View Full Version : African hunting journal -- comments
In 2000, during the run-up to a national election in Zimbabwe, my wife and I did a three week trip there to hunt elephant, leopard and cape buffalo. The technology was still developing, but we took a sat phone and lap top, and uploaded a near daily trip report for each day of the hunt. Since the reports happened each day, they chronicled the good, bad and ugly of the hunt, with the outcome always uncertain. The reports went to an eclectic group of friends, including Jeff Cooper, whom I am told would each day go to the office at Gunsite waiting for the daily report to arrive via email.
Last week, a colleague who is retiring, told me that she had printed and saved each day's report from 2000, and offered to scan and send them to me. I just received them, and perusing the daily reports thought they might be an interesting read now, almost twenty years later. I need to figure out how to put them up, but if there is the interest, I thought I would post one report each day, and let the hunt unfold as it did, just a few decades later.
To allow an uninterrupted read, I would post each daily report in one thread, and have all comments, which I encourage, to go into a companion thread. It will take some work to do this, so I thought I would check on interest before starting.
Toonces
10-25-2018, 08:40 PM
Hell yes I will live vicariously though your hunts. Much the same as I have done with a bunch of African hunting books.
LOKNLOD
10-25-2018, 08:41 PM
I would dig that.
Hunting in Africa - heck just being in wild Africa - is pretty magical.
ST911
10-25-2018, 09:02 PM
To allow an uninterrupted read, I would post each daily report in one thread, and have all comments, which I encourage, to go into a companion thread. It will take some work to do this, so I thought I would check on interest before starting.
Death In the Long Grass. PF-style. Looking forward to it!
wvincent
10-25-2018, 09:53 PM
Excellent plan and I am really looking forward to this.
Thank you.
Doc_Glock
10-25-2018, 10:25 PM
Definitely do this.
UNM1136
10-25-2018, 10:34 PM
Yup.
pat
okie john
10-25-2018, 10:44 PM
Normally I live vicariously through myself, but I'll make an exception for this.
I exchanged several letters about my adventures and other topics with the good Colonel, but I suspect that Africa was always much closer to the top of his list than anything I had to say. I'd love to see what enthralled him so much.
FWIW, I've been following a thread on Twitter that mimics a live tweet the unfolding of WWII, and it's fascinating.
Thanks in advance for this.
Okie John
I'd be interested. I'll probably never hunt Africa, but I do enjoy reading stories about the place.
Paul D
10-25-2018, 11:19 PM
I've been to Africa to hunt a couple of times. I'm definitely interested to read about your experiences.
Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
LSP552
10-26-2018, 05:05 AM
Please do.
Excellent, will get this started, aiming on one journal post a day. Please put the comments in this thread.
Poconnor
10-26-2018, 09:55 AM
My goal was to hunt in Africa before I was 40. Then came kids, 9-11 and deployments. I don’t see it happening in the future so please post whatever you have. With lots of pics
the Schwartz
10-26-2018, 10:16 AM
Another vote for posting your story. I've been to Tanzania once; would love to hear the experiences of others.
Thanks for posting this. I've never been to Africa but some of my friends have. Every year they put on a stage at the local IDPA match with various trophies of their hunt as props. The scenerio usually goes: You are relaxing at camp when - - - - :)
Another installment posted — covered some Glock drama at JFK.
Sorry for the formatting, but I am posting pictures of email messages.
Robinson
10-27-2018, 09:39 AM
Good stuff.
LittleLebowski
10-27-2018, 01:26 PM
Do eet.
Hells yeah. Be an interesting read for sure. Lets view it as a historical account not some thread to bitch about hunting african endangered species and shit. While i wouldnt expect that from PF, the shit ive seen lately... you never know.
Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk
Casual Friday
10-27-2018, 06:10 PM
31781
Another day’s report posted.
Lester Polfus
10-27-2018, 11:13 PM
Now that some years have passed, are you willing to tell us how you resolved the 10mm dilemma in a little more detail?
Now that some years have passed, are you willing to tell us how you resolved the 10mm dilemma in a little more detail?
What might have happened is the airline security guy worked it out with NYPD. They put the Glock in a paper bag, and a few NYPD guys walked it to the curb where our friend with our Suburban was waiting, handed the bag through the window to him and told him not to stop until he reached the CT state line.
I read them in 2000. I have slept since then, though, so this should be fun.
I just can't imagine how awesome it'd be to ride around Africa in a Toyota with a .458 Lott, a pair of .375's and a full auto FAL in the rack while we look for big African game.
Thank you for posting this story, Mr. GJM. It's very unlikely I'll ever get that trip to Africa, so any first-hand account of such an adventure is reading material that could not be more exciting or welcome.
Coyotesfan97
10-29-2018, 01:55 PM
Great thread! Thanks for posting your hunt.
Doc_Glock
10-29-2018, 11:32 PM
Is there a way to zoom in more on the screen shots and post them as larger photos in the thread? The font is pretty hard for me at least to read. Tom_Jones??
Duelist
10-30-2018, 12:59 AM
Is there a way to zoom in more on the screen shots and post them as larger photos in the thread? The font is pretty hard for me at least to read. Tom_Jones??
I'm reading them on an iPad, and zooming in with the touch screen. Works pretty good.
Doc_Glock
10-30-2018, 09:17 AM
I'm reading them on an iPad, and zooming in with the touch screen. Works pretty good.
Really hard on a desktop.
Ctrl and + or - (or scroll on mouse wheel) has been what I've been doing to zoom in on the reports. Hopefully that helps.
Is there any chance that we could see any of these pictures that were taken?
Steve sounds like a real character, and a serious badass!
Doc_Glock
10-31-2018, 09:51 AM
Is there any chance that we could see any of these pictures that were taken?
Steve sounds like a real character, and a serious badass!
Photos would be very cool.
Will check with my wife to see what we have. That was pre iPhone, and digital photos were in the early days.
Another day posted.
I judged posted another day — maybe one of my favorite reports ever!
Duelist
11-03-2018, 02:40 PM
I judged posted another day — maybe one of my favorite reports ever!
The Jun 10 buffalo hunt is a report on par with Death in the Long Grass. Thank you for sharing it. That was intense.
The Jun 10 buffalo hunt is a report on par with Death in the Long Grass. Thank you for sharing it. That was intense.
Thank you. That was a memorable day. I am reading these reports again for the first time in fifteen years or so, so that is fun.
Duelist
11-03-2018, 08:43 PM
Thank you. That was a memorable day. I am reading these reports again for the first time in fifteen years or so, so that is fun.
"We were about to have a fight, whether we wanted this guy or not."
That's a line, right there.
June 13 posted, with an unexpected visitor.
Doc_Glock
11-06-2018, 12:30 PM
June 13 posted, with an unexpected visitor.
Heart was racing with the description of that one!
Heart was racing with the description of that one!
Having a leopard less than a foot from your wife’s head is definitely exciting!
Another post, enormous day!
Doc_Glock
11-07-2018, 09:56 PM
Another post, enormous day!
Pardon my ignorance, but how do leopards compare to other large cats in danger to the hunter?
I know the natives in South America aren’t too concerned with wounded cougars, but are super concerned about a wounded Jag, as the Jag has a tendency to hunt their hunters.
flyrodr
11-07-2018, 10:06 PM
Can't wait for the book. You are working on it, right? ;~)
Pardon my ignorance, but how do leopards compare to other large cats in danger to the hunter?
I know the natives in South America aren’t too concerned with wounded cougars, but are super concerned about a wounded Jag, as the Jag has a tendency to hunt their hunters.
Very different. As explained to me by several African Professional Hunters, a lion will key on one person, where a leopard will attack like everyone there. Infection from their dirty mouths and claws is a big post fight complication.
Coyotesfan97
11-08-2018, 02:45 AM
Pardon my ignorance, but how do leopards compare to other large cats in danger to the hunter?
I know the natives in South America aren’t too concerned with wounded cougars, but are super concerned about a wounded Jag, as the Jag has a tendency to hunt their hunters.
I cant remember if it was Death in the Long Grass or Death in the Dark Continent where Hathaway described one wounded Leopard who put four or five PHs in the hospital going into the brush after him. He also described a wounded leopard who walked under a tree branch and then doubled back to climb the tree, lay on the branch, and wait in ambush. Fortunately for Hathaway the leopard died before he walked under the branch.
Doc_Glock
11-09-2018, 09:05 AM
I blame you for the dream I had last night where I was making hits at close range on lion and it would not go down.
Must have been the Glock 26 I was using...
I blame you for the dream I had last night where I was making hits at close range on lion and it would not go down.
Must have been the Glock 26 I was using...
Another hunt, but when I followed up a lion, I had a Benelli in my hands with Brenneke slugs.
Another day, good buff dust up.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.