Hunt approaching fast

[Treeman]

At this stage I looked at this bloke and thought " he wants to, but I do not think he will be able", the "what have I started?" look on his face is .......................
20240720_132118 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

[Treeman]

lil spit braai pig taken at "far, very far"
20240720_103925 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

A Impala, head shot at 80 m abouts, it was all we would see in the velt with the after drought regrowth covering the bodies of all animals at all times.
The man had walked through the tired stage by this time.
20240720_122541 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

This Hog was taken at an incredible steep angle downhill. The distance from Hog down hill was about 140 m, the distance on the level was likely only 80 m. The needed shot was stupid high on shoulder to exit across both lungs high on entrance side and low on exit side. I mentioned "draw a line from barrel through animal and make sure the path to exit line is through the chest. The exit point is the one to aim for"
Pig fell over, no movement till it was on its side.
20240720_154920 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

Here I am helping with gutting, the orange is for waving about while barking instructions. Standing far back so as not to get dirty 
20240720_160129 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

[oafpatroll]

Congrats janfred. I can only hope to do half as well when I break my very, very long furred game fast.

[Tripodmvr]

Your piglet reminds me of a hunt near Ellisras. Was walking across old lands dotted with trees and saw 3 warthog cavorting around. Sneaked up and still at a good distance shot one. On my approach I did not even break stride to pick it up. Be very careful on solo pigs without teeth !!!!!!

Glad you had success and showed MR TREEMAN a point or two. Dave, you seem to be a good guide.

[Mohamed]

Congratulations and well done! Must have been quite an adventure with Treeman.

[janfred]

Friday night a fire was made and the next day's hunt was planned. Matress pumped up with the included hand pump. Note to self; get a small battery operated compressor. The night did not start off to cold, but around 0300 the light of the full moon woke me up and a cold breeze came through the floor planks. Note to self; bring larger ground sheet.

Around 6 Saturday morning my bladder finally forced me to get up regardless of the cold. A quick fire to warm everyone up and some time spent for coffee, we set off just as the sun's rays started coming over the horizon.

Remember I mentioned ups and downs? That was the rest of the morning. Up a hill, down the hill and up the next, etc. As we were walking Dave kept on sharing knowledge. How to look, where to look, likely lanes through the bush to look. The importance of two hunters to stay as close as possible. No waving of arms. Wind direction and direction of stalking. Regularly we stopped to glass the bushes looking for impala.

We saw a small herd of young impala moving, obviously well aware of us. We attempted to head them off, but they disappeared. So we went from one camp to the next and the next. We finally stopped for a water break around 11.

As we were enjoying a light snack and a some water, Dave spotted some impala crossing the road in front of him. I was sitting in the wrong place. Next he turn3d around a pointed out warthog next to the fence. Easy shot. I lined up and waited for them to stop. I didn't want to do a frontal shot so I waited for the big one to stop. It did and looked to the side. I laid the croshairs just forward and below the ear and pushed the trigger. Miss!. I forgot that at 100m I will shoot 3cm high. The big one disappeared into the bush, but the smaller one kept running straight to us No mistake with that and the little piggie fell down. And so my education continued.

This was the first time I would see the outcome of my actions. The bullet entered just to the centre of the right eye, continued through and removed the right skull and continued along the ribcage. Was not a pretty sight. Anyway, gutting was a new experience for me. Under Dave's expert tutelage this little job was completed. Being wrist deep in a piglet was not on my list of things to do before I died. In my defence, it looked larger through the scope than it was.

Afterwards, as I was cleaning my hands with the little water I had left, I asked Dave how he can see all the game so easily. In a deadpan voice and eyes looking off into the distance, he replied, "It's what I do".

[Treeman]

Afterwards, as I was cleaning my hands with the little water I had left, I asked Dave how he can see all the game so easily. In a deadpan voice and eyes looking off into the distance, he replied, "It's what I do".

************************
Guess that was my Clint Eastwood moment done then? It seemed to make sense when said  , but ya I guess it could be heard either way and any way.

[janfred]

After placing the hollowed out piggie in the shade, we continued on to a camp where Dave had seen a lot of warthog before. This prime location had a lot less bushes allowing us to see quite far, and there was nothing. And so we returned the way we came.

As we passed the little piggie, Dave had pretty much realised that impala might not be on the cards. As we continued down the road we were looking for warthog under the bushes and through the lanes; nothing. When we got back to the empty skaap kraal, the decision was made to go back to camp and start again later in the afternoon. This was around 1130 and we have been walking for a good 12kms, if not more.

As we were coming around a bend close to a farm gate, Dave froze and me following suit. One thing I learnt is if Dave stops, I stop, even if I don't know why. When I looked up there was a big impala ram standing right in from of us in the middel of the road; approximately 30m away. I just started to get my rifle off my shoulder when Dave hissed at me to stand still. That is when I realised that this was Cody's white whale; One-horn himself. Half a minute later the spell broke and One-horn gracefully jumped over the fence and disappeared. Gathering our wits about us, we spotted a kudu cow 20m further away watching the commotion and a young bull around 150m away. Unfortunately kudy was not on the menu; not yet anyway.

We passed through the gate and continued down the road next to the fence, just to see more kudu! Mid-day is apparently the worst time to find impala. Dave, probably thinking me to be very unlucky with impala, conviced me to go for a kudu. Of the road we went to stalk closer. We did not go 50m before Dave froze again and told me to get ready. In front of us were a herd of impala!

Dave setup the shooting sticks and I got ready finally settling the croshairs on a  ram when started walking. It disappeared behind a bush and came out on the other side. When it stopped side on, only the head and neck was above the branches. 1kg of pressure later the side of the head turned into a red mess and the impala dropped.

A short tracking exercise for little Asterix later and I saw again the results of my handiwork. The ram turned out to be a ewe. I have no idea how I missed it unless there were two impala behind the bush. Also, even though most of the brain was gone, the heart was still beating. And so my education continued as to where and how to cut an antelope throat. The gutting process was slightly easier than the piggie, just required slightly more effort to remove the organs. Also learnt that if you do not want blood on your clothes, either remove it before gutting or hunting is not for you.


With that job done and the carcass left in a shaded area to drain, we continued on towards the camp. We did not walk 10 minutes before we saw another ram behind a bush looking towards us. Again the ram was behind bushes with some branches obscuring the heart-lung area. I cannot say I consciously aimed for the head, but that is where I found the crosshairs when the trigger broke and the impala went down. The bullet hit just off to the center and in line with the bottom of the right eye. What was weird about this one is that its neck was broken. When we finally dragged the carcass to the road Cody have caught up to us having already picked up the "massive" warthog and the previous impala. Probably because the guide did not want to wait for the 10 minutes I require to gut an animal, he asked Cody to do the task. And, yes, Cody is much fater at the task than me. Three minutes later we loaded the carcass on the back of the bakkie and made our way back to camp at the speed of sound...

[oafpatroll]

Great writeup! Its making me horribly lus.

[DaavG]

Well done Janfred and great write up! Sounds like Dave is a great teacher / guide!

I assume you drove down with your rifle?

[janfred]

Not done yet. This has become my opus. The major lesson is yet to come...

[Tripodmvr]

Enjoying your escapade. Do tell more.

[janfred]

Making our way back in a time that would rival Sarel van der Merwe, we had a rest. While the hunt master was having a nap, I contemplated life and the outdoors, baking in the sun, dassie style. A Cape grey mongoose cam past to look in briely before continuing on it's own adventure.

Around 3 we took the bakkie to go to the "Lookout", a plato area where you can look down into a shallow wide valley. Stopping well short of the edge, we made our way slowly towards the edge, stopping regularly to glass the visible part of the valley floor. Starting from the one end we glassed the whole area and saw nothing at first. Backtracking, Dave spotted the boar. Quickly set up the shooting sticks and aimed for heart-lung. Because of the downward angle, I had to aim higher on the animal. Two pounds of pressure later and the warthog fell over. Once the shot went, we also spotted some impala that was in the vicinity making themselves scarce. Just before we spotted the warthog I would have bet money that there was no impala there. Just shows how well they can hide even if they don't want to.

Getting to the warthog was slightly more complicated. Even though the shot was only around 100m, we had to make almost a 3km detour to get to it. This is where Dave impressed me with his 4x4 abilities. My first impression of the warthog was the smell. On closer inspection my attempted behind the shoulder heart-lung shot was actually just infront of the shoulder neck shot. Thinking back, I am still not sure if it was shooter error (pushing the trigger slightly sideways) or aiming error (actually aiming at that location). At the angle that the warthog was standing we estimated that the shot went about 2 1/2 inches right. Which was lucky for me. Minimal meat damage and an animal in good enough state to show a photo of.

Gutting was slightly more challenging than previously. These pigs are quite tough. Also, it was a new expence to be past elbow depth in guts and blood. Dave had great fun in the backround watching me applying all the lessons I learnt.

[janfred]

There we were, big pig in the back and an hours worth of daylight remaining. That's where we decided to see if we can get a larger impala ram. So we went back to where we started Friday afternoon to start the stalk.

As we made our way to the edge of the drop-off we saw a small herd with a reasonable size ram, but they were quite far away. This is where we did our first proper stalk, keeping bushes between us and said antelope. At the end we were on hands and knees with the impala around 180m away. For those of you that have done this, crawling with a rifle is rather tiring. I ended up putting the rifle down, move a bit, then move the rifle ahead, etc. This action would cost me later. Anyway, we got close enough where I felt comfortable enough to take a shot. Rifle on the sticks and the rams started to move again. Maybe they saw me moving or they just decided to move on for tastier treats, or maybe it was time to go drink water. And I missed my chance. Slowly we followed them back up the ridge, but the light breeze was going the wrong way and they disappeared as only the impala can.

When we got to the top of the ridge, we looked to the right and spotted a very nice specimen of a kudu bull and his harem of 3 cows along a fence line. That whole day I had shots on more kudus than impala. Fortunately my freezer is quite small and close to full already else I might have been really tempted. Anyway, Dave suggested we move to the fence and wait behind the trees for impala. Apparently they tend to move to that location around sunset.

We got to the place Dave wanted to be and waited and watched. Eventually Dave saw a kudu that turned into an impala and then back into a kudu again. That is when he realised there was both a kudu and impala ram on the ridge. I just saw sheep and prickly pears. After he pointed out the same trees and gaps for the nth time I eventually saw some colour between the bushes and the hunt was on. Quick march through the depression and up the other side and a slow stalk, rifle at the ready to where we saw them. To no avail. They probably heard me and decided to go graze elsewhere.

Eventually we came to a road and started our way back to the bakkie. As we went past a place where sheep normally graze suddenly we saw a nice ram standing broadside; a textbook shot. Quick on the sticks and aimed hart-lung. The shot broke at the right time and I called it a good shot. The ram took off. Dave and me both heard the impact and it sounded good. Marked the spot where I took the shot from and made our way to the place where the ram was to start the search. I was expecting to pick it up the carcass very close by. Strangely, we didn't find blood and 2 minutes turned into 5 then 10 and still no sign of the ram. We tried getting Asterix the dog to track, but he showed us where the rest of the impala went. Light was fading fast so Dave called Cody to come help.

Cody arrived with little Rat to track the animal. Just like Asterix, Rat showed us where the other impala went and not where the wounded one went. It was quite a hike and I frightened a few sheep as well. By this time we realised that something went horribly wrong with that shot. Replaying it it my mind I still maintained that the shot was good and the only error there could have been is slightly high because it was so close (80-90m).

By now it is full dark, the dogs weren't helping and I am thoroughly dejected. If I cannot recognise a bad shot then all the good shots were just luck and I have no business hunting. Eventually Cody found a drop of blood. Out comes Rat again on a leash to follow the spoor. Again, Rat showed us that area of the farm until we realised that it's not working. Dogs back in the bakkie and back to the first spot of blood. What followed was an exercise in tenacity that I have not seen before.

Cody, with a little torch, looking for and finding spots of blood. Everytime he finds one, the spot is marked with a bit of toilet paper. Two hours later the drops became pinpricks so small that he had to explain to me that the little bit of clumped sand is actually a spot of blood. Eventually we came to a spot where there was no blood in a 20m radius from the last. That is where we decided to end for the night. The last spot was marked more visibly so we could find it again the next morning and went back to camp.

At camp we made a fire to warm up and decided on the strategy for the next day. Cody came up with a great idea. There were a lot of crows on the farm always looking for something to eat; even harrassing the ostriches to get to the eggs. Wait until an hour after sunrise and the go to where the crows are.

Dave tried to cheer me up by pointing out that as long as you hunt, things won't always go according to plan. I was not he first person to screw up, and I won't be the last.

It was a lot colder that night. I used a blancket inside my sleeping bag. A lot warmer and I slept better. Still uncomfortable though. The mattress and sleeping bag did not magical6grow like this story. Unfortunately for Dave, because I slept better, I snored louder as well. Apparently my snoring kept him awake. I remember him waking me up to change position. Unfortunately I was so entangled in my sleeping bag I couldn't.

Next morning bright and early I was up and started the fire for some heat. A cloudless night ensured a cold morning. We sarted packing our things and cleaning up. A quick breakfast and coffee and off we went. We found the last blood position quite quickly and here my education continued. Dave gave me a good rundown on how to search. The main gist is not to just look in front of you, but to also look behind you. Dave assigned me my search area; Cody went up the centre and Dave did the area next to the fence line. All the preparations were not needed because a minute or two later Cody found the ram.

What a sad sight. The bullet passed through the gut of the animal so far back it almost hit the knees. So much for my "good shot". I could not believe that I pulled a shot so far back except the evidence showed otherwise. And because it did not hit the stomache, the shot did not sound hollow hence the good shot sound. We dragged it out to the road and Cody gutted it. The smell was not good. There is a reason why gutting has to be done carefully so as not to puncture the intestines. Thankfully the Treeman had a container of water on the back so we could rinse the carcass out. Later it turned out I did lose the back half of the carcass due to a combination of meat damage and contamination. Back to camp we went to pack up and go home.

While I was inside the sleeping quarters deflating my matress Cody called from outside to help him with the "huge" warthog. When I got outside he couldn't keep a straight face as he had me "help" him carry the little piglet to the bakkie. I'm afraid that he will always remember me as the man who shot the "huge" boar.

Half-hour later everything was packed and we were on the road. My hunt was officially over. Arriving at Treeman's house, everything was unpacked and the carcasses weighed. The impala were all midling sized, 27kg to 40kg. The warthog did not weight as much as we thought. Head and legs on it was only 54kg. And piglet was 7.7kg.

[janfred]

Some photos

Rat enjoying her chair by the fire


Warthog showing the entry, exit and bullet path