South Africa 2025

[Bob33]

Your family, and you will cherish this trip the rest of your lives.

[Dan-o]

Your family, and you will cherish this trip the rest of your lives.

Absolutely!

[Ridgerunner]

MY family still talks about our trip to south africa in 2018.  It was EPIC and well worth the investment.  You will have a blast over there.  I can't wait to see the daily updates.   

[washingtonmuley]

Awesome!! Who did you hunt with?

[elkaholic123]

The wife and I did a trip to S Africa in 2019 for our 30th anniversary. The wife still talks about it! Even non hunters would have the time of their life.

[Ridgerunner]

We hunted with Game4Africa in the eastern cape.  With the direction prices are going for outfitted(and out of state tag prices) South Africa you get alot more bang for your buck.  The amount of animals that you see(and can hunt) is incredible.  Not to mention the incredible cultural experiences you can have over there.  I don't think I have ever met anyone who has gone to Africa and not dreamed of going back. 

[Angry Perch]

Awesome stuff! Looking forward to hearing and seeing more!!

[Jason]

Awesome trip you all had!.

I'm going with three buddies to South Africa in October of 2026, not looking forward to the long flights.

[Rainier10]

So day 2 which was technically our first full day was pretty epic as well.

Started off hunting for zebra. All four of us wanted to shoot a zebra but that didn’t seem right so we decided to have my daughters shoot it out. Closest to the bullseye would shoot the zebra. My youngest had won that contest back home. That is why the oldest got to shoot the impala yesterday.

They prefer that you shoot old dry female zebra. If you shoot a mature male it creates chaos in the herd unless it is an old male that has been kicked out. We found what the guide thought was the oldest mare and my daughter belly crawled into position. She stood up and took a 120 yard shot quartering to, it almost summersaulted the zebra and my daughter. The zebra didn’t go 100 yards and expired.  The herd came into view and no stragglers. They started barking, yes barking kind of like coyotes. The guide said the zebra is dead between where it was shot and where the herd stopped. We found it not even 100 yards away from where she shot. Zebras apparently are tough animals and we were thrilled there was no need for a follow up shot. We are going to make a zebra rug with this. More of the story to come later.

[Rainier10]

There tons of Blesbuck in this area so my wife grabbed the rifle and put a stick on two older bucks that were running by themselves. These are beautiful animals with lots of cool colors.

Forgot the photos

[Rainier10]

While all of this was going on we got a text from Bugs N Bones that he had shot this warthog. They aren’t supposed to start rutting for a few more weeks but he saw this guy cross the road and was able to anchor him moving through the brush with a single shot.

He had hunted a couple years back but was unable to check warthog off his list on that trip or his trip before that. The smile on his face shows what a great feeling it was to take this warthog.

[Rainier10]

We all got back to the lodge for a late lunch, running behind because we were having so much success in the field.

Sharing the stories with everyone while eating kudo backstrap was tons of fun. The camaraderie in camp is really awesome and the food is just as good as the stories shared.

[Rainier10]

Bugsnbones headed out for the afternoon hunt before us and called to our guide letting them know that they had found two bull sable and one of them was really nice. Sable was not on my list but they said we should come take a look.

We got to their location and we could barely see either sable through the brush. They assured time the lower sable was special. I could see his horns moving in the brush and his ears flicker. We moved a little until I could see his horns perfectly and his head. He was laying down and I could see his dark body through the brush but couldn’t clearly see the leg or vitals.

The upper sable stood and started to feed. It was nothing to shake a stick at but clearly the one still bedded was the one to shoot. He had to be 10” or more longer.  Finally the target sable stood and shot right out of his bed and ran 15 yards. I think he winded us. I was so zoomed in on his previous location I had to readjust and make sure I was on the correct sable. I scanned and found the smaller sable and immediately knew I needed to drop the bigger one. He was perfectly broadside but looking back over his shoulder. His nose was just above the shoulder bone that the guides wanted me to make sure I broke. These are big tough animals and destroying that shoulder and taking the animal down is more important than trying to save some meet but losing the entire animal because it is able to run off.

I settled in 2” below the nose right on that shoulder and squeezed the trigger slowly. The bullet flew true, walloped the shoulder and he went 15-20 yards on three legs before he piled up.

When we got to him there was no ground shrinkage. 40” is a trophy sable and this guy was almost 44”. He was an absolute warrior, lots of scars from fighting and a huge scar one knot on his face between his nose and eyes.

Dinner and cocktails were over the top as we went over the days events.

[wadu1]

One heck of a day for the Rainier10 family today, thanks for the updates.

[Ridgerunner]

Looks like you are having too much fun with the family, makes me want to plan a return trip!!!!