Africa Big Five

[MTLabrador]

Tell me, have you been to Scotland? I would hunt roe deer there for an excuse to drink their beer. BTW, MT at #5? Not a chance. Boot Vermont and Germany as well. #50 is about right though.

Also, if you’re a Scotch Ale fan and you’ve never had a Cold Smoke you are missing out.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I have been fortunate to have taken three. I was always an Africa nut and started two side businesses to fund trips. I am not rich. I cut grass as a kid to fund my first trip. Now I train and breed hunting dogs and sell hunting articles to fund trips. That is sort of 'fun money.' I don't use my regular salary to fund hunting.

My first was elephant, and it was unreal. I hunted a tuskless cow in the Zambezi Valley. They are very volatile and you spend a decent amount of the hunt running away from cantankerous cows. It was an all tracking type safari and I shot her at 12 yards in the thick jess. That was and remains #1 for me. 100 villagers showed up a few hours after I got it. There was a blood puddle when they left..

I took a hard bossed cape buff on that same trip. I'd rate it #5, but I really enjoyed it. (It is like picking the best looking lady in a SI swimsuit edition....they're all cute, so #5 is still good.)

I was able to hunt a male lion a couple days before the export ban took effect, and it was only financially possible due to a very rare set of circumstances. The landowners in the area were going to wipe them out once their biggest market (USA) shut down imports in Jan 2016, and an outfitter rushed a permit for me and I was successful in time. They did not want them around eating plains game since they became worthless to them. That's how conservation in Africa works. Animals can stay if they are the land's highest use...otherwise it dies. I'd rate it #3. That trip was like 85% off what had been market price. Cheaper than half the plains game hunts I have done. It was literally a discussion with my wife like this: "I'd like to do this hunt. I'll regret it forever if I don't." Her:"Go for it. When do you leave." Me: "Ummm Wednesday."

I think a rhino would be amazing...just a neat animal and done by tracking it would be a taste of old Africa. I'd rate it #2 just because the animals are so incredible and also them and elephants have the most crucial hunting imperative for their conservation. Hunters/landowners literally saved southern white rhinos from extinction.

Leopard would be #4 for me.

I had a hunt to continue my five that I would have returned from last Thursday. My wife was going to come as well, which although we have backpacked in Africa together, and met there, she has not been on a hunt with me. It has been rebooked.

Africa remains an amazing adventure whether you go for impala and warthog, or a 50 year old elephant. Plains game hunts are far and away the best value for any guided hunts in the world in my opinion. Just go do it.

If you haven't already, I recommend reading the book "Months of the Sun" by Ian Nyschens. He was an ivory hunter in the Zambezi Valley back in the 40s and 50s, and loved hunting in the jess. Lots of stories of ornery cow elephant. He later became a game ranger in Southern Rhodesia.

Anyway, I think a tuskless cow would be quite an exciting hunt. More affordable as well I presume? Were you able to try any of the meat?

 

[Desk Pop]

If you haven't already, I recommend reading the book "Months of the Sun" by Ian Nyschens. He was an ivory hunter in the Zambezi Valley back in the 40s and 50s, and loved hunting in the jess. Lots of stories of ornery cow elephant. He later became a game ranger in Southern Rhodesia.

Anyway, I think a tuskless cow would be quite an exciting hunt. More affordable as well I presume? Were you able to try any of the meat?

I have read Nyschens and agree that it is a great read. Dude lived on the edge! You have great taste in books!

Yes, tuskless are more affordable. It was not exportable or importable. Some guys sneak their tails home, or a bracelet made by the trackers from the tail hair. Mine was super old, on its last set of six molars (had undigested plant matter in her crap) and only had two short little hairs on her tail left.

I tried eating all three of the animals I shot. On the ele and buff I insisted that we cook some backstrap over a fire at the kill site and ate some right there (I carried spices 10,000 miles for those two moments). Later that night, the cook in camp cooked the meat that is on the temple of the elephant's head (presumably the only "tender" part of a 50-year-old animal). It was good. The lion backstrap was ok. I like mountain lion, but that was not as good. I ate it more for the novelty of eating the king of the jungle.

 

[Kiwi]

I’ve been to Africa twice but both times decided not to hunt. Kinda weird I suppose as I’m a very keen hunter here in New Zealand, and have hunted Canada and USA too. But for some reason I’m happy just watching African animals do their thing.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I have read Nyschens and agree that it is a great read. Dude lived on the edge! You have great taste in books!

Yes, tuskless are more affordable. It was not exportable or importable. Some guys sneak their tails home, or a bracelet made by the trackers from the tail hair. Mine was super old, on its last set of six molars (had undigested plant matter in her crap) and only had two short little hairs on her tail left.

I tried eating all three of the animals I shot. On the ele and buff I insisted that we cook some backstrap over a fire at the kill site and ate some right there (I carried spices 10,000 miles for those two moments). Later that night, the cook in camp cooked the meat that is on the temple of the elephant's head (presumably the only "tender" part of a 50-year-old animal). It was good. The lion backstrap was ok. I like mountain lion, but that was not as good. I ate it more for the novelty of eating the king of the jungle.

Yes he did! I'm currently reading his second book.

Thats cool you got to try the meat. Roasted over a fire sounds amazing.

 

[fishing4sanity]

The only one of the big five I have hunted is the Cape buffalo and I'd love to do that one again. Miles and miles of tracking, getting so close in thick brush you wonder if you're going to be trampled when everything breaks loose and yet not even seeing them. Catching glimpses that just never resulted in a shot opportunity. Then finally having an old bull appear and it all comes together. The skill of the trackers and PH is truly amazing to witness first-hand.

 

[Aussie_hunter_JD]

I have read Nyschens and agree that it is a great read. Dude lived on the edge! You have great taste in books!

Yes, tuskless are more affordable. It was not exportable or importable. Some guys sneak their tails home, or a bracelet made by the trackers from the tail hair. Mine was super old, on its last set of six molars (had undigested plant matter in her crap) and only had two short little hairs on her tail left.

I tried eating all three of the animals I shot. On the ele and buff I insisted that we cook some backstrap over a fire at the kill site and ate some right there (I carried spices 10,000 miles for those two moments). Later that night, the cook in camp cooked the meat that is on the temple of the elephant's head (presumably the only "tender" part of a 50-year-old animal). It was good. The lion backstrap was ok. I like mountain lion, but that was not as good. I ate it more for the novelty of eating the king of the jungle.

In George Rishby's "No more the tusker" he talks about how they would live off elephant temple biltong.

I would love to try elephant someday. That, mountain lion and black bear are my bucket list meats!

 

[Desk Pop]

In George Rishby's "No more the tusker" he talks about how they would live off elephant temple biltong.

I would love to try elephant someday. That, mountain lion and black bear are my bucket list meats!

Very cool. I have not read that.

It is a neat hunt for sure.

 

[buffybr]

...The landowners in the area were going to wipe them (lions) out once their biggest market (USA) shut down imports in Jan 2016, and an outfitter rushed a permit for me and I was successful in time. They did not want them around eating plains game since they became worthless to them. That's how conservation in Africa works. Animals can stay if they are the land's highest use...otherwise it dies.

...Africa remains an amazing adventure whether you go for impala and warthog, or a 50 year old elephant. Plains game hunts are far and away the best value for any guided hunts in the world in my opinion. Just go do it.

This first statement is so very true, not only in Africa, but all over the world.

When Europeans began settling in Africa they not only tried to wipe out the predators that ate their domestic livestock, but also the native game animals that competed with their livestock for food. After about 100 years of fighting the native animals (I think it was after WW2) they learned that selling hunts for the native animals was more profitable than trying to raise domestic animals.

Today the "If it pays, it stays" philosophy has put more native animals in southern Africa than there were there in the mid 1800s when the Europeans were settling there. This philosophy has also brought other animals, like the white rhino, back from the brink of extinction.

Unfortunately, most of the America public has come to believe the opposite lies fed to them by our fake news media and the animal rights activists, and the ultimate loosers are the wildlife.

 

[JV842]

I’m going to say it, America has the best beer scene in the world.

It’s like;
1. Oregon
2. Colorado
3. Vermont
4. California
5. Montana
6. Germany
...
...
50. Mississippi
51. Some other country

I agree that the US has an awesome beer scene but not much can compare to a real poured Guinness in a real Irish pub in a small Irish town, hanging out w the locals!!!

 

[Desk Pop]

This first statement is so very true, not only in Africa, but all over the world.

When Europeans began settling in Africa they not only tried to wipe out the predators that ate their domestic livestock, but also the native game animals that competed with their livestock for food. After about 100 years of fighting the native animals (I think it was after WW2) they learned that selling hunts for the native animals was more profitable than trying to raise domestic animals.

Today the "If it pays, it stays" philosophy has put more native animals in southern Africa than there were there in the mid 1800s when the Europeans were settling there. This philosophy has also brought other animals, like the white rhino, back from the brink of extinction.

Unfortunately, most of the America public has come to believe the opposite lies fed to them by our fake news media and the animal rights activists, and the ultimate loosers are the wildlife.

Very true.

It is a shame more people do not understand how it works in other places, and how it has a long track record of working.

 

[BuzzH]

Only one I have any interest in at all is cape buffalo and even that interest is dwindling over time.

 

[JohnCushman]

I would love to bow hunt Africa. A cape buffalo would seem boner worthy in the adrenaline rush. But, my real goal would be plains game. Impala, kudu, gemsbuck, wildebeast, and wart hog. The big 5 doesn't interest me. I might do a 'green hunt' on a rhino with a sedative dart, but my penis doesn't need to hunt an elephant or anything of the big 5 to prove I'm a man. I don't look unkindly at all to anyone who wants to do the big 5, but it's just not for me. Maybe I'm a sissy, but I do think those hunts would be fun in a way. But, if I ever did Africa, it would be with a bow.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I agree that the US has an awesome beer scene but not much can compare to a real poured Guinness in a real Irish pub in a small Irish town, hanging out w the locals!!!

That's equating "nostalgia" to quality. It's still luke warm and they still only have 2 beers on tap. I've gone to the pubs and drank the beer.