Gary Reeder
For those asking about the African hunt here are
Saturday, March 02, 2024, 13:16

some new pics from the last 4 or 5 hunts. In those we were in an area called Roiport on the edge of the Kalahari Desert..This is the lodge. You can tell we were really roughing it.

The first morning when we got to meet the PHs and maybe meet the other hunters we didn't meet the night before. One group got there later than the first group. I think there were 12 hunters on this hunt. At the meeting the first morning you tell John what you are looking for and he puts you with one of the PHs that knows the area well. This hunt was on 230,000 acres, a huge area.

After you meet your PH you talk to him a bit and let him know what you are looking for. He loads up, usually 3 or 4 to a Land Cruiser along with a couple of trackers and a couple of jack Russells and you head out.Once you meet your PH and tell him what you are looking for, when he spots something and you get to glass the herd with your binocs when the PH points out an animal and you spot him thru your rifle or handgun scope, when the PH says shoot, you pull the trigger. Don't stop to ask him any questions. You have already looked at the animal thru your binocs. Your PH knows what he is doing and will get you a trophy animal that you will be proud of. He isn't going to point out a $20,000 animal when you are on a $10,000 budget. Just trust him to get you the best trophy there is.

In the talk with your PH you let him know what you are looking for and he will head for the area that is known for those animals. You ride around until you spot the herds. You get with your buddies in the truck with you and maybe flip a coin to see who gets the first shot. Or if there are 3 of you usually the 3 of you will be looking for 3 different animals. And remember this area is a large area so there are thousands of animals there and you will have many chances at the animals you are hunting. Every area we hunt are government areas and are large areas. The smallest area I have hunted was down on the eastern cape and we were in an area right at 80,000 acres. On that hunt we were hunting in the snow.
When you spot a herd of the animals you are looking he will scan the herd to look for the herd bull. When he finds it he will decide either to try to get a bit closer in the truck or get out and try a sneak. You tell him before hand if you have a problem walking or any other problem. He will take that into consideration and try to get you within a short shot without an all day stalk.

On one stalk at about 200 yards there was a big Cape Buffalo. John and Alcorn Russell did a short stalk on him and Alcorn got the bull on the left at about 75 yards with his 416 GNR.



This area was really flat so the stalks went from one juniper type bush to another to get you within a good shooting distance. Amede got the Kudu after a short stalk.
This is typical of spotting a herd of animals. These Blue Wildebeest were only at maybe 100 to 150 yards so a short stalk on hands and knees will get you to within shooting distance.

We spotted a small herd of Cape Buffalo and John said there was a top 5 animal in the bunch.

We did another bush to bush stalk and I took a shot at about 45 yards and put the bull down with the 450 GNR. The jack Russell ran in to make sure the bull was dead and to hassle him if he wasn't.




The rest of the herd ran off but one of the other bulls decided he wasn't going to run and he stayed behind to protect the ladies in his group.


On another stalk Doug got a nice Zebra stallion.

Dean Andrews got a really nice record book Gemsbok with a handgun chambered in the 429 GNR.

We celebrated a good and successful few days at dinner the last evening. The guys in green were the PHs.

This was just one hunt. There were 5 or 6 hunts in this area over the next 6 years. One hunt was up in the Drakensberg Mountains of eastern South Africa
it was heavy brush and the shots were closer.



Colleen has been to Africa a couple of times and has taken some great trophies.


gun writer John Taffin spent a few days in Africa too and took some good animals.


Kase hunted the first couple of African hunts and took some really nice trophies.



A couple of our hunts were in August and were down in the tip of South Africa where it was really cold.
The temp was in the mid 20s when I took this Eastern Cape Kudu, a smaller species of Kudu.

In the mountains the areas are heavy brush and the camps were in 2 man tents in the brush.

These areas and pics of critters are just to show you the various areas we might hunt. Usually in January or so John has to bid on these large Govt areas and he has those areas for a couple of years. The areas could be in any of the type areas shown in the pics. On one 14 day hunt we started hunting down in the Eastern Cape where it was cold and snowy and we hunted there for 5 days. Then we packed up and drove 10 hours up to the edge of the Kalahari Desert where it was near 90 each day. Along the way we stopped in the Orange Free State (I have no idea how it got that name) and hunted in the western edges of the Drakensberg Mountains. So we hunted in 3 totally different areas on one hunt. Just like hunting in the brush of Maine, then in the swampy areas of Florida and then the mountains of Colorado .
If this hunt works out I will let everyone know where we will be hunting and show you some pics. In the meantime be thinking about hunting in Africa.