Baboon Pictures

Some big Baboon group running around in our area (Magalies Mountains Produce some big lads), LUCKY not on our ground but a few farm away, they seem to just love "lusern" fields as we see them every day blasting away on the green feed

can arrange to have some shooting done over there!!!

Buy the way some great picks so far thanks guys
Best Regards

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an aggressive big dog baboon is just a fearsome sight,and it would not think twice attacking or taking away food from its otherwise predators if it just see a hint of a chance!

leopard



even lion



cheetah



python



it will pay to stay cautious and wary of them--especially a wounded one!

Baboons can be mean. It's fun to see them in check......about to be mated. enjoy!

i agree wheels,they are mean critters.....
the same as lions and hyenas are eternal enemies,leopard and baboons are as well..

This was a very close shave indeed!
I wrongly assumed that this wounded baboon were already dead when I went to pick it up in the head high and very dense tambuki grass.
My mistake! :monkey:
As I've left the 30-06 at the vehicle,I luckily took my cs boar spear with me, mainly for the possibility of hidden snakes... I can attest that an unexpected encounter with a big and angry fighting mad dog baboon at close quarters-even if its wounded--is just a fearsome sight and the stuff that nightmares are made off!
It just shows you,that even an experienced hunter must never assume anything when alone out in the wild!

That was pretty cool to see that baboon get it, that leopard did a really good job! Thanks, Wheels!

Observe, you are a brave man....I wouldn't want to face a bull baboon in the long grass with anything else than a shotgun. I wish you would have had a gopro on the shaft of your spear! It would be interesting viewing.

enysse said:

That was pretty cool to see that baboon get it, that leopard did a really good job! Thanks, Wheels!

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The video shows the speed at which a leopard can climb and how far he can fall with no ill effects. They are amazing animals.

Wheels said:

Baboons can be mean. It's fun to see them in check......about to be mated. enjoy!

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now that looked wicked
that leopard just scaled that tree like nothing I ever saw before

Two peanuts too far!

well,as you became older,you do seem to reflect a bit more about things...
as always,its all about the hunt and not the kill!
enjoy....

Two peanuts too far!
As experienced by Willem & Colyn
He came in from the far side of the crop circle. Dust flew from under his feet, as he walked with a purposeful sway of his huge, muscular body. Even from a distance from out of the hide we could see that he was a powerful beast.



Powerful and mean with a portrayal of a supreme confidence in himself. As he passed some smaller males and females, he bullied them and mock chased them for a short distance before resuming his swaggering stroll in his chosen direction, with his head held high and an exaggerated bow in his tail.



Directly in front of him lay the remnants of the last seasons heaps where peanuts had been stacked. A multitude of nuts lay scattered in a circle, where the stacks had been. He was making a bee-line for the prime spot. A sure sign of his status was that those already at the stack, immediately fled when he arrived. He flopped down, and sitting on his buttocks, immediately started feasting while constantly looking around and raising his eyebrows.



Willem and I carefully considered our options. A quick count revealed that there were in excess of a hundred baboons in the circle at that moment. And that was just one of three troops that raided there daily from the nearby Waterberg Mountains!



[At that time, it often became a nearly losing battle for the local farmers to harvest the watermelon, Luzern, peanuts or seed mealies before especially the baboons and warthogs destroy everything. If we could cull ten baboons, we would get a kudu on the house-after 4 days of sporadic sniping out of cover we had only managed seven before all 3 the troops became streetwise! though they still had not directly observed us by that time.]

They had become aware that something was amiss the previous day, when we each shot a big male from our position hide that Willem had skillfully erected in the tree line next to the circle.



The previous day Willem whom, --lets just say got a proven history as a good shot from way back-- with his trusted Brno de lux 30-06 stoked with Pro-Amm 180 gr got his first baboon at around 200m, about the maximum ethical and safe range for such a small target, and Colyn got his first one at 320m with his more flat shooting .280 with special hand loads especially for the longer distances.
Today they had still not yet discovered us, but kept a good distance between them and the edge of the field where death had overtaken some of them the day before. We knew that they would not be coming closer.
It was almost a stalemate situation.
After some time we decided to work out the distance to some of the furthest heaps by calculating against the segment wheels of the huge pivot system. We had identified a particular old heap as about 400 meters from us. The very furthest shoot-able distance for my .280, and now the big baboon male had sat down smack in the center of it.
My .280 Remington was sighted in to zero on 250 meters. I had no difficulty with the steel targets at 300 meters at the local Crocodilespruit shooting range where we usually prepare and check the sight in for our hunts. I had developed the loads carefully and anticipated a drop of about 12 inches at the estimated distance to the baboon. I settled the cross-hair on his head and squeezed off.



As the Ruger settled after the recoil, I incredibly saw him still just sitting there, with scores of baboons running in all directions. Incredibly, they could not make out where the danger came from! And their king was still sitting on his bounty. Then, very slowly, he toppled forward, falling on his face. We tried to pace the distance to him in as straight a line as possible.
It came out at 440 paces.
When we reached him, I was amazed at his size, his long fangs and human-liked feet. His fur was beautiful, with a yellowish tinge.



I removed my hat in reverence, and spend a silent respectful moment beside him-one of my best shots ever!
We noticed that two perfectly shelled peanuts had fallen out of his mouth when he fell forward. They were still unbroken, but wet with saliva.
The 162 gr. hand load had struck him in the centre of his chest, destroying the heart and snapping the spine on exit. Incredibly there was very little blood.

We stood in a moment of intense togetherness, the sacred bond between hunters and prey.
Then Willem said, it was two peanuts too far. Thats what cost him his life.
I did not ask for an explanation for this strange statement, knowing that the philosophy and wisdom will come tonight around the campfire. We walked back to our blind, each occupied with those thoughts that only come to hunters.

For our fire Willem had managed to bring a couple of bags of really dry Rooibos. Although our campsite was littered with wood, we preferred to bring in our own.
He used a flint as usual to ignite the tinder he had gathered the real primitive way. As he nursed the sparks into life, I mentioned that a mutual friend had recently retired, and that he was extremely anxious that his pension and savings would run out, and that he would not survive, in spite of him having reached the rank of general.
He was now seriously considering taking a job with an international outfit



With a cloud of smoke covering his face, Willem looked up from where was on all fours, by the fire.
You dont retire and then start surviving he said. You first learn to survive, and then you can start thinking about retiring.
Survival has nothing to do with the size of your stash; it has everything to do with your mindset.
If your mindset is to survive on a stash, whether of money, of power or position, you are going to get clobbered like that fellow out there today. Survival starts in the mind.

What do you mean? I asked. Surely that baboon was an expert survivor man. He was the leader of a big troop.
Yes he was said Willem.
But where did that bring him? He is dead now. Kapoet!
And why? I will tell you why.
He was so busy surviving as a tough, that he did not ever think of surviving as a baboon.
Did you see the outcast male? He was the leader once. And he learned to survive while he was still the leader. So when he was forced to retire, he knew about survival.
Today he was foraging on that big heap with one or two others which the other chap passed up, too busy to impress his people. And tomorrow he will be there again.
So you tell the General to decide whether he wants to feast on sufficient, and be alive to enjoy it with his loved ones,
or does he want to feast on his own exclusive heap, and go two peanuts too far?

Willems eyes looked wild and bright in the dark, and I was not sure whether the reflection of the flames was the only sparks that I saw. With his shaggy coat and beard, he momentarily resembled the fallen baboon.

A shiver ran down my spine.
As the winter cold set in I lay in my bag, listening to the song of the veldt outside our small tent.
I dozed off thinking of that baboon. How soft his muzzle had felt.
I thought about the troop, his folk.
I wondered whether they missed him, or perhaps even longed for him??
And as a pair of Egyptian gees hurled abuse at some night-time invaders of their chosen spot around the pivot,
I thought about the General.
And whether he will go two peanuts too far ??

Observe, that's an fun and different hunting report. Maybe someday we can set in a hide together and lob lead over a peanut field. Make sure and bring your spear!

Thanks for the hunting story, observe, it was interesting to say the least.

Wheels said:

Observe, that's an fun and different hunting report. Maybe someday we can set in a hide together and lob lead over a peanut field. Make sure and bring your spear!

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hi wheels,now that would be a lot of fun!
just think of all the stories that we would be able to spin afterwards! [lol!]
[or is it yarns?]
tx enysse

Great story Willem, the whole story, not only the hunting part :beer:

Nyati said:

Great story Willem, the whole story, not only the hunting part :beer:

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+1 Great story for all to let sink in.

Excellent Story and indeed so accurate - survival has more to do with mindset than anything else - at least in my limited experience

Baboon hunting must be my favorite thing to hunt. They are always alert and ready for everything. They are a huge pest where we live and hunting them is a daily routine.

I've made two trips to SA, I was hoping to take two baboons which I didn't think would be much of a challenge. Two trips done and the closest I've come to a baboon was about 400 yards while glassing for bushbuck and I wasn't situated where I could take the shot. I would love to put a bunch of oranges out and whack a couple from a blind, I really don't like the nasty things but I do like their skulls. Ruark had some interesting comments about baboons but I think he thought more of them than I do. (yes, I know, they have their place of importance in the scheme of things...) but I don't like'm. Maybe it's because they remind me of a couple of people I've known.