the takeri mcnabb........
woke at 0300rolled out of bed ,with a heavy head , not feeling real agile,this morning
left in time to beat sparra fart,into the blind
got in there nice and stealthy like.
had a wee bit of time for our eyes to adjust, as a warm sunday morning came to life in bird and frog song , what a dawn
since the rain ,night before last , the sky has really cleared up , patsy says now we will be warm , all the dust and smoke has been washed down , makes sense as its the best sunrise ,weve had so far. the wind is perfect in our face again .
and its a lot quieter with out the locals after dark adventures, going on at our croc baits.
we sat ever so quiet watching as day light strengthened and we could see all the teabags were trashed but the big bait wasn't touched ,
we make a new plan ,and move the big bait down to be just enough in the water to make our croc a tad bolder .see if we can get it in during the day.
then we snuck out for a few hours .thinking its watching us leave.on the way back to the ute , chattering away like monkeys , patsy has a lung buster going , we get click ,crunch ,scatter....
into the cornflakes we go , every step sounds like someone rattling a milo can half full of coins,with in 100 metres we see the bush buck and he is a stayer , all im seeing is his head poking up every now and then , lackson says use my shoulder ,bwana (don't like that bwana ,shit , not even a little bit )so im trying to guess where his body is from watching through the scope , l say his not as big as some of the rams we've seen , but he will do.
boom right in the head .
and me and lackson are off like its a race .
patsy just watches ,and says why ?
boys , why ?
not real sure pats.
this guy isn't that big , but l say ,can l upgrade if the chance ,presents itself ?
that will be fine ? she answers
he has the most perfect coat, it just shines , and the spots are like beacons , his neck is still hairy and the black and the white on his legs ,just blends like Picasso painted him ,and just look at his tail .
we carry him out ,and meet mike in the ute ,half way .
he smiles and said I wondered what you's were up to .
certainly fixed , my heaviness,from last night
on the way back home , mike gets the rem ,870 pump action out (another fine hunting tool , we oppressed aren't allowed to own ) and says we need some guinea fowl for the pot.
we stop and get a couple out the first group.
that's when the P.H says right, today we are going to get our takeri mcnabb
we havnt done that before , but instead of trout , which we don't have , ours will involve a bird , an antelope , and a crocodile .(game on )
shit yeah im up for that....
these aren't the first guinea fowl of the morning , for some dumb reason we never thought to photograph them , these were taken late in the afternoon
the francilion were fun , I only seen one ,and just as l shot the other stepped out and coped it aswell
we head back home , its not quite half seven yet , and ask the skinners to make him a full mount .
have a quick coffee, and head out to walk up another ,bush buck .
so far we've put up another 7 blue duiker ,and could of taken most of them ..............
by now the wind is fairly puffing away, and swirling like a drunken sailor.
lackson spots another one , and the stalk is on ,
instantly he is off only to stop up a way ,and for the life of me I cant see him , he is off again , and I was looking in the wrong spot ,he is a good one .....
and we slowly ,slowly head in the thick stuff , hoping he will do something dumb , but its getting real loud in here and the last we seen him he was going and not looking back .
patsy call the end . mike drive further down where we've been seeing a thumper bush buck at the same place , 3 days in a row .
where we hope out ,patsy says to mike if get him we will call , if not we will walk back to the house .
the wind is now right up there, and we keep walking up towards home, lackson jumps and says snake , he and patsy goin the grass to look at what ever cobra it was , me I just step over to the other side of the track and keep walking , never even looked back ,
much to patsys amusement .
they said it was a metre and ahalf ,long
l say to that , so bloody what ........
the next time we drive past that spot I slide right over to patsys side , of the ute ,again to their amusement ........
when we get back home , pats wants the guts from the bush buck and the ribs. tyo break the guts into wee pieces and tossed all around the bait area , in the water , to see if we can , get this croc done .
we drove the ute right into the bait sight as it always seems to come in after we drive in there ,and leave .
it seem to asocsaite the ute with food.
lackson tosses handful of gut contents out into the water and dices of intestine as well.we all walk up to the ute together ,but me and patsy , slipp behind the wall of our blind
lackson jumps into the ute and drives off. to park a few hundred metres away ,and sneak back in .shit its bloody hot in the blind , even with the wind rushing over the tops ,of it ,
after half an hour im nodding off , lackson has already dozed off, and patsy is on watch , flicking through some old gun porn , our water bottles are like bath water ,
we are looking through the glory holes every so often .
another twenty minutes , and in comes the guest of honour .
patsy give the hand signal to stay seated ,not to stand up until its rolling on the bait then wait for the shot at the end of the smile .,
its really weary , she surfaces and submerges , only to surface at another angle , then turns and and swims away , then appear again on the other side ,of the bait .
goes down again and pops up twenty feet away
only to submerge and pop up five feet away from the bait , looks up at the blind , in a paranoid sought of way . then slips back under the water .another ten minutes of this and she comes straight into the bait , you could she wasn't jokjing this time stops just before the bait and looks straight at us again , the clamps on to the bait and pulls back on it , im thinking its going to come tight in a second, but it doesn't .it keeps going into the water with her , its about ten feet out in the water now ,it comes up against the wires , im expecting her start thrashing at the wired bait , the first fair dinkum pull and the wires wrapped around the star picket slipp straight over the top of it and the bait is now at her disposal. I think once she started rolling she felt the wires and released the bait . about fifteen foot out in the river , you could see the weeds and branches we covered it with just in a pile in the river not going anywhere.
we just look at each other dumbstruck .
about point 8 of a second later . she tells lackson to go get the ute and drive straight up to here
a couple of minutes later we hear him coming .as he pulls up and opens the door we all pop out together .
me and patsy have been watching our croc , pop up and submerge all around where the bait is sitting , In the river , up and down ,around this side ,and down , up again then look towards the blind im still thinking she doesn't like the wire .
once lackson stops the ute we walk oujt together and she is still about ten metres out ,looking at us and diving to check the bait .pops up half way between us and the bait
pats wants lackson to go and get the guards canoe ,as fast as he can ,and get back here
within five minutes he is near plaining around the bend
get the wire with a couple of drags of the spear , and we pull the bait up and around a wee bit further ,
this time we anchor it around a big log stuck in the dried mud
we throw the bait back out in the shallower water and get our length right ,
laughing at our mishap . and im thinking today is done ,. right
hey patsy are we goping to come back this evening ,again
she looks at me and says , im not going anywhere , you can go if you want , im staying right here ,
she will be back .this very day....
righto then ,
we all turn and walk back towards the ute we go in ,. lackson drives off.
I thought no way , today is finished ,
lackson returns , and we are all sitting awake and alert
the wind is real hot now at near midday , and starting to swirl ,right on time ,it seems to do this around now everyday...
about twenty minutes later , bugger me .....shes back , weary now like nothing else poping up and down , and up over there .down again ,and up near the bait , you could see she was going to have to come right in shallow to take the bait , this is the perfect place ,where we should've done it from the start .
if only hey,,,,we can see this now .......
for maybe half an hour she is playing cat and mouse , and looking a lot up toward the blind , up ,down , here ,down ,up there you can see in the body movements shes getting pissed and starting get bolder
shes coming at the bait this time ,
patsy gives the do it ,signal ,
as shes coming In at the bait , I stand up shoulder the 06 ,and just as she opens her mouth to grab the bait ,
BOOM, ,I say one dead croc , patsy says again bluey
I think she dont need another one .
and the shakes started , l see patsy going fpor her 30 .06 m, so throw the gun up and shoot the croc right in the side of the head again , this didn't look so pretty.
patsy is pissing her self laughing , im shaking and laughing
we head down to check her out , patsy said , bring your gun ,bluey
were all giggles and adrenaline right now .laughing like school girls and playing around .
once we get there it moves with nerves , and patsy says whack it , BOOM, right dow through the neck towards its lungs.we stuff around knee deep in the mud to get a rope around it and loose a shoe in the meantime , which lackson some howwith his feet as we were dragging the croc out of the water .
once its on the bank , patsy intructs him ,go fetch the guys , and tell bwana to bring cold beers
. now when bluey went to the store and asked for size 4 boots for his african ph the salesperson asked if he was hunting with a pygmy.......
well they were correct as here is the photo to prove it. there was humour all the way on this trip
. was looking at the photos and that one jogged my memory 
