30th
up and out for a walk by five , looking for another blue duiker or one of the big bush buck we seen yesterday , up closer to the house .slowly ,slowly walking in single file along the wheel ruts this warm dawn the wind is swirling and trying to keep it right , just isn't working . we did put up four bushbuck , and two of these would've done ,now worries, one in particular ,we spent several hours try for over the next few days .
around 0700, mike and tinnus picked us up as the wind was picking up as day got stronger.
patsy wanted to just amble along nice and slowly ,and see if we could put up either of them as we went down the far end of the property ,to try and bust a long and dearly held dream animal for me , a noble gaint
the sable .
the wind was getting stronger and diesel stalking was really the only option the way it was swirling ,but starting to favour a more easterly direction , we never seen much on the way to the big dam
following the river .
we did come opun a lone sable ,in some thick woodland ,by the jeez he was pretty , came up high with really nice worn down tops , a whole stack of secondary growth around his bases , we idled on for a bit past him and l just couldn't take the glasses off of him. patsy said do you like him . all I could do was nod .
she then also said he is the first one you've seen today , and id hate for you to see another and regret ,taking this one . we can keep on looking if you like or we can go back and see if you get another look in at him ......... so we slowly got off the back of the ute loaded spikes .06, and made our way into the wind to try and get another better look at him. he had moved a bit further into the bush and was looking at us .
lackson silently put the stick up so I could take alook at him in the scope . his right side was a bit more worn than his left . I lowered the cross hair on to his brisket as he was standing straight on to us , and starting to get nervous and jumpy . patsy said it gets really thick in there ,make sure you have the shot .
then just like that he turned and bolted . in 10 metres he was swallowed up in the bush and long grass......
that sorted that out .............
we went back to the ute and continued on and around to the other side of the big dam....seein few groups of puku,and a side stripped jackal, he was a nice looking animal .
further on we chance across a band of eland , with a cracker bull leading the exit , these elend ,never looked back, there was a hand full of zebra charging off with the eland, and a couple of hundred metres to the right , a herd of sable, were up and looking intently in our direction .
patsy said if you want even ,symmetrical horns , thats him , there . bluey
as she got mike to keep moving so we could get in a position to come in side on to the wind , I reloaded the .06 and left the bolt open so pats could pass it down to me once I stepped off the ute
the herd were moving slowly away at just right angle,for us to crunch through the under storey and get into a good position to check this guy out .
in a short time we were in a position where the herd moved right where we could see them and our wind was pushed away behind the herd .
the stix went up again . and patsy, said here he comes bluey ,wait for him to stop, this he didn't do , just slowed down a bit as one of his girls locked onto us . he was walking amongst the trees with several windows opening and closing only to have another gap open again .
I remember thinking , oh shit yeah , look at how even he is ...
then never looked at his head gear again .put the cross hairs where they needed to be and locked on to the slow moving gaint . flicked the safety off and waited for him to expose his chest again as he look over at us in the next gap , I gentle squeezed the shot off ,that id waited for ,since l was a teenager , ....
at the shot he leapt into air , and hit the bolt .
and l reload the m12 and followed him , saying its a good shot , patsy said , if you can, give him another . so l aimed for his freckle and sat him on his haunches
right about now , my central nervous system went into complete overload , and l was shaking like a dog shitting razor blades.
I showed patsy my hands , which was like throwing petrol into a fire .she laughed and started stirring me up .and told me to watch him and get ready to give him another one.
then l told her my knees were knocking and l sure hope I don't have to do that
we stood there watching him trying to get up ,for what seems a couple minutes since that first shot , but in reality its maybe 25 seconds .
we started to slowly walk over to him . and patsy said shoot him again to finish him .
so l stuck one right on his shoulder , walking over to him felt both like, I was dragging lead boots and floating on air at the same time
mate l rekon l was grinning like chesshire the cat.......
patsy said wait till see this photo shoot ,bluey .
I could only imagine ..........................
then mike and tinnus slowly brought ute over to us through the trees and ant hills
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eventually patsy stopped using every bit of space on the memory cards.
and we loaded him up and head back for lunch , definitely a pedestal mount I told pats , with plenty of front leg , she made the pld skinner left all the front legs including hoofs.
on the way back in we seen two blue duiker ,who didn't hand around long . right where we walked through this morning ...
starting to think these guys aren't that rare???
another awesome lunch ,where you know your eating way to much , and do nothing whatsoever to stop your self .
after lunch we gather up the guts bags to make a couple of teabags ,to hang in the kafuwe river for croc baits.
we also take the ribcages from animals to set up on wire on the bank to give the shot ,out of the water ...........
