Namibia - Day 1&2

[TERMINATOR]

Very nice Kudu! Congrats

 

[michaelhh375]

Fantastic story. Congrats to another fine day in Africa !
Michael.

 

[James.Grage]

another day and another great success story...

Way to go..

 

[wheelz99]

Namibia - Day 5

We were still basking in the glory of the kudu kill over breakfast this morning, a late breakfast. We pushed back our wake-up call to 7am this morning instead of 5 since I had therapy last night and didn't get to bed until after midnight, and because we'd taken one of the toughest animals to get yesterday afternoon. Boy did it feel good to give my body a little rest after 4 straight days of riding around. Not only that, but we had our first full breakfast of the hunt.

Today would be all about finding a warthog. I really wanted to get a big tusker and we'd seen quite a few so far (we even saw two nice ones on the drive in to Mount Etjo). Since it has been such a wet year, they were running everywhere it seemed. Only problem was, they're always moving. I discovered pretty quick that warthogs don't stand still much. Their best defense, since their eyesight is poor compared to other game animals, is to run. Another problem was the tall grass from all the rain. With those two factors in play, I knew it wasn't going to be easy to hang a big old boar like I wanted.

Did I mention that it was breeding season during our safari? Most of the antelope, the warthogs, and even the elephants were either in the 'rut' or the late stages of it. Almost every warthog sighting would be a female, two young ones and a boar following behind. It was a fun time to be hunting in the bush.

We left hunt lodge about 9am this morning. It was still cold and another perfectly cloudless day. Rudi said we were going to an area where the terrain was a little lower and flatter where more warthogs were. They are a lot like our feral hogs in that regard, they like loose soil where they can root around more easily. But make no mistake about it, with the tusks they have, they can root up almost any kind of land from what I saw. Every dam that had been made to create a small lake or water hole had warthog burrows all in it.

We hadn't been hunting long when we eased down into what looked like a grass flat that was surrounded by bush. Immediately, we saw a big boar running out as soon as we got onto it. He was close and must've heard us coming. Rudi parked and climbed out onto the roof of the jeep to see if he could spot another. He said they liked this field which was easy to see from the torn up ground.

Well, Rudi spotted another boar. "Ok, there's a boar out there about 250 yds. This is what we're gonna do. We're gonna get you in your chair and pull you out there and see if we can get you close enough for a shot," is what Rudi said in a lower tone. Sounded like a great idea to me. It's a rare special occasion for me whenever I get to go on an actual stalk, and do do it in Africa was even better.

Everybody moved slowly and deliberately as we got down out of the jeep and got ready for the stalk without making too much noise. We had a pretty good breeze in our faces though so we could make a little. We shed our jackets and I dropped the backpack off my chair. Greg would push me out there and Rudi would lead us. Which was a great plan until we got into the flat and into the warthog ruts. That, coupled with the thick grass made it really slow going. We needed a new plan.

After Rudi asked Greg if he could 'piggy-back' me, the stalk was back on! We followed Rudi, who had my rifle on his shoulder, my folded up chair in one hand and my cushion in the other. I rode on Greg's back, where I could right away see what we were after. (Doctoro stayed back on the jeep to keep an eye on our target.) About a hundred yards away, the dark grey outline of a hog stood out a few inches above the light yellow grass stalks. We quietly, slowly went right at him, stopping whenever he lifted his head to check for danger. I don't know how he could see any though. All I saw when he raised his head was the sparse main on the back of his neck. He was listening more than looking I imagine.

We had the wind though, and at 50 yds, Rudi quietly unfolded my chair on the ground. Greg dropped me into it and then got on his knees facing me while putting his hands on my wheels to become an instant shooting rest. Lucky for him, Rudi had some kleenex he stuffed in his ears before I took a shot. "Wait 'til he lifts his head up" was the last thing that was said. As soon as he stopped, I lowered the crosshairs down from what I thought was his shoulder through the grass. When I pulled, he was off like a rocket! He tore a straight line through 100 yds of grass before circling back finally and tumbling down. Turns out my shot was too far back, but he was quartering away so much that it had come out on his opposite shoulder. It was the perfect end to a great stalk.

After another lunch in the bush, we came upon one of the rarest daytime sightings in Africa, a pangolin (a.k.a. a scaly anteater). It looked like a prehistoric armadillo to me, except that it walks on it's back legs only while using it's long tail for balance. Rudi got out with my camera and snuck right in on this guy. Not only that, it turned and came right up to his face for some up-close-and-personal pics.

Rudi holding the camera out for the rarest of all photo ops.

Not an hour later, I spotted an aardvark, a big one, coming out early to dig for dinner. Both are nocturnal animals that you hardly ever see, and we got both in one afternoon.

Here are some photos from some of the sights we saw that afternoon...

a male baboon sitting in an acacia tree

a herd of blue wildebeest making tracks

the tiny steenbok we caught in the open

and a giraffe at dusk (one of m favorite pics)

 

[TERMINATOR]

Awesome that you got to stalk the Warthog!

Congrats!!!

Sound like you need to carry some earplugs for your PH!

 

[Blue Skies Hunting Adventures]

Great story, love following your trip. Good luck the rest of the time.
Thanks!

 

[James.Grage]

Your story and pictures are great....

You will have to give a final when you reach home with a photo of each trophy...

 

[michaelhh375]

Just fantastic story and photos !

 

[wheelz99]

Namibia - Day 6

Got up at 5 again this morning. Left camp before sunrise. We wanted to get in the blind early today. If zebra came to drink, we were going to be there ready.

The sun was just up when we parked some 300 yds away. We got down and, carrying everything we'd need for a long sit, "walked" the last piece to the blind. The brush and grass were reflecting the morning glow as we approached cautiously. There were gemsbok already surrounding a mineral lick that lay near the water. They didn't pay much attention to us though as we slowly got into where we wanted to be.

It was such a peaceful place to be, far away from civilization, and experience the day coming to life. Gemsbok came in and out to drink and fight for position around the mineral block, and I noticed that they use those long horns they have to scratch their backs a lot. Herds of sprinbok passed by a few times, standing out in the sunshine like they always do. And the birds of Africa! I haven't talked about them yet, but Namibia has "a lovely bird life." (According to an old friend of Jan's that rode in from Windhoek with us on Monday.) A social type of weaver bird called the white-browed sparrow had a tree next to our blind, and they sing all day long. They also have a crimson-breasted shrike that passed through every now and then, and a huge kori bustard that has a head like a pterodactyl and roams the ground looking for food. We also saw one of the prettiest birds I've ever seen there, one called the lilac-breasted roller. When it takes off, it's entire body is a fluorescent blue color. We also saw goshawks, vultures and that secretary bird that kills snakes by stomping them with its long legs before eating them.

Anyway, back to the blind, we sat through lunch and up about 3 o'clock which was the time we planned to quit, we decided we might as well go all the way. I was comfortable and Greg had his ipad so we were good to go. That was the easiest sit I ever had. Nothing showed, but that didn't matter really. The air was fresh and we were all loving the experience.

We called it a day at sundown, which in Namibia happens about 5:30pm. I hadn't thought about it before, but I was close to seeing my first day on safari where I didn't fire a shot. Of course, I also didn't know it was about to be porcupine time! We came across one on the drive out and I wanted one for a full body mount for our local museum.

Long story short, I shot a little low on him and Rudi had to chase him around in the dark for awhile which was one of the funniest things we witnessed on the entire trip. Rudi also couldn't help but say 'porcupine time' in his best redneck accent for the rest of the safari too, and he sure did seem to enjoy it.

Not much happened today, but it was one of the most soul-soothing days I've ever had. I'll post more sights from the trip since we I didn't get my zebra.

the massive construction of a sociable weaver nest

the lilac-breasted roller

a beautiful impala ram with a harem of does

a hulking white rhino bull on the savannah

a 40" sable ram

a full moon rising over a herd of blesbok as we approach on the right

 

[James.Grage]

another great report...

You lucky bugger you on the porcupine...i am hoping to get one some day...

 

[Bobpuckett]

Sounds Like a FANTASTIC 6th day to me. Keep having fun. Oh and thanks for the pics sence I can't be there I'm glad you are.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Well done wheelz! Glad you had a great time.

 

[Bobpuckett]

I'm begining to think you have a future as a writer I feel like I'm there, I know I wish I was.

 

[sestoppelman]

Great hunt reporting! Glad its going well for you, Namibia is a great place.

 

[35bore]

great report, awsome

 

[35bore]

Even if he does'nt become a writer, the photo's are fantastic, better than the ones I took on the Chobe river. Scott.

 

[Nyati]

A porcupine ! Lucky you, I couln t get one in four safaris.

 

[wheelz99]

Namibia - Day 7

Some blogs I've written took some effort to put together. This one is not going to be one of those times. Today was one of the greatest days of the trip... and it all happened before lunch.

We got up this a.m. at 6 as eager and excited as we were seven days ago. This is one of the special things about Africa. There are so many different kinds of animals (and country) to see that you never get tired of going out. I just hope it doesn't ruin me for deer hunting back in the states.

We eased out of camp a few minutes before the sun crested the horizon; another crisp, clear morning lay over the hood of the jeep again as we came down off the higher ground for the plains. Today, blesbok was on the menu to start the day off. And to be honest with you, blesbok, springbok, and impala are not hard to find, not all that tough to get close to, it's finding a good mature ram that's the hunting part. Personally, I love going after these guys because you get to look over a lot of rams. It reminds me of pronghorn hunting. We'd already seen plenty of blesbok during the safari. Today was the day we were going to take one.

'Round about a half hour later, we were glassing one that Rudi said was a good "old guy" to take. Most of the blesbok males, the older ones anyway, live solitary lives on the plains. And since it was mating season, they had their territories staked out just like the springbok did. We had this one pegged, but he wasn't going to go down that easily. He took off so we had to follow behind (slowly) a few hundred yards before he stopped to take a longer at us than he should've. Another shot and short run and he was ours.

After Doctoro gutted him (a side not: the only thin not saved from every kill is the intestines. even the stomach linings are kept on every animal except the warthog.), we loaded him up and were on our way to the skinning house at main lodge.

At 300 yards away, we both saw him the second he cleared the brush. Zebra! It was a stallion and he was all alone. I looked at Rudi to see if we were gonna make a play for him or not. Both of us were still kinda surprised about what we were seeing. He was on the run and on the run away from us so we had to make the decision fast...

It was a go!

The same time we took off after him is when I noticed a herd of black wildebeest to our left that was heading right for our zebra. If we didn't cut them off, Rudi said they'd pick him up and we'd never see him again. It was all happening fast now. I was trying to watch the stallion, the black herd moving toward him and hang on to my rifle all at the same time. It was one of those times that you just know if you hit any kind of bump that you're going airborne. Well, we made it. And we made it in between the wildebeest and our boy, we had to catch up with him now. All I could see was his striped rump going straight away from us now.

When we got to within 200 yds, Rudi stopped and called at him when he looked like he was slowing down. It was the first time he ever gave me some advice on shooting too. "Hurry up!" He said. I think he knew how precious few moments that zebras usually give you to take a shot.

As soon as I got my sight on him, he wheeled and was off again. Apparently, he'd been kicked out of a herd and was looking for another somewhere. This just happened to be perfect for us. The next time he started slowing down, he was somewhere close to 150. I had the rifle up already when we both stopped this time. There he was, a beautiful stallion broadside on the plains and I hoped to get about 5 seconds to shoot. I did! The crack of the rifle sent him wheeling one last time as he rumbled off as we watched. He stopped, spun around and came back toward us before tumbling down, disappearing as the tall grass swallowed him up.

None of us could really believe what had happened, but the excitement of the moment finally busted out in the jeep. It's a rare and wondrous moment for a hunter when you roll up on a zebra. We took a few minutes to soak in the experience. It was important for us to appreciate what we'd been given.

Back at Mount Etjo, Jan came over to congratulate me on a beautiful trophy, especially for a disabled hunter.

It was after 12:30 when we were finally back on the plains heading toward somewhere for lunch. The sun was high and there were four guys in our jeep that were getting pretty hungry. All of us were lazily soaking up the day now. None of us expected that it was about to happen again! (another lightning strike)

A group of warthogs burst across the road right in front of us, a momma, two babies, and the biggest old tusker that we'd seen the whole trip. On a dead run, they slipped through the long grass on their way up the slope to our right, and by the time Rudi had the truck turned and my rifle locked & loaded, they were passed the 100 yd mark. "Just shoot him in the ass. We'll get him," Rudi barked. I didn't have to do that though. When I got the scope on him, I had the slightest quartering angle that I've ever taken before. When I shot, the bullet echoed a thump and that big boar rocked as he kept going on. When the shot cleared, nothing moved. Everything was still and no warthogs were in sight. The worse thing was I had no idea what kind of shot I'd made.

Turned out to be a pretty good one. That big, ugly, muddy warthog was laying dead in the grass 20 yds farther than where I'd hit him, with an entry wound right in front of his hip on one side and an exit on the opposite shoulder. It was a day of days in the bush.

"Can we go eat lunch now please?" Rudi said when we finally got through taking pics and put him in the jeep.

 

[James.Grage]

Wow...you lucky dog you...and all before lunch...that is some record.

Good report

 

[wheelz99]

Namibia - Day 8

A strange thing happened today. I felt something that I'd never had before on a trip, a kind of sadness. I knew I'd be leaving soon, and with two days left on my safari, I wholeheartedly did not want it to be over. It was that good of an experience. But Rudi would made sure it was going to be a full next two days...

We pushed back our wake-up to 7 o'clock again since we had almost every animal on my list crossed off. Only impala remained, and warthog of course if he was big enough. The full breakfast was a nice change of pace, as was our rested bodies.

On the way out of camp, an elephant trumpet in the crisp morning air caught us by surprise. They were close and somewhere in the bush, and we could've gone looking for them, but I decided to keep on. It was prime time of the morning and we were still on safari. Too bad for Greg because he'd been wanting to see elephants the whole trip. He was just gonna have to keep wanting though.

It was going to be his morning to shine anyway. About 30 minutes down the road, Rudi and I were conversating when Greg called out "Warthog!" It was the first time he'd spotted something before any of us pointed it out to him first. It just so happened to be another big tusker. A momma, two little pigs, and another big guy were making there way through the grass and into the shade of some small acacia shrubs. I threw up the binocs right away and found the boar. "He's got really good tusks," is what I said as soon as I got a good look. Well, Rudi must've taken from the way I said that because without ever seeing him, he grabbed my rifle and had it ready and waiting for me as soon as I let go of my bino's.

Another first for this trip was about to happen, a warthog was going to stand still for more than two seconds. They didn't know we were there, and the big guy was rooting around there in the brush, offering me a perfect quartering shot. When I took it, he folded and dropped. There'd be no tracking this one. Actually, we hadn't had to track any animal yet. (This happened mainly because I only took the shot when I had a good one. There were a couple of times when my target was either turning to leave or it was an "iffy" shot through some brush. In Africa, you don't need to take any questionable shots. Let them go and find another one.)

When we rolled up this boar, we could see the nice tusks on him, bigger than Rudi expected I think. He was pretty excited when he saw him. We all were!

We had lunch in the shade of the tall acacia along a creek bottom in the area where we'd be hunting impala that afternoon. These were some of the best times of the hunt. We'd spend two hours in the quiet solitude of the bush every day, eating, napping in the sun, just being a part of the day as it passed by. There'll never be anything like this until I come back someday.

There was an impala ram to be found though. They're one of the most recognizable animals in Africa and we'd seen them all over the place since the first day we arrived, even came close to taking one on three occasions. I loved the way their dark reddish tan color looked against the amber grass. It was time to seal the deal.

We'd found three separate herds of impala that each held two or three possible shooters that afternoon, but we kept passing on them because we thought we could find one "a little better." We were having a great time looking around and it seemed like there was always another group of them around the next bend in the terrain. After we'd crossed through the Etjo lodge area going south, I asked Rudi if we were hunting yet because there wasn't any hunting close to camp. He said 'yes', and I said 'Good because there's a big bunch of impala down in that draw right there.'

(This is the biggest impala ram that we saw on the trip. He was too young to remove from the gene pool. The one I took was 10 yards to the left out of the photo.)

There was one really sensational ram in that group, but he was too young to take, and then we spotted another really nice one that was an 'old guy'. This was going to be our boy. We had a great position from above them on the hill as the dying sun cast that orangey hue across the scene. This was going to be another picture-perfect moment. I knew this was going to be my last crack and I was not going to mess it up.