BRITISH COLUMBIA, SEPTEMBER 2007
OUTFITTER:  TATLOW MOUNTAIN OUTFITTERS
www.tatlowmtn.com

Goat country begins where sheep country ends.  It was an old lesson for me, but it was brand new for hunting partner Aaron Cummins and cameraman Conrad Evarts.  We all shed several pounds we could afford to lose, but we got lucky with beautiful weather and were in the good care of a really fine young outfitter, Mike Hawkridge.  Aaron got his first mountain animal after four days of really tough climbing.  A couple of days later, just before the weather came down, I finished the hunt with a nice billy after one of the longest days I’ve spent on a mountain in a long, long time.  Mike had great horses and great camps, and the Chilcotin Mountains were spectacular, overall a truly fine hunt.

NAMIBIA, AUGUST 2007
OUTFITTER:  ERINDI HUNTING SAFARIS
www.omujeve.com

We completed our long sojourn by rejoining Corne` Kruger at Erindi in north-central Namibia.  Erindi is yet another magnificent Namibian destination, and Corne` and his brother Nick are both truly great young hunters with bright futures.  This time Brittany had a pretty good turn, taking a fine eland bull, a big hartebeest, and several other good trophies.  Donna’s highlight was probably her Damara dik dik—but it might have been a big ostrich, taken at a dead run.  Me, well, I’m probably most proud of a long shot on a warthog!  We all had great hunts—but how can you not on Erindi?

NAMIBIA, JULY 2007
OUTFITTER:  DIRK DE BOD, SAFARIS NAMIBIA
www.safarisnamibia.com

We came home so we could attend the summer board meeting of Weatherby Foundation International, then returned to Namibia, this time accompanied by daughter Brittany.  I was hoping that Donna might get a leopard on this trip, but since I had taken the Bushmanland leopard I didn’t hold out much hope that she might get one as well.  Of course I was underestimating my buddy and PH Dirk de Bod!

We started at Dirk’s home ranch, co-owned with our friend Joe Bishop, but although we saw some fresh tracks we couldn’t get a cat on bait.  Always keeping his options open, Dirk quickly moved to Plan B, which was to move far north to Onguma Ranch on the eastern edge of Etosha.  Onguma resident PH Danny Bartlett swore we could get a leopard on bait, and indeed we did.  On the first night they sat Donna shot a beautiful tom leopard, “dead under the tree” (which is a bit better than I’ve ever done).

The best was yet to come.  Onguma was clearly overrun with lions, and the ranch had been issued two problem lion permits, a rare opportunity in the Etosha region.  I was offered one, and having already seen huge tracks I quickly agreed.  Dirk called in the lion from several miles away, and he strode into our clearing about a half-hour before dark.  It was one of the most exciting incidents in my entire hunting career, and he was a very beautiful and very old lion.  He is almost certainly my last lion.

NAMIBIA, JUNE-JULY 2007
OUTFITTER:  EDEN HUNTING SAFARIS
www.eden-wildlife.com

Donna and I joined Kimber’s Dwight Van Brunt and ATK’s Anthony Acitelli for a hunt with Jamy Traut on the Eden Conservancy in northeastern Namibia.  Eden itself is, as the name suggests, truly a paradise for plains game.  The variety is typical of Namibia, but Eden is especially good for eland, waterbuck, and really big springbok.  Elephant were introduced into Eden some years ago, and they had problems with two bulls harassing workers and breaking into neighboring farms.  So, with “problem elephant” permits in hand, Anthony and I were happy to oblige.  Both elephant were taken in thick cover at very close range.

Jamy also has the adjacent Western Bushmanland concession, a huge expanse of wild Africa.  It currently holds little permanent water and thus little resident game—but it’s undisturbed country, where leopards come onto bait in daylight.  Of course, with my leopard luck I figured that was just a story . . . until, on just the second afternoon we sat, a beautiful leopard jumped into the tree at 5 p.m. and stood bathed in golden sunlight.

SOUTH AFRICA, JUNE 2007
OUTFITTER:  SAFARI TRAILS INTERNATIONAL
www.safari-international.com

From Botswana Donna and I continued our “filming/hunting” odyssey to South Africa’s Eastern Cape, where we hunted once again with PH Russell Lovemore.  Our primary goal was to get a Vaal rhebok hunt on camera, so Russell took us up into the mountains to my old friend Noel Ross’s place.  Noel is truly the “king of Vaal rhebok,” be even he couldn’t do much about gale-force winds that made hunting extremely tough.  We slugged it out up and down the mountains for three very hard days, but we kept at it and Donna took a beautiful “Vaalie.”  She followed up quickly with a very nice mountain reedbuck, and then I got busy and took a couple of the few Eastern Cape animals I had never hunted, a fallow deer and a lechwe.  The Eastern Cape remains one of my favorite destinations, and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of those beautiful mountains and thick coastal hills.

BOTSWANA, JUNE 2007
OUTFITTER:  JOHAN CALITZ
www.johancalitzsafaris.co.za

Cameraman Garrick Cormack and I drove from the Zambezi Valley almost across the length and breadth of Zimbabwe to Victoria Falls, where Donna flew in and met us.  This is worth mentioning because our U.S. State Department Advisory had just come out.  We experienced no problems and no delays, and while there were plenty of roadblocks, we were consistently passed through with genuine courtesy.  There were no problems.  After paying homage to the Falls for a couple of days we crossed into Botswana and drove to outfitter and PH Johan Calitz’ camp well south of Kasane.

Our goal was not only to take a nice elephant bull, but to capture for the TV camera some of those huge-bodied elephant Botswana is famous for.  I had no idea any elephant hunting in Africa could be as good as this!  Calitz has invested in numerous wells, pumping water to hold elephant through the dry season.  We looked at, honestly, dozens of the calmest bull elephants I have ever seen.  Every day we saw one or two solid 50-pounders, and twice we passed bulls well into the 60’s.  Since this was pretty much my stated goal, I silently questioned Johan’s judgment—but he was so confident, so enthusiastic, and so obviously competent that I kept my mouth shut.

Well that I did.  He knew what he was looking for, and when we found him we didn’t hesitate.  My bull was a monster in body size, very old, and despite a world-record nerve his larger tusk was well into the 70’s.  This was what I had secretly hoped for, but had never dared to say the number.

With the elephant secured we went on to the Okavango for a few days.  I hadn’t been there for nearly 20 years, and it is still one of Africa’s most beautiful areas.  Donna took a wonderful red lechwe and a fine tsessebe, and Johan and I had a great morning shooting driven francolin, a new experience for me.  It was truly a perfect safari, and Johan Calitz ranks as one of the finest outfitters and PH’s I have ever hunted with.

ZIMBABWE, MAY 2007
OUTFITTER:  CHIFUTI SAFARIS
www.chifutisafaris.com

This was our fourth annual “filming safari” with Chifuti, hunting in both Sapi and Dande North Safari Areas.  We had several representatives of our Tracks Across Africa in camp through the month.  All had extremely good safaris, but I suppose the highlight must have been Steve Hornady’s huge leopard, taken with PH Paul Smith.  Andrew Dawson and I slipped away for a few days and took a fine old dugga boy, and then I joined PH Ivan Carter as he conducted Jim Hall on his SCI auction hunt for an elephant bull.  Jim and I both took tuskless elephants at extremely close range—Jim’s was his very first African animal, taken on the charge with a perfect frontal brain shot.  We hunted hard for a good tusker for him, and on about the ninth day he took his second African animal, a fine elephant bull taken with a side-on brain shot at ten yards.  Overall the hunting was superb, and I truly believe Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife are doing a fine job of managing their Safari Areas, still offering some of the finest dangerous game hunting in Africa.

FLORIDA, MARCH 2007
OUTFITTER:  J&R OUTFITTERS
www.jroutfitters.com 

I ran into American professional hunter Joe O’Bannon in Dar es Salaam in October and he asked me to come down to check out the water buffalo he was hunting on his Florida ranch.  I was skeptical, but we hunted on foot and had a great time.  It was exactly the same as hunting, well, any buffalo, and we got a very nice bull.  There was no ice or snow in south Florida, but there were oceans of bobwhites among the palmettos and Joe had some of the finest bird dogs I’ve ever seen.  With the buffalo in the cooler, we had a couple of afternoons of really great bird hunting!

SOUTH TEXAS, JANUARY 2007
OUTFITTER:  DOS ANGELES RANCH
www.dosangelesranch.com

After the Dallas Safari Club convention Donna and I headed south to former Congressman Jack Fields’ Dos Angeles Ranch.  We were hoping for a little break, and perhaps some good bobwhite hunting on this Orvis-approved facility.  We got the break, but not exactly what we expected!  We got caught in that famous South Texas ice storm, and seeing miles of mesquite and prickly pear encrusted in ice is one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen.  Pestering the poor quail was out of the question, but Donna took a nice whitetail just before the storm hit.  Jack has a fabulous herd of blackbuck, and I took a very good one—but just about froze my tail off in the process!

Member and Supporter of these Associations
Professional Hunters Association of South Africa  |  Boone & Crockett Club
Foundation for North American Wild Sheep  |  National Rifle Association
Dallas Safari Club, Life Member  |  Safari Club International, Life Member
Outdoor Writers Association of America