Sourdough
AH fanatic
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2022
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- 826
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- AK WSF, AMM, DSC, GOA, GRAA, NRA, PHASA, SCI, WRSA, WSF
- Hunted
- Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Argentina, Canada, England, France, Macedonia, Mexico, Serbia, Alaska, USA
This is really part of my story https://www.africahunting.com/threads/zimbabwe-my-most-ambitious-hunt-to-date-and.100022/ but since I talk about how I found it and a bit about where its been, and others who hunt would find one extremely useful, I thought I'd put its story and video here.
This tale begins in the early 2000's when my nephew Chris Britton joined me on a whitetail deer hunt in South Texas near Hebbronville.
Chris shot his deer early leaving us with the time to hunt something else. I decided some sort of varmint would be a good hunt thinking specifically coyotes. Problem was we didn't have a varmint call with us.
So off we went to the gas station in Hebbronville that doubled as the local outdoors store. Search as we might no varmint calls were to be found. And that's when I spotted it. A girls pink bicycle horn complete it its pink bulb and tassels. I gave the bulb a squeeze and a smile came to my face. This just might work.
After purchasing the horn I removed the bulb, the tassels, and the clamp to hold it on a bicycle's handle bar. I put it up to my mouth and blew. The sound it produced was the better then from any predator call I'd ever heard. Chris and I headed back to the South Texas style elevated deer blind to give the pink predator call a try.
Once I began blowing on the horn it only took minutes before they arrived. I don't recall the order in which they came but a fox, bobcat and coyote came to the blind to see what was dying.
And then the unexpected and unthinkable happened. A hawk responded to it by flying right into our blind.
Thereafter that pink bicycle horn accompanied me on many a hunt including one in Mexico. I found myself in a huge desert flat probably 200 yards in diameter with no vegetation other clump of cactus right in the middle. I could hear coyotes howling in the distance and wondered if I might be able to call one in.
I carefully maneuvered myself into the center of the cactus and started blowing the horn. In a matter of minutes a coyote arrived. He came into about 100 yards and started circling the cactus patch I was in. He couldn't see me but by the sound coming from the horn he knew something was dying in the cactus and he wanted to eat it. He made two 360 degree circles around me before I decided to shoot him.
The horn went to Canada and called in coyotes. It moved with me to Alaska and called in coyotes and bears, including stopping a group of coyotes in the middle of a winter day that were walking through the snow just outside our cabin.
It's even been to Africa a couple of times. The latest being earlier this year on my epic Big 4 Hunt with the 450 No 2 double rifle that Rigby made me just for this hunt.
At some point I pulled it out to show my Professional Hunter and good friend Buzz Charlton of Charlton McCallum Safaris-Zimbabwe. The expression on his face when he saw the horn showed some skepticism. My videographer on the hunt, Andy McDonald, was a little more intrigued.
As part of this hunt we had put out something like eight lion baits (that would double as leopard baits). Each day the baits were inspected, the trail camera footage reviewed, and any tracks in the area investigated.
At one bait site we had hoped a pair of big male lions, of which we'd seen tracks in the immediate area, would have visited the bait and been captured on camera. But alas two lionesses had found the bait instead.
As we freshened up the bait site I decided to blow the horn just in case there were any lions within ear shot hoping they'd visit the bait after we left.
At some point one lioness was spotted nearby lying down in the tall grass. Buzz asked me to blow on the horn and when I did we got the attention of the lioness. At the same time our trackers Kryton and Nyati and our driver Eddie spotted something moving through the tall brush and grass behind us. I continued to blow the horn and it was the other lioness coming to investigate.
Buzz put the pink bicycle horn in his pocket.
When we got back to camp at days end I shared the story of the pink bicycle horn with Richard Harland. I had invited my good friend Richard Harland and his lady friend to stay in camp with us. Richard Harland is an African Hunting writer, Professional Hunter and former Rhodesian National Parks Ranger.
Richard loved the story and the horn. As the hunt progressed, little known to me, Richard decided that the horn needed to be stored in something befitting its stature as quite probably the best varmint call ever made. Richard took careful measurements of the horn and told me he'd put a box together. It had only been a few months since the hunt when he sent me pictures of the box. I was wowed. He gave it to Buzz Charlton who would get it to me. I was very surprised when not long after a package arrived containing the box. A client of Buzz who hunted after I had, and whose name is also Phil, brought the box back to the states and mailed it to me. Thank you very much Phil.
The dark band of wood is Rhodesian Teak. The other bands are Rhodesian Pine and Oregon Pine. The brass fittings are from very old pianos which Richard stripped if they were beyond repair.
So now instead of being stuffed away in a tub with boots and pants and skeeter nets and so on, the pink bicycle horn resides in a custom hand made box atop the African Hunting book shelf between a pith helmet and brimmed hunting hat. A place of honor. Thank you Richard Harland for crafting this fine box, and Buzz Charlton and fellow hunter Phil for getting it to me.
I wonder what its next adventure will be.
This tale begins in the early 2000's when my nephew Chris Britton joined me on a whitetail deer hunt in South Texas near Hebbronville.
Chris shot his deer early leaving us with the time to hunt something else. I decided some sort of varmint would be a good hunt thinking specifically coyotes. Problem was we didn't have a varmint call with us.
So off we went to the gas station in Hebbronville that doubled as the local outdoors store. Search as we might no varmint calls were to be found. And that's when I spotted it. A girls pink bicycle horn complete it its pink bulb and tassels. I gave the bulb a squeeze and a smile came to my face. This just might work.
After purchasing the horn I removed the bulb, the tassels, and the clamp to hold it on a bicycle's handle bar. I put it up to my mouth and blew. The sound it produced was the better then from any predator call I'd ever heard. Chris and I headed back to the South Texas style elevated deer blind to give the pink predator call a try.
Once I began blowing on the horn it only took minutes before they arrived. I don't recall the order in which they came but a fox, bobcat and coyote came to the blind to see what was dying.
And then the unexpected and unthinkable happened. A hawk responded to it by flying right into our blind.
Thereafter that pink bicycle horn accompanied me on many a hunt including one in Mexico. I found myself in a huge desert flat probably 200 yards in diameter with no vegetation other clump of cactus right in the middle. I could hear coyotes howling in the distance and wondered if I might be able to call one in.
I carefully maneuvered myself into the center of the cactus and started blowing the horn. In a matter of minutes a coyote arrived. He came into about 100 yards and started circling the cactus patch I was in. He couldn't see me but by the sound coming from the horn he knew something was dying in the cactus and he wanted to eat it. He made two 360 degree circles around me before I decided to shoot him.
The horn went to Canada and called in coyotes. It moved with me to Alaska and called in coyotes and bears, including stopping a group of coyotes in the middle of a winter day that were walking through the snow just outside our cabin.
It's even been to Africa a couple of times. The latest being earlier this year on my epic Big 4 Hunt with the 450 No 2 double rifle that Rigby made me just for this hunt.
At some point I pulled it out to show my Professional Hunter and good friend Buzz Charlton of Charlton McCallum Safaris-Zimbabwe. The expression on his face when he saw the horn showed some skepticism. My videographer on the hunt, Andy McDonald, was a little more intrigued.
As part of this hunt we had put out something like eight lion baits (that would double as leopard baits). Each day the baits were inspected, the trail camera footage reviewed, and any tracks in the area investigated.
At one bait site we had hoped a pair of big male lions, of which we'd seen tracks in the immediate area, would have visited the bait and been captured on camera. But alas two lionesses had found the bait instead.
As we freshened up the bait site I decided to blow the horn just in case there were any lions within ear shot hoping they'd visit the bait after we left.
At some point one lioness was spotted nearby lying down in the tall grass. Buzz asked me to blow on the horn and when I did we got the attention of the lioness. At the same time our trackers Kryton and Nyati and our driver Eddie spotted something moving through the tall brush and grass behind us. I continued to blow the horn and it was the other lioness coming to investigate.
Buzz put the pink bicycle horn in his pocket.
When we got back to camp at days end I shared the story of the pink bicycle horn with Richard Harland. I had invited my good friend Richard Harland and his lady friend to stay in camp with us. Richard Harland is an African Hunting writer, Professional Hunter and former Rhodesian National Parks Ranger.
Richard loved the story and the horn. As the hunt progressed, little known to me, Richard decided that the horn needed to be stored in something befitting its stature as quite probably the best varmint call ever made. Richard took careful measurements of the horn and told me he'd put a box together. It had only been a few months since the hunt when he sent me pictures of the box. I was wowed. He gave it to Buzz Charlton who would get it to me. I was very surprised when not long after a package arrived containing the box. A client of Buzz who hunted after I had, and whose name is also Phil, brought the box back to the states and mailed it to me. Thank you very much Phil.
The dark band of wood is Rhodesian Teak. The other bands are Rhodesian Pine and Oregon Pine. The brass fittings are from very old pianos which Richard stripped if they were beyond repair.
So now instead of being stuffed away in a tub with boots and pants and skeeter nets and so on, the pink bicycle horn resides in a custom hand made box atop the African Hunting book shelf between a pith helmet and brimmed hunting hat. A place of honor. Thank you Richard Harland for crafting this fine box, and Buzz Charlton and fellow hunter Phil for getting it to me.
I wonder what its next adventure will be.
