Day three:
So here is what I really liked about the badger hunt. It really was a "poor man's leopard hunt." Same motions, go check baits in the morning, add meat where you need to, and check trail cameras. Bushpig it seems that folks know when they are coming in and I think once you get badger on bait they do pretty well too, but we had one that had left bait, so it really added to the hunt. We actually even had to add thorns around bait to keep the leopard and hyena off. Most guys would kill to get a leopard on bait and we are trying to discourage a big Tom from feeding. Go figure....
I did bang flop a couple of baboons including a really stupid one who sat and watched me get out of the bakkie from a hillside. He's out of the gene pool for a reason! I also missed another one, but long shot again so didn't feel terrible.
The badger had come back, so time to sit again. After seeing what my WSM was doing to animals, including the bushpig we decided that I'd use Bossie's 7x57 on the badger, with night vision. The night vision was pretty interesting as it goes over your scope and you see the cross hairs in a small screen. So you shoot with your head up, which is different. Its almost like a video game.
So we sit. At just about 10 PM I'm looking at the bait with normal binoculars (lots of moon light) and think I see movement. Almost like a shadow flickering, no shape, just movement. I whisper at Bossie for him to look. He whispers back after a minute or so that he can't see anything. Then I see it again. Eyes must be playing tricks I think.... And then a crunching noise. Kind of like ribs being cracked by strong jaws. And then you could see him. The badger was eating away.
The night vision was switched on and I could see him on the screen. Gray looking and dim, but plenty good to shoot. So I lined up the cross hairs and squueezed off a shot on what Ithought was the middle stripe. He jumped but didnt drop and then another quick shot and silence. No noise at all. We went and looked but no badger.... Bossie decided we'd come back in the morning and look more, but didn't want to mess up any tracks in the dark.
So off spot lighting we go and stayed out half the night. When we first get to the Macadamia nut orchard we do see another porcupine. So I take out my frustration on him with my shotgun. As soft as they are a shotgun isnt the best weapon for them for sure. The quills make great armor against the pellets...More of those confounded genets that don't give a shot and we see and chase a big civet cat who also doesn't give a shot. I think we stopped around 4 AM? Maybe a little later?
Then waiting to see what happened to the badger....
You can see the truck where I shot from in the background
