This is a rather long post; it probably does not even fit in here so be free to move it or ignore.
I am white South African male 50years old and had a great hunting season. I am middle income but have always had a healthy interested in doubles and own 5 double rifles, 6 single shot rifles and 12 shotguns. I belong to a syndicate that comprises of 6 REAL friends (al varsity friends whom I have known for at least 20+ years) and our 8 sons aged 15-22. We have 2 yearly hunts, both 9 days long, one in April- a so-called ‘plains’ game hunt in Kimberley and a September ‘bush’ hunt in Klaserie, bordering the Kruger National Park.
During the April hunt I took my Scherping 9,3X74R (the only scoped double I own) and shot the biggest warthog I have ever seen; after slaughtering it weighed 85KG’s. We hunted springbuck, eland, gemsbok and warthog and in total accounted for 52 animals. We processed the meat, made biltong and wors, and froze the rest. During this time I shot a number of water birds (geese and ducks) with my 12g Dickson and also put in a couple of hunts for guineas and francolin with my 16g Alex Henry. This made for excellent table fair during the hunt.
During the September hunt we hunted 2 adult Buffalo cows and Impala (all I could permits for) and this time my Westley Richards 450/400 was on standby. I introduced 2 teenage boys to wingshooting (with my old Boss hammergun) and took them hunting for guineas, francolin and partridge amongst the big 5- a seriously good experience.
I also went on a weekend hunt for bushbuck with my .303 Rigby but that was unsuccessful and had another 4 weekends of wingshooting (twice for waterfowl (12g 3” Midland), twice for terrestrial gamebirds (Dickson))
To me, this was a great year- however, a typical year. Am I lucky or is this typical (except maybe for the buffalo) of all our members here? Sometimes I get the impression that the members are seriously knowledgably but shoot the doubles in more formal surroundings. I like to believe that these special pieces need to be used for hunting and please, I am not judging, just making an observation. Your comments will be appreciated.
Charls.
