Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on August 27, 2023, 09:00:36 PM
Africa is a long trip no matter what....and the route to our destination included a 2-3h domestic flight to Boston, a layover there, a 14h cross Atlantic flight to Doha, Qatar, a VERY long layover there, then a 9 hour flight to Windhoek. After arriving in Namibia we had a 6 1/2 hour drive to the farm. I did not keep track going over, but coming home from the time we left the farm 'till I walked in my front door was about 60 hours.
We hunted with Makalaan Safaris, and the entire experience was fantastic. There are a few other folks here on TG that have hunted at Makalaan, Gene Fisher and Steve Goldsmith come to mind, and if anyone is interested I would be more than happy to talk with you about the details as those guys would as well...they both helped me out alot with references and planning.
Makalaan is a smaller, very personal operation. The hunting property is quite large, but Antonie prefers smaller groups. This is not the place you will hunt a group of 5-6 guys. 2 guys would be ideal, possibly 3, or even a solo hunter works out well.
They don't feed at blind locations at Makalaan, you will be hunting water, with supplemental mineral on location. He also does not stock exotics, the only non-native he has to the area is waterbuck. Huntable species include gemsbok, eland, kudu, impala, warthog, wildebeest, waterbuck, zebra, giraffe, and duiker. There are a few red hartebeest, but the recent drought was hard on them.
Namibia is a very sparsely populated country, and very remote/wild. While we were there a leopard got into cattle at the owners' mother's ranch nearby and killed two calves.
Pit and elevated blinds are available and with many years of experience with bowhunters the shots are set up well, with distances of 10-20 yards.
My first day was to be in an elevated blind in a fairly brushy area....I kept close notes and ended up seeing around 120 animals that day........
Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on August 27, 2023, 09:11:44 PM
She drank quartering on, but stopped quartering away as she left the water at 16 yards, and I shot her behind the shoulder, burying the arrow in the offside front leg. She peeled out, and at 50 yards hit a stump, flipped over, and never moved after that. When I called Antonie and told him the situation the comment was "That doesn't happen with gemsbok"...they are pretty tough and seeing them go down is not typical....first day started out well!
Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on August 27, 2023, 09:20:48 PM
Anyway, I had many animals in, including a borderline kudu bull "2 1/2 curls", and could see several gemsbok standing around here and there under trees. They look to me like they stand around looking for something to stick their horns into! The points are rapier sharp, evidently they rub/sharpen them on the concrete hard termite mounds, and can kill each other fighting.
Later in the afternoon a couple of dandy bulls came into water and I shot my 2nd gemsbok, in as many days, at 10 yards. The hit was a little high but exited lower and there was immediate blood. He ran a couple of hundred yards across an open area and into the bush. We found him 75 yards into the bush bedded and dead a half hour later. Antonie accused me of being blind to all animals other than gemsbok....guilty as charged 😉
Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on August 27, 2023, 09:26:00 PM
Bonus was he was distracted...they are notorious string jumpers when drinking....and double bonus he was close! I ran a big Snuffer through his lungs at 7 yards and he was down in 70.
Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on August 27, 2023, 09:30:19 PM
Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on August 27, 2023, 09:40:07 PM
They slowly worked their way in, and ended up circling the blind at 30 yards to try to catch the wind. The wide bull was leading, and ended up 20 feet away, looking at the blind. I had an arrow on the string, and was pretty amped up. While looking out the shooting hole if I leaned slightly forward I could see his right horn and right ear looking right at the blind.
After about 3 hours (which was really maybe 5 minutes) he committed to the water and started in....as soon as he got well into the shooting hole I shot him walking at 16-17 yards, not wanting to give him a chance to get my wind. The arrow disappeared into him just behind the front leg and broke when he whirled to go.
After 4-5 jumps his front end started getting lower and lower and he went down after 60-70 yards, heart shot.
What a beauty!
Post by: JamesD on August 27, 2023, 09:46:53 PM
Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on August 27, 2023, 09:48:17 PM
My buddy killed 4 great animals too, an impala, warthog, gemsbok, and wildebeest, with his northern mist longbow. He didn't get the zebra he was after so maybe we will both go back.
I was shooting nika n3 limbs at 61lbs at my draw on a Toxon 2 riser from Chucks custom bows - he builds a beautiful wooden riser for ilf connection. Shooting big jim .340 arrows and big Snuffers with steel adaptors for 630-640 gr arrows. I had 2 holes in everything except the gemsbok cow where I hit the off shoulder.
Makalaan truly is a jewel of a place...10/10. This is a plain working ranch, no white napkins and fine silver, but good honest down to earth folks that love to hunt.
R
Post by: GCook on August 27, 2023, 09:54:08 PM
Post by: Pine on August 27, 2023, 09:58:56 PM
Post by: Mike Yancey on August 27, 2023, 10:02:30 PM
Post by: mj seratt on August 28, 2023, 12:30:31 AM
Murray
Post by: Cove-Creek on August 28, 2023, 02:06:18 AM
Post by: shick on August 28, 2023, 04:57:29 AM
Shick
Post by: Bow man on August 28, 2023, 05:17:20 AM
Post by: Horsehide on August 28, 2023, 06:15:01 AM
Post by: achigan on August 28, 2023, 06:44:04 AM
Post by: Phillip Fields on August 28, 2023, 07:58:01 AM
Post by: Chad R on August 28, 2023, 09:45:17 AM
Post by: Orion on August 28, 2023, 10:23:03 AM
Post by: Car54 on August 28, 2023, 01:37:13 PM
Post by: Gun on August 28, 2023, 02:16:03 PM
Post by: ESP on August 28, 2023, 02:19:36 PM
Post by: stevem on August 28, 2023, 03:05:07 PM
Post by: Hud on August 28, 2023, 04:53:16 PM
Post by: kennym on August 28, 2023, 05:47:12 PM
Post by: KAZ on August 28, 2023, 06:52:04 PM
Post by: Wudstix on August 28, 2023, 07:13:53 PM
:campfire: :coffee: :archer2: :campfire:
Post by: glenbo on August 28, 2023, 07:30:13 PM
Post by: Walt Francis on August 28, 2023, 08:21:41 PM
Congratulations, those are some fine critters.
Hopefully we will cross paths in a couple of weeks and I can get the recounting firsthand.
Post by: rastaman on August 29, 2023, 09:32:00 AM
Post by: Cory Mattson on August 29, 2023, 10:55:31 AM
Great shooting
Good job
Post by: pdk25 on August 29, 2023, 04:43:56 PM
Post by: jonsimoneau on August 30, 2023, 05:15:54 PM
Post by: acolobowhunter on August 30, 2023, 06:19:59 PM
You got some great animals, that Kudu was very nice as well as the Impala.
Funny how each hunt is different. When I was there, Antonie told me to shoot a Zebra if I got the chance. He said they were hard to get with a bow. Actually, I had several chances on my hunt. I shot a nice one and videoed several others.
I would be glad to assist anyone else that wants to make the trip to Namibia. Truly, a great place to hunt and from my experience the most affordable.
Gene Fisher
Post by: Ben Maher on August 31, 2023, 02:18:08 AM
Post by: Terry Green on August 31, 2023, 08:42:20 AM
Post by: Terry Green on August 31, 2023, 09:42:34 AM
Ryan,
Congratulations, those are some fine critters.
Hopefully we will cross paths in a couple of weeks and I can get the recounting firsthand.
This would be so cool!!!!!
Post by: charles m on August 31, 2023, 03:01:53 PM
Post by: huckbuck on August 31, 2023, 03:48:18 PM
Post by: MikeNova on September 01, 2023, 07:01:58 PM
Post by: Jerry Gille on September 01, 2023, 10:14:20 PM
Post by: Jorge on September 02, 2023, 08:37:17 AM
Makalaan is a wonderful place and Antonie is the best !!
Post by: DawgDoc on September 02, 2023, 08:47:55 PM
Post by: Sam McMichael on September 03, 2023, 05:23:45 PM
Post by: elkken on September 03, 2023, 08:45:51 PM
Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on September 05, 2023, 08:50:32 PM
R
Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on September 05, 2023, 08:54:21 PM
Camel thorn in the sunrise
I took a nice long walk down the two track everyday before breakfast and my new buddy Mustafa the Rhodesian Ridgeback came along. Antonie said he is there to keep government officials away 😀
Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on September 05, 2023, 08:58:09 PM
Two story building...
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There was a big black stink bull with these cows but he was waaayy to wise to get near the water.
Gemsbok ...my favorite. Had them in pretty much daily. Representative bull here at 15 yards. I have some beautiful pics of them on the big camera
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Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on September 05, 2023, 09:00:51 PM
The salt rack on the last day....
Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on September 05, 2023, 09:02:45 PM
R
Post by: Wudstix on September 05, 2023, 10:28:54 PM
:campfire: :coffee: :archer2: :campfire:
Post by: acolobowhunter on September 12, 2023, 09:47:38 AM
I agree: if you ever thought about an Africa hunt, don’t put it off, just do it. In my reference letter on Makalaan site I stated the same thing. Life is to short to just make wishes. I’d would be more than happy to assist anyone wanting to go. I will provide packing lists and suggestions for the hunt and travel plans.
Gene
Post by: JR Chambers on September 13, 2023, 01:05:23 PM
Post by: frassettor on September 16, 2023, 01:49:47 PM