I dreamed of Africa For as long as I could remember, I have always dreamed about going to Africa. As a child, when I would go on camping trips, I would hide out in the woods and imagine that I was stalking the dangerous game of the “Dark Continent”. I would hide in the brush and as stealthily as possible, I would stalk my prey. I would use a stick from the woods as my rifle but it was as accurate as a Remington 700. I never missed. Every shot was carefully placed in the kill zone. Lions, Elephants, Cape Buffalo, I successfully tracked them all. In my minds eye, my trophy room was unsurpassed. I would proudly walk the room admiring my triumphs and victory’s.   When I was ten years old, we had taken a school trip to Sagamore Hill – President Teddy Roosevelt’s house. I was awe-struck from the moment I entered his home. There, in every room of his home were the trophies that I had been dreaming about. There were Lion Rugs, Cape Buffalo, Rhino mounts through out the house. In the great room, two American Bison mounts flanked either side of the huge fire place. I was in complete amazement of his hunting exploits. I knew then, that Teddy Roosevelt had left a life long impression on me that would leave me longing to experience the thrill of the dangerous game of Africa as he did a century before. Through the years, hunting in Africa was never far from my thoughts. Occasionally, I would speak to friends about planning a trip but the answers always seemed the same. “Sure, let’s plan something for next year” but next year would never come. Something always seemed to come up. We are buying a house, we are having a baby. I would love to but…….   A week ago, I received a call from Judge Julie Mogenis. I am part of her pro-staff for her new show “World Wild Adventures”. She began to tell me how bogged down her schedule was and how there just was not enough time to go on all of the hunts that she had booked. I did not expect her next question. She had asked if I would fill in on a hunt for her and co-host the segment of the show for her. I was caught a little off guard but without knowing anything about the hunt Julie was speaking about, I agreed to fill in thinking that maybe it was a deer or an elk hunt.   Awesome! You will have to be in Africa by Monday. I was silent for a moment trying to process what I had just heard. You want me in Africa by Monday to fill in for this hunt, I repeated? What kind of Plains game will we be hunting? No plains game Julie said. This will be a Green Hunt for Rhino. This conversation was getting better by the minute. My first trip to Africa and I will be hunting one of the Big Five? This was like a dream come true. Weather I wanted to fill in for her on this hunt or not was not even a factor. The only issue I had was that we had a family vacation planned to Cabo San Lucus and the dates would overlap by a few days. I needed to speak to my family to shuffle around some dates. After I hung up the phone I woke up my girlfriend to tell her about the conversation. I was not sure how we would work out the dates but she said not to worry about any of that and I should just go to Africa. I really did not have to be told twice so I booked the flights the next day.   All I know is, one minute I was laying on my bed watching the Cartoon Network with my son and the next minute, I am on a plane to South Africa to hunt rhino. It is an experience of a life time. I can honestly say that if you work hard enough and you want it bad enough – Dreams do come true- So follow your dreams.

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TANZANIA: Africa's ultimate hunting destination. Eelephant, Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Sable, Roan, Gerenuk, Oryx, Crocodile, Hippo and many more species available. Combine your hunt with a safari to Serengeti National Park to see the wildebeest migration, Ngorongoro Crater, Mount Kilimanjaro and Marlin fishing off the coast of Zanzibar.   Contact me to book your safari now. Carl Strauss : carlstrauss62@yahoo.com

Book Review: the Scent of Fear by Tom Adair by Mia Anstine Recommended I have always enjoyed reading, but if a book doesn't catch my attention from the start, it may take me months or even years to read. It took me just two days to read the Scent of Fear by Author Tom Adair. If you've followed me at all, you know I don't watch much TV, but [...] Read more of this post

Excellent show: Skull Bound TV by Mia Anstine My weekdays are primarily shared between the Little Gal and work so on the weekend I do my best to get outdoors. I don't watch TV often, but last winter I did get to catch an episode of a friend/fellow Prois Staffer's show on the Sportsman's Channel which I really enjoyed.http://www.skullboundtv.com/ I first met Jana [...] Read more of this post

It is 12:20 pm August 1 2012, Harare Airport, Kevin and I waiting for our dear friend’s aircraft to land. Dakota McArtor is flying in on a connection flight from South Africa from the States; he is joining us on a 14 day hunt. Finally he is at ZIMRA’s desk clearing the Rifle; great is the joy when we shake hands, upon asking him if he is looking forward to this he responded “more than you guys could ever imagine”   Dakota is our American partner and dearest friend; he will be with us for the next 16 days to conduct a hunt with Colorado Buck – from the Television program Where in the World is Colorado Buck.   The drive out to Lake Chivero, just outside Harare on the Bulawayo road, where we will be staying the night, is a pleasant short drive as Dakota is talking about how he looked forward to this trip. We decided to stay overnight before we head out to the hunting area, as the rest of the hunting group will only join us later that evening.   What a pleasant surprise when Gary the proprietor of the lodge we staying at offers to take us with later that afternoon for some Falconry over dogs... I have seen this before but never part took in it... Love it, as Gary said hunting is hunting.   Back to Harare, 21:20 pm, awaiting our client’s arrival...we are relieved, when I see them walking through customs. After a brief hello and hand shakes ... oh almost forgot photo session, we headed out to the overnight accommodation we arranged for the clients. 5:45 am, clients having breakfast and trying to connect to the Internet, in order for clients to check mail etc. before we head out... Packing the two vehicles proved to be not as difficult as we anticipated, all lending a hand, which is what is great about our clients – not scared to dirty their hands. We brought both our four door hunting vehicles on this trip as the road trip down to the hunting area is roughly 4 to 5 hours drive and we needed our clients to travel in comfort.   Kevin arrived in Makuti a little while before we did, Dakota; Andrew – Colorado’s cameraman and I had to stop and run some errands. When we arrived Clients were sitting on the porch enjoying the view. We had a late lunch and lounged around for a while before heading out to pick up the game scout and to the area set out to sight the rifles. This we believe is very important as the airlines are not as careful as one hope they would be with the gun cases. We stayed in a lodge in Makuti, this is adjacent to area where Kevin and Dakota will hunt with Chris and Christine Woods, Chris is the proprietor of Cross Canyon Arms in Utah, for Buffalo, Leopard and some plains game. Colorado and I will be hunting lower down in the valley in the Nyakasanga area for Buffalo and Tuskless Elephant.   Wake up call at 04:30 am – Day One, breakfast before we headed out. Kevin and Dakota set out with the clients to check on some previously identified areas where some Leopard tracks have been spotted and activity identified, also to set up trail cams. The rest of the day was spent looking for fresh bait. Leopard hunting over bait requires you to keep the Leopard in the area with fresh bait.   We on the other hand set out to Nyakasanga, where we met up with the local PH, trackers and game scout. The areas that we hunt is within Zimbabwe’s Wildlife Management Areas (Parks) and this is a requirement that an authorised game scout accompany you on your hunts to ensure hunts are conducted in a fair and ethical manner.   We drove a while looking for fresh Buffalo and Elephant tracks, the morning did not yield any good tracks and we decided to stop under a group of trees on the bank of the Nyakasanga River (dry this time of the year) and proceed on foot looking for an Elephant herd spotted there earlier in the week. After about an hour and half’s walking we got onto fresh tracks and followed however the wind was not in our favour and as we were about to adjust our strategy we spotted a small group of young Elephant but we were winded and they took off. We still pushed ahead to see if we can find more tracks, we came across a fresh Buffalo track, only one set of very large tracks... definitely an Old Daggaboy.     We followed the tracks, at one stage we were so close to the Daggaboy I could smell him however he did not get to be this Old by being stupid.... we saw where he actually laid up... got up and were feeding again... we got closer but the Jess were thick and got his tracks where he actually turned to look back at us... then the next tracks indicated that he got out of the area... with some speed... next time Old timer... we returned to the vehicle a few miles back and had a well deserved late lunch...

TDK Safaris still have the following available in Zimbabwe. Male lion Buffalo Combo hunt Day rate $1500.00/day 18 days minimum 1x Male lion @ $10000.00 trophy fee 1 x Buffalo @ $3300 trophy fee And   Leopard/Buffalo Combo hunt Day rate $1350.00/day 15 days minimum 1x Male Leopard @ $5000.00 trophy fee 1 x Buffalo @ $3300 trophy fee     Other Species Available to hunt: Kudu        $ 1950 Zebra        $ 1350 Grysbok    $ 600 Tuskless   $ 4500 Hyena       $ 900   Contact: theo.verster@tdksafaris.com

Not smelling pretty, but happy to be Scent Free with HerCAMOShop products by Mia Anstine Earlier this summer Hank, the Little Gal and I drove a giant loop through the south to hunt in Oklahoma and Alabama. We hunted with friends while in Oklahoma, and with Rack Nine Outdoors (RNO) in Alabama. We met up with friends from the Women's Outdoor News and also HerCAMOShop.com's Jeff and Shelly Ray. It was [...] Read more of this post

Fun day in Albuquerque: learn to hunt, fish and shoot by Mia Anstine This sure sounds like a lot of fun! If you are in the area. Be sure to take your kids. Don't pass it up. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, AUG. 14, 2012: FREE FUN! LEARN TO HUNT, FISH, SHOOT AND MORE AT OUTDOOR EXPO ALBUQUERQUE – Have you ever wanted to feel what it’s like to shoot a [...] Read more of this post

Mia & the Little Gal at the WON: “Helping a first time shooter” by Mia Anstine A NEW POST IS UP AT THE WON! SEE WHAT ELSE WE'VE BEEN UP TO!!!www.womensoutdoornews.com Mia & The Little Gal: Helping a first time shooter We shoot quite often and it's always fun to share shooting with others. I became a shooting instructor because I wanted to properly teach safety, respect and to see [...] Read more of this post