Today is D-day in the Super 14 rugby competition. Afrter 98 games in the round robin stages the Chiefs from NZ played their fellow countrymen the Hurricanes in the first semi-final playoff last weekend, beating them by 14-10. The Bulls from SA played the defending champions, the Crusaders from NZ in the other semi-final playoff at the Bulls home ground, Loftus. The Bulls ran out victors with 36-23.

Today at 17H30 GMT+2 the Bulls play the Chiefs in the final at Loftus Versveld, the Bulls home ground, in Pretoria, South Africa. 80 minutes of grueling rugby to come.

Needless to say - I am a huge Bulls fan, and I'm hoping that my team will lift the trophy at around 19H30GMT+2 as the new champions!

GO BULLS!

The Tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus) is one of the stepchildren when it comes to African plains game.

This is Africa's fastest antelope, and can only be beaten for speed by the cheetah. However, it very rarely falls prey to the cheetah as it can hold top speed for much longer distances than the cheetah. The cooling system of the cheetah only allows it to keep going at top speed for a maximum of 300yrds before it "overheats".

The Tsessebe is seen as an indigenous "exotic" due to their low numbers, and can be extremely expensive to hunt. I've seen prices of up to 5,000USD. The minimum requirement for Rowland Ward is 15" and for SCI 40". I will genuinely recommend that, if given the chance to hunt this rare and beautiful animal, provided it is a good specimen, do not pass up on the opportunity.

The animal above was hunted by Eric Nysse (HN member enysse) with me on May 19th, 2009. It measured 15¾" on Rowland Ward, and a very respectable 47¾" on the SCI measuring system. The animal is a good mature and old bull that is going to make an extremely beautiful wall mount.

When the hunting bug bit me at the tender age of seven, when I hunted a common duiker north of the Soutpansberg in Limpopo, I gave my first steps in the school of hunting.

Now 40 years later I'm still learning. And not just about hunting per sé. The "university of life and hunting" has new things installed for us each day. Sometimes when I'm in the bush hunting, I come upon animals, and all I learned about that species is suddenly thrown out the window when something happens that the species has never shown me before. They suddenly act "out of character", and after a few days I find out that the species just react or do things a little different to what I'm used to. This I have encountered many times in different hunting areas. Although there are certain similarities to the way a species would react, it could differ quite a lot from hunting area to hunting area. I've specifically picked up on these behaviours where there are fairly big differences in the density of bush. Animals seem to react differently in open areas as to vreaction in very dence shrub or bush.

This brings me to the point I want to make - I have learned that just when you think you have the answers, all the questions are changed. Recently I have witnessed a very experienced hunter hunt hard for eight days to harvest an eland bull without success. You can never know too much about the bush. In every hunt you will notice new things. Some of them might seem too small to have an impact, but I have realized not to discard any new information as being insignificant. Sometimes the smallest little signal could deliver the quarry right in your hands ... if only you make the effort to be attentative.

I have a dislike in certain calibers, but I have realized that some people do very well with the calibers I dislike, and therefor it seems to me that I do not do well with them purely because of my dislike, and not because they are bad calibers. I have learned not to critisize another's equipment too much. Yes I'll joke about it, but try not to be hurtful about it. I have seen some neat stuff over the years ... rifles ... telescopes ..... binoculars ... range finders ..... some expensive brand names, and others not nearly as expensive. And most of them worked fairly well, regardless of their prices. Yes, I have an affinity for certain brands, and not all of them are expensive. If it works for me, I'll stick to it, and if somebody tells me its crap, I get fairly upset. I can therefor imagine that others would also get upset when they are told the equipment they use are crap. So, I try and be diplomatic by just remarking that for my "unique physique" ;-) it doesn't work, but that if it works for him/her, that's great. Keep using it.

At the age of 47 I'm not done learning about hunting, and I think anyone who thinks they know everything will wake up one day with the schock that they actaully know very little, as they have closed their minds to new learning.

The bush is my school. The living creatures in it my teachers. And I am forever the learner.

Good hunting. Don't forget to learn something new about nature next time you're out there

I just got back from a 7-day hunt with Eric Nysse from Wisconsin (HN member - enysse).

Eric was picked up by me on 16.05.2009 at OR Tambo Airport, JHB. I ran into some last minute problems with my concession owner, who had hunters on the property until May 18th, 2009 (not the info I had, and hunting was actually booked for May 17th). Early on May 19th, 2005, we went to the concession, and after a very short sighting in session, we finished the paperwork with the concession owner, and started hunting. After looking at quite a few animals, we found this very good Tsessebe bull. He was old and mature. I initially called his trophy size at around the 14"-mark (I always call short of what I think). The bull moved down the hill a bit, and presented a better look. We thought he was good, and approached on foot. He presented us with a broadside shot at about 60yrds, and Eric was very quick with the shot, placing the 190gr .300WM bullet just behind the shoulder. The animal took off, ran about 50yrds, and went down. His longest horn measured at 15¾", and on SCI scored a great 47¾".

We had some brunch, and went back into the veld to look for waterbuck and Burchell's zebra. Late afternoon (at around 16h20) we found a great waterbuck bull. The next moment the bull jumped out and ran about 10yrds towards us. Eric did not even wait for the call as he realized that this was a good animal. A well placed shot again with the .300WM, and we found the animal 30yrds further. His longest horn measured at 28¾", and on SCI scored a very respectable 73¾".

We were getting pressed for time, and whilst I stayed behind to help with the skinning of the waterbuck, my son, Wikus, also a PH, went off with Eric to find a Burchell's zebra. Before we were finished skinning the waterbuck, they were back with an extremely good zebra. I have to say thank you to my wonderful son for a great call on the zebra, as there were a 1,500ZAR penalty on shooting a mare. He made the call, and it was the right one.

On Wednesday, May 20th, off we went to a concession in Limpopo. After some hard hunting on Thursday, with no animal to show, we made a bit of a later start on Friday. We found a good impala, and Eric took a shot at about 300yrds. The animal was wounded, and not recovered, leaving all of us sad. At this point I have to say that notwithstanding the wound shot, Eric is a great shot, and wounding the animal was just one of those things that sometimes happens to us hunters. I still had full confidence in Eric's shooting ability.

After some lunch we went out again, and fairly late we found a fantastic kudu bull. He was broadside at about 40yrds, and again Eric placed the 190gr .300WM perfectly. I thought of around 48"-50", but as the measuring tape started to go around on the ridge it grew to an excellent 54½". It was measured right on the spot. On Saturday morning, just before we left, we re-measured, and the longest horm came out at 55â…œ". Apparently it grew a little more during the night ;-) It mesured a very respectable 130â…ž" on SCI.

On Saturday afternoon Eric boarded his Delta flight back to the States. I enjoyed hunting with Eric. He has very high demands with regards to the kind of animals he wants, and has a lot of knowledge with regards to judging trophies on the hoof. As PH I almost did not have to make calls as Eric would take one glance and knew whether he wanted it or not. I genuinely liked his approach. His first requirement was maturity, then horn mass, and then length. Eric is an excellent hunter, and it was truly a privilege hunting with him. I'm also very glad that we were able to find him some excellent animals for his trophy collection, and do hope to see him back some day soon.

Thank you very much Eric. I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did.

PS - if anyone would like to see the animals we hunted, please have a look at my photo album "Eric Nysse - 2009 hunt"

On CNN today the story broke regarding British MP's who has lodged bogus claims. One claimed 16,000 pound sterling for a mortage that does not exists. Other MP's claimed for all sorts of other BS, and they are now offering to pay back these monies to "restore confidence".  The value of the bogus claims uncovered so far totals more than 107,000 pound sterling! What a laugh! One can never again trust someone who has stolen from you, especially if he/she is a politician. Brittain has some of the strictest firearm legislation in the world. This is probably to ensure that the constituents do not shoot the corrupt politicians

Now this is not quite meant to be in a blog, but the fact is that it gives me more space to say what I want to say. I would firstly like to thank Tony (WyomingHunter) who put the idea in my head, and I think he raised some seriously valid issues.

I'm prepared to work for my money, and this is the only matter I slightly differ from what Tony said. I'm not going to raise my day fees to compensate for so-called loss of income because my client wants to do it in a seriously ethical manner. Hell no! I'd rather make a little bit of money on the hunt, and have a genuinely enjoyable time, than let the Money God take over my life.

So, here goes :-

I'm prepared to do a 14 day safari with a client, with the proviso that the first 4 days will be a visit to Kruger National Park on a photographic and "educational" safari. During this time we will search for the animals the client wants to hunt, study them, and I will share with the client my knowledge about the animal, its normal behavior patterns, diet and all other info the client wants to know. Thereafter we will do a 10 day hunting safari in one concession area, and hunt seriously hard on foot to harvest 5 plains game species. No Toyota-stalking (searching with a vehicle for game). Serious and genuine hunting.

This offer is only open to someone who really wants to do it this way. Please read Tony's (WyomingHunter) comments on my blog posting "Outfitters & Ph's" to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Day fees will be at a reduced rate for all 14 days (I told you I'm prepared to work for my money.) Trophy fees will be at my standard pricelist prices. At the end of the hunt the client decides whether this was a worthwhile hunt. If it was, he will pay me only the fees as agreed upon before the hunt, and I will ask him to spread the word amongst friends, family and others.

I would seriously like to do more hunts like these, where the focus is more on the knowledge shared and the enjoyment of the hunt, than on the number of animals bagged or chasing the money. I'd much rather take a little bit of money more often, and have truly enjoyable hunts, than going on a shooting spree and kill as many animals as possible on a hunt. I would love to share my passion for the South African bush with my clients, and actually have the time to do so.

I have seen this many times - a client prepares a budget to hunt in South Africa/Africa, only to find out that there were costs never conveyed to him. What should you be on the lookout for?

• Animal prices - In South Africa we do not have government conservation fees etc as most of the hunting concessions are in private hands. However, in most other African countries most of the hunting concessions are owned by the government of that country, and other than the trophy fee, each animal hunted on these government owned concessions attract a conservation fee and/or a government tax plus some permit fees etc. When yo speak to your outfitter ask him/her to give you a total price including all permit fees, government taxes, conservation fees etc in order for you to do proper financial planning.
• Firearm permits - Most countries in Africa (I do not know of one who does not have this) will charge you a permit fee to bring your hunting firearms into the country. Some also charge a fee for the ammo (make sure of restrictions).
• Airfare - I have found Delta Airlines to not only be one of the most reasonably priced, but also one of the best carriers of firearms. I will always recommend them. Airfare from the USA to South Africa is around 1,800USD return.
• Day fees - Make sure what the day fee includes and excludes. Most outfitters will include a pick-up and drop-off at the airport. If not, request them to include it. Make sure that there are no extra costs like caping you trophy, transfers, drinks etc
• Taxidermy/dipping & shipping - it happens that clients never take into consideration these costs. The cost of taxidermy and dipping & shipping costs could sometimes exceed the price you paid for the animal. Most outfitters have a taxidermy they use. If you want to use your own taxidermy in your native country, make sure that you know what the dipping and shipping charges will be. Do not just choose a taxidermy because they are cheap. Remember that you paid good money for your trophy animal. Ensure that your prized trophy comes out the way you wanted. sometimes it is worth it to pay a little more to get the job done properly. I recently visited a taxidermy, and was shocked to see the poor quality of work. His prices were better than fair, but, other than the fact that one could clearly see the stitching, none of the animals looked  "alive".
• Extra activities - make sure what extra activities will cost you if you are interested in some of them

These are some of the most important issues to consider when drawing up your hunting budget. Should you require any advice on any of these matters, feel free to contact me. My advice is free of charge. mhimbibs@telkomsa.net

This is a topic that has been hotly debated here on HN. I've thought long and hard whether I should drop my pennie's worth, and decided that if I don't, things might be distorted to one side, without giving thought to the other.

How do you choose your outfitter and/or PH? That is extremely difficult if you have not hunted in Africa before. You either pick one at random, or you allow someone else (who you also do not know) to point you towards someone. Chances are that you can have an extremely good hunt, or an extremely bad one either way. I would like to believe that most outfitters and professional hunters are honorable men/women. Whether this is true .... I do not know. The jury is still out on that one. But I would like to believe it anyway. I could never be so arrogant as to imply that I can judge an outfitter, especially when I do not know him/her. There are a lot of good outfitters and good PH's out there that I do not know, and it would be grossly unfair of me to tell someone not to hunt with them

From time to time I hunt for certain outfitters (only 3) as I trust them, and they trust me. On 2 occasions recently (within the last 8 months) I had the opportunity to hunt for these outfitters with some other freelance PH's. I do not consider myself as freelance as I only hunt for these 3 outfitters, and when I hunt with one of them, my focus and loyalty is with the one I'm hunting with. They are actually 3 very close friends, and that makes it a lot easier for me and for them. On these 2 occasions they could not obtain the services of the guys that normally hunt with them, and had to get in freelance PH's.

Both these experiences has made me very, very wary of professional hunters who offer their services freelance. On both occasions these freelance PH's were trying to "sell" other outfitters to the clients, which I view as being highly unethical. Unfortunately for them the clients had some loyalty towards the outfitters they were hunting with, and reported this to the outfitter. Both of them will never hunt for one of the 3 outfitters ever again. What makes this even worse is that both of them are members of a professional body in South Africa.

There are a few, and I mean really only a few, freelance PH's in South Africa that I will ever use and/or recommend, because I know them and I can vouch for them. But otherwise I am seriously wary of free agents.

My advise to anyone who would like to come and hunt in South Africa is to pick an outfitter who a friend or family member has hunted with before, or follow your gut instinct. If the PH you hunt with tries to "sell" you an outfitter other than the one you are hunting with, you better know something is wrong. He'll let you shoot a 30" gemsbok or 42" kudu, and blame it on the outfitter for not having proper hunting concessions whilst he is the culprit. Report such PH's to the outfitter you are hunting with because he has an agenda that only benefits himself, and he has no loyalty towards you, the client, or the outfitter. His only loyalty is to himself.

My wish for every foreign hunter that sits foot on the African continent is that they will enjoy a wonderful and memorable hunting experience, irrespective of who they hunt with. Happy hunting.