Some things can never be bettered?

[dchamp]

WOW! I like the one with the cork screw! Never seen it before.

https://www.opinel-usa.com/

 

[WAB]

This is the Opinel, do you get them in the States?View attachment 357125

Sure do.

 

[flatwater bill]

Kevin, you sound like a true renaissance man.......and I salute you for it.........I might add that a gin and tonic at sundown, and a bra hanging outside the shower tent, may be among the best things in hunting...............FWB

 

[R.M.C.]

Hand crank ice augers and Mickey mouse boots.

 

[WebleyGreene455]

IMO neither the Mauser 98's extractor design nor the M1911's triple-safetied design can be "bettered", but that's just me.

A good beaver-felt fedora with an asymmetrical wide brim and off-center crown can't be beat for hat style points, either.

 

[chashardy]

The silky smooth sound of a Model 70 bolt.
Ditto on the gin and tonic by the fire after the hunt.

 

[James Adamson]

My regular shooting is very different to the hunting in Africa but there is still those items, sights and smells that will always stir the senses. The smell of a barbour wax jacket, the first cup of coffee from the thermos once everything is set up and waiting on first light, the whistling wings of the first ducks that's too early to see but the dog can see them, watching geese battling against storm force winds just like the pictures in Peter Scott's book "Morning Flight".
The fowling season starts here on the 1st of September and I cant wait, its 25 seasons ago since my uncle took me out after fowl for the first time and I still can't sleep the night before the 1st.

 

[chashardy]

The eternal African sunset at the end of a day in the bush.
The roar of lions in the dark.

 

[CBH Australia]

This is the Opinel, do you get them in the States?View attachment 357125

FYI hey are available in Australia too. Never picked one up but I’ve see them for sale and they are not that expensive either.
Isn’t here an Okape or something like that common In Africa?

 

[Ryan]

This is the Opinel, do you get them in the States?View attachment 357125

Yep, had more than one over the years. Got this one for an EDC pocket knife and goes hunting as a back up, just in case. I like the orange ones so I have a chance to find it if I lose track of it for the moment in the field.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

My regular shooting is very different to the hunting in Africa but there is still those items, sights and smells that will always stir the senses. The smell of a barbour wax jacket, the first cup of coffee from the thermos once everything is set up and waiting on first light, the whistling wings of the first ducks that's too early to see but the dog can see them, watching geese battling against storm force winds just like the pictures in Peter Scott's book "Morning Flight".
The fowling season starts here on the 1st of September and I cant wait, its 25 seasons ago since my uncle took me out after fowl for the first time and I still can't sleep the night before the 1st.

My favourite is the second morning when you pray no ducks fly over because your so black and blue you cringe when you gun goes in your shoulder pocket. Knowing full well at the first sign of ducks you'll shoot anyway pain be damned.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

The first time you experience a proper shave from a skilled barber.

The sound of hounds opening just coming day light on a frosty morning.

Watching foxes hunt field mice completely unaware your up a tree above them.

The first night of the year you hear peeper frogs.

The look an old lab gives you when she has to get on back of the truck so your girlfriend can have the passenger seat.

 

[Hogpatrol]

I remember the old red and black Woolrich wool coats and pants. When it rained, they weighed a ton.
One thing that's never been bettered, IMHO, is a goose down vest or jacket. I vacuum pack my clothes and a goose down jacket that weighs ounces scrunches down to almost nothing and will keep one warm on those chilly Africa mornings and evenings.

 

[salesman]

Even though this is an African hunting forum there is IMHO no way to better this...

A late fall evening in a South Carolina river bottom, darkness has settled over the land with no clouds, and the stars are starting to shine, the air is clear, and cold enough you can see your breath. The broken-in Carhartt brown duck overalls I am wearing feel just right paired with a heavy flannel shirt. A couple of good hounds are cast into the darkness and minutes go by until one opens with a big booming bawl mouth and announces to the world that a coon track has been found. The second hound now joins the race and they move the coons feed track along until they jump him and he goes to running. As they move the track I move into the swamp with them, it is cold enough that the settled dew has frosted on the ground and makes for a very satisfying sound as I walk along. Then I hear one of the hounds locate the tree the coon has been pushed up...both hounds fall treed, and to the houndsman, they make the most wonderful music in the world.

 

[R.M.C.]

Hearing dogs treeing a coon is a good one salesman!

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

IMO neither the Mauser 98's extractor design nor the M1911's triple-safetied design can be "bettered", but that's just me.

A good beaver-felt fedora with an asymmetrical wide brim and off-center crown can't be beat for hat style points, either.

Picture?

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Y

FYI hey are available in Australia too. Never picked one up but I’ve see them for sale and they are not that expensive either.
Isn’t here an Okape or something like that common In Africa?

yes, Okapi. They have been just the same for 50 years or more. We had a small general store on our farm in Darwendale when i was a boy, my gran was a master for stocking it with what the workers liked/needed. So it smelt richly of dried fish and paraffin, brightly coloured dresses for the women and Okapi knives for the men. Once we got in a batch of caps with fold-down sunglasses under the brim and all the workers walked around looking like Goofy.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Even though this is an African hunting forum there is IMHO no way to better this...

A late fall evening in a South Carolina river bottom, darkness has settled over the land with no clouds, and the stars are starting to shine, the air is clear, and cold enough you can see your breath. The broken-in Carhartt brown duck overalls I am wearing feel just right paired with a heavy flannel shirt. A couple of good hounds are cast into the darkness and minutes go by until one opens with a big booming bawl mouth and announces to the world that a coon track has been found. The second hound now joins the race and they move the coons feed track along until they jump him and he goes to running. As they move the track I move into the swamp with them, it is cold enough that the settled dew has frosted on the ground and makes for a very satisfying sound as I walk along. Then I hear one of the hounds locate the tree the coon has been pushed up...both hounds fall treed, and to the houndsman, they make the most wonderful music in the world.

Sounds wonderful!

 

[Hearties]

Stoking the “donkey” to heat the water for a shower
Cooking all your food outdoors over the fire
Braaibroodjies - sandwiches toasted over the coals
The smell of Wildebeest drifting downwind
The beer from the cooler box after loading the Wildebeest on the bakkie

 

[Tra3]

The smell of horse sweat.

The smell of a rifle when you shoulder it after pulling it out of the case.

The feel of wool on your skin.

The sound of the early riser in camp starting the gas stove to make coffee. (And if you are that guy, the rest of us really appreciate you!)