First Hunting Safari booked!

[Matt Perchick]

I actually agree in general with this... That is why I said if you have a female companion, it might be worth the dinner part. And specifically the night drive part... Which I don't think you can do in Addo... However if you are on your own, ask Marius to take you out one or two nights to spotlight the night critters. He's not likely going to be able to show you lions, but with a little luck you might see some small cats... in fact inquire about hunting them. Even try calling for jackal. You might get to see bat eared foxes as well.

Some of those little cats are super cool looking. I would be open to hunting a few of them

 

[K-man]

Good of you to bite the bullet and compromise with the 2 trips to cancun. You have great advice so far, don't forget to listen to your P.H. as to what to bring (or not bring) and gun/bullet combos. My first trip I was given the best advice of all, when the sticks go up you put your gun in them. Don't mess with binos, rangefinder, etc, just get on the gun. You may not see the animal yet, but get ready. And go slow enough to ask questions when driving. You will be taught alot by your P.H. if you ask.

 

[Matt Perchick]

Good of you to bite the bullet and compromise with the 2 trips to cancun. You have great advice so far, don't forget to listen to your P.H. as to what to bring (or not bring) and gun/bullet combos. My first trip I was given the best advice of all, when the sticks go up you put your gun in them. Don't mess with binos, rangefinder, etc, just get on the gun. You may not see the animal yet, but get ready. And go slow enough to ask questions when driving. You will be taught alot by your P.H. if you ask.

Thanks. Good advise

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats and enjoy!

 

[Dinsdale]

I'll be there in early April, and I'll try and leave you something to hunt;<)


Take more pictures of everything; everyone will want to see pics.

 

[thi9elsp]

Congratulations. Can't add much to the advice you've received already. Enjoy the planning, get there a few days early if you can spare the time to get over the jet lag.

 

[JimP]

When I went through Aldo last May it was nice but we missed out on seeing a lot of the animals that I would liked to of seen. There were kudu all over the place then the red heartabeast, elephants, and zebras not to mention the warthogs. Other than that the rest of the animals were under cover and sleeping. We did manage to find some cape buffalo hiding in the brush but we never did see them too well since the opening was quite small to look into it. It was bright and sunny that day and perhaps if it was overcast it would of been better but who knows.

 

[SHOEDOG]

You will have a great time with Marius and his crew.
You might want to practice shooting off sticks.I took most shots either sitting or kneeling off sticks due to the low brush which does not allow much in the way of standing shots.
Marius has a bipod set of sticks which he prefers for some reason which I never figured out but he has a set of Primos tripod style which I could get much steadier on.I bought a set as soon as I got home.
I'm not sure what Louw has for sticks.
You could also bring your own in your gun case.
Best wishes on your trip you made a smart move going with KMG.
Regards,
Shoedog

 

[Matt Perchick]

You will have a great time with Marius and his crew.
You might want to practice shooting off sticks.I took most shots either sitting or kneeling off sticks due to the low brush which does not allow much in the way of standing shots.
Marius has a bipod set of sticks which he prefers for some reason which I never figured out but he has a set of Primos tripod style which I could get much steadier on.I bought a set as soon as I got home.
I'm not sure what Louw has for sticks.
You could also bring your own in your gun case.
Best wishes on your trip you made a smart move going with KMG.
Regards,
Shoedog

Thanks. I have a set of tripod sticks which I plan to practice on once spring time rolls around.

 

[enysse]

Congrats, that is great time to be in Africa!

 

[dory]

looking forward to your report as EC and bushbuck are on my have to do list .
Sounds like you have the trip well sorted out .
Good luck !!!

 

[Custom]

You will have a great time, Matt. I will be headed for my third safari in May of 2017, this time for leopard and buffalo in Zim. I completed my first safari in May 2013, so it is true. Once you have been to Africa, you will be back!

 

[AZDAVE]

Matt Welcome to AH, and Congratz on booking your first safari. We hunted the Eastern Cape in 2013 at Blaauwkrantz Safaris and had a great time.
Like many recommend take the time for Addo, we also did the dinner and night game drive in Scotia and while we enjoyed Addo the most the dinner trip was worth
the trip. Also went to Kruger after our hunt and had a great time. Just be prepared that after your first safari you will be in the PE airport trying to figure out how and when you will be able to go back. Enjoy the planning and prep time.

 

[dobber]

Addo is simply amazing, could have spent more time there with ease, Scotia dinner was great as well, we had wind and rain but amazing to see the elephants playing in the pond and well worth any cold weather
Congrats on booking the hunt, will enjoy yourself unlike anything you have ever done
One thing we did was to bring clothes to leave behind for the staff and school, we gathered kids clothes from friends to bring as well. One thing i did and was quite surprised was we stopped off at a sports shirt store, asked if they had seconds or flaws for sale, they gave us about 50 t-shirts when they heard we were going to SA and wanted to give back
If you do a school visit, which is something that brought a tear to this guy, we bought school supplies at the local store, was cheap enough and figured we were supporting that local store as well as the school