ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Under pressure from the young hunters, we booked a “rustic and literally one star” plains game hunt in the Kalahari, South Africa. Having been the year before, the kids decided that living in a tent, with no running water (hot or cold) and no facilities except a toilet behind some shade cloth would be a great idea. Did I mention this was in the middle of winter?

Tamlyn in her wisdom decided against attending, so a boy’s trip it was.

The transfer by road took about 6 hours and was quite pleasant and the hunt took place near the small town of Tosca. This area of South Africa is also well known by many international hunters for the much debated “canned” Lion hunting safaris.

The purpose of this safari was to focus on Springbuck hunting and assess out some new equipment for our up-and-coming Brown Hyena hunt.

The boys spent a few days sitting in a blind and managed to harvest a couple of Springbuck ewes. On this plains game hunt, Springbuck Rams were not on the “menu” as their numbers have drastically reduced due to the Springbuck being the first snack of choice for Cheetah.

Unfortunately, Cheetah hunting is only legally allowed to take place in Namibia, which is also difficult hunt.

As kudu hunts were also available in the Kalahari, the youngsters managed to get a nice “meat bull.”

In preparation for the Brown Hyena hunt, all the night vision equipment that we had purchased was assessed. We battled a little with the Pard scope to “site in” the rifle. FYI, the settings work backwards. If you are setting up for accurate shot placement and you want the bullet to move left, you adjust to the setting to the right. It took a few rounds of ammo to get this right.

This particular Pard model night vision scope is awesome, it links via wi-fi to your phone, so the observer can view what the hunter sees, plus it has a built-in range finder with a bunch of fancy settings.

The boys managed to get a few jackal, porcupine, and a bunch of hares. If you are planning an African hunting safari in South Africa, in winter, be sure to pack plenty of warm clothes.