African Experience (lots of pics)

[tradtusker]

id like to share a place very special with you, many have shared adventures from hunting big whitetails in Idaho to elk in Colorado on Tradgang now id like to share some of Africa with you.

 For those that have traveled and hunted Africa you will know the magic draw the orange sunsets and the noises of the night have on a man's soul, awakening instincts and keeping fear and power on a knife edge.

This year i had a good friend James along for the 2 month trip we would join Robtattoo and Andy another bowhunter from here in the UK to hunt in Namibia for a week. Then we travel for a few weeks before heading into South Africa to help out of my uncle's safari operation for a month where we met up with Nigel (leopard).

ill start off on our hunt in Namibia...

 
Couldn't stop Rob grinning all the way there

 
First morning

 
James was the first with blood on the ground, this was his first trad kill he turned out to be a killer with that Silvertip of his as the trip played out.

 

 
Got my dad into trad archery and this is his first trad bow kill

 

 

 
Namibia is a pretty place

[tradtusker]

shot this pig for the leopard bait they where setting up for the next group of hunters

then i got a really nice Red Hartebeest
 

we had a great hunt there but did not see the game numbers we had hoped and there had been plenty of gun hunting on the property just before we arrived, the guide had said it was a bow only property but but i found out otherwise from the trackers        :(    "helps if you can speak a bit of there lingo"

 after the hunt we would drop Rob and Andy off back in Windhoek for there flight home.
Then with GPS, supplies and gear we headed north...


 

[tradtusker]

after speaking with a few guys that new all the good spots out of the way of all the tourist routes we spent a few nights on the Ugab River where we found a nice spring.
we would head north occasionally heading for the coast then up to Puros up North..

James and i would head out early mornings to see if we could cut elephant tracks and see what we could find.

   

   

   

   

   
heading through this stuff i was a bit concerned we would walk into an elephant which could have got interesting quickly luckily nothing

[tradtusker]

 
back at camp listening to the night creatures awaken watching the star filled skies and the smell the game meat cooking over the crackling coals earnt from the bows we carried, fills you with life

 

more camp meat
 

[swampjoe]

Great pics and sounds like a very cool time, thanks!

[tradtusker]

further north i could feel we would be getting closer to the elephants, James had never seen an elephant in the wild so that was the mission of the day..  

 

 

then finally we spotted and nice Bull. After checking the wind and escape routes we went in for a closer look  

 
can't help smiling when you experience cool encounters like that, better that seeing the animals in a park or zoo.

[tradtusker]

lots more to come..im off to work

[hunt it]

Fantastic pics Andy. Africa is one unique and beautiful country that everyone should see in their lifetime. Looking forward to the rest.

[Falk]

WOW! WOW! WOW!
lucky fellows  

[Chris Surtees]

   

[Zenzele]

Great stuff Andy!! Very jelouse!! Keep it coming!

[LEOPARD]

Great post so far bro! It was a really good trip!

Africa is an amazing place, that I hold very dear to my heart! It's an absolute disease, that once caught, there is no cure! I not only recommend, but insist that every hunter gets there one way or another! Hopefully Andy and I can share a bit of our home with everyone else here on TG.... I'm sad I didn't manage to join the guys in Namibia, but I had a fantastic time in SA none the less! Unfortunately I didn't get as many kills as I had wanted and planned to, but I did kill 2 very nice animals. I got a bunch of hunting in , and came away with some of the best hunting memories and experiences! It was an absolute pleasure sharing so much time in the field hunting with Andy and James! Two great guys!   :D  

 
 
 
 
 
 
My first trad kill...

These are just a few tasters of the many to come! I've still got a bunch of sorting and editing to do on my photos, so will be posting more as I finish them! Hope everyone enjoys this thread!    

[Trad Man 25]

I was starting to wonder when this would start to appear,,
Nice work so far Guys,

James

[Chris Surtees]

Keep it coming fella's!

[Al Kidner]

Stickbows, mates, smiles and the African background.... dosn't get any better in my book.

Keep the pics comming mate,


AK.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Too deadly, lads! Keep 'em coming! You have a nice continent, for sure!

[tradtusker]

 

 
pretty much everyone in the group wanted one of these but it wasn't to be...nearly though.

 

 

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Awesome artwork!

[tradtusker]

we headed all the way North all the way to a small town called puros then turned back and headed for sossus vlei (the big sand dunes)

 

 

 

hows this for a cool thing we where driving to sossus vlei when we see a sign for "hand made knives" like any real men we had to stop and have a look there we met a Swedish knife maker that had a big tract of land when i walked into his house i see trad bows all over the walls    :D  turns out he has his own archery range on his farm so we had to go field test it.

 

 
social weaver nest on his farm

[tradtusker]

thanks Ben    
this is going to be a pretty photo heavy post bear with us

of course i don't know many bowhunters that don't have an interest in the animals here are some pics...