Trap123
AH senior member
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2012
- Messages
- 94
- Reaction score
- 160
- Media
- 18
- Hunted
- usa (New York Washington North Dakota and Georgia
April 19-May 4
Ruger .308
Federal Vital-shok 165 grain trophy bonded tip.
PH
eter Hinterholtzer
Tracker:Andreas(also a licensed PH)
It has been a couple of months since I have returned as I wanted a cool down period so I could let the excitement subside a little so I could give an objective report and not just blow sunshine as I am the eternal optimist and convieniantly ignore thr negatives.That being said I cannot think of anything that wasn't outstanding on this safari do here we go.
Travel
Syracuse,NY-Atlanta-Johannesburg(Delta)-Windhoek(SAA)
after the excruciatingly long flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg we were met at the airport by Gilbert from the Africa sky guest house where we had arranged for the Hunters package.(2 people,meet and greet at the airport,rifle permits,meals and cocktails included.....$415 and worth every penny!)
after a nice dinner and relaxing evening and goodnight rest we were up in the morning to catch our 11 o'clock flight to Windhoek where the Africa Sky representative did everything but hold our hands onto the plane.If it is necessary to layover in Joburg I highly recommend the Africa Sky guesthouse as they made that portion of the travel absolutely hassel free.
after the short flight to Windhoek we were met at the airport by Peter from Erongo Lodge
and off on the 3 hour ride to the Lodge after a couple of longer than expected stops to the local cellular phone shop to try to arrange for some communication for my wife so she could relax knowing the kids were not burning down the house, and a search for some Cuban cigars since I was out of the United States(unsuccessful I mught add)
DAY 1
After arriving late we got settled and hit the sack with great anticipation on what the following days will bring
the day started with breakfast at eight o clock due to our late arrival and then off to the range to check the zero on the rifle.
after a couple of shots all seems good we are ready to rock and roll so off we go to begin the safari in earnest
We hiked to the top of a koppie to glass the valley below and after about an hour of looking over some Oryx and Springbok Andreas decided to go around the corner and check out a different part of the valley.
a few minutes later he comes back and says there is a nice Hartmann's mountain zebra Stallion and Peter decides we should try for him
after sneaking up to the edge we could get no closer without being in full view climbing down the hill.I ranged him at 315 yards and Peter asks if this is ok and if I want to try for him. now I have sent hundreds of rounds down range and am supremely confident in my abilities so of course I said no problem I got this.
as soon as the rifle goes up and I have this magnificent animal in the scope my entire nervous system short circuited.... I was shaking like a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs! this is certainly something I had not anticipated happening as I have not experienced buck fever in many many years.
so I tried to study myself and let er rip.UH OH!the shot goes high......way high like above the spine and it felt like someone kicked me in the guts. we watched him trot away and then stop a couple of times and watch some more until he went out of sight. we discussed for a few minutes what to do and decided that Andreas and I would go down the mountain and track him while Peter and my wife went around to bring the truck. after a few minutes of looking Andreas was confident that he found the track although I had my doubts as they were hundreds of tracks everywhere how could he possibly know this was the right one but I followed along hopefully but without much confidence as I know it was a horrible shot. after bumping into him a couple of times I began to gain confidence in Andreas's tracking abilities and could not believe he could follow this animal with no blood and largely tracking on rock.... must be magic. the third time we bumped into him with no shot available he took off looking pretty strong and fast so we decided to break for lunch and take it up again in the afternoon. we were only gone for about an hour and a half but that felt like the longest lunch in my life.
we got back on the track and followed him for another couple of hours and then ran into a spot where I Andreas had a hard time finding the track and I had lost all hope.
I think Peter could see that I was a bit distraught over the whole situation and suggested that we go check a nearby leopard bait that he was prepating for another hunter while Andreas sorts out the tracks.
when we returned a short time later Andreia said he has found the tracks and thinks she knows where the stallion is going so off we go again with a glimmer of hope after another hour of tracking with no visible sign that I can detect all of a sudden Andreas starts to get a little more tense and tells me "I watch the track you watch the bush"so now the hope is shining bright!Then we start to see a drop of blood here and there and Andreas says he is slowing down. a few minutes later he picks up a broken piece of plant and says he has JUST been through here. about 10 steps later andreas suddenly stops throws up the sticks and motions for me to hurry. when I get up to the sticks I see the zebra starting to climb out of a dry river bed at about 70 yards....take aim and pull the trigger and down he goes for good. and instantly I was walking on clouds knowing I had dodged a bullet with that one only due to the superb tracking abilities of this man.I felt like this was his zebra more than mine but hey I'll take it.... my first African trophy.
Sorry about the picture.... the light was not great when we finally got it.
Ruger .308
Federal Vital-shok 165 grain trophy bonded tip.
PH
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/twitter/twemoji@14.0.2/assets/72x72/1f61b.png)
Tracker:Andreas(also a licensed PH)
It has been a couple of months since I have returned as I wanted a cool down period so I could let the excitement subside a little so I could give an objective report and not just blow sunshine as I am the eternal optimist and convieniantly ignore thr negatives.That being said I cannot think of anything that wasn't outstanding on this safari do here we go.
Travel
Syracuse,NY-Atlanta-Johannesburg(Delta)-Windhoek(SAA)
after the excruciatingly long flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg we were met at the airport by Gilbert from the Africa sky guest house where we had arranged for the Hunters package.(2 people,meet and greet at the airport,rifle permits,meals and cocktails included.....$415 and worth every penny!)
after a nice dinner and relaxing evening and goodnight rest we were up in the morning to catch our 11 o'clock flight to Windhoek where the Africa Sky representative did everything but hold our hands onto the plane.If it is necessary to layover in Joburg I highly recommend the Africa Sky guesthouse as they made that portion of the travel absolutely hassel free.
after the short flight to Windhoek we were met at the airport by Peter from Erongo Lodge
and off on the 3 hour ride to the Lodge after a couple of longer than expected stops to the local cellular phone shop to try to arrange for some communication for my wife so she could relax knowing the kids were not burning down the house, and a search for some Cuban cigars since I was out of the United States(unsuccessful I mught add)
DAY 1
After arriving late we got settled and hit the sack with great anticipation on what the following days will bring
the day started with breakfast at eight o clock due to our late arrival and then off to the range to check the zero on the rifle.
after a couple of shots all seems good we are ready to rock and roll so off we go to begin the safari in earnest
We hiked to the top of a koppie to glass the valley below and after about an hour of looking over some Oryx and Springbok Andreas decided to go around the corner and check out a different part of the valley.
a few minutes later he comes back and says there is a nice Hartmann's mountain zebra Stallion and Peter decides we should try for him
after sneaking up to the edge we could get no closer without being in full view climbing down the hill.I ranged him at 315 yards and Peter asks if this is ok and if I want to try for him. now I have sent hundreds of rounds down range and am supremely confident in my abilities so of course I said no problem I got this.
as soon as the rifle goes up and I have this magnificent animal in the scope my entire nervous system short circuited.... I was shaking like a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs! this is certainly something I had not anticipated happening as I have not experienced buck fever in many many years.
so I tried to study myself and let er rip.UH OH!the shot goes high......way high like above the spine and it felt like someone kicked me in the guts. we watched him trot away and then stop a couple of times and watch some more until he went out of sight. we discussed for a few minutes what to do and decided that Andreas and I would go down the mountain and track him while Peter and my wife went around to bring the truck. after a few minutes of looking Andreas was confident that he found the track although I had my doubts as they were hundreds of tracks everywhere how could he possibly know this was the right one but I followed along hopefully but without much confidence as I know it was a horrible shot. after bumping into him a couple of times I began to gain confidence in Andreas's tracking abilities and could not believe he could follow this animal with no blood and largely tracking on rock.... must be magic. the third time we bumped into him with no shot available he took off looking pretty strong and fast so we decided to break for lunch and take it up again in the afternoon. we were only gone for about an hour and a half but that felt like the longest lunch in my life.
we got back on the track and followed him for another couple of hours and then ran into a spot where I Andreas had a hard time finding the track and I had lost all hope.
I think Peter could see that I was a bit distraught over the whole situation and suggested that we go check a nearby leopard bait that he was prepating for another hunter while Andreas sorts out the tracks.
when we returned a short time later Andreia said he has found the tracks and thinks she knows where the stallion is going so off we go again with a glimmer of hope after another hour of tracking with no visible sign that I can detect all of a sudden Andreas starts to get a little more tense and tells me "I watch the track you watch the bush"so now the hope is shining bright!Then we start to see a drop of blood here and there and Andreas says he is slowing down. a few minutes later he picks up a broken piece of plant and says he has JUST been through here. about 10 steps later andreas suddenly stops throws up the sticks and motions for me to hurry. when I get up to the sticks I see the zebra starting to climb out of a dry river bed at about 70 yards....take aim and pull the trigger and down he goes for good. and instantly I was walking on clouds knowing I had dodged a bullet with that one only due to the superb tracking abilities of this man.I felt like this was his zebra more than mine but hey I'll take it.... my first African trophy.
Sorry about the picture.... the light was not great when we finally got it.
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