53 hours and counting.....

[AKCrazyhorse]

till the bird leaves Fairbanks.  It'll be about 28 total hours flying time to get to Jo-burg then the drive to Citadel and the hunt with Dries Visser Safaris.  This is my second trip but my first with my Saluki Damascus.  The ulitmate quarry is the Gemsbok and Zebra.  Anything after that will be gravy.  I know that the 650 grain axis shafts and VPA penetrators and terminators will do their jobs.  Now I just gotta do mine.  Pics, vids and lies (er I mean completely truthful recitations) upon my return.

[Ragin Bull]

We will be here waiting        

Good hunting.  Be safe

[Old Chief]

A trip like this is on my "Bucket List."  Will be waiting for the pictures and "truthful recitations."  Good luck and good hunting.

[AKCrazyhorse]

Well, got back last week and have been trying to sort out all the photos and videos from my trip.  What an experience!  This was my second trip to RSA but my first shooting traditional gear.  Here's a couple trips of the lucky winners of the "get to come home to America" sweepstakes that I was running.  Dries Visser Safaris is one heck of an operation boys.  Some more pics, maybe a vid to two and the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (at least as far as you guys are concerned) will follow. Bear with me though as Archery Moose and caribou is in full swing here and our fall is preciously short.

 

 

 

[JDeanP]

Those are some fine looking animals. Congratulations and good luck back at home.

[OBXarcher]

wow beautiful animals. can't wait to hear the story

[AKCrazyhorse]

Alright guys, sorry it's taken so long but the days are rapidly getting shorter and I've been beating the woods down looking for a little bull moose to fill the freezer.  We'll start with the day before the hunting actually started.  Eating lunch in camp and the professional hunters confirmed that we were all shooting compounds.  Upon my clearing the matter up, I saw a couple of eye rolls and heard the uncomfortable silence of a couple of them.  I mean, it's hard to blame them as we've all heard the horror stories (most of us have seen them first hand as well) of the trad guys who can't hit dirt by dropping an arrow out of their tree stand.  One of the other hunters even mumbled "there's a reason the mongols aren't around anymore".  After carefully explaining that it's the same reason the sioux and apache aren't running the show and that despite the technological wonder that is the compound bow, I still don't see them issuing them out to Seal team 6. We headed to the range.  All the compound guys walked to the 30 yard pin and began firing.  For the record they are all very good shots.  As it became my turn, one of the PH's suggested I move up to about 15.  He was not joking and I believe he had my best interest at heart.  I knocked an arrow, shrugged and said "let's see what happens, what's the worst that could happen".  I grinned a little poop eater grin as I began my draw.  With my 3 under release and my middle finger in the corner of my mouth anchor, my point on distance with my Saluki Damascus and 650 grain arrows is exactly 30 yards.  My first shot was about 1 inch left and 2 inches high of the silver dollar sized bulls eye and dangerously close to an arrow shot by mister "mongols ain't around anymore".  Silence on the line.  Two more shots within 2 inches of the first.  As I stepped away from the line I heard "try a couple more".  I shrugged again and put four more shots into a fist sized group.  "Alright, you can shoot" stated one of the PH's.  At distances under 30 I am an instinctive shooter and my shooting wasn't any worse except for one that I pulled.  The arrow glanced off the side of the target butt and snapped in two. Remember fellas.....FOLLOW THROUGH!  We'll get to the meat of the hunting (literally) in a little bit.  Now I've got to go get the camper ready for a caribou adventure up the Dalton Hwy, in a couple days.  Be back in a few.

[jeanpaul3006]

Congrats, some great animals. Keep the stories coming!!!

[Joseph]

Who were the PH's when you were there?  I hunted with Hein and Anthony.  They were very accepting of traditional shooting when I was there.  The group before me was all trad shooters and they cleaned up.  I ended up being the lone hunter in camp for 9 or 10 of the 14 days I was there and I didn't do to shabby myself.  I did shoot a Warthog which wasn't recovered but I am sure it lived and I payed for it.  I also heard after I was there that one year they were only letting people take 4 arrows with them to a blind and not sit alone because people had shot animals and then lied about it. They couldn't be sure because they didn't know how many arrows they had started with and didn't find the animals until after the fact.  I have heard of people going to Africa and not being able to shoot good when they were there.  I hope that would be due to nerves, and not developing the skills before hand but you never know.  There are a lot of compound shooters that have been through Vissers that had less than exemplary performance.  They told me about one guy that had been there the same year I was who shot 14 animals and only recovered 1 of them. It was a very expensive lesson about not confusing stuborness with strength!  Nice animals by the way, I didn't get a Gemsbok when I was there and dearly wanted one.  Someday I will get back and make them and Waterbuck pay!  Congrats and thanks for the story.

[AKCrazyhorse]

Well since you brought it up this is a great time to talk about the PH's.  My first trip over I did not have any hunters sit in the blinds with me.  This trip my hunter was with me everyday.  I have to tell you I will not hunt without one again.  The ability to tell the age, sex and pregnancy status (from a great distance I might add), as well as the endless factual knowledge of all the flora and fauna and their habits was astounding.  It completely added to the experience.  Hein and Anthony were both in camp as was Nico and my hunter was Willem VanDyk.  If any of you are familiar with Craig Boddingtons writings and adventures, Willem has guided him and is mentioned in at least one of Craig's books.  In fact, Boddingtons first african hunt ever was guided by Willem's father.  Willem was a fantastic PH and I feel like I left Africa with a new friend that I hope to hunt with again someday.  You are right about the compound guys not doing any better than the trad guys.  One of our hunters shot 2 warthogs, 5 TIMES EACH!  He even managed to clunk Hein on the head with the lower cam on his bow.  That had to smart!!  The only game animal lost was a zebra to one of our compound guys.  As for the shooting issues, I thought long and hard about this.  After missing my first three warthogs (2 over and 1 under) I think it's a product of several things.  I think that nerves certainly play a part.  You've dreamed so long about this trip of a lifetime that the pressure you put on yourself with these strange and beautiful creatures sort of consumes you.  Also, I practiced a lot from a seated position in a double bull blind, but shooting from the half buried blinds was still different.  Being at ground level messed with my depth perception and everything appeared farther than it was.  I think this perception was coupled with the extreme contrast of the very dark blind and the very very bright surroundings outside.  You mind and your hand eye coordination will overcome it but it takes a few shots, so if the opportunity exists try to take a couple shots each day from the blind on a block target if available.  That 4 arrow rule still exists if you're hunting without a PH. It's disheartening to think there are so many cheats and liars out there to neccessitate such a rule but I guess there are.    I'll post a couple pics of the ground blinds and get on with the hunting story part this evening.  The internet at work is being a PITA.

[steadman]

Very good story and great animals!

[AKCrazyhorse]

K guys, I'm really sorry this has taken so long.  Let me quit boring you fellas and get busy with some slayin (and maybe just a little bit of prayin as well).

Day 4 of the hunt was a big one.  On day 3 we had a small herd of 6 zebra come into the water at last light.  They circled the waterhole, and moved in and out visual range several times.  As the light waned, they approached one final time.  the wind had been blowing from a bad direction all day and we had lit some zebra dung to attempt to cover out scent. The lead stallion (a young animal)came in from my right and hung up about 15 yards farther out than I wanted to shoot.  After staring at the water for several minutes he turned tail and the whole heard headed away into the darkening bush.  So on day four at about 11 am when another group 4 zebra (all stallions) came in (we were sitting a different blind) I got ready.  Willem my PH was so funny.  Everytime I saw something interesting headed our way and announced it to him he'd say "are you serious?", like it was the most amazing thing he'd ever had an american hunter see.  He cracked me up.  After glassing the animals he told me that any of them that presented a shot would be a good zebra.  Willem took over the video camera as the lead stallion approached the water.  They must have had a powerful thirst cuz they came in on a rope.  As he lowered his head to drink I came to full draw.  My Saluki had developed a peculiar creak as I drew and I think it was dust trapped in the loop servings rubbing against the Siyahs.  Anyway that creak became the "go time" noise.  The bow announced it's deadly intention, I hit anchor and paused...The EFOC 650 grain axis shaft tipped with a 250 grain VPA penetrator took the stallion right behind the shoulder.  It must have clipped pretty heavy bone cuz it only penetrated about 13 inches.  The neon pink wrap, fletching and pink lighted nock was unmistakeable as the stallion exited stage right at a high rate of speed.  As Willem videoed the stallions retreat a large grin broke over his face as he watched the animal go hooves up.
 

Here's the blind we shot him out of.  Very typical in placement and construction of all the blinds on Citadel.

And a picture of the entry wound

 

[AKCrazyhorse]

Willem was very happy, dare I say proud that his traditional hunter had taken, what is considered the most wary of the plains game.  He and the tracker philamon, had a lengthy conversation in Afrikaans and Willem told me that the tackers all have a running battle and wagers over whose hunter does the best on each day.  He assured me that today....philamon would be the winner do to the animal taken and the equipment used.  I don't know that the stakes were but Philamon was one happy tracker all the way back to camp.

Day 5 became my day of destiny.  We returned to the same waterhole we had shot the zebra from and immediately were covered up with Gemsbok.  This was my totem.  My spirit animal.  My quest and nightmare from 2007.  After watching a couple bulls and one lazy horned cow come in and NOT come to the water (I have a serious thing for freak horned animal and it was VERY tough not to attempt to wait for this cow to return) a 34" bull came in from the left and headed for the water.  Once again My Saluki Damascus whispered it's creaky warning.  The shot was perfectly placed front to back but about 4 inches lower than I would have liked.  It passed completely through.  Willem decided to call in a experienced Jack russell tracking dog "General".  Within moments General had the Bull at bay.  Now, these dogs probably mean more to the PH's than most of thier blood relatives and baying wounded animals is serious business.  They take no chances.  Willem asked me if he could shoot the animal with a rifle to relieve any chance of the dog getting injured and possibly loosing the animal.  I agreed but definately got the impression that his asking was just a courtesy.  As soon as the General began barking the race was on.  We pounded through the bush and got within 20 yards of the gemsbok what was doing his darndest to skewer that nimble little Jack.  I dropped to a knee and waited for the Winchester .375 to finish it.  I heard the bolt action cycle and then....nothing.  I then got a tap on the shoulder and was told "shoot him again but please don't shoot my dog".  Oh God.  I've just run about a half mile in pants and a sweatshirt, I'm out of breath and adrenalin charged, I've got easily a half dozen, PH's, trackers and fellow hunters watching, I can't understand why they don't just shoot it and now I've got to make sure I don't poke with little dog that seems to be jumping around in my shooting lane every half second or so.  Turns out one of Willem's boys had cleaned his rifle for him and not reloaded it.  All the bullets were back at the truck.  The last thing I remember is telling myself not to miss and hit that dog.  Well we all know what happens next right?  Yup, I missed.  well, sort of.  I hit the bull high.  Above the spine and under what they call the comb bones.  nothing vital up there fellas but it will cause a wounded gemsbok to run like a bat out of hell.  He easily outdistanced the heat exhausted General.  After nearly 6 hours of tracking the trackers prounounced that they had lost the trail.  We drove all the dirt roads of the area dragging a tree behind the truck to clean the old tracks out.  Then just as everyone was loading up and heading back to the lodge, Willem announced that he was gonna walk through the middle of the area we had lost the trail in.  He instructed Philamon and I to drive to the other side of the block and wait for him.  On the drive over I was struggling to come to grips with loosing another gemsbok (I hit one and lost it in 2007).  We had no sooner parked when we heard the big .375 bark twice.  As we met back up with Willem he greeted me with "thanks for tagging him like that".  As Willem casually walked through the brush he had glimpsed the bright pink crested end of the arrow that had struck the bull high, bobbing and weaving through the brush.  As Willem told me "I can't even put a percentage number on the odds of me walking in there and finding him like that".  Thank the Lord for persistent PH's and pink fletching.

 

[Joseph]

Congrats again and thanks for sharing, that is a nice Gemsbok.  I like your Zebra to and it always amazes me how different the can look from one another.  I prefered to have a PH sitting in the blind with me also.  Veritable fountains of information and it is nice to not have to worry about videoing and shooting all at the same time.  I was sitting alone when I got my Zebra and for a while it wasn't looking good for the video portion.  I practiced shooting out of a double bull before I went also and my first shot was at a Duiker at about 8 yards.  I shot a foot over it's back!  I thought poor Hein was going to have a heart attck!  He said it would have been in the top ten in the world horn wise. Besides the narrow windows you shoot out of I think what throws people off the most, including me is shooting up at the animals because of being in a pit.  It definetly takes some getting used to.  The stress of knowing any blood on the arrow is going to cost you money also raises the stress level.

[AKCrazyhorse]

Yah Joseph, in the group my stallion came from there was another that was very much like yours, much thicker black striping.  I really wanted a crack at him but he was hanging up pretty far out and you never look a gift zebra in the mouth.  This will be my final installment and thank you all for putting up with the gushing.  It really was a fantastic experience.  

On day 6 we tried a new waterhole.  Willem assured me that several nice warthog's frequented this hole.  I was feeling really unsure about the warthog since I had already missed a couple and after simply being honest with Willem about my confidence level on that particular animal we decided that a nice Blue wildebeest might be in order.  The Blue wildebeest is one of those animals that automatically come to mind when one thinks of africa.  Early in the morning a huge bodied bull came to water but his horns were below average in length.  I explained to Willem that I didn't need a sci record bull but he would not relent and let me shoot.  Once again shortly before noon a nice bull came in.  He approached from the left of the blind and halted about 10 yards left of the waterhole with the vitals just in front of several trees.  He took two halting steps out and Willem told me to shoot whenever I was ready. I felt calm as I drew the bow and heard that familiar creak.  This time the height was perfect but a little further back than I had hoped (it's always something ain't it).  As he bolted off I could see a large volume of blood pumping from the entry wound.  After watching the video back, Willem said "I don't know what you hit, but no organ that bleeds like that stops bleeding until the animal is dead".  Oh yeah?  After a strong blood trail for the first hundred yards, it just dried up and we were right back to dry tracking.  Philamon continued to track until "Jesse" the wonder dog (Hein's half red heeler, half jack russel) showed up.  As we tracked along waiting for Jesse to find the bull, Philamon pointed at the ground.  I assumed he was indicating some spoor but when I looked down I saw a large snakeskin shed about 3 feet in length.  I was only a partial shed and you could tell it came off a large snake.  Now I'm not so partial to anything that slithers and talks otherwise good girls into eating fruit that they're not supposed to.  In 2007 I had a snake enter a pit blind and drop onto my shoulder, slither across my leg and out the door.  The next day, at a blind clear across the concession, another identical snake came in the blind AGAIN!  What followed was an epic battle between man and serpent that made the boer war look like a sissy slap fight.  Neither snake was poisonous thank goodness.  Back in the present day, Philamon uttered a name for the snake that had left the skin and apologized for not knowing the english name (we'll get back to that).  Shortly thereafter, Hein stopped dead in his tracks and cupped his right hand to his ear.  He then pointed off in the distance and took off at a full run.  Everyone followed suit.  Today my fiancee was sitting in the blind with us.  Although I knew what was transpiring (Hein had heard Jesse with the bull at bay) my Kelly had no idea.  I turned to her and told her "we're gonna have to jog a little now sweetie, try to keep up" and off we went.  It wasn't long till she pooped out and I heard "go on without me".  Oh I don't think so.  Not in the middle of the South African Bush.  Not really a problem as tracking 5 humans is not near as difficult as tracking one wildebeest.  After we lost sight of the group we just kept plodding along and after a few minutes came out in a clearing where the bull lay dead.  We asked Philamon again about the snake and Willem perked up.  "Mozambique spitting cobra, good thing you didn't the rest of him".  Thanks Willem.

It was a wonderful night in camp around the bonfire.  My hunt was over as I had taken all the animals I had aspired to.  The next day we went into Thabazimbi and checked out a local taxidermist shop and then stopped by a "predator farm".  For ten US dollars we got to wander around and see some fantastic lions, hyena, cheetah and tigers.  They even allowed us into an enclosure with three lion cubs.  One 8 month old and 2, 4 month olds.  The PH's (Willem and Nico) refused to handle the cubs and when I asked them about it they responded "you know that 8 month old is more than enough lion to kill you right?  We read about people like you in the paper. We prefer to stay closer to the door" was their answer.  Honestly I hadn't even considered that. What a wonderful trip it was.  I'm really hoping that my future holds a third trip.

 

 

I won't carry on with anymore but if anyone has any questions about hunting in africa or Dries Visser Safaris that I can answer please feel free to ask.  Thanks for indulging me.

[Lex Hoffman]

Dude, feel free to carry on with more--this is great stuff.  I'd love to get to Africa someday.  Did you do a package or pay for each animal individually?

What kind of blind or temporary setup (I can't dig a pit blind) do you think would provide the most realistic practice for the types of shots you had?

[Friend]

What an inspirational adventure. Thanks much for sharing such entrigueing details and marvelous pics filled with memories for a lifetime.


Congrats!!

[Joseph]

Thanks for sharing, that sounds like a really nice trip!  I want to get back there again, my wife wants to shoot a lepord     They didn't mention anything about the predator farm when I was there.  That would have been a nice side trip.  Those 8 month old lion cubs look like they are about the same size as a mountain lion!

[Old Chief]

Outstanding stories and pictures.  Thanks for taking the time to share.

[saumensch]

Thats a dream right there, you made it come true for youreself!

Congrats on the fine harvests and thanks for taking me along and letting me dream.