Spear Hunting Blue Wildebeest

[observe]

Here are some 20 odd of my personal lessons / philosophy learned previously and over my 23 + hours spread over 3 days from my Blue Wildebeest spear-hunting attempts this year at Aloe Rock for you guys [Viktor Gideon Kuhn, Henk du Plessis]..et.al.

[There are probably a lot more,like a razor sharp edge on the spear blade ect--hope this can be of some help to somebody.... lol ]

1] Patience and Ethics... [LOTS OF IT!!]
2] Blue Wildebeest will sometimes just rest/stand out of spear reach or ruminate in the shade/sun for hours.

3] Blue Wildebeests I think are in a sense a lower order animal, and just don't understand telepathy and refuse to to be lured nearer by your thoughts....[-Willing them to stand up and come nearer just doesn't work---I've tried several languages in my thoughts and even psychoanalysis and hypnosis .....lol!]

4] Check the wind constantly!
5] Patience !!
6] Though they are grazers looking down most of the time, THEY DO LOOK UP INTO THE TREE AT YOU with those strange long irises in their big brown eyes with the long eye lashes...!!
7] If you sit motionless/camouflaged , they will not recognize your shape as a danger up there.
8] Guineafowl/Baboons on the other hand WILL immediately recognize your shape as dangerous up there no matter how still or camouflaged you sit or what you do you try to avoid them, and then sound the alarm!
9]Don't EVER look any animal in the eye if you want to hunt it or try to stay undetected!
10] Your muscles became stiff sitting still for hours--micro manage them by undetected stretching/moving/keeping your throwing arm and other muscles loose----HA !
11] Muscles go to sleep from inactivity---up there IT'S A HUGE SAFETY RISK for sudden movement like throwing a spear!

12]Have peace in your own mind--you are alone the whole day with only your own dreams/ thoughts/life up there, and stress/demons in your head can ruin your hunt !
13] Have a keen mind for detail and being aware and enjoy observing each and everything happening around you [birds,ants, movement far away in the bush etc].--continuous situational awareness and keeping busy with the minimum of movement.

14] Enough water [hydration] and cover by being keenly aware and prepare for your specific environmental conditions -sun/heat or cold/clouds.
15] Your [unnoticeable ?] shadow shift during the day with the movement of the sun and a perfect spot/tree in the morning can be a problem/dead give-away later during the day!
16] Oh yeah, AND HAVE LOTS OF PATIENCE !

17] Always remember to be part of the 10% in the world and not the 90% , because it's all about the HUNT and not the KILL !
17] The emotion of FRUSTRATION must never enter your mind.
18] Spear hunting is not a type of hunt for everybody, ENJOY it while you are putting yourself through this 'unusual' experience..

19] Self-- Discipline and be in control of the whole spear-hunting situation as far as you can !!!!
20] Patience and sitting still doesn't mean going into a sleepy coma !

 

[Nyati]

Good advice, Willem !

 

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The research has been done, now for the practical....
This time I am getting better concealment from an evergreen tree and a different spear ,though!

• I'll be spearing from an elevation 0f about 2-3 m up in a tree ,and
• a spear angle throw of about 15-20 degrees from my 90 degrees standing angle
• [The ideal would be a Blue Wildebeest facing to my right exposing its right side ,thus giving a better chance of hitting more internal organs]
• That gives the BWB a distance of about 2-3 m from the tree
• That gives the 8 inch x 21/2 inch razor sharp spear tip a max of about a 3m travelling distance
• Travel time for the heavy spear then about the same as for a fast moving arrow from 20m away.
• As it's a heavy spear for max penetration and maybe piercing the scapula ,[hopefully not at that steep angle!!] the jumping and running away of the BWB after the hit will do some more fierce internal cutting as the spear handle drop down ,letting the blade cutting upwards internally, before it fall out.

1. I have the patience to wait for it the whole day in that tree , the only uncontrollable factor is the BWB's keen senses and 'spear-jumping'
2. And a changing wind !
   
3. And also to get past the big hump a scapula [shoulder bone--hopefully not at that steep angle !!] to reach the vitals from that angle..

Well, the theoretical homework has been done, now let's see what is going to happen in the real life practical world out there ,as anything can happen...

Like all hunting, sometimes it's your day and sometimes not--especially trying to hunt at such an extreme short distance, with such a 'crude' hunting tool--

There are so much that can go wrong and the margins of being detected by a herd animal is magnified many times over as compared to bow- or rifle hunting the same animal.

As always for me ,it's the hunt [experience/memories] and not the kill [blood] that matters most of all !

Let's wait and see......

 

[BenKK]

Good luck! Sounds like a grand adventure and experience!

 

[observe]

A SPINE SHOT BETWEEN THE SHOULDER BLADES MUST PENETRATE A HUGE HUMP FIRST

It is already a heavy all metal spear that could possibly penetrate that hump on its way down to the vitals, but it has never been done on record, and no data is on the net available about such a hunt-
(Tim Wells used a different specialized lighter throwing spear)-
-so I just don't know and don't want to take unnecessary chances ....

 

[observe]

As you can see, I have done a lot of research to be theoretically as prepared as can be.
[Like long ago where we did the maths with different handloads , bullet weights, trigger pull etc etc for the nationals]
This though is a new and often misunderstood [misused ?] field and I want to impart as much correct visual info as possible apart from the absolute pure ethics of such a hunt.

 

[mrpoindexter]

I was looking in SCI's record book. They don't list spear - do those not count in the record book? (They have harpoon, but that is not the same thing, I think)

 

[Dr Ray]

I think you would need to be very alert in a tree in case a leopard was stalking you.
Personally I’ll stick to my rifle but this post is very interesting.

 

[observe]

Another spear hunt...