Robmill70
AH enthusiast
We are heading back to South Africa! My son and I along with 2 other buddies decided to go back to Dinkwe Safaris since they took such great care of us last year. After flying coach last year, I decided to use some milage points and splurge a little bit on an upgrade. Decided to go with Lufthansa this year and secured a business class seat. If you don’t like long layovers, this flight to SA via Frankfurt is not for you. We wanted to do a little sightseeing in Frankfurt, so the 12-hour layover was not a big deal and fit our schedule well.
Got to the airport several hours early since there’s usually no one at the counter who knows what to do with guns. Of course, despite letting them know I had a rifle at the time of the reservation and giving them my Frankfurt transport permit, they informed me that there is no record of it…… ok, please check it in, and they finally did after a brief huddle with their supervisor. Checked in, dropped rifle off at TSA and off to the lounge. As we were walking, my PH sent a message and asked if we wanted to take a problem giraffe off a neighboring farm at a greatly reduced rate. Before I could finish reading, my son said I’ll take it! Flight was uneventful, but it was very nice to have those lay flat seats so you can get some sleep! We did spend about 5 hours around Frankfurt which was fun.
The boys from Dinkwe picked us up, went through the police station and picked our guns up with no issues. Hopped in the van and started the 3-hour journey to the lodge. We did make a quick stop into Safari Outdoor Outfitters in Pretoria to look at the cool “toys” they had. Got to the lodge, downloaded everything, dinner and drinks and then talked about our plans for the next 10 days. I am doing a spiral slam and my son, well whatever his pocketbook can afford! Lol
Day 1 Woke up to a lovely sunrise, Africa has some of the best sunrises and sunsets I have ever seen! Ate some breakfast and then off to the range to check zero. I brought my Enfield P-14 chambered in 375 H&H with a Leupold VX3 sitting on top. I loaded up 300gr Barnes TSX and Hornady DGS solids being pushed by 72g of Reloader 15. Made a small adjustment on my scope and punched 2 holes 1” high at 100 yards, perfect. I’m also using a TriggerCam, so bolted that on and made a couple of shots off the sticks to see how it felt; all good. After everyone in the group verified zero, we head headed back for some lunch and make plans. We all had jet lag, so we took a nap…..a really long nap! Meh, we’ll start hunting tomorrow.
Day 2: First animal on the list was a Nyala. We drove around a bit looking in that thick stuff they seem to like around here. Found 2 bulls and decided to put the stalk on. Both bulls ended up being a little young and narrow at the top, so I passed. We went back to the lodge and had some lunch, took a little nap to recharge the batteries and we were off again. We went to a new area and spotted a nice bull, so we decided to dismount and start our stalk. This one was a nice big bull, but crafty! Every time we started to setup; he would take off. We decided to outsmart him and get ahead of him and be ready for a shot as he walked into a clearing…. Well, he outsmarted us and went into some tall grass and never came out into the clearing. None of us were too keen on walking through 7-foot-tall grass not knowing where the buffalo were at! We walked and drove around the area for the next 4 hours and never saw him again. Time to head back to the lodge for dinner and some scotch by the fire afterwards!
Day 3: In true hunting fashion, the hunting gods decided to have a little fun at my expensive. I go over to the lodge house and grab some coffee as the sun comes up and who do I see about 50 yards away at the watering hole???? Yep, the Nyala bull we were after yesterday. Ate some breakfast and we were out after him again. It didn’t take too long before we found him again and the stalk was on. I don’t know if that bull had some sort of cloaking device or what, but the second we hit the ground, he disappears!! We go round and round for the next several hours. A few other bulls present themselves, but not quite the one I’m looking for. Our tracker tells us he has run off to another area, but of course I don’t believe him, because I didn’t see the bull get by me…..LOL. Well, they did and within an hour the tracker was on them again (always trust your tracker!). Just as we dismount to walk in, we see a monster buffalo with several of his buddies looking right at us; everyone back on the truck! We maneuvered around the buffs and was able to get within 90 yards of 2 Nyala bulls. We glassed for several minutes to make sure this was the one we had been after. Unfortunately, they weren’t the exact one I was looking for, I still really liked him and decided to take him. I flipped the safety off my 375 and let that 300 grain TSX fly. Solid hit and he went down instantly, but to my surprise he popped up and started to run. Fortunately, it was a devastating hit, and he only went about 10 yards. He measured 23 1/8”
Day 4: Was a relax day and we went into town bought some gifts and did some whiskey and gin tastings!
Day 5: Remember the problem giraffe I mentioned earlier? Well, after some breakfast we all loaded up and headed over to the farm of said problem child and contacted the owner. She stated the bull was currently on the neighbor’s property and told us where to look. We dismounted, started walking in and looking at all the big Elands they had on the property. About 10 minutes into it we found the big boy right where she said she had seen him. We were able to get to within 100 yards of a frontal shot. My son Nick made a nice shot with the 375, but the big bull ate it like it was nothing and started to run. He placed 2 more 300gr solids right through him and the big boy went down. Shot combo was TSX, Solid, Solid. When we cut him open, we pulled out the heart to find the TSX had split almost the top 2 inches of the heart wide open. It’s crazy how tough these animals are when they can run 40 yards with their heart blown wide open and both lungs punched!
Day 6: After some morning coffee, we decided to go after an Eland. We headed out to where we had seen some the other day while hunting Nyala. After about 20 minutes we spotted a herd of Eland and made our way to them. As we got close to them, they bolted for the trees. Through the trees and brush, I only saw cows and calves and I asked the PH if he saw any bulls and he said no. The tracker, who had no binos instantly said that there were 2 nice bulls in there…… lol these guys are amazing! We moved to the far side of the trees where we thought they would come out. As they came out of the trees, sure enough, there were 2 big bulls in the group (always trust your tracker!). As we started in on them, they bolted once again. We quickly maneuvered to a new position and was able to get to 165 yards. We waited several minutes for the cows to move away from the bull and when it was clear, I let loose the 300gr TSX. The bull dropped right where he was standing, didn’t take a single step! PH said that he thinks I spine shot him. As we moved in, we could see that was case, so I put a solid at the base of his neck and finished him. He was nice old bull with lots of fighting scars who had started to wear down but was still really thick at the base, he measured 32 5/8”.
Day 7: Had some coffee and got the blood pumping again and decided to head up into the mountains to look for a nice Kudu bull. We worked our way up the hillside, stopping to glass periodically. We saw a few young bulls and several cows. Up near the top we could see a big, bodied bull, but a tree blocked his head so we could see his horns. We moved up some more to see if we could get a peek around the tree. As we were sitting there, the tracker asked us what’s wrong with the bull 160 yards to our left? (with no binos of course!) Bull, where?? Across the hillside and down a bit in the trees was a bull looking right at us. We glassed him for a bit, but it was hard to see his horns because of the branches, so I told the PH I’ll pass, lets go look at the big body up the top of the mountain. As we started to move, the bull to our left turned broadside and I was finally able to see his horns…..STOP! let me look at him again. That’s a nice bull, what do you think MC (my PH)? He said it was a nice big bull, but we could go look at the other one if I wanted to. The tracker said, don’t pass boss, very nice bull….. ok, I’ll take him. A bit of a quartering to me shot, but the 300gr TSX hit its mark and he went down after about 4 or 5 steps. Old bull past his prime who had worn down quite a bit, so good take; he measured 55” (pic of recovered bullet included). Pics are little difficult to see and appreciate how big and wide he is due to all the tree branches, but it was thick and a long trek up hill to get him to a clearing. Later that day we went to an area where we had seen a nice Impala ram. We dismounted and stalked for a bit when we spotted him in some heavy trees. We found a narrow shooting lane that we had Nick set up on. As the ram stepped into the lane Nick punched him, but a bit low and back. He ended up going about 450 yards, however we were able to track and recover him. Nice old ram, 23 ½ inches.
Day 8: Most mornings we would start the days off by swinging by the creek to see if we could spot any Bushbuck, but only ever saw females. This morning we pushed through the area a couple of times with no luck. The PH said he has a friend that is very good for bushbuck about an hour away. We loaded up and headed out. The new place had some alfalfa plots and some nice creek beds adjacent to the fields. We saw several rams, but they were all very young. We drove around for almost 2 hours and saw no shooters. It was late and we needed to get back, so we started to head out. As we were leaving, the PH spotting a nice ram hiding down in a creek bed. It was very hard to see with the thick brush and low light, but I could see his head, neck, and top of his back. I placed the crosshairs at the base of the neck and where the body meet and delivered a devastating spine shot, he never moved after that. The PH explained how dangerous Bushbuck are when they are wounded and was glad we didn’t have to go looking for him; I never knew that! Nice ram, not a monster, but he measured out at and even 13”. Spiral slam complete!
Day 9: My son and I spent the day spotting for Zebra for a buddy of mine. Late in the day just before sundown, he took a nice Zebra.
Day 10: Did paperwork, paid my bill, and said our goodbyes…. Off to the airport.
Some end notes: Just like last year, Dinkwe Safaris took great of us, and we really appreciate Japie and his crew for all they did for us, I highly recommend them! (www.dinkwesafaris.co.za ). The Barnes TSX bullets performed awesome on everything from Impala to giraffe with 100% weight retention! Lufthansa Airlines was very good, business class and the lounges were great, really had no major issues. I will say, if you can spring for business class, that is the way to go!! I flew coach last year and it was so much nicer being able to lay the seat flat and get some sleep on the long flight. I did unfortunately get bit by a tick at some point early in the trip and halfway into my return flight the tick fever symptoms kicked in. It sucks, the fever, body aches, and chills are worse than I had with COVID! So, doc has me on antibiotics, hopefully I get over this soon! Hope you enjoyed our journey and pics.
Got to the airport several hours early since there’s usually no one at the counter who knows what to do with guns. Of course, despite letting them know I had a rifle at the time of the reservation and giving them my Frankfurt transport permit, they informed me that there is no record of it…… ok, please check it in, and they finally did after a brief huddle with their supervisor. Checked in, dropped rifle off at TSA and off to the lounge. As we were walking, my PH sent a message and asked if we wanted to take a problem giraffe off a neighboring farm at a greatly reduced rate. Before I could finish reading, my son said I’ll take it! Flight was uneventful, but it was very nice to have those lay flat seats so you can get some sleep! We did spend about 5 hours around Frankfurt which was fun.
The boys from Dinkwe picked us up, went through the police station and picked our guns up with no issues. Hopped in the van and started the 3-hour journey to the lodge. We did make a quick stop into Safari Outdoor Outfitters in Pretoria to look at the cool “toys” they had. Got to the lodge, downloaded everything, dinner and drinks and then talked about our plans for the next 10 days. I am doing a spiral slam and my son, well whatever his pocketbook can afford! Lol
Day 1 Woke up to a lovely sunrise, Africa has some of the best sunrises and sunsets I have ever seen! Ate some breakfast and then off to the range to check zero. I brought my Enfield P-14 chambered in 375 H&H with a Leupold VX3 sitting on top. I loaded up 300gr Barnes TSX and Hornady DGS solids being pushed by 72g of Reloader 15. Made a small adjustment on my scope and punched 2 holes 1” high at 100 yards, perfect. I’m also using a TriggerCam, so bolted that on and made a couple of shots off the sticks to see how it felt; all good. After everyone in the group verified zero, we head headed back for some lunch and make plans. We all had jet lag, so we took a nap…..a really long nap! Meh, we’ll start hunting tomorrow.
Day 2: First animal on the list was a Nyala. We drove around a bit looking in that thick stuff they seem to like around here. Found 2 bulls and decided to put the stalk on. Both bulls ended up being a little young and narrow at the top, so I passed. We went back to the lodge and had some lunch, took a little nap to recharge the batteries and we were off again. We went to a new area and spotted a nice bull, so we decided to dismount and start our stalk. This one was a nice big bull, but crafty! Every time we started to setup; he would take off. We decided to outsmart him and get ahead of him and be ready for a shot as he walked into a clearing…. Well, he outsmarted us and went into some tall grass and never came out into the clearing. None of us were too keen on walking through 7-foot-tall grass not knowing where the buffalo were at! We walked and drove around the area for the next 4 hours and never saw him again. Time to head back to the lodge for dinner and some scotch by the fire afterwards!
Day 3: In true hunting fashion, the hunting gods decided to have a little fun at my expensive. I go over to the lodge house and grab some coffee as the sun comes up and who do I see about 50 yards away at the watering hole???? Yep, the Nyala bull we were after yesterday. Ate some breakfast and we were out after him again. It didn’t take too long before we found him again and the stalk was on. I don’t know if that bull had some sort of cloaking device or what, but the second we hit the ground, he disappears!! We go round and round for the next several hours. A few other bulls present themselves, but not quite the one I’m looking for. Our tracker tells us he has run off to another area, but of course I don’t believe him, because I didn’t see the bull get by me…..LOL. Well, they did and within an hour the tracker was on them again (always trust your tracker!). Just as we dismount to walk in, we see a monster buffalo with several of his buddies looking right at us; everyone back on the truck! We maneuvered around the buffs and was able to get within 90 yards of 2 Nyala bulls. We glassed for several minutes to make sure this was the one we had been after. Unfortunately, they weren’t the exact one I was looking for, I still really liked him and decided to take him. I flipped the safety off my 375 and let that 300 grain TSX fly. Solid hit and he went down instantly, but to my surprise he popped up and started to run. Fortunately, it was a devastating hit, and he only went about 10 yards. He measured 23 1/8”
Day 4: Was a relax day and we went into town bought some gifts and did some whiskey and gin tastings!
Day 5: Remember the problem giraffe I mentioned earlier? Well, after some breakfast we all loaded up and headed over to the farm of said problem child and contacted the owner. She stated the bull was currently on the neighbor’s property and told us where to look. We dismounted, started walking in and looking at all the big Elands they had on the property. About 10 minutes into it we found the big boy right where she said she had seen him. We were able to get to within 100 yards of a frontal shot. My son Nick made a nice shot with the 375, but the big bull ate it like it was nothing and started to run. He placed 2 more 300gr solids right through him and the big boy went down. Shot combo was TSX, Solid, Solid. When we cut him open, we pulled out the heart to find the TSX had split almost the top 2 inches of the heart wide open. It’s crazy how tough these animals are when they can run 40 yards with their heart blown wide open and both lungs punched!
Day 6: After some morning coffee, we decided to go after an Eland. We headed out to where we had seen some the other day while hunting Nyala. After about 20 minutes we spotted a herd of Eland and made our way to them. As we got close to them, they bolted for the trees. Through the trees and brush, I only saw cows and calves and I asked the PH if he saw any bulls and he said no. The tracker, who had no binos instantly said that there were 2 nice bulls in there…… lol these guys are amazing! We moved to the far side of the trees where we thought they would come out. As they came out of the trees, sure enough, there were 2 big bulls in the group (always trust your tracker!). As we started in on them, they bolted once again. We quickly maneuvered to a new position and was able to get to 165 yards. We waited several minutes for the cows to move away from the bull and when it was clear, I let loose the 300gr TSX. The bull dropped right where he was standing, didn’t take a single step! PH said that he thinks I spine shot him. As we moved in, we could see that was case, so I put a solid at the base of his neck and finished him. He was nice old bull with lots of fighting scars who had started to wear down but was still really thick at the base, he measured 32 5/8”.
Day 7: Had some coffee and got the blood pumping again and decided to head up into the mountains to look for a nice Kudu bull. We worked our way up the hillside, stopping to glass periodically. We saw a few young bulls and several cows. Up near the top we could see a big, bodied bull, but a tree blocked his head so we could see his horns. We moved up some more to see if we could get a peek around the tree. As we were sitting there, the tracker asked us what’s wrong with the bull 160 yards to our left? (with no binos of course!) Bull, where?? Across the hillside and down a bit in the trees was a bull looking right at us. We glassed him for a bit, but it was hard to see his horns because of the branches, so I told the PH I’ll pass, lets go look at the big body up the top of the mountain. As we started to move, the bull to our left turned broadside and I was finally able to see his horns…..STOP! let me look at him again. That’s a nice bull, what do you think MC (my PH)? He said it was a nice big bull, but we could go look at the other one if I wanted to. The tracker said, don’t pass boss, very nice bull….. ok, I’ll take him. A bit of a quartering to me shot, but the 300gr TSX hit its mark and he went down after about 4 or 5 steps. Old bull past his prime who had worn down quite a bit, so good take; he measured 55” (pic of recovered bullet included). Pics are little difficult to see and appreciate how big and wide he is due to all the tree branches, but it was thick and a long trek up hill to get him to a clearing. Later that day we went to an area where we had seen a nice Impala ram. We dismounted and stalked for a bit when we spotted him in some heavy trees. We found a narrow shooting lane that we had Nick set up on. As the ram stepped into the lane Nick punched him, but a bit low and back. He ended up going about 450 yards, however we were able to track and recover him. Nice old ram, 23 ½ inches.
Day 8: Most mornings we would start the days off by swinging by the creek to see if we could spot any Bushbuck, but only ever saw females. This morning we pushed through the area a couple of times with no luck. The PH said he has a friend that is very good for bushbuck about an hour away. We loaded up and headed out. The new place had some alfalfa plots and some nice creek beds adjacent to the fields. We saw several rams, but they were all very young. We drove around for almost 2 hours and saw no shooters. It was late and we needed to get back, so we started to head out. As we were leaving, the PH spotting a nice ram hiding down in a creek bed. It was very hard to see with the thick brush and low light, but I could see his head, neck, and top of his back. I placed the crosshairs at the base of the neck and where the body meet and delivered a devastating spine shot, he never moved after that. The PH explained how dangerous Bushbuck are when they are wounded and was glad we didn’t have to go looking for him; I never knew that! Nice ram, not a monster, but he measured out at and even 13”. Spiral slam complete!
Day 9: My son and I spent the day spotting for Zebra for a buddy of mine. Late in the day just before sundown, he took a nice Zebra.
Day 10: Did paperwork, paid my bill, and said our goodbyes…. Off to the airport.
Some end notes: Just like last year, Dinkwe Safaris took great of us, and we really appreciate Japie and his crew for all they did for us, I highly recommend them! (www.dinkwesafaris.co.za ). The Barnes TSX bullets performed awesome on everything from Impala to giraffe with 100% weight retention! Lufthansa Airlines was very good, business class and the lounges were great, really had no major issues. I will say, if you can spring for business class, that is the way to go!! I flew coach last year and it was so much nicer being able to lay the seat flat and get some sleep on the long flight. I did unfortunately get bit by a tick at some point early in the trip and halfway into my return flight the tick fever symptoms kicked in. It sucks, the fever, body aches, and chills are worse than I had with COVID! So, doc has me on antibiotics, hopefully I get over this soon! Hope you enjoyed our journey and pics.
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