Hunting in South Africa

[joeberman334]

I'm at the very beginning of planning my hunt in South Africa and I'm full of questions.  If anybody out there has any experience hunting there or knows a good resource I'd appreciate it.  We're just going to be plains game hunting (no big 5/dangerous game).  I'm wondering what time of year is good for hunting?  I really think that I'll  only able to go in either Jan/Feb or July/August, but perhaps I could work out a trip in the March/April timeframe. Also, what game did you find to be the most rewarding to hunt?  Would it be worth $150-175 to add a female warthog to a package?  We're really looking at going with the guys from luxuryhunts.com because of pricing but if any of yall have a reccomendation I'm all ears.  Thanks in advance.

[Daryl (deceased)]

Welcome to THL, Joe.
 
Those guys from Africa don't stop by every day, but they do check in from time to time.  Have patience and I'm sure they'll answer your questions.
 
Daryl

[bradking1]

Joe
 
You will have a great time there. Are you hunting in the East Cape? I assume you are working with Jeff Martinell?
 
I went to the Cape and had a blast. I can't remember the time of year I went ( I will have to check my passport).
 
As for the most rewarding game I would definitely say you have to hunt Kudu for sure (kinda like the holy grail of plains game). I had the best time hunting bushbuck there and took another bushbuck when I went to Moz. I also think a BIG hartebeest is cool and a massively bossed black wildebeest. Some of the little guys are cool too like red duiker, blue duiker, vaal rehbok, etc.
 
I would not waste my money on a sow warthog but if you were to see a "toothy" boar I would surely not hesitate perforating him;)

[chrisb]

Joe,  Ive never hunted south africa, but I hunted in Namibia this past April. It was a plains game hunt and I had a blast! The best hunt of all of the animals I harvested is definitely my Eland. It took two and a half days of walking and stalking. Every stalk we were well within range (approx 40 yards) and once we ended up right in the middle of the herd, but every time my PH said, "young bulls or too small." The third day we finally found a great Eland bull with a great set of horns and a good tuft on his forehead. The other I greatly enjoyed was the Kudu hunt, which was alot of walking and crawling... April was a great time to go, cool in the mornings and it didnt get up more than 80 degrees in the afternoon. There was still a bit of vegitation on the trees but made it fun to stalk in. Dont "waste" your money on a sow piggy, if youre gonna shoot a hog, shoot a big ole boar, youll be happy you did. One last thing, if you can swing it, upgrade your seat on the plane as high as you can, its a long flight. I hope you have fun and if you have any more questions, just ask away.

[Rick]

I hunted the Limpopo area last year in late May-early June and had a ball.  Any hunter could almost not fail to have a good hunt there!    
 
From what I have been told, some of the East Cape operations are "put and take, " where the animals are not born on the ranch you are hunting.  For example, blue and black wildebeest are not native to the same areas, so if the ranch you ar ehunting has both, at least one of the species is not "native."   Not my cup of tea, but if it works for you - enjoy.
 
July would not be bad perhaps - but is more the middle of their winter, I think, so it could be cold or wet?

[chrisb]

Hey Rick,
 
Thats true. Where I hunted, there was an area they used to trap waterbuck and sell to other ranches. Local and "other."

[Bushwack]

Hi Joe, the best time to hunt in South Africa would be in the winter months (May to August). The better trophies would always be the Kudu, Impala, Springbuck, Bluewildebeest, and Warthog.
 
Cheers