Hunting South Africa - NW Atlanta Area Get Together

Yep, another one. Hopefully poor Philip Hammond got all the haters on his thread

I'm hosting the folks I hunted with in 2017 at my home for a couple days. Werner and Carmen from Cheetau Safaris. It's "show season", so the outfitters who cater to Americas are all in the States this time of year. Would love to have folks meet us where ever to get more info on hunting South Africa. Ask anything you want. I'll buy you a drink (or two). Weekend of Sat Feb 24 and Sun Feb 25. Likely will set up shop at a restaurant/bar/pub in the Marietta/Kennesaw area and folks can stop by when convenient. Relaxed, no pressure.

I have everything you need as a new hunter in Africa, since I did it all for the first time recently. Spreadsheet with costs, detailed packing list, info on traveling with your rifles, taxidermy and shipping. It's not cheap, but as others have said, it's comparable cost-wise to an elk hunt out west. It’s not as much as you think to hunt plains game. If you have any interest in Africa, you should at least explore the idea a bit. If you don’t have any interest, no worries – it’s not for everyone. I loved it.

Cheetau hunt two private ranches in South Africa. One on the Limpopo area (18,000 acres) and one in the Kalahari area (25,000 acres). I hunted both. Very different terrains, different species that thrive in each. Did about 5-6 miles a day stalking according to my fitbit.

Great lodging in both areas. Great food – we ate everything we shot. Lots of meat over wood coals on the braai. Really nice folks all around.

People think you need a bunch of new stuff to hunt Africa – you don’t. If you have a 270, 7mm or 300 that you shoot well, camo that will hold up to nasty thorns and hot temps, and comfortable uninsulated boots you are good to go for plains game.

I’m headed back in 2019 to hunt both ranches again. No commercial relationship with these folks, just a very satisfied customer. It’s not difficult to become friends after 10 nights around the boma listening to lions, hyenas, etc.

www.cheetau.co.za

PM me if interested and we’ll set out a plan.

I’ll post a few pics later.

pictures

South Africa 2017

Awesome animals!
Did y'all cook some of each one?
Which was you favorite?

Yes, we did eat each of them

sea trout said:

Awesome animals!
Did y'all cook some of each one?
Which was you favorite?

Click to expand...

Impala sausage every morning for breakfast along with some warthog sausage.

Several other gents in camp with me, they shot buff and sable also. We ate wildebeest, springbok, kudu, buff, sable, gemsbok, and others. Mostly grilled over wood coals on the braai.

Think my favorite was a toss-up between sable and kudu. They rolled up some mushrooms and cheese in the filleted kudu backstrap, tied it off, and grilled the whole thing. Fantastic! Also had some impala lasagna that was excellent.

To be fair, I enjoyed everything we ate. The springbok was a roast - it was a bit dry and therefore was my least favorite. But I think that was a preparation issue, not a taste issue.

Next time I'm over I plan to flash fry some thinly sliced heart with a little garlic and rosemary in a bit of bacon grease like I do venison heart - I'd bet it will be excellent as well.

Id love to one day shoot a wildebeest (redneck buffalo)and a Kudu. Got to win the mega millions first though.

Who do you recommend for taxidermy once you get the trophies back to GA?

Taxidermy

MajorMaes said:

Who do you recommend for taxidermy once you get the trophies back to GA?

Click to expand...

I had all mine done in S Africa and shipped over. All in the costs for high quality work are about the same, perhaps a fraction less if it's done in SA. My decision was driven by two primary considerations:
1. I checked out the local SA taxidermist my outfitter suggested by chatting with a couple clients; and
2. I ultimately decided that I wanted someone who does kudu, steenbok, impala all day every day doing my work rather than someone who primarily does NA game.

But YMMV, obviously.