Shoots & Tours
2013 Readers & Writers Adventures
In 18 years hosting our Readers & Writers Adventures, we’ve shared wingshoots in some of the most amazing destinations in the world. This year we’re visiting some of our recent mainstays as well as new favorites. For more information on joining our 2013 Readers & Writers Adventures, contact Associate Publisher “Terry” Bombeke, 207-594-9544; tbombeke@shootingsportsman.com.
Our first African adventure was a stunning success (see Vic Venters’ “Horn of Plenty,” SSM March/April), and we’re going to follow it up with a similar trip in June. We’ll embark upon a multi-species adventure in South Africa’s Free State, with variety that includes birds driven over the Guns, walked up behind pointers, and pass-shot beside ponds and fields. Hosted by gunwriter and vintage British gun expert Diggory Hadoke in collaboration with UK-based Athina Hunting Tours and its founder “Kiri” Kythreotis, our group will gather in Johannesburg for a two-hour shuttle to our accommodations and a week of multi-species wingshooting guided by a Professional Hunter with 25 years’ experience. We will encounter up to 14 species of gamebirds, including guinea fowl, francolin, spur fowl, quail, spur-winged and Egyptian geese, shelducks, Cape teal, doves and pigeons. Guests can even mix in a day or two of plains-game hunting for no additional charge besides the trophy fee(s). Accommodations will be in comfortable chalets with double occupancy. Hunters will be fully catered to, with all food, drink, hunting licenses, cartridges, gun permits, airport pickup and ground transportation included. The cost is $6,250 and does not include taxes, tips or taxidermy. Our group will meet in Johannesburg on June 12 and depart on June 19. Join us on this rare opportunity.
This will be our sixth year hunting wild prairie birds across the expanse of more than 100,000 acres of South Dakota at the Lindskov family’s Firesteel Creek Lodge. Our groups have had fantastic shooting for sharp-tailed grouse, Hungarian partridge and an ample mix of wild and released pheasants. Our host, Contributing Editor Bruce Buck, wrote of the 2010 trip: “Firesteel isn’t as artificially fancy as some hunting lodges. We are always made to feel a part of something very real. The Shooting Sportsman crowd is a ‘been there, done that’ group. They know what good is, and this is good.” Our group will fly into Bismarck, North Dakota, on Saturday, November 2, for the shuttle trip to the lodge. We’ll enjoy a three-day hunt and depart on Wednesday, November 6. The cost of $3,199 includes ground transportation, hunting, lodging, meals, licenses and ammunition. The only additional expenses are taxes, tips and the cost of shipping birds home.
In early December we’ll return to one of the most popular destinations in the history of the program, Highland Hills Ranch, in north-central Oregon, for four different species of upland birds. Guests hunt 3,000 acres of stunning rolling hills, rim-rock canyons, creek-fed bottomlands, grasslands, planted fields and open range. The hunting and natural beauty are rivaled by the luxury of the 10,000-square-foot peeled-log lodge and the quality of the chef’s creations. Highland Hills was selected the 2012 Orvis Endorsed Wingshooting Lodge of the Year and is only the second destination to have earned that honor twice. It is also among the scant handful of lodges to earn a Two Trident rating in the Beretta Trident Program. We’ve described the Highland Hills experience several times in print and online, and our host for this outing, Bruce Buck, has described it as “an absolutely first-class destination.” Our group will arrive in Portland on Sunday, December 8; hunt December 9, 10 & 11; and depart on Thursday, December 12. The cost is $4,950 per person based on double occupancy and includes everything but taxes, tips and bird shipping.
It’s the quintessential South Georgia plantation experience for bobwhite quail: hunting from mule-drawn carts and horseback in forests of longleaf pine and wiregrass, walking in on points as flushing dogs work to root out some of the hardest-flying birds in the South. Join Associate Publisher “Terry” Bombeke for our third visit to Pine Hill Plantation to hunt more than 6,000 acres of carefully managed habitat. Pine Hill is an Orvis Endorsed Wingshooting Lodge and has earned two Beretta Tridents. This is a true gentleman’s hunt and about as close to a private plantation hunt as money can buy. We’ll fly into Tallahassee on February 20, 2014, hunt for three days and depart on Monday, February 24. The cost is $4,350 and includes everything except taxes, tips and bird shipping.
