smp005
AH senior member
Dates: April 30th - May 11th 2023
Outfitter / Guide: Karl Stumpfe / @ndumo HUNTING SAFARIS
Species Hunted: non-trophy Elephant Bull, Croc, Hippo and Zebra
Rifle: Merkel 140 416 Rigby Double, Blaser R8 300 Win Mag / Swarovski Z5 3.5 - 18 BT
Travel: Turkish Airlines Business class through Istanbul and Johannesburg
Animal Taken: Bull elephant, Hippo and Zebra
Travel:
I booked this hunt with Karl at SCI in Nashville this past February through my friend and RSA outfitter Rudolf Graupner / Molopo Kalahari Safaris. I had been trying to line up a non-trophy elephant hunt since before covid. I had hunted tuskless in Zim back in 2015 and due to shifting gears and hunting a Leopard successfully on that trip, I was unsuccessful on elephant so this was my first…
I booked my travel thru Shawn at Gracy Travel. I chose Turkish Airlines as their business class was several thousand less that Emirates or Qatar and I will be flying them to Tajikistan next year and Mongolia in 2026 so I figured the additional airmiles cant hurt and they are Star Alliance which works with all my United miles. As I always do, I departed out of Dulles on April 26th to Joberg via Istanbul. Turkish has an amazing lounge in the new Istanbul airport and layovers between 4 and 9 hours qualify for a private suite to rest up in. My layover was 9hrs and 23 min so I did not qualify - seriously?? I popped over to the YotelAir airside and got a room to shower ands rest up. My return layover was only 8 hours so I was able to get a suite - and my flight was delayed 3 hours so I had it for 11 hours LOL!
I had no issues with any of my travel. Turkish check-in was very smooth and the TSA agent as Dulles was pro-hunting and we stood and chatted about African conservation thru hunting and how important it is for almost an hour! I opted to spend a full day (two nights) air Africa Sky resting up on my way to Karl’s camp. Africa Sky did my RSA gun permit and it took maybe 15 min to get thru SAPs - absolutely no issues.. One of Rudolf’s young PHs joined me there to go along as he needs to do an ele hunt to qualify for his DG certificate in RSA. April 30th we checked in and flew to Kasane on Airlink.
I did have to do lots of gun permits but it really was no big deal..
- South Africa
- Botswana
- Namibia
Karl’s staff met us at Kasane and we had about a 2 1/2 hour drive to the Sobbe camp.
Camp:
I hunted out of both of Karl’s camps - Sobbe and Balyerwa. At Sobbe we hunted elephant and zebra and Baylerwa we hunted Croc. Karl’s camps are outstanding - top notch in every aspect.
We even had Escargot as a starter once evening - excellent!!!
Hunting:
The Caprivi is simply a magical area.. There were plenty of elephant, buffalo and plains game around.. Karl knew there was a broken tusked bull around that was perfect for a non-trophy so we set off looking for him. We got close to him on day 2 but were busted my a herd of cows that came in on our left during the stalk. On day 3 Karl go a call about a problem hippo that was chasing the locals so we set off to sort out the problem
On day 4 we found the group of bulls again - there were 5 bulls in the group and one was a very nice 55lb trophy bull! Thankfully (but regrettably) Karl did not throw numbers at me to upgrade to a trophy as I doubt I could have resisted
We followed the group for a hour or so until we got into a place where we could get close enough to the broken tusk bull for a shot. Naturally that trophy bull presented multiple opportunities for an easy 25 yd shot!! The mopane was very thick and the sun was right in our eyes. We got about 30 yards from broken tusk - there was a young bull on our left and the big guy and two other young bulls were on our right. I missed the side brain on my first shot by about 2” low but it stunned the bull. Karl and I both put one behind the shoulder (and Karl with that .577) which definitely slowed him down and my 3rd shot brained him. So meanwhile, pandemonium was ensuing all around us.. On my first shot, the other bulls all took off to our right and started to turn back onto us but turned away when they saw us. We knew there was a herd (15-20) of cows way off to our left - several hundred yards away when were approaching the bulls. What we did not know is there was a cow on our the left much closer. Sadly she charged and Karl had to drop her 15 feet from us. If Karl had not dropped her, Karl, myself, the cameraman and Wilhelm would probably not be here today.
Here’s the video:
Needless to say it was a bit intense.
My bull
The cow
I learned several valuable lessons which I am already fixing:
- I will never again hunt DG with an extractor double!
- I never again hunt DG with a rimless cased double!
Took WAY to long to reload and bigger IS better…
I have already remediated this issue as I came home and
bought a Verney Carron 450 NE !
My 416 and Karl’s 577
Shot a nice Zebra - I love hunting Zebras
We relocated to Karl’s Balyerwa camp to hunt a croc
Always seem to bump into couple friends.. I didn't get a picture of the mamba LOL!
We sat in a blind for over bait for a croc but they were not fooled.. It had to be 125 inside that blind!
Some things just cannot be described
I have fallen in love with the Caprivi.. I’ve hunted RSA and Zimbabwe multiple times but the Caprivi is without question my favorite! It took exactly 13 minutes after sitting down at Karl’s booth in Nashville last month to book this coming May for Buffalo and two weeks next year in May for my son and I. Oh - and once you’ve hunted Elephant, there’s no turning back
Scott
Outfitter / Guide: Karl Stumpfe / @ndumo HUNTING SAFARIS
Species Hunted: non-trophy Elephant Bull, Croc, Hippo and Zebra
Rifle: Merkel 140 416 Rigby Double, Blaser R8 300 Win Mag / Swarovski Z5 3.5 - 18 BT
Travel: Turkish Airlines Business class through Istanbul and Johannesburg
Animal Taken: Bull elephant, Hippo and Zebra
Travel:
I booked this hunt with Karl at SCI in Nashville this past February through my friend and RSA outfitter Rudolf Graupner / Molopo Kalahari Safaris. I had been trying to line up a non-trophy elephant hunt since before covid. I had hunted tuskless in Zim back in 2015 and due to shifting gears and hunting a Leopard successfully on that trip, I was unsuccessful on elephant so this was my first…
I booked my travel thru Shawn at Gracy Travel. I chose Turkish Airlines as their business class was several thousand less that Emirates or Qatar and I will be flying them to Tajikistan next year and Mongolia in 2026 so I figured the additional airmiles cant hurt and they are Star Alliance which works with all my United miles. As I always do, I departed out of Dulles on April 26th to Joberg via Istanbul. Turkish has an amazing lounge in the new Istanbul airport and layovers between 4 and 9 hours qualify for a private suite to rest up in. My layover was 9hrs and 23 min so I did not qualify - seriously?? I popped over to the YotelAir airside and got a room to shower ands rest up. My return layover was only 8 hours so I was able to get a suite - and my flight was delayed 3 hours so I had it for 11 hours LOL!
I had no issues with any of my travel. Turkish check-in was very smooth and the TSA agent as Dulles was pro-hunting and we stood and chatted about African conservation thru hunting and how important it is for almost an hour! I opted to spend a full day (two nights) air Africa Sky resting up on my way to Karl’s camp. Africa Sky did my RSA gun permit and it took maybe 15 min to get thru SAPs - absolutely no issues.. One of Rudolf’s young PHs joined me there to go along as he needs to do an ele hunt to qualify for his DG certificate in RSA. April 30th we checked in and flew to Kasane on Airlink.
I did have to do lots of gun permits but it really was no big deal..
- South Africa
- Botswana
- Namibia
Karl’s staff met us at Kasane and we had about a 2 1/2 hour drive to the Sobbe camp.
Camp:
I hunted out of both of Karl’s camps - Sobbe and Balyerwa. At Sobbe we hunted elephant and zebra and Baylerwa we hunted Croc. Karl’s camps are outstanding - top notch in every aspect.
We even had Escargot as a starter once evening - excellent!!!
Hunting:
The Caprivi is simply a magical area.. There were plenty of elephant, buffalo and plains game around.. Karl knew there was a broken tusked bull around that was perfect for a non-trophy so we set off looking for him. We got close to him on day 2 but were busted my a herd of cows that came in on our left during the stalk. On day 3 Karl go a call about a problem hippo that was chasing the locals so we set off to sort out the problem
On day 4 we found the group of bulls again - there were 5 bulls in the group and one was a very nice 55lb trophy bull! Thankfully (but regrettably) Karl did not throw numbers at me to upgrade to a trophy as I doubt I could have resisted
We followed the group for a hour or so until we got into a place where we could get close enough to the broken tusk bull for a shot. Naturally that trophy bull presented multiple opportunities for an easy 25 yd shot!! The mopane was very thick and the sun was right in our eyes. We got about 30 yards from broken tusk - there was a young bull on our left and the big guy and two other young bulls were on our right. I missed the side brain on my first shot by about 2” low but it stunned the bull. Karl and I both put one behind the shoulder (and Karl with that .577) which definitely slowed him down and my 3rd shot brained him. So meanwhile, pandemonium was ensuing all around us.. On my first shot, the other bulls all took off to our right and started to turn back onto us but turned away when they saw us. We knew there was a herd (15-20) of cows way off to our left - several hundred yards away when were approaching the bulls. What we did not know is there was a cow on our the left much closer. Sadly she charged and Karl had to drop her 15 feet from us. If Karl had not dropped her, Karl, myself, the cameraman and Wilhelm would probably not be here today.
Here’s the video:
Needless to say it was a bit intense
.My bull
The cow
I learned several valuable lessons which I am already fixing:
- I will never again hunt DG with an extractor double!
- I never again hunt DG with a rimless cased double!
Took WAY to long to reload and bigger IS better…
I have already remediated this issue as I came home and
bought a Verney Carron 450 NE !
My 416 and Karl’s 577
Shot a nice Zebra - I love hunting Zebras
We relocated to Karl’s Balyerwa camp to hunt a croc
Always seem to bump into couple friends.. I didn't get a picture of the mamba LOL!
We sat in a blind for over bait for a croc but they were not fooled.. It had to be 125 inside that blind!
Some things just cannot be described
I have fallen in love with the Caprivi.. I’ve hunted RSA and Zimbabwe multiple times but the Caprivi is without question my favorite! It took exactly 13 minutes after sitting down at Karl’s booth in Nashville last month to book this coming May for Buffalo and two weeks next year in May for my son and I. Oh - and once you’ve hunted Elephant, there’s no turning back
Scott
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