Post by: Rob on October 15, 2012, 03:35:03 AM
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,64016.0.html (http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,64016.0.html)
Started rough with our plane from Atlanta being canceled and us needing to extend ourtrip by a day to get the full 10 days of hunting. Everyone's baggage was missign for the first two days so we needed to use camp guns and ammo for those days. The bag with my ammo never did show up until we passed back thorugh Bulawayo on the way home so I was left with camp ammo.
Other than that, we had a great trip. the four hunters in our party of 6 shot a total of 58 animals over 37 hunter days. My main goal was Buffalo and my dad and I got decent ones and had an outstanding hunt.
Here are the photos from my animals, and my dad's. I'll let the others post there photos if they choose to.
First set:
Klipspringer
Impala for camp meat
Bushbuck
Vervet Monkey
Post by: Rob on October 15, 2012, 03:37:43 AM
Post by: Rob on October 15, 2012, 03:39:28 AM
Post by: Rob on October 15, 2012, 03:44:29 AM
Post by: Rob on October 15, 2012, 03:45:44 AM
Baboon
Wildebeest
Zebra
Post by: Rob on October 15, 2012, 03:48:41 AM
Impala for camp meat
Zebra he shot for a friend to make into a rug
Wildebeest
Klipspringer
Waterbuck
first baboon
Post by: Rob on October 15, 2012, 03:50:31 AM
Jackal
Heyena
Post by: Rob on October 15, 2012, 03:51:25 AM
Here is Dad's zebra that he took for himself.
Post by: boneaddict on October 15, 2012, 05:06:11 AM
Post by: lhrbull on October 15, 2012, 06:05:50 AM
Post by: fvh40 on October 15, 2012, 06:48:26 AM
Glad you are safe at home .
Congrats with your hunt and all the excellent trophies.
Thank you for sharing.
Post by: jackmaster on October 15, 2012, 06:54:17 AM
Post by: X-Force on October 15, 2012, 07:23:57 AM
Post by: cedarriver on October 15, 2012, 08:09:48 AM
Post by: Rob on October 15, 2012, 08:37:49 AM
The Hyena hunts were really interesting. We did electronic calling at night to bring them in. When I get some time I'll document how the hunts went. Nothing like having 15 pissed off Hyena 30 yards away bathed only in moonlight.
We did a really poor job measuring the trophies. hit and miss.
While I shot a total of 10 Impala, 7 were for leopard bait, 2 camp meat, and one was a mercy kills. So no trophies there. (The Leopard hunt was a last minute long shot add-in based on available quota upon our arrival. We got close but did not connect which was a good thing for my pocket book!)
The waterbuck was at 29 inches. I was really surprised how big the body was. It was everybit as big an an average bull Elk, but perhaps not as tall (i.e. shorter legs).
My Klipie was 4.5 inches which I guess is pretty big. my dad's was 4.25
My Bushbuck was 14.5 inches with 5.5 inch bases.
The buff were kinda interesting. My buff had a wider spread, but dad's had deeper curls.
On the Rowland Ward system, mine had a 36 inch spread, and dad's a 35.
Per SCI, Dad's wider boss and deeper curls gave him a 100.25 score to my 97.
That's about all we got
Post by: Rob on October 15, 2012, 08:44:50 AM
Basically I sat down every evening and estimated how many of each kind of animal I saw and recorded it in a table.
Notes:
-Baboons, Vervet Monkey were not included as we saw so many of them.
-I heard Leopards on at least 5 occasions but did not see them so they are not listed.
-There were approx. 1 billion Impala so they are not coutned either.
-There were a lot more zebra and wildebeest seen by others than I saw. Since I did not hunt them till the last day, I was not in the area they hung out, so I did not see too many.
-Some of the Elephants may have been duplicate sightings, but there were ALOT of elephants there!
Post by: lhrbull on October 15, 2012, 05:26:29 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on October 15, 2012, 05:50:39 PM
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on October 15, 2012, 05:57:02 PM
Post by: gramps on November 05, 2012, 07:32:25 PM
I really like the wart hog!!
Post by: ShaneTyTrey on November 05, 2012, 07:45:27 PM
Post by: DeerThug on November 05, 2012, 07:54:16 PM
Post by: Rob on November 08, 2012, 09:28:56 AM
In general, most folks over there seem to consider them vermin and would like as many shot as possible. I know that a troop of Baboon can destroy an expensive thatch roof in no time. They are kinda like really really smart coyote or raccoon I guess.
When we were in Namibia the PH told us to shoot as many as we could and we would only be charged for ones we wanted to bring home.
We did not shoot any in Namibia because initially I had no interest in doing so, and by the time I started to think I might want to, I realized that they were well conditioned to stay the heck away from us. Best shot we had was a 500 yard running shot.
There were a lot more of them in Zim and we had many more shot opportunities.
For the one I shot, I plan to have the skull done as a desktop mount, and have the hide made into a small rug. The skulls are pretty dang cool looking. The eyes sockets are very interesting, and teeth are amazing. Here is a photo of one.
Post by: rock on November 20, 2012, 06:06:03 PM
Post by: Rob on November 24, 2012, 08:06:11 PM
I am still thinking on everything, but this is what I am thinking for now:
Pedistal mount for buffalo
Pedistal mount for Wildebeest
Rug for Zebra
Full Body for Klipspringer
wall pedistal or full body for the Bushbuck
Thinking full body for the Vervet
Wall mount in rocks for the warthog
and just having a soft tan done on the baboon.
Post by: DeerThug on December 03, 2012, 08:36:13 PM
Know of a colleague that went to S Africa. Baboons were shot off of center pivots in Ag fields. Imagine baboons in Othello tearing crap up... So i get it if they are like coyotes here... but would have been interesting to cook one up... just saying
Post by: kiler on December 03, 2012, 09:07:57 PM
Post by: sled on December 03, 2012, 09:17:26 PM
Post by: Rob on December 04, 2012, 08:33:14 AM
The smell of the Baboon was enough to turn my stomach! I had to make an effort not to gag. I can't imagine eating one. I'd eat a Coyote first! Heck, I'd eat 10 Coyotes first!
Can't believe no one commented on my Vervet Monkey... I am fond of asking folks if they want to see my blue monkey balls...
The wife says the Vervet goes into the closet when her parents come to visit! (I guess then it will be the evil monkey in opur closet!). I might have a powder blue tuxedo jacket made for him...
Post by: DeerThug on December 04, 2012, 04:54:50 PM
Did you have to shoot a stallion zebra. reason i ask is a few years ago we ran into a deer hunter north of Spokane that had just returned from safari. He came and shared our fire and had great stories. When they got into zebra the PH told him to shoot the stallion. other wise it was like a way bigger few. He just shot the biggest one and got lucky.
So can you tell a male and female zebra apart?
Post by: Rob on December 04, 2012, 06:47:35 PM
These are short haired animals so it is easier to see that. But They do study them for a while before they tell you to take the shot.
I have not seen anyone charge a different rate for male vs female on Zebra. often folks are really looking for either a perfect pelt, or a scared up pelt from fights/lions, etc. That is usually the bigger question people have over male/female. and each hunter is looking for a different thing.
I cannot imagine why anyone would charge a different price for gender on a zebra, unless they are trying to manage a small herd. that is possible in South Africa since most if not all of the land is high fence areas. it is possible he had a smaller herd and did not want to take out the breeders.
If I was the hunter in that situation, I would tell the PH, you tell me which one is a male and I will shoot that one. If I shoot the one you tell me to, and it turns out to be a female, then I expect to pay the lower male rate!
Burchells zebra are gregarious herd animlas and found in large herds. Mixed with males and females. Hartman's zebra on the other hand travel in small family groups. The Hartman's I shot a few years back was with a mare and foal. IT was clear which one was the male as he was much larger. This could be another situation where they are charging more for a male. Ifthey have a harder to find type of zebra, they might be trying to limit what is taken.
Post by: Rob on December 04, 2012, 06:56:39 PM
here is the only photo I could find and it is pretty blurry.
Post by: DeerThug on December 05, 2012, 07:23:07 PM
So back to the meat. what do they do with all of the meat. does it get used some of it must be good stuff.
Post by: Rob on December 06, 2012, 07:16:30 AM
We shot several animals (at no charge) for meat for the village and for the trackers and skinners. We kept some of the meat for the camp, and we used some of the meat for bait (Hyena, leopard, etc)
It all eats very well. Here is one of the buff's up on the skinning rack.
Post by: DeerThug on December 06, 2012, 07:24:11 PM
Post by: fvh40 on December 06, 2012, 10:20:24 PM
As Rob said, the males are a bit bigger than the females. I try to see testicles from an angel and I look at the legs, head and the neck, they are bigger and thicker than the female's.
Regarding eating a Baboon, :bdid: :chuckle:
Post by: Austrian Hunter on December 06, 2012, 10:33:07 PM
Post by: Austrian Hunter on December 07, 2012, 06:12:03 PM
Post by: Rob on December 09, 2012, 08:23:01 PM
I am really looking forward to seeing the skulls from the Baboon and Vervet.
Thanks for weighing in Ferdi, I thought it would be easy to tell, but as I went through all my photos I saw that it was much harder than I thought it would be.
I have a lot of respect for folks like Ferdi and the other PH's I have met. The number of animals they need to be experts in is pretty amazing. it's not like they need to know a good whitetail, mule deer, elk, bear and perhaps moose or some other less common animal like we do here in the states.
They need to be experts on things like Klipspringers, Impala, Hartebeest, Zebra, Wildebeest, Duiker, Steenbok, Springbok, Kudu, warthog, Gemsbok, Bushbuck, and I am sure there are others. And that is just plains game. Then there are DG hunts like Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Croc, Hippo, etc.
It gets really tough (at least for me) with straight horned animals like Steenbok, Klipspringer, and Gemsbok. no reference points. The gemsbok are especially tough as both males and females have horns, the females horns are longer, but the males are thicker. And they grow more or less in relation to body size. So at a distance, they all kinda look the same.