MontanaPat
AH enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2021
- Messages
- 381
- Reaction score
- 1,050
- Location
- SW Montana
- Media
- 45
- Member of
- SCI, DSC
- Hunted
- South Africa, Botswana, Canada, Argentina, US-MT, WA, IN, AR, CO, AL, OK
Thought I would go ahead and get started on a report for my upcoming hunt with NKWE, since I’m sitting in Doha at the Qatar Business Class lounge and it’s 12:30 AM but I’m wide awake after sleeping on the flight over.
Flights: American/Qatar vis Doha to Johannesburg, Airlink to Maun - flights were booked via Travel Express (first time to use them versus doing all of my own travel arrangements on previous trips but since I was not familiar with Qatar procedures with guns thought I would use their expertise).
Outfitter: @NKWE SAFARIS, Ghanzi Botswana
Species targeted: Eland (to complete my SA spiral slam), kudu, blue wildebeest and whatever other opportunities may arise
Rifles: Winchester M70 Safari Express in .375 HH (eland, kudu) with a Leupold VX3 1.5-5 X 20 Firedot and Winchester M70 Featherweight .308 Win with a Leupold VX3 3.5-10 X 40 Firedot
A friend and I booked this hunt a couple of years ago after hearing many good reports of people hunting in Botswana with NKWE. He hunted with them in July 2023 to check them out while I was doing a Cape buffalo hunt in South Africa. Well he came home totally blown away with the hunting at NKWE, taking a beautiful 62” kudu on that trip along with another right at 60” and a really nice waterbuck as well.
I left Bozeman MT yesterday 5/23 headed to DFW on American and then Qatar via Doha to Johannesburg. Wouldn’t you know good old Montana decided to throw one more snow storm out there before letting us have summer! Got up Thursday morning to snow on the yard and wet slushy roads and the valley socked in with clouds. Got to the airport plenty early to get all checked in with no problems. The American flight was showing a few minutes late coming in from Dallas and a half hour delay on departure but thought I should be fine as I have a 5 hour layover in DFW, so plenty of time to get my bag and rifle case rechecked onto Qatar. Well the plane is 10 minutes out of Bozeman about to land according to FlightAware map when they announce that the plane is being diverted to Boise due to low visibility in Bozeman. WTF, I just saw 2 United flights take off and 2 minutes later a United flight lands, seems they aren’t having any issues!
Well to get to the point, the American flight finally lands, we board and depart for Dallas 3.5 hours late so there goes my big layover cushion. We make good time to DFW and luckily my plane has a gate change so we now come in on concourse D instead of A, and the Qatar flight is leaving out of concourse D since that is the international concourse. Hurray, I’m able to grab my bags at baggage claim and head straight upstairs to the Qatar check in with no need to find the shuttle to change terminals and waste a bunch of time. I still had just over 2 hours to departure for Doha so I’m in good shape thank goodness.
I have to say the Qatar business class check in desk is right on top of things and made the process very smooth. Darren at Travel Express had already notified Qatar of my firearms declaration and they had all of the paperwork completed and waiting at check in for me when I got there. Took a short amount of time to complete the process and the check in people were very polite and helpful unlike what seems many airlines are these days. Got to my gate with time to relax and then board. Qatar Q Suite accommodations onboard are comfortable and I get settled in for the long flight. Had a small meal and some wine, then took a Benadryl to get some sleep and I’m out. Got a good 8 hours of sleep, flights go very smooth and land in Doha on time, this is a beautiful airport as others have said many times. My flight for JNB leaves at 8:40 in the morning and it’s now 1 AM. So I may read a bit and try to catch a little nap, use their shower facilities to freshen up and have some breakfast then head to my gate around 7.
More to come as the hunt unfolds……
Flights: American/Qatar vis Doha to Johannesburg, Airlink to Maun - flights were booked via Travel Express (first time to use them versus doing all of my own travel arrangements on previous trips but since I was not familiar with Qatar procedures with guns thought I would use their expertise).
Outfitter: @NKWE SAFARIS, Ghanzi Botswana
Species targeted: Eland (to complete my SA spiral slam), kudu, blue wildebeest and whatever other opportunities may arise
Rifles: Winchester M70 Safari Express in .375 HH (eland, kudu) with a Leupold VX3 1.5-5 X 20 Firedot and Winchester M70 Featherweight .308 Win with a Leupold VX3 3.5-10 X 40 Firedot
A friend and I booked this hunt a couple of years ago after hearing many good reports of people hunting in Botswana with NKWE. He hunted with them in July 2023 to check them out while I was doing a Cape buffalo hunt in South Africa. Well he came home totally blown away with the hunting at NKWE, taking a beautiful 62” kudu on that trip along with another right at 60” and a really nice waterbuck as well.
I left Bozeman MT yesterday 5/23 headed to DFW on American and then Qatar via Doha to Johannesburg. Wouldn’t you know good old Montana decided to throw one more snow storm out there before letting us have summer! Got up Thursday morning to snow on the yard and wet slushy roads and the valley socked in with clouds. Got to the airport plenty early to get all checked in with no problems. The American flight was showing a few minutes late coming in from Dallas and a half hour delay on departure but thought I should be fine as I have a 5 hour layover in DFW, so plenty of time to get my bag and rifle case rechecked onto Qatar. Well the plane is 10 minutes out of Bozeman about to land according to FlightAware map when they announce that the plane is being diverted to Boise due to low visibility in Bozeman. WTF, I just saw 2 United flights take off and 2 minutes later a United flight lands, seems they aren’t having any issues!
Well to get to the point, the American flight finally lands, we board and depart for Dallas 3.5 hours late so there goes my big layover cushion. We make good time to DFW and luckily my plane has a gate change so we now come in on concourse D instead of A, and the Qatar flight is leaving out of concourse D since that is the international concourse. Hurray, I’m able to grab my bags at baggage claim and head straight upstairs to the Qatar check in with no need to find the shuttle to change terminals and waste a bunch of time. I still had just over 2 hours to departure for Doha so I’m in good shape thank goodness.
I have to say the Qatar business class check in desk is right on top of things and made the process very smooth. Darren at Travel Express had already notified Qatar of my firearms declaration and they had all of the paperwork completed and waiting at check in for me when I got there. Took a short amount of time to complete the process and the check in people were very polite and helpful unlike what seems many airlines are these days. Got to my gate with time to relax and then board. Qatar Q Suite accommodations onboard are comfortable and I get settled in for the long flight. Had a small meal and some wine, then took a Benadryl to get some sleep and I’m out. Got a good 8 hours of sleep, flights go very smooth and land in Doha on time, this is a beautiful airport as others have said many times. My flight for JNB leaves at 8:40 in the morning and it’s now 1 AM. So I may read a bit and try to catch a little nap, use their shower facilities to freshen up and have some breakfast then head to my gate around 7.
More to come as the hunt unfolds……
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