Classic and Contemporary African Hunting Literature
Bringing Back the Lions Mike Arnold (Mike Arnold Outdoors, 2022, 241 pages.) Reviewed by Ken Bailey Bringing Back the Lions: International Hunters, Local Tribespeople, and the Miraculous Rescue of a Doomed Ecosystem in Mozambique is a classic tale of...
Hunting buffalo in the Eastern Cape
By Ronald Blymire After having to cancel our 2020 trip we were finally headed back to South Africa. The flight from Washington DC to Johannesburg was uneventful and, as he always is, Mr X was waiting for us as we exited the baggage collection area. We collected our...
The Magical, Mystical Karoo
By Johan van Wyk I suppose we all have a favorite hunting ground, a place where the days are longer, the sun always shines, and the hills are not too steep. I grew up in what I known as Bushveld country, generally flat terrain with the odd kopje covered...
The Enduring Mauser
This take-down Rigby Mauser is bored for the .350 Rigby, once a popular cartridge, now upstagedThirty years after their first failure, Wilhelm was dead. Paul was 60 and might have quit the task. By Wayne van Zwoll Deeply pocked by the great hooves, the path narrowed...
Africa’s Forgotten Wilderness
Camp overlooking the Vovodo RiverHunting in the Central African Republic Today By Andrew Gooden “No, it’s not the Congo – it’s just a bit further north… no, rebel militia doesn’t jump out from behind every bush… yes, hunting is open there.” I find that the questions...
A Vintage Flight for Doves
By Simon K Barr Photography credit: Tweed Media South Africa is a sportsman’s dream: not only is it bursting with some of the most exciting hunting in the world, but when flying from Europe, there’s no jetlag. Less well-known are the fantastic opportunities for...
Campfire Thoughts & Reminiscences Part 7
Written by Neil Harmse Chapter 8. Concerning Rhino At one stage, when I was doing wilderness trails for the Wilderness Leadership School, I was asked to do a promotional walking trail with a group of journalists and dignitaries to help raise funds for...
Classic and Contemporary African Hunting Literature
In the Salt Lou Hallamore (Trophy Room Books, 1999, 218 pages) Reviewed by Ken Bailey It’s been said that Lou Hallamore, one of Zimbabwe’s most revered PHs, has spent more time in leopard blinds than most of us have spent in movie theaters. His knowledge about...
Wildlife Ranger Challenge 2022
Ranger with elephant, Namibia. © Marcus WestbergThe need for rangers to help in anti-poaching and anti-trafficking patrols is mounting every day, with 259 rhinos poached for their horns in the first six months of 2022 in South Africa alone, in addition to the 451 lost...
The Benefit of Doubt
By Mary Hayes During my hunting experience in South Africa, I learned a very important lesson about taking pride in what you do and to never doubt yourself. I have carried this knowledge with me since the time I had this amazing opportunity. Hoooonnnnnk…...
Mpofu! The largest of the antelope species
An eland bull is a huge, impressive animal, and hunting one is an experience you won’t soon forget. © Massaro Media GroupBy Phil Massaro My first safari was a ten-day jaunt spent on South Africa’s Orange Free State, in the semi-Karoo region not far outside of...
Zambia’s Kafue National Park now in the African Parks Portfolio
Kafue National Park, Kafue River, Zambia. Photography by Frank Weitzer and African Parks.On 1 July 2022, the Government of Zambia and conservation non-profit organisation, African Parks, announced the signing of a 20 year agreement for the Kafue National Park in a...
The Triple Deuce Safari
By Kim Stuart Two old guys, two double rifles, and two Cape buffalo each. I know, this sounds like an African wreck waiting to happen. When long-time hunting buddy Jim Gefroh and I sat down with Jacques Senekal, owner of African Maximum Safaris in the North West...
Hunter Profile of a loyal supporter – Chuck Shellhouse
I am 75 years old and have been enjoying the outdoors my entire life. I grew up on a farm in Ohio and began hunting pheasants and whitetail deer. After college I lived out west in Arizona and Colorado and got hooked on mule deer and elk. I have hunted both in Arizona,...
Afton 20 years later
In August of 2002, I first visited Afton Guesthouse in Johannesburg, SA. The place was recommended by a PH who is no longer in the industry. I was fortunate enough to stay several times during my six weeks and three-country hunt. I was able to harvest all of the...
Campfire Thoughts & Reminiscences Part 6
Written by Neil Harmse Chapter 7. Lion Problems As previously mentioned, during the 1980s the southern Kruger Park boundary was continuously faced with problems caused by lions crossing. into private properties and killing livestock. Once these nomadic...
The Night Of The Leopard
By Don Stoner The Land Cruiser rolled to a stop on the rough, hard-packed ruts my PH called a road. Then, shifting into four-wheel drive, we slowly turned onto the soft white sand of the dry river bed. Five minutes later we caught the odor of the rotting bait...
Classic and Contemporary African Hunting Literature
From the Veld – Recipes and Reflections from Namibia Danene van der Westhuyzen (Tip Africa Publishing, 2020, 242 pages) Reviewed by Ken Bailey From the Veld is more than just another cookbook. It’s part autobiography, part photo montage and part homage to the land,...
A Long, Short, Waterbuck Hunt
By Daryl Crimp My Courteney boots puffed dust in the bushveld and left distinctive tracks, the solid rubber soles offering quiet tread— silent footsteps in the dirt. I’d learned the hard way that soles designed for comfort with tiny air bubbles injected in the...
Crisis in the Cradle of Rhino Conservation
The Natal Parks Board was once upon a time one of the most effective and admired conservation organisations in the world. With its neatly dressed, disciplined and highly motivated staff, these men epitomised the popular image of the ‘Game Ranger’, and I remember as an...
On the Menu: Braaied Guineafowl Breasts Tandoori Style
Whilst tandoori ovens are in short supply, this spicy dish tastes excellent when braaied over hardwood coals. The longer the meat is left in the marinade, the greater the tenderising effect of the yogurt, and it can be overdone, with 4 hours being sufficient. ...
Campfire Thoughts & Reminiscences Part 5
Written by Neil Harmse Chapter 6. Elephant Problems During the early 1980s, I was kept rather busy with problem animals along the southern boundary of the Kruger National Park in the Malelane area. There was a serious drought in this region at the time and...
Classic and Contemporary African Hunting Literature
Pondoro: Last of the Ivory Hunters John Taylor (Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1955, 354 pages.) Reviewed by Ken Bailey It had been many years since I’d read this book when I dusted it off again last month and, truthfully, I’d forgotten what an interesting and informative...
A Long Day in Limpopo
By Ken Moody It was one of those long, tiring tracks all too common in buffalo hunting. The kind of track where you’re happy to have worn your most comfortable pair of boots and slept well the night before. You know it’s coming, it’s just a matter of when, but as...
Man vs. Antelope
By Robi Datattreya In the ultra-runner world there is the belief that humans evolved into striding bipeds that excel at long-distance running in hot conditions because we needed those skills for outrunning antelopes – the so-called persistence hunting. Losing our...
AHG Monthly May 2022
If the picture caught your attention, GOOD. Just read on. Last year Rigby offered a brand-spanking-new .416 for our Life Member Draw – (all existing and new members went into the draw). Instead of investing in advertising cash, they donated the rifle. Response was...
Review: Rigby Big Game .416
Author Scott Perkins and his latest dugga boy taken with Rigby's Big Game rifle in the long-proven 416 Rigby caliber.When I was 12, my dad took me to an Issac Walton League banquet at the Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs. While waiting for the banquet feast of wild...
Campfire Thoughts & Reminiscences Part 4
Written by Neil Harmse Facing charges During my bush life, I have always been very careful when dealing with animals that can hurt me, so it is not too often that I find myself in a sticky situation. Once, on a Botswana hunting concession known as...
Animal Rights Activists use Lawfare to Stop Hunting Quotas in South Africa
All around the world, the practice of turning to the courts has increasingly become a tactic used by activists of all kinds to stop practices of which they disapprove. This has been used by anti-fossil fuel activists to stop coal-fired power stations and off-shore...
Four Friends and a Safari!
Steve B. and his Nyala.By Jim HensleyIt was 16 April 2021, a day that had been in my thoughts for over 25 years. It was special because it was my last day as a detective with the Milwaukee Police Department. I was retiring, and nearly everyone was asking me, “How does...