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Second to last day... I had gone from some feelings of anxiety due to how much success Marty and Ruth had in their first days of hunting, to some uncertainty about whether or not we would be able to connect on our final three list animals: Bushbuck, Warthog & Steenbuck. Couple this consideration with the fact that Marty was now chomping at the bit to nab either another Kudu or Nyala with the pistol and our final two days of hunting were sure to be full. 

I think the only day we didn't make a score was Monday, March 9. There were a couple of animals who gave us the absolute runaround for the majority of our time there: the skittish Bushbuck, and the wiley and jumpy Steenbuck. Oh, and even mature boar warthogs were fairly uncooperative. Even though we didn't connect on an animal that day, it wasn't empty or for naught. As Marty said in his post on day 8, he and Denver headed into East Somerset for some intensely important business purposes, aka: transferring the Mutt to South African firearms registration for the purchase of future hunts as well as a loaner opportunity of folks wanting to travel and hunt South Africa without the worry of traveling with their own guns. Yep, you heard right. You can hunt South Africa with a proven T/C platform without worrying about taking your firearms in and out of the USA. 

Remember earlier when I said my concern was growing over the "list" animals that would be left by the time I arrived in South Africa to meet my parents? No? Quick recap: I arrived to Coppermoon on Day 5 of their 10 day hunt and they had already dropped and had 6 animals in the salt. Granted one of them was the "off list" Giant Eland Dad miraculously put down with one shot from the 6.5 Mutt, but still, with 3 hunters and 6 days of hunting on site for me I was getting a little worried. 

When I said in my previous post that I dressed to be ready to hunt as soon as I stepped off the plane in Port Elizabeth I meant it. So when we arrived at the extremely adequate accommodations of Coppermoon Hunting Safaris I was a little anxious to get out when I greeted my folks, met the camera crew that was joining us and the rest of the staff making things happen around Coppermoon. Dad (as always) was prompt to embark on stories to tell me how things were, their style etc rather than just letting me find out on my own. It's his way, not his fault. 

We went to Africa to hunt and it was absolutely insane. Truly.... expectations were exceeded in every area and what we entered into thinking would be a "once in a lifetime" hunt/trip quickly evolved into what we would call a "first in a lifetime" trip. In fact, I personally had wanted to hunt Africa ever since I heard it was a thing at about the ripe old age of 15, but had honestly never thought it would be a possibility. It's so far away, it's so expensive, the trip itself is too long, where do I even begin? All of these questions and more I didn't even know I had would be answered in short order.

PUT A RIBBON ON IT.

How is it the last day of hunting already...

A 5am departure for the alfalfa field of Saturday evening...

For reasons left for better explanation till later...

Struggling without internet and the ability to communicate effectively...

This day began with a couple of failed Steenbuck stalks...

Denver had to meet Eric in Port Elizabeth on Friday morning...

Thankfully, the temperatures moderated back into the 80’s and after the very long Day 3...

Realizing that the Kudu was first on everyone's list...

The biggest change for Day 2 was carrying the 6.5 x 284 Norma Long Range Encore

Our first morning out we were chomping at the bit to get into the action. 

The following is a list of things to do and opinions on why to do them before you go on a trip of a lifetime.