African Safari 2012 - The update thread

[ThePascoKid]

Thanks for the info Rob, big help!  I work with a woman who went in 2008 with her husband I've been picking her brain every chance I get she's pretty much reiterated everything you' ve said so far.  I'm glad you started this thread, perfect timing for me.

[Rob]

Always good to know I'm not out on Mars somewhere!  It is entirely possible...

[Rob]

OK, I bought my rifle for Buffalo.  I'll have pictures in the next few days.  I found it last week and mentioned casually to my wife that I found a rifle for the trip but that unfortunately I found it too soon as it is available now and my budget was not.  She asked me how much it was, I told her and she offered a few thoughts on re budgeting and told me to go get it - gotta love that!

The rifle is a CZ 550 Safari Magnum chambered in 450 Dakota.  More than I need power wise, but what the heck... 

I drove to Pendleton on Sunday to meet the seller.  She (the rifle) came with the reloading dies, 123 rounds of empty brass, 2 loaded rounds, one dummy round, and a Leopold VX3 1.5-5x20 scope. She is an African veteran, and I am her third owner.  She has taken two buffalo, a lion and an elephant between the two prior owners.  I guess she put a hole clean through the head of the elephant and dropped it in its tracks.

I stopped off in the Umtanum on the way home and fired one of the two rounds off.  The kick is significant, but quite manageable.  It has a set trigger which is very nice as it allows me the option of a 3 pound trigger or a 1.5 pound trigger (or something like that).  You can see in the photo below that while big, the shells are not massive.  The shell on the left is the 450 Dakota with a 500 grain Barnes Solid.  The one on the right is a 338 win mag with a hornady soft tip of some kind.

Loaded cartridges seem to run between 7.50 and 12 bucks a shell so for my budget, reloading is a must!  I think I can reload for about 2 bucks a shot.  I am ordering up bullets, shell plates, and other specialized loading knickknacks needed to load up the .458 shells.  It is based on a 416 Rigby shell and the 458 cal bullets are common so that is good.  Nothing else about this cartridge is common or easy to find which is my one major concern with my selection.  if my ammo gets lost in transit on the way to Africa, I'll never be able to buy ammo for it in Africa.  My back up for that is to pick up a 375 H&H sometime in the next year and bring that as my second firearm.  Time will tell if I made a wise choice!

[Rob]

And the photos of the rifle.  She is a heavy one...  around 11.5 pounds

[Rob]

oh yeah...  she has odd rear open sights.  The blades flip up depending on range. 

[markts]

She is a beauty

[Kuduman]

Rob:
 Great info and very detailed.

I would add that perspective clients look at the advantages of "Package Hunts" I took a kudu, blesbok, Gemsbuck, Impala, Blue Wilebeast, Warthog, Springbok, Duiker, all for about $5500 all inclusive on an 8 day hunt in SA. in 2007  I've never been a fan of daily fees and a trophy fee list. Most outfitters don't offer Packages but in my opinion there the best value. My Gemsbuck was the only animal that didn't make the SCI recordbook. We ate like kings and were pampered in every way.

Check out my website www.trailsendtaxidermy.com
follow the Hunt Africa link to Valley Bushveld Safari and Chilumna Safari.

Thanks for all your research

Jeff   A.K.A. Kuduman

[Rob]

I'll definitely look at packages, and I hope to see options at SCI end of the month.

I tend to shy away from them myself just because you usually get a couple good animals, and then some animals you are not interested in.  I'd rather order from the menue and get exactly what I am looking for than have something picked out for me. 

For my dad and I, we want cape buffalo so packages are not really applicable.  For my buddies, they may be an outstanding value.

[Kuduman]

Rob:
 I agree. packages are a great value especially for the first timer to Africa. In additional trips normally your getting a bit more specific about what you want to harvest.

 I know for me my next trip will incluse a Nyala, Bushbuck, Waterbuck and a Red Heartabeast possibly a Eland and a Zebra but time and budget will tell.

 I also encourage my clients to pick those animals that you really want and have a list of those animals that if the opportunity presents itself you would take. That way your not paying for a 10 day 8 animal trip and have a great possibility to take those same animals in a 5 day package.
 When we went we were a bit worried that although our package animals were not going to be a problem, would we have ample time to take additional animals. Weather conditions is a big issue and as it turned out we collected 16 animals in 6 days and the weather was great. I actually saw the blue wildebeest that I took on the 4th day while hunting Blesbok on our first day.

 Additionally I make sure the outfitter will exchange animals on their packages. Most that offer package deals will allow you to swap out say an impala for the Mtn. reedbuck and no additional charge. Their not going to allow you to swap a Blesbok for a Zebra and we shouldn't expect them to.

I often get asked... What if I don't get one of the animals included in my package ?
That a great question and I encourage  folks to ask that of your outfitter. As for my outfitter if you don't have an opportunity to collect that particular animal than you won't be charged for that animal and that trophy fee amount Will be deducted from the final balance. this refund will not be given on missed opportunities or wounded game.
.
In your situation, I have seen Cape Buffalo/ Leopard combo hunts which is a great way to start a big 5/6 collection. There expensive but in the long run it's probably a significant savings compared to two trips.

I can tell you that there are two ways to hunt Africa, Daily fees with Trophy fees and Package hunts. It sounds like you did the former and I did the latter. I'll follow this thread and interject whenever practical so that the readers get the best and worst of each type of hunt.

Kuduman

[Rob]

Been a busy week, not much time to spend on Africa this week.

Regarding the package hunts, yeah, one the last hunt, my dad and I went itemized on, but my buddy and his dad took a package deal and added in an animal or two.  We were both happy with our choices.

Good point on the package exchanges and refunds.  That will go on my questionnaire for the SCI show in a few weeks. 

I’d like to go leopard, and it is definitely a good value, but I think even so, the budget won’t allow it this time.  I’m not on a quest for big 5 so that is not a driver.  Besides, it is always good to leave some unfinished business when you leave so you have a reason to come back again!  Also, I am looking to have fun with family and friends as much as kill animals.  The downside of Zimbabwe leopard is that they are usually hunted over bait in tree stands.  So to hunt them, you end up needing to go nocturnal – arriving at the blind prior to dusk, and leaving it after dawn.  That would put me on an opposite schedule than the others in my party.

Leopard will be on my list eventually.

I appreciate any insights.  It helps me out quite a bit.

[Rob]

Looking to start a list of questions to ask the outfitters at the Reno SCI show.  Here is my first cut.  Would welcome any suggestions of important questions to ask:

Contact info
Booth #
Concession name
contact e-mail
Contact name
Contact phone
contact web site
PH company name
PH name
Trip coordinator company name

DG rates
Daily rate for Buffalo
How many days are minimum for a buffalo hunt?

DG Scope
Do you have Crocodile?
Do you have Hippo?
PH to hunter ratio

Finance
Are the rates quoted good for the 2012 year?
Are there any other fees we should know about not included in the daily rate?
Are there any Taxes to consider outside of the Daily rate?
Are there any transport fees of trophies post hunt?
Are there camp transfer fees?
What are the transport fees?

General Scope
Accommodations Description
are Customs services provided?
Camp perks?
Can you support both buffalo hunters and PG hunters
Daily rates include PH, food, lodging, trackers, skinners, laundry, beverages, etc, correct?

General
how do you get from the airport to the camp?
How many hunters can you support?
Is a small aircraft charter required to get to the camp?
What are the Firearms requirements for PG?
What are the sleeping arrangements?
What differentiates you from other outfitters in the area?
What is the best time of year to go?
What is your deposit process?
What kind of sleeping structures are we in?
When do hunts start?
Will we be the only party at camp?

Land
How big is your concession?
Is it fenced?

PG Rates
Daily rate for PG?
How many days are minimum for a PG hunt?
PG Scope?
List Common PG animals in abundance
Do you have Sable?
Do you offer PG packages (if so, what?)
If you offer a package, can you substitute animals?
If you offer packages and I don't get a shot at an animal, do I pay a trophy fee?
List PG animals not in abundance
PH to hunter ratio

Spouse
Cost for extra curricular activities
Observer fee
What activities are there for a non hunter to do?

[Rob]

Gun Update:
So I finally got all the components and equipment needed to load shells for the 450 Dakota.  What a chore.  It might as well be a wildcat cartridge. 

I loaded up:
Ten 500 grain swift A-frames with 104 grains of H4350
Ten 500 grain Barnes TSX FB’s with 107 grains of H4350
I was using Federal Large Rifle Magnum – Match primers, and the OAL was 3.720 to the tip of the bullet.

I must say, this gun induces spontaneous swearing after every shot.  The recoil is pretty punishing – at least by my standards.  I am really glad it has a set trigger as it is so light that I don’t really have time to think about flinching as it goes off just as I start the pull.  With the recoil this thing generates, I think I am limited to between 10 and 15 shots a day.  I let another guy shoot it at the range (he was shooting his 458 Win Mag).  I warned him that it packed a kick.  He was ready for it, but not quite fully ready and it nearly jumped out of his hands when he shot.  It does push as much as it kicks so that is somewhat better.  Still somewhat shocking if you are not fully ready for it to hit you.

I was shooting 100 yards open sights (I sent the scope into Leupold for an inspection to make sure that the years of heavy recoil had not caused any scope damage).

On Saturday I put 6 of 7 rounds into the black.  All 7 were in a 4 inch or so group.  On Sunday I shot a few practice rounds and then put 5 shots into a 3 inch group, all in the black.  Open sights at 100 yards, this is about as good as I can shoot with open sights at 100 yards at this point in my life so I am pretty happy about this.  I will play with it again once the scope arrives and see if that helps reduce the group size.  I also want to get a chronograph on it to see what kind of velocities I am getting .  Those loads are supposed to generate something like 2400 fps.

I read an article on line about this cartridge.  The author states that he loaded a 450 Dakota with a 600 grain solid.  Not sure what range he fired from, but it went through 4 feet of wet newspaper, a ¾ inch piece of plywood, shattered a brick, penetrated a second ¾ inch piece of plywood and kept on going!

While cleaning the gun (first time since I removed the scope) I noticed that the barrel has two calibers stamped into it.  One says 450 Dakota, the other says 458 Win Mag.  This would indicate that the barrel was re-chambered to 450 Dakota sometime later in life.
I name most of my guns and I am still trying to think of a name for this one…  I am leaning towards Bethany.

I am overall pretty please with this gun.  It is far more than I need to bring down a buffalo, but playing with a big bore has been something I have wanted to do for a long time.  My only regret is that finding reloading gear for it is a pain.  I also have a fear that if I lose my ammo on the way to Africa, there is no way I will be able to find 450 Dakota rounds.  I intend to mitigate this by picking up a 375 H&H at some point over the next year to have as my second rifle.  375 H&H is the 30.06 Springfield of Africa and finding ammo for this cartridge should be less of an issue.
 

[Rob]

oh yeah, I meant to say one more thing.

The heavy recoil of this gun has an unusual side effect.  I think my flinch has been cured on lower calibers.  Moving to a 300 WSM after shooting the 450 was nothing.  Shooting the 22.250 was like shooting a pellet gun! 

[halflife65]

I don't think that I've mentioned to Rob that I appreciate the journal from the last hunt he took in Africa.  If any of you have any interest in Africa (even it it is still a dream, like in my case), or even if you don't, it's a great read.  Well written, funny and informative.

Great job, Rob.  Looking forward to following this thread, too.

[fair-chase]

Rob, would you be able to mail your ammo to your outfitter in advance of the hunt? Then you could get confirmation of it's arrival before you leave. Just a thought, don't know much about mailing ammo overseas.