PH Stephan Joubert UK’s loss – Namibia’s gain!

Jan 12, 2019 | News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F128-129||target:%20_blank|”][vc_column_text]PH Stephan Joubert UK’s loss – Namibia’s gain!

African Hunting Gazette: Tell us when and where you were born and about your family.

Stephan Joubert: I was born in Bethlehem, in the Free State, South Africa, in 1990. I am one of four children – I have three sisters. As a family we moved to the UK, in 1999, and lived in The Royal County of Berkshire. I finished my education at Hartpury College UWE, where I studied Conservation Countryside Management / Game. Then I returned to my African roots here in Namibia in 2012.

AHG: What made you want to become a PH?

SJ: Growing up in the UK, my dreams of becoming an African PH, initially dwindled. However, I was fortunate enough to have plenty of family in Namibia whom I could visit, and that very much kept my dream alive! Thanks to numerous visits to Namibia, to my uncle and cousins in the Kalahari, I have had ample exposure to hunt in Africa.

AHG: Which countries have you hunted and where are you hunting these days?

SJ: I have had the opportunity to hunt in South Africa, England, New Zealand, USA, Canada, and of course the wonderful Namibia! It is here that I am now pursuing my professional hunting career!

AHG: If you could return to any time or place in Africa, where would it be?

SJ: The early 1900s, when a 21-day safari was not uncommon. I could only imagine how much one could see, learn and experience on such a safari in Tanzania or Zambia.

AHG: Which guns and ammo are you using to back-up on dangerous game?

SJ: I would use my .375 H&H CZ 550 Safari Classic with 300-gr Barns TSX for dangerous game, whereas for plains game I normally use a .300 Win.Mag. coupled with 180-gr Sierra Game King bullets. This is a very suitable round for our area as it is a hard-hitting, flat-shooting round!

AHG: What are you recommendations on guns and ammo for dangerous game and plains game?

SJ: For dangerous game, I would say a .375 H&H with 300-gr bullets, because with the low recoil, the client can put the bullet where it needs to be – or anything of this caliber and bigger that the client is comfortable with. My recommendation for plains game would be any of the .30 calibers with a 180-gr bullet.

AHG: What was you closest brush with death?

SJ: I would say that if anything, my closest encounter was the day a Black Mamba and I crossed paths. However, I have a great respect for snakes, and I let him be. So we separated with no harm done – just my heart beating a lot faster!

AHG: Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

SJ: I wouldn’t say I would do anything differently, otherwise I wouldn’t have done it in the first place!

Just keep your wits about you and expect the unexpected!

AHG: How has the hunting industry and its clients changed over the years?

SJ: I wouldn’t say the hunting industry has changed too much since I have been a part of it. Perhaps the only thing that I have noticed is that clients have less time to commit to hunting safaris. In the world we live in everyone has such busy lives with little free time to spend how they wish. In general, safaris have become shorter.

AHG: Which qualities go into making a successful PH and/or hunting company?

SJ: In order to be a successful hunting company you need a good team, from your trackers to skinners to kitchen staff. They all play an essential role to ensure the whole safari runs smoothly. A PH should be an open-minded, friendly character, a real people person who is able to connect with clients. As well as that, having an excellent knowledge of his or her surroundings is an absolute must. He also needs to be honest with his clients, passionate about what he does, and enjoy himself!

AHG: And which qualities go into making a good safari client?

SJ: A good safari client would be a person willing to experience new things, willing to listen and learn from his or her PH. It’s also great if they have practiced shooting from sticks at home, and know their shot placement. And finally, as they say, “You don’t guide a guide and you don’t coach a coach!”

AHG: If you could offer a suggestion to a hunting client to improve the quality of their safari, what would it be?

SJ: You must be willing to listen and learn from your PH/ Outfitter to trust their opinion. By building a relationship with them you will gain knowledge and enjoy the overall experience a lot more than if you don’t. It’s also great to come to Africa with an open mind and enjoy every moment. It’s also really helpful to get yourself ready before the hunt by practicing shooting from the sticks, and have some knowledge of the animals you’d be after.

AHG: What can the hunting industry do to contribute to the long-term conservation of Africa’s wildlife?

SJ: I think we regularly hear about this. Trophy hunting truly has helped and will continue doing so for many years because of the funding it generates for conservation. We as trophy hunters are, in fact, more conservationists – without trophy hunting, our wildlife would be worthless and the numbers would drop rapidly! For example look at countries that have banned hunting, and compare their wildlife populations with Namibia or South Africa! Adding value to the wild animals has really help to conserve them!

AHG: Anyone you would want to thank who has played a major role in your lie?

SJ: There are many people I would like to thank for many different reasons. I would like to thank my mother and father for supporting me with my decision to go into the industry, and also those that believed in me and for all their encouragement. Also, the people I have met along the way who pointed me in the right direction and helped with many different aspects, and who gave me the opportunity to learn from them. I would very much like to thank our clients, for without them we wouldn’t be able to do what we love! I am grateful to our dear Lord for the incredible nature surrounding us, and for giving me the opportunity to do what I am passionate about and enjoy doing.

AHG: Any last words of wisdom?

SJ: Enjoy doing what you love. Be safe!

AHG: Would you write a story for us one day?

SJ: I would love to write a hunting story in the not too distant future, I’m still collecting memories which I would one day love to share!

AHG: We are waiting!

Stephan Joubert

22.03.1990[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F128-129||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”19714,19715,19716,19717,19718″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Newton in Africa

Jan 12, 2019 | News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F144-145||target:%20_blank|”][vc_column_text]Wayne van Zwoll
2610 Highland Drive
Bridgeport WA 98813
File name: AHGnewton18

Newton in Africa

Brilliance couldn’t trump his bad luck. But a century later Newton’s rifle excelled on safari!

On his first safari, he carried a Remington 30S and a Winchester 1895. Springbok and warthog, kudu and wildebeest collapsed to the sting of that .30-06 and .405.

Roosevelt comes to mind; but T.R.’s 1909 safari predated the Remington 30S. He paired his .405 Winchester ‘95 with a Springfield in .30-06. More than a century later, Barry Fisher had picked his rifles because … well, because he likes old rifles.

Me too. So last year I asked his Namibia-bound daughter Tamar if she’d use Barry’s .256 Newton on safari. I’d be in Jamy Traut’s Panorama camp then as well, and was keen to see it afield. Besides her Kimbers in .308 and .270, Tamar had a new Sako, a .270 scoped with a Zeiss 4-16x Conquest. “I won’t really need two rifles,” she said. “And Dad has only a few .256 factory rounds.”

“That’s precious ammo,” I agreed. “But I once had a .256 in the shop and loaded for it. Happy to share data if you can find brass. You can also make cases.”

“Oh, we have .256 empties…”

Lickety-split, I sent the data, followed by new, unlabeled ammo boxes. With her brother’s help, Tamar was soon pumping cases through dies at Barry’s bench. Cleverly, she duplicated the graphics on his one box of Western cartridges. Applied to fresh cardboard, her labels looked almost original!

The .256 was just one of Charles Newton’s developments. Based on black-powder and smokeless rounds, his WW I-era cartridges ranged from fast-stepping .22s to big-bores for the heaviest game. One shared feature: They were all ahead of their time.

Born in Delavan, New York, 8 January, 1870, Newton worked on the family farm until finishing school at age 16. After a couple of years teaching school, he studied law and joined the state bar. Then he left the practice of law. Six years in New York’s National Guard whetted his appetite to design cartridges using new smokeless powder. Gunmaker Fred Adolph would help with his early efforts to engineer rifles.

Smallest, but perhaps best known of Newton’s high-octane small-bores, was the .22 High-Power. A 1905 wildcat on the .25-35 case, it shoved 70-grain .228 bullets at 2,800 fps. The “Imp” was hailed for killing animals as formidable as tigers! Realistically, it inspired hunters to ponder shooting deer beyond the range limits imposed by iron sights and big blunt bullets.

In 1912 Newton necked the .30-06 to .257, forming the .25 Newton Special. While the .25-06 is commonly credited to Neidner, it could well have appeared on Newton’s bench first. His 7mm Special foreshadowed the .280 Remington by half a century – as did the 7×64 Brenneke developed in Germany. Also in 1912, Newton fashioned for Savage a short rimless .250 for the 1899 lever rifle. His 100-grain softpoint at 2,820 fps would live long in factory loads, but Savage promoted an 87-grain bullet at 3,000 fps, and called the cartridge the .250/3000. This fast .25 later became raw material for J.B. Smith, John Sweaney, Harvey Donaldson, Grosvenor Wotkyns and J.E. Gebby, all of whom necked it to .22. A 1937 version by Gebby and Smith became the .22-250. Remington began loading it in 1965.

Newton fashioned what may be one of the best .30 magnum ever. It was of clean rimless design, the 2.52-inch hull and 3.35 loaded length matching dimensions of short belted magnums that RoyWeatherby, then Winchester and Remington, would develop beginning in the 1940s. A powerhouse in 1913, the .30 Newton drove bullets as fast as the longer .300 H&H Magnum Western Cartridge would start loading in 1925. Likely it was inspired by the .404 Jeffery. A .35 Newton on the same case made its debut in 1915. Charles Newton played a role in introducing the .300 Savage, in 1920. A single-shot enthusiast, he also experimented with rimmed cases, from the Sharps 3¼” to the .405 Winchester.

“Dad urged me to take the Newton, so I’m packing two rifles.” Tamar’s e-mail included a photo of her new Sako with its 4-16x Zeiss. “That .270 will surely see most of the action, but I’ll bring enough .256 ammo for a few pokes at paper.” I salivated.

Tamar’s flight schedule took her to Windhoek, then Jamy Traut’s camp a few days early. She met me with a grin.

“I initiated the Newton on springbok!” She’d sneaked within iron-sight range of a ram and steadied the .256 on Jamy’s sticks. Centering the bead in the Williams aperture sight (the rifle’s only non-original feature), she’d sent a Hornady Spire Point through the shoulders, dropping the animal neatly.

Other hunters who had arrived with me were eager to get afield. So next morning after checking zeros, we jumped onto the Land Cruisers. My tryst with the Newton would have to wait.

“I got a wildebeest with the Newton!” We weren’t two days into the hunt before she gave me that update. “A lung shot. The bullet passed through!” Impressed with her shooting and with the performance of that small-bore round, I could tell the odds of her relinquishing the rifle, even briefly, were slipping. A rifle case on each shoulder next morning, she set out again.

Having shot her way through several safaris since her first with me several years earlier, Tamar had killed fine specimens of most common plains game, plus an outstanding waterbuck. So for the next couple of days she watched others in her Cruiser stalk and shoot. But eventually she got another chance to use the .256. “I bagged an impala with the Newton!” she gushed as my party, after hunting another sector, slunk in. We’d been beaten by gemsbok that stayed beyond scoped-rifle range!

The .256 Newton is an anomaly, in that it’s not a 25-caliber round as the numbers suggest (.250 bore, .257 groove diameter). Instead, it uses 6.5mm (.264) bullets. Its inventor was no doubt influenced by the popularity of 6.5mm rifles in both arsenals and game fields at that time.

Explorer Frederick Courteney Selous and the celebrated hunter W.D.M. Bell reportedly used the 6.5×54 Mannlicher-Schoenauer on Africa’s biggest animals. Its long solid bullets penetrated elephant skulls. Charles Sheldon also liked the 6.5×54. In Alaska he found it adequate for brown bears, sheep and moose. The flat arcs of mid-weight spitzer bullets – and trim, fetching Mannlicher-Schoenauer carbines so chambered – were a hit in open country.

Oddly enough, in Newton’s U.S. homeland, no 6.5mm hunting cartridge would enjoy the favor lavished on .30s or the .270. That drought would last until the 2009 debut of the 6.5 Creedmoor.

Developed at Hornady in Dave Emary’s shop, the 6.5 Creedmoor was named after Creed’s Farm in New York, birthplace of long-range rifle matches in the U.S. Rather than use Winchester’s .308 case, Dave chose the shorter .30 T/C, whose neck kept long pointed bullets within the limits imposed by short magazines. Mild recoil endears this 6.5 to hunters and long-range target shooters alike. Sales have jetted past those of popular magnums.

But ballistically, the Creedmoor has nothing on the .256 Newton when it’s blessed with modern powders and bullets. My turn with Barry’s rifle came the final evening of our safari, as Tamar shoved it into my hands and Jamy said the larder could use a wildebeest cow. A red-planked sunset and a south wind sent me through low bush, scooting along the hem of a herd moving briskly north. I tried to stay up with the leaders. Alas, the animals were stringing out in grass that offered scant cover.

Wind or movement? I couldn’t tell which had alerted them. But the bull’s snort told me this frolic would soon end. I bellied into thorn whose branches hid me but also prevented a shot. Through the tight lattice, I saw other wildebeest stop feeding. Several eased forward to follow the bull’s stare. I crabbed to the side by inches, the Newton’s barrel bobbing gently.

There. A slot. The muzzle slid forward, the bead quivered just inside the shoulder of a cow quartering to. “Crrrack!” An audible strike followed, but I lay still until dust settled in the herd’s wake. The trail was short and bright; the cow had died quickly. I knelt and gave thanks, as is my habit.

Newton had long dreamed of building his own rifles when in 1914 he formed the Newton Arms Company in Buffalo, New York. With a factory under construction, he traveled to Germany to secure a supply of rifle actions from Mauser and J.P. Sauer & Sohn. Alas, his timing could not have been worse! The first two dozen Mauser rifles were to arrive 15 August, 1914 – Germany went to war on the 14^th. He turned to Marlin Firearms for barrels bored to .256 Newton and threaded for Springfield actions. Then, with famed barrel-maker Harry Pope in his shop, he designed his own action. It appeared 1 January, 1917.

But again Newton’s timing was off. The U.S. entered the war in April, and the government took control of all cartridge production. While the Newton Arms Company loaded its own ammunition, it bought cases from Remington, which now couldn’t supply them. Without cartridges, Newton rifles lost their market.

The dogged Newton started other enterprises. Despite his brilliant rifle and cartridge designs, all failed. In ’29 the Buffalo Newton Rifle Corporation folded. Later that year Wall Street collapsed, dashing the dreams of a nation. Newton died in New Haven, Connecticut, 9 March, 1932. He was 62.

Surely, Charles Newton’s high-performance cartridges paved the path for the post-WW II debut of short belted magnums. A generation before Roy Weatherby, Newton loaded long-range game bullets to over 3,100 fps. His rifles’ interrupted-thread lock-up predated Weatherby’s Mark V rifle by 30 years. His three-position safety appeared 20 years before Winchester installed one on a Model 70. He developed a partitioned hunting bullet in 1915, when John Nosler was two years old.

Charles Newton’s rifles and cartridges heralded trends that would evolve over decades. Hunting with the .256 put me in touch with his spirit and genius. Tamar probably felt the same, because first thing every morning on her Namibian safari, she picked up “the Newton.”

That scoped Sako could wait.

Newton: First wildcatter?

Stateside, the term dates back over a century. “Wildcat” can be noun or verb, ditto “wildcatting.” Following the U.S. Civil War, whale oil had become so costly, the government subsidized men looking for petroleum. Its price rose from 35 cents a barrel in 1862 to nearly $14 within the decade! Wildcatters drilled where oil hadn’t been found. By 1867 John D. Rockefeller had entered the industry. No wildcatter, conservative J.D. focused on refining and transporting oil. Standard Oil Company, founded in 1870, soon controlled most of the nation’s refineries and rails! At its zenith, Rockefeller’s net worth would amount to 2% of the country’s GDP!

The industrial age that had secured the future of petroleum also brought labor unions. Collective bargaining followed. So did strikes. Those outside the purview of unions were wildcat strikes.

The first cartridge called a wildcat probably dated to that era. Adoption of the .30-40 Krag by the U.S. Army in 1892 introduced shooters to small-bore smokeless rounds that begged “customizing.” The .30-06 encouraged further experiments. So did development of stronger rifle actions with improved steel. Handloaders re-barreled Springfields, Mausers and other infantry arms, cheap after the Great War.

Wildcatting cartridges, riflemen tested performance ceilings much as automobile buffs do when hiking the horsepower in hotrods. Then there’s the appeal of designing a cartridge (or “wheels”) uniquely yours.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F144-145||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”19739,19740,19741,19742,19743,19744,19745,19746,19747,19748,19749″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

PH Holger Jensen – From Northern Lights to Southern Skies…

Jan 9, 2019 | News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F124-125||target:%20_blank|”][vc_column_text]PH Holger Jensen – From Northern Lights to Southern Skies…

African Hunting Gazette: Tell us when and where you were born.

Holger Jensen: It was in the far north of Denmark on a farm – 1954.

AHG: Tell us about yourself and any family you might have.
HJ: I never married, but am looking after the wife and 12-year old son of my late hunting manager Benny, who died from cancer three years ago at the age of 45, after being my PH for 20 years.

AHG: How did you become a PH? How did it all begin?

HJ: As a kid I never wanted toys for Christmas or birthdays, but wildlife literature, and I got the opportunity to get an education as a gamekeeper, and started the day after I left school. That means that I’ve made a career of hunting for 47 years.

AHG: Which countries have you hunted, and where are you hunting these days?
HJ: There are too many to count! I’ve hunted walrus in the Arctic and sambar in NZ, but my last four hunts were in Mongolia, Abu Dhabi, Burkina Faso and Siberia. I’ve been three times to Argentina – I like the nature and the people there. Then, of course, I hunt almost non-stop as a PH in South Africa from March to August each year, and have done so for the past 38 years.

AHG: If you could return to any time or place in Africa, where would it be?
HJ: My African hunting career started in the then Rhodesia, where I shot my first buffalo bull at age 20, and that country still holds some special memories for me, because it has great hunting and wonderful people, politics apart. In later years I hunted a lot at Lake Mburu in Uganda, at the time when that country opened for hunting after many years, and that was also a special adventure, where some huge trophies were taken.

AHG: Which guns and ammo are you using to back-up on dangerous or wounded game?
HJ: My interest in firearms is very limited. I shot 1,247 fallow deer with my trusted SAKO 222 Remington, and I often use my old Mauser 8×57 JS, which is very old-fashioned, but effective, and it cost me less than a USD 100 at the time! Being a bit patriotic I do have a Schultz & Larsen 30-06, which is used by many clients, and then a double-barrel Spanish 375 H&H Magnum, which to me is a better life insurance that you can purchase from Old Mutual!

AHG: What are your recommendations on guns and ammo – for dangerous game and for plains game?
HJ: I like the client to use a firearm that he knows and is comfortable with – the chance is very good that I will never know or remember what he actually used. In my belief it’s that person between the earth and the firearm that is the most important part.

AHG: What is your favorite animal to hunt and why?
HJ: It has to be the bushbuck. I’ve guided hundreds of them along the Limpopo River – a demanding hunt on foot, which is my type of hunting. Believe it or not – I’ve never shot a single one myself!

HG: Looking back, which was your greatest trophy?
HJ: It was my first buffalo in Sijarira Forest at Lake Kariba in 1975. I’ve also tried so hard to get a 30” impala in Uganda, but only got as close as 29 5/8 – my clients took many up to 33”!

AHG: What was your closest brush with death? Looking back: Anything you should have done differently?
HJ: It’s quite embarrassing, but ending up underneath a mad male ostrich in the Kalahari many years ago, who was doing a war dance on top of me. My client shot it in the breast at close range, and for a few moments, I was unsure whether he had shot me or the ostrich. Other than that, there have been some exciting buffalo hunts, but never a situation where lives were in danger. Farmed buffaloes scare the Hell out of me, because they behave differently to wild buffalo.

AHG: How has the hunting industry and its clients changed over the years?
HJ: Being in the Scandinavian market, there has been a marked shift towards more ethical hunting methods, and nowadays we use the hunting vehicle for transporting dead animals only. We’re off-loaded early morning in good wind, and will only see the car again once the hunt is over, or we have had the luck to bag an animal. We’ve adapted to this demand, and I firmly believe that the future of South African hunting lies in offering fair-chase hunts. In Denmark, 18 per cent of registered hunters are now women, and on my last two safaris – five out of six clients were female, and all very good shots and delightful company. Years ago I hunted with the wealthiest woman in Scandinavia – she was 81, and would do the dishwashing in camp if I did not stop her! She bagged a huge rhino bull in 1981 for the princely sum of R5.000!

AHG: Which qualities go into making a successful PH and / or a successful hunting company?
HJ: Hard work and being able to understand your clients’ needs. I prefer to hunt with nationalities whose mentality is familiar to me – Spanish or French clients would best be left to their own PHs – I don’t think I would get along with them. Once you’ve completed a successful hunt, the most important thing is that the trophies are treated and marked properly, and delivered on time. That is one all important part of the hunt that is often forgotten. My motto is, “The hunt is only completed once the trophy is hanging on the client’s wall!”

AHG: Which qualities go into making a good safari client?
HJ: The client that is a bit laid-back on trophy sizes usually bags the best animals. I don’t own a tape – measuring is done by the taxidermists on delivery. It’s nice when the client is fit, but if he/she isn’t, we will adapt the hunt. It’s also great if the client has done a bit of training with the firearm before getting here.

AHG: If you should suggest one thing to your hunting clients to improve their experience of their safari, what would it be?
HJ: Take out the gun to a firing range before coming here, and learn to shoot a bit faster than when hunting back home in Europe.

AHG: Based on your recent experience in the field, do you think that any species should be upgraded to Appendix I or downgraded to Appendix II or closed all together?
HJ: Hunting mainly in South Africa, I don’t see any specific need for either.

AHG: What can the hunting industry do to contribute to the long-term conservation of Africa’s wildlife?
HJ: We have to concentrate on natural breeding of animal populations, once species have been established. Canned lions, artificial trophy genes and various freaks do not contribute in any way to conservation, but do excessive harm to our reputation. We’ve come a long way in South Africa since I started my company in 1980, but unfortunately our industry has become unduly dominated by people that are business people rather than hunters.

AHG: You look after your ex-PH and manager’s wife and son – do you think Benny’s son will follow in his footsteps?

HJ: I hope my late manager’s son Nicolaj will follow, but I can’t tell. He shot his first warthog at age four, and now has eight species, and one overseas hunt for Balearian goat on the island of Mallorca.

AHG: Anyone you want to say thanks to who has played a major role in your life?
HJ: Finn Kristoffersen, alias “Stoffer” back in Denmark was the man that started trophy hunting at foreign destinations. He was one of the founders of the Nordic Safari Club and was highly influential, and then he was a real hunter.

The other person is Jens Kjaer Knudsen, who came out as a volunteer to work for me, and later became the president of the Nordic Safari Club, and worked hard to promote ethical hunting in Scandinavia. He and his committee removed all South African lions from their record book – an appropriate action in the circumstances, and they’ve taken a similar stand towards unethical practices in NZ and Eastern Europe. Today he’s my best hunting buddy, and next project is a black-tail hunt in California – that will be my 16^th antlered deer species – all hunted free range.

AHG: Any Last Words of Wisdom?
HJ: Last week in Siberia, just as the light was disappearing, I bagged a magnificent Siberian roebuck, after a week of mixed luck, and long stalks. The Russian PH said to me in his broken German “Du bist ein richtiges Jäger” – “you’re a ‘real’ hunter”, and that to me is the biggest compliment anyone could give me. Try to be a “real hunter” – don’t take shortcuts, or do unethical or embarrassing hunts, but go for the real thing. Then you will have much enjoyment from this wonderful hobby![/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F124-125||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”19704,19705,19706,19707,19708,19709,19710″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

An interview with Professional Hunter, John Sharp

Jan 6, 2019 | News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F132-133||target:%20_blank|”][vc_column_text]An interview with Professional Hunter, John Sharp

For those of you who have paid an interest in African hunting over the past 30 years, you will need little by way of introduction to PH John Sharp, known to many as the African version of Crocodile Dundee. With free-flowing hair and skin tanned by years spent hunting under the glare of the African sun, he’s often found wading across some remote river or trekking the Zimbabwean plains with his Rigby .470 N.E double balanced over his shoulder.

In his three-plus decades of hunting in Africa, John says the Bubye Valley Conservancy (BVC) in the south of Zimbabwe, where he’s now based, is truly the finest area he has encountered. John is a passionate conservationist with a deep understanding of the natural world, a true ambassador for the sport, and has a lifestyle we all secretly aspire to.

John, tell us a bit about yourself.

I got my Learner Professional Hunter’s Licence in 1978. Soon after that, independence came to Zimbabwe, so I decided to return to Cape Town to watch from afar to see what the new government would do.

In Cape Town, I bought the Hard Rock Café and ran that for three-and-half years before I sold it in December 1982. Early in 1983 I returned to what had become Zimbabwe and did my proficiency test, kick-starting my career as a full-time PH, and I’ve been hunting ever since.

Have you only hunted in Zimbabwe, or all over Africa?

No. I’ve hunted extensively in Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and before I was a PH, in Namibia. You could say I’ve been around, but Zimbabwe has always been my favorite country and I’m pretty much settled there now.

Tell us about the Rigby you’ve hunted with.

I have a Rigby .470 N.E double, which was built in 1927 but re-barrelled by Holland & Holland in the 1960s, so it lost its collector value. A client of mine bought it for me about 20 years ago, and I’ve been using it ever since.

How often have you had to use your Rigby in a professional context? Have you ever had to back anyone up?

Yes, many times. These things are inevitable in the life of a PH, and have happened mostly with buffalo and elephant and the odd lion over the years.

For leopards I use a three-and-a-half inch 12-gauge shotgun. A leopard can come from any direction, and with a few people milling around on the follow-up, I don’t want to be firing a heavy projectile that could wound or kill more than the leopard.

How has your Rigby performed for you?

My Rigby is an extension of myself – as much a part of me as my arm. If I am in the bush and not carrying it I feel naked, and I’ve been told that I look naked too. It has never let me down.

Can you recall a time the Rigby .470 N.E has saved your life?

Each and every time I shoot an oncoming dangerous animal, and I have shot many, that rifle saves my life, and the lives of others.

In the early stages of a PH’s career plenty of mistakes are made, and luck is too often a factor, but one learns. As the years become decades in an older PH’s life, that experience translates into a rich safari without unhappy dramas – only the good kind.

What you’re asking of me now is a dramatic story for your readers, but the trouble with those stories is that someone, either the tracker, or the PH, or even the client, loses their life, or nearly loses it and that doesn’t make for fun reading. The whole point of carrying the best possible double is that I am properly equipped to protect those who are on safari with me. Everyone who comes on a hunt wants an exciting experience – but that doesn’t include loss of life.

What I can tell you is of an event before I owned a double that convinced me that getting one was not a desire, but a necessity.

I was hunting with a client who wanted to take a buffalo with a bow. We were tracking three buffalo and my client wounded one of them – a crack shot, he had been betrayed in the last seconds. The bulls caught our scent and came hurtling towards us, unintentionally. Hearing our warning shouts the first bull broke left, across me, as did the second bull a few paces behind him. I was concentrating too hard on the first two bulls, looking for signs of the arrow that would have been on their blind side. The third bull then also broke to the left, but when it was directly in front of me it suddenly turned 90 degrees and came straight at me. I snapped off a shot with my bolt-action .458, my mind still too focused on the other two that were high-tailing it – no effect. It was then that I realised I probably would not have time for a second shot. My mind raced, but everything my eyes took in became slow motion – very slow motion…

I don’t know how I did it but I remained anchored to the spot. It takes a split second to work a bolt – a split second that I quite obviously no longer had – and the bull was coming in like a freight train. I remember clearly seeing the empty case floating lazily in the air as I frantically tried to close the bolt over another cartridge, hoping and praying that I would be able to fire as the bull hit the end of my barrel. Miraculously, at the very last instant, the bull made a 90-degree turn to my left, his boss passing under my barrel. Still, it seemed to me, in slow motion, the rifle shouldered smoothly and I shot him behind the ear, a mere 10 feet away, as he began to pull away from me. He dropped like a stone, the bloody arrow flicking upwards from his belly and gleaming in the afternoon sunshine. It was one of those occasions where God and luck were the vital factor.

How did you come by your rifle?

It came to me through David Winks of Holland & Holland in London. He said at the time that it was the finest working double that had ever passed through his hands. I had the audacity to ask him whether it would fit me, because I had visions of getting this rifle and having to get it re-stocked at great expense – I simply will not hunt with a rifle that does not fit me perfectly. He became quite annoyed and said: “If I say it will fit you, it will fit you!”

Can you remember how much you paid for it?

It was a gift. The sum that changed hands was not revealed to me but, having carried it for 20 odd years, I can tell you that my Rigby is priceless.

Do you ever have your double serviced or is it a bit of a workhorse?

It is a workhorse. I had an unfortunate incident happen a few years ago. I have a big walk-in strong room with a fan that sucks air through the gunroom to prevent mould. My double always lives in its case but there was the one year I had left it on the rack, and while I was away in the States, one phase on my three-phase power tripped out. That one phase controlled the fan. When I got back home, the inside of my strong room looked like a mushroom farm, with green mould everywhere, and the air was damp and musty.

I couldn’t move the breaking lever on the rifle as it had rusted in place. I raced down to Cape Town to one of the best gunsmiths I knew. He managed to free it and suggested that I use it for the season and then get it back to him at the end of the year for him to refurbish. I told my German friend Walter what had happened, and he suggested that I send it to Otto Weiss of Hartmann & Weiss in Hamburg, Germany. Otto had hunted with me a few times, courtesy of Walter, and he readily agreed to refurbish the rifle for me at a greatly reduced price.

He broke the whole rifle down, re-blued, re-regulated and re-stocked it. I always carried it over my shoulder, shirtless, and the perspiration from my shoulder had seeped into the wood of the forend making it necessary to replace the forend, and thus also the stock, to ensure that all the wood matched.

Soon after I got it back, I was with a client who had wounded a waterbuck. After finding the bull yet again, this time facing directly away from us, head in a bush, he took a shot at the base of the waterbuck’s tail from 100 yards, using up his last cartridge. At the shot the waterbuck took off, and as the front bead of my .470 touched the base of its departing tail, I fired. The bull collapsed in a cloud of dust. My bullet had punched a neat hole, dead centre, through the top of its tail. At around 110 yards that left barrel was spot on.

I love my Rigby .470 N.E. double. It’s a remarkable rifle and has been my constant companion in the bush for years. This rifle is irreplaceable, and is the most essential tool of my trade.

You have just written a book, Facing Down Fear. Tell us about it.

My book is part memoir, but mostly campfire tales of a few of my adventures. I talk about the people – and the dogs – who have touched my life. Inevitably they are stories of a loner who has had the freedom to come and go, and they make up a small part of the tapestry of my wonderful life in Africa. I’m expecting the book to come from the printers any day now, and it will be available from John Rigby & Co. in London, as well as others.

How did you choose the title?

I wanted to share what I have learnt: that facing down fear – of danger, of pain, of failure, of loss – can lead to a rich and rewarding life.

For more information about John Rigby & Co. visit: www.johnrigbyandco.com[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F132-133||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”19689,19690,19691,19692,19693,19694,19695,19696,19697,19698″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

A-FRAMES IN AFRICA By Terry Wieland

Jan 4, 2019 | News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F152-153||target:%20_blank|”][vc_column_text]A-FRAMES IN AFRICA By Terry Wieland

The business of designing a good game bullet is not rocket science: It merely has to expand on impact, hold together, and penetrate in a straight line to the vitals. Simple.

If it’s highly accurate, so much the better, but if accuracy was the only criterion we could hunt with match bullets. We can’t, and we don’t, for reasons too varied to go into here, regardless of whatever snake oil the purveyors of modified match bullets try to sell you on YouTube. A good game bullet is one that does the job even when it seems like everything has gone wrong; a match bullet only performs on an animal when everything (!) goes exactly right — and sometimes not even then.

Anyone who has done any amount of real hunting will never depend on everything to go right, because is very seldom does.

As velocities increased with every succeeding generation of magnum cartridges after 1950, a serious search began for bullets that were tough enough to withstand the stress. Nosler’s Partition was the first. It was a variation on the RWS H-Mantle, a German game bullet that had been around a while but which was never freely available in the U.S.

In 1984, Lee Reed, the founder of Swift Bullets, took that idea further with a more substantial wall of copper between the front and rear lead cores, and improved the idea by bonding the lead core to the copper jacket.

If the Nosler Partition had a fault, it was that it did not lend itself to calibers bigger than .375. Typically, a Partition expands quickly on impact, shedding its front core as it penetrates, creating a generous wound channel. You then dig the bullet out from under the skin on the far side and find that it retained about 65 per cent of its weight. Reed wanted his bullets to retain at least 95 per cent.

The resulting “A-Frame” design was not as aerodynamic as the Partition; it had a more rounded profile — almost a round-nose in some calibers. But it proved to be adaptable and to work well even in the very largest and heaviest, such as the .458 and .470, the two most popular calibers for dangerous game through the 1990s.

Over the years, makers of bullets that tried to compete with the Partition complained that it was not as accurate because of its three-part construction. They were aided and abetted by some writers who, presumably, had either never used Partitions or were simply on the take. Some of the very best groups I have ever shot with hunting rifles have been done with Partitions, and I am talking about three shots in under a half-inch at 100 yards. Even when they don’t deliver to that elevated standard, however, I have never found Partitions inaccurate to the point that I looked elsewhere.

My experience with A-Frames has not quite measured up to that, but honesty compels me to admit that I have never set out to do a comprehensive accuracy test with them either. Also, my experience with them on game has been mostly limited to stuff like Cape buffalo, using a .450 Ackley or .458 Lott.

Although A-Frames are available as small as .257, they may not be the best choice in every application. For example, if I were to go hunting pronghorn antelope with a .257 Weatherby, I would probably not use A-Frames. In 1990, I had an unfortunate experience with an impala in Tanzania. An impala’s about the size of a pronghorn, and I was using the then-new (and no longer available) Trophy Bonded Bear Claw 115-grain .257. It was too tough, went between the ribs on both sides, did not expand at all, and we spent the next hour chasing the impala in the long grass. The softer Partition, I’m convinced, would have dropped that impala right there.

Where the A-Frame really shines is in larger calibers, intended for bigger animals, at closer ranges. The opposite of the above experience happened in Alaska, a couple of years earlier, with an incoming brown bear (17 yards), a .300 Weatherby, and a 150-grain Partition. I was expecting a deer, got the bear rushing in instead, and the bullet disintegrated on its chest bones. It turned the bear long enough for another shot (and another) and it eventually dropped when I broke its neck, but in that situation a 180- or 200-grain A-Frame would probably had done it immediately.

For those who don’t handload, A-Frames are available as premium loadings in a variety of factory or semi-custom ammunition. If I had to use factory .458 Lott to hunt Cape buffalo, I would almost certainly use some of that. It is simply a great bullet — no snake oil, no YouTube-video hogwash, no sexy apps. Pure performance, pure and simple.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F152-153||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”19669,19670,19671″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

DANGER FOR THE MASSES

Jan 3, 2019 | News

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F176-177||target:%20_blank|”][vc_column_text]DANGER FOR THE MASSES By Terry Wieland

A serious safari in Africa has never been what you might call a commodity for mass consumption. The closest anyone has come are the five-day excursions for $1,795 (airfare, taxes and gratuities not included) to kill an impala, warthog, and a gnu in South Africa.

Brag-worthy as this might be with the family at Thanksgiving, it hardly compares with a month in the Rift Valley among the Masai, much less the old six- to eight-week expeditions that encompassed several countries and two dozen species. The latter were common even as recently as the 1960s, but even then they were never cheap. The going rate was usually about a year’s salary for the average guy, which pretty much ruled out any average guy taking one. Today, two or three years’ salary would be closer to the mark.

For the better part of a century, the key component that set apart a real safari was the pursuit of the Big Five (elephant, lion, leopard, Cape buffalo, and black rhino.) All of these animals, you will notice, are dangerous — and occasionally highly so. In the time-honoured practice of ranking the “most dangerous,” each of these has had its champions. It is not my purpose to even offer an opinion on that question, only to say that, without a doubt, they are all dangerous under the right circumstances. That’s what makes them the “Big Five,” and that’s what lends cachet to hunting them.

If hunting these were financially out of reach in the old days, it’s even more so today. Lion hunting costs a fortune; elephant hunting is not far behind, although you can occasionally hunt them on the cheap if you get into a “problem animal” situation with the blessing of the game department. Black rhino, of course, are completely off limits (with a few exceptions that only prove the rule) because of their endangered status.

Leopards are a different story, simply because they are secretive, intelligent, can live close to human settlements without causing too many problems other than the odd lifted goat, and so have not been eradicated the way lions have in many areas. They can also be raised, if that’s the right term, on game ranches. For the right amount of cash, a hunter can take a leopard under conditions that can most charitably be described as “controlled.”

That brings us to Cape buffalo. The fabled mbogo usually ranks no worse than number two on any professional’s list of dangerous game, which means he’s a serious adversary. Their herd habits and rancorous personalities mean they do not fit in well with any semi-domestic situation as the leopard can. You need serious fences to confine a herd of buffalo, and an awful lot of land to provide browse. If you have ten leopards on your property, every one is a potential source of cash; the same is not true of buffalo.

Fortunately, Cape buffalo are very adaptable and can bounce back from reduced numbers in an astonishingly short time. One year they may have been almost wiped out in an area; five years later, given suitable conditions, they are back in good numbers.

Altogether, Cape buffalo combine substantial populations with genuinely wild conditions. They are both affordable to hunt, and it’s real hunting in wild country. It’s safe to say this will never be true again of elephant, black rhino, or lions.

For these reasons, Cape buffalo are the last of the Big Five (barring the semi-domesticated leopards) readily available to anyone with a modicum of cash and an urge to hunt dangerous game.

One reason the Cape buffalo enjoys this enviable situation is that they can adapt and live almost anywhere, as long as there is a supply of water. I have hunted Cape buffalo on jungle-covered mountainsides, in volcanic craters, chest-deep in swamps, and in dry and sandy thorn bush. I’ve climbed mountains that reminded me of sheep hunting, and wallowed in swamps that reminded me how much I don’t like swamps. I have hunted them in burning sun and pouring rain. But it was all buffalo hunting.

Cape buffalo are not only hunted in a variety of terrain, but also using a variety of approaches. As a natural herd animal, of course big bulls are found in herds ranging from a few dozen to several hundred. Stalking a herd of wary animals in open grassland, while trying to pick out one good set of horns from among many, is no pushover. Alternatively, old bulls that have reached a stage of terminal cantankerousness often go off on their own, or with another bull or two of like temperament, to live out their lives in lonely reflection, alleviating the boredom occasionally by tossing and/or stomping the odd villager out in search of firewood.

Hunting these old lads is a whole different story than hunting a herd. It’s a game of cat and mouse with the possibility that the hunter thinks he’s the cat one minute, and finds that he is the mouse the next. Such old bulls have learned not to depend on the collective eyes and ears of the herd for his protection, and has discarded any notion of safety in numbers. He is wary, self-reliant, and superbly capable when it comes to individual combat.

Not all of these old loners are magnificent trophy bulls with deep curves and wide spreads. Many have horns worn down almost to nothing, bearing a massive boss that covers their skull like a helmet, but not much else. They are almost hairless, grey and scaly, usually tick-ridden, bearing the claw marks of lions on their flanks and with ears chewed to rags. If they are brooding and bad-tempered, they have reason to be. Taking on one of these veterans on his own turf, and coming out alive, is an accomplishment for any hunter. Having done so, it leaves many with a nagging dissatisfaction hunting anything else.

Probably the ultimate experience in hunting buffalo is having to track a wounded one and, as often as not, face a charge. In a genuine situation of this type, where you fight down the fear and stand your ground and come out on top, any hunter can take great pride (preferably privately and internally) in having faced and conquered one of the ultimate tests. I say “genuine” because, as with any human activity, it can be, and has been, cheapened and degraded by so-called hunters who have learned how to inflict a painful wound, gut-shooting a young bull with a light rifle, then provoking a charge, made to look more dangerous than it is through the magic of long-lens compression and dramatic camera angles.

At least one licenced professional, having mastered this technique, made and sold videos, and booked clients to go to Africa to do the same. They then came home, bragging to everyone about how they faced a charge and dropped the bull. An acquaintance of mine claimed to have done exactly that, not once but five times on a single safari, shelling out the cash to bribe the game scout for another tag, and another, and another. For years, some of the more ethical members tried to have this professional barred from the Safari Club convention, and eventually succeeded; at the same time, the Tanzanian professional hunters’ association was trying to have his licence revoked, but were never able to overcome the power of bribery.

It is tempting to compare all of this with the attractions (and undoubted profits) of pornography and the white-slave trade, but we’ll leave it there.

Better to end on a reflective note, recalling buffalo hunts past, and the feel of the rifle in your hand, and the sight of the Rift Valley stretching away as you listen to the rasping breath in the brush, and wondering when he’ll come for you, and whether this will be your last glimpse of that blue, blue sky.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”View article in E-ZINE” color=”orange” align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fafricanhuntinggazette.com%2Fspring-2019%2F%23spring-2019%2F178-179||target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”19682,19683,19684″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Calgary International Hunting Expo 2019

Dec 20, 2018 | News

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