Just got back from South Africa

HappyGVM

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Hi Everyone, thought I posted this thread on Sunday but I must have down something wrong so here goes again. My 16 year-old son, Hunter, and I got back last week from a hunting trip to the Eastern Cape of South Africa with Frontier Safaris and I wanted to share some feedback. Overall, I was very happy with the experience and the value for what I paid. Over 7 hunting days we took 10 animals; 5 trophies and 5 culls plus we took an 8th day to go to Addo National Elephant Park. The reserve / ranch is about 60K acres so you can hunt somewhere new everyday and you can definitely air it out if you want to. My farthest shots were 397 yds, prone, on a Blesbuck and 454 yds, off sticks (crazy how stable their sticks are-see the last pic) on an Impala but another gentlemen in camp killed Impala at 605 yds and 700 yds. My son's farthest poke was 266 yds at an ostrich but he has shot elk farther here in CO. The terrain varies from sage brush flats in the low ground to grassy (& rocky) flats on the top of the mountains. We both were shooting my Gunwerks 7mm RM with Berger 168gr VLDs. He got to go free as a kid so the package was less than $6K and included great sit down meals (3xday) plus beer and wine with dinner--that's less than my outfitted mule deer hunt last year. Only down side was the 36+/- hours of travel and the $2K price of airfare. I'll cut it off there but would be glad to answer any questions you may have. And for the outfitters out there, why do you think they can offer such a compelling value compared to guided hunting here in the states?
 

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Africa is a wonderful place to visit and hunt. I am planning my next trip now. Glad you had a great trip. As to your question on value, the rates in Africa are only 20-40% of the normal rate as their operations have been hurt badly by the covid travel ban. Right now is the best time to go for reduced cost and for great animals. My current safari is priced $22,000 cheaper than my last trip for many of the same animals and experiences.
 
Great pics and sounds like a great trip…..glad you got to experience it with your son! I'd also be interested in knowing what kind of shooting sticks you were using. I just got back from Zimbabwe and left my BogPod with my PH. They were great sticks but a little heavy…..no big deal since I wasn't carrying them. They'd had record rainfall and the leaves hadn't fallen yet and the grass was high which made hunting tough. Didn't get my Cape Buffalo or Kudu but did kill a nice Eland along with a Wildebeest and Impala.
 

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That Eland is awesome! Its a lot heavier cover than where we were hunting. The PH made the sticks himself out of 6 ft long 3/4 in dowels. The center leg went forward and the 2 out side legs pivoted to the sides. What was different is that at the bottom of the 2 outside legs, he had two shorter dowels (I think) attached that swung backwards and supported the butt stock of the rifle in an X. He said "Polecat" had some similar ones but I have not found them on line yet. I meant to take some pix close up but forgot.

Thanks to everyone else for the Congrats and other comments!
 
Hi Everyone, thought I posted this thread on Sunday but I must have down something wrong so here goes again. My 16 year-old son, Hunter, and I got back last week from a hunting trip to the Eastern Cape of South Africa with Frontier Safaris and I wanted to share some feedback. Overall, I was very happy with the experience and the value for what I paid. Over 7 hunting days we took 10 animals; 5 trophies and 5 culls plus we took an 8th day to go to Addo National Elephant Park. The reserve / ranch is about 60K acres so you can hunt somewhere new everyday and you can definitely air it out if you want to. My farthest shots were 397 yds, prone, on a Blesbuck and 454 yds, off sticks (crazy how stable their sticks are-see the last pic) on an Impala but another gentlemen in camp killed Impala at 605 yds and 700 yds. My son's farthest poke was 266 yds at an ostrich but he has shot elk farther here in CO. The terrain varies from sage brush flats in the low ground to grassy (& rocky) flats on the top of the mountains. We both were shooting my Gunwerks 7mm RM with Berger 168gr VLDs. He got to go free as a kid so the package was less than $6K and included great sit down meals (3xday) plus beer and wine with dinner--that's less than my outfitted mule deer hunt last year. Only down side was the 36+/- hours of travel and the $2K price of airfare. I'll cut it off there but would be glad to answer any questions you may have. And for the outfitters out there, why do you think they can offer such a compelling value compared to guided hunting here in the states?
Looks like your trip was a great success. We had a similar experience back in 2013 in the Limpopo with Limcroma Safaris. We will be hunting the Free State, Karoo, and Part of the East Cape at the end of August with Lungiles Safaris. My wife, myself, my father and step mother have been using the Danish made Viper Stix to practice on for standing and seated shots. I mention them as they look similar to the ones you showed. We can make standing steel hits at 500 meters with them. Here is the web site for the manufacturer.


You can buy them in the US at:


To your question, the large difference in economy of scale from the US to most of sub-Saharan Africa certainly plays a large role in the cost differences. A dollar goes a lot farther there.
 
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