bowfishoholic
AH veteran
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2014
- Messages
- 114
- Reaction score
- 152
- Location
- Thornfield MO
- Media
- 41
- Member of
- NWTF
- Hunted
- US, South Africa
We went to PawPrint Safaris in August of 2014.
We had a bowhunter's dream planned. Our plans included a bushbuck, nyala and eland to complete our spiral slam. We also had a nighttime bushpig hunt and springbok and black wildebeast at the Free State planned. We also had plans for a zebra. Pieter was to be our guide.
August 10, We arrived in Johannesburg and Pieter was waiting for us at the arrival gate and kindly helped get our bags and take us to our first destination.
On the way, Pieter explained that his children were home and school was about to start. He would like to spend some time with them, since we would be close to his home for part of the trip. He had a reliable PH, John who would be our guide for most of our 13 day hunt.
We met John, sighted in our bows and got settled in a lovely cottage.
We had dinner which was decent, with one of our requested deserts, mint crisp, which was delicious. That night was cold and the little heater was not near enough to keep us warm. We looked forward to a hot shower, but only had cold water.
August 11 started downhill. It was cold and windy. Tried to spot and stalk a nyala. Helped Sammy put up some blinds.
It turned out that John was a pretty good rifle guide, but had no concept about bowhunting. He had us on the back of his truck chasing nyala, hartebeast and zebra. The concession had only been hunted once in recent times and the animals were quite calm. Until-- the driving through the open areas chasing the animals educated them quite quickly. Instead of getting ahead of the herd and waiting for them, he would try to chase and have you take a bowshot from a moving, bouncing vehicle. When he stopped, it would be a 60+yard shot. He would not listen to a woman about bowhunting, and actually I was made to feel disrespected. By the third day, I was ready to leave.
When Pieter wasn't present for meals, our cook became a 3rd rate cook. Somehow she was pretty decent when Pieter was around. We never got mint crisp again, even though the second day is better than the first and there was almost a full pan left over. John loved dirt pudding/pie and we got lots of it, and it wasn't near as good. Our lunches were white bread, buttered and a slice of processed meat wrapped in tinfoil, with chips and sugar wafers, again wrapped in tinfoil, not the best thing for eating in a blind.
August 12, we shot a warthog. I shot a nyala. John insisted that I take the frontal shot. After arguing for about 5 minutes and the nyala is still standing there looking at us, I gave in and took the shot. Whack-hit him in the shoulder. Our tracker searched for a while, then we had to get Pieter and his dog. We found it and finally Pieter finished it off with the rifle.
August 13, we shot a hartebeast, which turned out to be a long track, but Sammy found him in the bushes.
August 14 we drove to Alldays, where we finally had a decent night's sleep and a hot shower in a beautiful lodge with good food. Pieter was our guide there.
August 15, we sat in a raised blind. We saw gemsbok, kudu, impala, duikers, zebra and monkeys. We could not shoot zebra on this property.
August 16, hunted eland, saw a nice impala, took a walk and almost got run over by a waterbuck. Took our shower, and cold water again. We tried a night time eland hunt and only saw wildebeast.
August 17, our tracker, Sammy sat with us, we tried to shoot some guinneas and had a troop of baboons run up the blind and over the roof.
We went to the National Park and saw an elephant on the way and crocks in the river along Botswana and Zimbabwe on the other side.
We hunted that night with Pieter for eland. We saw a nice gemsbok, then the eland came in and the red light spooked them.
There was an unusual amount of rain for August and our bushpig hunt was cancelled, due to slippery muddy roads. The wildebeast were not coming in to feed and water.
August 18 we drove back to Magaliesburg. John was back and had us chasing zebra from the back of the truck. The shots were long and we had no time to range them and get the shot off.
August 19- another cold shower. John drove us to the Free State to hunt eland, black wildebeast, and springbok.
Sammy sat with us and I took a perfect shot on a springbok. We got to see it spring up and out, we found it just over the hill.
Sammy sat with us in the afternoon and we got a shot on an eland. We tracked it for 2 days. Never found it.
Pieter went with us the 2nd day and we searched as a group.
When we returned the hot water was fixed!!!
August 21- back to Magaliesburg, took a shot on a baboon, but missed. We finally saw some big eland and a zebra at dark, but now it was time to go back home.
We met the taxidermist. Had a very nice dinner and lots of shots, since it was the bartender's birthday.
August 22, We woke up and found the dining room full of dirty dishes, cold leftovers and no coffee. I started a pot of coffee and got my bags ready to leave. Pieter picked us up and John loaded up the truck.
We stopped for lunch and signed final papers, paid for our taxidermy and shipping to the states, since we had so much money left from not shooting all the animals. Pieter told us since We had paid for the taxidermy upfront that we should get our trophies quickly. We went to the market and The Pieter paid for our souveniers.
The consession at Magliesburg was a perfect setup for bowhunting. It was very nicely laid out. It even had an old camp which could be fixed up for hunters. If the animals had not been pushed so hard, they would have been fairly easy to hunt. We had discussed ideas on how to make this a bowhunting only concession.
The whole hunt, the only wild game we had was warthog, which was not cooked very well and springbok which was cooked on the bbq by John, quite tasty. I kept asking for nyala, but we never had any nyala or hartebeast.
July 2016, we finally got word that the shipper had our trophies. We gave him our information and everyone made contact.
We had a trip planned for Alaska for August/September 2016 and asked that the trophies would arrive when we returned. We came home and the trophies' documentation was not ready, a piece of paperwork was missing. The landowner's document was supposedly filed around October 1, 2016.
January 2017, I posted a comment on AH, but left out the outfitter. I had several other stories that I learned about. That day we heard from Pieter who offered us a hunt if we returned. At least things got in action again.
The end of March 2017, we finally got another email and the information was exchanged again, everyone made contact and the documentation was almost in hand.
April 6, 2017, we got an email and found out that the NW Province had lost some paperwork. The middle of April the paperwork was supposed to be in our taxidermist's possession.
Here it us May 11, 2017, and still no sign of our trophies being shipped. We asked what is going on and received a picture of a crate and was told it was safe and ready to ship when all documentation was obtained.
Perhaps, we will get our trophies from our trip to Limcroma in 2018 before we ever see these.
We showed the pictures of our animals to Guillaume, who guided our first hunt at Limcroma. He told us that the springbok and eland we shot were not quite mature, which he was right. Pretty decent hartebeast and warthog.
Can't wait to have a decent hunt at Limcroma next year.
I will post if and when we ever get our trophies as to the taxidermy work and condition. We have our first trophies from TrophyPro to compare our African taxidermy work. Hopefully they will be as nice.
We had a bowhunter's dream planned. Our plans included a bushbuck, nyala and eland to complete our spiral slam. We also had a nighttime bushpig hunt and springbok and black wildebeast at the Free State planned. We also had plans for a zebra. Pieter was to be our guide.
August 10, We arrived in Johannesburg and Pieter was waiting for us at the arrival gate and kindly helped get our bags and take us to our first destination.
On the way, Pieter explained that his children were home and school was about to start. He would like to spend some time with them, since we would be close to his home for part of the trip. He had a reliable PH, John who would be our guide for most of our 13 day hunt.
We met John, sighted in our bows and got settled in a lovely cottage.
We had dinner which was decent, with one of our requested deserts, mint crisp, which was delicious. That night was cold and the little heater was not near enough to keep us warm. We looked forward to a hot shower, but only had cold water.
August 11 started downhill. It was cold and windy. Tried to spot and stalk a nyala. Helped Sammy put up some blinds.
It turned out that John was a pretty good rifle guide, but had no concept about bowhunting. He had us on the back of his truck chasing nyala, hartebeast and zebra. The concession had only been hunted once in recent times and the animals were quite calm. Until-- the driving through the open areas chasing the animals educated them quite quickly. Instead of getting ahead of the herd and waiting for them, he would try to chase and have you take a bowshot from a moving, bouncing vehicle. When he stopped, it would be a 60+yard shot. He would not listen to a woman about bowhunting, and actually I was made to feel disrespected. By the third day, I was ready to leave.
When Pieter wasn't present for meals, our cook became a 3rd rate cook. Somehow she was pretty decent when Pieter was around. We never got mint crisp again, even though the second day is better than the first and there was almost a full pan left over. John loved dirt pudding/pie and we got lots of it, and it wasn't near as good. Our lunches were white bread, buttered and a slice of processed meat wrapped in tinfoil, with chips and sugar wafers, again wrapped in tinfoil, not the best thing for eating in a blind.
August 12, we shot a warthog. I shot a nyala. John insisted that I take the frontal shot. After arguing for about 5 minutes and the nyala is still standing there looking at us, I gave in and took the shot. Whack-hit him in the shoulder. Our tracker searched for a while, then we had to get Pieter and his dog. We found it and finally Pieter finished it off with the rifle.
August 13, we shot a hartebeast, which turned out to be a long track, but Sammy found him in the bushes.
August 14 we drove to Alldays, where we finally had a decent night's sleep and a hot shower in a beautiful lodge with good food. Pieter was our guide there.
August 15, we sat in a raised blind. We saw gemsbok, kudu, impala, duikers, zebra and monkeys. We could not shoot zebra on this property.
August 16, hunted eland, saw a nice impala, took a walk and almost got run over by a waterbuck. Took our shower, and cold water again. We tried a night time eland hunt and only saw wildebeast.
August 17, our tracker, Sammy sat with us, we tried to shoot some guinneas and had a troop of baboons run up the blind and over the roof.
We went to the National Park and saw an elephant on the way and crocks in the river along Botswana and Zimbabwe on the other side.
We hunted that night with Pieter for eland. We saw a nice gemsbok, then the eland came in and the red light spooked them.
There was an unusual amount of rain for August and our bushpig hunt was cancelled, due to slippery muddy roads. The wildebeast were not coming in to feed and water.
August 18 we drove back to Magaliesburg. John was back and had us chasing zebra from the back of the truck. The shots were long and we had no time to range them and get the shot off.
August 19- another cold shower. John drove us to the Free State to hunt eland, black wildebeast, and springbok.
Sammy sat with us and I took a perfect shot on a springbok. We got to see it spring up and out, we found it just over the hill.
Sammy sat with us in the afternoon and we got a shot on an eland. We tracked it for 2 days. Never found it.
Pieter went with us the 2nd day and we searched as a group.
When we returned the hot water was fixed!!!
August 21- back to Magaliesburg, took a shot on a baboon, but missed. We finally saw some big eland and a zebra at dark, but now it was time to go back home.
We met the taxidermist. Had a very nice dinner and lots of shots, since it was the bartender's birthday.
August 22, We woke up and found the dining room full of dirty dishes, cold leftovers and no coffee. I started a pot of coffee and got my bags ready to leave. Pieter picked us up and John loaded up the truck.
We stopped for lunch and signed final papers, paid for our taxidermy and shipping to the states, since we had so much money left from not shooting all the animals. Pieter told us since We had paid for the taxidermy upfront that we should get our trophies quickly. We went to the market and The Pieter paid for our souveniers.
The consession at Magliesburg was a perfect setup for bowhunting. It was very nicely laid out. It even had an old camp which could be fixed up for hunters. If the animals had not been pushed so hard, they would have been fairly easy to hunt. We had discussed ideas on how to make this a bowhunting only concession.
The whole hunt, the only wild game we had was warthog, which was not cooked very well and springbok which was cooked on the bbq by John, quite tasty. I kept asking for nyala, but we never had any nyala or hartebeast.
July 2016, we finally got word that the shipper had our trophies. We gave him our information and everyone made contact.
We had a trip planned for Alaska for August/September 2016 and asked that the trophies would arrive when we returned. We came home and the trophies' documentation was not ready, a piece of paperwork was missing. The landowner's document was supposedly filed around October 1, 2016.
January 2017, I posted a comment on AH, but left out the outfitter. I had several other stories that I learned about. That day we heard from Pieter who offered us a hunt if we returned. At least things got in action again.
The end of March 2017, we finally got another email and the information was exchanged again, everyone made contact and the documentation was almost in hand.
April 6, 2017, we got an email and found out that the NW Province had lost some paperwork. The middle of April the paperwork was supposed to be in our taxidermist's possession.
Here it us May 11, 2017, and still no sign of our trophies being shipped. We asked what is going on and received a picture of a crate and was told it was safe and ready to ship when all documentation was obtained.
Perhaps, we will get our trophies from our trip to Limcroma in 2018 before we ever see these.
We showed the pictures of our animals to Guillaume, who guided our first hunt at Limcroma. He told us that the springbok and eland we shot were not quite mature, which he was right. Pretty decent hartebeast and warthog.
Can't wait to have a decent hunt at Limcroma next year.
I will post if and when we ever get our trophies as to the taxidermy work and condition. We have our first trophies from TrophyPro to compare our African taxidermy work. Hopefully they will be as nice.
