Recently hunted in South Africa. Anyone want a recap?

[Magnum Sherpa]

@LopeHunter Fantastic journaling of your African safari. I was there in 2023, and it definitely gets in your blood. It’s impressive how quickly you dropped your buffalo with a crossbow. Congratulations on your trophies and hunt!

 

[LopeHunter]

@LopeHunter Fantastic journaling of your African safari. I was there in 2023, and it definitely gets in your blood. It’s impressive how quickly you dropped your buffalo with a crossbow. Congratulations on your trophies and hunt!

The broadhead was impressive. Some skill in use as I targeted the heart/lungs which is a generous zone but those overlapping oval ribs are in the way. The ribs can redirect and significantly slow the bolt at impact.

I looked at the rib cage in the skinning shed and the broadhead punched though breaking one rib. I have heard from several other crossbow hunters that they needed a rifle to wrap up their crossbow effort after a long tracking job.

 

[LopeHunter]

Interested for sure. Sounds fun! Did you take the crossbow or did they have one to use?

I used a crossbow the ranch provided and two of their rifles. The weapons were all accurate and properly maintained. I hoped to speed up clearing customs upon landing in Johannesburg so would quickly get settled in at the hotel I was staying at for one night. I ended up sharing the motel’s van shuttle with passengers on my flight which had rifles so in my situation exactly no time was saved leaving my weapons at home.

 

[duckhunt]

Now that's a great hunt and story. Thank you for sharing.

 

[KipCarson]

Awesome write up! I’ve enjoyed reading through it over the last few hours between projects. I’m glad I found this thread and you included the segment about the JNB airport and Africa Sky situation. I’ll be going through there staying at the same place in July as I overnight on my way to Mozambique. I’m only flying with archery equipment so hopefully it will be stress free and I’ll avoid the grifters and pickpockets too. I’ll start a write up for my upcoming trip soon but I’m sure it will not scratch the surface of this masterpiece!

 

[johnnybow]

Thank you for posting.

 

[LopeHunter]

Trophy crate arrived a few months ago.

 

[bowhuntoholic]

Let's get into a proper recap. I have my eye on a new camera lens and have the word count turned on now.

I recently returned from my first hunting adventure in Africa. This trip will also my last time hunting in Africa. Yes, I am boldly stating this declaration which has become a falsehood for so many prior adventurers.

My confidence in a one and done experience is not the result of my trip going sideways or being a bust. Not at all. I experienced everything which I anticipated and much, much more which I had no way to foresee.

I did plenty of shooting and a bit of hunting. My adrenaline surged to maximum volume a time or two. Day after day, I was waking up in a foreign place to wonderful new food experiences, amazing vistas, a myriad of intriguing plants and animals, and in-depth enlightening responses to my questions from a top-notch, patient staff.

After tipping over a Cape buffalo bull, even normally reserved me posed for a couple of photographs while reincarnating a wide-grinning, bearded Ernest Hemingway kneeling next to the vanquished beast which Robert Ruark described “looks at you like you owe him money.”

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Photograph: Stian behind me as I unleash my Hemingway grin while we move to a different blind.

The grin was not from having accomplished some impossible task, which was not the reality of the circumstances as I pulled the trigger, but rather was my enthusiasm bubbling over for having lived the moment I had dreamed of this for so many years. I had read stories. I had watch videos. Now I was really in the moment. I was finally in Africa and a couple of animals were now “in the salt.” I was not changing Africa though Africa was changing me.

I soaked up so much from Africa. At every turn there was something interesting, if not captivating. Was life-affirming. Best of all, like my Western hunting experiences, my favorite memories of Africa are typically moments which did not involve tipping over an animal.

Yes, we said never again after our first trip to South Africa in 2012. Two weeks later we were booking another trip. 2014, 2018, 2024 and another one in August, followed by a New Zealand hunt in March.