Hunting in Africa, a How-To.

[Fjold]

Guys, I wrote this about five years ago when a number of people on another forum were asking me for information on how and where to hunt in Africa. I've been fortunate to have hunted Africa five times, in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe and have done a lot of travelling overseas for work and pleasure over my lifetime. Some of the prices have of course changed over the last few years but Africa is still a bargain for the amount of game that you see and shoot. If you can afford a guided, western states elk hunt you can afford to go to Africa.

One thing that I will say is that airline and countries change their rules for carrying small arms so make sure that you get up to date information from the airlines and your in country outfitter to be safe.

I had to do this in parts as the software doesn't let me post it all in post.

Hunting in South Africa

If you want to hunt South Africa, you first have to figure out what, where and when you want to hunt.

First you decide what you want to hunt, most people on their first hunt want to get animals like Kudu, Gemsbok (Oryx), Impala, Warthog, etc. Once you decide on the animals you can do an internet search and check references for different Safari Companies (outfitters) and Professional Hunters (PHs). Then start comparing prices and availability to your schedule. The majority of the hunting is done from April through September which is the southern hemisphere’s fall and winter (below the equator the seasons are reversed from ours) but in a lot of places you can hunt year-round. Early in the season it is greener and wetter with thick brush and June and July is cooler and drier. August is usually getting colder and windy but by September and October it is getting more humid and hotter. November and December can see temperatures above 100 degrees F with high humidity.

Generally there are two types of game:
1.) Plains game which includes all the antelope species such as Kudu, Eland, Gemsbok, Impala, Blesbok, Steenbok, duiker, reed bucks, wildebeest, etc. There are dozens of different antelope species to hunt plus animals like zebras and giraffes, small predators like lynx, caracal, jackals, baboons and small game like rabbits, hyrax, monkeys, etc. The variety of animals is huge, from 2 Lbs. for small game up through 2,000 lbs. for eland, giraffes, etc.

2.) Dangerous game which includes lions, elephants, leopard, cape buffalo, rhino, (the big five), hippo and crocodile also fall into this category as well as other predators like cheetah and sometimes hyena.

Some outfitters will not charge you for shooting baboons and jackals if you don’t want to export them as they are considered pests and everyone hates them. Some outfitters charge for every animal shot or wounded. If you wound an animal, (evidence of blood, etc.) then you pay the trophy fee for it whether or not it is recovered. The PH and trackers will do everything possible to find it. Even calling in extra trackers and trailing dogs but you will have to pay for it regardless if it is found.

Some animals are prohibited from being imported into the US like cheetah. Others require special US permits like lions and some animals require international permits such as leopards and some rare sheep and antelope, by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, (CITES). Check on the internet and with your outfitter/PH in Africa for the restrictions.

Generally plains game is charged at $250 - $400 per day plus trophy fees for each animal shot. There are a lot of variations of price in both daily fees and trophy fees so you will have to do a lot of shopping to match your budget. Trophy fees will vary for each animal and how common some animals are in the location (some areas have different animals than others). Small animals like steenbok, warthogs, duikers, etc. going from $300 - $450 along with very common animals like Impala and blesbok, where Kudu, Gemsbok, Bushbuck, Wildebeest etc. will be closer to $1,000 - $2000 each, Nyala, Eland etc. will be in the $1,500 -$2000 range and some of the real glamour species like Roan, Sable and very rare animals will go for $4,000 - $5,000 and even higher.

Dangerous game hunts will typically run $1,000-$1,500 per day plus trophy fees. For Buffalo, that’s around $5,000 - $8,000, Leopards at $10,000 - $15,000, Lions at $20,000 and up, Elephants $20,000 – to outrageous, crocs are $2,000 or so and hippos probably around $5,000 or so. Most if not all lion hunts in South Africa are done for captive bred and raised lions that are kept in pretty small enclosures and released just before the “hunter” arrives. 99% of buffalo and elephants in SA are raised behind a fence and pretty acclimated to humans and it is not like hunting dangerous game in other African countries.

Shop carefully for dangerous game in South Africa as there are operators who will guaranty you a particular sized animal for a fee and some of them have been known to drug and release captive animals into small enclosures so that you can “hunt” them.

Most outfitters will also offer Package hunts for 5-10 days and a set list of animals for a fixed price. Generally these offer a savings over a day fees plus trophy fees hunt and will be for hunting for good representative, adult varieties of different animals in the area.

South Africa is a big country and has a number of different hunting areas:

Limpopo and Mpumalanga - Northern areas containing all the common game species as well as dangerous game. Almost all the hunting grounds are high fenced. Some places will have borders against Kruger National park and advertise as not high fenced.

Northwest and Free State are Northern provinces in the center of the country and have just about all common plains game and dangerous game hunts. The Northern Cape has a more temperate climate near the coast but the interior is similar to the Limpopo with large concessions that can get really hot during the later season. There are a few low fenced areas but generally you’ll be in a high fenced game farm.

The areas above have malaria carrying mosquitoes and you will have to take a malaria prophylactic as a preventative.

Western Cape and East Cape – Both have more temperate climates, relatively mosquito free in their winter and no malaria carrying varieties. They have all the common plains game usually in larger fenced game farms of 10,000 acres (15 square miles) and larger, plus some low fenced areas with free ranging animals.

Kwa Zulu Natal – It is unique in that it has a lot of free range cattle ranches that are huge. Many of the low fence game farms there are 20,000 – 30,000 acres and connected to other area by cattle fences that don’t stop the flow of animals from the surrounding areas. There will be towns and villages in the area, it’s kind of like hunting in the national forests and BLM land except that the game farmers have the exclusive hunting right on the land. They have lower game densities than the high fenced, game only farms but still with a lot of animals. It’s kind of like deer and elk hunting on the western ranches but you are going to see dozens of game animals every day. The southern half of Kwa Zulu Natal is malaria free.

Always ask for the size of the area that you will be hunting as you probably don’t want to hunt a game area that you see the fence all the time and the animals are trucked in and dumped there right before your hunt. Look for larger game farms that have self-sustaining herds of animals that know the area and where to hide from hunters.

All areas of South Africa have ticks and mosquitoes but winter reduces their numbers due to the dryer weather. You should treat your clothing with Permethrin before you leave (it will continue to work through half a dozen washings) and use insect repellent while you are there. Bring a pump bottle or cream since you can’t bring aerosol cans on the airlines.

 

[Fjold]

Travel to Africa - International travel with guns​

There are direct flights to Johannesburg, South Africa from Washington DC and JFK (New York) on South African Airways and from Atlanta to Johannesburg on Delta. But there are also almost unlimited flights available that go from every US airport through Europe, to Johannesburg. If you are hunting in another province in South Africa you will still have to fly through Johannesburg’s, O.R. Tambo International Airport. Typically the airlines like to do intercontinental flights overnight so you will probably have an 8 to 12 hour layover in London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Dubai, etc. I usually get a train/bus pass and go explore the city, grab lunch and then go back to the airport for the night flight to Africa.

All airlines that operate out of the US have to meet FAA standards so don’t worry about taking a foreign carrier. The flights to and from Africa are long and brutal in coach class so book early and consider paying the extra for Economy Plus or Exit Row seating to get the legroom. If you use a travel agent, they can do this search for you. Also, check with the airline or your travel agent that the airline has a baggage handling agreements with any other airline on your trip so that you can check your bag in at your starting airport and pick it up in Johannesburg with no handling in between. Some countries like The Netherlands and United Arab Emirates require you to apply for a transit gun permit just to travel through their country so check on the internet or with your travel agent to be sure. Do not take the airlines word for it though as they have proven to be horribly uninformed about gun laws in the countries that they visit. Most common routes such as through London, Paris, etc. have no issues with transiting with guns as long as you don’t have to move the firearms within their country yourself.

International Air Travel with guns

You are not exporting your guns you are merely traveling with them and bringing them back with you so you do not need any export paperwork from the U.S. Government. You will however have to prove that you owned the guns when you come back into the US so you will have to get a US Customs and Border Protection Form 4457, “Certificate of Registration for Personal Effects Taken Abroad”.

https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/fi...orm%204457.pdf .

Before you take your trip (as early as possible), fill out this form and print it. Then you call the nearest airport that has a US Customs and Border Protection office in it and tell them that you need to bring in your firearm(s) to register on a Form 4457 and ask them how and when they can do it. Fill out one form for each rifle, a separate one for each scope, valuable camera, computer, tablet, etc. Anything of value that you take out of the country should have one because if you have to prove that you owned it when you left the country. You will have to take your gun(s) and any other valuable items to the CBP office in the airport so get a travel case for it/them to carry them in. The CBP agent will check the serial numbers on the items and sign the form, authorizing it. I make multiple color copies of each form 4457 so that I can’t lose them. U.S, Customs can refuse to let you bring any guns back in the country or charge you import duty for expensive electronics, jewelry etc. so make sure your Rolex and expensive bling gets listed also. I fill out separate forms for guns and scopes so that if I ever change a scope out, I don’t need to bring the rifle back to the Custom office, I just fill out another form and bring the scope in.

I put color copies of my CBP Form 4457 and all other paperwork (South Africa Gun permit application, passport, etc.) in a large Zip-lock bag inside my carry-on bag, my checked bag and my gun case. You’ll never need them except when something goes wrong. If your gun case is lost on the way to Africa then the airline and your outfitter (or the meet & greet company) can use the copies to get your gun in the country and forwarded to you.
Every airline has their own rules for flying with “Dangerous Goods” Firearms”, Sporting Equipment” etc. Check the airline website and print out their rules to show their employees if any trouble arises during check in. Most airlines limit you to one gun case per person with no more than two guns in it and FAA limits are 11 Lbs. (5 kilograms) of ammunition. Each person should have their own airline approved gun case with non-TSA locks. Federal regulations do not allow anyone to have the keys or combination to the gun case except the owner/passenger. It is also a federal regulation that the gun case can’t be labeled as a “firearm” or “gun” on the exterior so, no stickers that say “Winchester Firearms”, etc. I do not like the cases that have built in locks I like the cases that have 2-4 exterior lock points for individual separate key or combination locks. I buy two set of four master locks that are all keyed alike and lock the case with one set and put the other spare locks in the gun case. If the TSA has to cut your locks or if the gun case gets lost or delayed in transit, I put a piece of paper in the gun case so that you see it immediately when you open the gun case. I write on it, “IF LOCKS WERE CUT TO ACCESS THIS CASE, PLEASE RE-LOCK IT WITH THESE LOCKS” and I draw an arrow pointing to where I have the two spare locks shoved in the side of the foam pad. Always have the case locked when you enter the airport.

When you check in at the ticketing desk for your flight, you can go to the kiosk but you will wind up talking to the supervisor anyway so just tell the airline person at the start of the ticketing line that you have a firearm to check in. Do not stand in the middle of the terminal and announce at the top of your voice “I have a gun!” as you will get all kinds of attention that you don’t want for doing so. Most of the ticketing agents are contractors not airline employees so they will not know what to do, except send you to the “special handling counter” which is where you want to go anyway. If they don’t have a special desk they will usually take you off to the side to check you in.

Once at the counter they will have you unlock and open the case and show them that it is unloaded. I have a cut out in the foam for my rifle’s bolt and store it there when traveling just so it’s easier to see that the gun is empty. They will then fill out the information on their computer and give you a red tag that says the gun is unloaded, you sign and date that tag, put it face up inside the case and close it up. They will then tell you that they have to take the gun case to TSA for clearance.

Here’s where it gets sticky, federal regulations require that you are the only person allowed to have the key to the lock(s) but the airline will want to take your key into the secure area where you are not allowed to go so that the TSA can get in the case. The best way that I have found to get by this is to close and latch the case, slip the locks through the hasps but to not lock them. Then you just ask the counter person to make sure that the TSA locks the case after inspection. Wait there until the counter rep or the TSA rep comes out and tells you that everything is OK then you can ask them if the case was re-locked.

Ammunition
Federal regulations limits you to 11 Lbs (5 kilos) of ammunition packed in factory-like packaging that separates each individual round. I put my ammunition in old factory boxes or the plastic cases with individual cartridge spaces. If I carry them in plastic cases I make adhesive labels for them that look like factory labels just to be double safe. I also put all my ammunition in a small lockable box (with a TSA lock) that fits inside my checked bag which also has a TSA lock on it. Some airlines will allow you to put properly boxed ammunition in the gun case but it is not allowed on South African Airlines (SAA) so I put it in my checked bag since it’s very common to have to fly SAA to hunting areas in other provinces in South Africa.

 

[Fjold]

Luggage and Equipment for Hunting in South Africa​

I use one hard sided suitcase, with a TSA lock and my Pelican gun case. I like to have latches on my checked bags not zippers because zippers are easily popped open with a pen and theft in airports is very common. I also use my backpack as my carry-on bag since I also use it while I’m hunting. My carry-on has my prescription meds, (malaria, general antibiotic, etc.) camera, binoculars, copies of my gun paperwork, a change of clothes, etc. I carry the copies of my paperwork in big zip lock bag with two writing pens and a blank steno pad or small notebook to keep notes in so I don’t forget all the details for my hunt report. I also carry a good camera and my phone and take photos with both, better safe than sorry. Do not carry any gun parts including scopes in your carry-on bag.

Before you leave on your trip, go to your doctor and get a prescription for a malaria prophylactic if it's recommended by the CDC for your hunt area, (I prefer Malarone because it has a lot less side effects than other meds). Also get a prescription for the antibiotic Doxycycline. It will prevent you from getting any of the tick borne illnesses if you get bit by a tick there and will clear up traveler’s diarrhea if you get bad water or food issues.

In your checked suitcase bring two more shirts, two sets of underwear and socks, plus another pair of pants, (also shorts if you feel brave) and a comfortable pair of shoes to lounge around camp so your hunting boots can air out. They will do laundry every day while you are in camp so you don’t need to pack a lot of clothes. Bring a set of gaiters to hold the legs of pants closed and cover your socks/shoes to keep weed seeds and ticks out. Don’t forget a hat, preferably something that covers your ears or you will have to use a lot of sunblock as the sun is bright in the southern hemisphere.

As always, have comfortable, worn in hunting shoes/boots. The biggest problems with American hunters are that they can’t walk far or shoot well/quickly. You will also need a soft rifle case to put your rifle in when driving around in the truck, until you get to where you are hunting every day.

Since I shoot my 375 H&H in Africa, I pack 40 rounds of my handloads. Some people bring a box or boxes of premium factory loads also. Factory ammunition is very expensive in South Africa and you are not allowed to sell or give away any ammunition while you are there. But, if it accidentally gets left in camp your professional hunter will dispose of it with a huge smile on his face.

In my hunting backpack, I carry a big zip-lock bag with my paperwork (gun permit, copies of passport and CBP form 4457, my notebook and pens), leatherman tool, camera, toilet paper, wet wipes, first aid kit, latex gloves, tweezers, nail clipper, ear plugs, a couple of bottles of water, small sandwich zip-lock bags for biltong and other snacks, a couple of protein bars, rain gear, headlamp, mini flashlight, lighter and cigar cutter, cigars and the open box of ammunition. My first aid kit just has small stuff like band-aids, chapstick, Neosporin, moleskin/blister tape, etc., as your PH will have a big first aid kit in his truck and in camp.

For hunting gear, I carry a Winchester Model 70 Classic Safari Express in 375 H&H magnum (I shoot a lot and use it like other people use a 30.06). For plains game I sight it in 2” high at 100 yards which puts me 6” to 10” low at 300 yards, depending on my load.

My scope is a Leupold Vari X III 2.5-8X scope in Talley quick release mounts and my open sights are set dead on at 100 yards. All my clothing is dark colored, (green, gray and brown depending on the season) and I use gaiters to keep the weed seed and bugs out of my boots. I wear a 10 round cartridge carrier on my left side (I’m left handed) on a second belt that I wear low on my hips. I always wear a hat.

My binoculars (10x40) are on a harness on my chest. Don’t use the neck strap that comes with your binoculars, get an elastic harness that goes around your shoulders and holds the binoculars to your chest. The neck strap will allow the binoculars to flop around and they will constantly get in your way. The harness spreads the weight out more and you’ll be a lot more comfortable at the end of a 12 or 14 hour hunting day. You will notice the difference, especially if you carry bigger binoculars like 10x50s. I also wouldn’t recommend going bigger than 10X on the binoculars as the 12X and bigger glasses are too hard to hold steady and weigh considerably more. Your PH will usually have a laser rangefinder and also be a pretty accurate judge of distance with the naked eye out to about 300 yards.

Electronics and phone

Bring a tablet and your phone along with the AC and DC chargers for both of them. It’s great if they use the same cords/plugs. The house electricity in South Africa is 250 Volts at 50 Hz (U.S. is 120 Volts at 60 Hz). You will need a European/Africa plug to fit their outlets to your American chargers. Most American chargers will take either voltage so it’s just a plug adapter that you need. It should be stamped on your charger that it will take both voltages but check them for sure.

The wall outlets overseas have a small switch for each plug outlet that you have to switch on to get power to the plug. You plug your cord in and flip the switch so that the red dot shows to get power.

Any car charger cord will work there as all the vehicles are 12 volts DC and use the standard charger/lighter plug. You’ll be in the truck every day so you can charge your stuff there also. I like to copy my photos from my phone and camera to my tablet every evening as a back-up. It would ruin your trip if you took a bunch of photos and then lost them all.

Almost all the airlines have individual entertainment screens for international flights with a variety of on- demand movies, TV, music, etc. so you don’t need a lot of books or movies for the flights.

 

[Fjold]

Hunting South Africa - Getting ready​

Before you get to Africa there are some things that you need to do and prepare for, to get the most out of your hunt.

Food and drink
Talk to your outfitter about meal and drink preferences when you contract with him. You don’t want to be in camp and find out that you hate everything that they prepare for dinner. You will get stuff like oxtail, mutton, pumpkin, steaks, chicken, ground corn (like grits), all kinds of vegetables and game meat once you shoot something. There will always be biltong (dried spiced meat, like jerky) nuts and chips out for snacks. Peanuts are called “ground nuts” over there so if you have allergies make sure that they understand that. If you are a diabetic, ask them to stock diet drinks and sugar substitutes for coffee. If you are a coffee drinker let your outfitter know as many of them are tea drinkers. I always mention that I’m a coffee addict and a French press and coffee is a necessity in camp. There will be a bar in the dining area with a refrigerator stocked with beer, wine, soft drinks and bottled water.

Let your outfitter know which animals are your highest priorities as he may have some camps that have better populations of your desired animals and he can put you in the best place for your hunt.

Get in some kind of shape as you will be walking up and down hills and on uneven ground a lot. Get the shoes/boots that you plan to use along with your backpack and go walk some hills. You need to be able to walk 2-5 miles at a time as you will probably do this every day. This will get your legs and feet in shape and make sure that your foot gear won’t hurt you.

A couple of days before your flight, start taking your malaria prophylactic and I always take an over the counter allergy med like Zyrtec because even if you don’t have allergies here, there may be something where you’re going that will kick your butt once you get there.

Gun/cartridge choice:

For 90% of the plains game hunting your deer rife will do fine. I would not go lighter than a 7mm-08 and the 270, 308/30.06 is my preferred minimum. Take the gun that you shoot the best and use a heavy for caliber, tough bullet. Your PH will want you to shoot a bullet that will exit the animal as it’s easier to track if the animal doesn’t drop quickly (two holes bleed more than one). I recommend Barnes TSX bullets, A Frames, Partitions, etc. I prefer bonded core and monolithic bullets myself. In the bonded core/lead core bullets: 150 grain for the 270, 160s in the 7mms, 165 – 180s in the 30 Calibers. With the monolithic bullets you can go 10-20 grains lighter if you prefer as they are longer for their weight with good sectional density but I still prefer heavier bullets in those if you shoot them well. If you shoot a big magnum this is more important, you don’t want to shoot a lightweight, fast expanding bullet that could possibly blow up on an animal’s shoulder. You do not need a 375 H&H or 416 Magnum but take it if you shoot it well. Your PH will be happy with you bringing any gun that uses a heavy, quality bullet that you shoot well.

Practice shooting as often as you can. You can shoot off the bench to sight in your loads and check the trajectory and then build a trajectory card for shots out to 300 yards in 50 yard increments. With modern high velocity loads you can probably sight in about 1.5” – 2” high at 100 yards and be about 3” low at 300 yards but shoot the loads at that distance to be sure. I recommend shooting at a 6” bullseye target as you will need to practice holding in the in the middle of a large undefined area of the body.

Another great thing to do is to take a strip of contrasting color masking tape and tape it vertically just off center of the bull and run it down off the target. This gives you a reference similar to an animal’s front leg. I would recommend looking at the different African animals shot placement photos that you can find on the internet:
http://www.shakariconnection.com/afr...placement.html .


http://www.africahunting.com/community/shot-placement/


For plains game species (except giraffe) I always recommend that you aim at:

• For broadside shots - follow the back of the front leg up and stop 1/3 of the way up the body. That’s where you want the bullet to land.
• Quartering toward you shot - Aim 1/3 of the way up the body where the shoulder meets the chest.
• Quartering away from you - Aim so that the bullet will leave the far side of the animal’s body 1/3 of the way up where the offside shoulder and chest meet.
• Head on shot – Aim where the base of the neck meets the chest.
• Heading away – Only shoot if you have a heavy for caliber bullet that will penetrate 5 feet and aim just under the root of the animal’s tail (animal’s exit hole). If you hit high, you will still break the spine in the body or neck, if you hit low, the bullet has to reach the diaphragm/lungs. If you hit left or right, you will break a hip.

Remember also that the trajectory of the bullet will be effected less by gravity on steeply uphill or downhill shots. On a 300 yard laser measurement on a 45 degree slope, the bullets trajectory will be identical to a 212 yard shot on level ground. (Gravity acts on the horizontal distance to the target not the angular distance).

90% of the time your PH will want you to shoot off of shooting sticks and you’ll usually be shooting in the standing or sitting position. Get an adjustable set of shooting sticks and practice shooting off them often. When you spot a quality animal, your PH will set the sticks up and tell you to shoot. The idea then is to get on the sticks quickly and place an accurate shot. Many times speed will be essential so you have to practice a lot. You have to try different methods to see what’s comfortable and works the best for you. Some people lay the forearm of the gun in the fork of the sticks and hold the gun in front of that, I hold the forearm of the gun and lay the back of my hand in the fork of the sticks. Try a variety of ways and see what gets you on target quickly and accurately.

 

[Fjold]

South Africa - Your first day in camp.​

Once you take off from the US, turn off data roaming on your cellphone, the cost in Africa for data roaming could be in the thousands of dollars for a week depending on your carrier and the carrier there. Your cellphone will still work but there is only a charge when you make or receive calls or texts. Talk to your cell carrier before you go and sometimes they offer short term discount plans for calls and data while you’re gone. With Verizon, calls costs about $2.95 a minute so a 10 minute call to or from home is $30. It’s easy to rack up hundreds of dollars in phone bills during a week’s hunt. Texts are usually $0.50 each.

Most South African camps consist of a lodge type main building with the kitchen, dining area and bar and individual cottages for people to sleep in. You will be staying in a small cottage with its own bathroom and these can range from plain to very luxurious. Some camps will have wall tents with separate shower and bathroom tents with hard floors but they are very rare. There will always be a basket or hamper for your dirty clothes and these will get laundered every day. The cottages will usually have thatched roofs so don’t be surprised if you see geckos and the occasional bug in your cottage. Leave the geckos alone, they eat bugs. During the mosquito season they will have mosquito netting around the bed, with the bottom of the net tucked under the mattress. When you get into bed make sure you tuck it back in.

There will be electricity in the cottage (250 volts, 50 Hz) so make sure you have the European/African adapter plug for your rechargeable electronics. Don’t leave the lights on at night or when you go to the lodge in the evening as it will attract bugs. The cottage will have tile floor or carpet. If it has carpet, do not walk on it with your hunting boots on as you will leave weed seeds, stickers, dirt and mud on the carpet and step in it later with your bare feet, take your hunting boots off near the door.

Your Professional Hunter (PH) will meet you at the airport and drive you to the camp in the hunting truck, usually a diesel Toyota or Land Cruiser. They drive on the left there so don’t get in the wrong side when your PH is loading your luggage in the back. The ride to camp is a great time to get to know your PH and discuss what your expectations (and his) are of the hunt. You’ll want to tell him what animals are most important to you so he knows what to concentrate his efforts on. I usually have one or two animals as must haves and a short list of other animals that I want to take if we get my main animals early or we stumble across some exceptional trophies while out hunting for other animals. Let your PH know what’s important to you. Some people are only concerned about horn length, some like heavy horns or lots of spread, while some people are easy going and just want good representative mature animals. I always look for the oldest animals, those cantankerous old men that don’t even hang around the females during breeding season. Don’t expect all world record animals or the biggest of each animal on the hunting grounds as then neither you nor your PH will be happy on the hunt.

Once you get to camp, your PH will drop you off at your cabin, he will help you with your luggage and tell you to join him at the lodge/dining area after you get unpacked and freshened up. Unless it’s really late, you’ll be going to the shooting range to check your gun and you will probably go out for a short drive to get a look at the hunting area. So, get your gun and ammo unpacked, unload your back pack from the travel stuff and put on your hunting gear. Put your rifle in the soft case and your ammo in the ammo carrier. I like the belt carriers for ammo that hold either 5 or 10 rounds and I wear it on a separate belt around my hips so I can take it off easily. Change into your hunting clothes, if you didn’t wear them on the flight. Put all your valuables, cash and passport, etc. inside your gun case and lock it, putting the key around your neck or in your backpack, or pocket. I always have two keys, one on my person and one hidden in my backpack

Walk down to the lodge area and drop your gear at the back of the truck if it’s handy or else leave it all by the door to the lodge. Your PH will ask you if you want something to eat or drink and then he’ll probably talk a bit about what the immediate hunting plans are. Then you will probably go to the range to check your rifle. Most camps will have a sitting bench and a target frame at 100 yards (or meters) with a sandbag to rest the fore end of the rifle on. I have also shot off the back of a truck and standing using shooting sticks to check my guns. Your PH’s biggest worries is that a client can’t shoot or can’t walk so he’s going to watch your shooting here to determine how far he will let you shoot when hunting. Be honest with him on how far you are comfortable shooting as you don’t want to wound and lose an animal that you’ll still have to pay for. My rule is off the sticks, I’ll shoot out to 300 yards on big animals like Kudu, Zebra, Wildebeest and 200 yards on the smaller stuff. Dangerous game is a whole different matter and usually shot at less than 100 yards. This is a good time to talk about the trajectory of your load that you worked up/practiced with.

Once you get your gun sighted in and if it’s early enough in the day, you’ll probably drive out and take a quick look around the hunting area. Unload your rifle and slide into your soft case and either put it in the back of the dual cab or the tracker will strap it into a rack in the back of the truck. Don’t assume that you won’t use it today as I’ve shot animals on the first day before. You will probably stay out until dark and then drive back to camp to get cleaned up for dinner. Dinner will be usually be served at 7:00 or 8:00. The dining area will have beer, wine, soft drinks and bottled water. Sometimes there will be hard liquor but a lot of camps don’t provide that. If you prefer a particular brand of liquor, buy a bottle in the duty free shop in the airport, you can also buy cigars, etc. there also.

Dinner will usually be game meat if there is any in camp but unless there were hunters in camp right before you arrive there won’t be any in the first couple of nights. Game meat taken during the hunt is hung in a cold room and then eaten, any extra at the end of the hunt is sent to market. There is usually a fire laid out in a fire pit and the coals are taken out of it and put under a grill for cooking dinner.

After dinner, you will probably talk about what you’ve seen during the day and what to expect in the morning. It’s a good time for adult beverages, good cigars and watching bush TV (The fire pit). A lot of camps will have satellite TV in the lodge/dining area and some will even have WIFI, off their cellphone modem. I usually tell my PH that if he turns on the television, I will shoot it. The only time that it will bother him is if there is a big rugby match being televised but he’ll live without it.

You’ll be tired from all the travel, so don’t stay up late. You’ll plan tomorrow’s hunt so program an alarm into your phone to get you up in time to meet at the dining area for a light breakfast before going out hunting.
When you get ready to go to bed, bring a bottle of water up to your cottage to use for brushing your teeth. I would not trust the camp water for anything other than showers since your body is not used to the different microbes in the well water there.

I usually plan to take my daily medications right before bed every night. This includes any malaria prophylactic and allergy medication.

 

[Fjold]

South Africa - Typical hunting day

Usually you’ll start about 6:00 AM with coffee and rusks. Rusks are baked flat bread usually made of oats in different flavors. Your PH will dip it in his hot tea or coffee in the morning. I want more protein to start the day so I’ll spread peanut butter on mine and eat them like toast, with coffee. This freaks PHs out as no one eats rusks this way.

You’ll load up the truck with your PH driving and one or two trackers in the back. You’ll get introduced to them probably for the first time that morning. Don’t be shy about asking for their names again as many of the names are so foreign to us that’s it’s hard to get them correct the first time and everyone likes to be addressed by their names. I’ve had a mix of tracker names over the years from Seeyen, Gottfried and Elvis in Namibia, Farunga and Steve in Zimbabwe, Mitchell in the East Cape and Thombo in Kwa Zulu Natal. Most of the conversation between your PH and trackers will be in their native language or Afrikaans (Dutch/German language) but the trackers will have a basic knowledge of English.

In the winter time especially, you’ll probably go up high and glass for animals that come out to soak up the morning sun. The smaller antelope especially will spend the first couple of hours in the morning trying to get warm so you’ll be hunting the edges of brush where the sun is shining. If anything looks promising you’ll do a stalk to get closer.

Most PHs have the same rules. Guns are unloaded in the truck and loaded when you get out.

In plains game only areas, some PH’s insist on an empty chamber and full magazine and some are OK with a round chambered and the safety on. Always ask your PH so that everyone knows the condition of all the guns that are there. Your PH may or may not carry his rifle with him and I use a sling to carry my rifle.

In Dangerous game areas, you don’t leave the camp or the truck without a rifle. All rifles are loaded with a round in the chamber and your safety should obviously be on at all times. Muzzle awareness is critical as you will always be in a group with your PH and at least two trackers. You’ll be going over and under brush, crossing streams, climbing hills, etc. so you have to be very diligent about your muzzle. Most people me included, don’t carry rifles with a sling in DG areas, the rifles should be ready to go at all times.

You’ll drive to different areas and glass a lot, it pays to have quality binoculars and a good harness to carry them with. You may sit in place, glassing for an hour or a few minutes depending on how your PH feels about a particular spot. Normally you'll hunt the early morning period and then go back to the lodge around 9:00 AM for a full breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, baked beans, roasted tomatoes, cereals, etc. After breakfast and a bathroom break you’ll go out hunting again in different areas, until about 1:00 or so then go in for a light lunch of usually cold cuts and stuff like that. Some PHs will take a couple of hours break then and if your PH does, use this time to write in your journal, take a nap, whatever. Other PH’s will go right back out.

Don’t be surprised at how much game you see, their game densities are a lot higher than ours. The difficult thing is not shooting the very first animal that you see. Your PH will tell you what’s good and what’s not and you'll probably stalk and pass on more animals than you shoot. I've been in areas where my PH has made me pass on animals that would make book (Rowland Ward's or SCI's record book) because he knew that there were better animals on that particular property.

Know the trophy fees for animals that are available in the area and how much you can afford. If your PH spots an outstanding trophy animal and recommends that you shoot it and it's not on your list, don’t be afraid to ask how much it costs. All trophy fees are due at the end of the hunt and you don’t want to be surprised with a bill for a $6,000 sable that you didn’t budget for. On the other hand you probably wouldn’t want to pass on a record book Steenbok for $400 because you want to shoot an average Impala for the same price. Keep in mind the prices for your one or two high priority animals and know how much money you can move around in your budget for other trophies, to take a different animal. If you are on a package hunt you are usually locked into certain animals because outfitters sell the more common animals at a discounted rate for package hunts. You can always add different animals on a package hunt, just be prepared to pay for them.

Either way, by 3:00 PM you’ll be out in the field again probably trying to spot the animals as they go to water and do their late afternoon feeding. Don’t be surprised if you miss a few breakfasts and or lunches while you’re out hunting. If your PH sees something interesting you could be out from dawn until dusk without a break. The PH will have a cooler in the truck with water and soft drinks on ice and sometimes snacks but every morning I grab a handful of biltong and put it in a sandwich bag in my pack along with a couple of bottles of water.

After the hunting is done every day, you’ll go back to your cabin and get cleaned up for dinner. The clothes that you left in the laundry basket from the day before will be washed and folded on the bed. I usually shower then and put on clean clothes that I’ll wear for the next day’s hunting. Some people have casual clothes that they wear around camp but I don’t pack that much.
Your PH will meet you at the dining area and the camp staff will have started a fire in the pit out front. The first thing always asked is if you would like a drink, then they’ll offer snacks while dinner’s cooking. You will usually sit out by the fire talking about what you’ve seen during the day, etc. while you’re waiting for dinner.

Dinner will usually be served on a side table, buffet style and you’ll be expected to serve yourself first (being the client). Don’t be shy about asking what something is as some of the stuff will not look familiar. For example, the white mash and the red gravy is not mashed potatoes, it’s Pop & Sauce (grits and tomato sauce with onions). There will be a lot of meats, steaks, chops, sausages, etc. and there will be sweet and regular potatoes, bread and a variety of vegetables. Don’t be shy and try some different foods (except Marmite, that stuff will kill you). South Africans, like Europeans will eat with the fork in their left hand and a knife in the right. They don’t stab food with the fork but use the knife to push food on to it. Don’t worry about looking out of place they’re used to dealing with people from the US.

After dinner you will sit out by the fire pit and that’s the best part of the day (after taking trophy photos). Enjoy an adult beverage or two, smoke a cigar and get to know your PH. He’ll be interested in what you do in the US and any interesting stuff on hunting and guns. What always comes up in conversation is how cheap guns, ammunition and accessories are in the US compared to South Africa. The temptation is to stay up late and enjoy the conversation but remember that you’ll be getting up early the next morning for more hunting.

 

[Fjold]

Hunting South Africa - After the shot


On any plains game hunt, it’s not if you get an animal, it’s when and how many. So, you’ve overcome the buck fever and made the shot and the animal disappears from view. Don’t stand there thinking that you’re Peter Capstick, reload and watch where the animal went. African animals are tough and I’ve heard of animals running miles with holes in both lungs and that’s why I always recommend breaking the shoulder bone on the way to the heart and lungs. If you see your animal and it’s not down, shoot it again. Your PH will be telling you to shoot again and should make sure that you are on the right animal but it is up to you to make sure that it’s the correct one. A lot of plains game are herd animals so there may be unwounded animals around that look exactly like the one that you just shot and you pay for every animal killed or wounded.

Generally, your tracker and PH will know where the animal is and will find it, but keep alert. If the wounded animal gets up to run, it’s on you to make the shot and put it down. Wounded plains game animals have been known to kill hunters before so don’t get complacent about it. In 99% of the cases if you make a good shot, the animal will be dead within 50 yards of where you shot it but it’s that 1% that you have to be ready for.

Once the animal is found and the handshakes are done. Get a few photos of the animal laying there and try to get a picture of where you shot from. These are the photos that you will want for yourself and that you will want to look at years from now. Your PH and tracker will set the animal up and get you posed for pictures so either keep your hat on or comb your hair. Give your PH your camera with the flash on as fill for the shadow under your hat and then with the flash off, he’ll probably take a dozen photos from different angles. Move your rifle around, push your hat back on your head and add some variety to your pose. You want to have a bunch of different options for your trophy photos. Ask him to take a couple of pictures with your phone also as you can never have enough photos or backups in case something happens. Get your tracker in the photo with you and have your PH pose with your animal and you take his picture. You’ll want to remember it and he may appreciate a copy emailed to him after the hunt. Ask your tracker to take a photo with you and your PH in it also. Some of my favorite trophy photos are of my cape buffalo with my PH and trackers in it and another of my PH, my brother and me posing with a wildebeest.

Your PH will ask you how you want the animal skinned, whether it’s for a shoulder mount, full mount or Euro mount and whether you want to get the skin tanned. Depending on the size of the animal, your PH and Tracker will either gut it there or haul it back to the truck. Your PH will leave you with the tracker and go back and move the truck closer to the kill site. Then they will drag or carry the animal to the truck and you can offer to carry jackets and extra gear. If it’s something huge like an Eland, they may go to the nearest village or another hunting camp to get some more help. If the truck is close enough you can walk ahead and drop off all the gear and then come back to lend a hand but usually the PH doesn’t want you to strain yourself helping.


You’ll usually drive back to camp and drop off the animal at the cleaning shed where they’ll hang your animal up and if they have separate skinners they’ll start doing that right away. Get some pictures of that and find the bullet impact and trace the bullet’s path through the animals to learn what worked.

Trophies and taxidermy

Before you go you’ll have to decide what kind of trophies you are going to bring home. Taxidermy costs can easily be more than the rest of your hunt costs. Generally, the options are shoulder mounts, full body mounts, Euro mounts (skull and horns on a plaque), rugs and flat skins.
The first thing that happens to your trophies after skinning is that the skin and skull are scraped of excess fat and tissue and then laid out flat and covered in coarse salt at camp. At the end of the hunt, all the skins and skulls are sent to a “Dip and Pack” (DP) facility for export or a taxidermy company for mounting. Your PH/outfitter will recommend one or two that he uses regularly but do your due diligence on the internet, locating DP and taxidermy companies in the area as prices and quality can vary greatly.

All raw trophies exported to the US have to DP’ed. This is the process of soaking your raw trophies in acid, disinfected and then re-salted. It’s required by international convention for shipping of the raw skins. Generally budget about $100 per animal for the process and paperwork but prices will vary due to the strength of the US dollar as compared to the South African Rand and the whims of the people in Africa.

You can either have your taxidermy done in Africa or you can ship the raw trophies to a US taxidermist to get done here. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

The taxidermy is cheaper to get done in Africa and they know what the animals look like alive so you can get some very realistic looking trophies. But you lose all control of the final product and if they do something wrong, like they pose the animal wrong, mix up the horns from someone else’s kill, poor quality coloring (cape buffalo looks like an angus cow) etc. then you have no way to get the work corrected. Your PH/outfitter will complain for you and try to help but the only way to get it fixed is to ship it back to Africa and return it to you at your expense. Basically, their guaranty ends at their shipping dock.


The other thing is that raw trophies will come as folded skins and skulls and can be stacked and packed into a smaller box. If the trophies are shoulder mounts they will take up 10 times the amount of room and weigh more. Shipping costs by air are calculated by weight and volume so 4 or 5 mounted trophies can costs you in the many thousands of dollars to ship to the US. I’ve seen guys pay over $10,000 to get a shoulder mount of a Buffalo and some plains game trophies shipped home. I had raw trophies (skins and skulls/horns of my Nyala and Bushbuck) shipped over and the shipping estimate is about $400 because they will fit in a 2’x3’x12” tall box. If you get the taxidermy mounted in Africa then I’d recommend shipping by ocean cargo. It will take a month or so longer but since it takes a minimum of 10 – 12 months to get the taxidermy done in Africa it’s not too long to wait. Ocean shipping will typically cost a third to half the cost of shipping by air. You will have to pay about 50% of the estimated taxidermy costs for them to start the work and the remainder when they are ready to ship, which will be in about a year. (It gives you time to save up more money to pay for it)

If you choose to get your taxidermy done in the US, find a taxidermist who specializes in African animals, you do not want your Kudu to look like a surprised whitetail. I have seen some horrible African Taxidermy done over here. Contact your US based taxidermist before you go and he will give you tags to take on your hunt that the skinners will attach to the skins and skulls with your name and the taxidermist’s name and shipping information to make sure that your trophies get to him intact. When your raw trophies get to the US, they have to be inspected by the USDA and cleared for entry into the US. You can do this yourself working with the US Customs office if you live near the port of entry and can spend the day filling out the forms or pay a customs clearance company to do it for you (Coppersmith and others companies will do this for about $400). There are a few animals that require extra checks like warthogs so make sure that your taxidermist is USDA approved to receive them.

If you are getting Euro mounts (skull and horns) on plaques get that done in Africa, as it’s usually much cheaper and they don’t take up much more room in a box than raw trophies. Also you can get your skins tanned as flat skins or made into rugs without adding shipping costs. Typically tanning of the flat skins will cost a third of what it costs here in the US. Some animal skins are not suited for tanning as flat skins though. Kudu are notorious for having the hair slip but Zebra, wildebeest, giraffe and a few others make great flat skins and some are tough enough to act as rugs in light traffic areas. Other skins can be made into wall hangings, couch throws or pillows, etc. so do some research to see what you like.

You will get an email from the dip and pack company that your trophies are sent to with an estimate and you will have to pay a deposit for them to do the work. Some companies will take credit cards, others will want an international bank transfer or a cashier’s check mailed to them. Anything that you mail to Africa should go international priority mail and will take a couple of weeks to get delivered.

Now you can start saving your money for the shipping and custom’s clearance fees because it is going to be 6-8 months before your raw trophies are ready to ship to the US. After that it depends on your taxidermist but don’t expect anything less than 3-6 months for a couple of trophy mounts and even a year if you are having multiple trophies done. Good taxidermists are like good gunsmiths, they all have waiting lists but a lot of taxidermists are like bad gunsmiths, terrible communicators and business people.

​

 

[Fjold]

South Africa Hunting - Contracts, Payment, etc.​

Picking an outfitter to hunt with is the most difficult part of hunting in Africa. You can search the internet and use the Africa hunting forums like Accurate Reloading.com, Africa Hunting.com, Nitro Express.com, 24 hour campfire.com and others but keep in mind that many outfitters are paid advertisers on some of those boards. Most of the boards have forums for discounted/special hunts and you can pick up some great bargains there. If you go to the SCI or NRA auctions you can also buy hunts but realize that many of them are listed at huge markups so that people think that they’re getting a great deal. I see people all the time talking about a $15,000 plains game hunt that they won at an auction for $5,000 - $6,000 or so and you can find the same hunt for $3,000-$4,000 on the net. They’ll try to tell you that it’s a “premium area” or a “special time” or something similar but that’s all marketing crap.

Types of owner/outfitters:

Some outfitters own the game farm that has breeding populations of different animals and they supplement their gene pool by buying breeding stock at game auctions. They usually have deals with other surrounding farms to be able to hunt other species of animals that he doesn’t stock to offer a wider variety of game.

Then there are the outfitters that lease hunting rights from the people who own the land and he pays the land owner a portion of the money he collects for day fees and trophy fees. This is very common on the large free range cattle ranches in South Africa and Namibia.

The third type is the outfitter that has a small plot of fenced land that when you book with him for certain animals, he buys captive bred animals and releases then just before your hunt. Typically he will make up some story about how they were removing animals from the land but this one was too smart to be caught so he needs to be “hunted”. Usually the animal will be released near the only water on the place just before you arrive and it won’t know the property or how to hide. These places are always high fenced and of small size and are really not hunting. Always ask the outfitter before you sign up what the size of all the hunting areas are that you will be hunting, 1,500 acres (607 Hectares) is only 1.5 miles by 1.5 miles and unless it is covered with impenetrable brush, it will take you about an hour or two to hunt.

Typically outfitters will send you a contract before you book the hunt. It will be a couple of pages long outlining the dates of your hunt, the day rates, trophy fees and what is expected of them and you on the hunt, as far as what each person is responsible for. It will be written in plain English and be more common sense than legal. If you book through a US agent for the outfitter you may get a 10 page document written in legalese that covers the agent’s butt and tells you that you have no rights and that he has no responsibility. The written contract’s conditions are the only enforceable terms and if you question something and he says “That’s just legal language, we wouldn’t enforce it”, run away! Do not give them a second chance and never do business with anyone who tries to tell you anything like that. Our legal systems sucks and the US agents will stack the conditions in the contract to make sure that you have no way to get anything out of them if things don’t go right. The African based operators know that you are not going to file a suit and go to trial in their country so they are more casual. But, 90% of their business is word of mouth and off the internet so they can’t afford to cheat you and have you talk about it. Ask them for US references from past clients and email them, most people will be glad to tell you about their hunt and usually months after they get back they have a more honest/realistic opinion about their hunt.

Safari companies/outfitters will quote all their prices to you in US dollars and you will have to pay 50% of the day fees or package cost as a deposit to secure the dates. I try to sign up for my hunts 10-12 months in advance to shop for the best airfares and arrange vacation time from work. If you use a travel agent this give them a lot of time to find you the best deals on airline tickets especially if you are flexible about your travel route. You’ll have to bring over the remainder of the money and any extra money for trophy fees, tips and incidentals in cash so I use a cloth money belt under my shirt/pants when I carry it. If you carry more than $10,000 you must declare it when you leave the US and on your Customs form for entry into most countries (including returning home).

The remainder of the package cost or day fees are due from 30 days before the start of your hunt or on the first day and any trophy fees outside of your package or animals taken if you’ve doing your hunt on a day fees + trophy fees basis are due on the last evening of the hunt. Usually after dinner on the last day of the hunt the PH/outfitter will get out his book and tell you the amount due for each animal you shot and any remaining day fees and you pay him in cash. Usually the camp staff, trackers and skinners will be nearby and you can put stacks of small bills on the table for and tell the PH that you’d like to leave a gift for the staff who helped you during the hunt. I usually talk to the PH during the hunt when the staff’s not around, about what the appropriate tip levels are for each maid/cook, camp manager, etc (or entire camp staff as a group) should be. There is a strict hierarchy in camp for tips according to job and it’s sometimes a lot easier to have the PH split it up.

Tipping

Figure about 15%-20% of the cost of the hunt for tips. You pay that much or more for a dinner back home and these people are going to serve you 24 hours a day for a week or more. If you’re spending $4,000 on the hunt then 15% would be $600 total (20% would be $800).

From the total tip, I plan on $100 each tracker/skinner. If I shot 5-6 animals then another $25 each to them. I plan on $50 cook/maid (an extra $20 for her assistant, if there is one_and the remaining $300 -$500 to your PH. You can’t give away ammunition especially if you shoot a common cartridge but if you accidentally leave a box in camp it would be appreciated. A good bottle of liquor from the duty free is always appreciated also but cash is king!

 

[Fjold]

Hunting South Africa - Travel home

Book your airline tickets so that you have to be at the airport in the early afternoon if possible. Since you have to be at the airport three hours before the flight and it may be a long drive to the airport it’s a pain in the butt to get up at 3 AM to get to the airport by 6 AM to check in.

Your PH should take you to the airport and help you get checked in for your flight. Your baggage and gun(s) will be checked through to your final destination but you will have to pick them up from baggage claim at the first stop in the US (port of entry) to clear Customs. Get your ticket and go through security which will be very similar to US TSA with the exception that some flights that stop in Senegal or Ghana on the way back will require a separate baggage and body search before boarding.

You can do some souvenir shopping in the secure side of the Johannesburg Airport. (Tell your credit card company that you will be traveling in Africa before you leave the US or they will decline your cards). The airport is full of souvenir shops with all kinds of Africa related stuff, since you don’t need to have the change of clothes and extra stuff in your carry-on on the way back you should have room for souvenirs for the family. Do not buy any commercially packaged biltong there as you are not allowed to bring in any meat products into the US. Don’t listen to the store clerks who tell you that it’s OK because it’s not, it will be confiscated by Customs when you declare it on entry. Don’t not declare something because that is an instant fine and you get labeled by the CBP as a smuggler and will have trouble every time that you cross a US border afterwards. Never take any food off the airplane no matter what country you are going to, prepackaged candy, chocolate and other food stuffs are OK but no fruits or airline food is allowed off the plane.

Once you get on the flight, the crew will pass out the US Customs form for you to fill out. Each person or one person from each family must fill out the form and you are basically allowed to bring in $800 worth of stuff from South Africa duty free. Certain items have specific limits, 1 liter of booze, 2 cartons of cigarettes, etc. so check on that. Anything over $800 or above the special items limit, you will have to pay Customs Duty (Fee) on. Each category of item has a different duty rate, Booze is 3% of the value, perfume is like 20%, etc. think of it like sales tax. When you fill out the Custom’s form you have to list everything that you bought (including duty free) on the back with the cost rounded to the nearest dollar. Don’t list each T shirt -$10, etc. List it like “Clothes - $50” “Liter Rum - $20”, Souvenirs - $100”, there are only about 6- 8 lines to list everything so lump them together and put the total at the bottom.

On the front of the form you put your name, and personal information, what countries you visited, what the last port (city) you were in before this flight, your flight number, seat number, home address, and then check the yes or no blocks on the series of questions about why and where you were overseas. There is one question about whether you’ve been to a farm while overseas and if you hunted a free range area with domestic animals (cattle, sheep, pigs, etc.) you have to check “Yes”. When you go through Customs in the US they will want to see the boots/shoes you wore hunting and will spray them with disinfectant so make sure that before you pack to leave camp that you clean your boots of any mud and weed seeds. I also pack a plastic trash bag to put my boots in so that the disinfectant spray doesn’t stain my clothes or baggage.

When you land in the US, you will exit the plane and clear Immigration by standing in the long lines and being interviewed by a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer for entry into the US. They match up your photo and fingerprints and stamp your entry form and tell you to go ahead. If you have registered with the Global Entry system, you can skip the lines and do this electronically at a kiosk. This can save you as much as an hour of waiting in line if other flights come in at the same time.

You then go to baggage claim and pick up your checked bag and rifle case. Most of the time you will have to go to the special handling/oversize bag claim area for the gun case. Ask the people there where to get your gun checked by CBP, you then have to take everything through the exit for the USDA inspection where you wait in line again. If you have Global Entry then look for the line marked “Crew and Global Entry” and you can breeze right through without the USDA check and bag X-ray. On the other side they will have the bag drop for connections to domestic flights, here the TSA will want you to take your rifle case up to a special desk and unlock and show them your US Customs form 4457 (Registration of valuable goods taken abroad), they will check the serial number in their computer and then have you sign another form and take the case in the back for X-ray and inspection. Again, just close the case and slip the locks through the hasps and leave them unlocked. Ask them to lock it when they are done. Wait there until they come back out and tell you that everything is OK and that you can leave. Then you drop your checked bag on the belt and take your carry-on to the gate for your next flight.

When you get to your home airport you will have to go to over-sized/special handling baggage collection to get your gun/guns and the airport personnel will put a zip tie through the locking clasp on you gun case and escort you out of the airport.

Then you can greet the wife and/or family and friends and tell them when you plan to do it again and what new animals you’ll be going for.

 

[CFJunkie]

Thanks for taking the time to share all that info.
It is an education for most of us.

 

[Alan]

Anyone going to Africa in the future can definitely add this to their preparation. Cheaper flight options are available these days.

@Fjold how many times have you visited Africa?

 

[Fjold]

I've hunted Northern Namibia in 2008, Zimbabwe in 2011, East Cape of South Africa in 2013, Kwa Zulu Natal in South Africa in 2016 and The Kalahari Desert in Namibia in 2019. Here are some pics from each of those hunts: