SOUTH AFRICA: Heading Out For RSA!

[Sycamore59]

Successful day with a Burchell’s Zebra and an absolute stud of a Red Hartebeest!

 

[Edge]

Great job guys, nice trophies!

Tell us more about your rifles when you have a chance.

 

[Ridgewalker]

I always love zebras, but that red hartebeest is AWESOME! Man would I love getting one that nice!

 

[LivingTheDream]

Great start to your trip. Congratulations on an awesome Red Hartebeest!!!

 

[BWH]

Congratulations! Great pics

 

[Ryan]

Great hunt and great animals. Looks like the BLR worked out well for your Father.

 

[flatwater bill]

Hartebeest from Hell, I would say.............................awesome and well done.....like the looks of your rifle........have not seen a flight to Africa that was not full since 2001......so that was a nice bonus for you................................keep posting, keep shootin straight.......FWN

 

[cls]

Well done so far, looking forward to the rest of the report.

 

[Shootist43]

What caliber is that BLR? I'd like to hear more about your Dad's Red Hartebeest hunt. That thing is a stud, no doubts about it.

 

[Sycamore59]

2 1/2 days at the river camp with no service but came out with some great stories and even better animals. Beautiful Nyala and awesome KUDU.

 

[Sycamore59]

What caliber is that BLR? I'd like to hear more about your Dad's Red Hartebeest hunt. That thing is a stud, no doubts about it.

Shootist43.. Dad’s BLR is chambered in 300 win mag. I’ll post a review when we return

 

[johnnyblues]

Excellent trophies. And yes that hartebeest is a monster! I ve been flying out of JFK ( since I live here) for more years than I d like to admit with firearm's, TSA and Port Authority Police always great to deal with no issues at all. Always keep my hard ammo case handy for their inspection too.

 

[Sycamore59]

Great hunt on a waterbuck today! In the reeds on the edge of pond!

 

[Ridgewalker]

Oh yes! Another fine trophy!

 

[Sycamore59]

The Report: What I learned

First: Thanks to everybody who responded to posts and participated/participates in the forums of what to pack, tips, pointers, etc. Helped out a lot in planning.

Disclaimer: This was my first Safari. I learned a lot and found out what worked for me. I know there are some Safari vets out there so what I learned for the first time, might be old news, but now I know and might help out another first timer.

Things Learned:
* Pack warm clothes! I only packed a light jacked, and some long sleeved button ups and fortunately I had a leather vest that helped a lot. 32F isn’t nothing new to this Hoosier, but at the beginning of summer, it’s definitely a change.
* Bonded Bullets! My dad and I used Barnes TTSX bullets in our rifles - 375 H&H and 300 Win mag. Did the bullets work, sure. Did I recover any, No. All went through every animal we shot. Is this good, maybe, but it tells me that the bullets didn’t dump all their energy into the game. The Barnes’ expanded and kept right on going. I know I might be opening another can of worms here, but our guide stated soft point bonded bullets have always worked the best for him and almost always finds the bullets under the skin on the opposite side of the animal. Our shots were from 50 yds out to 300 yds and the bullets acted the same passing through the game. I’ll be switching to bonded bullets.
* Practice on sticks! I know this has been discussed on here and we did practice, but not enough. Shooting off sticks is a different game and hard to get steady left to right, for me.
* Flying with firearms is simple! I had never done it before and was surprised that it wasn’t the hassle I thought it would’ve. We got our 4457’s completed early and our guide helped us with SAPS 520. Not bad at all just have to have the right paperwork.
* Flights: from the US we flew over night from JFK to Joberg. Landed at 9 am, and had a full day upon arrival. Went to bed at a normal time in SA and was on their time schedule with no jet lag. My dad turned 60 while we were there and he didn’t have any jet lag either. Flew over night leaving at 9 pm SA time and arriving at JFK at 630 am. Seem to be back on schedule here in the states.
* Clothes: I found my favorite shirt to wear was a long sleeve shooter’s shirt from Tag Safari Clothing. Was just warm enough as a base layer and as it warmed up, rolled the sleeves and secured them with the Swiss tab. Walking through the thornfeld, rolled the sleeves back down and I wasn’t getting scratch up. The 100% cotton was tough and didn’t rip or tear. I also wore a Carharrt shirt, but liked the Tag product better. Pants: DuluthFlex Firehose Work Pants and they were awesome. Tough, resistant to the thorns, rocks, etc. Plenty of room to carry whatever in cargo pockets. Pockets are deep and stuff doesn’t fall out. I wore their Fatigue Green and Brown color and thought they blended in well. The stretch and flex of the pants are great for climbing, crouching, crawling, etc. Never bound me up. Plus with their protective coating, any dirt/blood washed right out. Like I mentioned I wore a leather vest and found it to be my best friend.
* Study the game you're after! I studied the posts on here for judging trophies and shot placement on animals. This was huge as we began to glass mountain sides and animals. Once I acquired my ‘bush eyes’ it was beneficial to be able to distinguish young and mature bulls. Plus I got on the same page as our guide quicker.

I thought these were some of the top things I learned...

Report to be continued...

 

[Sycamore59]

The Report: The Hunting!

Outfitter: Wild Wing Safaris by Wayne Dunne

Wayne runs a fantastic operation based out of Winterton, KwaZulu-Natal. Lodge was very clean and well kept. The food was prepared fresh every day and tasted great. Laundry was done daily and done well. Very family oriented and we had the pleasure to spend time with his family and departed as friends.
My mom joined dad and I on our trip and had a blast as well. She spent he first few days tagging along with us hunting and a couple days in Durbin with Wayne’s better half. Was a perfect balance.

Wayne is true to conservation and put us on good mature animals. Dad and I weren’t going after inches of horns, but good animals that were great representatives of the species. In this, we found that all the animals Wayne put us on were of trophy status. It wasn’t until the end of the trip I asked what he thought each animal would measure, and found that most likely all would go SCI should I enter them. This was simply by taking the mature animal in the group/heard.

Hunting was done on a few concessions and open cattle farm ground. Concessions were very large and all the animals were hunted in their natural habitat. Kudu, Nyala, and Waterbuck were hunted in the hills and mountains. Zebra and Hartebeest were hunted in more plains like terrain.

Wayne worked his tail off to put us on good animals and to get us in a good position for a shot. Shots were taken from 50-300 yds, and all very do-able.

Wayne was a joy to be around and did his best to make our experience in SA a great one. Time around the fire, showing us the small town nearby, stopping at a butcher shop and buying biltong. Wayne went above and beyond to make our stay comfortable and to give the attention to us. We were the only ones hunting and he doesn’t double book clients; groups and families yes, but not other clients.

Zebra: my zebra was hunted on a cattle farm where they had moved in and were being a nuisance. We found the herd in the morning and made a stalk but was unsuccessful. We returned later for another attempt and found the mature animals at the bottom of a valley. Wayne and I began to stalk them and the zebra knew something was up and worked their way up the opposite side of the valley from us, joining a group of juveniles. Wayne and I pushed on and used the bush for cover, eventually making our way into 50 yds from the Zebra. Wayne set up the sticks and glassed the herd for a mature stallion. He told me, second one from the rear. I got on the sticks, got the stallion in my scope and settled the cross hairs on his shoulder. Wayne said aim for the top of the second stripe. Looking through the scope I could see a couple twigs in the way. I asked to move over because of the twigs and Wayne whispered to me, ‘that’s a 3-7-5, it’ll go right through it.’ Settling back again on the shoulder I squeezed off the round. The Ruger No. 1 barked and the stallion jumped after being hit hard. He ran 20 yds and fell over. My first, and top of the list, African animal was down and I was smiling ear to ear. After getting to the stallion I looked for the entry hole. It was literally at the exact point of the second stripe. Wayne asked if I could shoot a little better next time... My mom and dad joined us a short time later and we all admired the beautiful animal. We loaded him on the truck and headed to the skinning shed.

Red Hartebeest: that evening we headed out for Hartebeest. We had seen a smoker the night before while glassing a hunting area. We made our way into the block and I saw the heard split into two groups. One headed up the mountain and one on down to the plains area. Wayne and I glassed the group in the plains and didn’t see the big boy there. He must have gone up the mountain. Dad and Wayne made a stalk up the mountain towards the group. I followed closely behind with the video camera and wasn’t long before Dad was leveling himself on the sticks. The Hartebeest moved off a bit so Wayne and Dad adjusted to another position. Dad steadied himself on the sticks again and the Browning BLR in 300 win mag let out a bang and hit the Hartebeest hard. He ran downhill and disappeared. We began to track and only saw 3 of the 4 Hartebeest come out the bottom. After looking around a bit and Wayne letting dad walk down the hill just to call him back up, we found him. Wayne told Dad that he had shot the best Hartebeest in that area in 13 years. The animal was heavy based, mass throughout his horns and flared at the top. A beautiful animal. Down the hillside we dragged him and into the truck to head for the skinning shed. Dad was pleased with his animal and we retired that evening after a great steak supper at the lodge.

The next day was part travel and part hunting. Once at the river camp and settled in we went out scouting. We were unsuccessful with the Blue Wildebeest, but still a good hunt. The next day we found ourselves glassing a mountain side looking for Nyala and Kudu. We saw a nice Nyala bull, several Nyala cows, young kudu bulls, kudu cows and a big bodied kudu, but couldn’t see horns. We made our way around the valley and came in at the same elevation as the animals. We continued to glass, looking for either a Nyala or Kudu to show himself. Wasn’t long and I saw a nice bull kudu on a game trail. I told Wayne, he didn’t look through his Binos but for a second and said ‘why are you talking, shoot him.’ He then asked if I want to use the 300 win mag. The kudu was about 275 yds from us. I knew my 375 was capable, but when the guide suggest something, you do it. I swapped dad guns real quick and steadied on his shoulder. Wayne said, an inch high from center and right behind the shoulder. I put the crosshairs on the kudu and touched off the round. I heard the bullet impact, and instinctively reloaded. The bull moved forward, I leveled again on him and squeezed off another round. The bullet hit hard and the bull went down the hill, crashed into some thicket and expired. My kudu was down and I was ecstatic. He was awesome. Heavy mass, tight curls, and his ivory tips pointed forward. After a long drag down the hill he was loaded and we head for the shed.

To be continued....

 

[BRICKBURN]

Good job.

 

[Eric Anderson]

Ridge, we flew South African Airways direct from JFK to Joberg. Drove to JFK from Indiana, staying the night prior with family couple hours from the airport. For a 15hr flight it was easy, it helped that the plane wasn’t full and we could spread out a bit.

You are a brave man entering NYC without a
Longun permit. Federal law is supposed to make it legal as long as you are just passing through, but as the old saying goes “You can beat the rap, but you can’t beat the ride”

 

[flatwater bill]

Braver still entering RSA with a BLR............."No automatic, semi automatic, lever action or slide action firearms are allowed".........(Firearms importation to South Africa. AH) Always thought that a BLR in .358 Win would be perfect for my hunting needs in RSA, but worried they would finally uphold the letter of the law just when I arrived. Great report..........love that tightly curled kudu.....................BTW.......your dad has the best beard in South Africa since Koos de la Rey!........thanks for posting..............FWB

 

[Ryan]

The Report: What I learned

First: Thanks to everybody who responded to posts and participated/participates in the forums of what to pack, tips, pointers, etc. Helped out a lot in planning.

Disclaimer: This was my first Safari. I learned a lot and found out what worked for me. I know there are some Safari vets out there so what I learned for the first time, might be old news, but now I know and might help out another first timer.

Things Learned:
* Pack warm clothes! I only packed a light jacked, and some long sleeved button ups and fortunately I had a leather vest that helped a lot. 32F isn’t nothing new to this Hoosier, but at the beginning of summer, it’s definitely a change.
* Bonded Bullets! My dad and I used Barnes TTSX bullets in our rifles - 375 H&H and 300 Win mag. Did the bullets work, sure. Did I recover any, No. All went through every animal we shot. Is this good, maybe, but it tells me that the bullets didn’t dump all their energy into the game. The Barnes’ expanded and kept right on going. I know I might be opening another can of worms here, but our guide stated soft point bonded bullets have always worked the best for him and almost always finds the bullets under the skin on the opposite side of the animal. Our shots were from 50 yds out to 300 yds and the bullets acted the same passing through the game. I’ll be switching to bonded bullets.
...

First off Congratulations! It sounds like a great hunt and you learned a lot.

You are correct, plenty of opinions about bullets. As for TTSX, the wisest thing I can say is they're built different so they work different. My simple question is what kind of damage did they do and how far did the animals go? From the report I'd say they worked very well. The pics should show it the difference well, left is a 168 grain TTSX from a 30-06, it still weighs 167 grains. The right is a 150 grain Hornady Interbond now weighing 142 grains. The TTSX is here dropped a zebra with a quartering towards me shot braking the leg, going though the vitals and stopping on the inside of the hide. I have shot 7 other animals in Namibia with that bullet, all pass throughs and all dropped in sight. one of the owners actually made a comment my bullet made more damage to a my second kudu's meat than he liked so obviously there is a lot of hydrostatic shock and trauma from those retained petals. The bullet doesn't expand as much but still does amazing damage no matter what. The down side, if you choose to call it such is it will probably pass through. Hunting a cluster of herd animals could be a difficult. The Interbond was a Dall sheep quartering away it only hit two ribs, one going in and one going out I recall before stopping under the hide. That particular bonded bullet would not have done well on a shoulder, but a heavier one and a different design like a Swift A-Frame would.

In the end it's up to you. Research and choose wisely.