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Namibia Africa, Kudu
When you think of Africa you know it’s a long way away…but it’s literally an entire day away.  We flew from Minneapolis to Germany, had an 8 hour layover, and got on another 10 hour flight to Namibia. When we finally arrived in Namibia everyone was dragging, except me! I have no problem sleeping on planes and I was finally caught up on my sleep.
We hunted with Burchell Safari’s and they had beautiful accommodations and great people. Everyday we were able to hunt a variety of animals primarily by spot and stalk. We sat at a few waterholes but it’s a lot more fun to put on the foot miles. The only drawback: it’s a lot harder to film! We were on the move and the equipment was heavy. I brought the biggest camera/tripod combination we had. Granted it took the best picture, but it was extremely heavy. We saw a huge variety of animals and Bill got a monster kudu the very first day.
One evening our entire group was back at camp and Steve Johnson from Hornady bullets offered me his Kudu tag. He insisted I take it since he had shot a nice bull on another trip.  The next morning I headed out with an even bigger smile on my face and a kudu tag in my pocket. Bill had already bagged a Kudu so the next one we saw would have my name on it.
That morning I was busy filming the hunters, scenery, animals etc. We were on the hunt for a zebra and I had virtually forgotten about the tag. That is until Bill grabbed my camera and swapped it out for the gun. He pointed ahead and a big kudu was running the opposite direction. I got the gun on the sticks and my heart was pounding. The bull stopped and looked back. I had a neck shot and a split second to make the decision. I squeezed the trigger and the bull dropped in his tracks. People talk about pressure but this was an extreme case. I had my boss handing me his gun, no time to prepare or get nervous, and my instincts took over. Everything turned out perfect and I went home with a beautiful trophy. We filmed two full shows for NAH-TV and I now have the Africa bug. I can’t wait for the next opportunity to hop on the plane and head to Africa for some plains game or maybe even some dangerous game.
After an impatient 20 minutes we decided to follow the blood trail. We only went 25-yards before a huge bundle of black caught our attention. This bear was way bigger than we all expected and his fur was in mint condition. He was nearly 7 feet long, almost 450 pounds, and unquestionably a book bear!
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NAMIBIA