Just a quick little report on my First trip to Africa. I hunted with Infinito Safaris in the Limpopo area. I originally booked with them because I was interested in doing a plains game hunt as well as trying to add a few days of duck and goose hunting to my hunt as well. I booked a seven day plains game hunt and I added on a three day bird package to it as well. I cant say enough good things about the outfitter everyone was extremely helpful and made you feel right at home. My wife was originally going to come with me on this trip but last minute decided that she couldn’t take off of work. Being only Married now for four months at the time of my hunt our second honeymoon for me ended up just being a solo trip. I ended up not doing my rifle permits before hand and the hassle of doing them at the airport was cut in half by having my PH push the Officers into gear to find my gun and do my permit taking about an hour and some change total after a delayed flight from united next time I will be doing permits before hand. I had decided by reading all the post on AH over the last year to not worry about inches on trophies and just enjoy the hunt I had given my PH a list of animals I was interested in and told him that I would question him and if he said to shoot I would shoot and use his judgment. On this hunt I Brought a Mauser M18 chambered in 300 win mag shooting federal terminal ascent 200g rounds. Being in really good shape and a good shot willing to shoot up to 400 yards on an animal helped my success a little bit I feel.
My first day late morning on the way back to the camp for lunch we spotted a waterbuck about 400 yards off, A waterbuck was not on my list for this hunt or any future hunt but My PH said that it was a monster and I would be missing out by not trying to get it. We ended up closing the distance to about 275 yards and i had a frontal shot off of sticks. Dropped like a bag of rocks. First animal in Africa was a success after taking pictures and heading back to camp over lunch they measured him and he measured 29.5 inches. Not knowing what that meant at the time but the other hunter in camp said that it was a trophy to be proud of, No matter what size it was It was an excellent first day of hunting.
The second animal That I took was an Impala On our way up the mountain to look for kudu we spotted a group with a good make in it we got off the truck climbed down the hill about 200 yards and got a decent shot frontal at about 120 yards off of sticks once again dropped and died where he stood.
Later the second day I took a shot at a zebra at about 220 yards from one side of the mountain to the other. Feeling good about my shot I didnt feel good when it stated running. The three zebra turned into 6 as they ran off, My Ph said that The one I had hit was the second one in the group so as I went for a follow up shot the lead animal fell over dead about 80 yards from when it was hit, I had hit it through both lungs and it still ran 80 yards. A little different experience than my first two animals.
That evening we went after Blesbuck. we got uphill from a group of around 40 of them and using the wind to our favor climbed down into a group of large rock and took a shot at around 150 yards using the rock as a rest and it dropped like a rock.
At this point I felt like I needed to slow down as I was going to run out of animals before my days were up, but my Ph said not to worry because some like the Kudu would take longer.
The third day we spent from sunlight to almost dusk hunt for a Gemsbuck, The area we were hunting was so thick we would only get a glance and they would be gone I feel like I had hiked 30 miles that day. Right at dust he spotted a group of them going into a thicket and we followed. Crawling around 100 yards we made it to a point that I could try and take a shot. I couldn’t dnt see much of he animal just the front shoulder through the thicket using my PH shoulder as a rest I fired a round from the kneeling position the Gemsbuck feel to the ground got up and ran we heard a crashing noise and then that was it. At this point its pretty dark and of course no one had a flashlight. we looked until we felt it wasn’t safe to continue and then came back in the morning. using about 4 trackers and 3 hours no such luck and we didn’t find my animal.
That Evening we went on a blue wildebeest hunt after playing cat and mouse in ten foot tall grass a got a frontal shot on one at about 150 yards and he dropped like a bag of bricks.
Now we KUDU hunt. The fourth day we w hiked and glassed drove and glassed. spotted a good shooter on the top of a mountain only way to get to him to get a shot was to drive around the mountain and climb down. one hour drive later we started to climb down. At this point I was glad I was in really good shape because the climb down was steep and had bowling ball sized rocks covering the ground in shin deep grass. At the point that we thought we would find the shooter bull there was a young male we waited for him to walk off so we could continue down but he eventually winded us a blew off.
That evening driving between spots we spotted a common duiker that being high on my list I shot it, little over kill with the 300 win mag but dead is dead.
The fifth day still kudu hunting not seeing any thing but cows and every other animal in Africa, No such luck however that late afternoon jumped a large warthog and took a running shot at around 75 yards and he dropped. This wart hog was big enough my tracker was jumping up and down its the largest they had killed in the camp in the last five years.
The sixth day still Kudu hunting same story in the morning cows and young bulls. We found a bull that would have been ok just not the trophy we were after. about an hour before day we spotted a few cows walking across the next mountain over at 275 yards. It being the kudu rut we decided to wait and sure as hell a large bull walked out and dropped him where he stood. Now the fun begins the 275 yard shot ended up being about a 600 yard up and down climb from the nearest place we could get a land cruiser to. Took 6 guys and a sled to get him to the truck and that was pretty interesting to be part of. This bull was the trophy I wanted not sure how large he was at the time but was covered with scars from fighting and his neck was budged up from the rut anyone could tell this was a really old bull. I think he taped around 53 inches but wasn’t as important as the hunting part to me.
On the seventh day I shot a cow blue wildebeest and a female impala in the morning.
That afternoon we started the bird hunting early. Shot around 200 shells dove hunting a corn field, It was an excellent way to knock the dust off of the shotgun.
Day one of the bird hunt we drove two hours and some change and the weather dropped like crazy the wind and cold reminded me of a January day duck hunting.
I ended up shooting my limit of yellow billed ducks, almost looked like a small mallard hen with a yellow bill. wishing that I had brought my duck call at this point just to see if it would have worked.
Also shot some Egyptian geese as well as two spurwinged geese.
Day tow of the bird hunt I hunted guineafowl and francolin . I thought the gunineafowl wouldnt be any fun to shoot but they flew fast and made for a challenging target not wanting to stay put for the dogs.
The last day of bird hunting we hunted doves and rock pigeons in sunflower fields, I have never been to Argentina but I would have a hard time imagining there being any more doves than what I shot at there looked like knats flying around there were so many of them.
Ten plains game and four new waterfowl to add to my collection my taxidermy bill is going to be high but it lit a new fire in Me and Im already planing my next trip.
My first day late morning on the way back to the camp for lunch we spotted a waterbuck about 400 yards off, A waterbuck was not on my list for this hunt or any future hunt but My PH said that it was a monster and I would be missing out by not trying to get it. We ended up closing the distance to about 275 yards and i had a frontal shot off of sticks. Dropped like a bag of rocks. First animal in Africa was a success after taking pictures and heading back to camp over lunch they measured him and he measured 29.5 inches. Not knowing what that meant at the time but the other hunter in camp said that it was a trophy to be proud of, No matter what size it was It was an excellent first day of hunting.
The second animal That I took was an Impala On our way up the mountain to look for kudu we spotted a group with a good make in it we got off the truck climbed down the hill about 200 yards and got a decent shot frontal at about 120 yards off of sticks once again dropped and died where he stood.
Later the second day I took a shot at a zebra at about 220 yards from one side of the mountain to the other. Feeling good about my shot I didnt feel good when it stated running. The three zebra turned into 6 as they ran off, My Ph said that The one I had hit was the second one in the group so as I went for a follow up shot the lead animal fell over dead about 80 yards from when it was hit, I had hit it through both lungs and it still ran 80 yards. A little different experience than my first two animals.
That evening we went after Blesbuck. we got uphill from a group of around 40 of them and using the wind to our favor climbed down into a group of large rock and took a shot at around 150 yards using the rock as a rest and it dropped like a rock.
At this point I felt like I needed to slow down as I was going to run out of animals before my days were up, but my Ph said not to worry because some like the Kudu would take longer.
The third day we spent from sunlight to almost dusk hunt for a Gemsbuck, The area we were hunting was so thick we would only get a glance and they would be gone I feel like I had hiked 30 miles that day. Right at dust he spotted a group of them going into a thicket and we followed. Crawling around 100 yards we made it to a point that I could try and take a shot. I couldn’t dnt see much of he animal just the front shoulder through the thicket using my PH shoulder as a rest I fired a round from the kneeling position the Gemsbuck feel to the ground got up and ran we heard a crashing noise and then that was it. At this point its pretty dark and of course no one had a flashlight. we looked until we felt it wasn’t safe to continue and then came back in the morning. using about 4 trackers and 3 hours no such luck and we didn’t find my animal.
That Evening we went on a blue wildebeest hunt after playing cat and mouse in ten foot tall grass a got a frontal shot on one at about 150 yards and he dropped like a bag of bricks.
Now we KUDU hunt. The fourth day we w hiked and glassed drove and glassed. spotted a good shooter on the top of a mountain only way to get to him to get a shot was to drive around the mountain and climb down. one hour drive later we started to climb down. At this point I was glad I was in really good shape because the climb down was steep and had bowling ball sized rocks covering the ground in shin deep grass. At the point that we thought we would find the shooter bull there was a young male we waited for him to walk off so we could continue down but he eventually winded us a blew off.
That evening driving between spots we spotted a common duiker that being high on my list I shot it, little over kill with the 300 win mag but dead is dead.
The fifth day still kudu hunting not seeing any thing but cows and every other animal in Africa, No such luck however that late afternoon jumped a large warthog and took a running shot at around 75 yards and he dropped. This wart hog was big enough my tracker was jumping up and down its the largest they had killed in the camp in the last five years.
The sixth day still Kudu hunting same story in the morning cows and young bulls. We found a bull that would have been ok just not the trophy we were after. about an hour before day we spotted a few cows walking across the next mountain over at 275 yards. It being the kudu rut we decided to wait and sure as hell a large bull walked out and dropped him where he stood. Now the fun begins the 275 yard shot ended up being about a 600 yard up and down climb from the nearest place we could get a land cruiser to. Took 6 guys and a sled to get him to the truck and that was pretty interesting to be part of. This bull was the trophy I wanted not sure how large he was at the time but was covered with scars from fighting and his neck was budged up from the rut anyone could tell this was a really old bull. I think he taped around 53 inches but wasn’t as important as the hunting part to me.
On the seventh day I shot a cow blue wildebeest and a female impala in the morning.
That afternoon we started the bird hunting early. Shot around 200 shells dove hunting a corn field, It was an excellent way to knock the dust off of the shotgun.
Day one of the bird hunt we drove two hours and some change and the weather dropped like crazy the wind and cold reminded me of a January day duck hunting.
I ended up shooting my limit of yellow billed ducks, almost looked like a small mallard hen with a yellow bill. wishing that I had brought my duck call at this point just to see if it would have worked.
Also shot some Egyptian geese as well as two spurwinged geese.
Day tow of the bird hunt I hunted guineafowl and francolin . I thought the gunineafowl wouldnt be any fun to shoot but they flew fast and made for a challenging target not wanting to stay put for the dogs.
The last day of bird hunting we hunted doves and rock pigeons in sunflower fields, I have never been to Argentina but I would have a hard time imagining there being any more doves than what I shot at there looked like knats flying around there were so many of them.
Ten plains game and four new waterfowl to add to my collection my taxidermy bill is going to be high but it lit a new fire in Me and Im already planing my next trip.
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