We get rain in STX and we all get this thread to get us through the end of summer, there's no doubt God loves us.

If you want to fly me out there I can be ready in about 45 minutes and take over your TexAgs posting so you can focus on drinking and hunting. I'll be well mannered, don't worry.

aggiesundevil4 said:

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Japantiger- please tell us you are eating the springbok…I still salivate when I remember how amazing they were when I lived over there…pics would be even better…I would eat it over beef every day of the week.

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I eat everything I shoot. Having country fried cape buffalo steak tonight.

As for liver, well, not a huge game of any kind of liver nowadays... sorry guys. Ate too much of it as a kid. Every time we clean an animal the hunting team takes the liver, heart and kidneys.

chocolatelabs said:

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with 50 days of huntings, about how many animals are you wanting to hunt?

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To this point in the trip, I have shot 16 animals. My goal for the rest of the trip is primarily 3 other animals...all dangerous game. I will shoot from 2-12 additional bait animals likely in pursuit of 2 of the 3 other animals.

Lion, leopard, hippo



Final answer

MAROON said:

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Kudu is not dangerous game.

Lion, Leopard, Buff, Hippo, Jumbo, Rhino, Croc are considered the 7 dangerous game.

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This thread is about to explode in awesomeness...

ocling said:

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You're right, I glossed over the dangerous game part.

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but I hope a Kudu is in the works as well. Beautiful animal and not an easy hunt. I hunted them for 8 solid days and finally got one in the last five minutes of the final hunt of the trip. They don't call them the "Gray Ghost" for noting.

japantiger said:

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I will shoot from 2-12 additional bait animals likely in pursuit of 2 of the 3 other animals.

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Well tossing a cast net for bait will never hold the allure again.

Elephant, Lion and Leopard. Elephant in Namibia and Lion/Leopard in Zambia. The bait animals will be for the lion/leopard.

Meh, let me know when you start traveling the continent via modified Jeep.

Based on my knowledge of the market that puts your trip around $350k all in…holy crap that's the trip of a lifetime! OB Legend status!

MAROON said:

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ocling said:

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You're right, I glossed over the dangerous game part.

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but I hope a Kudu is in the works as well. Beautiful animal and not an easy hunt. I hunted them for 8 solid days and finally got one in the last five minutes of the final hunt of the trip. They don't call them the "Gray Ghost" for noting.

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Namibia has better Kudu than this part of SA. So if I shoot a Kudu for a trophy, it would be in Namibia.

As for bait, the goal is to get big baits, quickly. So 1st thing to pursue for bait will be Hippo as they are great for either leopard or lion. Yes, I have shot a hippo on a previous hunt in Tanzania. But Trophy animals and bait animals an be a different thing. When I get to Zambia, I want to shoot bait animals quickly and not be picky on "quality" of trophy. To a Lion, any hippo looks great.

MAROON said:

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where are you headed in Zambia.....Luangwa Valley area?

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Yes..Nyakolwe highlands.

Buffalo is going to measure ~46 1/2 (simple outside measure Rowland Ward). I don't know the SCI measure yet...but the eyeball guesses by the experts here is over 100 which makes him very very large and he would qualify for record book entry. You have to wait 60 days to allow drying/shrinkage time for an official measure. An older bill horns/boss shrinks less than a younger one...so this one won't change very much. The Rowland Ward outside measure is 42 to get in the record book. If there are others more experts on all this chime in...as I do not consider myself an expert on these ins/outs.

We spotted a group of 3 batchelors about 800 yds out on top of a long slope. We drove up to 550 and started the stalk. We had the wind, but concealment was scarce. Nothing higher than 4 ft and that was scant. So we moved up in a low crouch and stopped to glass frequently. Up to 200 yds it was clear the animals didn't know we were there or that anything was there. They were just grazing and going nowhere. The bookended animals were both nice. This one on the far left was by far the oldest. ~11.5 - 12 years old estimated. When we got to about 150 the bigger bull on the right started to interrupt his grazing and look around. We weren't in great shooting position and there was another scrawny bush about 50 yds up that we could use, so we moved slow and low. We'd been an hour at this point closing from 550 to 150.

At this point the one on the right was full time looking our way....the other two would look up occasionally, but more grazing. The lookout moved about 20 yds right slowly and looked our way. We were behind the only available scrub bush at ~110. I got in the sticks but where the animals were there was a slight rise in front of them and just enough brush to hide the big guys body. The lookout kept moving right and eventually our guy started moving right. I was in the sticks waiting for 15 minutes. He finally cleared enough where I could get a clear shot. Hit him right where I needed to on the right shoulder about 1/3 of the way up the body...he bowed up and turned. He was hit well and was dead I put the 2nd in his left hip and that anchored him. He slowly moved off to the left with his buddies flanking him. I got a clear line and put a 3rd in his other shoulder. He stopped moving. He'd gone about 50 yds left since the initial shot. He stood there flanked by his partners so we couldn't approach him. After about 30 seconds he went down. They are tough animals.

Well executed stalk by the PH. Very slow and patient. His Dad was watching the whole thing from the truck and of course was second guessing all our moves as we made them according to the folks back at the truck..,.as Dad's do. Very different perspective from the truck vs on the ground...we had some fun with that in the conversation afterwards.

His partners wouldn't leave so we called the truck up ... We got on and moved into about 20 yds and the noise and site of the trucked moved the other 2 off....he was in his death bellows and that was it.

Amazing trip!
I might have to break out Capstick's "Death in the Long Grass" for a little related reading.
(Those of you that haven't read Capstick....do. He's one of the greatest outdoor hunting authors)
(Edited for wrong book name)

Good Lord, that is huge!

I somehow missed this thread until this morning. Amazing!

As someone who is not that into hunting, and would never do such a trip, even if I had the excess $$$, I want to thank you for posting so much.

Great descriptions, great photos.

Great example of how we don't have to be on the same page to enjoy each other's outdoors experiences.

Japantiger,
That is a great recap of your stalk. Thanks for posting both that and your pictures. We all look forward to following the rest of your hunt.

To everyone else, I second Apache on reading any and all Capstick books you can find. Not all of them are about African hunting, but they are all entertaining. Another writer with great outdoor reading is Robert Ruark. Both Ruark and Capstick were inspired by Hemingway's hunting adventures.

lurker76 said:

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Japantiger,
That is a great recap of your stalk. Thanks for posting both that and your pictures. We all look forward to following the rest of your hunt.

To everyone else, I second Apache on reading any and all Capstick books you can find. Not all of them are about African hunting, but they are all entertaining. Another writer with great outdoor reading is Robert Ruark. Both Ruark and Capstick were inspired by Hemingway's hunting adventures.

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You and Apache are right-on with reading recommendations. Death in the Long Grass never got out of my head after I read it . Inspired me to be a better shot