WWTBAM Bored

This is getting to be a habit.

Attended a National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) banquet tonight. It is not my favorite group, but friends are involved and the kids have gotten scholarships from the local chapter.

For the first time ever, they had an African Safari on the live auction. I knew it would go cheap as it is out of most people's comfort zone.

Well, bidding was below $1,000 and my parents and Mrs Spock were pressuring me to bid so I bid $1,000 and I got it. The auctioneer knows me from livestock sales and he said "Just like buying baby calves."

Turned out they have a minimum price of $1,000 so at a lot of the banquets it doesn't sell.
So:

Trip 1) Full cost-Zimbabwe-2013

Trip 2) Namibia-Core of the trip was bought for $500 at a similar banquet-2021 trip-bought in 2019.

Trip 3)) Limpopo, South Africa-Core bought for $1,000. 5 days accommodation and food and guiding and transport from the airport to the lodge.

Good for 2022, 2023 or 2024.

Mostly a trip for the Spocklette and Littlest Spock.

Nice!

How much are round-trip tickets? $2000 each?

Bob Juch wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 03, 2022 10:28 am

How much are round-trip tickets? $2000 each?

IIRC, about $3,000 this time on Air Ethiopia.

Here's a thought, since the $1,000 includes food and lodging for up to 8 people. 4 hunters and 4 non-hunters, I am wondering if SSS would like to be one of the non-hunters on our party-or hell, since we have only 3 hunters planned as of now maybe he could be the 4th hunter and fulfill his lifelong dream of bagging a Kudu.

We will probably build in a sidetrip to some national park or something. The outfitter has day trips to Pilanesberg National Park.

While it is not Golden Corral quality, the food tends to be pretty good on these things.

Scenery looks good as they are located in/near the Waterberg Mountains.

The downside is that this is South Africa and I would prefer to hunt the big, wild country farther North-Mozambique, Zambia, Zim-etc-but you take what you can get.

https://www.numzaan.com/

Unlike Spock, the NWTF is my favorite group, mostly because SteelersFan has been president the past 10 years or so. He doesn't want to do it anymore, but no one else will take the job. He was happy when the banquet was canceled in 2021 and 2022. 2020 may have been the last local NWTF banquet. Attendance was limited by the size of the venue, 125 max, but it made for a lively and convivial evening.

We don't have any big ticket items to Africa -- our biggest item is usually an expenses-paid long weekend to a swanky resort in Las Vegas, but you gotta get there on your own nickel.

I highly recommend the side trip. We've been to Kruger National Park twice, and I would go again with very little notice, especially if Spock were footing the bill . . .

SportsFan68 wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 03, 2022 8:50 pm

Unlike Spock, the NWTF is my favorite group, mostly because SteelersFan has been president the past 10 years or so. He doesn't want to do it anymore, but no one else will take the job. He was happy when the banquet was canceled in 2021 and 2022. 2020 may have been the last local NWTF banquet. Attendance was limited by the size of the venue, 125 max, but it made for a lively and convivial evening.

We don't have any big ticket items to Africa -- our biggest item is usually an expenses-paid long weekend to a swanky resort in Las Vegas, but you gotta get there on your own nickel.

I highly recommend the side trip. We've been to Kruger National Park twice, and I would go again with very little notice, especially if Spock were footing the bill . . .

Apparently, the Spocklette's smile was very big as I bought the trip.

I was looking at the distance to Kruger and trying to see if it would work, although my thoughts are turning to see if we could visit Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe or Limpopo National Park in Mozambique as they are all part of the Greater Kruger Ecosystem.

NWTF is fine. but I like the habitat and land acquisition activities of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation-even though I have never been elk hunting or to a banquet-I have been a member for many years.

As they can get expensive, I generally only go to one banquet a year. A couple of years I got caught with multiple banquets a DU and a Pheasants Forever and another NWTF event that my B-I-L ran.

The biggest money I have seen thrown around was at the one Ducks Unlimited banquet I went to.

All other things being equal, I would like to do either the SCI or DSC thing and/or local chapters of such. The 2021 trip was bought at a local SCI event that was a labor of love for the guy that started the chapter. He died very young and I think the chapter died, esp with Covid and all.

Oddly enough, there is an upcoming fundraiser for a family with a daughter with a severe genetic disorder and they are having a safari there too. I would be very surprised if it sells.

The SCI Banquet is huge, and auction prices soar accordingly. Same with the Elks, although a bit smaller than SCI. SteelersFan's NWTF regulars looked forward to the banquet and were very disappointed with the cancellations the past two years.

Spock mentioned food. Yet another reason that SteelersFan is anxious to quit while he and the chapter are ahead is because his caterer retired after the 2020 banquet. Food was always excellent -- shrimp and a half dozen other appetizers, then your entree choice of Cornish hen or roast beef plus delicious sides. I doubt he can match it for the price. There's no doubt in his mind -- he's sure it can't be done.

All best wishes to Spocklette et al on what is sure to be a delightful and memorable trip.

The only reason I spoilered the image below is because it's so big. The instant I saw this print (my feathers and spent shells are arranged very much as pictured), I had to have it and got it for the bargain price of $125. At SCI or Elks, it would have gone for two or three times that much.

Spoiler

Re-Turkeys

I made a trio of young (oldest is a junior) brothers happy last night. We know the family a little.

They asked to turkey hunt on some good turkey hunting land we have and I told them to go ahead.

As this is mainly a trip for the kids, my hunting might be pretty limited, but I might set my sights on a roan. My second favorite part of the 2 trips was simply watching a herd of roan on the hunting lands in Zimbabwe.

As of now, we will do limited taxidermy to save on the bill. Heck, as my 2021 stuff is still sitting in Chicago, I might pare my taxidermy stuff down and use that money for the 2023 trip.