A3 Trophy Hunts LLC : Gonzales Safari 2013.. Day 1

And so it begins....

One and a half years of planning, saving and waiting, weeks of dialing in rifles and bows, countless hours checking and rechecking equipment, 3 days of travel, and possibly the longest night of our lives and we finally awoke to day 1 of our 10 day safari. We awoke to strong winds but no weather on Earth could diminish the excitement we were all feeling. Since we arrived at night and did not have a chance to see the environment around us, the excitment to even see the surrounding landscape was almost unbearable throughout the night. At dinner the night before, we had the pleasure of meeting Al and Marsha, a couple out of Phoenix that were on the tail end of their time at Mt. Carmel. This was a nice transition as we got to spend some quality time with the two and got a great rundown on what to expect over the next week and a half. Al was in search of a Kudu on his last day so the plan was made to have Dad hunt with Marsha, Al, and Andries in the morning. Joe, Heather, Michelle, and I would spend some time making sure our bows and rifles were dialed in after the long transit. We would then spend the rest of the day sitting at water while Dad would continue to hunt kudu the rest of the day.

Michelle dials in her 30.06

Although this was a much needed shooting session, it was hard to not go crazy with anticipation of getting out to hunt. This time was also a good opportunity for us to meet the guides we would be hunting with. PG, Jonam (prounounce like "your name" but not sure on the spelling), Jim, and Daniel would be our primary guides. These guys were a huge part in the reason our entire trip was so memorable. Not only were these guys well versed in hunting plains game, they were all around great guys to spend time with. Whether it was hunting or just sharing stories, these guys went out of their way to make sure we were having fun and well taken care of. We'd share our camp with these guys any day of the week. Once we were dialed in, we split up and went seperate ways. Michelle and I would spend the rest of the day with PG while Joe and Heather headed out with Jonam. We would all be sitting in blinds at water holes to see what would show up.

Joe, Heather, and I get the ol' stick and string warmed up

Discussing ballistics

This bull must've known he wasn't on our wanted list!!

As we left the main ranch house headed to our blinds, we were treated with our first sightings of the African plains game. On the way to our blind we seen black and blue wildebeest, gemsbuck, and zebras. This was what we had been waiting for and it was well worth the wait. When we approached the water, we had blue wildebeest just leaving so we were excited to know there were animals close. PG dropped Michelle and I off and went to hide the truck in the bushes. Michelle and I got things situated in the blind and I started ranging potential shooting locations when I hear Michelle whisper to me. Incredible, we hadn't been in the blind more than 5 minutes and we already had a herd of waterbuck headed our way. What a way to start off. PG made his way back and we spent the rest of the day wearing our camera batteries out on waterbuck, gemsbuck, and eland. By our guide's standards, we did not have a shooter buck, bull, or ram come in this evening but it was great to get the shakes as each of the species made their way in. The well built blinds combined with a stiff wind allowed us to stay undected even as Michelle's camera clicked way which made for some nice close-ups. Although Joe and Heather had a herd of Wildebeest visit the water, shooter bulls did not make it in before they lost good shooting light. Dad had a great first day but did not find a shooter kudu. Their group did see a bull pushing 60" but he had one side that was broken in half. What a start, day one finished without a shot being fired but we seen a total of 14 species of plains game that we had never laid eyes on. In addition, I was able to rack up sighting of 12 new bird species, obviously all new species on my life list. We all met back at the dining hall to share stories and pics of our first day out. Tomorrow, Michelle and I head back to the blind with Daniel, Dad will be trying his hand and spot and stalk, and Joe, Heather, Andries, and Jim will be taking a long drive to hunt a different area for the four color phases of the springbuck species. After a great dinner and drinks, we headed off to bed to try and rest for Day 2. Turns out, we needed rest as Day 2 kicked off the trophy harvest that would last the remainder of the 9 days on safari!! Enjoy some pics of animals that visited us at the water the first evening out.