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My trip to Ethiopia was planned more than two years ago. I had originally planned to go in 2023, but my outfitter couldn’t guarantee the availability of a Menelik’s bushbuck. He believed we’d be ok, but rather than risk going to Ethiopia and not getting one of the two endemic bushbuck, I chose...

As regular readers may recall, my last hunting trip, if I can dignify it by calling it that, was to Liberia in May of 2022. We were looking for duikers then, and found none. I’ve been a fan of the smaller African antelopes almost from the beginning of my African hunting, when a steenbok...

I'm wondering if anyone's had a firearm export permit issued by the Government of Canada since the Public Service Alliance (most government employees) went on strike last week? I applied for a permit and was advised on April 19, 2023 that it was "issued." I've heard nothing since, and haven't...

Some time (a long time actually) ago I posted a hunt report about a wonderful hunt to Benin. https://www.africahunting.com/threads/benin-hunting-benin-with-atacora-safaris-christophe-morio.37064/ I reported that my custom made .300 Win Mag, made by Ralf Martini (Martini Gunmakers), had somehow...

This will not be one of my typical hunt reports, if only because this wasn’t one of my typical hunts. If you’re looking for excitement, I’m afraid you’ll ll have to look elsewhere. For those of you who choose to persist, you’ve been warned! My booking agent (and Zim PH) Dean Stobbs of Touch...

This is the title of an article in the most recent issue of Science, the magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. I have added a link below, but it may be behind a paywalls and I can't copy the article. What follows is pretty nerdy but, at least for nerds, may be of...

Two things right off the bat. First, this is another one of my long form hunt reports. In instalments. If you’re easily bored, I suggest you either move on or save this for late nights when you have trouble sleeping. As well, this first instalment is all about background and planning, so if you...

The time has come, the walrus said . . . er, or maybe it was my wife. Fed up with too much stuff lying around "without a useful purpose" apparently. Anyway, I have a lot of skins and some horns that I need to get rid of, so I'm seeing if anyone has any interest before I take more drastic...

I have just seen that Mark Buchanan has posted elsewhere that PH Phil Smythe of Zimbabwe was badly injured by an elephant while hunting with clients in the Save Conservancy. Don’t know much more than that, but I understand Buchanan Hunts has created or joined in an appeal for emergency medical...

I was recently re-reading Peter Flack’s “Hunting Icons of Africa.” For those who aren’t aware, in that book Peter, who is based in South Africa, and is likely one of the most accomplished hunters of the modern era, chooses 25 trophies which he believes are true icons of African hunting. One of...

In another thread the black face impala came up and a couple of members stated that this was a color phase of regular impala. I'd like to take issue with that comment. I think this is more than semantics, although it may not matter to most, if not almost all, of us. However, I think we need...

As just reported in the Wall Street Journal: New Zealand will ban military-style semiautomatic weapons, assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, stepping up its response to Friday’s slaughter of 50 worshipers at two Christchurch mosques by a lone shooter. Shooter Brenton Tarrant held a...

This article was in today’s (London) Telegraph: HUNTING Allowing trophy hunt imports ‘spits in face of nation of animal lovers’ By Helena Horton and Steve Bird ELEPHANT feet, polar bear skins and a rug made from a lion are among the endangered species parts shipped into Britain as trophies in...

Hunt for the Last of the Spiral Horns (This report comes with the usual health warning, that reading it may cure insomnia. I tend to the long form hunt report, as many will know, so consider yourselves warned. I'm also posting more or less as I write, so I take no responsibility for long...

For those of us who were unable to make the SCI show this year, I was hoping that some of you who did, could provide us with a summary of your thoughts. What was the overall tone of the show - upbeat or downbeat? I've already read on another thread that one outfitter who hunts Burkina Faso has...

This won't be exactly the same as my usual hunt reports. Fear not, it will still be far longer than it needs to be, but it will also be part travelogue, for reasons which are set forth immediately below. If you find the non-hunting stuff boring, well, you could just skip it, but then you...

Just saw this in my morning New York Times (no cracks about my choice of newspapers!): The board of the Humane Society of the United States decided Thursday to retain its longtime chief executive despite an investigation that has uncovered multiple harassment complaints against him, according...

Ever since I was a young child, I have struggled, mightily, with a problem. I try and resist it, but generally the urge is so strong I quickly succumb. My wife says it's still a problem today. That's the urge to say "I told you so." As some of you who have followed the captive bred lion...

I had not originally planned to return to South Africa in 2017, or frankly, any time soon. That's not because I don't like South Africa - on the contrary, it's one of the nicest countries I have ever hunted. It's just that apart from the African wildcat, the Suni and the Sharpe's grysbok, there...

This just in from The Telegraph (London newspaper): One of Cecil the Lion’s cubs has been shot dead by a big game trophy hunter in Zimbabwe, just two years after his father was killed in similar circumstances. The six-year-old lion named Xanda, who was in his prime, was killed just outside the...

In my copy of the July issue of The Hunting Report, which I received today, there was brief discussion of the appropriate caliber for hunting nilgai - an animal I have never seen in the wild, let alone hunted. In the June issue, an individual had said he used a .416 (didn't say which one) he...

From time to time I have posted pieces about some of the strange things anti-hunting activists get up to. When I do, some say that we need to engage more with some of these activists, and some suggest that would be a waste of time. I tend to come down on the side of not wasting my time...

Well, here we are with another hunt report. As usual (for me), I'll post more or less as I write sections, so it won't come all at once. This one all started over Christmas, 2016. The family was enjoying a nice holiday in Maui just after Christmas. My wife suddenly decided she would like to...

I hesitate to post this, because it is just so offensive on so many levels, but I think it's important to see how some people think. These are the people that many think we, as hunters, need to engage with in order to have them understand our perspective. This article appeared in Canada's...

The National Post - a Canadian newspaper - published the following story this morning (I only include excerpts): A New York zookeeper scolded animal rights “extremists” on Thursday after live video of a giraffe birth was temporarily removed from YouTube over complaints of nudity and sexually...

There have been lots of ‘inexpensive’ hunts posted over the last little while on AH. By inexpensive, I mean downright cheap. Hunts which charge no day rates; hunts for lion at rates that are way below even the currently depressed market; hunts for buffalo and sable and roan at prices I haven’t...

Many who are regulars on this site will recall that Owain Lewis, a well-known professional hunter with decades of experience, was killed in 2012 while following up a wounded buffalo. Owain hunted for Chifuti Safaris, so you can still see the occasional re-run of shows where he was the PH. It...

The regular conference of the parties to the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is set to start in Johannesburg on September 24. I thought it might be useful for all of us if we had one place where we could set out the issues which would be of interest to hunters generally, and...

Those who have read my previous hunt reports may well have wondered how these things could be any longer. Well, wonder no more. They can become longer because I've decided to start from the beginning, before the hunt! Anyone unhappy with this development can take it up with @BRICKBURN, who...

According to Safari Times, Indiana has just passed a new law legalizing certain rifles for deer hunting (I had no idea any rifles were illegal!). This law has legalized only the 243 Winchester and the .308. All other calibers are illegal. I can sort of get why you want a lower limit - you...

There has been a lot of talk recently in various forums (fora?) about the price of hunting "importable" animals - by which is meant, importable into the US. The trend seems to be that the fewer the countries which can offer importable species, the higher the prices of those species becomes...

i just saw an ad for Pnuma hunting clothing. Interesting website. I'm a Kuiu guy generally, but I'm curious if anyone has tried this stuff. Same sort of pitch - cut out the middleman. Views? Fit? Thorn resistance? Thanks.

Those who have read my earlier posts on anything bullet related will know that I am a big fan of Barnes bullets, and that I use VOR-TX bullets almost exclusively. Until recently, I've never had any problems with these bullets, and they have generally exceeded my expectations. The only issues...

In some recent "back of the truck" discussions with a couple of PH's, the issue of package hunts and trophy sizes came up. One PH said that when people are getting a package deal - paying less than the normal trophy fee for the animals - they should not expect to be steered towards the largest...

Just saw this come over the wire from SCI (which is what old timers call email): "Last week SCI confirmed that Tanzania has suspended the exportation of all CITES listed hunting trophies. It is SCI’s understanding that the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has taken this...

My taxidermist - based in Olds, AB - has decided to retire. I know, I know, people think only of themselves. But there you are. So I'm looking for a good taxidermist in the Calgary area. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!

There was going to be one hunt report this year – my hunt in Ethiopia, set for November, 2016. However, my South African PH, John Tinley, with whom I’ve hunted at least four times, knows me too well. I can’t resist an interesting hunting opportunity. Last year he had been on a hunt for...

LAN (which I think used to be called LAN Chile) recently issued the following notice: Due to our commitment to the protection of the environment and its animal species, we will no longer accept for transportation of dead animals exhibited as trophies of game hunting, even when the cargo...

As predicted by many, this is spreading like a cancer: http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/group-launches-petition-to-oppose-african-hunting-event-in-calgary Note that the hotel says they have a contract for this year but they won't host the show again. Call it being responsive to...

I'm curious. Governments (particularly but not exclusively the US government) believe that if they impose import restrictions on hunting trophies, hunters will leave those animals alone. Is this true? Have you decided not to hunt an animal, because of import restrictions? Which ones...

Some recent news on the issue of airlines refusing to carry trophies: Conservation Force, Dallas Safari Club, Houston Safari Club, the CAMPFIRE Association, the Tanzania Hunting Operators Association (TAHOA), and Corey Knowlton filed suit today against Delta Air Lines, Inc. to compel an end to...

I just received a shipment of trophies from my 2014 safari. I had most of the taxidermy done in Africa, and this gives rise to a question (a few actually, but let's start with this one) On the lioness, I asked for a rug, with the mouth open. Well, the taxidermist cut the head off, and then...

I just finished reading the September issue of the Conservation Force newsletter. It is (extremely well) written by their staff attorney, Regina Lennox. She sets out to correct most, if not all, of the mis-statements made and accepted by the media in connection with the Cecil debacle. None...

About 4 years ago, I shot a leopard and hyena on a hunt in Zimbabwe (Matetsi, Unit 2). It took about two years for the trophies to arrive - dipped and packed - which is not really unusual for Zimbabwe. When these, among others, arrived, my taxidermist quickly identified that the leopard and...

Time for this year’s hunt report. Again, this was a longish hunt, about a month, and I need a good editor (this has signs of becoming War and Peace!). Since I don’t have an editor, good or bad, this may get long, but no one is forced to read it, so take what you like and ignore the rest...

Mixture of emotions today. Just picked up my newest rifle - a .300 win mag to replace my (very) old Browning A-bolt, which has served me well. The great part is that the new rifle is perfect; the bad is that with a new .300 to add to my newish .375 H&H, .404 Jeffery and .416 Rigby, I don't...

On another thread (at what point are we causing our own problems), Hunthardsafaris and I were exchanging posts about what some might view as actions that hurt our sport. In particular, he said, in part: "this opens a whole new can of worms and as responsible adults and hunters,the choice to...

I used to have a CZ .416 Rigby - the cartridge just speaks Africa to me. I had always wanted a .416 Rigby by Rigby, but with the mess between the US and the UK, it was never the time. Once Blaser took over Rigby, it seemed the time had come. I ordered a new Big Game rifle, with the double...

Many people will recall Willis & Geiger clothing. A great manufacturer of hunting and adventure clothing. It went out of business after it was bought by Land's End some many years ago, and they couldn't figure out what to do with it. I just discovered a couple of weeks ago that the people...

I mentioned a bongo hunt in another thread (https://www.africahunting.com/threads/cameroon-bongo-sitatunga-hunt-report.10979/) and said that it was the subject of an article in this month's issue of Safari, the SCI magazine. I was asked to post some pictures, so they are below. I had mentioned...