after we loaded up the zebra,and headed to the butchery .
we had a long lunch and l hit the practice but for a while .while joysie sat in the sun , a whole lot happier now that her zebra was not hurting anymore , it really through her off balance wounding that mare .
then around 3pm l was getting a bit anxious , so went down and helped the skinners and with the salting of the skins .
they wouldn't let me do much . so went for a stroll around the 2 big dams her close to the houses , watching a few monkeys for a while till they disappeared once they knew I was there .
roy later said to take as many of these as l could next time.as they are very destructive .
about 4ish l went back and denessee ,asked if I wanted to go and see if we could get a duiker with the bow ,again .
never had to ask twice .
10 minutes later we dropping over the dam bank again , into the dry river/creek system .
we went the opposite way this time and soon were seeing springbok . we got into 44 metres and had a great ambush site ,with all these girls and young males ,there but nothing big enough .so we sat and watched them for a few minutes .before backing out ,and moving on , im totally surprised by the amount of porcupine holes here , and denesse said that there is many on here ,but you never see them during the day .
next time ,im here ,as we have already decided that we will be coming back and hunting with the wormalds again , there will be a porcupine or two on the list , that and a serval, as im told you can bring them back to Australia, as the next hunters after us are a father and son on a return trip to chikwere from down under ,and they have a serval permit ,and are told that they will be able to bring it home .
which is news to me as custom /border protestion told me that no spotted cats were permited into Australia .
l hope he gets his serval and brings it home they are a bueatiful animal ,and would look great on the wall .
a few minutes later we are stopped as a kudu bull silently appears 60 o0dd metres in front of us , he was too young to hunt but , we will sneak in and see if we can get in and out with out being busted .
at 40 metres we could of nailed him twice , but were happy with the knowledge that is a trophy with in its self , to me anyway .
as we were backing out his big dinner plate ears got us , and he quickly vanished with out make any niose . the next time we saw him he was over 100 metres away and above .looking down at us .
I said to myself , self when we get to do that again ,don't waste to opportunity ,get a bloody photo of it .
as day is winding down ,and its becoming duiker time according to denessee,we slow it right down and glass a lot more ,as we head along the creek at a snails pace .
there quite a bit of animal movement ,but sadly its nearly all young springbok .
we head back towards the track and walk towards the camp .
at dinner roy ,says tomorrow we are heading to another property to hunt ..........
25th july
we wake to a cool windy day , have some coffee and toast .
today is the wormalds staff , payday and day off, but dennessee and his son madeda choose to stay on and hunt with us , which is most appreciated ,and definately worthy of noting in my book .
on a property about and hour and a quarter away , called 'ntoni" which is said as its spelled , we get there at firstlight , and the first thing l seen is a steenbuck , they are little hotties ,we have one on quota , but this guy aint stopping ,and the fact the firearm is still packed away in it hard case .
we drive past the owners house to what looks like a lodge and hunting camp in the process of being built ,we get out and start preparing our gear , when bugger me dead I see an emu .
a ridgey didge emu .
straight away l like this place ,and start thinking of home , the first time its even entered my head since arriving in j/bourg (as roy calls it ,'gangsters paradise ')
madeba thought l wanted to get a photo with it ......and started to go to herd it closer for me
laughing l told him ,if you get to close to it, its going to kick the shit out you , bloke .......
that pulled him up pretty quick .
roy said that he thought l be surprised .
off we go to do some diesel stalking this chilly morning, with me and the boys in the back .
this looks to be a bloody big property , roy said theres about 60 kms of road on here, and it needs another sixty .
down low its warming quite nicely , but denessee said don't take your jacket off ,you will need it on top .
we see some very nice animals , including red hartebeest and both sorts of wilde beest .lots of springbok .
when dennessee quickly gives roy the hand signal .
there was a cracker black spring bok , about 100 metres out and down under neath us ,that needed another look , so me and denessee,jump off and go for a look , but after 3/4 of an hour , we didn't get another glimpse of him .
denessee said he was very good ......
we didn't drive another 5 minutes when roy spotted an impala ram ,down in the huge gully under us .
he sadi this was well worth a bit of gravel rash getting to him for another look so out we go , 15 minutes later we spot him about 200 metres away and marching like he on a mission .
I told him a will pop it from here , but we will have to work at getting him out .
not real sure how I stuffed this shot up ,but l guessed him at just over 200 metres ,on a fairly steep down hill angle . with a bit of breeze , and waited for him to stop ,before shooting but . l hit him way back ,in fact , about 11 inches from where I was aiming , and near broke him in half .
at the shot, l seen it was disgusting ,and seen him break and tumble down where l couldn't give him another , so me and madeba run down there like a couple of ibex with out the grace.
and find him down but not out , so madeba . stabs him in the back of the neck at the point where the spine meets the skull .
then we gut him and take in turns carrying him out . over our shoulders .
set him up just above the road for photos .
roy said that he thought he of been a bit bigger than he was, but he was plenty big enough for me ,with a good bit age about him ,and some wear .
good start to the day , mate.
we clambered up into the back for some more, diesel stalking .
on the way up , we found a nice shady spot under some prickle bushes to stash our impala .
and kept going up .we spotted a kudu in a draw a long ways off and started a stalk only to see him dart off like he could read our minds.
at the ute we stopped for a sandwich and water .before tracking off again.
once we weaved our way to the top , denessee smiled that told you so grin ,mate it was smoking up here .
I told them there was no way we would see animals up here , they would be in the lee ward side in the silence zones where animals feel safe .
roy just laughed and said, you just trust me boy .......
buger me there was a wind chill going on .
not 200 hundred metres around the next bend we see a black wilde beest and then 40 more .
we stopped to glass them ,there a really good bull in amongst them about 400 metres out in the open .if there was no wind id have had a crack at him .so we make a plan.
we got off and went to the lee side edge and right there 40 metres away was 30 odd, blue wilde beest beded up out of the wind .
we sat and watched them as there was only cows that we could see .
we mustve been about 40 feet out of there wind , because they were right there in front of us , me and roy go a little foreward ,ever so slowly , looking for a bull .
we see a young one ,but roy said there will be a better on than that .
we have gone as far as we can and if we move we will be busted .
when roy said keep and eye on that one .
he will look in a second ,then they will be gone .
I got ready , roy stood up , and the bwb moved as one and were gone just like that , ......
they ran off and up and ended up taking their black cousins with them .
about a half mile they all formed circles and held their positions .
we laughed at the ease there feet hit the deck running, and started a new plan .
madeeba and dennessee, would go all the way around the windy side ,and stay out of sight while we would approach from the lee ward side .
and try and get close enough to judge the bulls and take a shot .
roy asked if l had a preference ,of either .which I didn't .
so down and along we go .
shortly after roy says have you seen this before .about 400 metres away theres 4 brown fluff balls skipping along over the rocks and around the shrubbery .
as soon as they stopped they virtally disappeared.
roy said you know bluey ,your a long way up when you see these guys .vaahl rheboks.........
we watched them watching us ,for a minute .and legged it off after the wildebeest .
and so we kept being busted all the rest of the day we would walk this way and they would run that way .at 3pm we went back to the ute for another sanga and water .to give them time to settle down .
but instead they ran directly across from us straight up into the wind and dropped from over the edge and bolted down in to a canyon and up the other side ,before they settled down .
we grabbed the eski (cooler).and went to the edge and sat there scoffing the tucker and drinking the water , while watching from afar . trying to get a plan together .
they were maybe a km and a half away on a huge clear face that mustve felt safe ,because the more we looked the more animals we saw .
water buck , a heap of zebra , two different lots of both wilde beest , blesbok , springbok ,harte beest , gemsbok.and eland .
that was about the end of that ,for the day .
with only ,not evenand hour and half of day left , sat and watched all these game animals in their serenity .eating and drinking , and planning our tomorrow , as it was fore cast to be even windier .
we will be ,getting blown around here again , that vote was unanamious...
we went back down the windy track to get our impala , and went to the butchery on this property .
we met a group of local meat hunters ,and shared some of their beer , it was very good .roy knew these blokes and we shared many jokes in a short amount of time .
after the skinniung was done and the head cut of my impala , as he will be a skull mount with the bottom jaw still attached .
and a flat skin .
roy said he will take me up and meet the owners on the way home as ed's beer also tastes very good .
once we were there , roy introduced me to ed and his lovely wife heather ,they were great hosts as soon as my casn was empty , ed quickly replaced it with another ..........
when we left there I sure was glad I didn't have to drive .
lucky dennessee was with us .
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