Arizona..................That was an awesome hunt. Hope you post more about it. How far did you hike daily? What about water? where did you sleep? What did you do the rest of your hunt? (except pack meat). Would you do it again?.............thanks................................FWB
Thank you,
The pack pack in this area is tough. There is very little water so you are required to pack your own water, for 3 days out, I packed 15 liters of water, that is about 30 pounds, plus my tent, sleeping pad and bag, ammo, food, binos, ammo, rifle, backpack stove, clothes and other supplies. It was a heavy pack. It is just you and the PH, and he is tough as nails. Elevation was about 4800 - 5000 feet, the hardest part is the mountains are all rocks, you literally are almost never walking or climbing on dirt, it's rocks. I trained hard, but I am old and the strain of a heavy pack got to me (balance as one gets older is harder), I fell more than I care to count. Even though I had the very necessary trekking poles, this was a real challenge. However, that's exactly what I wanted.
The distance we traveled was not that far, but the rugged mountains still took it out of me quickly. Of course my pace dictated how far and how fast we went. As it was very dry, the Mountain Zebra were concentrated in the mountains and I saw 30-50 a day. Some to far to put a stalk on, lot easier to see than get close too. This area has no fences, and is almost completed uninhabited, very remote with desert elephants and black rhinos in the area.
Baboons were numerous and barked at us all the time. Other game in the area were Gemsbok (Oryx) Springbok, Kudu, again, nothing is introduced to the area, it's all endemic animals, and the place is unforgiving. It is not a hunt for everyone, certainly not for a first trip unless you do a lot of mountain hunting. But is was very rewarding. My stallion was very hard earned in it's natural wild habitat and I was one of my most memorable experiences. I went only for mountain zebra, I have gotten most all the other plains game in the area, and had no desire to pack out anything else. It is a inexpensive hunt, you are doing away with all the frills, I would do it again any time, the rewards of doing this are fantastic, If you want a challenge and if the experience is more important than any thing else, I highly recommend it.
Since I didn't want to take any additional animals, my guide took me to explore the Skeleton Coast and the dunes in the Namib desert for the next 3 days, more on that in the next installment.
