OUT OF AFRICA

[bula]

Who sells BBQ sauce in 55 gallon drums? 

[Markbo]

WOW!!! Thanks for taking us along. I am officially jealous!

[junebug]

Dick
I will probably never get to Africa myself, but I can still smell the smoke [wood and powder] and have relived the hunts of several talented writers on this site. A good storyteller doesn't give you something to read he takes you along. Thank YOU FOR THE TRIP! Take care of that toe as elk season is right around the corner.

[sixshot]

I'm not sure but I think everyone that dreams of going to Africa thinks about 2 animals, Cape Buffalo or Kudu. To many of us they are the sort of flagship animals of Africa when we lay in bed late at night & have those dreams every kid dreams about when the hunting bug takes that first, really hard bite.
I was so torn between Kudu & Sable for months, I just couldn't make up my mind, still can't but now I'm back home & the decision was made to go with the Kudu, that was a bed time dream animal for many years growing up with BB guns, pellet guns, 22's, 30/30's, an old model 8A Remington 30 Remington my dad had & on up through model 70's, many, many Ruger #1's & then dialing it back down to TC single shots & finally about 25 years ago, pretty much revolvers only. What a ride it has been. You have to be willing to lose, watch them run away when a rifle shot would be easy & never break your own standards, that's the way we play this crazy game. But you win, even when you lose with a quality six gun, at least I do.
It was cool at 5:30am when she softly tapped on my door & said, good morning sir! Handed me a tall glass of juice & faded into the dark, man it's going to be a great day I think, Cristo, an older PH was taking me for Kudu, the animal of my dreams & I was on cloud 9. I had been seeing them for several days, the "Gray Ghost" of Africa & I was wound up pretty tight wanting to get after them, it was game on! Cristo said he knew where some bulls liked to hang out & that put a big old smile on my face & off we went into the cool morning air, actually crisp would be a better word.
Cristo & the tracker were talking a bit in Afrikaans, not to keep anything from me but because the tracker did not speak English. We spotted a Black Impala, we had seen him before, there was something he liked about this certain spot. Also a young Waterbuck liked to hang out here as well. This particular tracker could snap his fingers as loud as a bullwhip, it was amazing, he was on the back of the truck & me & Cristo were in the truck & even me, being almost deaf could hear him snap those fingers when he spotted something. I'll bet he could crack a Walnut in 2 seconds.
Anyway we travel a few miles & "Snappy" goes off in the back of the Land Cruiser & it's game on, we've got Kudu somewhere in sight. Cristo looks at me & smiles. We slow down & then "Snappy" jumps off & looks at 500 tracks & points off through the brush, we take off & sure enough we bump into 2 Kudu bulls & they are running. This chess match goes on for an hour & "Snappy" somehow keeps sorting out those tracks, it doesn't seem possible. Finally we drop off the tracker & Cristo says we will circle & get the wind & the tracker will work back towards us. Twenty minutes go by & we see the bulls sneaking up to the edge of the cover, now they have a decision to make, break out in front of us or turn back towards "Snappy" Cristo whispers, shoot the back one, it's 82 yds. I thumb back the hammer on the bisley & send a 282 gr HP through both front shoulders & he never takes a step. After 70 years those dreams have came true, the old rooster from Idaho just got his Kudu, yippee!















more to come, Gemsbok is last, Dick

[bigbrowndog]

Nice heavy horned bull Dick, nice going!! You are correct about Kudu, being typical Africa and so associated with Safari,.....both Sable and Kudu do that for me.

Trapr

[jfs]

About as perfect a African handgun hunt as you could get.... you were knocking `em dead Dick.................

[callshot]

Just like you said to me once years ago. We couldn’t get that grin off your face with an angle grinder. You will have good nightmares for years to come.

[lscg]

Dick,

congratulations! I really enjoyed reading this.

[silcott]

I was showing my wife the photos, and she said that the only way I could go to Africa to hunt is if I take her with me.

Congratulations Dick!!!

Justin

[contender]

Stunning,,, just stunning! A Cape AND a Kudu!
And you just keep proving to them that a handgunner can do it all!

And I know what callshot means about the grin,,, bet it's STILL there!

Keep it coming!

[dougader]

Man, that's a real nice looking kudu, and at 82 yards. What a hunt this turned out to be! On a much smaller scale[/i], this is a little like fishing for salmon and steelhead down here in Oregon and feeling as high as a kite to bring home a fish or two every now and then.... and then taking a trip to Alaska and the first day catch 5 coho (silvers) for the cooler and then hook and fight 10 more Chinook for sport.

I just had dinner, but that buffalo lasagna is making me hungry all over again. I bet the cook down there would love to see your Dutch oven cheesy-bacon spuds, Dick!

[sheriff]

Congratulations my friend on fulfilling your dream!

[sixshot]

The Kudu is known as the Grey Ghost, the Cape Buffalo is nicknamed Black Death, not sure of a nickname for the Gemsbok but over a 5 days period I came up with a few names for them but I can't repeat them here on the forum, sorry. All I can say is I saw lots & lots of them & they just don't stop running.
I re zeroed my FA 41 magnum 3 times hoping to get the right load in there in case one of them stopped in the same zip code I was in. The 255 gr WFN bullets were shooting great out to 100 yds but not beyond that so the PH had me re zero to 150 yds with the Hornady 210 gr XTP's. When we got down to the very last day he decided we had better switch gears again & go back to the heavy bullets & hunt from a blind, something I really was trying to avoid.
Nothing against blind hunting, I've done it before & I'll do it again, I just wanted to hammer one while we were looking at each other, they owed me! Anyway, we got set up & had some Waterbuck come in, then a big Impala ram, then 2 Blue Wildebeest, then 2 Gemsbok, hey look, they can stand still but oh baby were they wired. It was a bull & a cow & the cow had super long horns, she was also pregnant. Then some Golden Wildebeest came in.
Good thing we didn't have "Snappy" with us today, he would have 10 broken fingers by now. Suddenly one of the Blue Wildebeest decided to run off the two Gemsbok & we were afraid they were going to leave. My PH for the day was Bila, pronounced Beala. He leaned right up against my ear & whispered, shoot the bull, almost sounded like a joke. I love to shoot the bull....
The shot was broadside at 54 yds & I did the high shoulder shot. It "Brosted" him pretty good, he never took a single step! Thanks Kelly!














Dick

[dougader]

Completely blown away. What a HUNT! That Gemsbok is gorgeous.

[sheriff]

Congratulations, Dick!! Well done!