African Safari 2012 - The update thread

[Rob]

Kudu, I am going to try to make it to the Tri cities, but it is looking like I may have a conflict brewing...

Engelwood:

Dang!  I had a formula error, thanks for catching that!  It was totalling all the values in Ray's package, including his grand total...  I fixed that up-thanks for the catch.

The reason his package is more than the other PG packages is that he is taking his wife as an observer.  He will see a 200 per day fee for that, his transport to camp will be double, and airfare and spending money will increase as well.

Again, thanks for catching the error.

As for posting all this info, I find it helps me get my thoughts cleared up as well so it helps me too (not to mention having people check my math...)

[engelwood]

Right on, I was just making sure I wasn't missing anything. I'm sure he will be able to sleep a little bit better at night now  HAHA. I look forward to keeping up on this post like I said before.

Also, sorry for checking the math, I'm an accountant and therefore can "geek out" on things like that from time to time!

[Rob]

No, I really appreciate the extra eyes on this kind of stuff-thanks!

I think I mentioned it above, but I sent the scope on my 450 Dakota off to Leupold to have them look it over.  They did so and said it checked out fine – although they did replace an erector on it.  I just love Leupold!

Anyway, with open sights, I was able to put 5 shots inside a 3 inch circle at 100 yards which for me is good with any open sight firearm.  I remounted the scope on Saturday after messing around with 5 or six shots to get it zero’s at 100 yards, I took a three shot group at one of the one inch red circle I pasted on the target.  I was very pleased to have a ¾ inch three shot group!  I did a second three shot group and was able to get two to touch, and I must have pulled the third shot as it went left about 3 inches. 

As I said before, the recoil is rather punishing with the barrel having a tendency to rise significantly when shooting.  It wants to jump from your hands and I have to really try to keep the scope from hitting me in the face.  I was over in Eastern Wa on Sunday so I decided to try shooting the Dakota from the new safari sticks I picked up at the SCI show.  I put a target out at 67 yards, set up and pulled the trigger.  I hit the target, and was shocked to notice that the recoil was significantly reduced.  We are talking a 25% reduction in my estimates.  The gun did not feel like it was going to leap from my hands, the scope was nowhere near my face when done, and the felt recoil was much reduced.  I always knew shooting from a bench increased recoil, but on this gun, the difference is very noticeable.

Here is a photo of the three shot group I got on Saturday.

[Rob]

Update:  It has been an interesting couple of weeks finalizing on the contract for our hunt-filled with ups and downs.  First some quick Role definitions as it is somewhat complicated to see who is doing what:
-Adam Clements Safari Trackers (ACST) is the Outfitter who sets up the hunts.  ACST works with Many PH’s across the world. 
-Mark Young is our coordinator.  He works for Adam Clements Safari Trackers.
-Terry Anders is the PH we will be hunting with.  Terry’s company is called Savuli Safaris.  Savuli has two concessions on the Save Conservatory in Zimbabwe that we will be hunting.

Before booking our hunt with Savuli through ACST I did some research on Mark Young.  The African Safari world is actually quite small…  Follow this rabbit trail:
Mark Young mentioned that he had been on several hunts with Jerry Huffaker.  Jerry is the  Taxidermist that my dad and I used after our Namibian hunt.  It so happens that Jerry lives in Abilene Texas, the same town my parents live in.  Not only has Jerry has done many mounts for good friends of my dad, but as the taxidermy from our Namibian hunt progressed, he and my dad became friends and have since gone on a few goose hunts together.  Both dad and I know Jerry to be a stand up honest guy with great ethics (not to mention that he is a dang good taxidermist!).  Since Mark indicated he and Jerry were friends and had hunted together, this seemed like a great personal reference to check on.  Jerry said that even though Mark had long hippy style hair, he was an honest ethical guy to work with and would do right by us.

I then went to the internet court.  The Accurate Reloading forum (http://forums.accuratereloading.com/)  is a wealth of info for those looking to go on an African hunt.  Much like Hunt-Wa, you can glean an abundance of info on PH’s and their practices.  Just as Jerry Huffacker has a great name as an African taxidermist on that forum, Mark has a great reputation and an honest and straightforward guy.  Additionally his posts are well thought out and constructive.  By example, would anyone here on hunt Wa expect to take an animal to Charlie’s Taxidermy or Michelle Nelson and expect to be treated anyway other than fairly or with mutual respect?  I think not.  So I felt pretty good about booking with Mark regardless of what outfitter he was booking through. 

I also did a search on the AR forum for Terry Anders and found nothing but accolades for his abilities to deliver as a PH.

After doing all this research, I felt pretty positive that we would be dealt with fairly by Mark, ACST and Terry.

It was about this time that we got the contract and Terms and Conditions (T&C) that we needed to sign that would translate our verbal agreement to a more formal agreement to hunt.

After reading the ACST T&C, my dad and I, as well as the other folks interested in hunting with us were put off.  The 9 pages of legalese basically said that prices could change for any reason at any time and at the sole discretion of ACST.  This was very unexpected and after reading these terms, we all agreed we were not comfortable signing them.  I began thinking of what other outfitters I wanted to consider hunting with, while at the same time we worked down the path of negotiating a middle ground with Mark and ACST.

My dad and I drafted an addendum to the T&C that went point by point through all of the concerns we had.  This amounted to a 4 page, fairly technical, document.  One of the guys in the planning group is a Marine in the JAG.  He looked at our addendum and thought that it swung us to the exact opposite position where we were asking the outfitter to accept all risk. 

I called up Mark and we talked through the concerns.  He explained a couple things:
1.  Their goal is to make sure we have a good hunt and they always go the extra mile to ensure we have a good hunt.
2.  There are things that can happen with a hunting trip to a third world country that can change the costs significantly.  Things that are out of the control of the client, outfitter and PH.
3.  There are inherent risks in traveling to a 3rd world country and travelers need to be comfortable accepting some degree of risk.
4.  They will always bend over backwards to accommodate us should things change on the trip and do what can be done to make it right.  Word of mouth and the internet community being as small as it is can ruin an outfitter or PH if they fail to do so, so it is in their best interest to take care of customers and do right by them.
5.  What is listed in the Terms and Conditions, and what is done in reality when things start to go bad are not the same.  They will always error on the side of the client relative to the T&C’s

I could see his point.  They need to ensure that:
-people don’t cancel trips because the media makes a huge deal over a single incident of violence
-people do not elect to not pay their trophy fees
-if the government of Zimbabwe decides to double or triple the tag price for a cape buffalo by, they do not end up losing money on the hunt.
-They are legally covered against deadbeat hunters who elect not to pay their bills
He cited an example from a few years back when he had a group of hunters on the ground in Tanzania hunting Buffalo when the Gvt. doubled the tag price, effective immediately, for Buff.  Understand that the hunters were already at camp and hunting when this happened.  The T&C would indicate that the hunters were obligated to pay for the whole hunt regardless of what the trophy fees were.  He said that they told the hunters they could continue the hunt with the new tag price, or take a full refund for the trip.  So they have a track record of being flexible.

But while I could see his point, it did not change the fact that the contract we were signing did not express that they would do whatever it took to take care of us.  It provided 100% coverage and latitude for adjustments to the Outfitter, and 100% liability rested with us as the clients.  This was still not acceptable for us.

After talking with Mark, he agreed to look over our 4 page addendum with his legal team and see if we could work out an agreement.  Before sending it to him, I called my dad up again, and we talked it over.  We figured that they would be as offended by our addendum as we were by the T&C and that we could descend into a “tit for tat” conversation over nits that could extend for several weeks and leave a bad taste in all our mouths.  We decided that at the end of the day, we wanted the following:
-Quotas allocated on the quota animals we wanted to hunt – specifically Cape Buffalo, on the days we would be in camp to hunt them.  If not, then we wanted an option to reschedule or cancel the trip.
-The prices quoted for daily rates, trophies fees, etc would not change unless driven by a change by the Zimbabwe Government.
-We wanted the details of what would be provided in the daily rate to be specifically called out.
-we wanted the trophy fees for all animals listed.

So it really came down to those 4 things.  I called Mark back and told him about the conversation my dad and I just had, and asked if this sounded more reasonable.  He agreed so I drafted a note to him with our requests.  It was crafted into a formal addendum which was sent to Terry Anders.  Terry agreed to this in less than 24 hours as written. 

The early part of this week my dad and I signed the papers and sent off our first deposits.  And today ACST confirmed receipt.  So as of today, dad and I are officially going to Africa!

We now officially have locked up the camp for our party, and it looks like we can take 4 other PG hunters with us.  It will be a great hunt!  Only 20 months to go!

[Rob]

Here is my contract, and the addendum we all agreed to.

[Rob]

Also, after working with Mark I found this thread
http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6321043/m/9181018041

This is the kind of stuff that causes 9 pages T&C docs like the one we got from ACST!

It was nice to be able to work with Mark through the process.  He was easy to work with and really wanted us to come to a place that we felt we would be comfortable in signing.  The situation could have been very unpleasant overall and ended badly, but Mark did a great job helping us out.

[Rob]

Not much going on this week.

I found a link where our outfitter is listing two more 2012 buff hunts with the same PH we are looking to go with.  the daily rate quoted is 100 a day higher than what we have so it looks like the rates are on the rise, or we got a bit of a better deal via the SCI show.
http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/832100588/m/7111036051

In other news, I am getting set up to load for 375 H&H.  I have a shell plate already.  I ordered dies, 100 rounds of Norma brass, a crimping die, and a box of 350 grain barnes banded solids on Tuesday.  While at the SCI show I took advantage of their show special and ordered 150 of the Tipped TSX (I think they were in 250 grain, but I can't recall-they only came in one weight).   I do see however that Barnes does not have any loading data for the Tipped TSX in 375 H&H on their web page and I assume it is also missing in my manual.  I think this is a new product offering for them as the T-TSX in 375 caliber is not listed on their website yet either.

The Norma brass is backordered till May, so once that gets here I'll be all set to start loading up 375 H&H shells! Now I just need to go find a 375 H&H rifle...  That will be a project for later in 2011 as I am tapped out of surplus funds at this time!

[engelwood]

Nothing like the hunt of a lifetime tapping out the reserves eh? LOL

[ORCA_SIX]

Very cool. I went to S. Africa in 2010. I had a blast (literally), had the opportunity to take numerous animals. There is definitely one thing true, once you go, you will forever want to always go back. Good luck in your hunt.

[Rob]

Hey Orca, what animals did you shoot?  Feel free to share your photos on this thread, I'd love to see them!

[Rob]

Long time with no updates.  But with the hunt booked, and 18 months till the hunt starts (ugh), there is not a lot going on.  I do have two updates to share though.

1.    Looks like one of my buddies has decided for sure to join my Dad and I on the hunt.  His Father plans to go along as an observer too.  So this is GREAT news.
2.   I picked up rifle #2 for the trip

As mentioned before, it is customary to bring two firearms on a trip like this.  I selected and obtained a CZ 550 Safari Magnum chambered in 450 Dakota (AKA Bethany) as my primary Buffalo gun, but my fear with this gun is, if I were to lose my luggage on the way to Camp, there is no way I would have been able to find any 450 Dakota shells to shoot with.  So I would be stuck shooting a camp gun.  A big part of the memory of a hunt for me is looking back at my rifles and recalling prior game I have shot with them it in the past.  Not being able to shoot one of my girls for a trophy as significant as a Buffalo would take a little piece away from the overall hunt for me.

For a second rifle I wanted the option to be able to use it for any Plains Game I decided to shoot, but also be able to use it for a Buffalo in a pinch.  It also needed to in a caliber that I would have a very high possibility of finding ammunition locally, or in Camp.  The 375 H&H Mag is the starting legal minimum for Cape Buffalo.  Additionally, the 375 H&H Mag is to Africa, what the 30.06 Springfield is to America.  It is used for everything from Klipspringer to Elephant, and ammunition can be found in any store that sells ammo, and is most likely already laying around camp, left behind by former hunters, or used by the PH’s in their own guns.  Although I really wanted to bring a 12 gauge for birds, I decided that the 375 is really the most prudent choice.

Back in December  when I was trying to decide on my primary Buffalo gun, a gentleman from Florida PM’d me on the Accurate Reloading forum.  He said that he had picked up a CZ 550 Safari Magnum chambered in 375 H&H Mag for a DG hunt in Africa a few years back.  His plans had changed and he no longer needed it. He was the second owner- the original owner had bought it to go on a Grizzly bear hunt and claimed to have put one box of shells down the pipe.  I am unclear if the former owner shot a bear or not (would love to have this tidbit of info!).  When the guy I bought it from got it, he put another 7 rounds down the pipe sighting it in and playing with it after he had some custom work done to it. 

The gun had about 5-600 dollars of custom work put into it including:
-A trigger job
-Bolt Smoothing work
-A mercury Recoil reducer
-A Barrel Band (not sure I’ll keep this)
-Rings added
-Glass Bedding
-A rear cross bolt added

The blueing is 100%, and the stock is in pretty good shape-there are a few dings in the wood from either field use, or safe storage, but nothing that went through the finish.

He offered a price that very fair given all the custom work so I "pulled the trigger" so to speak and bought it. 

It arrived last Friday, and I picked it up from my FFL on Saturday.  I had also ordered a Leupold VX3 4.5-14x50 scope for it.  While the rings that came with the gun were tall enough to allow it to mount, they were unfortunately too short to allow the front flip cover to clear the rear sights (the rear sights on the CZ 550 Safari’s are quite large-allowing for 100, 200 and 300 yard shots by flipping up tabs).  So I have new rings on order (It’s always something…).  I don’t feel too bad about ordering them as I really want Quick detach rings for this one so I can easily drop the scope and use open sights if need be.  Also, I can potentially quickly convert it to a DG Buffalo gun by moving the VX3 1.5-5x20 that is on my 450 Dakota and re-sighting it in if need be.

I tested the trigger pull weight with my gauge.  The standard trigger is set for approx 3 pounds 7 OZ.  It is nice and crisp.  Most CZ’s come with a set trigger, and the set trigger on this one is at 12 Ounces!!  That is pretty darn light.  It is nice for bench work, but I fear it is too light for field shooting.  I think I’ll probably use the standard trigger while hunting.

I took it to the range on Sunday and put 15 rounds through her (I have not named her yet…) using open sights.  I really suck with open sights, but despite my lack of skills, I was able to get 3 shot group sizes that were between 1 and 1.25 inches at 50 yards.  (Bad I know, but as good or better than I can normally do with open sights at that range).  I fully expect that once I get the scope mounted, I’ll be shooting sub MOA with it. 

Anyway, here are some mediocre photos.  Looks like I’ll be hunting with a brace of CZ 550’s next year!

[ORCA_SIX]

Hey Orca, what animals did you shoot?  Feel free to share your photos on this thread, I'd love to see them!

I shot a lot. Kudu, Warthog, 4 Colors of Springbok (White, Copper, Black, Common), Black Wildebeest, Mt. Reebuk, Daiker, Impala, Steenbok, Bushbuck, Bontebuck, Ostrich, Baboons, some Varmints (Foxes, Cats, etc.) and other Small game.

[ORCA_SIX]

I had a busy time to say the least. I did a bunch of culling too.

[Rob]

Wow, great hunt!  Did you do any kind of cool mount with all the color variations on the Springboks?

Nice Kudu too.  I like the antbear as well.  We dropped many a tire into thier holes on our hunt!

[ORCA_SIX]

Thanks. Yeah, I got some pretty cool mounts coming. They should be at customs next week. It took almost a year, but that seems to be the average from what I hear. The Antbear's are incredible. They are so weird and prehistoric looking. And they stink so bad, like a sweaty armpit without a week of showering. Their claws are pretty cool and they can dig incredibly fast. Move some serious dirt. The locals would eat them up and they would make crackling's or pork rinds since they are super fatty. I did not have the chance to try some, but I hear it is good.