Africa...

Andy, I greatly look forward to checking this thread each day to view the latest pictures and read the latest installment of your adventures! Fantastic! As good as any of the books I ever read as a teenager about hunting adventures in Africa and India! Thank you so much for posting all of this. :thumbup:
 
Hi Andy,

What scope are you using on your 375 H&H?

Thanks,

Caba

*Sorry if it was mentioned previously.
 
My staff and those in the teams around me are well versed in, how shall I put it... "my idiosyncrasies" ... ;) ;) There may be a few lingering doubts among some however... ;) ;)

Caba....I don't think it was covered yet, it is a Leupold VariX III (probably 20yrs old) 1.5-5x20. It is almost perfect on this rifle for this trip. I would NOT change it now, it has been setup like that (a couple of variations to mounts till I settled on these) for 10yrs. *IF* I were to do it again, and I would agonise over the change, I may go to the 1.75-6x32 that Leupold make. Big if though... !!
 
Warms my cold old heart to see this little key still going strong :)

May have to trade you out of it some day since you increased her pedigree :)

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Yep thats is the one Dave.... ;) Still residing in the same sheath as well (normally around my neck) but that may need an update soon :D It is certainly well travelled having now spent time in the US, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Mozambique.. ;) ;) :D
 
Follow up question...what mounts are you using? I'm looking at putting a scope on my newly bought 375 H&H and I'm open to ideas. Wouldn't mind a QD version.

Andy the Aussie said:
My staff and those in the teams around me are well versed in, how shall I put it... "my idiosyncrasies" ... ;) ;) There may be a few lingering doubts among some however... ;) ;)

Caba....I don't think it was covered yet, it is a Leupold VariX III (probably 20yrs old) 1.5-5x20. It is almost perfect on this rifle for this trip. I would NOT change it now, it has been setup like that (a couple of variations to mounts till I settled on these) for 10yrs. *IF* I were to do it again, and I would agonise over the change, I may go to the 1.75-6x32 that Leupold make. Big if though... !!
Click to expand...
 
They are Leupold 2pc jobbies. ( https://www.leupold.com/hunting-sho...etail-mounting-systems/dd-winchester-70-2-pc/ )

I went through Leupold QDs, slotted (same base different ring to the QDs) and a steel one piece.

The ones on there now are where I settled and I am very happy with them. If i had express sights I may look at a set of quality QDs but in reality (to me at least) a 1.5x optic makes open sights redundant except as a contingency for a broken optic.

What rifle do you have ? That can make some difference to the mounts you will choose as well mate.
 
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Andy, excellent documentation Bro, in writing and pictures! you have a trained eye for capturing these events. Thanks so much for leading us on a wonderful adventure, Sir!
 
Just binge-read this whole thread right now, and I must say it was a really interesting and exiting read (with very good pictures and stories)! As mentioned before so many times, this is an extremly awesome adventure you took us on! I also like the ideology of your hunting, really good to see the documentation of some real hunting in Africa, it's a very interesting continent! Absolutly amazing, keep it comming! :D

Btw, what kind of camera setup did you use? Bloody nice photos.
 
Thanks Xineoaif, I appreciate it. :)

That so far all these pics were with a Nikon D7200 and 18-200VR lens, in the next bunch I broke out the 70-300VR.

Andy
 
I have a Kimber Talkeetna (http://www.kimberamerica.com/talkeetna-94). I see leupold makes the same bases for it as well. I was hoping to find two piece picatinny rail for it so that I can use a nice pair of 30 mm aluminum rings I have but it's turning out to be very difficult. The only one I found is by Kimber itself but they are out of stock for the next few months.

Andy the Aussie said:
They are Leupold 2pc jobbies. ( https://www.leupold.com/hunting-sho...etail-mounting-systems/dd-winchester-70-2-pc/ )

I went through Leupold QDs, slotted (same base different ring to the QDs) and a steel one piece.

The ones on there now are where I settled and I am very happy with them. If i had express sights I may look at a set of quality QDs but in reality (to me at least) a 1.5x optic makes open sights redundant except as a contingency for a broken optic.

What rifle do you have ? That can make some difference to the mounts you will choose as well mate.
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Andy,
Thanks for the camre information I was wondering what you use. This is one nice set-up.
As in anything the great equipment makes a difference only if a professional uses it. This is to say you got the eye :)
 
We then had a couple of days back around the main camp to kill, first order was a sleep in !!!! Well past daylight anyway ... ;) Then a leisurely start with breakfast and lots of coffee etc. In reality this was the first time I had stopped moving since leaving for Africa so it was nice to spend most of the morning doing about nothing.

After lunch we went for a drive around the area surrounding the main camp, camera more important than the rifle now but the later along should it be required. It was great to be able to take in the surrounds and look at all manner of critters that were about. Maybe even see one of the lions here they had warned about !

There are LOTS of little forest deer/antelope around here that move with great speed and rarely stand still !! That said if I were "snack size" I probably would be a bit flighty as well ! I have a loooong list of game I saw !! But not many pictures.

One exception is a family heard of Eland..



Some exploring and found the "family sized" Beans (jack would be proud of what they grew on as well) !!!!



Now earlier I mentioned fire and the burning, in some places it is way over done but in this are they manage it well, being Australian being party to starting a bushfire is a completely foreign concept !!!!! But in Mozambique...







Going now !!





I could get 30yrs inside for doing this at home ... :D





And a man who loves his work !!



...the locals are almost pathological about fire !!!

And with that it was back into camp the looong way around. Arrived back late afternoon just on Beer'Oclock ... ;) ;) We had planned to go out the following morning and take a Duiker for meat (as a local official was pestering for it).

After beers, dinner (with a nice bottle of South African red) and some more beers we all turned in.... I slept well though I was woken many times during the night by the bloody baboons going off about something....
 
More, more, more... ;) Good stuff again Andy! :thumbup: Those bean pods are MASSIVE!!! :eek:
 
:thumbup: I'm following this thread and my son-n-law's 150 mile raft trip in Alaska. He got an awesome Blond Grizzly :)
 
After beers, dinner (with a nice bottle of South African red) and some more beers we all turned in.... I slept well though I was woken many times during the night by the bloody baboons going off about something....

...... so just before light the bloody baboons woke me !!! And I can confess my head was a little foggy.... ;)

After a stretch and a walk around I stuck my head in the sink and wandered out to find coffee....!!! The camp was very quiet at this point (Sunday morning but that is not a real factor)...Jake was already about and had put out hot water and Boet and met at the coffee jar LOL !!! With mugs in hand we went and stoked the fire and sat down, I can't say we were having a lot of conversation more taking in the early morning and heavy mist that was hugging the river....the next bits are a bit blurry ;) but I remember him asking if the Baboons had woken me and us both having a bit of a complain about them... then he said something along the lines of "F#ck LIONS"....
 
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