Back from Dries Visser Safaris
Contributors to this thread:International
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Just returned from Dries Visser Safaris. Had a great time and met some wonderful people from the bowsite. Wife went along again but this time she was packing a bow on her first hunt ever. This is her looking forward to the 15 hour flight from Atl to J-Berg. Better then the 20 on SAS last year.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Stayed at the Afton House the first night and tried to get adjusted to the 9 hour time difference as well as being up for a couple days. The wife and bowsiter Striker enjoying breakfest at the Afton House.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Try the picture again.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Didn't have to worry about anymore flying for a while. Got picked up at the Afton house for the 3-4 hour drive to camp.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Very nice lodge and accomadations. First class all the way.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Saw all kinds of animals on day 1. Had a jackal jump the string on me at 15 yards. Day 2 produced the wifes first shot on an animal and she connected on this nice warthog.
From: kman
16-Sep-09
Nice job on the warthog Mrs Jailer!!! I can't wait to see more pics and stories
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Later in the evening on day 2 a herd of about 20 eland came in. Wasn't on the top of my list but couldn't pass up a shot at this old guy. They said he was around 15 years old and as far as they knew the oldest one on the property. Not the prettiest horns as they were really weathered but a real trophy. All his teeth were worn to the gums.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
kman, Mrs Jailer's previous handle was nobow but obviously we're going to have to change that. I think we got an idea based on what happened on Day 8.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Day 3 produced this Gemsbok. Came in and out 3 or 4 times before I could get a shot.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Day 4 found us back at the same blind as yesterday. About noon this stallion and 2 mares came in. Stallion was between the 2 and I had to wait for them to take off before I could get a shot. Luckily the stallion stopped briefly at 20 yards quartering away.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Turns out my lucky blind was the famed Black Mamba blind of Beyond Adrenalin. They have since put concrete roofs on all of them as well as plexi glass on all the windows and camera holes. I purposely did not show my wife the video before we left because she hates snakes. We ended up watching it that night and I was wondering if I was going to get her back in a blind!
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Day 5 produced this impala. The wife put a perfect shot on him and he only went 70 yards. Was feeling pretty good as my two top animal on my wish list (Zebra and Gemsbok) were taken care of. Looking for Blue Wildebeest and Red Heartebeest as my top 2 remaining animals. The wife was happy as warthog and impala were the 2 she wanted. Was thinking about trying to get her a blesbok if the opportunity arrives.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Days 6 and 7 were spent looking for Blue Wildebeest and Red Heartebeest. We were seeing some Blue Wildebeest but nothing big and the Red Heartebeest were giving us fits. Day 6 was overcast and we spent some time doing some walk and stalks. Got within about 70 yards of a Heartebeest but no luck. My PH Willem was absolutely terrific. He guided Pat on his Buffalo hunt in Mozambique this year but I wonder if we would of saw more game if he wasn't doing this. Just kidding Willem! We brought a nasty american cold with us and gave it to him halfway through the trip. He didn't sleep at all one night but luckily we had some meds and hooked him up to try and get him back on his feet.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Having some problems posting pictures. Here it is again.
From: snuffer
16-Sep-09
excellent pics, I'll be over later with my associate to critique all of your shots.
From: Ak Ultratec
16-Sep-09
Glad you had a great time! The pics are fantastic.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Day 8 proved to be quite a day. Started out early in the morning at a Red Heartebeest stand. Ended up moving mid morning to another blind. Around 11 oclock Willem says, "there's a snake" Thought he was screwing around but I look out towards the water and there he is on a log behind the water. Got some video of him catching a frog in the water. Turns out he was a Mozambique spitting cobra. As I said before the wife hates snakes and talks me into taking a shot. Ended up missing him and he went back in his log. Not 10 minutes later he comes back out and I tell the wife it's her turn. Apparently she is able to focus her snake hatred and ends up drilling it. If you look you can see the blood on the log and her arrow.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
I'm thinking new handle of Mrs Cobra Killer. What are your ideas?
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
About an hour after the Cobra incident we had 23 blesbok come into the water. First ones we had seen at the water. Only one male in the group and the Cobra killer strikes again. Jumped the string on her a bit and she ended up high. Willem the super PH ends up tracking it for a couple miles and sends Jack the tracker running back for us. We make it over to where Willem is up in a tree acting as look out and Barb gets a finishing shot into him. A not so good situation that turned out well.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
A few random pictures of dinner being prepared by Duane a beautiful African sunset and the group of PH's who were all excellent and extremely bow knowledgable.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Day 9 and I was still looking for blue wildebeest and red heartebeest. No luck in the morning so we moved to another blind. Had this waterbuck come in around 11:30 and decided I'd take a shot. Ended up a little lower then I wanted but hit him square in the heart. Didn't go far
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
Notice black death over my shoulder in this shot.
From: Chip T.
16-Sep-09
Congrats on a great hunt!!!!
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
7 animals in 10 days for us (8 if a Cobra counts) Very happy with the entire trip. Hopefully Dave and Jon will either start a new post with there pictures or add onto this one. This is a picture of the bow I'm taking next time.
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
From: Jailer
16-Sep-09
From: dustyvarmint
16-Sep-09
Jailer,
Nice pics and stories. Would you/could you put out your bow set ups (for both of you)?
I'm booked for Dries Visser for next August and trying to decide what to use. Won't be shooting anything as big as an eland or zebra.
thanks, dv
From: Buff
16-Sep-09
congrats on a great trip. Dries runs a great place
From: ndbwhnter
16-Sep-09
Nice trophies, congrats to both you and your wife. I am booked with Dries for next summer - I can't wait.
nd
From: Clutch
16-Sep-09
Great job-
From: HuntinFreak
16-Sep-09
JAILER,
STRIKER IS MY UNCLE. I HEAR YOU ALL HAD A GREAT TIME. WISH I WAS THERE MYSELF. I WENT LAST YEAR AND I AM ALREADY TO GO BACK. PICTURES LOOK GREAT AND THE ANIMALS ARE QUITE NICE.
I AM GLAD MY UNCLE WAS ABLE TO MEET SUCH GOOD PEOPLE. I WISH HE DIDN'T HAVE TO GO ALONE BUT I KNOW HE STILL HAD A GREAT TIME.
HF
From: INbowdude
16-Sep-09
Jailer, Very cool pictures. Did you see any buffalo while you were there?
From: Quinn @work
16-Sep-09
Congrats to you and your wife. Thanks for sharing the photos.
From: BIGHORN
16-Sep-09
Jailer,
Thanks for the pictures and stories!
From: JERSEY BOB
17-Sep-09
Thanks for sharing.
What was the flight over on Delta like?
From: Owl
17-Sep-09
Yes the cobra counts...but only if you caped it out and plan on mounting it. :)
Glad you had a rewarding time. I envy men with hunting wives. It must really simplify vacation negotiations. lol
From: BigTex
17-Sep-09
Great pics and story......thanks for sharing!!!
From: kman
17-Sep-09
Jailer...That story of the Cobra Killer is too funny!!!! I think the new name sticks.
Congrats on a great hunt and thanks for sharing with the group.
From: StickFlicker
17-Sep-09
When women on the site refer to themselves as "Mrs._____" they almost always are using their husband's handle with "Mrs." in front of it. I think that Mrs. Cobra Killer would imply that she is the wife of "Cobra Killer". She deserves a handle that shows that SHE is the Cobra Killer! Perhaps "Miss Cobra Killer" would show that she is both a female and a Cobra Killer?
From: Jailer
17-Sep-09
dustyvarmit, My wifes bow setup was a Diamond Razor Edge. She was set at 44 lbs. She had been shooting for 3 months almost daily and we just had one pin on her bow and wanted to keep her shots within 20 yards. I looked at some different bows but the Razor Edge is so versatile we decided to go with it. 19"-29" draw length adjustment and 30#-60# draw weight. Arrows were Easton 500's 8.1 gpi. The broadheads were NAP crossfires 100 grain. My bow was a bowtech pro 40 wheely at 65# with Goldtip 7595's and I was also shooting NAP 100 grain crossfires.
HuntinFreak, Dave is a great guy and we had alot of fun with him. As I said before we couldn't of asked for a better group of people to be with on this hunt.
INbowdude, We saw Cape Buffalo just about everyday. Maybe 5 out of the 10 days in the blind and the other 5 days from the road. The particular place we were at was just there breeding stock and immature bulls. The breeding bull with the cows we saw was 44" They were neat to look out but when they came in everything else mostly stayed away. They didn't hunt any of them there as far as I know that was at a different place. Personally when I can finally swing it for buffalo it will be in Mozambique.
Jersey Bob, We went on South African Airlines last year and then Delta this year. Overall I would say my experience on Delta was better. First off 15 hours compared to 20 hours is a huge difference. Secondly we just got lucky in that both coming and going the plane was maybe 75% full. On the way back we had an empty seat between us which was really nice. Some lucky people had the whole row to themselves and were laying down. That made me jealous. On are flight last year I don't think there was an empty seat on the whole plane.
From: Jon Simoneau
17-Sep-09
Hey John and Barb, man you two don't waste any time! Lisa and I JUST got home. I'll post some pics of our side of the stories as soon as I get a chance!
From: Jailer
17-Sep-09
I told you I don't mess around. I had the discs back 4 hours after we were back. Look forward to seeing your pics and I'll send you some copies of ours soon.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
My wife Lisa and I were on this same trip. This was our honeymoon. It was my 3rd trip to Africa, and my second to south Africa. I focused only on species I had never taken, and had a somewhat difficult list. The first to fall was this beauty of a gemsbok.
From: dustyvarmint
18-Sep-09
Jailer, thanks for sharing the bow set ups. dv
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
another
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
There are way too many details to tell about each day, but a few days later, we headed up to the mountains, so I could try for some of the smaller antelope that I had not previously taken. Here we are building a blind. It's a double bull that we are brushing in.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
Finished blind
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
The first day in the mountain started out a little slow,(with the exception of baboons, which I'll post pictures of later.) Eventually, though I saw movement off to the left and noticed 2 mountain reedbuck. One nice male and one female. Since it is not too easy to kill a mountain reedbuck, I decided, I better take the first good opportunity. It took forever for them to make their way to the water. Mountain reedbuck remind me alot of whitetails in the way they move and their behavior. Finally, I had the male at 7 yards, but the female was standing in front of him and would not allow me to get a shot. He was able to move away with no shot opportunites. I could not believe it. A few hours passed with sightings of baboons and warthogs, when Stian, (our PH) noticed another nice male mountain reedbuck moving towards us! He ended up standing right were the first one stood, and I put an arrow right in the goodies.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
After we found the mountain reedbuck we got right back in the blind in hopes of getting a shot at a bushbuck which I REALLY wanted. We saw a few females, but no males showed. The next morning we were back in the same blind. However the weather was not on our side. It was cloudy and looking like it may rain, and the wind was fierce. However, 30 minutes after getting into the blind, I noticed a male bushbuck moving through the brush. Pictures really do not do bushbuck much justice. They are gorgeous little animals, and in my opinion are just as pretty as an Nyala. Anyway, he eventually made his way to us and began to drink but was a little smaller than what we were looking for, so I passed on him. Now the weather was getting worse. We saw nothing most of the rest of the day, but then finally a male bushbuck just appeared in front of us. Stian told me he was a shooter so I got ready. Let me say, that 3 people in a double bull blind is crowded, and shooting a 62 inch recurve can be tough with so little space. The bushbuck made his way to water and stood quartering too me for EVER. We waited. Finally he turned, but now was behind some stuff so I again could not shoot. He came out and was quartering too me again. This went on for a good 20 minutes and my nerves were getting rattled. Everytime he moved, we had to shift everything around in the blind so I could move to a different window. Finally just when I could take no more he stood quartering away at around 20 yards. Easy shot right? WRONG! I drew and shot and heard a loud crack. Stian had the camera running and a large list of profanities poured out of my mouth. During the shot....I hit the top of the blind with my limb, and the arrow hit the bushbuck just in front of his him and quartered out the other side. Nothing but gut shot! After he ran off, we decided to leave him alone for a few hours while stian went and got the tracking dogs. I was feeling pretty low. Lisa took this picture of my outside of the blind...feeling bad!
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
After a few hours Stian came back with the dogs. The plan was to let the dogs trail the bushbuck. If he was not dead when they found him, I was to try to get another arrow in him. If this was not possible, Stian told me he would be forced to shoot it with a rifle. Believe it or not...despite their small size, bushbuck can be very dangerous when wounded. Because of this we told Lisa to stay back at the blind while we took up the trail. We had not gone 60 yards, when one of the dogs started barking, and all hell broke lose. The bushbuck was alive and trying his best to kill the dogs. He ran back towards the blind where Lisa was sitting. We tried to catch up but were slowed down by a cattle fence. I will never forget the sight of the bushbuck fighting the dogs. He flung the little Jack russel terrior at least 20 yards twice, as he tried to gore him. Stian told me he was going to have to shoot it with his rifle before he killed one of the dogs. But he was still in mid sentence and I was worming my way through the cattle fence. I raced up to the bush buck as fast as I could and was able to put another arrow in his chest, putting an end to the ordeal. I was glad I got to finish him, but felt bad about the bad shot I orignially made. After a few prayers and a few pictures, we loaded him up and headed back to Citadel, where we had an outstanding meal, and plenty of Castle beer.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
Striker and Lisa partying like rockstars.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
Another of Striker.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
John and Barb
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
Because we were on our honeymoon, I could not just hunt the entire time. Stian arranged for us to have a nice brunch by the pool the next day complete with champaign...and then of course we moved on to more Castle!
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
At the pool.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
There were only 2 more animals that I wanted to hunt for that I had not taken. These were Impala and Zebra. It's hard to believe but after 3 trips to Africa I had taken 3 kudu, an Eland, redheartabeast, numerous warthogs, etc., but had never taken an Impala. Zebra is understandable, because they can be tough, but Impala? Unfortunately, it was starting to green up and impala were not coming to water like they normally do. At this point, I believe John and Barb were the only ones to have one come to water, and as shown above, Barb made good on her opportunity. We decided to spend the rest of our days relaxing and hunting zebra. If an impala came by, then great. A couple of days no zebra were seen, but we passed on numerous other species. Finally, we had 3 come to water, but they were all young mares, so I passed. The next day, the same 3 zebra came back, but again, no stallions. Finally, Stian said "get your bow...impala!". By the time I got ready he was already at the waterhole and was drinking. I quickly readied for the shot, and came to full draw. He just finished drinking and raised his head. I aimed for his elbow, in anticipation of him jumping the string, and everything worked out great. He dropped right into my arrow, and it took out both lungs. A short while later, Bennie the tracker came and we took up the trail.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
End of the road.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
He's not a monster by any means, but a nice representative, and I was happy. I mean it only took 3 trips to Africa!
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
Watching video footage at the lodge.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
Lisa with Heins little girls.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
Game drive.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
Game drive.
From: Jon Simoneau
18-Sep-09
I had an extra day to hunt after everyone else was gone. I was still trying to get my zebra. I went to a blind called "The Rock" and was seeing EVERYTHING! Finally, I saw stripes. They stood and watched the waterhole for a good hour or so and then circled around. Finally they made their way to water and began to drink......but guess what? They were pregnant mares! Oh well. That just gives me a reason to go back.
I hunted with my trusty old 53lb. Habu Recurve, and eclipse broadheads.
I have been to Africa 3 times and have hunted with Vissers twice. Even though I do not have many other outfitters to compare them too...I really cannot think of any way that they could do a better job. Everything is first class all the way through.
THE END!
From: Slider,
18-Sep-09
Very Nice Pics and Animals!!!Congrats!!!
From: Jailer
18-Sep-09
Awesome Jon! Striker, put down the castle for a minute and post some pics. I didn't see most of the animals you took.
From: HuntinFreak
19-Sep-09
Jailer & Jon,
Striker is having some computer problems. He wanted me to contact you the other day via Bowsite but he never called me back to tell me what message to pass along. I would send you some photo's but I know he wants to send them to you. He said it may be a week or so before he gets everything back online. You all took some very nice animals!
From: striker
20-Sep-09
Jailer/Jon.... Sorry guys, the day after I got home I was getting ready to post pics & my hard drive crashed. Go figure !! Will post & send copies when I'm up again. I'm on a friends computer now, so don't bother to reply. I had a great hunt with you all & made some new friends!!
From: Buff
20-Sep-09
Wow great huint and write up...congrats
From: JERSEY BOB
20-Sep-09
You guys had a BLAST.
My only problem with your trip is this...until I got sick earlier this year, I "was" going to be one of the guys on the Economy Buster Special.
I missed a GREAT time. I'm happy for you guys that you didn't.
