I had been a hunting outfitter in a previous working life
and liked the responses....
 One
night while surfing the net and looking at the ebay auctions,
I punched in “African Hunt” and out popped an auction for
the trophy fees on a kudu. I bid a dollar and lo and behold
“I won”! Nic Roets, long time PH in South Africa, had recently
sold his ranch there and moved his family to New Zealand.
He was looking for new ways to market his hunts and after
emailing him, checking references and talking with him by
phone, I booked a hunt for July. I had been a hunting outfitter
in a previous working life and liked the responses Nic was
giving to my questions. He had grown up in the Limpopo area
and knew about most if not all the hunting ranches in that
part of the country.
 Nics method was to operate as a freelance
PH and take the hunter’s wish list and set up a hunt at
various ranches. He would hunt only where the best heads
of a particular species could be found. If the client is
on a budget, he can also set up the hunt where the best
value for the money can be found and still get good quality
game. I liked this approach rather than booking with a particular
ranch and then being locked in to having to stay there and
take only what game that ranch had to offer.
I hunted only four days of the second week of the hunt and
was able to take warthog, kudu, gemsbuck and impala with
my Gonic magnum muzzleloader. Shots were between 23 and
120 yards which were perfect for my hunting techniques.
 The rest of my time was spent
with Nic and his friends on a four-wheeler safari travelling
through the whole of South Africa and the small country
of Lesotho. It was an adventure experiencing vistas on tracks
and behind mountains that the normal traveller never sees.
high in the mountains of Lesotho we shared a beer at “The
highest pub in Africa” and talked hunting. My time there
was more than just a hunt to kill animals, it was a geography,
sociology, cultural and anthropology course while meeting
new friends. I plan to return in July with my muzzleloader
and my son for another great experience and will target
the spiral horns, and possibly a buffalo.
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