This hunt has been planned for almost one year now and
I am going to take my 13 year old Son Cody on his first hunting trip
away from his home and of all the places to be his first trip AFRICA
!!!
I am also taking a couple of my good clients Rick and Kathy
and there 15 year old daughter Chelsea on there first African hunt. We are
hunting with my very good personal friend for the past 10 + years Du Toit
Leonard of Eland Safaris. We are
going to hunt out of his Lodge which is located in a town called Klerksdorp
which is about 2.5 hours southwest of Johannesburg.
Cody will be hunting a Gemsbok, White
Blesbok, Impala, Black Springbok (hopefully), Bushbuck (with a
taxidermy friend
of mine Dolph) Cody and I will start our hunt on June 22 and will
leave
Africa on July 6. My clients who are hunting Kudu (this is Kathy's main
objective) Zebra, Gemsbok, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Springbok an a
Blesbok. An
for me, well my main objective is to make sure Cody and my clients have
the hunt of their life.
I have been to Africa about a half dozen times so I need to
make sure the have a good time and do some filming and I have to train
a few taxidermist in proper hide preparation. But Du Toit has a big ole
Zebra stallion that has
been giving him a lot of trouble so finally after many years he said he
has to go. So I am going to try and take him with a bow which Du Toit
says is not going to happen, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve for
this big bully so you will just have to check back on my progress.
Cody's said "Dad don't worry if he whips you I will shoot him on the
last day for you, now is that a good son or what !!!
I will be the only bow hunter on this trip, I have been
bowhunting in Africa since about 1996 and at that time most of the
ranchers had never seen a bow or a bow hunter, but bowhunting has
become very popular in Africa in the past few years.
We decided to stay at the airport hotel cause they had a
Stay-Park-Fly package which allowed 14 days of free parking. We have a 6am
flight so we will need to be at the airport around 4am to get the luggage, guns
and my bow checked in and through homeland security plus all of us through all
the airport screening. We will fly from Baltimore to Atlanta an than nonstop on
South African Airways to Johannesburg. The flight down is about 15 hours an the
flight back about 18 hours.
The Plane ride is long but they have an on board computer on the
back of each seat that has movies, music, games like chess, black
jack,poker, as well as bunch of other games, TV shows etc. so it keeps
you busy and makes the flight a little shorter. Also the plane stops
off to refuel on an island called Sol which is off the west cost of
Africa for about one hour, you can't get off the plane but it gives you
some time to get up and walk around some. Tomorrow we will be in South
Africa and ready for your trip
Africa's
Only Bowhunting Magazine Africa's Bowhunter is a
bimonthly magazine aimed at a world wide readership interested in bowhunting
in Africa. The magazine is a complete guide on how, where and when
to bowhunt in southern Africa, with articles such as how to track and hunt
African game, what gear to use, and what to steer clear of.
Larry C. Reese, Wildlife Artistry Taxidermy 215 Lands End Road
Centreville, Maryland 21617
