Oh where to start? I’m sitting in the Johannesburg airport thinking about the last 10 days. I guess I will start with the fact that I’m not a very good writer and my grammar and punctuation is probably worst. Please bear with me and ask any questions that have not been covered. I’ll try to get the whole story in but might take several parts. I’ll start with the basics and will fill in details later.
When: July 4th-July16th
Where: Limpopo province
Why: To hunt and sling arrows in the dark continent
Who:My wife, Daughter an I
How: With our bows and arrows
We left Atlanta on Delta on the evening of July 4th and landed in Johannesburg on the evening of July 5th. We stayed in City Lodge overnight before connecting to Polokwane the next morning. Gracy Travel handled all of or travel and they are worth every penny Hannah there has been or person and is awesome. The 5th was our anniversary and she had contacted City lodge and had flower and Castle Lite waiting in our room. We are not wine drinkers. The next morning Michael met us in the lobby and escorted us through all the checkin and security. We where from the lodge to the gate in 27 minutes without any problems.
We land in Polokwane to be picked up by our PH’s. Divan picked us up and about an hour ride we where the lodge just outside of Louis Trichardt. We will be hunting for the next 6 days with Wild Game Safaris operated by Ryno Smit and our Ph’s will be Divan and Reinhardt. Sara and I will be hunting. We quickly unpacked and got our bows out for a few shots and then we where off to the blinds for an afternoon sit.
I’ll break down some of our equipment we chose for the hunt. Sara is my 16 year old daughter and is shooting a Bowtech Solusion Sd set at 60lbs, a 23.5” draw length with 410 grain arrows. I’m shooting my old trusty Bowtech Allegiances at 70lbs with a 440 grain arrow. We chose a variety of broadheads for the trip to include Iron Will, QAD Exodus, Slick Trick, Magnus Stingers and black hornets, Grim Reaper Hades.
The first afternoon sit and we had action right off the bat at my blind. The eland where on the feed and water as soon as the truck pulled off. In less than 10 minutes we had a nice warthog come in to 20 yards and I get a shot but it looks little low but right in line with the leg. Just a couple of minutes pass and a larger warthog is in the feed bucked at 25 yards. I pull back and make what feels like a good shot but looks to be a little high. I can’t believe it. I’ve wanted to hunt Africa for 30 years and in the first 15 minutes I’ve been there made 2 questionable shots. Sara and Reinhardt are in a different blind not far away and seeing plenty of action but no shots are presented on animals on Sara’s list. We get out to track my pigs but the ground is very sandy almost like being on a Gulf of Mexico beach. And the blood is just sucked up by the sand. The trackers follow blood and spoor for awhile but it is getting dark and the blood is dryed up. We leave for the evening with Sara not shooting any arrows and me not finding the 2 pigs I shot. Not the way I would have guessed the first day would have gone. But there is more to the pig story that happens days later.
The next morning we head to a different area. Sara goes to 1 blind and me to another not to far away. The action was slower than the evening before when we first get there but as the day warms the water hole gets busier. We have seen monkeys, warthogs, ostriches, kudu cows, and some male impalas but nothing mature comes into our side of the water. A little before noon 2 good impala rams come in to drink at 17 yards and I make a good shot and he is getting low to the ground when he goes out of sight. We hope out of the blind and find him about 80 yards from the blind. My first African animal on the ground.
When: July 4th-July16th
Where: Limpopo province
Why: To hunt and sling arrows in the dark continent
Who:My wife, Daughter an I
How: With our bows and arrows
We left Atlanta on Delta on the evening of July 4th and landed in Johannesburg on the evening of July 5th. We stayed in City Lodge overnight before connecting to Polokwane the next morning. Gracy Travel handled all of or travel and they are worth every penny Hannah there has been or person and is awesome. The 5th was our anniversary and she had contacted City lodge and had flower and Castle Lite waiting in our room. We are not wine drinkers. The next morning Michael met us in the lobby and escorted us through all the checkin and security. We where from the lodge to the gate in 27 minutes without any problems.
We land in Polokwane to be picked up by our PH’s. Divan picked us up and about an hour ride we where the lodge just outside of Louis Trichardt. We will be hunting for the next 6 days with Wild Game Safaris operated by Ryno Smit and our Ph’s will be Divan and Reinhardt. Sara and I will be hunting. We quickly unpacked and got our bows out for a few shots and then we where off to the blinds for an afternoon sit.
I’ll break down some of our equipment we chose for the hunt. Sara is my 16 year old daughter and is shooting a Bowtech Solusion Sd set at 60lbs, a 23.5” draw length with 410 grain arrows. I’m shooting my old trusty Bowtech Allegiances at 70lbs with a 440 grain arrow. We chose a variety of broadheads for the trip to include Iron Will, QAD Exodus, Slick Trick, Magnus Stingers and black hornets, Grim Reaper Hades.
The first afternoon sit and we had action right off the bat at my blind. The eland where on the feed and water as soon as the truck pulled off. In less than 10 minutes we had a nice warthog come in to 20 yards and I get a shot but it looks little low but right in line with the leg. Just a couple of minutes pass and a larger warthog is in the feed bucked at 25 yards. I pull back and make what feels like a good shot but looks to be a little high. I can’t believe it. I’ve wanted to hunt Africa for 30 years and in the first 15 minutes I’ve been there made 2 questionable shots. Sara and Reinhardt are in a different blind not far away and seeing plenty of action but no shots are presented on animals on Sara’s list. We get out to track my pigs but the ground is very sandy almost like being on a Gulf of Mexico beach. And the blood is just sucked up by the sand. The trackers follow blood and spoor for awhile but it is getting dark and the blood is dryed up. We leave for the evening with Sara not shooting any arrows and me not finding the 2 pigs I shot. Not the way I would have guessed the first day would have gone. But there is more to the pig story that happens days later.
The next morning we head to a different area. Sara goes to 1 blind and me to another not to far away. The action was slower than the evening before when we first get there but as the day warms the water hole gets busier. We have seen monkeys, warthogs, ostriches, kudu cows, and some male impalas but nothing mature comes into our side of the water. A little before noon 2 good impala rams come in to drink at 17 yards and I make a good shot and he is getting low to the ground when he goes out of sight. We hope out of the blind and find him about 80 yards from the blind. My first African animal on the ground.
