The rest of Africa

[Crackers]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Blesbok1.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Blesbok.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/IMG_1672.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Zebra4.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Zebra5.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Redbeast3.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Redbeast.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Gemsbok1.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Gemsbok2.jpg

[Crackers]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Bluebeast2.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Bluebeast3.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Kudo.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Kudo2.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Warthog6.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Warthog5.jpg

[rexter]

Congrats, Crackers, on your hunts. I really do not care what bow was used, but a Bow kill, is a trophy! Rexter:woohoo:

[Ringtail]

Crackers...that Greater Kudu...awesome & beautiful, those horns reach for the sky......:2thunbs:

[Goatboy]

Great pics, great animals and all with a bow! Congratulations.

[GTOraph]

wow mike you look like you had an awesome time there

hope you had fun you deserved it

Raphael

[Tough Antler Tees]

Nice animals! Man the horns on the Kudu are huge! What are their actual size? They would make killer shofars!:dancebanana1si:
TAT

[PointnDog]

AWESOME Mike. :kewlpics: :freakjam:

So 7 animals total or was there more???????????

[IA Monsterbuck]

That Kudu is awesome! And that Zebra...WOW!! They are all awesome animals, man you are one lucky guy Mike!!

Next time you go can you take me with you? I can be your arrow caddy.

Didn't see the Elite in there but maybe I just couldn't tell, did you shoot anything with it?

[HawkeyeHunter]

Looks like a great hunt congrats Crackers. That Kudu is amazing!

[2xR]

What a journey Mike - AWESOME indeed... Now hurry up and tell us how big that Kudu was :tapfoot:

[Crackers]

Thanks all and The Elite did shoot a few critters but it was my friend that was shooting it. One of the bothers that run the place also took one of the GT-500's out and shoot stuff while doc was on his Buffalo hunt.

[Rattler]

Did you get to taste the zebra meat? I hear it is AWESOME!

[Crackers]

What a journey Mike - AWESOME indeed... Now hurry up and tell us how big that Kudu was :tapfoot:

The Kudu is 55 5/8", Blue Wildebeest 28 7/8" but we were not able to measure the bosses. The Red Hartebeest was 24 1/2" and the Blesbok 16 1/2.

These so far are the largest that have been taken with a bow on their place and the Zebra is only the second that has been taken with a bow there also. It use to be a gun hunting set up and a little over 10 years ago the boys took it over and stopped all hunting to set it up for bow only. It has only now been hunted for 3 years and there is some amazing animals on this place.

[Crackers]

Did you get to taste the zebra meat? I hear it is AWESOME!

Yes and it was good. The best to me was the Eland and Gemsbok

[Rattler]

My friend that lives in SA said he shoots Impala and wharthog for sausage and Zebra is his steak meat, everything else gets traded to the villagers for items.

[Tough Antler Tees]

The Kudu is 55 5/8", Blue Wildebeest 28 7/8" but we were not able to measure the bosses. The Red Hartebeest was 24 1/2" and the Blesbok 16 1/2.

These so far are the largest that have been taken with a bow on their place and the Zebra is only the second that has been taken with a bow there also. It use to be a gun hunting set up and a little over 10 years ago the boys took it over and stopped all hunting to set it up for bow only. It has only now been hunted for 3 years and there is some amazing animals on this place.

Very sweet! The Kudu @ 55 5/8" is tremendous! Congrats on all your kills Mike. Now where are you going to put all these mounts?
TAT

[Crackers]

They will all be hung in the shop for all to see and a few will be in their new brochure (sp).

[KARBON]

Fantastic Crackers!

Congrats.

That kudu was a brute. Nice, rewarding break I see. We all can tell from the pics you enjoyed yourself!:woohoo:

[dch3k]

those are absolutly AMAZING!....if the Kudo is that curly horned one well he is just awesome

[shootstraight]

Yep, congrats Mike looks like you had a great time. Some of those sunsets look amazing, one of these days I've got to go.

[Crackers]

The hardest part about the whole trip was them getting me to smile. Smiling is something that had become hard for me to do after my childhood but once they got me going it was easy again by the end of the trip.

I am now a booking agent for them so if any one is interested let me know

[Slugger]

Mike,
Are those Silver Flames I spy in your quiver?

[dch3k]

Crackers I moved the thread to the bowhunting forum I would Pm you but your Pm is off..hope you understand just having to do my job here


ok boys carry on awesome pics too must of been a blast

[jcmorgan31]

Your upcoming taxidermist bill makes me quiver in my shoes......


Glad you had a great trip.

[NJBuckBuster]

Awesome job Mike... Looks like I might be going in a couple years with Michael... I talked with him yesterday and we are going to be making plans soon....

Again awesome animals Mike....

NJBB

[tim doll]

so when is the barbeque???? Great job, nice trophys...

[IA Monsterbuck]

The hardest part about the whole trip was them getting me to smile.

I don't think they could have slapped the smile off my face after a hunt like that!:loco:

[TX Rattlesnake]

Great pictures of a great hunt. As has been said on here several times already, that Kudu is AWESOME.

Congrats. :freakjam:

[shootstraight]

I'd be curious as to how far you got from these critters, how long were your shots and how heavy a set up did you use?

[Chippy (aka Slippy)]

for the live of me I don't know why anyone would shoot a striped horse but the other stuff is pretty cool. Can you eat any of that stuff?

Looks like one expensive trip, mounting, shipping the mounts home, and buying a house to fit the trophies.

['Ike']

for the live of me I don't know why anyone would shoot a striped horse but the other stuff is pretty cool. Can you eat any of that stuff?

Looks like one expensive trip, mounting, shipping the mounts home, and buying a house to fit the trophies.

Actually a Zebra is one of the most sought after and toughest to take trophies and the table fare is suppose to be very good....Great trip Mike!

[Crackers]

They taste very good and once you hear the Zebra bark you forget it's suppose to be some kind of horse.

[Crackers]

I'd be curious as to how far you got from these critters, how long were your shots and how heavy a set up did you use?


I shot most from the blind between 20 and 30 yards. The Kudu was spot and stock and the shot was dead on 40 yards and was a clean double lung,

I used a 82nd set at 65 lbs 29", Aramid 350 and 125gr Silver Flames (454grs/294 fps). I will use a 3 blade design the next trip.

African Arrow Safaris is who I hunted with and now book hunts for so if your interested feel free to contact me.

NJBuckBuster I'm the one booking Michaels hunt :D

[IsaacF]

Geez did you leave anything left to breed?

Awesome job, on those criiters!

[tim doll]

Just wondering if you got any video? That would be awesome to watch..

[Crackers]

Just wondering if you got any video? That would be awesome to watch..


Yes I will have it shortly

[HoPaLONg]

congrats on the hunt. cant wait for the vids.....if you post some k-shots

[Challenger]

Yes I will have it shortly



Cool!! I want to see that!

[ux monster]

Awsome,totally awsome i want hunt africa in a big way!Congrats on the many fine animals.

[IA Monsterbuck]

I will use a 3 blade design the next trip.

You know you've got me curious now. Were you not impressed with the Silver Flames?


Are you gonna be accepting Pm's soon? Curious whether a certain 30" GT500 made it to your shop.....

[CamG]

You know you've got me curious now. Were you not impressed with the Silver Flames?


Are you gonna be accepting Pm's soon? Curious whether a certain 30" GT500 made it to your shop.....

You still waiting on that bow? Wow man, you deserve a medal and some extras for free!

[NJBuckBuster]

Well sign me up Mike.. I have to talk with Michael more but I want to go.. He said 2010.. I guess I will just contact you for more info...

Thanks Mike..

NJBB

[IA Monsterbuck]

You still waiting on that bow? Wow man, you deserve a medal and some extras for free!

Yes, CamG, thanks for noticing. It has been a loooong wait. Beginning to wonder if Elite doesn't think I'm Elite material or something.:hit_self:

Ordered my GTO way back in January. I have a 30" draw and as you may know there were a lot of issues with the 30" cams (draw cycle loading up at the end, cams chewing up cables, etc.). Crackers finally got the updated cams and everything for my GTO but not till after the big announcement of the new cam system and bows and disconuation of the old line. He gave me the option of having a GTO set-up or replacing it with a GT500 (Crackers rocks!). With all the 30" cam issues on the GTO I did not hesitate to opt for the GT500 and new cam system.

I'm hoping that my wait is almost over. I really have hardly shot my Mathews at all the last few months. Hard to explain but I just can't seem to get enthused about shooting it now, I just keep waiting for my Elite to show up.

The good news is last I heard Mike said it should be there when he gets back from Africa. So hopefully after he gets through reading his 500 (or is it 5,000 :coffee_n_pc:) PM's from the past couple of weeks I'll hear something. :mail:

If Elite would like to throw in a medal and some extras that would be ok too..:)

Anyway, don't want to hijack this thread or anything, I wanna see more pictures from Africa!!

[Crackers]

A few here wanted me to tell the story of the hunt so I will try the best I can to put it in words. The trip was a very short planned trip, from the time my friend asked me to go until we flew was about 30 days...left little time to get excited. We were booked with African Arrow Safaris in the Limpopo, far north in South Africa, close to Lephalale with Harry Nel our host. On this trip also was my friend Steve Brown and his family, Larry Pulkrabek owner of Rage and Field Logic and Steve Toriseva from Babe Winkelman Productions. I will have pics from all the other hunters when I get them loaded.

The equipment I set up for the trip were 2 82nd Airbornes one was 60 lbs and the other was 65 lbs. Aramid 250 for the 60 with G5 strikers and Aramid 350 with 125 gr Silver Flames for the other. Bow bows had the Spot Hogg hunter with wrap and .019 pins, Octane 7" stabilizer and Octane quiver. The factory string stops were removed and replaced with a STS, arrow rest were both a QAD HD and the Limb driver. The KE was more then enough from either bow with 79 and 87 to handle any thing I was going to hunt and Teddy who is Steve's wife had not trouble with her Equalizer set at about 54 lbs.

My first morning out was more of a picture day because nothing I was looking for came in but that was find for me. I had time to talk to Harry's father and learn more about their place and them and the cool things that were visiting the water hole. After lunch I was hooked up with my PH Paul and off we went for the evening hunt. The first hing on my list was a Gemsbok or Kudu and Paul said he had been given instructions on what I was looking for. We had many Gemsbok come in a long with smaller younger Kudu and although there were some Gemsbok that had really long horns they were all pregnant females and the bulls as Paul put it were not what he wanted me to shoot. The next morning we were at it again and again we had 3 female Gemsbok come in and all were pregnant so we sat and watched. A while later we had Eland cows and calves come in and a couple smaller bulls and then we seen the Bull Gemsbok, a mature bull with heavy bases and my PH gave me the signal that he was mine. After much waiting the bull gave me a board side shot at 23 yards which I took putting the arrow low in the heart. The bull ran about 90 yds and turned to see what happened and then fell....I got pretty excited :D
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Gemsbok2.jpg
The next day we tried a spot were they thought there was a big Kudu and I seen my first Blue Wildebeest and from a distance my PH said he was huge and this would be my bull. I got set up for his arrival but when he got into range Paul told me to forget it because he had wore the points of his horns down and he knew there was better if we waited. We waited and had a couple really nice Waterbuck come in but they were not on my list so I just took pictures. After lunch we went to a area where they thought we would see Warthog and Blesbock that were both on my list. We had 11 Red Hartebeest come in first and then a couple small Warthogs, then I seen my first mature Eland bulls and man talk about huge, larger then any Moose you'll ever see. The Red Hartebeest all started looking in the same direction and then started moving away and then from the direction they were looking came a herd of Blue Wildebeest and then the PH got excited and told me to get ready. I asked if he saw a big bull and he said it's a monster so ready I got. I was able to tell when the bull came in his horns were large and he also played the spar game with one of the Elands. After what seemed like forever waiting for a clear shot with nothing standing on the other side of him he gave me a clear 24 yd shot, it was clean and through the heart and he ran 45 yds and was down. By now my PH was having just as good of a time as I was.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Bluebeast1.jpg
The next morning I was up early again and just poured my self a cup coffee when everyone started to show up. Paul jumped out of the truck and said grab your bow we seen your Kudu. I grabbed the bow and they said I would have to stock this bull and I said no problem. The stock got us to with in 40 yds which I took a double lung shot and a hour later I was standing with a great trophy animal. I would of been happy now if I had not taken another animal.....but this was not to be the case.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Kudo3.jpg
After lunch we went to a spot that Teddy had seen a big Blesbok to see if we would have any luck and we did see him. He was a smart one because he did has he did before and walked way around the blind and did not come in. A little over an hour went by and a huge Red Hartebeest came in and Paul really got excited about this one and said I had to take it. The shot would be 22 yds and right through the top of the heart and the animal went 9 yds stopped and fell over, what a great ending to a great day.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Redbeast3.jpg
The next morning we went back to the same blind knowing that Blesbok had to come in sooner or later and after 2.5 hours of waiting he came in. The Blesbok came in to the same spot that the Red Hartebeest did and the shot gave the same result with the animal stopping and falling in the same spot. After this I didn't think it could get any better.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Blesbok1.jpg
The only animal I was still after was the Warthog and of course we were looking for a real nice one. That evening we sat in a elevated blind waiting for a Warthog or may be a Impala. A really nice Warthog came in and with the wind blowing in circles it was pretty spooked. It took it him a long time to give a shot and then I didn't do my part very well, I made a shot that was to high I believe and with just a small blood trail we found were it laid down and then there was no more blood. We looked for hours until dark and then again in the morning with no luck.

We hunted that evening for Impala and we seen plenty but not anything my PH wanted me to shoot. That evening we sat around the fire and had a few drinks and talked about what we were going to do in the morning because I was going to be leaving for a few days to go and visit a friend and I said well if a monster Eland showed up I might shoot it but I really had nothing else on the list. We went the next morning where we seen all the Eland a few days before and planed on setting until noon. At 11:29 we started to pick up a bit and get ready for the truck to pick us up when out of no where a Zebra came in. From the time I seen him it was like we were on auto pilot because with out a word I picked up the bow and Paul picked up the video camera and began tapping. The only shot I had was a quartered away shot and it was perfect, a high heart shot and the Zebra ran from the front of the blind and fell 3 foot from the back door. After he was down Paul and I just looked at each other and I then realized that my hand was shaking and my heart was pounding hard. A Zebra was something that none of us expected to see more less get a shot at....the icing on the cake.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Zebra4.jpg
I went and stayed a few days at my friends Steve Kobrine's farm where we worked on bows and talked shop, had a great birthday dinner and some fine CR. The Warthog was taken there and it was one of those shots that make trackers happy. One shot and it didn't move, shot it with a Rage in the neck and dropped it were it stood. I will be visiting Steve again and if not to hunt it will be for just a good time......Thanks buddy it was a blast.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Warthog5.jpg
I am already putting together another hunt which I'm taking my wife with me this time. I am also booking for Harry so if your interested feel free to contact me, the 2009 season is already booked so this will be for 2010 and later.

[Maybee-R]

Very cool story. thanks for taking the time to share. I enjoyed all of it.

[Scablands]

Yes thanks, great to hear the stories that go with the photos!

[IA Monsterbuck]

What an awesome story Mike, and an incredible hunt!

Since you're a booking agent now what kind of money does a trip like that cost including travel, etc? Do you pay a trophy fee by the animal or is it a package deal where you get to shoot so many animals?

[Crackers]

What an awesome story Mike, and an incredible hunt!

Since you're a booking agent now what kind of money does a trip like that cost including travel, etc? Do you pay a trophy fee by the animal or is it a package deal where you get to shoot so many animals?


The plane fare was around $2400 form here to there and back. There are packages that include trophy fees or you can do it a la cart

[Crackers]

Larry and his Waterbuck
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/P1000664.jpg
Nyala
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/IMG_1293.jpg
Blesbok
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/IMG_1238.jpg

Teddy All taken with 52 lb Equalizer
Wildebeest
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/P1010147.jpg
Ostritch
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/P1010357.jpg
Impala
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/P1010116.jpg
Gemsbock
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/P1010310.jpg
Kudu
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/P1000682.jpg

[Crackers]

Steve
Bushbuck
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/P1000818.jpg
Cape Buffallo
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/P1000710.jpg
Duiker
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/P1000793.jpg
Eland
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/P1000856.jpg

[Ringtail]

Crackers...thank you for posting the story, really adds some substance to the already awesome pics...

[dch3k]

great story... awesome pictures....glad you had such a good time and well deserved rest

[Crackers]

I do hope you notice the Ninja GT-500 in some of those pics :D

[Ringtail]

sure did.....maybe next time, they'll all be Elites....:thumb:

[Crackers]

Well the future is a funny thing LOL We have already booked a hunt in 2011 and there will be a lot Elites on that trip

[GRZIP]

That is without question the longest post (beyond a sentence) I have read from Cracker's in 4 years of reading his posts on AT. Thanks for sharing the story, that was great!

[Crackers]

Larry's Lion

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Crackers1/Larry_lion_upright_2008.jpg

[VorTexan]

Way to go Mike! You deserve a trip like that!

[thehairlessone!]

Thanks for sharing crackers. Awesome stories and photos. I look forward to seeing the videos as well.

rick

[NJBuckBuster]

Mike what did that Lion cost?? someone told me they are VERY expensive...

NJBB