James2018
AH member
I would like to share my experiences while hunting with Induna Safaris in South Africa which is about an hour and 15 minutes drive from Port Elizabeth SA. I hunted Plains Game at Induna which is owned and operated by Kelvin and Denise Milsom in both 2017 and 2018. Both hunts took place in the winter June 22-July 8th.
It had been a life long dream of mine to travel to Africa and after several setbacks and cancellations due to my parents health issues, I finally made the trip over for the first time in 2017. I think that I must have spent hundreds of hours and about 25 years researching different outfitters and areas and going over all the things that were a priority and important to me. I probably read the perfect shot 50 times and spent lots of time researching the evaluation of the animals I wanted to hunt. For me some of the most important things were that I wanted the hunting to be fair chase and to spend lots of time hiking and walking- spot and stalk style on foot. Most of my life has been spent travelling the world by plane and vehicle for work, so I really wanted to spend my time on the ground if this makes sense. I also wanted a outfitter that would be willing to adapt to my changing desires and that would be willing to take me to areas that would give me the opportunity to see some remote country and high quality mature trophies. I also wanted to be where the operator was not next to a highway or road noise and a place that would be relaxing and peaceful. Lastly I was looking for a outfitter that owned most of property and not freelance so for the most part the hunting would take place on property they owned.
I wrote many emails and made many phone calls to numerous outfitters and called all of the references. I selected Induna after contacting many of the references , they all said the same things just go its a no brainer. many of these clients had been to Induna 6 or even 10 times. That made up my mind and I never looked back and was so glad I made that choice.
When I arrived in Port Elizabeth in June of 2017 after a very long flight I was greeted by Kelvin at the Airport and we made the drive to his home /farm concession. When we arrived I freshened up and headed to the range to sight in the rifle I would be using. I thought after reading the blogs on the Induna Website I was ready and knew what to expect. But I must admit I was not totally prepared for the kid in the candy store feeling when I started to see so many different animals in great numbers. We spent most of our time on either his home property or a very large neighbouring property owned by his father in law. It was very scenic and vast and offered me the chance to spend lots of time walking and hiking and hunting the way the I had intended. It was also very peaceful and relaxing and a great place to unwind.
For my first hunt I pursued Kudu, Impala, Nyala, Blesbuck, Bushbuck, Copper Spingbok, Gemsbok and Warthog. I was able to successfully take some excellent mature trophies all would end up making the SCI book, although for me the most important thing was that they were good representations of the animal and prime mature animals. I ended up taking two Kudu due to the fact that on one of the last days a much larger 54 inch Kudu stepped out and I just felt that is not something that happened every day in the Eastern Cape. The only animal that eluded me was the warthog we saw many but just could not locate the large mature male I wanted. Below are some photos of my hunt in 2017. I had the trip of a lifetime every expectation I had was exceeded, the food was incredible and Denise and staff go out of their way to meet your preferences while at the same time offering local cuisine.I ate lots of different dishes with wild game and local lamb and certainly never went hungry. The accommodation was excellent very clean and comfortable. The properties themselves were very well kept and tidy , everything from the fences to the areas around the houses was kept in great shape which to me indicated organization and a well run business. I also found that the fact you stayed with Kelvin and his family in a separate area of the lodge that the atmosphere was casual and relaxing, after all I was hoping to unwind and have a vacation as well. I took the advise of others and took the bare minimum over in the form of luggage everything I took fit in two small carry on bags. Any small item I forgot could easily be located in Port Elizabeth. Laundry was done every day and there was no need to take a huge checked bag this made travel so much more smooth for me, no worries about losing bags or delays.
I enjoyed my trip so much that I immediately booked a return trip for exactly the same dates in 2018 and planned to pursue Red Lechwe, Steenbok, Vaal Rhebok, Mountain Reedbuck, White, Black and Common Springbok , Hartebeest and Duiker. I counted the days for an entire year and couldn't wait to get back.
After having such a great experience the first time it is a tough act to follow, after all hunting is not something that always goes the way you want. Well I can honestly say that my 2018 hunt was even better, I managed to successfully hunt some very difficult species and all were mature trophies. Some very difficult animals were taken like the Vaal Rhebok, Mountain Reedbuck and I managed to get an exceptional common Springbok.
The amount of walking and hiking up very steep terrain and the amount of work it took for some of the animals made the trophies even more satisfying and I will remember these hunts for the rest of my life. I was so glad I had walked nearly 10 km per day year round in boots, after several of the mountain hunts my legs were done even with the preparation. The winter here in Canada was one of the coldest ever and many weeks it was -40 with high winds and we were hit with a ice storm, so I had to attach metal studded cleats to keep walking daily for several months. I chuckled to myself when I noticed even the tracker was walking slowly the next day after the Reedbuck hunt.
So in summary what they say about hunting in Africa that once you go you end up going back turned out to be true and I plan to return again. I have not in any way been prompted to write about this experience, I simply wanted to share my satisfaction with Induna and Kelvin and Denise as well as their staff in the lodge and Alton the tracker. I must admit I had a hard time at first adapting to hunting with a PH and a tracker, where I live I nearly always hunt alone so I constantly had to remind myself to try to follow the PH and trust them and the tracker. I appreciate the patience as I tend to be very high strung and get excited as I am very passionate about hunting. Kelvin knows his land and it is vast , scenic and peaceful with many species of animals in large quantities For the few animals that are remote mountain species we did travel to some neighbouring concessions and had to work hard to achieve success once we arrived in the area by vehicle.
In several cases we walked in excess of 15km and the terrain was steep and like the rest of the Karoo paved with brick sized rocks or round ones that are like large ball bearings.
Every hunt was fair chase and involved plenty of walk and stalk style hunting, many times attempts failed and some in the case of the warthog just wouldn't happen. Kelvin was willing to adapt to my changing desires for which animal I wanted to pursue and knows the animals and property well. I would also like to mention that for 2017 I chose to use Hunters and Collectors Taxidermy in Port Elizabeth and when the trophies arrived I can honestly say I could find no fault with any of the work, everything arrived and travelled over and was cleared with zero issues. All of the paperwork and proper steps were followed and I turned over my trophies for 2018 to Kevin at Hunters and collectors and I am very excited to receive them later this year.
Everyone who has seen my 2017 trophies has commented on how good they look at the quality of the work.
The communication with Hunters and Collectors via emails was also continuous throughout the process so I never felt like I was not aware of the progress.
I also spent some time visiting a local Elephant/Game Park , another game preserve , several mountainous
areas and Port Elizabeth and took some fantastic pictures of scenery and close up photos of Wildlife.
I came home with some amazing photos and plan to do more of this next time and perhaps tour the Garden Route.
Finally here are my 2018 trophies and should anyone have any questions please feel free to private message me I am more than willing to offer some suggestions based on my experiences for those considering travel to South Africa to hunt plains game.
Safe hunting to all,
James
It had been a life long dream of mine to travel to Africa and after several setbacks and cancellations due to my parents health issues, I finally made the trip over for the first time in 2017. I think that I must have spent hundreds of hours and about 25 years researching different outfitters and areas and going over all the things that were a priority and important to me. I probably read the perfect shot 50 times and spent lots of time researching the evaluation of the animals I wanted to hunt. For me some of the most important things were that I wanted the hunting to be fair chase and to spend lots of time hiking and walking- spot and stalk style on foot. Most of my life has been spent travelling the world by plane and vehicle for work, so I really wanted to spend my time on the ground if this makes sense. I also wanted a outfitter that would be willing to adapt to my changing desires and that would be willing to take me to areas that would give me the opportunity to see some remote country and high quality mature trophies. I also wanted to be where the operator was not next to a highway or road noise and a place that would be relaxing and peaceful. Lastly I was looking for a outfitter that owned most of property and not freelance so for the most part the hunting would take place on property they owned.
I wrote many emails and made many phone calls to numerous outfitters and called all of the references. I selected Induna after contacting many of the references , they all said the same things just go its a no brainer. many of these clients had been to Induna 6 or even 10 times. That made up my mind and I never looked back and was so glad I made that choice.
When I arrived in Port Elizabeth in June of 2017 after a very long flight I was greeted by Kelvin at the Airport and we made the drive to his home /farm concession. When we arrived I freshened up and headed to the range to sight in the rifle I would be using. I thought after reading the blogs on the Induna Website I was ready and knew what to expect. But I must admit I was not totally prepared for the kid in the candy store feeling when I started to see so many different animals in great numbers. We spent most of our time on either his home property or a very large neighbouring property owned by his father in law. It was very scenic and vast and offered me the chance to spend lots of time walking and hiking and hunting the way the I had intended. It was also very peaceful and relaxing and a great place to unwind.
For my first hunt I pursued Kudu, Impala, Nyala, Blesbuck, Bushbuck, Copper Spingbok, Gemsbok and Warthog. I was able to successfully take some excellent mature trophies all would end up making the SCI book, although for me the most important thing was that they were good representations of the animal and prime mature animals. I ended up taking two Kudu due to the fact that on one of the last days a much larger 54 inch Kudu stepped out and I just felt that is not something that happened every day in the Eastern Cape. The only animal that eluded me was the warthog we saw many but just could not locate the large mature male I wanted. Below are some photos of my hunt in 2017. I had the trip of a lifetime every expectation I had was exceeded, the food was incredible and Denise and staff go out of their way to meet your preferences while at the same time offering local cuisine.I ate lots of different dishes with wild game and local lamb and certainly never went hungry. The accommodation was excellent very clean and comfortable. The properties themselves were very well kept and tidy , everything from the fences to the areas around the houses was kept in great shape which to me indicated organization and a well run business. I also found that the fact you stayed with Kelvin and his family in a separate area of the lodge that the atmosphere was casual and relaxing, after all I was hoping to unwind and have a vacation as well. I took the advise of others and took the bare minimum over in the form of luggage everything I took fit in two small carry on bags. Any small item I forgot could easily be located in Port Elizabeth. Laundry was done every day and there was no need to take a huge checked bag this made travel so much more smooth for me, no worries about losing bags or delays.
I enjoyed my trip so much that I immediately booked a return trip for exactly the same dates in 2018 and planned to pursue Red Lechwe, Steenbok, Vaal Rhebok, Mountain Reedbuck, White, Black and Common Springbok , Hartebeest and Duiker. I counted the days for an entire year and couldn't wait to get back.
After having such a great experience the first time it is a tough act to follow, after all hunting is not something that always goes the way you want. Well I can honestly say that my 2018 hunt was even better, I managed to successfully hunt some very difficult species and all were mature trophies. Some very difficult animals were taken like the Vaal Rhebok, Mountain Reedbuck and I managed to get an exceptional common Springbok.
The amount of walking and hiking up very steep terrain and the amount of work it took for some of the animals made the trophies even more satisfying and I will remember these hunts for the rest of my life. I was so glad I had walked nearly 10 km per day year round in boots, after several of the mountain hunts my legs were done even with the preparation. The winter here in Canada was one of the coldest ever and many weeks it was -40 with high winds and we were hit with a ice storm, so I had to attach metal studded cleats to keep walking daily for several months. I chuckled to myself when I noticed even the tracker was walking slowly the next day after the Reedbuck hunt.
So in summary what they say about hunting in Africa that once you go you end up going back turned out to be true and I plan to return again. I have not in any way been prompted to write about this experience, I simply wanted to share my satisfaction with Induna and Kelvin and Denise as well as their staff in the lodge and Alton the tracker. I must admit I had a hard time at first adapting to hunting with a PH and a tracker, where I live I nearly always hunt alone so I constantly had to remind myself to try to follow the PH and trust them and the tracker. I appreciate the patience as I tend to be very high strung and get excited as I am very passionate about hunting. Kelvin knows his land and it is vast , scenic and peaceful with many species of animals in large quantities For the few animals that are remote mountain species we did travel to some neighbouring concessions and had to work hard to achieve success once we arrived in the area by vehicle.
In several cases we walked in excess of 15km and the terrain was steep and like the rest of the Karoo paved with brick sized rocks or round ones that are like large ball bearings.
Every hunt was fair chase and involved plenty of walk and stalk style hunting, many times attempts failed and some in the case of the warthog just wouldn't happen. Kelvin was willing to adapt to my changing desires for which animal I wanted to pursue and knows the animals and property well. I would also like to mention that for 2017 I chose to use Hunters and Collectors Taxidermy in Port Elizabeth and when the trophies arrived I can honestly say I could find no fault with any of the work, everything arrived and travelled over and was cleared with zero issues. All of the paperwork and proper steps were followed and I turned over my trophies for 2018 to Kevin at Hunters and collectors and I am very excited to receive them later this year.
Everyone who has seen my 2017 trophies has commented on how good they look at the quality of the work.
The communication with Hunters and Collectors via emails was also continuous throughout the process so I never felt like I was not aware of the progress.
I also spent some time visiting a local Elephant/Game Park , another game preserve , several mountainous
areas and Port Elizabeth and took some fantastic pictures of scenery and close up photos of Wildlife.
I came home with some amazing photos and plan to do more of this next time and perhaps tour the Garden Route.
Finally here are my 2018 trophies and should anyone have any questions please feel free to private message me I am more than willing to offer some suggestions based on my experiences for those considering travel to South Africa to hunt plains game.
Safe hunting to all,
James
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