Day 5:
With my list completed, it became a question of what to do for the final three days. I am not independently wealthy, so after talking it over with Wik, we decided to make a go of nickel and diming it for some less expensive species that I still thought cool. Day five we headed back near the property where I killed my buffalo, to look for warthog and springbok.
It was windy again, and hot. I get that folks in South Africa think “Winter’s Coming”, to use the Game of Thrones line. Well, their idea of winter and mine differ by quite a wide margin. On day five the temperature peaked in the mid-80s (Fahrenheit).
The morning failed to turn up a warthog, at least a shooter warthog. Wik said the wind was keeping them down. We spent a lot of hours hiking, to no avail. So we gave it a rest and went to look for a springbok. Finding one wasn’t an issue. Finding one that was stalkable… well, that was another matter.
Eventually, after looking at dozens and dozens that simply ran away, we spotted one rooted to one spot, or so it seemed. I joked that the way it was just standing there, if I shot it, I was certain we’d find a suicide note next to it.
We got close enough for me to sit on the ground with the low tripod at what seemed like shooting distance. Wik ranged it at 230 yards. It was standing by a termite mound. I put the crosshairs on it, squeezed the trigger, and watched it drop. Honestly, the fact it was standing there throughout, I half expected to get down to it and find out it was shackled to the ground. Also, I find it funny that my smallest target, by far, was my farthest shot, and my biggest target, the buffalo, was my closest shot.
Springbok down, we were going to find a place to have lunch and then head back to the lodge. For my part, the wind and heat sure felt oppressive. While driving to a lunch spot, Wik said he had an idea for one more place to check, if I wanted. I did. So we drove to that spot. The far hillside was crawling with groups of pigs, including one nice boar. The stalk was on.
We had to make a really large, looping stalk, to stay out of sight and get the wind in our favor. Eventually we poked over a rise to see the boar with a couple of sows and a passel of young ones. I don’t know if they saw us or heard us, but they started to move and quickly. The boar started to go with them, but paused for just a moment. It was all I needed. I was already set up on the tripod and when he stopped I shot. He went down right away. The distance was 110 yards. I now had a couple of other species I hadn’t planned one, but was darned happy to have.
A couple of notes on Day 4 I forgot to mention… During the night, preceding Day 4, I had my biggest shock. I got up to pee in the middle of the night. I went to look out the chalet door. When I pulled back the curtain, there was a zebra on the other side, not 15 feet away, facing the door. I about fell over backwards and he about came out of his skin trying to reverse course. It’s possible we both just about soiled ourselves. Then, my day started early: there is a ten hour time difference from Alaska. My daughters had a choir concert that was live streamed on YouTube, so I got up to watch it. And finally, during the stalk on the buffalo… as Wik was sizing up the cow watching us, I noticed a duiker off to the left, watching us. I was worried it’d spook and have an effect on the buffalo. I whispered to Wik “We’ve got eyes on us.” Apparently this is the wrong thing to say to a PH who is focused on an alert buffalo. He took it to mean another buffalo was coming from a different spot. This comment caused him some momentary angst until I clarified. In the future I’ll try to be more specific.
