3-10 SS Over There

Being an outdoorsman for some is more than just a way of life. It is a passion that can be all-consuming including consuming your wallet.

I got a newsletter from wing shooting outfitter John Wiles. It said "I'm headed to South Africa in April for a week of "no limit" dove and pigeon shooting with Henk Englebrecht of Rawhide Safaris. (Henk said the sunflower farmers are asking for help.) We bought our tickets just a couple of days ago for around $1300. The week long adventure in South Africa is $2495, all inclusive, except for shells. Plan on shooting three full cases in the course of the week for sure - 1,500 shells, maybe more, so bring about $1,000 for those and $1,500 if you want to shoot more. Now I go to the Rawhide Safaris website and learn that they offer the finest bird hunting on the African continent comparable to the best anywhere in the world today, safari style. They have access to more than 250, 000 acres in different parts of South Africa for their shoots, mainly on private land at large and not shared with other hunting groups. Dennis Browning is one of the guys heading up the hunt and I had a question for him. "Why go all the way to South Africa to shoot pigeons and doves? Well it is a different species of them. He also does ducks, geese, guinea fowl, grouse, upland birds and he also does plains game and dangerous animals."