I am not going to try and follow what MichaelW did on his recap of his safari to South Africa, but I will give a short recap of what happened along with measurements of what we killed.
Our hunt started on a sour note as our plane was delayed over 3 hours at Dulles so that put us way behind on getting to the lodge in the Limpopo Province. Harry Nel is the main PH of African Arrow Safaris and I had the pleasure of hunting with him as I did in 2008. We did not get to bed at the lodge unti 3 am the morning of the start of our hunt. We did not get much sleep as most of us were up early the next morning to check out our equipment and to get our hunt started. We made some major adjustments on one bow as the rest had moved and he could not hit the target butt from 20 yards, but we got everything reset and he was good to go. Those participating in this safari were 2 rookies to South Africa, David Nelson and Terry Martin. Monty Shropshire and I had been over in 2008 and David and i brought our wives, Becky and Jan, but neither hunted. that is going to change for me as my wife had informed me that she is going to be hunting in 2012, our next booked hunt. Our hunts took place on 3 of Harry's concessions that total almost 100,000 acres. the biggest concession was Shelanti that totaled over 40,000 acres and had 4 of the big five, no lions. I did have the privledge of seeing and taking photos and video of a White Rhino female and her 3 to 3 1/2 year old young at ranges less than 20 yards while standing at the truck or the hide. I also got to view my first Cape Buffalo at a water hole. We were perched up in an elevated hide about 25 yards from the water. Monty and his PH viewed some elephants up close and personal as they walked into the edge of a herd while retunring to the truck after a morning's hunt. A hasty retreat back to the hide helped them avoid a serious situation. Everyone else viewed Cape Buffalo at one time or another on Shelanti. Shelanti is also a breeding facility for Roan, Sable and Cape Buffalo. The owner of Shelanti had just purchased a young Cape Buffalo for breeding purposes that already had 48" horns, but he paid 1.2 million for the buff! We hunted Shelanti for the first and last 2 days of our hunt as the middle was taken up by the owners daughter having her wedding at the ranch, so we did not hunt during that time. We hunted the main concessin at the lodge and i had the priveledge of hunting a new concession where Harry's brother Bronte lived. I was lucky enough to be the first to hunt this land and lucky enough to harvest my Kudu the second night there. All in all, it was a tougher hunt than Monty and i had in 2008 as it was still green and the animals were not hitting the water with regularity. The wind, cooler temps and cloud cover hit for 2 days which put the animals in a non moving state. Still with this difficulty, we managed to put 28 animals in the salt and only had to endure loosing 3 animals, a Warthog and 2 Impala. Five of my animals were killed with Smoke Ramcat 100 grain broadheads and 2 with Rage 100 grain 2 blade heads. Monty, David and Terry all used 100 grain Rage 3 blades to kill all their animals. Monty, David and I all used HCA bows and Terry shot an older model Mathews.
Here is a list of the animals we killed followed by measurement of each and then pics.
I will repeat this about African Arrow Safaris, the lodging, food and Harry's parents Coen and Henriett, brother Bronte and the help are all friendly and helpful and we were all treated like kings and fed like kings. In 2 years of being there I have yet to find anything I do not like as far as food. African Arrow Safaris is not a large operation as he only takes samll groups of hunters each 10 day hunt and will only take a certain number of hunters each year. Each concession is closely managed and when he reaches a certain number of animals of a certain species taken of that concession, then he is done with that concession. Harry manages his places for trophy quality animals along with quantity. He definitley has a great selection and numbers for the quality he can produce. I say this as I firmly believe that it would be very difficult for anyone to go to South Africa with 4 bowhunters and take 4 Zebra, 5 Kudu all over 50", 5 Impala, 4 Gemsbok along with other animals in a 10 day safari. We all have stories of each of our kills, but it would take pages and pages for these, so I will just finish with what animals we each took, the measurements and pics again. I truly hope you enjoy the pics as much as we enjoyed taking these animals. We all feel very fortunate and lucky to have done so.
Animal list:
Kudu 5
Impala 5
Gemsbok 4
Zebra 4
Blue Wildebeest 3
Blesbok 2
Waterbuck 1
Tsebe 1
Warthog 1
Eland 1
Nyala 1
Measurenents:
David Nelson
Kudu 51 1/2" 11" mass
Eland 36" 10 1/2" mass
Impala 23 1/4" 5 1/2" mass
Gemsbok 32 1/2" 7 1/2" mass
Blesbok 16 1/2" 6 1/2 mass
Impala 21 1/2" 5 1/2" mass
Blue Wildebeest unknown
Zebra Stallion
Terry Martin
Blue Wildebeest unknown
Gemsbok, female 38 7/8" 6 7/8" mass
Gemsbok, male 36 1/2" 7 1/2" mass
Blesbok 16 7/8" 6 1/4" mass
Kudu 53 1/4" 53" 11 1/2" mass
Impala 22 1/2" 5 6/8" mass
Zebra Stallion
Blue Wildebeest unknown
Monty Shropshire
Blue Wildebeest unknown
Kudu 50 1/2" 51 1/2" 11 1/2" mass
Kudu 57 1/4" 57 1/2" 11 1/2" mass
Gemsbok 31" 32 1/2" 7 1/2" mass
Impala 22" 5 1/2" mass
Zebra Stallion
My animals
Nyala 28 3/4" 7 7/8" mass
Waterbuck 28 1/2" 29" 8 7/8" mass
Warthog 15 1/2" tusks
Kudu 54" 54 1/2" 9 7/8" mass
Tsebe 15 1/2" 16" 7 1/2" mass
Impala 24" 24 1/2" 5 7/8" mass
Zebra Mare
Our hunt started on a sour note as our plane was delayed over 3 hours at Dulles so that put us way behind on getting to the lodge in the Limpopo Province. Harry Nel is the main PH of African Arrow Safaris and I had the pleasure of hunting with him as I did in 2008. We did not get to bed at the lodge unti 3 am the morning of the start of our hunt. We did not get much sleep as most of us were up early the next morning to check out our equipment and to get our hunt started. We made some major adjustments on one bow as the rest had moved and he could not hit the target butt from 20 yards, but we got everything reset and he was good to go. Those participating in this safari were 2 rookies to South Africa, David Nelson and Terry Martin. Monty Shropshire and I had been over in 2008 and David and i brought our wives, Becky and Jan, but neither hunted. that is going to change for me as my wife had informed me that she is going to be hunting in 2012, our next booked hunt. Our hunts took place on 3 of Harry's concessions that total almost 100,000 acres. the biggest concession was Shelanti that totaled over 40,000 acres and had 4 of the big five, no lions. I did have the privledge of seeing and taking photos and video of a White Rhino female and her 3 to 3 1/2 year old young at ranges less than 20 yards while standing at the truck or the hide. I also got to view my first Cape Buffalo at a water hole. We were perched up in an elevated hide about 25 yards from the water. Monty and his PH viewed some elephants up close and personal as they walked into the edge of a herd while retunring to the truck after a morning's hunt. A hasty retreat back to the hide helped them avoid a serious situation. Everyone else viewed Cape Buffalo at one time or another on Shelanti. Shelanti is also a breeding facility for Roan, Sable and Cape Buffalo. The owner of Shelanti had just purchased a young Cape Buffalo for breeding purposes that already had 48" horns, but he paid 1.2 million for the buff! We hunted Shelanti for the first and last 2 days of our hunt as the middle was taken up by the owners daughter having her wedding at the ranch, so we did not hunt during that time. We hunted the main concessin at the lodge and i had the priveledge of hunting a new concession where Harry's brother Bronte lived. I was lucky enough to be the first to hunt this land and lucky enough to harvest my Kudu the second night there. All in all, it was a tougher hunt than Monty and i had in 2008 as it was still green and the animals were not hitting the water with regularity. The wind, cooler temps and cloud cover hit for 2 days which put the animals in a non moving state. Still with this difficulty, we managed to put 28 animals in the salt and only had to endure loosing 3 animals, a Warthog and 2 Impala. Five of my animals were killed with Smoke Ramcat 100 grain broadheads and 2 with Rage 100 grain 2 blade heads. Monty, David and Terry all used 100 grain Rage 3 blades to kill all their animals. Monty, David and I all used HCA bows and Terry shot an older model Mathews.
Here is a list of the animals we killed followed by measurement of each and then pics.
I will repeat this about African Arrow Safaris, the lodging, food and Harry's parents Coen and Henriett, brother Bronte and the help are all friendly and helpful and we were all treated like kings and fed like kings. In 2 years of being there I have yet to find anything I do not like as far as food. African Arrow Safaris is not a large operation as he only takes samll groups of hunters each 10 day hunt and will only take a certain number of hunters each year. Each concession is closely managed and when he reaches a certain number of animals of a certain species taken of that concession, then he is done with that concession. Harry manages his places for trophy quality animals along with quantity. He definitley has a great selection and numbers for the quality he can produce. I say this as I firmly believe that it would be very difficult for anyone to go to South Africa with 4 bowhunters and take 4 Zebra, 5 Kudu all over 50", 5 Impala, 4 Gemsbok along with other animals in a 10 day safari. We all have stories of each of our kills, but it would take pages and pages for these, so I will just finish with what animals we each took, the measurements and pics again. I truly hope you enjoy the pics as much as we enjoyed taking these animals. We all feel very fortunate and lucky to have done so.
Animal list:
Kudu 5
Impala 5
Gemsbok 4
Zebra 4
Blue Wildebeest 3
Blesbok 2
Waterbuck 1
Tsebe 1
Warthog 1
Eland 1
Nyala 1
Measurenents:
David Nelson
Kudu 51 1/2" 11" mass
Eland 36" 10 1/2" mass
Impala 23 1/4" 5 1/2" mass
Gemsbok 32 1/2" 7 1/2" mass
Blesbok 16 1/2" 6 1/2 mass
Impala 21 1/2" 5 1/2" mass
Blue Wildebeest unknown
Zebra Stallion
Terry Martin
Blue Wildebeest unknown
Gemsbok, female 38 7/8" 6 7/8" mass
Gemsbok, male 36 1/2" 7 1/2" mass
Blesbok 16 7/8" 6 1/4" mass
Kudu 53 1/4" 53" 11 1/2" mass
Impala 22 1/2" 5 6/8" mass
Zebra Stallion
Blue Wildebeest unknown
Monty Shropshire
Blue Wildebeest unknown
Kudu 50 1/2" 51 1/2" 11 1/2" mass
Kudu 57 1/4" 57 1/2" 11 1/2" mass
Gemsbok 31" 32 1/2" 7 1/2" mass
Impala 22" 5 1/2" mass
Zebra Stallion
My animals
Nyala 28 3/4" 7 7/8" mass
Waterbuck 28 1/2" 29" 8 7/8" mass
Warthog 15 1/2" tusks
Kudu 54" 54 1/2" 9 7/8" mass
Tsebe 15 1/2" 16" 7 1/2" mass
Impala 24" 24 1/2" 5 7/8" mass
Zebra Mare
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