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Our mission is to take a stand for Christ while hunting from tree stands and enjoying God’s great outdoors. On every adventure, if you look for it, God will teach you something about Himself. That’s what we want to share, a show about awesome hunting and an awesome creator who made it all possible.
Speaker 1 0:31
All right, we're here today on the stand outdoors podcast, and I've invited Nick Giannini, and the reason I invited him is because Nick has been to Africa several years and and hunted Africa. And Joey and I are going, for the first time, this August, doing an archery hunt. You know, with montsomi Safaris in South Africa and and, Nick, you know, has been there many times. Nick, when? When you welcome to the show, by the way? Nick, thank you. Yeah. And now, Nick, let's go back a little bit. I mean, how long, when did you get into hunting? I mean, how long is it? How many years have you been hunting, just in the hunting industry.
Speaker 2 1:22
So I grew up on my family farm, and I've been hunting since I was probably seven years old when I got my first hunting safety license in the state of Maryland. That's great. I'm not ashamed to say it. I'm 58, years old now, and I've been hunting ever since.
Speaker 1 1:37
That's great. Why would you be ashamed of that? Well, a lot of people
Unknown Speaker 1:41
don't want to say their age, and I don't mind, oh, I don't
Speaker 1 1:43
mind either. I'm 70 and I'm still out there. I'm plugging away, man, and I hope to be doing it till I'm 99.9 I agree. How about you, Dave? This is Dave Baker. He's also, he's a co host here with the stand outdoors. But anyway, yeah, so you've been doing it a long time, and in Maryland, which isn't far from us, we're in Pennsylvania, and we've actually hunted Maryland a couple times. But we're going to be talking about hunting Africa, because we're going there God willing, you know, and August. So what can you tell us about Africa? Like, what is your experience been?
Speaker 2 2:22
Nick, so my experience there has been absolutely wonderful. It is probably the best place that I've hunted my entire life. Be honest, um, it's I've hunted. I've had the opportunity to hunt all around the world and South Africa, I must say, is the best place that I've ever hunted.
Speaker 1 2:46
Wow, that's saying a lot. What other places have you hunted in the world?
Speaker 2 2:52
So I've hunted all over Canada, British Columbia. I've been up on on to Alaska. I've hunted all a lot here in the US, and it's it's been a pleasure having that opportunity to do that and hunt with several other Outfitters. And I must say, you know, every one of them has treated me very well during the hunting, but Masami has put them at the very top of the list. Very much.
Speaker 3 3:24
Nick what's, what's some of the unique things that people would need to know about if they're going to hunt a hunt like that in Africa? What are what's different about that hunt as it relates to North America hunting? What's different about it and unique,
Speaker 2 3:41
honestly, it's it's seeing the wildlife there you you see so much while you're out and when you're hunting the North American Industry areas and all you're focusing on one animal in when you're hunting Africa, you are hunting more than one animal if you decide to do that. So your mind's constantly moving and looking in your eyes. You know you're, you're so you're not focusing on the one animal. Um, I've had the opportunity, and British call me where I did some bear hunting. And you're, you're bear hunting. So you're waiting for that bear. When you're in South Africa, you know you're going after, say, a kudu or an impala or a Jen's buck. So you're constantly looking at all the wildlife running around you, but you're also trying to focus on the animal that you're actually hunting that day. And it's, overwhelming. It takes a lot from you when you're when you're in that atmosphere. Wow.
Speaker 1 4:47
And what was like your first time out there? You know, the first time you went to, I guess, was it with monsomi, where they were, they the first one? Yeah, what was that experience like? What did you get? And then we'll maybe go through how many times have you been four years to monsomi?
Speaker 2 5:04
Yes, I've been, I've been four times, and I'm getting ready to book trip number five. But the the first time I went, I took my son for his 18th birthday, 2018 and we booked a package. I did two years of extensive research with South Africa Outfitters, because there's so many of them, and everyone that I talk to and reference sitting with Masami at the Harrisburg hunting Expo, they made me feel more confident and comfortable and safe than some of the other outfitters did. And I must say, once I sat down with with Rhea and Peter. From day one, they walked me through everything, every question I had. I mean, they emailed them, if I called them, they answered every question. There was never any doubt my mind how I was going to be treated after that point. And I told my wife, I was like, You know what? It makes you feel more comfortable when you talk to somebody like that and you feel like you're a family right from the start, not somebody that's just there to Okay, these guys are coming to hunt with us. We're going to put you with this person, and they're going to hunt. They're going to move on, and we'll probably never talk to them again. Masami is not like that. Masami makes you feel like family and their their motto is, come as a friend or come as a client. Leave as a friend. It's it is definitely 100% true.
Speaker 1 6:43
That's great. Now you're not a professional hunter, or you don't have a show anywhere. You're just a regular guy, like, like me, and you have you work for a living. What do you do for a living? What is your day job?
Speaker 2 6:59
Yeah, so I, I'm a lead super and content super intendant for a construction company in Washington, DC. I work on a lot of big government buildings, private, private owner buildings and stuff in the district. So I've been with them for several years. So I've, I kind of have a little bit of freedom. You know, when I want to take some time off, they don't really question me on it. They're like, go have fun. We'll see you when you get back.
Speaker 1 7:27
Yeah, that's great. You know, I It's funny because you talk about being a contractor and, and I do that on a smaller scale myself and and people, they joke with me because I went to four years of Bible college, and they say, and you became a contractor. What are you doing? Why aren't you a pastor or something? I tell him, Jesus was a carpenter. Man, I'm in good company, you know, right there. You're in good company too, right? Absolutely. So that's great. So what on that first trip? How did it go with your son?
Speaker 2 7:59
We decided, if I told him, the trip was all about him. And I told him, I said, you know, we will pick a package, and the package we pick had six animals in it. I told him. I said, you pick the animals you want, whatever you don't want to shoot, then dad will shoot, shoot those animals. He's like, No, I want to split it with you. So let's do three and three. And I said, Okay, well, you pick the three you want, and then we'll, you know, I'll day, I'll take the other three. Um, our first trip, let's see. We shot a two zebras, a Jen's buck on Impala, and then a blessed buck, and then he wanted to shoot a baboon while he was there. So we were able to get a baboon while we were there.
Speaker 1 8:42
Wow, that's great. So you got, yes, all your animals, and that's pretty much, from what I hear, typical, right?
Speaker 2 8:48
Yes, yeah, yes, you will get your animals. You're there. They're they're going to put you on top quality animals. They're not going to put you on anything small. They don't shoot anything small, just for the reason of they want to get rid of the older animals
Speaker 1 9:04
better, so you want to mature animal, whatever it is. And was that archery? Was it gone? It was gone. It was gone. Yeah, have you ever been archery out there?
Speaker 2 9:15
I have not archery hunted out there. I have here in the States, but I have not
Speaker 1 9:18
over there. Any reason why? Because we're going in archery season. Yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 2 9:25
honestly, I have a never really gave it a thought as far as archery. But this, this trip that I'm planning to go back, I think I am going to take my bow this time just for the challenge.
Speaker 1 9:37
So it's great. Yeah, we hope to get some incredible videos, and archery so much better for videos, because it's up close and personal, yes, and and then we're hoping that it'll just take, you know, our ministry to the outdoorsman to just a higher level, you know. And so we're really excited about that. So, okay, you've been there that first. Time with your son, was it now? Now you're all pumped. You got the fee. They say, when you get the red clay in your nose, you get the fever or something.
Speaker 2 10:10
Once you get there, you know, you, you, you start looking at all the other animals. And my wife gets upset with me, and she's like, Okay, why are you looking at the price list book? And I'm like, we're already here, and I don't know when we'll ever come back. And she's like, No, we don't need to shoot no more. But you know, it's, it's one of those things where you, yeah, once you once you see it, and you've been there, it's, it's hard, hard not to go back. It really
Speaker 3 10:38
is, I'm assuming this is Nick This is a warm weather hunt, is that different than what you experience in the States?
Speaker 2 10:43
So yes, depending on where you're hunting, over there, you have the the Free State, which is wide open plains like out Midwest, where you see for miles after mile after mile, but the wind there is very strong, which the temperatures drop the colds we've had since we've been going, I would say, would be 50 degrees at night, and then during the day, it jumps right up to about 90 degrees
Speaker 1 11:14
one month the time of the year. Yeah. What month would that be?
Speaker 2 11:17
So when we were over, the first time we went was in August, and we hunted up north, and it got down to about 50 at night during the day, we get up to 90 during the day. It was very comfortable, and it and their weather over there, excuse me, their Heat's not like ours. They don't have the humidity. So you don't you're not out there sweating to death so much, I would say, right, right, right. But I'm a cold blooded person, so the heat the cold doesn't bother me so but their their seasons are the opposite of ours, so right now they're in their summer season.
Speaker 1 11:59
Oh yeah, yeah. So there we're getting there, like at the end of August, and they said that's like the beginning of the archery season, because it's starting to get warm. Yes, you know, you're correct, getting out of the winter. It's funny thinking about winter and fall. Ben in August, you know. But that's what it is over there. But then the summer comes, I guess in September starts coming in and and they usually hunt watering holes. They were telling me, you know, to get you close to the animals, you know. And so usually the warmer weather is better because they're going after the water more, you know. So how about the next time you went? What'd you get?
Speaker 2 12:39
The second trip we went, my wife and I decided to go for our anniversary. And while I was there, I shot a black Impala, a kudu, a civet cat. I did the spring Buck slam. I chopped four spring bucks Wow, a sable,
Speaker 1 12:59
a sable, wow. You just went all out the second year.
Speaker 2 13:03
Yeah, yeah, I've been all out, um, and that's what, that's what we got on that trip. So it was very, very enjoyable.
Speaker 3 13:11
How do you have to prep Nick before you go to a trip like this? A different than uh, hunting here in Pennsylvania. What kind of things do you have to prep for before you go?
Speaker 2 13:19
Pretty much only thing I do is just sight my gun in, just to make sure that's all sighted in before we leave. And then when you get there, you'll recite it in again they, you know, just to make sure it doesn't get thrown around on the plane. Right? I've had, I've had people that I know that have archery hunted over there, and just so, you know, Mike, you'll, you'll sight your bow in again when you get there. Because, right, we all have padded cases, and we lock them in there. Really good. But, you know, the the airline people, they don't look at it that way. They just throw things around. But as far as far as preparation, that's one thing. The other thing is, go out and start walking, because you when you're gun hunting and bow hunting, you do a lot of walk and stalk, so you get your exercise in. Okay, that's good to know. Definitely get your exercise in.
Speaker 1 14:16
Yeah, we're not walking too much now because we got a foot of snow on the ground.
Unknown Speaker 14:21
Yeah. But I got the same way here,
Speaker 1 14:23
yeah, I got some time. All right, so, man, you got a sable? That's one. That's a bucket list of mine. Those are the, I think, the most beautiful animals in Africa that I've seen anyway. I mean, I've never been there. I've seen pictures of them. You know,
Speaker 2 14:38
seeing them up close, the pictures don't do justice. The pictures do not do justice.
Speaker 1 14:44
That's incredible. Now, I know you had you sent me some pictures of this incredible beast that you got last year, wasn't it? Yes, tell me about it.
Speaker 2 14:56
So I decided my. Wife, and I went back and forth, and I told her, I wanted to kill a lion. And back in 1970 my grandfather went over to South Africa, and he killed the third largest lion in South Africa history. At the time, yes, and I told my wife, I said I always wanted to do one. And she kept on, well, they're really expensive. And I said, I know. So we've been saving. And when we went back, Marco is my guide, my pH, while we were out hunting, we went out hunting, and the farm that we were hunting on, he said, we have a very old white lion on the property, but we haven't seen him in years, but he's somewhere out here. If we run up on him, would you be interested in him?
Speaker 1 15:51
Absolutely, this was a white lion. You said, Yes, correct. Is there a lot of those around or
Speaker 2 15:58
no, they're very, very rare over there. And we, my wife and I actually saw them in captivity. While we were there. We went to a game reserve viewing, and we saw one in a fenced in area, and but some of them, you know, when they're out in the wild, you they're very they're very few. They're kind of like, we call pie ball deer here, our white deer here in the States, and they, they're kind of a rare thing. And we went out the day, the day before I actually got him, we saw his track, and the guy said, on the farm, he said, this is, this is the white lion track. Of course, I'm looking at it like, okay, to me, it looks like a regular, like, white line track. I mean,
Unknown Speaker 16:45
they know the difference. Wow, yes.
Speaker 2 16:46
And he said, No, this is him, because the last time we saw him was in this area, and they have a the distinct paw print is different, because every animal has a different print. So we said, okay, so we didn't find him that day, and then the second day, we went out, and the guy said, Okay, he's in the area because here's fresh tracks, because they dragged the road at night time with brush, because lions don't like their feet wet. So at night, in early morning, when they get up, they come to the roads and walk the roads. So they don't walk the wet grass, which I never knew that
Speaker 1 17:27
that's crazy. It's like cats like house cats, they don't like the water, correct?
Speaker 2 17:33
And so we, we went looking for him, and got lucky. We We saw him, and he took off running. So we kind of got, we jumped off the truck, and we started tracking him, and we came up on a warthog hole. And the guy, my God, kept saying, he goes, there's a leopard with him, which leopards don't walk with lions, because they're territorial people. But he said, they're chasing this Warthog. Well, that, excuse me, we went to the Warthog hole, and that's where the lion tracks were, and they said he's in the hole trying to get the Warthog. Well, we heard a growl. We all jumped back away from the hole real quick, and come to find out the leopard was in the hole with the Warthog, and the lion was watching us about 10 feet away in the grass, which we didn't realize at the time, excuse me. And so when we realized the lion was watching us, we turn and he took off running again. So we ended up tracking him for a little while longer, but we ended up going back to the truck, and they said, Let's drive around to the back side of the field and maybe the woods, and we can, we can maybe find him again, because he'll keep walking away from where we are. And luckily, we got around there and we found him in the grass. I've seen him standing by a tree. He was in the grass. He got into the grass so we couldn't see him, because he was hiding. So we got off the truck, and the truck drove away so it wouldn't scare him. And we sat there for a while, and he finally lifted his head up to where I could see, just barely see his ears and his eyes. And he was probably, at that time, about 60 yards away, and I didn't, couldn't get a clean shot on him, and I told him that, and they're like, that's fine, just we'll wait it out see if he moves well. He started crawling towards us, and he got probably 20 yards from us when he stood up high enough to where I could see his his head, but I couldn't see his body. And Marco leaned in and whispered in my ear, you need to shoot now through the grass. So I got lucky, you shot through the grass. Was able to take him. So one shot, one shot, he jumped up, and they asked me to put another one in him to be on the safe side. And I did. And. And he finally went about maybe 15 yards or so, and he fell down, and that's when we found him.
Speaker 1 20:07
Now, you said he was a pretty old deer too. I mean old lion.
Speaker 2 20:12
Yes, he was estimated to be about 14 years old. They don't normally live that long. He had a lot of battle scars on him. He was, he was, um, he definitely fought his his days, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 20:26
Yeah, you sent me those pictures, and they were pretty powerful. I'm gonna see if I can get those on social media. If you don't mind, yeah, absolutely after the podcast, because this is just an audio podcast, Yep, yeah,
Unknown Speaker 20:37
no, absolutely not. Please feel free. I it
Speaker 1 20:41
was a tremendous, tremendous lion. And, yes, What? What? What a trophy, what an accomplishment. What? What a hunt. That must have been incredible. So what are you going for? Now you're going, you said in August this year.
Speaker 2 20:56
Now I'm gonna, I'm gonna book. I'm planning on probably going back next year, probably probably the end of September. We're planning on going back. I have to check their schedule, see what they've got opening for. I'd like to go back and shoot another cape buffalo. I did shoot a cape buffalo on my third trip.
Speaker 1 21:17
Oh, did you Yes? Yeah. Black Death,
Speaker 2 21:22
yes, yes, they are definitely black death.
Speaker 1 21:25
How did that experience go? You got to share that with us.
Speaker 2 21:28
So we tracked him for three days, and we actually were in the in the bush, and they were, it was getting minute day, and we were going to stop for lunch. And then Margaret said, let's, let's see if we can find a little bit longer. And luckily, they were in some tall, thick brush, and there was three of them, and the first two walked in front of me, which they didn't realize we were there at first, they were probably 15 yards from me. And then the third one, the one that I ended up taking, he was, he's a big guy. He weighed in about 2200 pounds. He's, he's a mobile 2200 pounds.
Speaker 1 22:15
Yes, that's, yeah, that's over a ton. Yes, correct. I was thinking they weighed maybe 1000 1500 but over a ton. That's amazing.
Speaker 2 22:25
Yes, he was a he was a big bull. He has so they measure the, what they call the bust, and that set their skull, where they're the base, where they come out of, where their horns grow out of their skull, okay? And they measure from the front of the skull to the back across the widest part of the bust. Most busts usually run about 15 to 17 inches. Mine were measured in 18 and a half inches from front to back. Wow. That gives you an idea how big.
Speaker 1 22:58
Yeah, he was a big one. Yes. So you've had some great experiences out there, and do they videotape all that for you when, when you're out there?
Speaker 2 23:09
Yes, if you want to, if you want the hunt videotape, you just need to let them know ahead of time, and they'll have a videographer there to video the hunts, sometimes, with the bow hunting, you're in a blind, and you're up close and personal with the animals, so it makes it a lot easier to video, right? So you can set the video camera up on a tripod. I have blind hunted, and I've taken my little GoPro and tried to do some of the video, and while I'm sitting in the blind, which really helps out. But yes, definitely they'll video the hunts for you.
Speaker 1 23:46
Yeah, well, we'll have, we'll probably have our camera equipment there, but I was wondering if you got that on video. Any of that coming at you?
Speaker 2 23:56
Yeah, no, I, I did get my lion hunt on video. Use that as their marketing video, because that was one of the first white lions killed at Masami. Great.
Speaker 1 24:09
And anything else we should know? I mean, Ben rookies now we're going to be going for the first time, any wise counsel you can give us
Speaker 2 24:19
absolutely, absolutely. The biggest thing is I, and I learned this the very first trip. Listen to what your your guy tells you your pH don't guide the guy. Okay, yeah. He knows the animals. He knows their actions, how they move and act. If, if you see whatever you're hunting, like, if you're going for a wilder beast, and you think it's a big one, and he tells you it's not big enough, take his word on it. Okay, because we're not used to seeing those animals. I mean, we see a big deer here. We you know it's a big buck. We know it's a buck, but there, for the first time seeing that animal. You're like, well, he's big. That's a big one. And he tells you no. And I, I gotta be honest, I looked at him and I said, Marco, you realize how big he is. I'm telling you, that's not a big Listen to me. I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna take your word on it. He never steered me wrong. Like I say, listen to them. They take extremely good care of you there. You have no worries. They keep you safe. Everybody always worries about, you know, going to a foreign country like that, but not one time that my wife and I or my son ever felt endangered at all. And that's great. The personal relationship that you will have with your pH is unbelievable. They are with you from the time they pick you know you meet up in the morning till the time you go to bed at night. You know, they are literally right there with you, and they treat you unbelievably well. You I say this, and I truly mean this, they treat you like King and Queen when you're with them.
Speaker 1 26:02
Well, you know what? They're already special, because we've been going to the Harrisburg Outdoor Show for years and always talking with them. And, you know, hoping that we could go someday. You know, it'd be helped the ministry so much. And, you know, just take it to a new level. And RIA was so sweet, and we were talking a couple years ago, and she wanted to donate a hunt to get us out there. And that, I just want to do a shout out to Rhea and monsomi. It's just such a privilege to be able to do this and and they saw what we were doing for the outdoorsman and and how we're reaching out with our Bible studies and everything, and our podcast, and we and, and she wanted to get behind it, and she said, we want to donate a free hunt. And so I was kind of shocked and floored, and I went, Okay, let's go. And so we're, you know, we're so excited we can't even think straight, you know, but, but we're our rookies, and is, I'm a little nervous about forgetting what I need, and, you know, all that kind of, all the little details, but we keep praying about it every night that God will guide us and direct us, and we'll have a tremendous hunt and to get it all on video and bring it back for our viewers and and even attract new viewers, you know, and they'll hear the Gospel. They'll, they'll, they can go into the Bible studies that we have, they can download them, everything's free, and they can download all the Bible studies for free and and hopefully, we hope that that's why we call it the stand outdoors, so that we can take a stand for Jesus Christ and help other hunters do the same thing other outdoorsmen and and matsome and Ria, they're just getting behind us, and we're so blessed. And thank you so much. Nick, and I look forward to seeing you at the show you and Debbie, your wife. Yes, we're going to be going Friday the 13th, and hopefully we'll see you there.
Unknown Speaker 28:00
Nick, thank you so much for taking time out, my friend.
Speaker 2 28:02
Oh, no problem. Thank you, fellas. I certainly enjoyed it, and I certainly appreciate it. All right, buddy. Take care. Thank you. You enjoy your day.
Speaker 3 28:14
We would love to hear from you. We really do please send us a note or a question by going to our home page. It's found at the standout doors.com and hit the Contact tab.
Speaker 1 28:24
Also, we'd love to pray for you too. Leave your prayer request by hitting the contact or the DO YOU KNOW JESUS tab.
Speaker 3 28:31
Also, check out our targeting the truth Bible studies and the YouTube hunt videos. Again. It's all found at the standout doors.com check it out. Hey, thanks so much for joining us today. This podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and many other platforms too.
Speaker 1 28:49
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review and share it with fellow hunters.
Speaker 3 28:56
Details about our guests and any links can be found on our show notes, and you can find us online again at the standout doors.com that's the stand outdoors.com. Until next time for my case. I'm Dave Baker,
Speaker 1 29:07
and remember, stand firm in the faith and keep targeting the truth. You.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai