African Safari - Hunt Day 1 - 18 AUG

We woke up at 6:30 this morning and had breakfast with most of the other hunters.  Mind you, breakfast consists of yogurt, fresh fruit, and coffee.

Following breakfast, we sat down with our PH Jan-Hendrik (first name) Leibenberg and covered the rules, shot placements, and confirmed tags.  Then we went directly to the range.

Let me back up a step.  We booked with Africa Maximum Safaris (www.africamaximum.com).  They own their own private ranch of 1,600 acres.  They also have concessions with 70 other properties, totaling thousands of acres and millions of animals.  All activities on Day 1 took place on AM's private ranch called Woodstock.

At the range, you must shoot a 1" group at 100 yards (pretty sure the target was 100 meters, but close enough - 109.3 yards).  RePhil took two shots, adjusted his scope, fired one more, adjusted again and then hit center bulls-eye!  He's spot on at 100 meters.  I took two shots - one was about 1" high, the other 1/2" high directly above the center bull.  That was "perfect" according to Jan-Hendrik.  Hey, if he's happy, then so am I.

We returned to the Lodge for lunch.  Ground Wildebeest and macaroni.  Pretty good stuff.  Kind of a casserole sort of thing.

After lunch we headed for the bush.  We load rifles, stow them in the back with us, and then hit the trail.  We parked the truck and Jan told us we would take a little walk - of no more than 3 miles!  What?  3 miles is not the definition of "little."  I grabbed an extra bottle of water.

So here's my guess.  Jan wanted to test us.  How quiet could we be?  How attentive were we?  What did we see, or more importantly, what did we not see?  Could we keep up?  Were we talkers or walkers?  And, according to Fitbit (TM), sure enough, we hiked 3.5 miles.

En route, we happened upon a female warthog and her almost full-grown piglet.  This wasn't any ole female - this was a monster.  Jan asked RePhil if he had any qualms about blasting a female warthog.  Screw that - if he did, I did not.  Too bad for me, neither did RePhil.

At this point, my job was to stay out of sight and be quiet.  Jan set up the shooting sticks, called out the range, and coached RePhil to the proper shot placement.  Supposedly the shot was 80 yards.  I looked afterwards and there is no way it was that close.  Maybe the terrain threw me off, but it looked closer to 100 than 80.  Yardage aside, RePhil made a perfect shot that felled her on the spot.

We took photos before returning her to the Lodge, where the local skinners took to making quick work of her.

Showers before dinner.  Tonight's feast was Blue Wildebeest pie - a pulled pork type of meat consistency.  Fine vittles none-the-less.

RePhil sighting in his 7mm mag

Some of the SA terrain - stalking animals

Me & RePhil with his trophy female warthog - 9" tusks!

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