Bigry
AH senior member
We got back the other day from our hunt in South Africa at Dinkwe safaris. This trip has been about 5 years in the making. We were planning on going in 2019 but our daughter got in a really bad car wreck and the wife had to quit work for a bit over a year to help her recoup. Then of course Covid hit, so in Jan of 2022 we started planning again. After going to a few sportsman shows we met a lot of outfitters from South Africa and we had made a decision on who we were going with and booked our first trip.
Starting the details I decided I wanted to take my browning hells canyon in 280 ackley. I have a really nice load worked up for it with 150 grain Barnes ttsx and of course I started to doubt if that was going to be enough. Let me tell you what, that is an absolute hammer on all the animals we harvested. We then started the planning of the flights. We had decided we wanted to fly Lufthansa through Germany for the long layover and be able to go to town and check things out. We booked the flight directly through Lufthansa and then called them to add my rifle to the ticket. No issues at all. They said there would be an $80 charge upon return from SA for the gun but no fees were ever charged at all. I had to get a transit permit for Frankfurt which was very easy to do and it cost about $30.
Getting things started we headed to the airport on the morning of May 12 and flew to Denver with a long layover all of our bags were checked all the way through. At 5 pm we boarded to Frankfurt and enjoyed a nice long 10 hr flight. So far so good. We jumped on the train from the airport to down town and enjoyed some nice sights and some beers. After a nice dinner we headed back and caught our last flight to Johannesburg. We landed and collected our luggage then headed to the gun room. Our outfitter met us there and assisted with the paperwork which I already had filled out. After about 20 min I was on my way but not after a great laugh for another guy getting there with no stamp on his 4457. $200 later he was on his way as well.
We get to the lodge 2 1/2 hrs later at around noon, this place is absolutely beautiful. We head to the chalet and get un packed then go have a few beers and meet everyone.
After a while we head out for a game drive and man is there a lot of nice animals. We head back to the lodge early due to a proper thunderstorm rolling through and have a wonderful dinner and off to bed. In the morning we meet at the lodge for some coffee and fruit to discuss the days plans. We headed to the range and get the rifle sighted in and then off for the nitty gritty. We drive around for a while and find a nice Impala ram jump off the truck and the stalk is on. We stalked him for about 30 min and he finally made a fatal mistake by standing still for too long. Got some pictures and took him to the skinning shed. After brunch it was a time. At about 3 we head back out our ph kept talking about a big sable he kept seeing in one area so we take off after him but of course we didn’t see him around. So we go driving to what the gods want to offer us. While driving me and th ph are bull shitting and not really paying attention then all the sudden my wife yells ”sable” and we start looking for it. There he is behind a bush about 30 yards away. Ph says shoot if you can so sitting in the seat I lean back to clear the tree right beside us and let one fly. He hit the ground right where he stood. Absolutely beautiful 43 1/8” sable in the salt. Oh yeah happy birthday to me today as well.
Day 2 of hunting consisted of the same thing of coffee and fruit. I added some toast today. Headed out for the morning hunt and didn’t see anything that peaked my interest and we called it early due to more thunderstorms. That afternoon between storms we head out and find a nice kudu and take off after him. After getting closer I decide he wasn’t what I was looking for so we move on. Headed back to the truck we jump ”the“ kudu I was after so the hunt was on. we got about 150 yards from him and the sticks went up and that 280 ackley struck again. He went about 10 feet and did the wobble dance then fell over. another animal in the salt. Measured him at just shy of 55”
day 3 we didn’t get out due to the rain.
Starting the details I decided I wanted to take my browning hells canyon in 280 ackley. I have a really nice load worked up for it with 150 grain Barnes ttsx and of course I started to doubt if that was going to be enough. Let me tell you what, that is an absolute hammer on all the animals we harvested. We then started the planning of the flights. We had decided we wanted to fly Lufthansa through Germany for the long layover and be able to go to town and check things out. We booked the flight directly through Lufthansa and then called them to add my rifle to the ticket. No issues at all. They said there would be an $80 charge upon return from SA for the gun but no fees were ever charged at all. I had to get a transit permit for Frankfurt which was very easy to do and it cost about $30.
Getting things started we headed to the airport on the morning of May 12 and flew to Denver with a long layover all of our bags were checked all the way through. At 5 pm we boarded to Frankfurt and enjoyed a nice long 10 hr flight. So far so good. We jumped on the train from the airport to down town and enjoyed some nice sights and some beers. After a nice dinner we headed back and caught our last flight to Johannesburg. We landed and collected our luggage then headed to the gun room. Our outfitter met us there and assisted with the paperwork which I already had filled out. After about 20 min I was on my way but not after a great laugh for another guy getting there with no stamp on his 4457. $200 later he was on his way as well.
We get to the lodge 2 1/2 hrs later at around noon, this place is absolutely beautiful. We head to the chalet and get un packed then go have a few beers and meet everyone.
After a while we head out for a game drive and man is there a lot of nice animals. We head back to the lodge early due to a proper thunderstorm rolling through and have a wonderful dinner and off to bed. In the morning we meet at the lodge for some coffee and fruit to discuss the days plans. We headed to the range and get the rifle sighted in and then off for the nitty gritty. We drive around for a while and find a nice Impala ram jump off the truck and the stalk is on. We stalked him for about 30 min and he finally made a fatal mistake by standing still for too long. Got some pictures and took him to the skinning shed. After brunch it was a time. At about 3 we head back out our ph kept talking about a big sable he kept seeing in one area so we take off after him but of course we didn’t see him around. So we go driving to what the gods want to offer us. While driving me and th ph are bull shitting and not really paying attention then all the sudden my wife yells ”sable” and we start looking for it. There he is behind a bush about 30 yards away. Ph says shoot if you can so sitting in the seat I lean back to clear the tree right beside us and let one fly. He hit the ground right where he stood. Absolutely beautiful 43 1/8” sable in the salt. Oh yeah happy birthday to me today as well.
Day 2 of hunting consisted of the same thing of coffee and fruit. I added some toast today. Headed out for the morning hunt and didn’t see anything that peaked my interest and we called it early due to more thunderstorms. That afternoon between storms we head out and find a nice kudu and take off after him. After getting closer I decide he wasn’t what I was looking for so we move on. Headed back to the truck we jump ”the“ kudu I was after so the hunt was on. we got about 150 yards from him and the sticks went up and that 280 ackley struck again. He went about 10 feet and did the wobble dance then fell over. another animal in the salt. Measured him at just shy of 55”
day 3 we didn’t get out due to the rain.
