Bush Breaking Newsletter No 6 of 2014 Hallo and a warm welcome to the SIXTH edition for the 2014 season! We had an OUTSTANDING year and we have completed our hunting season for now and we are currently preparing for our trip to the USA in January and February! We trust you are all enjoying the current hunting season in your next of the woods! We were very fortunate to have so many hunters this year and in this newsletter were report on the hunts that took place the latter part of August. Then later this month we will report on the hunts that took place in September and then we will have one more newsletter to send out, reporting the on the hunts that took place in October. With no further delay During our annual marketing tour in the, Drom and PH Charles met Dan Lewia and Tom Pelletier at the Dallas Safari Club Show. The selecting was overwhelming at show with a so many Hunting Outfitters available to choose from but after Dan and Tom sifted through every brochure and looked at every website, Somerby Safaris caught their attention and these two hunting buddies were ready for their African trip.
Dan s choice of animals was an old Kudu bull with long ivory tips and a big Impala ram with symmetrical horns tips. You can see the satisfaction and the excitement on Dan s face after using his.280 calibre to take down these animals with one shot! Excellent hunting Dan! Here you can clearly see the difference between a Black Wildebeest (LEFT) and a Blue Wildebeest (RIGHT). The main difference is the shape of the horns and the also the white mane and white tail of the Black Wildebeest compare to the black mane and dark tail of the Blue Wildebeest. Tom is passionate about hunting and wildlife and took pleasure in all small things besides hunting, like the beautiful white hair on the back of the Springbuck that opened up after it has been shot. You can sometimes smell the sweet honey flavour of the glad that is covered by the white hair on the back. Dan and Tom had a wonderful hunt with Somerby Safaris and also kept all loved ones back home updated on every highlight and trophy that has been shot every day. No better way to end a hard day of scouting and hunting under the hot African sun than each bring home a STUNNING Blesbuck ram. Congratulations Dan and Tom! What a wonderful safari with Tom and Dan, we enjoyed every minute of it and hope to see you again soon. Please remember to bring your beautiful wives with next time!
Butch Meilinger is a well-known crossbow hunter and have shot all 5 of the Big Five with the cross bow but he is more than that, he is also a dear friend of Somerby and visit us one a year during August. Butch accompanied three families on this trip, which was mainly a vacation with only three days of active hunting. The safari started off with a trip down to one of the most visited sites for scenery in Cape Town where they were visiting the most Southern Point of Africa. You could have sensed the excitement the next morning when they boarded the plane for an early flight to go down to Cape Town to spend the next couple of days sightseeing of Cape Town and the surrounding areas. The days in the Cape were spending some relaxed time on the beach, enjoying some great seafood, visiting for some gifts for everyone back home! Hout Bay, Victorian Water Front where everyone spent had some a wonderful time shopping More of the fun activities that Cheryl Clauser, Eran Meilinger, Joyce Hartzel, Casey Maurer with her two kids Damon and Taylor enjoyed during their visit in the Eastern and Western Cape!
While the ladies were out having fun the men were also out and having a different kind of fun: called HUNTING. Although hunting time was limited to three short days Butch, Harold Hartzel and Glen Clauser still managed to take down some excellent trophies. Butch was determined to take a Copper and Black Springbuck with the cross bow but due to limited hunting time he settled after three hours of trying to locate a good specimen for this really NICE Zebra Stallion! The Eastern Cape is known for its huge specie difference and variety in vegetation types. Harold Hartzel had his eyes on a Black Springbuck and did not spare any time or effort to make his dream come true. Ph. Andre and Marius were doing an excellent job and spend many hours scouting for this STUNNING Black Springbuck. Harold was using a 7 mm Ruger to drop all his animals with one shot. When Glen Clauser decided to put the Grey Ghost on the top of his whist list, he knew that he had to be very fit to hunt in the steep mountains of the Eastern Cape Province. Ph. Andre and Glen set out early each morning to find this important animal on Glen s dream list, a big Kudu bull. After hunting most of the morning they located a beautiful bull. After stalking for another hour or so, Glen made a great shot and down went his bull. They spent the rest of the afternoon hunting for a Lechwe which they finally located early the next morning. Harold made the perfect shot at 250 yards and the Lechwe dropped within a few yards. We here at Somerby Safaris want to thank each and every one for a wonderful trip and we really hope to see all of you again soon!
We were very happy to welcome back our good friends Al Gargano and Tony Carusso that were part of the Colonial group that hunted with Somerby Safaris last year and decided to join their friends John Mattera and John Friscia again this year. You can describe the mood between these four friends as one filled with lots of fun, laughter and mutual respect but when you mentioned the word Leopard the mood immediately change to a more serious one filled with adventure and wariness. Al opted to hunt his Leopard over hounds, which will follow a fresh track and then either corner the Leopard or chase it up a tree where the hunter then moves in and take the shot. All three friends decided to join Al when he and PH Andre Nel and Outfitter Drom left early morning to where they received note that a big Tom cat was feeding on the bait that they put out. Two different Leopards were eating from the bait and judging by the size of the tracks, both of them were big male cats. While the scouts were checking the bait early morning, they caught the Leopard in the act busy tearing pieces from the bait and within minutes Drom and Al were ready for an adventure of a life time. The dogs were barking with excitement, running at full speed while the handlers pulled at the leaches, trying to slow them down so everyone can catch their breath and catch up with the dogs. Al knew he had to be in top shape when he booked this hunt and did not spare the dogs or handlers at all. The next moment the dogs went crazy with excitement and immediately circled the big Tom cat, while Al was already standing next to Drom with his.375 Ruger and three soft nose bullets in the chamber. Al is a very experienced hunter and the moment the dogs gave him a gap to take a shot, he took the perfect shot! Hats off to Al, well done! and well done to these courageous dogs!
John Mattera is a well-known author and we are honoured to call him our good friend. John was not planning to hunt a Hippo this year but when Drom received note that there was a problem Hippo in one of our area, John was all eager and Hippo hunting moved to John s top priority list. Problem animals refer to an animal that can be male or female and causing problems in the villages among the people by destroying the crops they have planted or even becoming aggressive towards the people and damaging fences. This specific Hippo escaped from one of the nearby National Parks and made itself at home in a small pond close to a big village where he becomes aggressive and a danger to all the surrounding villagers. Drom and John were all geared up and ready for action It took several attempts over a couple of days before the opportunity finally presented itself to shoot this Hippo. This bull was getting irritated with all the people disturbing the peace around the pond every day and finally went for a full charge at day three. All chaos broke loose when this Hippo charged at full speed and Drom described it as a big fat pig flying across the surface without those stumpy legs even touching ground John was calm as only an experienced big game hunter can be and fired the perfect shot with his.404 Jeffrey and stop this beast solid in his tracks. What a great hunt and even a greater shot! Excellent hunting John!
The most successful way to hunt for Bushbuck is during night time but when this group of friends spotted this beautiful old ram while they were having lunch, nobody could believe their luck. Within seconds John and PH Andre were grabbing their rifles and immediately start stalking through the thickets for this skittish animal. John knew that he would have only one chance to kill this skittish animal and made the perfect shot. John Friscia was hunting his Bushbuck at night and used his 30.06 Dakota to drop his Bushbuck also with one shot. It is quite interesting that Mattera s Bushbuck is right handed and Friscia s is almost symmetrical to Mattera s but is a left hander. Congratulations guys! Tony Carusso or better known as Tony the Dragon Slayer has been to Africa a couple of times and is familiar with all the local customs and traditions. Tony was hunting this HUGE old Croc in his dreams since he decided that he will be accompanied by John Mattera, John Fricia and Al Gargano on their trip to South Africa. When the moment finally presented itself for Tony to pull the trigger of his.375 Ruger, he was more than ready to make the perfect shot! The Crocodile was making a few swirling movements and trying to head for the water before Tony put a stopper in him. Tony used his.325 Browning to hunt this really nice Common Springbuck ram. Excellent hunting Tony!
Each hunting day was filled with excitement and John Mattera and Al Gargano did not let the opportunity pass when this gorgeous Red Hartebeest and Sable Bull crossed their path! John Friscia was determined to draw some blood after spending the whole afternoon chasing a big herd of Blesbuck and never got the opportunity to fire a shot. His luck was about to change when this beautiful Blesbuck ram stood perfectly broadside for a few seconds and John drop him in his tracks. After 12 days filled with life long memories it was time to go back home and start planning for another safari. We want to thank each and every one of you for a wonderful hunt and we hope to see you again soon! ~ ~ ~ That was it for August, folks you will be receiving the September newsletter in the coming month, which will also include our schedule for our annual USA Marketing trip. Take care and talk again soon The Somerby Safaris Team