SOUTH AFRICA: Koringkoopie Safaris *Warning* Stay Away

[Ridge Runner]

Landmines? The kind that go boom? Holy Sh^t!

 

[Moe324]

Looks like you hunted with Jeff Ford. I recognize Tim one of his houndsman.

Yes I was hunting with Charl Crous at Settlers Safaris. He arranged for us to hunt blue duiker with Mr. Jeff and his friend Mr. Robert. We used Mr. Robert dogs for the blue duiker. I'm sure a lot fo members here have probably killed their blue duiker with him. He was wearing a blue jacket and yells you "bloody fool" when you kill one. Saw a YouTube video 9 years old with him in it in the blue jacket. Great guy. The next day I got my caracal with Mr. Jeff's dogs. Soon after they got another one and another hunter from Settlers Safaris got one too. Both big males. Mr Jeff was very nice too.

 

[Moe324]

I just want to say I didn't write this post to have all RSA outfits bashed or even all Limpopo outfits bashed. I just wanted to tell my story and warn others about this particular outfit. I really don't want this post to scare people away from Limpopo. I hunted Limpopo last year and met a PH I can't wait to hunt hyena, red duiker, sunni, Sharpe's grysbuck, and some others. I would send people to him all day long to hunt Limpopo.

 

[Hunt anything]

Landmines? The kind that go boom? Holy Sh^t!

Yep, back in 2014 Mozambique was a war scarred country. All of the older buildings still showed bullet pock marks, especially the old airbase in Beira and flying low around the country you could still make out mortar and artillery shell holes. They were slowly filling in but we’re still evident.
Lon could answer this, but some of the stories coming out of Zimbabwe after their bush war was over (and some while the war was still active) the early safaris had to take certain “precautions” to ensure safety of clients.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Lon, that guaranteed 7 day hunt for buffalo was some kinda deal. "You can stay longer if you don't shoot one but we will be leaving." Fine print written with blood ink. Land mines in the area could make dik dik a dangerous game hunt.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

Land mines still exist in certain safari areas period. We have area within or Safari area you do not go into for any reason although it has been declared mine free.

Lon

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Honestly, what other "side" to this sad story from the outfitter perspective could possibly put it in a better light? The OP is an African hunter with previous experience. He hasn't made a habit of complaining about those hunts. Quite the opposite. The trophies taken on this safari were crap. The complaints were numerous ... almost countless. I gave up reading about a third of the way through.

I agree that the client really shares little to no responsibility for taking a crappy animal. I had a PH set up the sticks for a wildebeest standing on the edge of a small herd. I already questioned whether we should be shooting  any animal in the herd. The property manager told us two areas where we might find two  lone bulls. Clearly, those were the bulls he wanted out of the gene pool. They were only wasting range. Anyone who's hunted buffalo knows how this works. Take a dagga boy, not the big one in the herd of cows. But this PH said it would be okay. One of the lone bulls would slide in and fill the slot. Hmmm. Okay, I do what I'm told. So we make a long stalk and the sticks are up inside an acacia thicket. The window only shows one animal shootable but it doesn't look right. Very dark colored. "Shoot the one quartering towards us." Well, they are all looking at us. "You mean the one on the far left?" He repeats quartering towards us. I ask a second time, "Far left?" Yes. So bang and down it goes on the spot. "Great shot! You got him." We walk up. "You shot the wrong animal!" Wait ... what happened to "great shot"? "It's a young bull." Young is an understatement. Clearly it's a yearling. "I asked you TWICE if I was supposed to shoot the animal on the far left and you confirmed. Don't put this on me!" He heads off for the truck and calls up the trackers whom he'd curiously told to stay back at the road when we started the stalk. Trackers are standing around and finally I tell them to roll it over and get to work. Won't be any photo op with this little thing. Let's have it ready when truck arrives. There's still enough daylight left to go after waterbuck or kudu, my desired objective for coming to that property in the first place. So they turn it over and ... it's got tits. Sweet jeezus! A damn cow! The farm's tracker grabs the tits and fortunately no milk. That one was obviously too young to be bearing fruit. Vehicle arrives and I'm not happy. PH says he'll fix it up with the lodge owner. Okay. Everyone makes mistakes. But he didn't fix it. When I'm checking out before going to the airport I'm presented with a $600 "tax" for the property owner because I shot his breeding stock. "You shot the wrong animal. Your PH knows how to ID a cow." There was a brief heated moment with that PH before the lodge owner quickly and satisfactorily resolved it. PH's tip was then halved. He's lucky he got anything. And I kinda felt bad about it. He's 57 years old with a new baby on the way. And he banged up his vehicle on one of our hunts. But he made TWO mistakes. I will go back to hunt with that lodge but NOT with that PH.

Shit can happen. But the operator needs to make it right. The OP's operator just went from one screwup to the next. He obviously didn't give a damn. But I bet he does now!

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Yes I was hunting with Charl Crous at Settlers Safaris. He arranged for us to hunt blue duiker with Mr. Jeff and his friend Mr. Robert. We used Mr. Robert dogs for the blue duiker. I'm sure a lot fo members here have probably killed their blue duiker with him. He was wearing a blue jacket and yells you "bloody fool" when you kill one. Saw a YouTube video 9 years old with him in it in the blue jacket. Great guy. The next day I got my caracal with Mr. Jeff's dogs. Soon after they got another one and another hunter from Settlers Safaris got one too. Both big males. Mr Jeff was very nice too.

I was wondering if Rob was there. He’s an interesting fellow with some great stories. He loves his reedbuck and bushbuck. Jeff and Rob couldn’t go with us when we went for the Carcal, so the local minister (also a big houndsman) loaded up with us for the hunt. Religious and Theological conversations between hunting stories was a new one, but made for some really interesting conversations. The countryside there is also absolutely beautiful.

I don’t know Settlers Safaris but I would 100% recommend anyone who wants a Blue Duiker, or Carcal hunt with Jeff. I’m sure you enjoyed that hunt.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Land mines still exist in certain safari areas period. We have area within or Safari area you do not go into for any reason although it has been declared mine free.

Lon

I might know a former EOD Battalion commander and few guys from 28th EOD at Bragg that you could probably trade some hunt time with in exchange for some clearing operations …

 

[Chadmr82]

I hunted with Koring Koppie last year and had a great time. I hunt with a recurve which comes with its own limitations. Jacque picked me up at the airport and hung out with me every evening until bedtime since I was hunting by myself. I was able to get a baboon, wildebeest and a warthog with my recurve. I hit a kudu a little too far back but we gave it several hours and then spent several hours looking to avail. That was nobodys fault but my own.

Jacque was awesome to hunt with and I enjoyed hanging out with his son, brother, dad and I got to meet his wife. Moses was the main tracker I talked with. Jacque treated him very well as well as his other employees. Jacque did ask me not to keep anything valuable in my room so that his employees couldnt be accused of taking anything. That made complete sense to me and I ended up living my wallet with several thousand dollars in it one day. It was untouched.

The accommodations were top notch. All the meals were great. I was never pressured to shoot anything and the decisions were left up to me. Jacque sat with me in the blind for 10 hours each day. We had a great breakfast and had a great sack lunch each day. I never went hungry. They were long days and I learned a lot talking to him. I really enjoyed the entire experience and I plan to go back. When I have more time I will write a review with pictures.

As hunters we are responsible for what we shoot. I have hunted a lot of places and I never take the guides word for it. I shoot what I want. Also I think it is important to shoot the weapon before hunting. I would never hunt with someone elses gun but if I had to I would make sure and make sure it is sighted in to my safisfaction.

We did talk about his firewood business which I found interesting but he never once hindered my hunt. I have nothing but great things to say about my time with his outfitter. Only thing I would change would be to take my time on the kudu but that is all on me.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I hunted with Koring Koppie last year and had a great time. I hunt with a recurve which comes with its own limitations. Jacque picked me up at the airport and hung out with me every evening until bedtime since I was hunting by myself. I was able to get a baboon, wildebeest and a warthog with my recurve. I hit a kudu a little too far back but we gave it several hours and then spent several hours looking to avail. That was nobodys fault but my own.

Jacque was awesome to hunt with and I enjoyed hanging out with his son, brother, dad and I got to meet his wife. Moses was the main tracker I talked with. Jacque treated him very well as well as his other employees. Jacque did ask me not to keep anything valuable in my room so that his employees couldnt be accused of taking anything. That made complete sense to me and I ended up living my wallet with several thousand dollars in it one day. It was untouched.

The accommodations were top notch. All the meals were great. I was never pressured to shoot anything and the decisions were left up to me. Jacque sat with me in the blind for 10 hours each day. We had a great breakfast and had a great sack lunch each day. I never went hungry. They were long days and I learned a lot talking to him. I really enjoyed the entire experience and I plan to go back. When I have more time I will write a review with pictures.

As hunters we are responsible for what we shoot. I have hunted a lot of places and I never take the guides word for it. I shoot what I want. Also I think it is important to shoot the weapon before hunting. I would never hunt with someone elses gun but if I had to I would make sure and make sure it is sighted in to my safisfaction.

We did talk about his firewood business which I found interesting but he never once hindered my hunt. I have nothing but great things to say about my time with his outfitter. Only thing I would change would be to take my time on the kudu but that is all on me.

Posted by a new member who joined today specifically to sing praises for this outfitter. Hmmm. I note that he provided absolutely no personal information about himself, age, where he lives, etc. Hmmm.

 

[Hunt anything]

Hey @Ontario Hunter , he has the same amount of personal info as you do! I’m Not serious, I’m just messing with you. It took me 3 years to figure out how to get that on here. It does seem somewhat suspect though.

 

[Deepfork]

I hunted with Koring Koppie last year and had a great time. I hunt with a recurve which comes with its own limitations. Jacque picked me up at the airport and hung out with me every evening until bedtime since I was hunting by myself. I was able to get a baboon, wildebeest and a warthog with my recurve. I hit a kudu a little too far back but we gave it several hours and then spent several hours looking to avail. That was nobodys fault but my own.

Jacque was awesome to hunt with and I enjoyed hanging out with his son, brother, dad and I got to meet his wife. Moses was the main tracker I talked with. Jacque treated him very well as well as his other employees. Jacque did ask me not to keep anything valuable in my room so that his employees couldnt be accused of taking anything. That made complete sense to me and I ended up living my wallet with several thousand dollars in it one day. It was untouched.

The accommodations were top notch. All the meals were great. I was never pressured to shoot anything and the decisions were left up to me. Jacque sat with me in the blind for 10 hours each day. We had a great breakfast and had a great sack lunch each day. I never went hungry. They were long days and I learned a lot talking to him. I really enjoyed the entire experience and I plan to go back. When I have more time I will write a review with pictures.

As hunters we are responsible for what we shoot. I have hunted a lot of places and I never take the guides word for it. I shoot what I want. Also I think it is important to shoot the weapon before hunting. I would never hunt with someone elses gun but if I had to I would make sure and make sure it is sighted in to my safisfaction.

We did talk about his firewood business which I found interesting but he never once hindered my hunt. I have nothing but great things to say about my time with his outfitter. Only thing I would change would be to take my time on the kudu but that is all on me.

Sitting in a blind 10 hours a day sounds horrible!

This post is just...odd.

 

[Hunt anything]

Sitting in a blind 10 hours a day sounds horrible!

This post is just...odd.

We may have found a new Kuche safaris.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Sitting in a blind 10 hours a day sounds horrible!

This post is just...odd.

Yeah, especially since he just joined today. I was born at night but.........

 

[WildWill]

I hunted with Koring Koppie last year and had a great time. I hunt with a recurve which comes with its own limitations. Jacque picked me up at the airport and hung out with me every evening until bedtime since I was hunting by myself. I was able to get a baboon, wildebeest and a warthog with my recurve. I hit a kudu a little too far back but we gave it several hours and then spent several hours looking to avail. That was nobodys fault but my own.

Jacque was awesome to hunt with and I enjoyed hanging out with his son, brother, dad and I got to meet his wife. Moses was the main tracker I talked with. Jacque treated him very well as well as his other employees. Jacque did ask me not to keep anything valuable in my room so that his employees couldnt be accused of taking anything. That made complete sense to me and I ended up living my wallet with several thousand dollars in it one day. It was untouched.

The accommodations were top notch. All the meals were great. I was never pressured to shoot anything and the decisions were left up to me. Jacque sat with me in the blind for 10 hours each day. We had a great breakfast and had a great sack lunch each day. I never went hungry. They were long days and I learned a lot talking to him. I really enjoyed the entire experience and I plan to go back. When I have more time I will write a review with pictures.

As hunters we are responsible for what we shoot. I have hunted a lot of places and I never take the guides word for it. I shoot what I want. Also I think it is important to shoot the weapon before hunting. I would never hunt with someone elses gun but if I had to I would make sure and make sure it is sighted in to my safisfaction.

We did talk about his firewood business which I found interesting but he never once hindered my hunt. I have nothing but great things to say about my time with his outfitter. Only thing I would change would be to take my time on the kudu but that is all on me.

Was this your first hunt in Africa? Also could you post some photos of your animals please.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Hey @Ontario Hunter , he has the same amount of personal info as you do! I’m Not serious, I’m just messing with you. It took me 3 years to figure out how to get that on here. It does seem somewhat suspect though.

My profile lists everything but my fingerprint and bra size.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Like almost everyone has said; there are two sides to every story and it would be interesting to hear the other side. However, we can look at the pictures of the "trophies" and I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone saying they would be happy with that selection of animals if it was your hunt.

One thing I strongly disagree with that has come up a bunch of times (and I am sure I will get some backlash for this) are all the comments about how it is ultimately 100% on the hunter if they aren't happy with their trophy, because they are the one that pulled the trigger and they should have field judged the animal and not shot if they weren't happy.

A very large part of what you are paying the PH/Guide for on a paid and guided hunt is for their expertise, ability to find game, and field judge game for the client. It is unreasonable to expect a client who has never been to Africa, or even been a few times, to field judge an animal they have never or barely seen in their life from 300+ yards away, and then make the shot. That is literally what you are paying the PH for, and they usually have been doing this 200+ days a year for many years.

Most people who have gone on a few guided hunts especially to Africa where you might hunt 10-15 animals in one trip, have experienced times where you had just a couple seconds to take a shot as an animal walked out from behind heavy brush and you relied on your PH telling you it was a good one.

I have always told my Guide/PH what type of animal I was looking for and things that I absolutely wouldn't want to shoot on a trip. If there was time to closely look at an animal, of course I would, but there isn't always time for that. And my PH and guides have always been pretty good about warning me before we stalked or before I shot at anything with a comment like "That one has a very asymmetrical horn" or "That one has a broken tip" or "That one is mature, but kind of short horns".

I personally would be pissed if my PH knew of "the only mature bull on the property" and then we looked for it for 5 days, and in all that time he never mentioned to me that it wasn't a very nice bull and had asymmetrical horns and a wonky shape.

I agree you’re paying the PH for his expertise in field judging and knowledge of the area. Where we disagree slightly is I believe the PH’s responsibility lies in determining the maturity of the animal and/or size if a hunter has communicated wanting a certain size or medal class animal. Is the outfitter partially to blame yes, however the Op knew this was the only mature bull on the property, got multiple looks at it and is also particularly to blame IMO. Any experienced African hunter (the OP admitted he was) that sees a couple of substandard animals that they believed were immature (Ex other hunters Impala & Warthog) means YOU NEED to look extremely closely at EVERY animal the sticks go up on. If you’re not 100% sure it’s something you’re going to be happy with you need to be passing, not shooting and demanding to not pay or be charged cull price. For me personally, if I was told this is the only mature bull on the property I’m taking that animal off my list. If the property only has bulls and no females, it’s off my list. Your example of being told about asymmetrical horns or not very good likely had to do with hunting a property with multiple shooters on it.

If the outfitter behaved as described and was vindictive in head shooting the OP’s giraffe or intentionally caused the slice in the neck that’s completely out of line and unacceptable behavior. I’m not trying to absolve the outfitter of that.

Where I disagree is about putting all of it on the outfitter, especially the shape of the Waterbuck. That is/was the OP’s original complaint. He claimed “it’s ugly and he’s not paying”. The shooting of that Waterbuck is on the hunter regardless if it’s a first timer or experienced African hunter (like the op). Only you as a hunter know if you’ll be happy with the shape. Even as a first timer you’ve seen photos, you know what a symmetrical one looks like. If you’re a hunter who doesn’t like odd shapes or deformities, and won’t accept just a mature old bull, and YOU haven’t got a good look at the horns then you need to pass on the shot even if it means not getting your number 1 animal.

The argument and verbal altercation stemmed from this. I’m in no way excusing the PH’s behavior because how he behaved should NEVER happen but everyone is only seeing the OPs side. I guarantee you the Outfitter felt like he was being cheated/stolen from because he was out the Waterbuck money plus the OP’s refusal on the giraffe (again I’m curious of the outfitters POV). Again, not excusing it, but I know how I’d reacted if I felt that way.

There’s a lot to unpack in this report. There’s a lot of lessons all hunters can take away. I know a lot of people disagree with some of my views and maybe that’s because I’m biased given my former life but when I send a round down range whatever it kills is on me and me alone even if it passes through and hits something else. I pulled the trigger. i sincerely wish the OP better luck next time and hope it hasn’t turned his girlfriend off from joining him on future hunts.

 

[Deepfork]

We may have found a new Kuche safaris.

Huh? I had a great experience with Kuche. The Water Buck I posted a pic of in this thread was from a Kuche hunt. We were hunting a property in Free State.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Sitting in a blind 10 hours a day sounds horrible!

This post is just...odd.

Smart phones with video games must be required equipment for bow hunting. Zzzz.