4-14-15
The Hunt
Well, no luck on the hunt today. Not really “no luck”, but
rather no kill today. We left out to the farm at 445am, when we arrived at the
farm true dawn had just started and we were geared up to do some hunting. Our goal
was to go after warthog and impala. The farm we were hunting on is primarily a
dairy, but there are beef there as well as goats, sheep, and yard birds.
Hunting here in Africa is all stalk hunting with spotters
and professional hunters as guides, the animals are different from those in the
states in that they still have predators here and do not become programmable to
clockwork feeding and watering times. The only hunters that set up around “easy”
spots such as water holes are those too old to take part in the stalk or too
physically unable, and the occasional bow hunter. Seemingly even most bow
hunting is done via the stalk here as well.
Early on in the morning we began to spot and see plenty of
ostriches, and if we had wanted to there were plenty of easy shots to be had. We
approached a watering hole and spooked the troop of vervet monkeys that were
there for their morning drink, as we were standing there watching a black-striped
jackal was spotted and then ran off before a shot was available. The jackal
here is between a red fox and coyote in size and considered by the farmers to
be pests. Once finished checking out the watering hole we moved on down the
line to an old homestead site, once there we were looking in particular for the
hogs to be feeding. As we watched and waited there were tree squirrels among
the ruins as well as a black-tailed mongoose. We eventually saw a massive hog across
the bush on the next hillside over. He was a truly massive boar. We made our
decisions and started or stalk. The distance as a straight shot would have been
near to 700 yards, and the walk to him was 15-20 minutes. During our trek a
giraffe spotted us from a far hillside and bolted, causing a stir in the animal
kingdom of the immediate area. After we were sure that nothing else had spooked
or had spotted us we continued on with our stalk of the monster boar.
We trekked to the area where we had last observed his
feeding movements, and found his trail as well as plenty of other sign belying
his passage. We followed his path through the brush for several hundred yards
and thought that he was still quite a ways away when all of a sudden his head
popped up 20 feet away and on my left side! (I am a left handed shooter) it
appears that he was willing for a few brief moments, but I wasn’t ready. After the
missed opportunity we waited for him to calm a bit before we followed in pursuit.
He was a large boar and our fellow hunters/ guides weren’t just buttering us
up, they were impressed with his bulk. To cut this narrative short it will
suffice to say that after much walking and stalking the hog for me was never
seen again.
After a water break, we are hunting in a rocky desert-like
place by the way, we went to another water hole to see if our luck would
present itself for a shot. On our way to the “honey hole” we startled a few
impala….a bachelor herd of nearly twenty rams, over half of which were harvestable
in size. I threw the rifle up to see them better in the scope and immediately
found a ram with perfectly massive horns. Impalas are the ones whose horns rise
off of their heads and make the shape of a very graceful lyre. It was a no shot
because here you have to use shooting sticks and a spotter to call your shots
for you, so we waited for the herd to circle through an area with a shooting
lane and made ready the bracing apparatus. Of the whole herd not a single one
stopped for a shot while passing through the lane.
Some may
be asking why I haven’t taken a shot yet….the answer is, if you wound an animal
and cannot track it you still have to pay full price of the animal as if it
were harvested. Which can get pricy in a hurry. So best to make sure shots.
The impala did this routine several times during the next
three hours of tracking and stalking until we finally found where they were
standing in the shade. We had the wind in our favor and took steps to find a
shot in between the little breaths of wind. The ground was incredibly rocky and
the grass was as dry as the hay fields in late august, so the wind helped cover
our sound as well as our scent. To line up an incredibly difficult shot took
nearly 30-45 min. I had a bit of a shot at 210 yards at a ram with little horns
that I passed – I am not familiar with the rifle or its scope. So the shot that
I had in the end was a neck to the base of the skull shot at 70 yards, not too
difficult, other than the window was a 3 inch square through the brush and aloe
Vera plants, and their necks are more slender than my forearms.
I took the shot.
Needless to say, I missed the shot and the animal. I suppose
you could say that I bagged a limb or some distant rock, and no tangible reward
for my adventure for the day. But I’ll say that I have this story to tell in
addition to two very tired feet and the excitement of having stalked impala and
warthog in the bush of southern Africa. ( I am not currently in the country of
South Africa by the way)
If you don’t kill it you can’t grill it!
It would have been nice to have bagged something while out
today, and the opportunity may present itself in some way before we return to
the states. If so I know that I will most certainly enjoy the hunt for the sake
of nature and the love of the wild.
Until next time,
Ethan S.
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