Well I’m finally here!!!!  I’m in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. This is not my final destination, but it is home for a couple of days until the rest of my hunting party arrives. 

My trip took a total of 30 hours 31 minutes and 26 seconds to get from my house in North Carolina to the hotel in Port Elizabeth! I took my truck, 3 air planes and a taxi cab to get here.

This is a beautiful town and I’m glad I get a couple of days to get over the jet lag and do some site seeing.

THE PLANE FLIGHTS

The plane flights were smooth. A short 1 hour flight from Raleigh to DC, a 20 hour flight from DC to Johannesburg with a refueling stop in Dakkar, Senegal, and then a 2 hour flight from J’Burg to Port Elizabeth!

The flight from DC to J’Burg was not as bad as I anticipated, but I did have 2 screaming kids that sat behind me on that flight. They were both under 2 and they were both screaming before the doors on the airplane were shut! I watched 3 movies from DC to Dakkar and then I took a sleeping pill and slept for a while on the next leg of the flight. After I woke up I still had time to watch 10,000 BC before we landed in J’Burg.

Here was my home for 20 hours of the trip!

I think if I had one more flight I might have gone POSTAL on somebody!!!! Like I said, it was a lot of traveling, but not as bad as I had prepared for! Still, I had not done that much flying in 2 days since I was in the Marine Corps back in the 90s.

Once I got to Port Elizabeth I had to catch a cab to the Hotel. The driver told me to hop in while he loaded my bags. Well I did and to my surprise I hopped in the driver’s seat!!!!! That’s when I found out that they drive on the wrong side of the road down here!!!  Since I’ve been here I’ve also found that they walk on the wrong side of the sidewalk also!!! If I die on this trip it will not be from an animal mauling!!! I am sure it will be death by vehicle. I keep looking the wrong way thinking the coast is clear when I’m trying to cross the street. The cars are coming from the direction I’m not looking. I have learned to find someone else who is crossing the street and walk beside them. This will probably save my life!!!

My hotel is Ocean front. I have a beautiful view of the Indian Ocean. Even though it is winter time down here, I have yet to put on a long sleeve shirt. The locals are walking around all bundled up like they are going to freeze to death, but it is a nice break from the 100 degree weather we’re having back home.

The city is beautiful and I’m going to go do some exploring while I have a chance. I’ll leave you guys with a few pictures of the sights.

Sunset over Port Elizabeth

Shark Rock Beach

Port Elizabeth, South Africa

I left this past Wednesday to go to Kit Carson, Colorado for an antelope hunt with Ben of Bass Pro’s Next Generation. It’s fall break for college and he scheduled a quick 2 day hunt.  This would be Ben’s first time hunting Antelope.

I met up with Ben Wednesday afternoon in the Atlanta airport and we flew into Denver.  We arrived in Denver at 7:30 p.m. and then rented a car and took the 2 1/2 hour drive east.

Once we arrived in camp we met up with Chris, the owner of Adventures Wild Outfitters. He told us that there were plenty of Antelope and being we were hunting with a rifle we should be finished no later than the first afternoon.

Well I have been to plenty of camps and I have heard that story before, but I kept my mouth shut and listened to him talk. He said they had been 100% with their rifle hunts and that did sound encouraging.  We talked a little more and being it was 1:00 a.m. we went to bed because we had to drive into Kit Carson to get a hunting license.

The next morning we got up and made the 45 minute ride to town to get the hunting license. Once the license was in had we drove back to the farm house we were staying in to get Ben’s rifle so he could make a few shots and make sure his scope was still zeroed!

Once Ben shot his rifle and made sure it was shooting true we headed out to look for some antelope. The first pastrue we came to, we didn’t spot any antelope. Chris said he had seen some on the other side of the property so we headed to the main road and made the 30 minute ride to the other side of the property.

We started glassing and Chris spotted 2 does and a buck several hundred yards away. Due to the heat waves, Chris could not tell how good the buck was so we decided to do a stalk. We started walking behind the hill so they couldn’t see us. Once we crested the hill we crouched down and walked as far as we could and then we had to belly crawl the last 70 yards to our position at the top of the hill.

Chris glassed the antelope and said he was OK, but we were going to pass on him because we could do better. I filmed him for several minutes and then the does spotted us. They could not tell what we were so they started circling us and came even closer. They eventually trotted off and I looked at Chris and said, “We have our encounter, we can’t let the next one go since we only have 2 days to hunt!” Chris told me not to worry, Ben would get his antelope. We head back to the truck and head further into the property to do some more glassing.

We crest a hill and see several antelope out on the flats between a couple of hills. Chris glasses them and says there are 3 shooters in the group, but there was no way to get close for a shot. It was 1:30. He said we would run into town and get a bite to eat and then come back to see if they had moved.

Once we ate lunch we headed back to where we had spoted the antelope. Great News! They had moved to where we could attempt a stalk. We drove the truck down a fence line and parked it where the antelope could not see us. We had about a 1/2 mile walk to the hill we were using for cover. Once we got to the hill we crouched down and made our way to the top. Once we could not crawl anymore, we once again belly crawled about 100 yards to the top of the hill. Chris raised up and glassed and all he could see is a group of does. He told us we needed to back down the hill and go about another 300 yards and check again and see if we could spot the buck. 

We belly crawl to the top of the hill. Chris spots the buck. Ben moves into position for a shot and I set my camera and tripod up to get some footage of the buck. When I first get the camera set up I can see the buck good. He is standing in the middle of a group of about 14 does. I get a few minutes of footage and then he drops down into a low spot where I can not see him. Ben is ready to shoot, but I have to hold him off. Chris is asking can I see him and I say, “NO!” Chris is getting impatient with me and once again asks can I see the buck. My reply is NO!  There are 5 does looking at us and I ask Chris would they take off running if I moved the camera towards the top of the hill because I could not see the buck because of the sage in front of me.

Chris said he would help me move the camera! I grab once side of the tripod and he grabed the other and we crawled closer to the top of the hill and reposition the camera. I look through the viewfinder to see if I could see the buck! BINGO! I can see the buck, but I’m going to have to coordinate the shot with Ben because there are still sage bushes in the way.

I give Ben the green light and then have to quickly call him off. Then I give Ben the green light and once again call him off. This happens about 5 times. I can see the buck for a few seconds and then he walks behind a bush. Then the moment of truth, the buck walks into view. I tell Ben to shoot and he drops him in his tracks. It was a few tense moments, but Ben stayed calm and we got our antelope.  Not only did we get our antelope, but he was just 2 1/2 inches short of making Boone & Crockett!

After the shot I looked at Chris and told him that plenty of Outfitters had promised hunts this good, but he was the first one to prove it! It was truely and awesome hunt and one that we will not soon forget!

No better way to end the hunt than with a breath taking Sunset!

My favorite time of day is Sunrise and Sunset when I’m on the road. I have seen some spectacular Sunrises and Sunsets! I think the most beautiful ones to me have been down in Mexico and up in Montana. I enjoy sitting in the stand and hearing nature come to life. The animal life seems to be more active at these two points of the day. They are scurrying around getting ready for bed or just waking up greeting the morning.  It’s a time to sit and reflect and enjoy the show!

The picture below is one I snapped last year when we were Elk Hunting in Alberta. The sun had been up for a while, but the woods were alive with the bugles of the bull elks and the colors were just marvelous.

An Oat field in Alberta that we came across shortly after I snapped the picture above. This oat field was full of wildlife, bears, elk and deer to name a few.