50 Day Africa Hunt

[icanthearyou 4,462]

1 hour ago, abw0004 said:

Absolutely.  I hope Japan knows I respect him and even though I don't agree with his choices (he probably wouldn't agree with all of mine) that doesn't mean I do not like him.  In the end we are all still a part of the Auburn Family.

Agree.  My only problem is the attempt to pass this off as hunting.  Baiting these animals is hardly hunting.  They might as well be chained to a stake.  I have no respect for that.

Edited December 7, 2022 by icanthearyou

[japantiger 4,051]

9 hours ago, NolaAuTiger said:

How is the fishing there? Live or artificial? Those vampire fangs resemble a speckled trout on steroids.

That was a Tiger Fish...they get quite large and are fierce.  Excellent fishing across Africa...this was on the Zambezi outside Victoria Falls

[AUFAN78 3,889]

8 hours ago, abw0004 said:

Absolutely.  I hope Japan knows I respect him and even though I don't agree with his choices (he probably wouldn't agree with all of mine) that doesn't mean I do not like him.  In the end we are all still a part of the Auburn Family.

Nice statement, much appreciated. And just a statement of caution. You've mentioned your search engine of choice at least a couple times in the thread. Common refrain acknowledges their apparent bias. Not to belabor the point, but they do have an agenda and we should all be aware of that fact. WDE!  

[japantiger 4,051]

As info, the trophies shot in South Africa have been picked up by the shippers in SA and are on their way to the port in Africa.

It looks like the Leopard import application has been approved. We are waiting on the USF&W signed document. It shows approved in the system. As soon as we get that, we will ship back all the Zambia animals, except lion of course. Processing within Zambia is another 2 - 3 months for all their protocols.

Both the Elephant and Lion applications have been accepted by USF&W. Elephant approvals should be done within a year...lion longer.

Official measurements are back on all the animals. A few tidbits:
 

• Based on what is in the SCI Record book today, the Rhino will be #9 all time...103 6/8" (measurements are not reduced below 1/8)
• The ivory weights on the elephant came in at 71 lbs left and 74 lbs right. 145 lbs. This would be the #106 elephant recorded
• The crocodile came in at 16 ft and 1/2 inch...#24 croc recorded.

[The Freak 2,526]

Are you bringing any of them back?  Do you have a lovely room of death?  lol

[AUFAN78 3,889]

On 12/7/2022 at 2:40 PM, icanthearyou said:

Agree.  My only problem is the attempt to pass this off as hunting.  Baiting these animals is hardly hunting.  They might as well be chained to a stake.  I have no respect for that.

Always amazed at such ignorance. In America we sit over baited fields or planted crops, some planted solely to attract multiple species of game, all to have some uneducated fool bitch about baited game elsewhere. Need I say more?

[japantiger 4,051]

38 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

Always amazed at such ignorance. In America we sit over baited fields or planted crops, some planted solely to attract multiple species of game, all to have some uneducated fool bitch about baited game elsewhere. Need I say more?

Well, in all fairness, he's not an "uneducated" fool.  He is an Auburn alum.  Which, makes him a "willfull" .....

[japantiger 4,051]

2 hours ago, The Freak said:

Are you bringing any of them back?  Do you have a lovely room of death?  lol

[AUFAN78 3,889]

2 minutes ago, japantiger said:

Well, in all fairness, he's not an "uneducated" fool.  He is an Auburn alum.  Which, makes him a "willfull" .....

Lol. IDK. Uneducated as it relates to hunting at minimum and for those that view the politics forum there is far more to choose from. 

[AUFAN78 3,889]

3 minutes ago, japantiger said:

I want picks of this trophy room. I demand them! 

[japantiger 4,051]

21 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

I want picks of this trophy room. I demand them! 

[japantiger 4,051]

[japantiger 4,051]

[japantiger 4,051]

A recent add to the right of the fireplace:

[The Freak 2,526]

1 hour ago, japantiger said:

Excellent.

 

Does your dog get nervous in there?

[japantiger 4,051]

52 minutes ago, The Freak said:

Excellent.

 

Does your dog get nervous in there?

No...they spend most of their time with me in the room. 

[AUFAN78 3,889]

2 hours ago, japantiger said:

A recent add to the right of the fireplace:

Couldn't open link.

[japantiger 4,051]

[japantiger 4,051]

While I was in Namibia, one morning the Game Warden pulled up just a little late and just looked like hell.  We all immediately thought he'd been out drinking all night.  Turns out in two separate incidents the night before hippo's had attacked on the Okavango near Rundu.  A woman was bringing in fishing nets and was attacked by a hippo.  The husband heard her screaming and came to her aid.  They were both killed.  In a separate incident, a 15 year old boy had his leg and genitals bitten off.  He survived the night at least.  The Game Warden had been up all night tracking one of the hippos...he found it and killed it.  The other hippo was not found. 

The below miracle happened recently...hippo's kill more humans than any other animal by a wide margin.... 

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/hippo-swallows-2-year-old-whole-then-spits-him-out-alive

 

 

[Mikey 16,550]

This has been a great thread. Thanks for the pictures and info.

[Tigermike 3,007]

Your last three posts are not opening. 

[japantiger 4,051]

Leopard Blind below:

Every day a new Elephant encounter. On one particular night we heard elephants moving around all around us within about 10minutes of sunset. When they would get too close, I'd start tapping my rifle barrel with a bullet, and the PH would turn and shine a lite in their direction. The noise and/or light usually steers them away.

The noise got loud all of a sudden and the PH couldn't see where the animal was. He stood up to look over the blind top and his eyes went wide. He looked at me and said "tap"....the Asst PH was now turned in his chair and his eyes showed visible concern. The PH reached for his 458 Lott and shouldered it. The Asst PH was shining a lite in the direction of the elephant and I was tapping like hell!!! My morse code is a little rusty, but I think I was tapping "tell my wife I love her" and "get me the hell out of here". Or it could have just been "OOOOHHHHHH SSSHHHHHIIIIIITTTTTT" Either way, I was tapping the barrel and trying to turn around to see. My rifle is tied into the blind so it will rest in near shooting position so I don't have to move much when shooting time comes.  It was facing toward the bait; away from the river where the elephant had come up from behind us.

To give you a view of how close and how big the elephant was, the PH's rifle was pointed up at about a 75 degree angle. His trunk bumped the back of the blind. A big bull. It was a pretty tense few moments. You could hear him rumbling what seemed like forever...he finally backed away and moved on.  We had to tap and shine the light a couple more times before things settled down.

When we finally gave up l the truck pulled up and the hunting team jumped out and then we heard a big thud and crunch behind us. A hyena (we thought) had come in after all the elephants settled down and just laid down behind our blind. The truck startled it and it was in a hurry to get away and crashed into the blind. We had heard him earlier "whooping' maybe 15 - 20 yds from the blind to some of his buddies nearby. When he stopped, he came over to us.

The Asst PH had been in as bad a position as I was. From where he was sitting, he had his rifle across his knee with a lite in his hand... even if he could shoot his rifle would have been useless to land a killing blow...it would have just pissed the elephant off shooting him someplace ineffective to stop him. As for the the PH, had he had to I am sure he could have delivered a killing brain shot; at an extremely steep angle, but all a matter of lining up the ear holes and hitting the elephant where the shell passes thru to the brain. Then the question is where does the elephant fall? A brain shot takes the back legs out from under the elephant. So that's good. At least he'd likely not fall forward on us and kill us all.

But as he falls, which way does he roll? And do his tusks extend out just far enough to impale the PH and whoever is on the falling side as he rolls that way? The PH would likely get it though...he was only a yard or so from the nose of the animal. Now, if the Asst PH bought it, at least he would go out with a gun in his hand facing toward the elephant. There would be glowing articles written in Game Tracker mag about the two valiant PHs going down with a gun in their hands.

On the other hand, if I bought it, the examination of the "puddle" that used to be me would say the terrified hunter was facing away from the elephant (probably say trying to run away) having discarded his weapon and tragically carrying only a single bullet in his hand forever shaming his family and bringing disgrace to his house.....

We finally got to talk about this encounter about 12 hours later. The PH said he would not have brained the bull for the very reason I stated . He said his plan was shoot him high on the head to knock him back a few steps and then brain him. He showed photos of a PH that had been crushed in just such an incident . The elephant landed on him from his chest down... grizzly death

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by japantiger

[japantiger 4,051]

9 hours ago, Tigermike said:

Your last three posts are not opening. 

Did the Range Card photos work?  they are showing on my feed.

[japantiger 4,051]

Chinsembwe, Zambia...representative of all the villages in rural Africa...this one actually in a little better shape than most.

[Tigermike 3,007]

37 minutes ago, japantiger said:

Did the Range Card photos work?  they are showing on my feed.

No they didn't