2008 season starts off with a BANG!!

[Kilimanjaro]

Thanks a million on all the kind words, guys!! I really do apprciate all of them for sure!

 

Amanda, Kevin is right about the bird.. beautiful little guys for sure..

 

Christian, NOW your talking!! Mearns season is swiftly approaching!! I CANNOT wait!! The pups are chompin at the bit as well.

 

Doug, I really do!! I'll be livin' on top of mounts before too long!! Which, of course, is alright with me.. But I'm fairly certain that Bonnie isn't too keen on the idea!

 

Thanks again guys!

[Lookin4amonster]

Phenominal pictures and story ...

 

You definitely started off our season with a "BANG"!

[AZP&Y]

Excellent exotics- for sure!

 

Looks like those peaks in the background need to be climbed! --- Didn't look to incredibly hot??

 

That's putting the smack down!

 

AzP&Y

Doug

[DUG]

Awesome pics! That's a dream hunt for most of us. Is your wife rich or something?

[hunter4life]

Great pics of an awesome trip!! It must have been amazing to see the leopard. A leopard with hounds is my dream hunt in Africa.

 

Those Vaal Rhebok can be tough to get. When I was working down in the Eastern Cape they were always one of the hardest animals to get and many times required hard work and long shots.

[Chef]

DUUUUUUUUUUUDE!!!!!

 

What a write up! I was wondering when you would finally show back up!

We've been busy back here. Some bruisers have been taken during

the archery hunts already and the Governor's tag holders certainly put the smack

down on another great bull and a couple awesome mule deer bucks.

 

I can't wait for the black continent man!

[Hunterdan]

Very Nice!!

[firstcoueswas80]

Awesome!

 

When are you going out of town again

[billrquimby]

Congratulations, Scottyboy, but it is obvious you have bitten by the African bug.

 

They say that once you drink the waters of that wonderful continent that you must return to drink again, and again, and again.

 

I know. My first trip was in 1983 for Cape buffalo, kudu, warthog and sable in Zimbabwe followed the next week by gemsbok and springbok in South Africa. I've been back 22 times, including as recently as last year when I was in Namibia and South Africa to work on a book I'm ghostwriting for an outfitter there.

 

Those of you who think you must be rich to hunt in southern Africa should attend a day auction at an SCI convention in Reno. Africa is within reach of anyone who really wants to go. Seven-day hunts in South African including trophy fees for four or five antelope often sell at auction for about $2,000, and sometimes even less. Airfare from Arizona to Johannesburg is about $2,200. Tips and travel incidentals will add $1,000 if you are careful.

 

Try finding a fully outfitted multiple-species hunt in Alaska or Canada for anywhere near $6,000.

 

If you have a couple of $12,000 ATVs in your garage and an $1,800 trailer to haul them around, a $40,000 4x4 crew cab truck to tow them to where you're going to hunt, a $2,000 rifle that you might use to shoot just one animal a year, $2,000 in optics to find that animal, and another $2,000 in other assorted gear, you've got your priorities ALL screwed up.

 

You could be hunting an elephant, a lion and a leopard -- and a truckload of other game -- right now.

 

Bill Quimby

[Kilimanjaro]

GREAT post Bill!!! I most definately have the bug... BAD! This was my 4th time over there, and I've already got the next trip in the works!!

 

And about the priorities.. You sir are 100% right. If you want it, you'll find a way.. Once my Ele, Buff and Sable hunt is complete, only THEN will my African itch be completely scratched.. And trust me, it'll happen within the next 6 yrs.

 

Africa is a wonderful place that I wish everyone could expirience at least once in their lives. There's nothing like it.

[ajohunter]

Great story and pics as usual! Is it 2010 yet!!!!

[AllBoutHuntn]

WOW!! Great story and pics, looks like one heck of a hunt!!

[Kilimanjaro]

Is it 2010 yet!!!!

 

 

Patience, Eric, patience.... 2010 will be here before you know it, and we'll be Namibia bound!! Chef, you too!! I will get all the wrinkles ironed out in Jan of '09 at the Dallas Safari Club convention and then its game on!!

 

[Chef]

I'm just waitin' on you bud.

[billrquimby]

GREAT post Bill!!! I most definately have the bug... BAD! This was my 4th time over there, and I've already got the next trip in the works!! And about the priorities.. You sir are 100% right. If you want it, you'll find a way.. Once my Ele, Buff and Sable hunt is complete, only THEN will my African itch be completely scratched.. And trust me, it'll happen within the next 6 yrs. Africa is a wonderful place that I wish everyone could expirience at least once in their lives. There's nothing like it.

 

Scottyboy:

 

I've taken all the major and most of the minor antelopes of southern Africa, plus zebra, warthog, buffalo, lion, wildcat, caracal, jackal and I've forgotten how many other lesser creatures. Haven't shot an elephant yet, but have seen hundreds of them and have been mock-charged by a few. I've also accompanied friends on their elephant hunts. Early on I wanted to shoot one but eventually decided to spend my money on other things.

 

What I've learned in 25 years of going down there is that the itch never goes away no matter how many times you scratch it.

 

If you've made four trips, you'll make eight, and then you'll start planning more. After elephant, buffalo and sable, you'll be fascinated by lion, leopard, bongo, lechwe, kob, the various sitatungas and dwarf buffalo, and only God knows what else. I'm negotiating a book right now with a man who made forty safaris! I suspect he felt he'd get enough early on, but found out differently. He's 80 years old and just got back from Mozambique, where he shot a huge buffalo.

 

You obviously are doing it right. For the past 18 years I've moderated a "Your First African Safari" seminar at SCI's conventions in Nevada. I and the other panelists have always recommended that members book their first safaris in South Africa or Namibia, and work up to the wilderness hunts in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Mozambique. From there, there is Burkino Faso and Cameroon, and on and on.

 

SCI founder C.J. McElroy used to say the only person he envied was someone going on his first African safari. I envy anyone going on safari when I'm not.

 

Bill Quimby