Of course, there is always one silly American that needs to entertain the kids and that would be me! No matter what language the kids spoke: Afrikaans, Tribal Dialects or broken English, they understood that a silly grey haired guy with chips stuck in his upper lip was hilarious!

I apologize in advance for hijacking Dave's thread, in retrospect, I probably should've just started my own darn thread but once I started typing- I couldn't quit.

If this newcomer to the forum and new guy fresh from his first safari can throw out one piece of advice it would be- CALL GERRIT AT BOS EN DAL AND PLAN OUT A TRIP! He and his family have a first rate operation and most assuredly will make sure that you and your family have great memories that will last forever! Words are at a loss for how much I enjoyed my time with Francois and Ricus, they are truly good lads. I have absolutely no problem with anyone contacting me for an even longer detail of the trip and how much I enjoyed it!
Cheers,
Billy
AKA Goopy

 

[JerBear8]

Congratulations fellas! Especially loved reading about your first trip Billy. Nothing compares to the first time you set foot in Africa.

I also help support an Orphan Care Center in Lesotho. Well done gentlemen!

Looking forward to the rest of the report!

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Congratulations to both of you on a very successful and fulfilling trip.

@Goopy have you picked dates for trip #2 yet? I’m sure the planning started before you even made the McDonalds run.

 

[mdwest]

Since the last wildebeest hunt turned into a jackal hunt, we decided to set off first thing in the AM the following morning in search of a blue wildebeest cull.. While we saw several herds in the early hours of the morning, we werent able to close the deal on any of them.. they were either too far away, too nervous and ran any time we got within several hundred yards, or too deep into the thick stuff, and our youngest daughter was "on the gun" for the morning...

As an aside.. we are incredibly blessed and privileged to have a daughter that at the age of 18 has been able to travel to, and hunt South Africa (as well as other international destinations) three times and have successful hunts on every trip... For a kid that had zero interest in firearms, shooting, hunting, etc. up to the age of 16, she has really turned on the gas for the last couple of years and become quite the outdoorsman... On her first safari we had no expectation that she would do anything other than "observe".. but after a few days she caught the bug and wanted to give hunting a try.. we immediately stopped what we were doing, went to the range, had her shoot close to a box of ammo both to ensure she could hit the target and that she was confident in her ability, and then set out on a hunt.. she bagged a nice impala.. from that moment forward she has really blossomed and has taken hunting and shooting in general very seriously.. as soon as we returned home from that trip she joined the high school competitive shooting team.. that same year her team won the state championship, placed 4th in the nationals, and she herself ranked 5th in the state overall in her class for combined skeet/trap/sporting clays.. its been wonderful to see her grow in shooting sports and see her confidence continue to improve in hunting...

All of that said, she is still relatively inexperienced with centerfire rifles (shes much more the shotgunner and wing shooter than a big game hunter), and we really wanted to set her up for success.. so we were looking for an animal that was not only a cull (to feed kids at the orphanage), but was in a position to be set up for a reasonably easy shot (100 yards or less if possible.. and not in tight with a bunch of other animals in the herd), etc..etc... not an easy task..

Finally fairly late in the morning and getting fairly close to lunch time we were able to get an angle on a large blue wildebeest cow.. the rifle barked, and we both saw and heard what we knew was a solid hit on the animal.. but after it hunched and kicked its back legs straight out, he took off like a rocket straight into the bush... we knew we were going to be in for a bit of tracking...

We gave the animal some time.. but clearly not enough.. after tracking for about a hundred yards we bumped her and she took off again..

Ultimately the animal was recovered and our daughter could add another African species to her list of hunts.. but it took quite a bit of time and energy... and this was the first hunt she had ever been on where an animal went more than about 30-40 yards and didnt die on the spot... we could tell she was very discouraged and bothered by knowing it took a good bit of time for the animal to expire and all the effort that went into finding it...

We gave her the "this is hunting.. these things happen..." speech, and also emphasized that good was going to come from the hunt.. lots of kids were getting fed, etc..etc.. we also told her what she needed to do was get re-focused, and get right back up and do it again.. prove to herself that she is a good hunter.. dont let this detract from her experience, etc..etc..

And she very thankfully did exactly that.. after lunch we set out for an afternoon hunt at about 2PM, and went to the part of the property that @Goopy had hunted the day earlier to chase red hartebeest.. Our daughter tried to connect with a red hartebeest the year prior but just couldnt make it happen.. we thought this would be a good opportunity to get some retribution and let her prove to herself that she was indeed a good hunter...

We found a couple of small herds of hartebeest pretty quickly.. but didnt find any quality shooter bulls among them.. finally, after maybe an hour or so of snooping around, we found a bachelor herd of 6 bulls.. 3 young, 1 "ok" mature males, and 2 really nice bulls all hanging around in an open field... The challenge was going to be getting close enough to them without much to go on in terms of cover/concealment being available while they were horsing around in the massive field (I'd guess it to be 400 yards wide, by 900+ yards long).. It was a lot of fun watching them though.. the younger bulls were play fighting while one of the older bulls was wallowing in a dirt patch in the center of the field... It took our daughter and Rikus (PH) about 45 minutes to slowly get to a place where they could take a shot, and I have to be honest, I was a little bit nervous about her taking it... shes an excellent, and very instinctive/natural shot.. but prior to this the longest shot she had ever taken on a game animal was just under 100 yards in 2023 when she took a beautiful rowland ward qualifying waterbuck.. the impala she took in 2022 was maybe a 70 yard shot.. she was now lined up on a very large hartebeest and from my position it looked like she would be taking somewhere around a 130-150 yard shot.. not a "long" shot by any stretch.. but absolutely the longest shot she would have ever taken on anything (paper or animal)..

the shot rang out, and the hartebeest went less than 20 yards and piled up... SUCCESS! Confidence restored, and big smiles and lots of happy faces all around.. The shot was absolutely perfect.. right on the shoulder where it belonged.. she did a great job...

By the time pictures were taken and the animal was recovered and headed to the skinning shed the sun was starting to edge below the horizon and it was time to head back to the lodge... as always dinner was excellent.. time by the fire with a glass of amarula was even better.. and while we were able to stay awake a LITTLE bit longer than the night before, we were all still trying to catch up after traveling.. so we headed to bed about 930PM...


Afterthought - something I should have included earlier in the post, but didnt see in my notes until just now... despite a terrible year rain wise this past year, the herds really seem to be flourishing at Bos en Dal.. there are animals EVERYWHERE... because we hunted fairly late in the season, many of the animals seemed a bit skiddish (Im sure they thought @Mark Biggerstaff was back in town and they all needed to hide! lol)... but we saw stuff pretty much at every turn, all day long... the giraffe herd was out roaming around, countless wildebeest, impala, blesbok, etc. seen at every watering hole and in every field where there was grass.. kudu, nyala, vervets, warthogs, buffalo, etc..etc.. everywhere.. this was probably the most animals we've seen in the 6+ years we've been hunting with Bos en Dal.. it was really cool to see and experience..

Face obscured on purpose.. Im happy to share my face, and my wifes.. but the daughter is still young, and I dont feel that its right to put her in a potentially controversial position or subject her to potential persecution (young college student, etc..etc..)... she may well put pics up on her social media accounts (she has put several hunting and shooting pics up on her accounts in the past).. but thats her choice and prerogative.. I dont think its my place to do it without discussing it with her first (I havent discussed it with her.. shes off at school at the moment, etc..)...

Many of you have met her in person a couple of times and know what she looks like anyway

 

[AZDAVE]

Dave it looks like you and your family are having a great trip. I am looking forward to hunting with Bos en Del in october.

 

[PARA45]

What a wonderful trip, keep it coming. Great job raising your daughter to be a hunter, they are the future to our sport.

@Goopy well-done sir, and congratulations on your first safari. We know you took more than just 6 pictures, post away, and tell us more about your experience.

 

[Datchew]

My 17 yo daughter is murder on hay bales with an ar-15 and a pistol. She even likes the misfire and reload drills but hasn't quite caught the hunting bug yet.
She tags along deer hunting though.
You've gotta be proud of your girl's competition shooting for sure. Good stuff.

 

[Nyati]

Great hunt, congrats !

 

[mdwest]

Something I forgot to mention in the last post.. toward the end of day two, just before we found the hartebeest that our daughter took, my wife spotted a copper springbok that she really liked... We're not normally interested in color phase animals, but I do have to admit, I think a copper springbok looks beautiful...

she had mentioned prior to us leaving the US that while springbok wasnt a priority, if we saw a really nice one, she'd be interested in trying to take it.. its a fairly common plains game animal, but a species she has never hunted before.. and she really likes the common springbok I took a few years ago...

So we made an attempt on the copper.. but he was clearly nervous and very alert to our presence.. what was odd was he was out roaming in fairly thick brush by himself, and not with any of the herds of springbok that are on this same property that all hang around in one of 4 large fields most of the time.. after about 20 minutes of trying to figure out how to sneak up on him, she gave up the chase and decided to let the youngster get back on the gun for the rest of the day...

but all she thought about the rest of the night was going back after that copper... so, first thing on day 3 we made him our priority..

it only took about 30 minutes to find him.. he was still roaming around in the same general area we had seen him the afternoon before, still by himself, and still popping in and out of the bush, occasionally onto a road or a trail, but also never stopping or standing still for more than a minute or so at a time..

it took almost an hour for my wife to slowly get into a position where she could get an angle on him and take about a 150 yard shot after he popped out of the bush and onto a road for just a brief moment.. once the shot rang out, the springbok only made it about 20 yards before piling up.. the 7x57 did its job well... another one in the salt!

With the pressure off and another successful day already written into the books before 930AM, we dedicated the rest of our time in the morning and afternoon hunts to blue wildebeest culls.. which proved to be much more difficult than we anticipated.. winds were fairly high all day and swirling.. which made for well over a dozen different stalks that all ended up not working out..

finally about 20 minutes before last light I was able to connect with a young cow at just under 200 yards.. the shot went a little high, but spined her and clipped one of the lungs.. thankfully she dropped in her tracks and expired quickly and we werent faced with having to do a track into the night..

We returned to the lodge about 6PM to a warm fire and a couple of nice glasses of wine... and our dear friend Anet Kruger and her husband joined us prior to dinner..

If you read my last years hunt report from Bos en Dal or the thread titled "Candles & Safari Prints" from last year found here:

Post in thread 'Candles & Safari Prints'

Jan 16, 2024

As mentioned in the previous post.. Ive gotten to know Anet Kruger fairly well over the last year.. she is a truly remarkable person... PhD.. former minister.. loving mother and wife.. and a no kidding blessed by God talented artist in several different media... she was named 2023 Africa wide wildlife artist of the year at a major competition/showing/event in Namibia last year.. she is fairly notable and known in South Africa I believe.. but has almost zero following in the US (we were the first Americans to ever purchase her art and bring it home with us)... as a result her pricing is a...

• mdwest

• 

you'll be aware of who Anet Kruger is.. several AH members have commissioned art work with her at this point.. to my knowledge everyone that has, has been super happy with the results... I sincerely dont think you will find a better artist (award winning no less.. she was the 2023 Africa (continent wide) wildlife artist of the year, etc..etc..) to do custom african wildlife art, at a better price than Anet..

In addition to being simply an incredible artist... she is truly a wonderful person.. (you can learn more about her in the linked thread above)..

So after we got our elephant painting back home last year, we immediately began discussing another commissioning with Anet.. My wife wanted a painting of something she had seen a couple of years before.. a small herd of sable, running across an open field, with a mountain in the background (anyone thats been to Bos en Dal before will know "eland mountain".. we worked with Anet for a month or so, discussing the color palate, the image we wanted portrayed, the size of the art, the medium to be used, etc..etc.. and ultimately decided on a fairly large piece (5'x2' in size, in something of a panoramic type view) in oil on canvas...

Anet completed the painting in June, and then allowed it to cure for several weeks.. by the time we arrived in July it was ready to deliver.. so she brought it to us at Bos en Dal so we could take it home with us..

I hesitate to post a pic of it here.. honestly an iphone pic simply doesnt do the painting justice.. I probably took 10 pics of the painting last night.. and you just cant derive the incredible texture and detail of the painting without seeing it in person... its truly emotion evoking to look at in person.. the realism is incredible.. and the detail in things like the eyes of the animals and the movement in the grass, etc are just unbelievable.. guests that joined us back in January will understand what Im saying if they took a minute to look at the elephant painting we had on the wall... an online pic just cant do it justice.. hopefully a few of you will join us for the planned TTHA party in January and will be able to see it in person... We just got it home from the framers yesterday afternoon, and it immediately went onto the wall lol..

Anyway.. these three pics are about as best as I could do with an iphone.. but check out the detail in the close ups.. unreal!

if anyone wants Anets contact information, feel free to reach out by PM.. Im happy to provide it... We love supporting her and her art... I sincerely dont expect to ever purchase any "african" related art ever again from anyone other than Anet... Without exaggerating, shes easily 1/3 - 1/5 the cost of anything Ive seen at DSC available for sale (maybe cheaper).. and as good, or significantly better than any other artist Ive considered buying from.. we absolutely couldnt be happier with her work...

 

[.300RUM]

Location: @Bos en Dal SAFARIS , NW Province, RSA
Date: July 2024
Rifle Used: Winchester Model 70 Safari Express .375 H&H, Vortex Crossfire II 1-4X24
Who: @mdwest, wife, youngest daughter & @Goopy

Hello All- I'm Goopy (referenced above in Dave's initial post); I'd like to start this with an incredible amount of thanks and gratitude to everyone on this forum that took the time out to answer my endless questions about hunting in Africa, rifle selection, clothes to wear, etc. etc. etc.... I have reached out to many of you in preparation for my very first hunt in Africa and everyone came through wonderfully. People that need to be singled out for an extra special shout out include: mdwest, Hunter-Habib (a true gentleman and mentor), Mark Biggerstaff, Newboomer, Jimbo12, SFRanger7GP, sestoppelman and Cousin Bongo.

I met Dave, AKA mdwest, thru the forum and he was the "dealer that introduced me to the addiction" I guess it would be quite fair to say. After initial pleasantries and introductions thru the forum, we graduated to phone calls. Dave invited me down to Dallas for DSC and that really set the hook. While at the Bos en Dal party hosted by Dave and his family, I was the very fortunate grand prize winner of a Cape Buffalo Cow Hunt that Gerrit of Bos en Dal had donated. This changed my whole plan of starting out gently with a plains game hunt and instead jumping into the deep end of the pool to get up close and personal with a herd of angry horned critters that were very big.

As Dave has already mentioned, travel to South Africa was fairly easy and quite uneventful; the only difference being that I flew in from Chicago as opposed to Dallas. I'll spare everyone the repetitiveness adding only that I have to highly recommend the lounge experience for any type of layover- I think I actually ate two or three times the price of admission and was afraid that they might ask me to leave...

Upon arrival in JoBerg, we were met by Gerrit, got our bags, grabbed my rifle (after superb help by riflepermits.com) and hit the road. As Dave said before, we got into camp and, after eating a delicious lunch, changed into hunting clothes and the fun began!

My PH was Francois and to that man I owe an extreme debt of thanks. Almost immediately we became like "peas and carrots" and hit it off like we had known each other for years. The other PH, Ricus, went with Dave and his family, and was just as solid and fun as Francois. Francois and Ricus proved to be some of the finest, most easy going fellas that I've met. Both of these guys showed consummate pride in their work and strove to help the "new guy in Africa (me)" successfully navigate any turn that I encountered. I really cannot say enough about these two guys except that it was my extreme pleasure to not only meet them, but become friends with them. It actually reflects back on Gerrit, his family and the whole operation of Bos en Dal. The quality, pride and overall welcoming feeling that everyone provided was genuine and extremely well received. Gerrit was a true gentleman in bringing me into the Bos en Dal fold right from the start. I realize that this is a business, but Gerrit made it his personal mission to make me feel more than a client, more so a returning friend.

Trophies in no particular order:

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First Trophy
We decided to first try our hand on Red Hartebeest. We started glassing out some thickets and saw a group of them moving out across the plain and then observed a lone bull on the other side of the thickets. He seemed to have no intention of going with the others and we had observed other bulls within the herd. We decided to have a stalk on this one and made our way thru brush, trees and thorns until we got about 70 yards from him. We could feel the wind swirling and changing direction and decided to go up on the sticks for a shot. As I placed the rifle on the sticks, the wind made a definite shift and he looked in our direction. As he looked, I squeezed the trigger into a very mild quartering away shot. My bullet entered his left shoulder and made a slight diagonal line into his right shoulder. The Hartebeest took two steps and dropped right there! It was my very first Africa trophy and an extremely beautiful animal.
That night we were able to celebrate with taking a jackal and a Red Hartebeest!

Second Trophy
We set out early the next morning with no plan other than what the bush offered. As we drove along, we saw herds of Wildebeest, solitary Kudus, Blesbok groups, giraffes and ostriches. While cresting one of the many hills on the concession, we observed two Impalas in the distance. We stopped the bakkie and got out to start a long stalk. Traveling along the trail, we could see the hoof prints going along in front of us. As we rounded a bend in a thorn thicket, a nice mature Impala stood about 400 yards in front of us. We noted the direction of the wind and cut through another set of thickets, hoping to cut this guy off as he travelled along the trail. Going through the final set of thickets/thorn scrub, we came onto an open plain and saw our guy standing a bit more than 100 yards away. He was intently watching the tree line in front of him and we were able to pop up the sticks, get a good sight picture on him and send a round. I was offered a perfect broad side shot and placed my shot right through his left shoulder. Right there he dropped and, as we paced off the shot, found it to be almost exactly at 130 yards.

Third Trophy
In the middle of the week, we decided to call it Buffalo Day. I think that maybe Francois wanted to see how this silly American shot off sticks on the two previous animals before going out on a herd of Cape Buffalo. We glassed from the side of a mountain early in the morning where we had seen buffalo the previous two days, but of course, none were to be seen. After driving off the mountain, we came onto a plain and saw the back of a herd entering yet another thicket. We drove about a fifth of a mile from where we saw the herd go in and dismounted the truck. We could clearly see the fresh hoof prints all around and decided to start a stalk. I saw Francois remove his rifle from its case as we got our gear together and knew, at that moment, that this was indeed serious business. He cautioned me to be very alert as we followed the tracks and to act quickly when he moved. As we inched along the small trail into the thickets, I could hear and smell the herd in front of us. It seemed as they were only a few yards away! We came into a small clearing and through the thorns, there was the herd. We were able to observe them for a bit and found a large cow that had no calf. She seemed older and on the outskirts of the herd and a suitable cow for us to have a go at. We came through the edge and were partially covered by a small thorn bush when Francois whispered to get on the sticks quickly as the wind was once again playing games with us. As soon as I popped on the sticks, the cow gave me a full frontal shot with no other members of the herd behind her. I was able to get a clear sight picture and pulled the trigger. CLICK was all I received!! I quickly cycled the action, popped the bad round out and reloaded another. My sight picture was still on and pulled the trigger, sending the round right through her center from about 50 yards! She moved about two yards to her left and fell. The rest of the herd now turned its attention to us as we backed away for a bit. In backing away, we heard the death bellow from my buffalo. The herd gave it a couple of minutes then started moving away. We then walked back to the truck and drove back to recover my Cape Buffalo. Upon making sure she was gone, we looked at the first failed round and found a good primer strike and what can only be chalked up as a bad primer. What a time to have a bad primer! While admiring her I realized how lucky I was, how fortunate the event turned out to be and, as crazy as it sounds, what a great story that I now had! She is not the biggest buffalo ever to grace this forum nor in possession of the widest horns, but she is my first Cape Buffalo and my trophy!

Fourth Trophy
For some odd reason, I really wanted a warthog and talked almost incessantly of finding one. I'm sure that I drove Francois crazy talking about, but he was an exceptionally fine sport and never once told me to shut the heck up! Anyway, as we hiked around the land, up and down the mountain glassing around for a warthog or "what the bush may provide", a phrase that I've come to love, we spotted a lone Blesbok walking along about a quarter mile from us. As we contemplated a plan for a stalk, we watched him go into a line of thorn trees. Francois said that he knew that there was a big clearing on the other side and that our best chance would be to stalk through the thorns and position ourselves in a diagonal intercept across the plain. We got out and hiked along the thicket for a bit and finally broke through after about twenty minutes. Glassing along the clearing we could see the lone Blesbok across the plain scanning the thorn tree line that we were in. As we came through, the Blesbok was trying to read the wind, giving us a nice slightly quartering away broadside. Up on the sticks I went, pulled the trigger and was pleased to see our guy stagger about two yards then fall. After pacing it off, we discovered that it was a nice even 175 yard shot. His long horns were beautifully worn, rings white and ears full. My final trophy and quite possibly favorite animal!

As the trip ended, we took a ride to, what I believe, was the most fulfilling chapter of the entire journey- the visit to the Lighthouse Orphanage. As we all know, the bounty of our hunts supersedes what a small party can consume. Even though we ate like kings on the animals harvested, there was still more than could ever be used by us alone. The rest of the meat was taken by us to an orphanage that is supported by a foundation here in the US guided by mdwest and carried in South Africa by Bos en Dal Safaris. Gerrit and mdwest managed to find seemingly the only McDonalds in the North West Province and ordered 75 Happy Meals to supplement the 2000 pounds of game meat donated to the kids at the orphanage. Upon our arrival, it was like Christmas, Easter and St. Patrick's Day were all rolled into one holiday for the kids (can you tell that I'm Scots-Irish from the South Side of Chicago?) and they were loving it!
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Of course, there is always one silly American that needs to entertain the kids and that would be me! No matter what language the kids spoke: Afrikaans, Tribal Dialects or broken English, they understood that a silly grey haired guy with chips stuck in his upper lip was hilarious!

I apologize in advance for hijacking Dave's thread, in retrospect, I probably should've just started my own darn thread but once I started typing- I couldn't quit.

If this newcomer to the forum and new guy fresh from his first safari can throw out one piece of advice it would be- CALL GERRIT AT BOS EN DAL AND PLAN OUT A TRIP! He and his family have a first rate operation and most assuredly will make sure that you and your family have great memories that will last forever! Words are at a loss for how much I enjoyed my time with Francois and Ricus, they are truly good lads. I have absolutely no problem with anyone contacting me for an even longer detail of the trip and how much I enjoyed it!
Cheers,
Billy
AKA Goopy

Looking like a great time, I know it's off topic but I have to ask. How was Crap-Donalds? Passed several of those and KFC's during our SA trip. Same with England and Japan, but never stopped for a taste-test to compare with US.

Thoughts

 

[Goopy]

Congratulations to both of you on a very successful and fulfilling trip.

@Goopy have you picked dates for trip #2 yet? I’m sure the planning started before you even made the McDonalds run.

Looking like a great time, I know it's off topic but I have to ask. How was Crap-Donalds? Passed several of those and KFC's during our SA trip. Same with England and Japan, but never stopped for a taste-test to compare with US.

Thoughts

It actually tasted exactly the same as here in the States. Now that you have sparked my memory, the Burger King in the mall at the airport in Doha smelled exactly like any Burger King in Chicago- hmmmmm, something strange here. Now I wish that I had stopped at KFC for a sample 2 piece meal…the hell I say, Francois and Ricus cooking Blesbok, Wildebeeste and Red Hartebeest over the coals put everything else to shame!

 

[mdwest]

The McDonalds thing was my youngest daughters idea..

I mentioned in the OP that my wife and I set up a non profit a few years ago for the specific purpose of helping to support a couple of different South African orphanages (the one we visited on this trip in Rustenberg, and a second one near the Eastern Cape).. for the most part its really just a clearing house and way for us, our friends, and our family to donate money and/or goods to those two entities, although we'll occasionally join with other organizations to do little fund raisers here and there as well..

Our youngest (now a college student.. so not all that young anymore) has a heart for service and has really gotten involved with the orphanage in Rustenberg in particular.. she sets aside a bit of the money she earns (she held a job most of her senior year in HS, etc) and has also personally gotten involved in a couple of fund raisers.. and had about $350 of her own cash that she wanted to do something with to help them out this trip..

My wife and I tend to be very pragmatic and practical when it comes to how we use the funds put together for the orphanage.. we want to make sure basic needs are covered as a priority.. so we focus on shelter, clothing, education, and food assistance.. and try to do things in a long term, sustainable way...

One of the things my daughter has observed (shes much closer to the kids.. she hangs out and plays with them each time we visit, and has gotten to know a few of them a bit, etc) is that these kids get so incredibly happy over the simplest, smallest things.. for example, one year we brought over a bunch of bibles.. they were in English.. many of these kids dont speak English.. some are barely literate in Afrikaans.. but they all desperately wanted one of the bibles..

when I asked the lady that manages the daily operation of the facility why would they want something that really isnt anything more than a bunch of pieces of paper to them.. they cant read it, it has no pictures, etc.. her reply was heart breaking... it was "they have never owned anything... some of these kids are in their teens and have never had a single possession... the clothes they wear are community clothing.. the shoes on their feet come from a community box where they scramble to find a pair that fit every day... youre offering something to them that will be THEIRS and no one elses.. they dont understand and have never experienced actually possessing anything"...

So my daughter wanted to give them something that they knew about.. but likely had never experienced..

Her idea was to give them a McDonalds party.. complete with happy meal toys, etc..etc..

Only some of the kids at the orphanage are able to go to school.. she had learned that those kids that are going to school often get picked on because of silly things like they havent seen a TV show that everyone else in the school has seen.. or they havent eaten "KFC" or "McDonalds" like the other kids have..

So she wanted to kill that bullying opportunity.. and let every one of them experience a Happy Meal... and was prepared to spend her personal money to make that happen... so we supported her..

Not the most pragmatic or practical choice from a long term sustainability perspective... but honestly it was an incredible choice based on how it impacted the joy, happiness, and overall morale of those kids.. She (and @Goopy ) might as well have been Mic Jagger and Keith Richards walking into a nightclub in the late 1970's... Absolute freaking rock stars... the kids went wild with excitement... it was a wonderful experience for both them, and for us..

to be honest, I couldnt tell any difference from the South African McD's and any McD's Ive had here in the US.. same packaging.. same taste.. etc..etc.. but MUCH cheaper.. I dont recall the exact cost.. but I think it was about $250 all in for 75 meals.... our daughter then spent about another $100 on crayons and coloring books and some other small things for them (Im pretty sure they spent the next 3 days drawing a mural of her on the wall in crayon because of the McD's party... ROCK STAR! lol)...


Im getting ahead of myself with this post.. but since Im already on the burger party.. I might as well add in the rest of the orphanage story...

We ended up with 5x wildebeest culls.. roughly 1000 lbs of meat delivered to the orphanage.. that will keep them in protein for a while...

We also checked out the results of our "project" for 2023-2024 and inspected the results.. last year we put together just under $10K for Lighthouse (the orphanage).. all of our money went toward building out a home for the boys.. prior to this year all of the boys and girls.. age 0-17, lived under 1 roof.. which creates the obvious problem.. and also created a severe over crowding problem.. they were completely out of space... by the time we got involved they had already purchased what amounted to a shell of a building next door to their main campus.. but it had no toilets, no sinks, no showers, and no ceiling.. We helped them finish everything out and get it up and running so the boys could move into their new home...

 

[Goopy]

The West and Bos en Dal Families really knocked it out of the park for the kids at Lighthouse. I went to Africa to hunt, but the trip to Lighthouse rounded out my journey far more than a simple hunting safari could ever have…
Dave’s daughter and I had such a good time providing entertainment- someone in the group made mention of the fact that next trip over, I would be equipped with a clown outfit. Now won’t that make the “What to bring on Safari?” YouTube videos entertaining?