DallasAg 94 said:

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japantiger said:

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rally-cap said:

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japantiger said:

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Good day to answer questions if you have any...just avoiding the heat this afternoon. Nice breeze off the river.

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Where would you go hunting next, and for what, if money was no issue? Or is this trip the pinnacle?

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Something like this:
Scotland - Red Stag and maybe Roe
Eastern Europe - Croatia or Romania - European Brown Bear (of course Russia is an option; but I got my company out of that business ...they are just too sleazy)
Austria - Roe, ibex, chamois and stag...gotta go a couple of different places to do this
Budapest and surrounding area - Sika, Mouflon, fallow and boar - a couple of places
Madrid and surrounding area - Gredos Ibex, Beceite Ibex and Red Legged Partridge hunt (I love to bird hunt)
Grenada - Southeastern and Ronda Ibex
England - Chinese Water Deer, Muntjac, English Red Stag as well some exotics like Pere David Stag, Barashinga Stag, Sika Stag, Soay Sheep

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The real appeal in addition to just having a European wall in the trophy room is the wife would love the locations. It's great when I can get her to come with me.
...

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If you did a mid-lower European trip, you could probably get buy-in from the wife.

Vienna is pretty amazing, as is Bratislava. They area a 55 min drive apart. Take a river boat cruise down the Danube to Budapest... and then incorporate your Romanian destination with Timisoara.

Not sure how your wife is, but you could go early to Vienna, get the hunt in Austria, spend a few days with her there... spend a few days in Slovakia and break off for your hunt.

Been to Austria and Romania multiple times and Slovakia once.

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Username definitely fits...you sound very Dallas.

JT said he would do that once he gets home.

You could just Google the animals name...

Fitting (and exciting) end to the trip.

Into the blind as planned at 4:30. By 4:45 you could here the Hyena's crunching bones. Now it was just waiting the 25 or so minutes until there was enough light for a shot. Looked like 2 of them...so no change to the count from yesterday. But, they were eating this morning.

About 5:00 we heard noises off to our right. Just kind of looked at each other...couldn't really tell what it was. Then we heard a fair amount of noise behind the bait. At that, the hyena's disappeared. Then the noises to our right and behind the blind began to pick up. Alastair stood up and looked over the blind. He came around behind me and pushed apart the grass. He moved quickly to get his 458 Lott and took up his position behind me again.

The noise got louder and there were enough light by now I could see 2 large shapes thru the gaps in the woven grass. The two cows were moving straight toward the blind flapping their ears @ about 25 yds. They had smelled us and were coming to investigate. At that Alastair pushed open the blind door and stepped outside. Here is an image I will never forget. Someone quoted either Ruark or Capstick the other day as saying all cat hunters were chain smokers and asked if I was one. Well, I am not...but Alastair is. Also, Alastair hunts every day in one of 3 pair of well worn and tattered Canterbury Rugby shorts and one of 3 basic green cotton safari shirts; complete with holes to match the shorts. It is still quite cool in the AM so he had on a black/grey fleece this morning. As I mentioned the other day, the hunting camo clothing industry is a racket.

The blind door was lying on the ground. Alastair was standing outside the blind looking to our right. The rifle butt grounded and he is holding the barrel in his left hand. He's Bogarting a cigarette on the right side of his mouth and he's clinking the rifle barrel with his red BIC cigarette lighter and talking softly to the elephant cows to "just move on girl", "go on girl".... This pose lasted 3 or 4 minutes while Pete and I looked thru the grass at the two big cows retreat to our South.. They had come to within about 15 yds of the blind. While they were retreating there was a group of about 10 more that was passing about 30 yards to our West behind the blind. The two that came toward the blind had likely been a part of that group. A couple from the group were lagging behind and got interested in us. Alastair repeated the process with these two...clink, clink, clink..."go on girl". They never got closer than about 25 yds. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and examined the 1" of ash and checked to see which way the smoke was blowing.

In total there had been close to 25 elephants moving thru that part of the forest with the group that passed about 40 yds behind the bait to our East. We grabbed the radio and asked the truck to come get us now that they would not be between us and the truck when it arrived. It was ~5:35 am and the forest was fully awake and the hyena's long gone. We were loading the truck and would be back in camp by 6:15. Before I handed the rifle up to Jimmy to put in the rifle bag, I ejected the loaded round, emptied the magazine, inspected the chamber and put the 4 rounds in the ammo pouch on my belt. My mind turned to the nap I was going to take, the Puku steak and eggs Mike was preparing for breakfast for us @8:30 and returning home.

Hyena will be a priority for the 2024 trip.

aggiesundevil4 said:

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Agreed - muchas gracias japantiger. I think you posted a little reluctantly at first, so I really am thanking you for listening to the requests and quenching the thirst of the outdoors board with lots of photos and stories and replying to questions along the way. You really set the bar high for goin live threads.

Kudu and eland tie for first. Springbok and oryx tie for second. First pic is kudu tenderloin and second is eland.

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That is some amazing looking steaks!

OnlyForNow said:

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dude, please let the board know when you'll be at the Chicken. I know I'd make a trip to buy you a beer and hear a story or two!

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Would be happy to grab beers (or Scotches) with folks.

jmm said:

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I avoid Delta and Johannesburg as much as possible. It is the shortest in terms of miles/hours, but a pain to deal with. I do not like the customer service of Delta and their business class shenanigans. Overnighting, gun collections and rebooking can be a pain. I take Qatar whenever possible. I love their first class treatment and gun handling is a breeze. Overnight in Doha is not bad. Last time I flew into DFW, my gun case was on the carousel when I got to baggage claim.

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What kind of issues does Delta throw up on that flight?

As for JoBerg, yes, it is a pain. I had to go thru 3 times on this trip. Since Covid, so many of the airlines are gone (SA and Namibia) and all still have border restrictions that they aren't easing off on in spite of the other easing.

For example, there was no commercial flight from Windhoek to Lusaka...I had to go back to JoBerg to be able to get to Lusaka. Border restrictions....you used to could drive to the border with Namibia in the Northern Cape and charter direct to Rundu or smaller strip in Northern Namibia. All that has been shut down. So again, I had to go back thru JoBerg and spend a nite to get a commercial flight to Windhoek.

The net of a lot of this is aircraft owners/operators have pulled their charter flights out of Africa. So it is really hard to find a charter now and costs are nearly 2x a couple of years ago.

Keep this in mind if going between countries.

You can get flights to Lusaka, Windhoek, etc., out of Europe of the Arabian peninsula via Qatar, Emirates, Ethiopian Air, etc. Luftansa used to do a lot; but I haven't followed up on them.

As you point out, Qatar and Emirates make it easy...and if you have to overnight, you can do it in the airport and, again, you don't have to pick up your baggage or guns. They hold them as long as you don't go thru immigration and stay in the airport. On this trip, I have 2 to 3 hour layovers so no need for a stay.

Hungry Ojos said:

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japantiger said:

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Hungry Ojos said:

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japantiger said:

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Good day to answer questions if you have any...just avoiding the heat this afternoon. Nice breeze off the river.

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Do you have any daughters that need a good husband?

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Yes, 28, smart, funny and beautiful....an Aggie. A little too invested in her work right now it seems. What are your prospects?

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Well, I live right down the road from you in Spanish Oaks, but my wife and kids may throw a wrench into my plan of becoming your 44 year old step son.

Still though, if she stands to inherit that Blaser I may have to think hard about this...

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Do you get the house in Spanish Oaks or will you be living in a van down by the river?

An epic thread, japantiger. Thanks for taking the time to create and update what will remain a thread of OB legend. Well-written and well-photographed. You've put on a master class in hunt thread posting. This thread has been my 4:30am reading material for a few weeks...I'm sad to see it end. Until the next hunt, safe travels.

The leopard when he hit the original Spring bait that was about 400 yds West of the bait we got him on. He originally hit it on 9-4 and we got him on 9-18.

Think I would **** my pants if I saw a cat that big in the wild.

My favorite Game Cam photo...tell me what you see.

japantiger said:

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My favorite Game Cam photo...tell me what you see.

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Wow... croc, leopard, lion pic! That's epic

Edit: or is that a second leopard in the back?

I'll have to inform the chicken to dust off the good stuff.

japantiger said:

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Fitting (and exciting) end to the trip.

Into the blind as planned at 4:30. By 4:45 you could here the Hyena's crunching bones. Now it was just waiting the 25 or so minutes until there was enough light for a shot. Looked like 2 of them...so no change to the count from yesterday. But, they were eating this morning.

About 5:00 we heard noises off to our right. Just kind of looked at each other...couldn't really tell what it was. Then we heard a fair amount of noise behind the bait. At that, the hyena's disappeared. Then the noises to our right and behind the blind began to pick up. Alastair stood up and looked over the blind. He came around behind me and pushed apart the grass. He moved quickly to get his 458 Lott and took up his position behind me again.

The noise got louder and there were enough light by now I could see 2 large shapes thru the gaps in the woven grass. The two cows were moving straight toward the blind flapping their ears @ about 25 yds. They had smelled us and were coming to investigate. At that Alastair pushed open the blind door and stepped outside. Here is an image I will never forget. Someone quoted either Ruark or Capstick the other day as saying all cat hunters were chain smokers and asked if I was one. Well, I am not...but Alastair is. Also, Alastair hunts every day in one of 3 pair of well worn and tattered Canterbury Rugby shorts and one of 3 basic green cotton safari shirts; complete with holes to match the shorts. It is still quite cool in the AM so he had on a black/grey fleece this morning. As I mentioned the other day, the hunting camo clothing industry is a racket.

The blind door was lying on the ground. Alastair was standing outside the blind looking to our right. The rifle butt grounded and he is holding the barrel in his left hand. He's Bogarting a cigarette on the right side of his mouth and he's clinking the rifle barrel with his red BIC cigarette lighter and talking softly to the elephant cows to "just move on girl", "go on girl".... This pose lasted 3 or 4 minutes while Pete and I looked thru the grass at the two big cows retreat to our South.. They had come to within about 15 yds of the blind. While they were retreating there was a group of about 10 more that was passing about 30 yards to our West behind the blind. The two that came toward the blind had likely been a part of that group. A couple from the group were lagging behind and got interested in us. Alastair repeated the process with these two...clink, clink, clink..."go on girl". They never got closer than about 25 yds. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and examined the 1" of ash and checked to see which way the smoke was blowing.

In total there had been close to 25 elephants moving thru that part of the forest with the group that passed about 40 yds behind the bait to our East. We grabbed the radio and asked the truck to come get us now that they would not be between us and the truck when it arrived. It was ~5:35 am and the forest was fully awake and the hyena's long gone. We were loading the truck and would be back in camp by 6:15. Before I handed the rifle up to Jimmy to put in the rifle bag, I ejected the loaded round, emptied the magazine, inspected the chamber and put the 4 rounds in the ammo pouch on my belt. My mind turned to the nap I was going to take, the Puku steak and eggs Mike was preparing for breakfast for us @8:30 and returning home.

Hyena will be a priority for the 2024 trip.

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Damn elephants, I was really wanting to see a hyena pic!!

Thanks for letting us tag along! What a great hunt. My wife pretends to care when I randomly pipe up and say well he got the leopard.

OnlyForNow said:

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I'll have to inform the chicken to dust off the good stuff.

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I think they keep it locked up behind the rattlesnake.

japantiger said:

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My favorite Game Cam photo...tell me what you see.

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A croc, leopard, lion and a bush woman in a grass skirt with really thick legs

japantiger said:

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Hyena will be a priority for the 2024 trip.

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IN

Courtesy Flush said:

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japantiger said:

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My favorite Game Cam photo...tell me what you see.

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A croc, leopard, lion and a bush woman in a grass skirt with really thick legs

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AgLawman said:

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An epic thread, japantiger. Thanks for taking the time to create and update what will remain a thread of OB legend. Well-written and well-photographed. You've put on a master class in hunt thread posting. This thread has been my 4:30am reading material for a few weeks...I'm sad to see it end. Until the next hunt, safe travels.

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japantiger said:

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Hyena will be a priority for the 2024 trip.

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And he hits us with the teaser...

I don't think your hippos or elephant are going to fit.

King air?

rednecked said:

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AgLA06 said:

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I don't think your hippos or elephant are going to fit.

King air?

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wonder if you could lay a giraffe down lengthwise. Yes, I know he didn't shoot one but the image in my mind is hilarious.

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Its like hauling something in the bed of your truck, just let it stick out the back some

I don't think the 2 elephants smelled you. I think they smelled the cigarettes. I'm not being critical because I'm not there and know nothing about hunting Africa but I'm somewhat surprised that a guide is smoking while stationed in a blind waiting for the game to walk out. I can understand if driving and looking for game, but not trying to be unnoticed.

japantiger said:

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Yes King Air

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Suburban of the Sky!

AZAG08 said:

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rednecked said:

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AgLA06 said:

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I don't think your hippos or elephant are going to fit.

King air?

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wonder if you could lay a giraffe down lengthwise. Yes, I know he didn't shoot one but the image in my mind is hilarious.

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Its like hauling something in the bed of your truck, just let it stick out the back some

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with a red flag on it if if sticks out more than 4 feet.