SOUTH AFRICA: Mugging A Rhino With DAVE FREEBURN SAFARIS (Special Guest spike.t)

[Vanguard2279]

One of my favorite pictures from the hunt. @spike.t , me and @DAVE FREEBURN SAFARIS with the Limpopo River and Botswana in the background.

 

[Vanguard2279]

DALLAS
In early January 2022, I was meandering around DSC with my good friend Mani. As usual, people who had never met him before were stopping us to ask if he was the famous @norfolk shooter . I'm used to this by now. During our wanderings, we came upon the booth of @DAVE FREEBURN SAFARIS (www.davefreeburn.com) and we sat down to talk to him for a while. Dave had recently posted a fantastic offer to Vita-dart a Rhino and we were discussing it.

I've never had a real desire to hunt Rhino. However, darting one has always been in my mind. It was something that I wanted to do, but had no idea when I would actually do it. Something sparked in me and I quickdrew my credit card and frisbee'd it to Dave. "Take my money before I change my mind!" Dave said that we would see if @spike.t could come and join us as they had been friends for many years. Oh, I was committed now. I just had to figure out when I could do it. Fortunately, Dave had an opening in early October. This would mean that I was going on two safaris within the same calendar year. Mani and I had yet to go on our Cape Buffalo hunt with @KMG Hunting Safaris in late April/early May. My hunt report for that amazing experience is around here somewhere.

THE HUNT PACKAGE
The original deal was for a five-day hunt and vita-darting a Rhino. I added a cull package for two Blue Wildebeest bulls and three Impala rams. I truthfully regret not adding two days to the hunt.

THE CAST
ME: 53 year old grey-collar professional, white, widowed, grandfather who is blessed to be able to hunt Africa with eight trips since September 2016.

MY RIFLES: Forbes 24B rebarreled to 9.3x62. 250-grain Barnes TTSX at an average of 2,530 FPS.
Christensen Ridgeline 6.5 PRC with a Zeiss 3-12x44 scope. I elected to use Barnes factory 130-grain TSX. Expensive, but phenomenally accurate out of that rifle.

DAVE FREEBURN: Tall, good looking maestro of the bush. Dave is an amazing PH and outfitter.

SPIKE T: There are many stories surrounding this international man of mystery. We're going to add a few today. His real name is Mike and there are rumors that he is the scion of landed English gentry. Others say that his nickname came from his time as a roadie for the Sex Pistols in the 1970's. It is entirely possible that the nickname came from his rumored ill-fated career as a porno movie stuntman in the 1980's. Nobody will ever forget the tragic "stage dive" in the 1985 classic New Wave Hookers. (Rest In Peace, Blondee Bubbles) Mike claims that the name came from a mate at boarding school. To me, that sounds like bullshit (or at least boring). Regardless, I consider Mike a great friend and I had the most amazing hunt with him on Takeri in Zambia in October 2020. That hunt report is around here somewhere as well.

I procrastinated on starting this report for over a month. I try to write my hunt reports in one sitting and I really need to be in the mood to write. I most certainly don't want to bore any of you. Thank you to those who stick around to read them. I'm going to write this in installments. We all know that we have short attention spans.

 

[Randy F]

 

[Vanguard2279]

After the United-created nightmare of late April/early May that many of you experienced, I resolved that I would fly Delta for this journey. I reached out to my favorite travel agent, the mighty Jenn @TRAVEL EXPRESS to help plan my trip. As always, she did an amazing job. This is the LAS-ATL-JNB route. I would depart on 09/29/2022 and arrive the next day. I had a planned overnight at Afton for Mike and I (separate rooms). Dave would pick us up in the morning of 11/01.

My flight was okay. I had upgraded to a Comfort Plus seat for ATL-JNB. Sadly, when I arrived at my seat, the middle was occupied by an extremely large man. Nice guy, but huge. I was literally sitting behind his shoulder. The FA came over and whispered that she had an aisle bulkhead seat in Coach. I promptly said I would take it. I raised the arm rest for my seat mate and told him he would have a it of extra room. He replied "God bless you".

Upon arrival at JNB, I was met by Mike and the intrepid Mr. X of Afton. I always arrange for the preapproved firearms permit to make things easier. It was so easy that I stepped into the restroom prior to going into the SAPS office and was met by Mr. X when I was coming out who told me that we were done and handed me my official permit. I'm glad to inform all of you who read my last hunt report that my suitcase (with ammunition) arrived with me and did not go to Amsterdam and stay there for the duration of my trip.

Due to the amount of "follow home" robberies, our porter pushed our luggage out of the airport and into a dark parking lot next to the Intercontinental hotel. Yeah, it felt sketchy. However, the Afton shuttle arrived and we loaded up for the short drive to Afton Safari Lodge. Upon arrival, we were shown to our rooms and prepared for dinner accompanied with copious amounts of alcohol. I had not stayed at Afton since 2017. I liked it when Annaliese owned it, but must say that it's been remodeled and is much nicer. Dinner was steak and a nice chicken curry. Did I mention that there was alcohol? I went to bed and fortunately slept well.

The next morning, Dave arrived to pick up Mike and I. We traveled to his beautiful Silent Valley lodge for the hunt. I had the left side of a brick duplex chalet that was clean and comfortable. Yeah, there were some spiders, but there are always spiders. Dave's cook, Sydney, prepared a wonderful dinner that evening. We were also able to meet our trackers for the week, John and John. I referred to them as Old John and Young John.

After relaxing for a little while, I utilized the range next to the lodge to zero my rifles. Both rifles functioned as designed. Remember me saying this,....

 

[BourbonTrail]

This sounds like a bitchin’ report in the making.

 

[Vanguard2279]

I forgot to mention that on the trip to Silent Valley, I asked Dave if we could stop at a Starbucks in Pretoria. We googled a location and stopped at a strip mall. I ran in and got coffee and found the Pretoria cup from the "Why The Hell Are You Here" collection. It was funny. I tipped the equivalent of $2.50 and the staff cheered. One girl wrote "We heart you" on my cup". Little things matter to someone.

 

[Vanguard2279]

RHINO DAY!!!!
Let's be clear. I'm going to be deliberately vague about location with this. Operational Security is a big deal for those who own Rhino. Keep this in mind, though. There are more Rhinos in private ownership in South Africa than the rest of Africa combined.

We left early in the morning for the farm where we would dart a Rhino. Upon arrival, I met the veterinarian who introduced me to the Dangerous Game Dart Rifle. In my hands, I held a Marlin dart rifle with a suppressor. This tool was powered by a .22 rimfire blank with a valve to limit the amount of gas and topped with a simple red dot sight. I made two practice shots with this and hit within the general area of where I was aiming. I'll say this now. This is a lot harder than it looks on TV. There are two aiming spots- the neck and the hip. The shoulder is covered in over two inches of thick hide.

Upon going afield, we quickly picked the tracks of a group of Rhinos and began following them. We eventually come to a group of five Rhino, a mix of females and large calves. We maneuvered through a forest and were able to get within 10 yards of the group. It is an amazing and eerie feeling to be so close to that many Rhinos who are all staring in your direction, know that you're there, but can't see you.

I aimed at the neck of the Rhino that they wanted to ultimately dart and fired. The dart went high and we learned later, glanced off the neck upwards. The Rhinos took off with us in slow-speed pursuit. I'll save you all a little suspense. Mishaps would plague us for the next five and half hours. The next dart sent out yawed after leaving the muzzle. The Rhinos took off. We stalked within range again. The one female cut left and led like I would a rifle only to watch the dart sail past her rear end.

Once again, we stalked within darting distance. I aimed at the majestic female's neck. Range was roughly 20 yards. I fired. We heard the dart smack and knew we finally had a good hit. The veterinarian darted and immobilized the female Rhino. Soon, she went down. We rushed in and she promptly blew snot on me. By the way, you'll see where my dart hit her.

One of the first things that you need to do after tranquilizing a Rhino is to get them upright. Apparently, laying on their sides compresses the lungs and is especially dangerous when sedated so me and ten of my new friends rolled this over.

One thing that really eludes you in a zoo is just how big Rhino actually are. Everything has to be done quickly. It may look like we are casually hanging out with a sedated Rhino, but we were working. Blood samples, antibiotics, measuring the horn (23"x22.5"), pictures- all done quickly. I hugged a Rhino (Whatever. Don't judge me). They get kind of pissed when you try to do that in a zoo.

And of course, I had to take this picture:

 

[TwoTracks]

I really like those last two pictures. Super cool. Congratulation!

 

[Vanguard2279]

Rhino skin feels like semi-hard rubber. Was this worth $6,000? Yes. If you're on the fence about it, it is a great experience and your money is going towards something that really matters. I made the suggestion to Dave that he should consider a package where you could paintball a Rhino. Hopefully, he runs with that. He'll be a pioneer. He did tell me that is one way they apply delousing powder to Rhinos to protect them from ticks.

One of the things that I was told prior to the trip was that we were going to check for pregnancy. My naive mind was sure we would do this with a blood test, and then one night I was watching The Incredible Dr. Pol,....

I messaged Dave about this and he confirmed that was how we were going to check. Or more accurately, how I was going to check. Needless to say, I was skeptical. I asked the vet about this before we started the "hunt". He confirmed that it would be with a blood test, but I think it's only because Dave hadn't clued him in on the joke.

We doused the Rhino with water and the vet inserted a syringe into a vein in her ear and told me to reverse the sedation which I did. A few minutes later, she got up and went about her life.

 

[Vanguard2279]

I forgot that on the first day, we went out and looked for a cull Impala ram. We came across one and I quickly exited the vehicle while Dave set up his Viper sticks which are a more robust version of my 4Stable Sticks. Range has been forgotten, but it was an easy shot with the 6.5 PRC. The 130-grain TSX hit beautifully into the vital area and the Impala ran maybe 25 yards before he dropped and died.

I want to say that this boosted my confidence. Dave advised that all of the meat was going to a community facility.

In the afternoon of the Rhino adventure, we went out looking for Impala. In the later afternoon, we encountered a ram that Dave wanted gone. He was maybe 200 yards. I mounted the sticks and fired. The ram dropped with little movement.

We continued our hunt and eventually came across another ram, this one maybe 150 yards. Yes, all of these seem to say that the 3-12 scope is largely unnecessary. This was the first time I had taken the 6.5 hunting and it had performed perfectly.

 

[Vanguard2279]

I had talked to Dave about trying to find a good Limpopo Bushbuck. He planned for us to go to a farm called Twee Rivier owned by a veterinarian and his wife. It is a complex of really nice chalets on the banks of the Limpopo river. Really nice couple. The farm had some really great riverine terrain that Bushbuck love and we were able to find some fairly small ones, but there were definitely larger. They just weren't dumb. One the day of arrival, we took a tour of the farm. In a boma (for lack of a better word) was a female Cheetah with a broken leg that the vet was trying to rehab. She was a truly wild (not introduced) Cheetah and was considered vital for the genetics of the area.

She was doing well and getting better. Also on our drive, I got to meet/feed a four year old female Giraffe named Shinga. Shinga had been found stuck in a cattle fence with a broken leg as a calf. While she was down, something came by and chewed off her left ear. She had fully recovered, but would never be able to be released to the wild. I was glad to get some one on one time with a Giraffe.

 

[Vanguard2279]

We spent that evening looking for a Bushbuck, but to no avail. We did manage to see a Black Mamba cross the road in front of us.
The next morning, we headed out again. Dave, Young John and I creeped along the dirt trail above the river. We managed to bump a few younger Bushbucks, but not what were after. It was still pretty exciting. As the day warmed, our opportunities diminished, and we decided to head back to Silent Valley. The vet's charming wife showed me her African Sand dog and told me it was probably the oldest in existence at 18 years.

If anyone has the opportunity, Twee Rivier is a great place to visit.

And before we left, I took the picture that leads this hunt report. I'm honored to be with both of these great men.

 

[Vanguard2279]

Now, we start to get into the difficult to write about parts of this story.

The day after returning from Twee Rivier, we set out looking for a Blue Wildebeest cull. In the morning, we came across a bull standing in the shadows of some trees. The range was maybe around 100 yards. I aimed for the heart/lung area and fired. Apparently, the shadows and not aiming a bit lower (I had a 200 yard zero) caused me to shoot the bull in the left side of the face. The bull took off and we began the relatively short tracking. We encountered the bull again in a small opening in the forest with his head down. I fired one 250-grain TTSX from the 9.3x62 into his neck and he went down.

One seriously disturbing thing had started to happen. I would cycle the bolt quickly and with force and the empty brass had a tendency to fall back into the ejection port. Keep in mind, the last time the Forbes had been afield was in Zambia in 2020 and it had performed flawlessly. I had an easy time developing the TTSX load for it in the height of Las Vegas summer. I prefer to do load development in the Summer because if a load is not overpressure at 110 degrees, it will be safe at 90 degrees.
I found that when ejecting live rounds, the round would not be thrown clear and it's rim would stay in the extractor at a 45-degree angle. This is cycling the action fast and with force. It would not do this every time but it did it every time it mattered. Supposedly this is an easy fix, a new ejector spring and maybe a new extractor.

I think many of us have been in the position where we've made a bad shot and almost lost and animal. It doesn't change how bad you feel about it.
There is worse to come,....

 

[Biddleman]

In camp with SpikeT? Has your liver recovered yet?
Great report so far.

 

[Vanguard2279]

After dropping the Blue Wildebeest off at the skinning shed, we went and checked zero on my rifle. It was exactly where I believed set it. This is also when I realized what was going on with extraction/ejection.

On the morning of 10/06, we set out to find another Blue Wildebeest bull. Not long into the search, we came across two at the edge of what I'll call a forest. The bull I targeted was turned broadside to my right. He was behind a bit of brush. Yes, I should have shot him in the neck, but I have always been hesitant to do that due to not remembering exactly where the spine sits. I fired at the heart/lung region. He reared up on his hind legs and took off. We gave it a few minutes and began tracking him. This would turn into a torturous odyssey reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings. Every tree that I walked past seemed to have thorns and jump out to grab me. Mike, Dave and the Johns threaded easily through them. We tracked blood for a substantial period. This was essentially drops more and more spaced out. Occasionally, we would find where the bull stopped and left a significant amount of blood on the ground. I'm left with the belief that my bullet hit a branch, expanded and then hit the bull. I have seen a variation of that before with a Fallow Deer that was fortunately anchored in place after the hit with a large entrance wound.

Eventually, we lost the blood. We marked our spot to resume tracking later. We took it to the perimeter of the area in a vehicle to see if we could spot him. We did encounter a bull that we believed was him and try to close with him. At the time, he was moving fine. If it was him, I felt better about the chances of it being a superficial hit and one he might survive. I had one shot when the bull was running left to right, but that was a complete miss.

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats on the rhino and thanks for sharing!

 

[Vanguard2279]

Gaining the respect of your PH is important. Sadly, many are faced with clients that can't shoot. The one thing you can do to alleviate concerns is to practice and not screw up. On my last four hunts, my shooting has been great (in my eyes) with few bad shots and no lost animals. The 4Stable Sticks have greatly helped with that. We all have an ethos that guides how we hunt.

I strive to share all that I can in my hunt reports. If I screw up, I admit it. In seven safaris, I have made some bad shots, but had never lost an animal. A wise man (Dave) told me to lose one animal in eight safaris was actually a pretty good record. Maybe so, but it doesn't change how crushing that is.

The next morning, we were back out at the location where we had lost the tracks. We would pick it up again and then lose it. We spent most of the day attempting to locate the wounded bull. I told Dave that if we encountered the wounded bull, try to give me a chance to shoot him. If the opportunity was limited, Dave was to shoot him. I was past any issue of pride. I just wanted him down.

After lunch, we broke off to go after two Impala ram culls that I had added to the package. I made sure to tell Dave that I wanted to come back in the afternoon and see if we could find the wounded bull. We eventually bumped into a small herd of Impala. I jumped off the truck with Dave and the trackers. I encountered an Impala ram with inward pointing horns at 70 yards broadside facing to the right. Please remember that my 6.5 PRC was zeroed at 200 yards. I should have aimed a bit lower than a standard heart/lung shot. I'll just say that he went down and the exit wound was,.....noticeable.

A few minutes later and while in the same spot, Dave spotted another cull-quality ram at approximately 100 yards. This ram was directly facing me. I placed the crosshairs on his chest and fired. The bullet quite expectedly went a little higher than I aimed and broke his neck with the bullet exiting on the other side just above where the neck joined the back. The ram dropped dead in place.

 

[Vanguard2279]

After loading the Impala culls, we returned to the area that the wounded bull was last seen in. We circled the area and ran into substantial numbers of Wildebeest. When we could, we glassed them hoping to find a bull that appeared to have been shot. Unfortunately, our efforts were fruitless. As it became too dark to see the Wildebeest clearly, we peeled off and headed back to the Silent Valley lodge. I had lost an animal. I carry that now.

 

[Vanguard2279]

The next morning, we got up and had a great breakfast. I tipped all of the personnel and we loaded the Toyota for the trip back to JNB. We arrived early and I forgot how often airline counters aren't open until just prior to flights. Mike headed off to catch his flight on Rwandair and I stood around the terminal trying not to get robbed or kidnapped. You all know what I mean. Don't look lost at JNB. I got ahold of Mr. X (Xolile) and we went to Byte for some lunch and a couple alcoholic beverages. He helped me kill time until I could check in at the Delta counter.

I hit Out of Africa for gifts for a couple of my newer coworkers. I then went to Out of Africa Kids and picked up stuffed animals for my granddaughters' menagerie. Then I hit the Duty Free shop for a 375ml bottle of Stellenbosch. By then it was dinner time and I would be boarding my flight soon to take me home. And having waited since 2019 to return there, Diner was finally open. I had the President pizza and they brought me a glass for my wine so I didn't have to drink straight from the bottle. I have before. Don't judge me. Admittedly, it's more classy with a straw.

For the flight home, I had purchased Comfort Plus Premium Select for the JNB-ATL route. Don't ever do this. You immediately become spoiled with plenty of armrest and a great seat. I actually slept for maybe five hours which is really uncommon for me on a plane. I'm afraid that I will have to do that again. Upon arrival back in LAS, I had to deal with snippy, suspicious Delta cargo employees who insisted on zip tying my rifle case before I left the airport. My reliable friend Doc picked me up and drove me home. I then went and picked up my Goldens from the animal hospital where I kenneled them, unpacked my gear and cleaned my rifles.

 

[Vanguard2279]

SUMMARY
This was a great trip with a great outfitter. Dave was fantastic. I look forward to hunting with him again in the next few years. I highly recommend Dave Freeburn Safaris to anyone looking for a fantastic hunt.

Limpopo Bushbuck is my new white whale.

I am endlessly thankful to @spike.t for his friendship. I'm really excited to see what high jinks we're going to get into in Nashville.

There is bound to be something that I will add tomorrow. Good night to everyone still reading this.