Dear Hive:  I am leaving for the airport in about 30 minutes to begin my first safari.  I am traveling to South Africa, where I will be hunting for six days in the Eastern Cape province.  Target species include Kudu, Waterbuck, Zebra, Blesbuck, Impala, and Fallow deer.  I will post photos and updates here as connectivity and time allow, and will make a full report at the end of the trip.

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I am at the gate in Atlanta about to board a direct Delta flight to Johannesburg.  16 hours on a plane and I'll get to deal with customs and rifle permits.

I made it to Johannesburg. Delta Comfort Class was GTG, but 16 hour flights are never but so pleasant.  Our flight left late, but it didn't matter since my connecting flight isn't until tomorrow. Thankfully all my bags made it. Upon arrival, I breezed through a very short immigration line, collected my two checked suitcases, and walked through customs without being challenged.

I chose to hire an expediting service called riflepermits.com to pre-arrange a temporary import permit for my two rifles and my ammunition.  It took me a couple of minutes in the arrival hall to locate the representative of riflepermits.com, but once I did they were amazing. She walked me over the South African Police Service (SAPS) office, and produced a pre-approved permit. I picked my rifle case out of a group that were waiting on the counter, put it on a table, and unlocked it. There was no line. The officer did not even take the rifles out of the case, as the serial numbers were visible. He checked the numbers against the permit and waved me on. I locked up my case and left.

One of the other riflepermits.com guys then escorted me to the hotel shuttle, I am settled in my hotel room now. I have an early morning to check in for my flight to Bloemfontein.

I am not at the gate at O R Tambo airport in Johannesburg waiting to board my flight to Bloemfontein.  It is a short flight, less than an hour.  I am mildly worried about my bags and rifle case making it, but it is now out of my hands.  Here is a photo of the shuttle bus I took from the hotel this morning.  They all seem to be small buses with trailers for baggage.

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For this trip, I am armed with two rifles.  Both are Winchester model 70's of recent production, meaning that they have the pre-64 action.  The first is a Super Grade, chambered in .300 Win Mag, and the second is a Safari Express chambered in .375 H&H Magnum.  Both are equipped with Leupold VX3i scopes in Warne bases and rings.  The 300 has a 4.5-14x40 and the 375 has a 3.5-10x40.

I am shooting hand loads in both rifles that I developed over the last six months.  The 300 load is a 180 grain Barnes TSX over 69 grains of IMR4831 and a federal 215 primer in Winchester brass, seated to an OAL of 3.340".  The 375 is 260 grain Nosler Partition over 72 grains of RL15 and a Federal 215 primer in Hornady brass, seated to an OAL of 3.495".  Both are shooting right at 1 MOA off the bench.  I brought 60 rounds for the 300 and 40 for the 375.

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Made it to Bloemfontein with all my rifles and gear.  Connected with my friend and we were off to their farm.  Checked zero on the .375 and had a great dinner of local lamb.  Tomorrow we hunt.  More later.

Those are some sweet looking rifles. Glad it’s glong well, looking forward to more pictures.

Awesome day. Picked up a custom made suppressor from a local smith in Aliwal North for the 300. Checked zero on the 300, which required some adjustment in terms of elevation because the new can is heavier than my one at home (a SilencerCo Harvester 30).  The can was only $150, and I'll leave it with my friend when I head home.  Interestingly the gunsmith, who did an awesome job, did not have a 1/2-28" tap to finish the mount, so I brought one with me.  It was $10 on Amazon. Once we were set with a 200M zero (8 total shots fired), we got in the hunting car and went hunting.  The hunting car is a Toyota LandCruiser in a utilitarian configuration.

We went after a group of blue wildebeests.  I dismounted with my guide and a tracker, and we humped up a rather large and rocky hill, so we could get the drop on them.  We got within 200 yards, but they spotted us and split before we have a shot opportunity.  While trying to reacquire that group, we spotted some warthogs. Another stalk produced a 55 yard shot on a boar. The 300Win Mag dropped him cleanly, and the 180 TSX made a decent exit wound.

After lunch we got after the blue wildebeests again. It was awesome. After locating them from the LandCruiser, we dismounted and began our stalk.  Once agin we climbed a rather substantial hill to get near them.  We closed to within 50 yards three times and couldn't get a shot. Finally they ran downhill and starting grazing at a measured 316 yards. I got on the sticks (a Bogpod I brought with me) from a sitting position up on the hill. We picked out the biggest bull of the group and waited for a clear shot. After about 15 minutes, the moment arrived, and another 180 grain TSX dropped him is his tracks. I am very thankful for a great day.


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Bandwidth is very limited at my current location.  I have lots of cool pictures I will post when I have a better connection.  Tomorrow out goal is a blesbok and/or a springbok  Stay tuned.

I am clueless... is the meat donated for local consumption?  Are you going to process the hides skulls for trophy mount?

What a great hunting trip... we will live vicariously through you on this hunt.

All meat ill be used locally by my friends here. I will be getting a subset of the animals mounted, as it is too expensive to do them all.

Day 2

Yesterday was a late night, so I did not have time to post.  On day two, we stayed on the same property and spent most of the day pursuing blesbok and springbok.  I was on the sticks several times but could not get a clean shot a a decent animal.  Both species were very skittish.  I ended up shooting a red hartebeest when a shot presented itself.  It was downhill about 220 yards.  I did not make a good shot and hit the bull too far back.  He ran off.  We found him, and a second shot from the 300  put him down for the count.  I am embarrassed at the poor shooting, but I think I should share the good with the bad.  After a break to eat and rest a bit, we went back out after springbok.  I shot a nice ewe at 200 yards, that we had mistaken for a ram.  I didn't mind at all, as I wasn't planning on a trophy for it anyway.  After dinner, I went out with one of the guys who is a semi-professional jackal hunter.  He has a 1993 Toyota Hilux kitted out for predator hunting.  In the bed is a homemade swivel seat with a mount for a rifle and an integrated spotlight.  We also used a FoxPro Inferno caller, reprogrammed with jackal sounds.  I was in an observation role on this one, but my companion dropped a female jackal in the dark at 340 meters.  It was impressive.  He used a Savage Model 12 chambered in 260 Remington, with a locally made suppressor and a Vortex scope of some kind.


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Day 3

This morning we drove to another property about 30 minutes away to hunt waterbuck.  The terrain was very rugged.  We saw a group of five almost right away, but there were three cows and two small bulls--no big bull to shoot.  We spent another 2.5 hours locating and stalking a nice bull.  We used the farm's LandCruiser and made several dismounted stalks.  The terrain was very rugged.  Ultimately, our final stalk put us 120 yards from a group of six animals that included a very nice bull.  I shot him with my 375 at 120 yard from a sitting position off the sticks.  He was quartering away, so I place the shot fairly far back behind his shoulder.  He ran about a 100 yards and was out of sight.  We found him a few minutes later, dead.  The 260 grain Nosler Partition did not exit, but when the skinners removed his internal organs, we learned that the shot shredded his liver and both lungs.  I was very pleased with the hunt.

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Nice job on the hunt, nice shooting. That's a nice waterbuck bull!  Eat tons of biltong.

Day 4

Today we moved to another farm, where we will spend the night.  We climbed onto yet another Toyota LandCruiser in search of impala.  The usual pattern of locating from the cruiser and stalking on foot went on for a while.  I ended up taking a decent, but not trophy ram at 130 yards, using the PH's Savage Model 12 chambered in 260 Remington.  The 123 grain Nosler bullet performed well.  He went about 10 yards and dropped.

We went back out after blesbok.  They were very skittish, and after a number of stalks and several times I was on the rifle on to see have them run before I could shoot, I shot a decent, but not trophy quality ram at 265 yards with my 300.  It was not the best shot, and I put him down with a follow up at 200 yards.  I am very content with both animals.

Tomorrow we go to another farm in pursuit of kudu.  Note:  if you are going to hunt the EC, be prepared for 300 yard shots from improvised positions.  It has been fun and challenging.

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The owners of the farm we are hunting have a beautiful pair of golden retrievers.

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Man, great pictures and shooting. That waterbuck is legit.

Catching up. Connectivity has been limited.

Day 5

We packed up and traveled to a large sheep farm. This property is not operated as a game farm, but my friend knows the owner. The farm includes a mountain populated by kudo. We spotted some and hiked in a mile or so, trying not to spook them. Five hours of pounding up and down the moment resulted. We saw a number of kudo, including a nice bull, but I could not get a reasonable shot at him. The terrain was extremely rough, and recovery of a wounded animal would have been difficult or impossible. I had a great time hunting true, free range kudo. It will be at the top of my list next trip.

Day 6

Woke up at 4:30 to finish the week with a fallow deer hunt. We drove about an hour up into Barkly Pass. The elevation rose steeply. We hunted a 4,000 hectare sheep farm surrounded by mountain peaks. We were at about 9,000 feet, and I felt it as we hiked. This was a pure walk and stalk hunt similar to the day before. After thirty minutes of vigorous walking, we crested a ridge and spotted a group of seven fallow deer below. They were facing away from us with their heads down, and at first we thought they were does. Then they raised their heads, and we saw they were all stags! I got on the sticks from a sitting position and took the biggest one at 320 yards with my .300 Win. He stumbled about 50 feet and went down for the count. My quartering away shot entered through his ribs, shredded the bottom of his heart, and exited through his opposite shoulder. This farm has no game fence, and the deer are free ranging. This was a great way to finish the week.

Photo to follow.

Here's the photo of the fallow deer.

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Dang!  For a second, I thought you shot your dogs.

Looks like an experience of a lifetime. Glad you had a successful hunt.

Thanks for sharing it with us. A great hunt, and lots of useful info about the shooting. You have validated my ‘teaching rifle’ build, I am building an inexpensive to shoot rifle to practice all positions and using sticks.

I am scheming and plotting a safari of my own, goal is to get there once at least before I turn 40...

I have been warned by several people about Africa: once you have been there you’ll always be trying to go back

Thanks OP.  Great pictures.

Amazing hunt.

I just saw the link you posted to this thread in the poll thread  about how to spend 10 grand on a hunt / fishing trip.

We went to south Africa in April and I also had the time of my life.

I was surprised that suppressors where as inexpensive as they are there, and I also plan on picking one up on the way to camp next time to use while I’m in Africa.

Great pictures it looks like you had an amazing time!

Great pictures and writeup Op.