Page 34 – AHG

The Outfitter. The PH. The Hunter. My Thoughts…

Jun 10, 2021 | Hunting Stories, News

This article is not intended to oﬀend anyone, but is merely an oﬀer to inform – and possibly improve – the safari experience for clients, outfitters and professional hunters. I’ll begin by admitting that I am not an expert on anything other than my likes and dislikes I base my observations on five trips to Southern Africa hunting with five diﬀerent outfitters and three professional hunters for a total of 101 days. The areas I hunted in South Africa are Limpopo, Thabazimbi and Barberton. I have also hunted in Namibia near Otjiwarngo and Okahandja.

The first thing I would like to mention is communication. Before my first trip in 2009 I read somewhere that a safari had three parts: There is the anticipation, the actual hunt, and the reliving it when your trophies arrive. Each phase should be enjoyable.

Outfitters are busy taking care of the hunters on site, responding to potential clients, dealing with business promotion and daily routines. However, you the outfitter, and the PH, should consider your hunter. Stay oﬀ your phone or computer when you are with the hunter. I expect all attention to be with me while I am hunting with you. When you talk with others in Afrikaans and I am present, please, translate for me so I am not left out of the conversation. I consider it rude for anyone to talk in a language that others don’t understand without explaining what the conversation is about. The other issue with communication is with emails or messages between clients and outfitters. We are aware of all the things outfitters have to deal with, but please read the entire message and answer promptly and completely. I have waited over a week to get a response from outfitters, and then when I asked four questions only one or two were answered. This wastes my time and yours, as I have to ask again.

Communicate with your clients (especially first-time hunters). Ask if they will be bringing anyone else with them – a son, daughter, grandchild, niece, nephew, neighbor? Plant the idea. Many US people do not realize that young people can hunt in Africa. Sharing the hunt makes it that much better, and it’s an opportunity to introduce someone to hunting. I brought my 10-year-old grandson to Africa where he killed his first animal – an impala. It was the best safari I have been on, and something he and I will share forever. The outfitter applied special rates for my grandson, appreciating the chance to build a relationship with a future client.

My 10-year-old grandson Pierce painted with blood after his first kill

Hunters need to communicate with their outfitter and PH. Make sure you explain how you want to hunt. If you want to spot and stalk make sure you maintain that attitude. Some outfitters will push you to shoot as

many animals in any way possible. More animals = more money. Also state what type of trophy you are looking for. Do you want a record animal or a good representative specimen? We will all shoot a record trophy if the opportunity presents, but do we want to hold out and come away with nothing? As they say: “Don’t pass up on Monday what you’ll shoot on Friday.” Inform your PH of your wish list, but also let the PH know if you might add or substitute another species if a great trophy appears.

On my second safari we were stalking hartebeest that were mixed in with some zebra. Following behind the PH I noticed a duiker that I thought was a rather large specimen. I thought that if the duiker bolted he might spook the hartebeest and zebras so I got the PH’s attention and pointed out the duiker. He waved his hand to let me know that we were not interested in duiker, but we were after hartebeest! A few days later in conversation, I said that I might be interested in a duiker if we found a nice one. The PH replied: “You should have shot that one we saw the other day. That was the biggest duiker I have ever seen.” Now there was a time that the PH should have considered the trophy animal presenting itself and informed the hunter (me) that it was a very nice specimen and given me the choice to shoot or pass. Communication!

The manner of hunting in Africa where you do not purchase a license for a particular species in advance is a concept completely foreign to US hunters. In the US you need a license for every big game animal you wish to hunt. Each state has its own regulations and fees associated with each license, and a license is not a guarantee of success. African Outfitters and PHs need to make sure the client understands the trophy fee system, and that a client can shoot any species he finds acceptable – as long as he has the money to pay for it.

HEAT. What is it with no heat in Africa? Hunters from the US and Europe leave the heat of summer to hunt Africa in the winter. Our bodies cannot adapt to the temperature change overnight. I do not mind putting on layers of clothes to go out hunting but I do not want to wear those same clothes to bed in order to keep warm. But taking a shower in a room that is just slightly above freezing is NOT enjoyable. My wife will never travel to Africa again after freezing for 10 days on a concession that had no heat in our bungalow or in the main lodge. Any future trips for me will include the understanding that my accommodations will have heat. I have seen mornings when the dog’s water dish was frozen solid, the staﬀ were bundled in woolen hats, scarves and coats, but the windows are wide open while they cook breakfast. Why? Is it some macho standard that makes a warm room unacceptable? I slept on plank floors in a lean-to during the dead of winter when I was a young man, but I am well past that now. Think about your client’s comfort.

Understand your client’s overall interests. Some clients’ only interest is killing animals, while some are interested in the entire experience. I find each trip as a means of learning something about a culture, the geography, the politics, the flora and the fauna. My favorite PH is great at spotting game, identifying tracks and getting me on the sticks for a shot. He is also knowledgeable about the flora and native culture which enhances my experience and leaves me with something more than a trophy on the wall.

Make all-inclusive the standard for your clients. There may always be some ‘extras’ that require additional compensation, like side trips or even special diets. Transport from the airport? How else would they get there? Your promoted low price tag may attract their attention, but the add-ons can sour the relationship when you hand them the bill. Believe it or not, not everybody reads the fine print. Don’t forget what they have to spend just to set foot on the continent.

My experiences in Africa have given me a great many positive memories and very few negative ones. Much of that has to do with my bonding with a PH that I trust and enjoy being with. Spending time with him is now more important than just another trophy. Build relationships. Consider your client as more than a paycheck and they will keep coming back. Often the quality of the finished product is in the details.

Be safe and keep on hunting!

Hunter’s profile – Conrad Miller

Jun 10, 2021 | News

Tell us about your background…

I was a 30-year-old cop when I went to Zimbabwe in 1998, leaving a wife, five year old daughter and a one year old son at home. I spent about half of my yearly cop salary on that 12-day buffalo/plains game hunt with the late great professional hunter. Mark Ellement. I was SO blown away. There were no African hunting shows back then, so besides the few books I’d read and Discovery Channel, I had little idea of what I was in for. I was hooked from day one! Mark walked my ass off from dark to dark. We hunted for seven days before I shot my first African animal, my buffalo. The trip wrapped up with kudu, huge impala, Egyptian geese and tigerfish on the Zambezi. My wife never wanted to hear the word Africa from me again, and I cried when I left camp because I really thought I’d never return. I tried to give Mark my rifle in addition to the tip I had budgeted for, because it didn’t seem like enough for the experience he’d given me. He refused because he said I’d be back!

What is it that you love about Africa?

Naturally, its diverse wildlife, beautiful sights like Victoria Falls and Table Mountain, the wonderful people I’ve encountered in Zimbabwe, many of whom I still keep in touch with. I love the wide open spaces. Hunting on a million acre concession in Zambia, bordered by another million acre concession, both bordered by a national park of four million acres gives one the feeling of freedom to go anywhere un-restricted.

Took five trips to get a trophy eland

What influenced your love of hunting?

Mostly natural drive. My dad exposed me to small game hunting as a child and as I got of high-school age I began seeking out my own hunting grounds. Ducks and deer were the only hunting I’d done prior to going to Africa.

What countries have you hunted and where?

Twice in of Sidinda camp in Hwange communal CAMPFIRE area of Zimbabwe. Once in the Makuti Safari Area in Zimbabwe. Once at Mr. Roger Whitall’s Humani Ranck in the Save Valley Conservancy in Zim, and once in Zambia in the Mulobezi Safari area of Chief Moomba.

Sun sets on a Zambezi fisherman

What guns, scopes, and ammo are you using?

Still have the same Winchester Mod. 70 in .375 H&H from 1998 that my son used on his first buffalo in 2011. Also a Mod. 70 in 300 Win. Mag. which only shoots Federal ammo well for some reason. Haven’t had anyone explain that to me.

What is your favorite African animal to hunt and why?

Gotta be buffalo. First hunt in 1998 at camp Sidinda in Zimbabwe was the hardest hunting I’d ever done and thus the most rewarding. I went back with my son Asa in 2011 where I was the ‘observer’ on his buffalo hunt in Makuti Zimbabwe, and it was equally rewarding.

What is your greatest trophy?

Not due to inches but due to the hunt is my first African animal, a buffalo. I took my daughter Taylor to Zambia in 2009, where she killed a 49″ sable at 7am on the first day of a 12-day hunt! That’s definitely the most beautiful trophy of the family.

My daugter Taylor with 49″ Zambian sable

What was your closest brush with danger/death?

Must be hitting a canal bank then tree in a small fast aluminum boat with a tiller handle motor while duck hunting in my home state of Louisiana.

Any lessons learned that you’d like to share? What do you suggest a fellow hunter can do to prepare for his or her safari?

Read some books – old and new – about African safaris and familiarize yourself with some customs and history of the country you’ll be visiting. Don’t skimp on the trip of a lifetime. A ‘good deal’ is usually NOT a good deal. No matter what the cost, you will feel as though it was worth double.

Use a reputable booking agent, preferably referred to you by a friend. Go to the Safari Club shows and absorb all you can. The planning and anticipation is part of the trip. Seek out the advice of many others.

Try your best to go to a tribal concession as those wide open free-range areas will be the first to go. I’m not a ‘ranch hater’ because the Save Valley Conservancy is truly one of the most amazing places and a benchmark for conservation. However, I think the ‘wide open places’ will be the first places that hunting will disappear from. Hate to sound negative, but things/areas/politics change fast in Africa and it is my belief that the future of African hunting will be on private ranches. Not a bad thing, but take advantage of the truly wild areas while you can and hunt hard.

Also, hunt an area where you can hear lions roar. It’s the most amazing sound in the world and may not be around forever.

DO NOT miss Victoria Falls while you’re in the southern part of Africa! It’s a MUST SEE. Take your time and be a tourist for a few days before or after your safari. If you fly in or out of South Africa, try to fit in a couple of days in Cape Town. They have incredible vineyards with very affordable tasting tours. Table Mountain is also a very cool tourist thing to do.

The value of having an experienced photographer/videographer along for great photos. (Note Jay the tracker lying behind the eland to hold it in position)

If possible, hire a qualified videographer to tag along. Most of these guys are like having a second professional hunter along. They will take pictures of things you may overlook as well as provide you with a recording and pictures that will last a lifetime. I like keeping a detailed journal of each day, then elaborate on the notes and make a book of text and pictures once I return home. There are several sites like Snapfish, Shutterfly etc. that are very user friendly to do this. After all, this is an investment in memories.

My kids and I have used Zimbabwean taxidermists on six hunts. The taxidermy cost is less than in the U.S. but shipping mounted trophies is more expensive than just shipping horns and hides to a U.S. taxidermist. I’m NOT knocking state-of-the-art U.S. taxidermy, but it has been my choice to have my trophies done where they came from. So the people of your host country benefit fully from their wildlife. Usually (in a non-pandemic year) Zimbabwean taxidermists have a very quick turnaround. All of mine have been top quality. Mounts from 1998 are still up and looking new. Your American booking agent will lead you to American taxidermists and your professional hunter will likely try to sell you on one of their local taxidermists. Either way, their advice will be good. Don’t let a beginner do them at a budget price.

Any last words of wisdom?

No, but one good story. So while hunting with Mark Ellement on my first safari in 1998, we took an afternoon off after we got my buffalo and drove into Vic Falls where his home and family was. I did the touristy thing while he picked up supplies, then we picked up his wife, Karen, and his kids, Sian and Brian, who were toddlers. Mark and I stayed in touch and he’d offer me late season deals to return at minimal cost, but I was still a cop then and couldn’t even afford the airfare. Never got to hunt with him again although it was my goal as he quickly succumbed to cancer in 2014. Upon booking a leopard/plains game hunt for my son and myself in 2018, booking agent Michelle Buchanan told me of a leopard on quota at Sidinda camp. The camp I hunted with Mark Ellement on my first trip 20 years prior. Lo and behold, one of the available professional hunters was a young man named Brian Ellement! The son of Mark, whom I’d met when he was about 5 years old! I got a Whatsapp message from Brian with a picture of a copy of the journal I kept on my first hunt that I’d mailed to his father so long ago. He told his mum that he was lined up to hunt with one of his dad’s clients from 20 years ago. When Karen heard my name she remembered me and retrieved the copy of the journal that I kept every detail of. It gave me chills! Was a pretty cool ‘full-circle’ story.

Devil’s Cataract at Victoria Falls

Hunting bushbuck in Africa

Jun 10, 2021 | News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The African bushbuck is divided into two species, the kewel (Tragelaphus scriptus) and the imbabala (Tragelaphus sylvaticus) The kewel’s distribution includes Senegal Ethiopia,Eritrea, and south to Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The imbabala, which is larger than the kewel, is found from the Cape in South Africa to Angola and Zambia in the west, and up East Africa to Ethiopia and Somalia.

Roland Wards Records of Big Game list eight different species of African bushbuck as does Safari Club International. For descriptive purposes and hunting information, only the above two will be mentioned. The kewel is more related to the nyala, while the imbabala shares traits with the bongo and the sitatunga.

The bull bushbuck stands about three feet at the shoulder and weighs between 100 pounds and 130 pounds. Ewes are considerably smaller at sixty to eighty pounds. The ram is the only sex to have horns. Horns continue to grow throughout the bushbuck’s life. A large set of horns will measure 16-17 inches. Coloration of males and females run from reddish brown to almost black brown with the male being darker than the female. Its legs and flank are white. These colors work well to camouflage the bushbuck. When in danger, the African bushbuck will lie down and not move, making it very hard to spot. Its warning call sounds like the bark of a small dog.

An impressive, not yet fully mature Masai bushbuck ram in excellent condition in Arusha National Park, Tanzania, where the living is relatively easy due to the lack of large predators. McCallum Safaris (Photo Courtesy of Karen Seginak)

Menelik’s bushbuck

African bushbuck prefer living in thick bush along river banks where they can stay well hidden. Cover and fresh water are the main requirements of the bushbuck. They are browsers, but will consume most any other vegetation they can reach. Bushbuck are active around the clock, except when they are near human settlements where they become nocturnal. The ewe will give birth to a single lamb between October and January. For the first sixteen to eighteen weeks of life, the lamb is hidden by its mother until it’s strong enough to survive.

African bushbuck are solitary by nature, the adult males work at staying away from each other. Sometimes a buck and a ewe are seen together during breeding season. There have been sightings of small family groups consisting of a female with a young faun and an immature male, although this isn’t very common. African bushbuck live within an area of about 60,000 square yards and it is very uncommon for them to move out of that area.

Mature African bushbucks are prey to lion, leopard, caracal, wild dogs, and hyena. The young are hunted by pythons. The greatest danger to bushbucks is snaring and hunting with dogs. Habitat destruction also contributes to their decline. African bushbuck come out of their bushy daytime layup during the cooler hours of the morning, and browse along the edges. However, the slightest noise, or movement, will send them back into the shrubbery barking furiously while disappearing from sight.

Hunting the African bushbuck can be a real challenge as it is such a solitary, evasive antelope. The traits necessary to hunt deer in the United States will work well when hunting the African bushbuck. When tracks are found one way to hunt would be to set up a blind along the trail. A hunt can happen quite rapidly as the bushbuck can seem to just appear and disappear, so the hunter must be ready and react instantly.

Sometimes the African bushbuck can be found out in an open spot in the morning trying to shake off the cold night by basking in the warmth of the sun. Hunt along a river bank during early evening while there’s still good shooting light, or in the morning’s first light, and if you are quiet, careful and lucky – very lucky – you might get a shot. The evening is the best time as the African bushbuck is very active at that time.

The most common, and most successful method of African bushbuck hunting is by the stalk. For this, a very good pair of binoculars is a necessity. Binoculars by Zeiss, Leica, Nikon, Swarovski, Doctor and others, in 8X42 or similar are usually the best. Stronger powers, like 10x, reduces the field of vision and are harder to stabilize.

Pick a hill with a good field of view, and check feeding spots. Again, early morning or late afternoon are the best times. Shots will tend to be long, so an accurate rifle in a flat-shooting caliber is best. The .30 magnums like the 300 Weatherby, 300 Winchester Magnum, 300 Remington Ultra Magnum, or any of many similar calibers can reach out 300 yards if the hunter does his part.

One caveat about African bushbuck hunting. This little antelope can be extremely dangerous. Wound him and he will become quite aggressive, with a charge possible. Those foot and a half long horns are very sharp at the pointed end, and more than one careless hunter has had the dubious pleasure of meeting a pair at a high rate of speed. When you shoot, aim for the chest cavity. If he runs, give him a fair amount of time to stiffen up before doing a follow up.

Seven Bushbuck Facts

Scientific name: Tragelaphus sylvaticus
Male weight: 100-130 pounds
Male shoulder height: three feet
Male horn size: 11-17 inches
Gestation: 180 days
Hunting: April – October
Territory: 60,000 square yards

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Taxidermist profile: Moredou Taxidermy

Jun 10, 2021 | News

Contact: (Owner/Manage) Hilgard Kotze Physical Address: Farm Moredou , Schweizer – Reneke, North West Tel Office: 053 963 1444 Mobile: 082 784 5269 Contact Email: mortax@mailbox.co.za Website: moredoutaxidermy.com It is always a treat to be given a real surprise and this was one for me. Driving onto the farm, Acacias, ground squirrels and a beautiful winter morning to meet a family operation, husband wife, daughter in law and son in an operation that is almost 30 years in operation is wonderful. A short whistle strop tour and a promise from Hilgard to put a few words down.

Tell us a little about your operation.

How it started & why you got into the industry:

It was actually my dad’s hobby. He did a course through Nature Conservation. So for me it also started as a hobby just doing my friends trophies. Each year there were more trophies to mount and that is where it became a business.

How many years have you been in the business?

We have been in the taxidermy industry since 1992.

What are your favorite mounts & why?

Our favorite mount and these we do the most or, are shoulder mounts.

What are your specialty areas that you have in the business?

We specialize in full mounts, shoulder mounts, skull mounts, rug mounts, skin soft tanning and also leather tanning. It all depends on what the clients want. They can send us pictures of how they want their mount.

Current processes offered:

Pick up & collect trophies Yes
Maximum distance offered to collect trophies : Across the country
Own tanning facilities: YES
Do you buy in forms or sculpt your own or both – Both

Delivery time (approximate):

Dip and Pack – 5 to 6 Months
European mounts – 6 Months
Shoulder mounts – 9 to 10 Months
Full mounts – 9 to 10 Months

Taxidermist profile: Moredou Taxidermy

Jun 9, 2021 | News

It is always a treat to be given a real surprise and this was one for me. Driving onto the farm, Acacias, ground squirrels and a beautiful winter morning to meet a family operation, husband wife, daughter in law and son in an operation that is almost 30 years in operation is wonderful. A short whistle strop tour and a promise from Hilgard to put a few words down.