steenbock
1st thing down was the steenbock.  We were stalking a bull oryx and the wind busted us.  While walking back we came across this guy hanging out in the shade.  The PH was like “This is a very nice steenbock”  I was like “Ok sounds good to me” 45 yard shot in low kneeling from behind some thick brush.

oryx
We tagged this guy on day three.  We had spent the better part of 2 days stalking and looking for a nice oryx.  We went up on a ridge that bordered a wide plain and glassed for about an hour until we spotted a group of males.  Jumped in the hilux and cruised over and stalked on them.  Wind was kinda inconsistent but we made a very slow methodical stalk and I was able to get this guy at around 210 yards from the seated position from behind concealment. Longest horn measured 41 1/2
blesbock
This was kind of a target of opportunity.  We were cruising a local farm for kudu and came across a herd of these guys.  The stalk sucked as they were way out in the middle of a relatively shrubless area. Spent two hours pretending to be a oryx then spent about half an hour high crawling to get the lone shrub that was about 300 yards away from the ram.  Add to that an ornery black wildebeest that wouldn’t go away and it made for an exhausting stalk.  Got a seated shot at somewhere around 275-300.  Knocked it over with a low shoulder shoot but it got back up and moved slowly for about 50 yards.  Caught up with it and finished it with a rear quartering spine shot offhand from about 70 yards.

hartsbeast
This was my dad’s first kill of the trip. We spent the better part ofa day walking and stalking looking for Kudu, Eland, and Hartsbeast.  Mostly just walk , climb koppie, glass, rinse repeat. We spotted the herd of Hartsbeast at a cattle watering hole and stalked on them.  I hung back and the old man (who is damn near deaf) and the PH tried to get up on them.  Baboons fucked it up and they hung tight for about an hour until the herd began to move out to feed.  Dad took the shot on this guy from about 90 yards seated using the guide’s shoulder and a rest.  Knocked it right down.
jackal
It was at this point that I developed a pretty nasty abscess on my front tooth and went into a world of hurt.  We decided to sit on a water hole for the day to give me a break.  Ended up seeing a ton of stuff but nothing worth shooting. The main PH had said that if we saw a jackal to shoot it because they were spreading rabies to the kudu so I obliged.
eland
This was another of Dad’s. We traveled about 45 minutes to a 8k hectare farm that the guide had an agreement with to hunt.  My Dad didn’t get a Eland when he went to Zim so he was looking for a nice one.  We had picked up the farmer to give us a feel for the area (our PH was a freelancer working for the main guide, the main guide was busy with a 21 day elephant/leopard hunt at the time) As we were cruising the trails we spotted this brusier hopping the cattle fence.  Old man and the PH hopped off and stalked him for about an hour and made a 70 yard shot seated using the sticks.  One shot dropped the beast.  Perfect heart shot.
zebra

Zebra was an all day affair.  Needless to say I earned the shit out of it.  That night even though I drank two camelback bladders full of water I pissed acid I was so dehydrated.
warthog
While I was off hiking up and down hills looking for zebra my dad and the trackers were sitting on a waterhole hoping for warthogs. Not too long after they showed up this guy strolled in with a herd of cows.  
kudu
With 4 days left of hunting the main guide called up and told my dad and I to pack out shit and head to the conservancy in Kaokoland . The main goal was to get a leopard for my dad and to get a Kudu for me.  The first night they went and sat on a bait and I got drunk.  Then while they were sleeping in I headed out with Allon out freelance PH and went looking for Kudu.  Cruised some beautiful country and glassed for a while.  Stalked one kudu for about an hour but ended up getting busted by an ostrich.  Eventually came upon a nice one and after a short stalk shot him from the sticks at about 100 yards in the heart.  After the came up on it we realized that there was a herd of cow and calf elephants about 500 yards away who were not too pleased with the goings on.  That made the PH and tracker go into over drive to get the photos and boogie out.  I was put on elephant watch  while they did there thing and Allon took photos with his camera ( I am still waiting for him to email them to me, all I have is the shot I took at camp after we turned over the carcass to the villagers who are part of the conservancy.)

spring bock
The leopard was not cooperating (baits were going sour too fast) But my dad and the main guide stayed at the fly camp til the night before we had to fly out.  I headed back the main farm with Allon.  At this point it was clear that I was not going to see a warthog worth shooting so the guide said I could swap it for a springbock as there were tons of those around.  After a 5 hour drive from Kaokoland back to the house we immediately jumped in the hilux and went out to where we had seen some on the drive in.  This guy was all by himself away from the herd about 150 yards off the edge of the think bush.  We did a stalk on our hand and knees for about an hour and I dropped him in his tracks. About 20 minutes before dark on the last hunting day.  My dad ended up not getting the leopard but it was not a big deal because they had cooked a deal with the guide that said basically if he didn’t have the chance to shoot one he didn’t have to pay anything.


I have a ton more pics and more stuff I want to talk about but I figured this was a good start.

Awesome!

Fantastic trophies. What a hunt! Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

Living the dream

wow,some day thats really cool you got to do that with your dad ,props to you .

Awesome.  Reminds me of what I've read on the Boer war, and historical novels by Wilbur A. Smith.

Their guns or yours?  Looks like a pretty plain 700 (not that there's anything wrong with that).  Scope and calibers used?

When are you going back?????????????

Been dreaming of doing this with dad.  Approx cost if you don't mind me asking?

Mine
Model 70 in 300 WSM with a 3x9 x40 Nikon

just under 6k per person for a 2 on 1 not including flights.  6k includes fees ground transport from Windhoek food and lodging skinning and salting.

Yea my dad joked that since he had send my sisters on a four year vacation and only got a tree and a piece of paper he might as well take me hunting and get something more substantial to hang on the wall.

More pics?
How many animals did you and your father kill?

Sweet.

Awesome write up man!!! I would love to do something like that.  And the fees you said was the animal fees?

did this include the "trophy fees" i have always heard that is what gets you.... how many days?

what was the name of the place do they have a website?

No the 6 k was the whole hunt.  The costs of the taxidermy and import of the skins and stuff is going to end up being another 2k or more i would guess.  That is not included for obvious reasons.

http://www.christiesadv.com.na/

it was a 10 day hunt but since we booked direct with the guide via email he gave us an additional 2 days for a total of 12 hunting days.

Awesome stuff. Great trophies.

We are planning on going to Argentina for Red Stag and bird hunting next year. There is still a lingering urge to go back to Namibia and try for the leopard again.  Maybe when I get a bigger house. I have no idea where I am going to put the trophies I have

If you're like me, you were planning another safari before you were home. Nice trophies, congrats! I've been to RSA, Zimbabew, and Botswana. Going back to Zimbabwe this year in late July for a couple of weeks, hunt 7-10 days and do some visiting and sightseeing in RSA the rest of the time. Good times!

Trophies are at the taxidermist!  European mounts will be ready in a few weeks.  I am getting the Springbock and the Blesbock as should mounts and the zebra as a rug. So they will take longer but I am amped!

11 months to get to the taxidermist? Wow

 

Had to go through customs and to the tannery.

still, that is a long time.

 

Meat goes to the farm landowner. Our main guide was a farmer so he got most of it which they serve, eat and give to the farm hands who live on property.  We hunted a few other farms and they kept the meat.  

Ball park on the taxidermy is like 6.5k IIRC.  

The trophies have to be salted for X amount of time I think its like 30 days.  There was a UPS strike so that delayed it a bit.  Then it flew from Namibia to SA then on to Atlanta via freight so its basically space available and can sit at an airport for a while.  It sits in customs for a while then it went to the tannery which took 6 months I think.  The rugs and mounts will probably be about another 6 months.  The tanned hides and skulls are pretty much done.  Jim our taxidermist is going to mount them on plaques which shouldn't take too long.

A buddy of mine went to SA on Safari and had the mounts done in country and it took him like over a year to get his stuff.  Him and his brothers and fathers took like 20 plus animals between the four of them,  It's hit and miss I guess.

Finally got the Kudu pic from our guide only took almost a year.


First shot was in the chest.  Guide made me shoot it in the rear to get it to go down because he didn't want us fucking around with the herd of elephants nearby.

Finally got my Zebra rug from the taxidermist.  Went to hang in on a wall I made of 100 year old barn siding and discovered it was going to work. So I mounted all my other stuff to it and I am gonna hang the zebra from the ceiling.



edit to liven up link

Bump for Calder let me know if you need a better pic of the mount set up

No, gives me good ideas.  On AR I had found a guy that mounted pics in a series 3 or 4 high, but no taxidermy.
Like you I have planned on the zebra rug. (insert Scoobie voice) Roh Oo, zebra didn't fit on wall!

Planned on European mounts and the Kudu might be mounted.
I like the idea of a pic with skull and label.
One of the reference I called on did skins only.  Was that the kudu skin I saw?

Thanks for bumping it up for me.

Oryx skin.

Seriously I still have no idea wtf I am gonna do with my Zebra hide.  Maybe mount it on thin particle board and put it on ceiling.

Zebra skin looks good anywhere imho op. I'd put it somewhere where I'd see it a lot personally. It's a beautiful piece that screams Africa