Hello fellers. Thought you might enjoy this. Mad Dog who is a new member here just got back from Africa where he carried his 1895G loaded with 300gr Partitions on a plains game hunt. I will try to get most of it on this thread. reflex264
We left the house at 7 am on Wed. July 2, 2008. Fired up and butterflys in my stomach, we drove 6 miles south and met my best friend and his son. We drove the 90 miles south to the airport, in Indianapolis, to catch our flight, to Atlanta, and begin the adventure of a lifetime. We had a 3 hr. layover, and got some lunch.
We stepped on the plane at approx. 4 pm. to begin the loong journey to the other side of the world. The flight was long, but let me tell you that DELTA didn't miss a trick. We took books, magazines, and CD players, to help pass the time away. Not needed! Each seat had its own entertainment center- 20 plus movies, music, TV shows, even HBO! [first item not to take on african safari].
We landed in Johannesburg at about 4 pm., after a 17 hr, flight. We beat feet to immigration, and hustled right through. Picked up our luggage, then met a VERY helpful official that showed us the back way to the police dept. to pick up our gun permits[lesson #2, you don't need to spend $100/200 to do your permit papers, you can do it yourself for free].
We were met there by Bruce, a rep from AFTON GUEST HOUSE, who helped us get our permits. We were then off to the guest house for dinner, drinks, and a much needed nights rest.
AFRICA! We are finally there! It feels so surreal, I'm pinching myself to make sure we aren't dreaming. We stand outside having a beer, and watching the steaks cook. I look up and see the southern cross. "Toto we aren't in Kansas anymore"!.
Up the next day and off for a 3 1/2 hr. drive north to camp. We see monkeys on the road and baboons. Unbelievable!
We arrive at camp, in the middle of nowhere. We are greeted with a drink, and meet the entire staff. They are all young, 21-32 yrs. old. After lunch its off to the range to check the guns.
I had a difficult time getting a group with my gun. Stess, excitement,jet lag, and 10 sets of eyes on me had me shooting all over the place. I knew it wasn't the gun, it was me. Finally I asked 1 of the ph's to hit the bull with my gun. He fired 2 shots, touching at 100 yds. I knew the gun was good to go-it was just me.
We decided to get in the "bakkie"[truck for us country boys] and take a drive to look at some animals that we had flown halfway around the world to hunt. Amazing!
day 1 of hunt:
We were up at 5:30 am. Colder than hell[temps from 30 to 34 each morning].Quick cup of coffee, and of in the truck. Cruiser safaris control over 150,000 acres on almost 20 properties.
Before I continue on, let me explain about south africa, and the limpopo district specifically. As far as terrain, it is like flying halfway around the world to hunt in south Texas. Sandy soil, very dry, Thick bush, and everything has stickers on it. The properties range from 7,000 acres up to 30,000+ acres. Everything is high fenced, in all of south africa. One of the reasons is eland and kudu can jump an 8 ft. fence from a standstill. Also it keeps the poachers and squatters off the property. I wanted to make all of this clear in the beginning, for those of you that had visions of us hunting in the "deep dark jungles" of Africa. The camp was a full hr. from the nearest town[about 60 miles]. All you see is the bush from the road. Once you are off the main highway, it is rough gravel roads, and dirt roads to camp. The area is extremely remote. Now on to the hunt.
We are in the hunting area riding in the back of the cruiser. My ph, is a fellow by the name of Craig Diplock. As the sun rises in the east, I see steinbok run across the road in front of me[small antelope]. Next I see a herd of gemsbok way back in the bush. 2 miles down the track a small herd of zebra run in front of the cruiser and disappear in the thick, thorny brush. To say I'm excited is an understatement. We talk about my rifle, and the .45-70. Craig said it was the first time a leveraction OR a .45-70 had been in the camp. He couldn't keep his hands off the gun.
Mid morning, we go to a small waterhole, to set up in a groundblind. Craig tells me that midday is the best at waterholes because the game tends to move in during the heat of the day. We get set up in the blind, and all is quiet. Craig and I dicussed tropy size, and I said I wasn't interested in "book scores", and would decide when "It's big enough".
About 1/2 hr. later, an impala ghosts in, and goes directly to the water. I reach for the GG, and grin at Craig, who can't see the animal. The ram drops his head to drink, I line the cross hairs up and squeeze. WHOOM! The impala is DRT, before the gun quits recoiling. My 1 st critter, on the 1st. day of a 10 day safari!
As they say, into the salt. Craig said he couldn't see the impala til after I shot. I said he was "big enough", and we both grinned.
We took the animal back to camp, so he could be skinned. We ate lunch, and Craig asked me what animal I wanted most , and I said Zebra. We are back at the property, by about 2 pm. We spot a small herd of zebra, and get off the truck. Craig has the shooting sticks, and we are off. We follow them thru the bush. We close the gap, and have the zebra at about 80 yds. Up go the sticks, I'm on it, and whisper "which one", he says the on on the right facing us. BAM! I hit it right in the chest. It breaks from the herd, and I can't get on it for another shot. We go up and start trailing. Small drops of blood. We wander thru the bush for almost 1 1/2 miles on the trail. The zebra had rejoined the herd. Its getting 1 hr. before dark, so Craig calls Joseph, his tracker, on the radio, and he soon joins us. We follow the trail for another mile, on practically nothing. These trackers are amazing! We start around a bush, and Craig spots it bedded down. As I look, up jumps the zebra, and I uncorked the GG on it-5 shots. It's still running! By this time I am completly out of gas, and hand the rifle reloaded, back to Craig, he and Joseph tale off running at full speed. Me, I'm limping behind, as best I could. They come back and get me, and the zebra is down.
Post mortem. I hit it directly in the chest, but her body was slightly quartering and the 1st. shot only clipped 1 lung. On the firefight shots, 3 hit the zebra, and 2 murdered trees in the bush
Zebra are 1 tough animal. Only 1 shot was a pass through. The rest were recovered and I will show you later. The impala was a complete pass through from stem to stern. Man I'm beat time to go to camp and get a beer.
To be continued........
Mad Dog
Spent the 3rd day hunting water holes for kudu. Sht this big male at 65 yds. 1 shot to the neck, bng/flop DRT
Went on over the next 2 days to hunt the rest of my pkg. we went to a water hole 1 morning and set up in a blind. We had a variety of critters come in, including blue wildebeast.
A second herd came in with about 20 cows and 1 bull. He was rolling in the dirt, and the cows had him covered. When he stood up, Craig said he was a wally. I waited until he cleared the cows. He was facing me at 90 yds. He dropped his head, the crosshairs hit between his shoulder blades.....BOOM!....He dropped like a sack of wet taters . I shot so quick, that Craig didn't get a chance to plug both ears. His head rang for an hr. Nice bull, he would make the record book....but I don't care, he's "BIG ENOUGH"
On to another day, and another hunt. Looking for warthogs. See hundreds, mostly females and young. I love watching the run. They are very entertaining. They are so ugly, they're purty We set up on a water hole and the hog comes in for a drink. He sticks his head in the water to drink, exposing his shoulder. 40 yds., 1 shot DRT!
we are off and hunting all day. early afternoon, we spot a group of blesbok, at about 300 yds. Craig and I sneak thru the bush, and get within 60 yds. I put the gun on him and slam, he goes right down. I jack another in the chamber, and he gets up and starts to run, I lead him, pull the trigger, and he cartwheels like a rabbit
We go on hunting. About 5 pm we spot a group of gemsbok, and put on a sneak. We get to about 110 yds., and Craig throws up the sticks. I am having trouble in this terrain judging distance. The gemsbok was standing in tall grass, I took the shot, and off ran the gemsbok......
In retrospect, I must say I shot him too high in the shoulder. I should have turned down the shot. We tracked him that night and 3 miles the next day, on tracks and3 drops of blood . Their tracking skills are amazing. Well, if you draw blood you pay for it. Since I still wanted a gemsbok, I told Craig the only way I would shoot another was a "duck soup" shot. That rushed shot just cost me $925
About 4 pm we got onto another herd of gemsbok, I turned down the first shot, but we got up on him at 75 yds. BOOM! 1 shot to the neck. DRT!!
Boys, I could spend days posting pics of not only mine but the other 3's pics also. From time to time I'll throw up some new pics. Now kind of a recap if you will.
The gun. My .45-70 GG did better than me. When I put the shot where it belonged, it and the nosler were awesome. I used the load reflex turned me on to.
ww cases
210 fed. primers
51 gr. H4198
300 gr. nosler part.
lee fact crimp
avg vel. 1950 fps
Here is a pic of the bullets that were recovered. These were the first bullets I've ever recovered from any animal, with this bullet.
We left the house at 7 am on Wed. July 2, 2008. Fired up and butterflys in my stomach, we drove 6 miles south and met my best friend and his son. We drove the 90 miles south to the airport, in Indianapolis, to catch our flight, to Atlanta, and begin the adventure of a lifetime. We had a 3 hr. layover, and got some lunch.
We stepped on the plane at approx. 4 pm. to begin the loong journey to the other side of the world. The flight was long, but let me tell you that DELTA didn't miss a trick. We took books, magazines, and CD players, to help pass the time away. Not needed! Each seat had its own entertainment center- 20 plus movies, music, TV shows, even HBO! [first item not to take on african safari].
We landed in Johannesburg at about 4 pm., after a 17 hr, flight. We beat feet to immigration, and hustled right through. Picked up our luggage, then met a VERY helpful official that showed us the back way to the police dept. to pick up our gun permits[lesson #2, you don't need to spend $100/200 to do your permit papers, you can do it yourself for free].
We were met there by Bruce, a rep from AFTON GUEST HOUSE, who helped us get our permits. We were then off to the guest house for dinner, drinks, and a much needed nights rest.
AFRICA! We are finally there! It feels so surreal, I'm pinching myself to make sure we aren't dreaming. We stand outside having a beer, and watching the steaks cook. I look up and see the southern cross. "Toto we aren't in Kansas anymore"!.
Up the next day and off for a 3 1/2 hr. drive north to camp. We see monkeys on the road and baboons. Unbelievable!
We arrive at camp, in the middle of nowhere. We are greeted with a drink, and meet the entire staff. They are all young, 21-32 yrs. old. After lunch its off to the range to check the guns.
I had a difficult time getting a group with my gun. Stess, excitement,jet lag, and 10 sets of eyes on me had me shooting all over the place. I knew it wasn't the gun, it was me. Finally I asked 1 of the ph's to hit the bull with my gun. He fired 2 shots, touching at 100 yds. I knew the gun was good to go-it was just me.
We decided to get in the "bakkie"[truck for us country boys] and take a drive to look at some animals that we had flown halfway around the world to hunt. Amazing!
day 1 of hunt:
We were up at 5:30 am. Colder than hell[temps from 30 to 34 each morning].Quick cup of coffee, and of in the truck. Cruiser safaris control over 150,000 acres on almost 20 properties.
Before I continue on, let me explain about south africa, and the limpopo district specifically. As far as terrain, it is like flying halfway around the world to hunt in south Texas. Sandy soil, very dry, Thick bush, and everything has stickers on it. The properties range from 7,000 acres up to 30,000+ acres. Everything is high fenced, in all of south africa. One of the reasons is eland and kudu can jump an 8 ft. fence from a standstill. Also it keeps the poachers and squatters off the property. I wanted to make all of this clear in the beginning, for those of you that had visions of us hunting in the "deep dark jungles" of Africa. The camp was a full hr. from the nearest town[about 60 miles]. All you see is the bush from the road. Once you are off the main highway, it is rough gravel roads, and dirt roads to camp. The area is extremely remote. Now on to the hunt.
We are in the hunting area riding in the back of the cruiser. My ph, is a fellow by the name of Craig Diplock. As the sun rises in the east, I see steinbok run across the road in front of me[small antelope]. Next I see a herd of gemsbok way back in the bush. 2 miles down the track a small herd of zebra run in front of the cruiser and disappear in the thick, thorny brush. To say I'm excited is an understatement. We talk about my rifle, and the .45-70. Craig said it was the first time a leveraction OR a .45-70 had been in the camp. He couldn't keep his hands off the gun.
Mid morning, we go to a small waterhole, to set up in a groundblind. Craig tells me that midday is the best at waterholes because the game tends to move in during the heat of the day. We get set up in the blind, and all is quiet. Craig and I dicussed tropy size, and I said I wasn't interested in "book scores", and would decide when "It's big enough".
About 1/2 hr. later, an impala ghosts in, and goes directly to the water. I reach for the GG, and grin at Craig, who can't see the animal. The ram drops his head to drink, I line the cross hairs up and squeeze. WHOOM! The impala is DRT, before the gun quits recoiling. My 1 st critter, on the 1st. day of a 10 day safari!
As they say, into the salt. Craig said he couldn't see the impala til after I shot. I said he was "big enough", and we both grinned.
We took the animal back to camp, so he could be skinned. We ate lunch, and Craig asked me what animal I wanted most , and I said Zebra. We are back at the property, by about 2 pm. We spot a small herd of zebra, and get off the truck. Craig has the shooting sticks, and we are off. We follow them thru the bush. We close the gap, and have the zebra at about 80 yds. Up go the sticks, I'm on it, and whisper "which one", he says the on on the right facing us. BAM! I hit it right in the chest. It breaks from the herd, and I can't get on it for another shot. We go up and start trailing. Small drops of blood. We wander thru the bush for almost 1 1/2 miles on the trail. The zebra had rejoined the herd. Its getting 1 hr. before dark, so Craig calls Joseph, his tracker, on the radio, and he soon joins us. We follow the trail for another mile, on practically nothing. These trackers are amazing! We start around a bush, and Craig spots it bedded down. As I look, up jumps the zebra, and I uncorked the GG on it-5 shots. It's still running! By this time I am completly out of gas, and hand the rifle reloaded, back to Craig, he and Joseph tale off running at full speed. Me, I'm limping behind, as best I could. They come back and get me, and the zebra is down.
Post mortem. I hit it directly in the chest, but her body was slightly quartering and the 1st. shot only clipped 1 lung. On the firefight shots, 3 hit the zebra, and 2 murdered trees in the bush
Zebra are 1 tough animal. Only 1 shot was a pass through. The rest were recovered and I will show you later. The impala was a complete pass through from stem to stern. Man I'm beat time to go to camp and get a beer.
To be continued........
Mad Dog
Spent the 3rd day hunting water holes for kudu. Sht this big male at 65 yds. 1 shot to the neck, bng/flop DRT
Went on over the next 2 days to hunt the rest of my pkg. we went to a water hole 1 morning and set up in a blind. We had a variety of critters come in, including blue wildebeast.
A second herd came in with about 20 cows and 1 bull. He was rolling in the dirt, and the cows had him covered. When he stood up, Craig said he was a wally. I waited until he cleared the cows. He was facing me at 90 yds. He dropped his head, the crosshairs hit between his shoulder blades.....BOOM!....He dropped like a sack of wet taters . I shot so quick, that Craig didn't get a chance to plug both ears. His head rang for an hr. Nice bull, he would make the record book....but I don't care, he's "BIG ENOUGH"
On to another day, and another hunt. Looking for warthogs. See hundreds, mostly females and young. I love watching the run. They are very entertaining. They are so ugly, they're purty We set up on a water hole and the hog comes in for a drink. He sticks his head in the water to drink, exposing his shoulder. 40 yds., 1 shot DRT!
we are off and hunting all day. early afternoon, we spot a group of blesbok, at about 300 yds. Craig and I sneak thru the bush, and get within 60 yds. I put the gun on him and slam, he goes right down. I jack another in the chamber, and he gets up and starts to run, I lead him, pull the trigger, and he cartwheels like a rabbit
We go on hunting. About 5 pm we spot a group of gemsbok, and put on a sneak. We get to about 110 yds., and Craig throws up the sticks. I am having trouble in this terrain judging distance. The gemsbok was standing in tall grass, I took the shot, and off ran the gemsbok......
In retrospect, I must say I shot him too high in the shoulder. I should have turned down the shot. We tracked him that night and 3 miles the next day, on tracks and3 drops of blood . Their tracking skills are amazing. Well, if you draw blood you pay for it. Since I still wanted a gemsbok, I told Craig the only way I would shoot another was a "duck soup" shot. That rushed shot just cost me $925
About 4 pm we got onto another herd of gemsbok, I turned down the first shot, but we got up on him at 75 yds. BOOM! 1 shot to the neck. DRT!!
Boys, I could spend days posting pics of not only mine but the other 3's pics also. From time to time I'll throw up some new pics. Now kind of a recap if you will.
The gun. My .45-70 GG did better than me. When I put the shot where it belonged, it and the nosler were awesome. I used the load reflex turned me on to.
ww cases
210 fed. primers
51 gr. H4198
300 gr. nosler part.
lee fact crimp
avg vel. 1950 fps
Here is a pic of the bullets that were recovered. These were the first bullets I've ever recovered from any animal, with this bullet.
