NAMIBIA: First Safari Lessons Learned

[CEO]

It seems you are doing the best you can with the hand you were given. Your report brings back memories of my first "away" big game hunt in 1986. I chose an outfitter in West Texas that hunted trophy antelope near Cornudas outside of El Paso. I was in my mid 20s and money was tight but managed to put together $1600 for the hunt after saving what I could making just above minimum wage. He promised me that I would be hunting with him but after getting there and paying I was assigned a guide from Boston Mass. Needless to say, my "trophy hunt" was not as expected. Then, to make matters worse, he invited me back for free the next year only to cancel my trip the day before I was to depart. I lost my money for airfare and was heartbroken. I tried to stay in touch with him, he even replied once with a letter saying he would make it up to me and was not "bull shi..ing" but never heard from him again.

Did the outfitters last name happen to be Cahill?

 

[Duke1966]

Day 9 (June 9)
We got up very early that day, 0400 I think. My PH wanted to try the water hole again for a few hours at first light. It was cold and after the sun came up it got very windy. We didn't last too long in the blind and soon got out to drive around looking for fresh tracks. The trackers got on a few sets of tracks and radioed back to us that they could see a couple of zebras very far away in the distance. The PH didn't feel that we could make up the distance fast enough to catch them. (I'm not sure why he sent them out on the tracks if that was the case). I was getting frustrated riding around and finally just told my PH that I wanted to walk. Surprisingly, he gave in to my request fairly quickly. The edge of the property borders the mountain range and all the tracks that we encountered always seem to go down out of the mountains and into the desert in the mornings, just as the full-time camp PHs had said. (Surprise, surprise) We saw a Klipsringer sunning himself on a boulder about 250 yards away. It was as if he was posing for us.
It was very rocky, uneven terrain and often difficult to navigate while staying alert to spot game. The ground was covered with loose, softball sized rocks. Every once in a while, the side of the mountain would be broken up with a very small grassy valley. These little valleys were slightly protected from the wind and I could feel the warmth as we walked through them. Almost every little grassy area had reasonably fresh zebra tracks. After a couple of hours of this I was surprised that we hadn't seen anything but encouraged that they were there. Every time that we'd crest a rise I'd look down almost anticipating seeing a zebra.
Then that's just what happened. My PH was slightly uphill of me and I spotted them first. I didn't see them get up but it was as if they had been bedded down in one of those little grassy spots. It was two adults but they had spotted us first and were already on the run. I pointed and said "There they go". He seemed startled and I realized that we didn't have the shooting sticks. When we got out of the truck I don't think he really thought we'd be covering this much ground. I think he was just appeasing me by going for a walk. The point is I didn't have rest and certainly couldn't shoot off hand some 200 plus yards at running zebra. I flung off my day pack and threw it on a rock that just happened to be the perfect height for a kneeling shot. As I got down I asked, "Can I shoot?" "Yes shoot!" I was surprised to hear the enthusiasm in his voice, it was a different tone from him.
They were getting away fast and I hesitated just a bit. I've shot at running deer that were wounded but they were usually much closer. They were heading straight down and every time I'd get them in the scope I'd just see them flash by. Finally, I just picked a spot ahead of them and when he crossed into my scope I pulled the trigger. Instantly, I heard my PH "You hit him" again in his new voice. He sounded surprised but pleased. I stayed in the scope but didn't see any sign of him. It was so, so steep. I don't know how they could run through those rocks so fast. It seemed to take forever to get to the spot that they were when I shot. It found the tracks were they bolted down hill but couldn't find any blood. My PH said he thought he saw him tumble almost immediately after my shot. I looked directly down the mountain about 100 yards and saw his white belly. He was lodged between several large boulders. When we got up to him it took us several minutes just to get him rolled over for a couple of pictures. Unfortunately due to the terrain we didn't get any classic African trophy pictures. We called the trackers and they worked their way over to us. We had to skin and bone him right there. It was a little precarious but we got it done. The last pic posted here really shows just how steep it was here. The meat was all going to the trackers and I could tell that they were very happy about that. We did keep half of a back-strap to cook for dinner that night, which I throughly enjoyed, as did they others back at camp. When I decided to hunt in Africa I honestly wasn't too excited about hunting zebra. But, wow, what an amazing experience. It turned out to be my most memorable of the trip. Of course, it's probably because I did it the way I really enjoy hunting. I really had to work for it and they are very skittish and wary animals.

 

[Doug3006]

Great story! Congratulations. Zebra are underrated game animals. Chasing Mountain Zebra in the rough country is a blast!

 

[KEC]

Did the outfitters last name happen to be Cahill?

No, He has a website and is still hunting but I'm hesitant to give his name.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

There ya go! My kind of hunt. Glad you came away with a really good memory. That is spectacular terrain. I hunted kudu in the same kind of topography. Tricky footing!

We did spot a herd of mountain zebra in the hills behind the girraffe. That huge property was loaded with animals of all sorts but very hard to hunt. Either straight up and down or impenetrable brush. Oh well. Beautiful scenery wherever one looked.

 

[SFRanger7GP]

I hope this was a "bonding moment" for you and your PH. Great story of your zebra hunt. Thank you for sharing. Zebra is one of my favorite animals to hunt. They will make you work for your success.

Safe hunting.