Boomer and The Little 20 Go To Africa

Somewhere around three decades ago, I was the Education Director for the Denver Chapter of Safari Club International. That meant I had a fund for supporting kids’ outdoor camps and for workshops for public school teachers interested in using habitat and wildlife management modules in their classrooms. It also meant that I regularly met with ed directors from other chapters across North America to develop new approaches to outdoor and wildlife education.

One of the directors with whom I regularly crossed paths was a man (Bill, as I recall) from a Florida chapter. He owned a rather large construction company with somewhere around 1800 employees, but that is another story. What struck me about the man was that he traveled with his hunting rifle to every SCI education directors’ meeting – no matter what time of year or where in the country we were meeting. At one point, I asked him about the habit. Bill looked at me and smiled, “Well, you just never know when there might be something to hunt. Mostly, though, this rifle has been my trusted friend for 50 years. If you don’t respect and honor your friends – keep ‘em close – they might not be there when you need them.”

Bill popped into my mind a year or so ago, when Kevin Clements asked me if we ought to take our own firearms with us on our July, 2016, jaunt to South Africa. During my first couple trips to hunt with Safari Afrika and friends Richard and Ruth Lemmer, I had used Richard’s rifles.

Kevin wanted to hunt birds along with a couple antelope. Sounded like fun to me. On our two lists were critters like warthogs, bush pigs, impala, blue wildebeest, blesbok, mountain reedbuck and klipspringer. The birds on those lists included francolin partridge, guinea fowl, mourning doves, Eurasian ring-neck doves and rock pigeons. It just made sense to take our own firearms.

Funny thing, my 7mm Remington Magnum Savage (aka Boomer) has been my trusted friend for 52 years. My little Charles Daly over-under 20-gauge has been my favorite shotgun almost as long. How could I not take them with?

Kevin would bring his 7mm mag, as well, and a sweet little side-by-side 20-gauge double.

That settled, we began the process of chasing the paper needed these days to move firearms into another country – and to make certain they could come back home with us. I took these same two firearms to Spain in the mid-1980s, but we live in a very different world today.

We shopped our airline tickets carefully, making certain not to fly our firearms through certain cities or countries and not with airlines which make it difficult for one to carry personal sporting firearms. After calls and talks with friends, and poring over flight schedules and fares, we settled on Emirates Air.

The first “firearms” step was easy. I made an appointment with the customs officer at Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake. At the appointed time, I carried Boomer and The Little 20 into the customs office, where the officer compared serial numbers, manufacturers, and calibers to the information I gave him. He typed out a couple copies of Customs and Border Protection Form 4457, signed them (as did I), stamped them with an official looking red stamp and handed them to me. I paid my few bucks and came back home. The 4457 is not kept by customs, it simply verifies my ownership.

Sometime in the couple months before leaving the US, Ruth and Safari Afrika sent us an Invitation Letter, inviting us to come hunt in South Africa with them. She also sent copies of South African Police Service Form 520 – Temporary Firearm Import Permit Application – which we were to fill out, but not sign until we checked with the police at the Johannesburg Airport.

At the proper time prior to our flight, we filled out the proper Emirates Group Security forms (firearms ID and ammo weight and number) and submitted them with passport copy, 4457 copy, and the invitation letter from Ruth to Emirates Air. We then received back from Emirates a copy of our Firearms, Weapons and Ammunition Declaration which we would sign and hand to the Emirates agent when we checked in for our flight.

After all that was carefully and properly handled, we checked in our baggage, and our firearms and rifle ammo (shotgun ammo awaited us in Africa) were weighed and tagged. We were quickly and pleasantly led to a secure examination area, paperwork was laid in with our firearms, and we re-locked our gun cases. We headed for security and our loading gate.

After a four-hour stop in Dubai and some 23 hours in the air, we disembarked at Johannesburg. Upon collecting our checked luggage and firearms, we headed to the police office for the next step. After signing the SAPS Form 520, and showing the sergeant all of the paperwork mentioned above, we waited for our Temporary Firearm Import Permits. Richard showed up somewhere in there, we got out permits and a very pleasant “Enjoy your stay!” and headed north to Safari Afrika, near Mokopane in Limpopo Province.

The hunting? I think Kevin wants to tell that story. I will say that it was great – and worth the effort – to have old friends Boomer and The Little 20 in Africa.