Betterluckythangood
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I just returned from a trip to SA last week and thought I would share some observations. It was a great trip and a great learning experience all the way around. I am not going to get into the particulars of my hunt at this time but probably will in a few days or a week or two. We hunted seven days in the Limpopo province bordering the Botswana border and two and a half days in the Free State. I am no expert, so feel free to correct me or clarify or expand on what I might say.
Exchange rate: 18 or 19 Rand = one dollar
Johannesburg to Atlanta = 8,433 miles, about 17 hours.
Drinking water = good. I personally drank a fair amount of tap water from one ranch in Limpopo and one in the Free State and have had no issues.
Cape buffalo hide is NOT one inch thick. I personally watched one being skinned for a shoulder mount and it was 5/8 or maybe 7/8. At least around the mid section of the Buffalo.
Some of the common antelope are Huge!!!
Kudu = the size of an average bull elk
Oryx = the size of an average bull elk
Roan = the size of an average bull elk
Cape Eland = bigger than any bull elk and probably any Shiras moose.
Even the warthogs were much bigger than I had expected. Probably 150 lbs or more if it was a big male.
Just my impressions, I didn’t have a dead average bull elk sitting there to compare them to but I have walked up on five dead six points.
North of Pretoria we started seeing the high fence properties. It appeared to me to be hundreds of miles of high fence properties on both sides of the road.
Rutting impala make a low, deep grunting noise that you would never think would come out of an animal that size.
All high fence properties are a canned hunt or turkey shoot. ABSOLUTELY FALSE!!!
Once a property owner puts up a fence or buys a property, the game within is HIs or Hers property and they can basically manage it how they want.
They can buy or sell game as they choose and make it as easy or difficult as they choose to an extent. This is where they have the freedom not available here in the states. They can have self sustaining herds or put out game just prior to the hunters arrival.
For them it is a business and they are in it to make money. Mine and yours expectations could be completely different than someone from another country.
These are just a few observations I thought I would throw out for someone to consider if it was on their radar.
Good hunting
Exchange rate: 18 or 19 Rand = one dollar
Johannesburg to Atlanta = 8,433 miles, about 17 hours.
Drinking water = good. I personally drank a fair amount of tap water from one ranch in Limpopo and one in the Free State and have had no issues.
Cape buffalo hide is NOT one inch thick. I personally watched one being skinned for a shoulder mount and it was 5/8 or maybe 7/8. At least around the mid section of the Buffalo.
Some of the common antelope are Huge!!!
Kudu = the size of an average bull elk
Oryx = the size of an average bull elk
Roan = the size of an average bull elk
Cape Eland = bigger than any bull elk and probably any Shiras moose.
Even the warthogs were much bigger than I had expected. Probably 150 lbs or more if it was a big male.
Just my impressions, I didn’t have a dead average bull elk sitting there to compare them to but I have walked up on five dead six points.
North of Pretoria we started seeing the high fence properties. It appeared to me to be hundreds of miles of high fence properties on both sides of the road.
Rutting impala make a low, deep grunting noise that you would never think would come out of an animal that size.
All high fence properties are a canned hunt or turkey shoot. ABSOLUTELY FALSE!!!
Once a property owner puts up a fence or buys a property, the game within is HIs or Hers property and they can basically manage it how they want.
They can buy or sell game as they choose and make it as easy or difficult as they choose to an extent. This is where they have the freedom not available here in the states. They can have self sustaining herds or put out game just prior to the hunters arrival.
For them it is a business and they are in it to make money. Mine and yours expectations could be completely different than someone from another country.
These are just a few observations I thought I would throw out for someone to consider if it was on their radar.
Good hunting